Being outdoors, smelling flowers, having picnics, walking barefoot on grass, dancing and singing.
We make an outdoor fairy house and garden. Morgana still loves doing this and she receives gifts from the fairies too! She gets sparkly precious stones and crystals and other interesting objects.
My nature table at the moment has dark pink/fucshia cloths and roses with crystals and pink quartz, felt butterfly and birds but Morgana's nature table in her own room has similar things with an addition of a blue scarf with sea shells and beach findings.
Morgana and friends always play outdoors mainly, is only natural! She loves picking petals from the fallen flowers and mixes them in bowls with water and gets purple or yellow coloured 'potions'!
I have been pressing flowers with the children I look after. It teaches them to be patient as they have to wait for the result...a week or two at least!
We stop and look at ladybirds, ants, spiders, bugs...
I tell stories about them and the children want them again and again!
It is also a time when we, mostly Morgana and I, can be more spontaneous and funny and sometimes silly!
Here are some special moments captured in the last 10 years...
Friends in our garden...children dressed as fairies
Summer 2005
Summer is all about getting wet! Barbie dolls in the swimming pool too!
Now Morgana's feet!
Morgana was in that summer's 2005 production of 'HAIR'...in our house! Then we went to the 'BIG HOUSE' @ Unstone Grange near Chesterfield at the Macrobiotic Gathering
eating a summer's favourite: CORN on The COB !
Unstone Grange is a lovely place, Vegiventures organizes little retreat weekends there, check this out! is very family friendly, we go there each year!
Another place where we go for a long weekend is Wales ( family lives there!) and we always go to the beach in Porthcawl
Morgana's precious moments at the beach...
time to go home...
painting
row row row your boat...
At a rehearsal of Dengie Hopes and Dream show with me and my sister taking part of the production of Treasure Island!
The rehearsals where intense so a bit of running around was good during the breaks!
(resting at rehearsal)
Summer 2008
Summer 2009 on the heath Blackheath
OXLEAS WOODS 2009
So enjoy the SUN this weekend 25th and 26th June 2011!
it is going to feel hot and humid for a few days! I was waiting for the Sun...I miss it sometimes!Coming from The land of Sun, Italy...I have the need to warm my bones....
so for tonight I will ditch the blanket!
this is a story that I told at Kindergarten for this time of the year!
Mother Earth
Mother Earth, Mother Earth, take our seed and give it birth.
Sister Rain, Sister Rain, shed thy tears to swell the grain.
Father Sun, Gleam and glow, until the roots begin to grow.
Brother Wind, Breathe and blow then the blade green will grow
Earth and Sun, wind and rain, turn to gold the living grain.
The Return of the Sun King
by Christine Natale
Once upon a time, there was great sorrow among the fairy folk. Something had happened to the Fairy Queen, Titania. She had fallen asleep and would not wake up. The winter had come, terribly cold and full of ice and snow. In the fairy wood, no fires were burning. The seed babies were safely tucked in their beds, deep under Mother Earth’s coverlet of leaves and moss. The gnomes and dwarves were working deep underground. The water sprites waited under their ice roof, which covered the crystal lake and bubbling brook. Most of the fairy folk, those who tend the flower children in meadows and forests, were left to wander through the winter, seeking warmth and shelter. They sought these in the homes of mortals, hoping to rest beside the fires both in castle and in hovels. Where ever fairy stories were being told at night or where ever Christmas candles were burning, there they were allowed to rest awhile. This winter, the Fairy Queen and her troupe had been wandering and wandering. The snow blew in great swirling clouds and Old King Winter laughed and crackled. Jack Frost had a jolly time pinching their noses and toes. Worst of all and sad to say, there were not enough resting places for the fairy troupe. Most of the stone castles were dark and deserted and had been so a long time. The houses, great or small, where real fairy stories were still being told were few and far between. And the Christmas Candles burned in but a few windows. One very dark night, after Yuletide, but long before Spring was due, the Fairy Queen began to grow very sleepy, as mortals do when they begin to freeze. Not being a mortal, she could not die but she could not wake up either. All of the fairies tried to wake her up. They danced and fluttered around her and sang songs as loudly as they dared. At last, with the help of two white snow-hares they managed to bring the Queen back to the stone
circle, which is their palace and dancing place. Without their Queen, the fairies were entirely without direction and purpose. Many also fell asleep and the ones who stayed awake were mournful and very miserable. Lady Spring finally came back from her house in the South. She sent old King Winter back to his ice palace in the frozen Castle. The ice melted and gentle rains fell. Seed babies began to awaken and the first flower children appeared. The fairies grew hopeful and hurried to bring Lady Spring to the bed of her sleeping sister.
