Kick a little stone

Kick a Little Stone

When you are walking by yourself
Here's something nice to do:
Kick a little stone and watch it
Hop ahead of you.
The little stone is round and white,
Its shadow round and blue.
Along the sidewalk over the cracks
The shadow bounces too.

by Dorothy Aldis

We went for a walk the other afternoon and Django was kicking a stone. He remembered this poem we like to read in a favourite children's poetry book of ours called  Here's a little poem .

Polly Dunbar is the illustrator and she has written other fantastic books too. I really love her illustrations,  I especially like Flyaway Katie.

One more fantastic story called Ideas Everywhere. Such a great book to read to kids at school (or at home) to help inspire story writing. 

She's like a rainbow

I finally finished Sunny's rainbow crochet dress. Yipee.

We have been loving this song lately!

More about trees

My mum emailed me this description of a tree....

"An old man, Wilf Drews (1909-2011)  died recently.  He  began a tree planting crusade around the collieries in the Hunter and in the 1950s he placed a plaque on a tree:

                        

 "A TREE.

Ye who would pass by and raise your hand against me harken ere you harm me. I am the heat of your hearth on cold winters nights, the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on. I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on which you lie and the timber which builds your boat. I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your home, the wood of your cradle and the shell of your coffin. I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty. Ye who pass listen to my prayer,   HARM ME NOT I AM A TREE."

Wilf was a miner who left school at 14, after  45 years in the mines he became Australia's first colleriery gardener, an early conservationist and initiated a commemorative tree and plaque program for retiring employees....he sounds a very nice man....his obituary was in SMH 4/5/2011 page 20."

This is one of the amazing Root Bridges of Cherrapunji in north east India. It is made from the roots of the ficus elastica tree.   Trisso and I saw them on a nature show the other night. I wish I knew about them when I was in india - they look amazing.

This one is called the dancing tree.

A tunnel tree

What a cool bed!

This could go on for ever there are so many wonderful trees!

Last one, a knitted tree. That is a bit funny!

A BIG day at home with django

First we made pumpkin scones.

Then it was golf ball & marble painting.

Look at the concentration!

Then we made a box cubby house.

It was so beautiful out on the deck in the lovely autumn sun. 

Nature Anthem by Grandaddy

I saw this on rage on the weekend.  I think it is cute!  I like the lyrics!

            I wanna walk up the side of the mountain, 
           I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain, 
           I wanna swim in the river, lie in the sun, 
          I wanna try to be nice to everyone.

Alphabet biscuits

The boys made some alphabet biscuits. They are quite dry but they love them!

Ingredients

1 cup SR flour
1/2 tbspn corn flour
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup castor sugar
1 beaten egg

1. Sift flours into bowl.
2. Rub in the butter (they love to do this!)
3. Crack egg into small bowl and beat with fork.
4. Add egg and sugar to mix.
5. Combine ingredients with hands.
6. Tip out onto floured bench and knead the dough.
7. Roll small bits into sausages and make into letters, numbers or shapes.

(Eating the uncooked mixture is very popular - it is hard to get any into the oven!)

8. Bake in a moderate oven (180) for about 15 - 20 mins.

Winter is coming

A beautiful autumn morning with a chill in the air.

The ugg boots are on and I've started knitting.

Even Sunny has some ugg boots.