I can't believe it is already midJuly. Where is this summer going? I know my gardens are started though they need some work and I need to replant some of the vegetables that the rabbits didn't let grow past a few leaves before the devoured them. I also have to figure out how they are getting through the fences. Today I am going to share some books to help you bring plants to your life--indoors or out as well as a wonderful way to dispose of your food waste that will help your plants. We will start with indoor garden ideas. These are for people like my parents who love plants, but no longer have a yard or much space. The first book is Miniature Terrariums by Fourwords.
Garden Crafts & More -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party
I can't believe it is already midJuly. Where is this summer going? I know my gardens are started though they need some work and I need to replant some of the vegetables that the rabbits didn't let grow past a few leaves before the devoured them. I also have to figure out how they are getting through the fences. Today I am going to share some books to help you bring plants to your life--indoors or out as well as a wonderful way to dispose of your food waste that will help your plants. We will start with indoor garden ideas. These are for people like my parents who love plants, but no longer have a yard or much space. The first book is Miniature Terrariums by Fourwords.
Fairy Tales from Different Cultures--Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
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Africa's population has increased greatly in the last 40 years. The population has a large proportion of its members under 25-years-old as a result. It is estimated that over 1,000 languages are spoken in Africa. Traditional African cultures have become less practiced in recent years due to neglect and suppression during colonialism and post-colonialism regimes. (Source)
Now onto our book. Mufaro's Beautiful Daugthers: An African Tale by John Steptoe is not your traditional Cinderella. In fact there is not very much of the traditional story in this one. There is a father and not a stepmother. There is a sister and not a stepsister and there is no talk about shoes lost or found. There is a bit of magic and of course the good and kind win over the cruel. To begin let me tell you mufaro means happy man, nyasha means mercy, manyara means ashamed and nyoka means snake. This is in the author's introductory notes.
Nyasha Doll |
This story is about the two beautiful daughters of a man named Mufaro. His daughters are Nyasha who is kind and caring and Manyara who is selfish and mean. Manyara only mistreats her sister when their father is not around. She is often heard saying some day she will be queen and Nyasha will be her servant. Nyasha does not understand why her sister is so unhappy and miserable. She wishes Manyara could enjoy her life more.
Nyasha is always kind to everyone and has no problem helping with the household chores and even has her own vegetable garden. She loves singing while she tends her vegetables and it is said that her plants grow bigger and more bountiful than anyone else's because of her singing. One day she finds a green garden snake in her garden. She welcomes the little Nyoka since he will scare away the animals that may eat things from her garden. Each day she sees him there and sings to him.
One day a messenger comes to their village saying the king would like all the beautiful and worthy daughters to come to the palace so he may choose a wife. The palace is on the other side of the river is a half a day away. Mufaro tells his two daughters that they both will go with a wedding party the next morning. Manyara tries to convince her father that only she should go since Nyasha will grieve to death to be separated from their father and home. Mufaro says that the king must choose between two such worthy daughters so they both will go.
Manyara leaves during the night by herself since she wants to be the first to see the king. She has not traveled through the forest during the night before and is a bit scared, but wants to be there first. She sees a young boy who begs her for food, but she says no. Then an old woman calls her by name and gives her advice and Manyara yells at her. She also does the opposite of the advice.
At daybreak Nyasha gets dressed for the journey and meeting the king and hears commotion outside. It is discovered that Manyara is missing. They find footprints on the path to the city, so they assume she went on her own, but Nyasha is worried about her sister.
When Nyasha sees the young boy she gives him the yam she had packed for her own lunch before he even asks for food. The old woman points the way and Nyasha gives her a small bag of sunflower seeds. Finally the reach the peak and see the river and the city and Nyasha says she has never seen anything so beautiful.
When they enter the gate of the palace they hear screaming and Manyara runs out. She begs Nyasha not to see the king saying that there is a snake with five heads in there. Mufaro comforts Manyara while Nyasha goes in to the king. On the throne she sees her friend, Nyoka. She smiles and asks why he is here. Nyoka then changes to the king and he tells Nyasha he knows her to be the most worthy since he has visited her as Nyoka and was the young boy and old woman in the forest. He asks her to marry him. Mufaro is proud that one of his daughters is the queen and the other is one of her servants. Quite the opposite of how Manyara always planned it.
