Archive for the ‘photography’ Category

We had a huge milestone around here last week. D, our youngest, turned 13. So, a house full of teenagers! Here he is with his snickerdoodle cake, the first one I’ve made in a long time. (N typically bakes the cakes around here; I don’t know what happened to him.)

The next day, all three boys started school. D headed off for his first day as BMOC at CMS. He is very glad to be the only boy in the car in the a.m., and I am enjoying having him be the only one up with us in the early, early shift.

Here’s N, preparing for his first day of High School. His first school day without a uniform since second grade.

And, now for the most experienced of our school goers: G. Getting ready for his junior year. He’s looking forward to a very challenging schedule.

As for me, I’m enjoying having the house to myself. I have been filling my days with shopping for school supplies, meeting plumbers, tree cutters, etc., and, generally trying to clear the mountains of paperwork that accumulate around here during vacations. Here’s to fall!

I’ve been posting for several days about my teaching experience at the Mississippi Whole Schools Institute. Here are some more examples of Fibonacci Folding Books made by teachers in the workshop I team taught with Julie Owen. Aren’t they amazing?

I taught this week at the Mississippi Whole Schools Summer Institute. Julie Owen and I teamed up to teach the Fibonacci Folding Book Project. I taught three other afternoon sessions and Julie taught her fabulous “Knit it, Solve it,” for the first time. You can see photos of our work on Julie’s flickr album here or here on my blog.

I noticed this cicada skin as we left for our morning walk a few days ago. I finally got around to taking some photographs. It held on to our tomato plant even during a downpour.

Check out this old post, which has a photograph of a cicada after it has molted.

On Friday, students from Operation Shoestring visited the Jesse Gates Edible Forest at Wells Church to see the growth. After a tour of the garden, volunteers from the church served a buffet of vegetable dishes and fruit. It was a very hot July day (about 100 degrees). You can click here to see earlier posts about the Jesse Gates Edible Forest at Wells Church.

My friend Stephenie turned me on to Zentangles. I saw the potential for combining the Fibonacci grid that I use in Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers and Nature and zentangling. I just need to add the spiral.

Richard and the boys are giving me no end of ribbing about the fact that I spend time on the internet researching new “tangles,” which look to them like plain doodling. The final straw was my insistence that I had “messed up” and went to get the white out.

D and I spent a few hours at the Seattle Public Library, which was amazing. Read about the building here.

We stopped in during a workday at the Jesse Gates Edible Forest at Wells Church. We nibbled blueberries and visited for a few minutes with neighbors and other volunteers. You can see below how things are coming along. Remember, this is a partnership with the Mississippi Urban Forest Council, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Wells Church, and Operation Shoestring.

You can see previous posts here and here..

I loved this bean leaf.
A tiny peach.
An onion.
A plum.
Beans!
Our project director, Loy Moncrief, and volunteers, Jane Streets, Sheila and Bobby Robinson.

Sheila and Bobby Robinson.

A watermelon.
More beans.

One of the things dug up along the fence.

Sheila’s dog.

Kids from Operation Shoestring standing with Loy Moncrief, Jane Streets, and Star Pool. This sign will serve until a permanent one can be made. I love the colors!

Richard and I started the day at the Jesse Gates Edible Forest at Wells Church. Loy tipped us off that blueberries and blackberries were ripe. We figured it was time to photograph the progress. You can see the earlier set of photos here.

Just some photos today. Richard took these in our butterfly garden and patio. We needed some color this weekend.