WORDS

Round about the cauldron go;   

In the poison’d entrails throw.   
Toad, that under cold stone    
Days and nights hast thirty one   
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,   
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.   

     Double, double toil and trouble; 
     Fire burn and cauldron bubble.   

Fillet of a fenny snake,   
In the cauldron boil and bake;   
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,   
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,   
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,   
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,   
For a charm of powerful trouble, 
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.   

     Double, double toil and trouble;   
     Fire burn and cauldron bubble.  

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,   
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf  
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,  
Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark,  
Liver of blaspheming Jew,   
Gall of goat, and slips of yew  
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse,  
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips,  
Finger of birth-strangled babe   
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,  
Make the gruel thick and slab:  
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,  
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

     Double, double toil and trouble;   
     Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 

from MacBeth by William Shakespeare

         Act IV Scene 1 Round the cauldron go

happy day! happy Halloween!

EMBRACING HALLOWEEN

My daughter loves Halloween. I am not a huge fan.
Talk of Halloween starts in the summer around here and my insides start to groan, although I smile and listen. And sure, I have helped the children with costumes, went trick or treating, even hosted parties over many years, but never really embraced the holiday. 

One year I left all the Halloween decorations in the box in the basement... oops! Noone commented until afterwards. But that happened in our new house, so in all fairness, maybe we didn't know where the box was.

This year was different for me. Halloween still isn't my favorite but it IS to my daughter. It matters a great deal to HER.  Her eyes light up while she tells of her plans and how she will decorate for her annual party. And then it hit me...like a ton of bricks, it is said. 

When you love someone you support them and their passions, and as a mindful and unschooling parent you most certainly do.

I started looking at it in a new way. . .  Halloween as her passion, as her interest, and like everything else, I encourage and support and help when needed. 
In simple terms I embraced Halloween.

We talked non-stop of her plans and she made many lists. We went to the library and poured over books and put bookmarks in all the crafts and recipes we were going to make for her party. It became exciting.

She took complete control and went to task and I was there as her sidekick to help with whatever needed to be done. Her energy was contagious and I began to enjoy myself, not so much because I love Halloween but because I love my child.

She insisted on a graveyard in the front yard which looked pretty spooky come nightfall. The graves did have to be supported a bit extra with dowels hammered into the ground and wire

around the gravestones to stand up to the wind, and it worked.

She hosted a pumpkin carving gathering the week before so the pumpkins were all ready to be lit and some party goers got to know one another a bit more.

She LOVES to decorate with streamers, no matter the occasion, and with a ladder and some duct tape she went to work. It looked terrific!

She is a huge fan of spider webs and webbed up everything. . . 

                           mirrors

bookshelves

                                   mantels

                                       walls

and lampshades.

She painted paper mache skeleton heads from a craft store and added them to the mantel.

Other touches were added around the room . . .the cat, of course, jumping into the pictures :)

We made large ghosts for the six front windows looking out onto the graveyard, inspiration from theMartha Stewart Halloween book.

She made Owl Cupcakes ! Directions here.

She got dressed . . . 

and was ready to greet her guests.

A spooky time was had by all!

Our week was so busy. We didn't make and do all the recipes and crafts we had bookmarked but it was fun looking and deciding. We didn't buy everything we wanted but it was fun browsing and shopping. 

We were two people with a common goal who were excited and interested. . . my daughter because she absolutely loves Halloween, and me mostly because I love my daughter. But I have to admit, I think I am already looking forward to next year. I'm  thinking about a candy hunt in the woodlands along a path lit with jack o lanterns.

When we, as parents, allow ourselves to be open to our children, to embrace what they are interested in, it enriches both our lives. We become closer to our children and they begin to share more of themselves, their wishes, hopes and dreams, and when we listen and become actively involved in their passions we show them they are valued, every single bit of them.

It is love in action.

                            happy Halloween!

THROUGH THE WINDOW

                                   Aglow in the dark

                                   Alone in the night

                                  Anticipation for Halloween

                                                                                ~mjs

I'm playing Tuesday Through. . .The Window hosted by Swedish House . This Tuesday view is looking out to our front porch where my daughter wanted to see how her jack-o- lantern looked .


                        happy day!

GHOSTS IN A TREE

We love to use natural materials in many of our projects, and this time we decided on the fiber from our French Angora rabbits. 


 (Thank you for the fiber, Poof !)

It's dreamy and soft. . .  and a little bit *ghostly*, don't you think?

We took some of the angora, rolled and shaped it into *ghost form*, and tried our hands at needle felting, to make the fibers take form and stick together. Needle felting ( vs wet felting) allowed it to be wispy and still flow, like a ghost.

Once in desired shape, we glued on some eyes that we cut from black felt.

We made a loop to hang the ghosts with fishing line (because it's clear) and arranged them on a large branch we found in the woodlands. 

We leaned the branch against the wall and stretched some polyester batting for a "spooky" feel.

BOO !

If you want to see some absolutely glorious needle felted art, go here to Marie's inspiring blog, Softearth's World. It will take your breath away.


    happy day!