Here is my summary sheet for our different Cinderella stories for this book.
Our craft this time was to make a green snake to represent Nyoka. We used the tutorial at Ziggity Zoom which was a craft for the Chinese New Year since this is the year of the snake. We used Q-tips and masking tape (well we used blue painters tape because we had it) and then painted them and added some eyes and a tongue.
Next week we will be discussing some Chinese versions. I hope you will join us!
My Garden Giveaway!!
The Time Garden -- Adult Coloring Book Review -- Mommy Time
Have you discovered the adult coloring books? It seems like everyone is getting into it. Even Starbucks has their new fall cups in adult coloring book style.
And yes, I let Hazel use our gel pens to begin to color in a cup after I washed it out.
I found some gel pens on clearance for 30 cents each and bought them for Hazel. Then I started working part time and bought some various packs of gel pens for myself at work. Hazel immediately asked to share all the gel pens. I think we are a bit obsessed with them.
Religious Easter Books
We are in Holy Week already, so it is the perfect time to share with you two books that are great for sharing the true meaning of Easter with your kids. The first book is not actually just an Easter book. It shares a few of the stories of Jesus' life. It is The Three Trees retold by Elena Pasquali and illustrated by Sophie Windham.
Kids' Activity Books Review
We have a spring break coming up and then it is almost time for summer break. I don't know about you but I know I will need some ideas to keep Hazel busy. Today I am going to share some fun books for kids that will keep them busy and help them learn! Our first book is from National Geographic Kids and it is Make This! by Ella Schwartz and photographs by Matthew Rakola.
Multicultural Children's Books -- Rainbow Stew
Disclosure: Lee and Low Books sent me a copy of Rainbow Stew to review. I received no other compensation. All opinions are my own.
Today I am so excited to be part of the Multicultural Children's Book Day: Celebrating Diversity in Children's Literature. Valerie at Jump Into a Book and Mia at Pragmatic Mom joined forces to come up with this amazing idea!
Earth Day Book Reviews and Giveaway
Today I am joining with a group of bloggers to do an Earth Day Giveaway. There are three prize packs and the information for the giveaway is below. Today I am lucky enough to review two of the books that are in the third prize pack. Hazel loves both of these books! The first book is Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree by Durga Yael Benhard. This book was released to celebrate Arbor Day which is April 24.
Bug Books
Today I am going to share two fun books about bugs. These books are so fun with a special time for us since Hazel's class has been focusing on bugs this year. The first book is Among a Thousand Fireflies by Helen Frost and photographs by Rick Lieder.
Kids' Felt Cuties -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party
Japanese Artwork inspired by the World's First Novel Jigsaw Puzzle
Disclosure: I was sent a this puzzle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I have been loving my puzzles but I am also loving learning about the picture on the puzzle. Today's puzzle is a woodblock print by Kuniteru Utagawa called Song of the Four Seasons: Summer created in 1853. It depicts a scene from the famous novel, The Tale of Genji written by Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji is considered to be the first novel in the world. It was written in the 11th century. You can learn more about the novel here. The picture on the puzzle is of Prince Genji with his companions in a Japanese garden on a summer's evening.
Happy Family Times #21--A Trip to Boston
Pond in The Public Garden |
Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.
~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times ~ use our button so others can join the fun
~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas
Spring, Flowers and Wildlife
Now one of my favorite types of days is where you do not have to worry about getting somewhere by a certain time, so when you open your garage door and see a turkey, you can take the time to try to see it and get a picture of it--oh, and of course try to feed it. Yesterday was one of those days and yes, when I opened my garage door there was a turkey right there. Hazel and I tried to get a good look at it, but it ran away. We left it some cracked corn, but it was a few houses away by then and I do not think it came back.
Then today after I picked Hazel up from school, we ran to AC Moore for some craft supplies and stopped at KMart for some plants. It was unusually warm here in Massachusetts (20 degrees higher than average) so we spent the afternoon outside. Hazel could not wait to plant some flowers.