Lady Spring took Titania’s hands and breathed the promise of Spring over her. She sang her magic song of roses and butterflies, of newborn lambs and nightingales. Titania’s cheeks grew rosier and she seemed to breathe more fully than before. But alas! Her eyes would not open, nor would she speak!
Lady Spring grew sorrowful and this brought a tremendous Spring storm. She had to dry her eyes quickly so as not to bring on a flood. She took leave of Titania’s attendants, saying, “I must continue on to waken all of the seed babies. Guard your Queen well and wait for Summer.” The fairies promised to do their best, but in truth, the seed babies and flower children were not taken care of as well as they should have been. Day by day, the fairies could see the ascent of the Sun King on his fiery steed. He was still far away, just over the horizon. Little by little he came closer and the day began to grow longer than the night. Finally, it was Midsummer’s Eve and the Sun King reached the pinnacle of the sky. He was riding very high over the palace of the Fairy Queen. The fairies shouted and clamored, pranced and danced, trying to catch the Sun King’s attention. He was too high up to hear them, but he soon noticed that the Fairy Queen had not come to greet him on this, their meeting day. The Sun King turned his steed toward the Earth and came as close as he could without harm. Of course, everything grew tremendously hot and the flower children took refuge under the broad leaved trees and bushes. Still, Titania did not wake up. Here hands and feet were still icy, although her hair shone golden in the brilliant light. Then the Sun King took off his mantle of fire and climbed down from his sky horse. Without the fire mantle, he would not scorch anything or anyone. Still, he was almost too bright to look at! He came to the Fairy Queen’s couch and he bent down and kissed her. He took her hands in his and felt them grow warmer and warmer. She opened her eyes and drew a long breath. She arose with all of her sleeping companions.
What rejoicing there was! Such a shouting and singing! Each fairy nurse ran to find her poor neglected flower child.
Titania thanked the Sun King for bringing her back to life. She told him how dark and
cold the winter had been. She wondered what to do the next time King Winter’s might was stronger than human love and light. “Do not fear,” said the Sun King, “For the darkest winter has passed and Winter’s power will someday be totally overcome. Human beings will remember to light their fires again. The Christmas candles will burn brightly in many homes and around the hearths, real fairy stories will be told again. I myself will proclaim this from the skies. For the light of the world has come to birth in human hearts and this can never again be extinguished.” Then the Sun King mounted his winged charger, put on his fire mantle and rode back to the summit of the sky. The fairy folk waved him on his journey with love and gratitude. That Midsummer night, they held the most joyful festive there ever was in all of fairy land. And if the lights have not gone out, they are dancing still.
Christine Natale 2003 All Rights Reserved.
and, finally, this is something I got from some book a few years ago and I put on the wall of our parent and child session's room!
Happy Home Recipe
4 cups love 3 cups forgiveness
2 cups loyalty 1 cup friendship
4 quarts faith 5 spoons hope
2 spoons tenderness 1 barrel laughter
Take love and loyalty. Mix thoroughly with faith. Blend with tenderness, kindness and understanding.
Add friendship and hope.
Sprinkle abundantly with laughter.
Bake with sunshine.
Serve daily in generous helpings.
Powerful Sun Storm