We bought an English daisy and three six-packs of pansies. We also bought some lettuce, sugar snap peas, basil and some tomato plants (which we will keep inside for another couple of months).
Doing the Gardener Dance |
We decided to plant some in a pot on the front steps and some around a tree in the front. Then Hazel also planted some in her garden (my old garden that we are letting her play in). I planted the vegetables there as well since Daddy hasn't dug me my new garden yet.
While planting in the back we had a sure sign of spring. Our ducks returned. They came up looking for food, but when we moved to get them some, they flew back in the water.
We threw some of the cracked corn into the water for them. Then after dinner I looked out and saw two males. Now we had this problem last year. Some other male comes and attacks the female trying to mate with her. Her mate does his best to chase him away, but it can takes days until he leaves them alone. Anyway, I went out to see what was going on. The extra male flew away, but he started flying circles as I kept seeing him come back. I think he was checking to see if I was gone yet. Then he landed back in the water and went after the female. She kept trying to hide in the tunnel (the creek goes underground on our property), but he followed her. Her mate chased him out and down the creek by the bend where their nest is. She came out and I stood very still waiting to make sure she was safe. She must have decided I was safer than the water, because she came up and sat about 7 feet from me. I stayed for awhile and then slowly moved far around her to check on the males. The attacking male flew away and her mate same down to where she was and came up. They stayed there for quite some time. It looked like she was sleeping some of the time and he was guarding her.
The last time I looked out, they were gone--I'm guessing back to their nest. All I cared about was they were safe and she was not being attacked/raped. (I know it is natural for ducks, but I don't think the female should be attacked when she doesn't want to be with him and she is happy with her mate.) So that was our duck drama and our fun day outside! Tonight the rain will come and bring the temperatures down again, but at least we got one day outside in the warmth.
Lebanese Music and Food
Since July is ending, it seems only fitting to finish our exploration of Lebanon with you. Besides the books and DVD we found at the library we also found some CDs with a few songs from Lebanon. Putumaya Presents Sahara Lounge has four Lebanese songs and the other two CDs each have one.
Tranquil Zen Garden in Kyoto, Japan 1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Review
Disclosure: I was sent this jigsaw puzzle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Today I get to share with you a jigsaw puzzle of a beautiful zen garden in Japan. As I have mentioned before one of the many benefits of doing a puzzle is that it is relaxing. I find having a tranquil picture even more relaxing!! The puzzle is Tranquil Zen Garden in Kyoto, Japan 1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle from Tuttle Publishing.
Why I Love Weeds...
This year the weeds in our yard are abundant. There are times when I hate weeding the garden. In fact this year, Steve put some garden edging/fencing in hopes to keep the weeds at bay a bit more. However, there are also some reasons to keep those weeds. Here are a few I love.
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Do you remember having fun as a child, holding buttercups under friends' chins to see if they love butter? I do and I want Hazel to find the same joy in simple nature. Of course if you want a science lesson on the buttercup game check out the science behind it here.
Another simple joy in nature is whistling with grass. Did you do that as a child? If you do not know what I am talking about, you can check out this tutorial.
There are other benefits to weeds. Some are edible like the dandelion and violet. Many also have healing benefits. I know my mother is very into holistic medicine and often discusses the herbs that many people consider weeds as hard to find because people do not want weeds. Plus there are benefits to your soil for keeping some weeds. The weeds will grow in poor soil, but will often replace the nutrients into the soil for a better balance. For more information on the soil benefit read here. Finally I read recently (and cannot remember where) that some animals are having issues because people are not growing the native plants for their areas. The insects and other animals are losing their food, habitats and more.
So these are some of the reasons why I love weeds and have not minded the large number we have growing in our yard. I see each one as a toy/learning tool for Hazel. She is discovering the world with them and also enjoying some flowers of her own. Of course the bigger problem right now for us in our yard is the grub infestation in the front yard, but our landscaper is going to deal with that problem for us.
What fun activities do you have for your weeds?