A Pink Marble Palace by the Bay

It sneaked up on me. Truly, only a few years ago I am fairly certain, I could be found bent over clasping tiny hands as he delighted in his newly acquired skill of semi-walking. It couldn't be that long ago, could it? So how is it that I suddenly found myself visiting colleges this weekend, discussing the pros of one college versus another, and remembering The Big Red Barn reading sessions as if they occurred just a few days ago?

Inexorably, time manages to march on, despite my insisting it linger awhile. So this past weekend I found myself on the campus of New College of Florida, listening to a faculty member tout accolade after accolade. If I hadn't been with there with Jacob's friend and his mom, I think I might be able to convince myself that it was a dream.

The email instructed me to drive to the "pink marble palace by the bay," and so, with these colorful commands, we arrived on the Sarasota campus, remarking at how quaint and beautiful the surroundings were. 

The Pink Marble Palace by the Bay!

It turns out the pink marble palace by the bay was actually the home of Charles Ringling, of the Ringling circus family. It now houses classrooms, offices, and events for the college. 

We gathered there to learn more about New College in the dining room of the venerable house.

New College is fascinating in that the students do not receive grades, but rather a narrative evaluation of their work. That being said, the students have no trouble going on to graduate school. In fact, it is the number two ranked school in the nation for top tier graduate school admissions after the University of Michigan. Additionally, the students are mentored by their professors (10 - 1 ratio, no less) and they get to know them quite well. For these reasons, along with the smaller-sized student body of only 900, my son was quite smitten with the school.

View from the back of College Hall. The location isn't bad either!

We returned to my parents-in-law's home to stay the night and woke up early the next morning for college visit fun, part two! After a rousing drive through Okeechobee via Highway 70 across the state, we reached the campus of Florida Atlantic University just before the tour was to begin.

The university, a part of the state university system of Florida (as is New College), is located in beautiful Boca Raton, Florida, and it boasts the only ocean view college football stadium in the nation. The mascot is the Burrowing Owl, as it is a sanctuary for that animal.

Owlsley, the FAU mascot!

The campus was beautiful with lovely gardens. Liz and I spotted a gorgeous tree and found out it was a sea grape tree. Unfortunately, the tree can't survive frost, so Jacksonville is just a smidge out of its zone.

FAU boasts of quite a few amenities. The business school has its own Wall Street ticker room. The class size is on the smaller side for a state university, and it is also the most diverse campus in the state. I loved the look of the school's library!

The library

A business lecture hall

While the school is large, at approximately 30,000 students, it still had a smaller feel, and indeed, felt much smaller than my alma mater of the University of Kansas. At some point, I'm looking forward to taking my son to visit FAU's honors school, located 45 minutes to the north, in Jupiter, Florida. Called Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, it boasts a student body enrollment of just 600. 

The drive home lasted about four hours, and I know each of us was tired and our heads were spinning from the quick trip. Still, we had learned a lot. Both schools have their strengths and weaknesses. There are still many more schools we want to investigate. Yet it was a special trip, one that I will cherish in my heart for the rest of my life, and I will welcome the opportunities opening to my son, remembering how I felt at that season of my life!

A Little Spindling on the Side

I've been working with my spindles some more. Every time I pick them up, they make me want to smile. My latest project has been a tiny one, as I had only a little bit of fiber in a particular colorway, but I wanted to play with a three ply, and this just looked too fun.

Two of Three

I spun up three colors of singles. A mulberry of merino, a brown of llama, and a cream of some unknown long wool. For plying I fashioned a spindle kate out of a spa basket I purchased from Amazon.

It's not fancy, but it works!

Because the yardage was so slight, I wound my singles around a smallish natural sea sponge.

The start of a small plying ball

Eventually I got all the singles wound off and was prepared for plying. It went smooth as silk!

Almost done!

After a relaxing bath (the yarn, not me), I skeined my tiny treasure. I am planning on using it in my Traditional Danish Tie Shawl which I hope to finish before I'm a decade older. It seems like that shawl is taking forever, but I suppose that's what happens when one doesn't actually knit on it, eh?

Finished, and oh, so cute!

I'm now motivated to finish up knitting some projects that have been, shall we say, relaxing just a smidge too long?

One Berry, Two Berry, Pick Me a...

Berry picking time is one of my favorite times of the year. In Kansas I remember picking wild mulberries that grew in our backyard. Their tartness made my mouth pucker! Now that I live in Florida, my favorite berries to pick are blueberries! This past Friday I took my two youngest kiddos along and headed out with friends to the local berry patch for some serious blueberry hunting.

Yummy berries!

We were up by 6:00 and ready to go. We reached the berry farm by 7:30. Cloudy and cool, with drops of dew scattering the light around, we were treated to a comfortable and cool experience. I could hear the excited calls of the younger children who joined our expedition as they hunted their berries down, buckets tied at their waists.

Rocking the bucket look

 The morning was deliciously cool, such that isn't frequently seen in Florida in June, and I was deeply grateful for it.

Filling it up!

Weighing

 Savoring the time, I slowly gathered the berries. Eventually both kiddos decided they had gathered enough. The sun was breaking through, and it was time to head back home to our studies. I finished picking just a few more and headed for the scales.

Beauties!

All in all, we picked only about six pounds, a far cry from my girlfriend's 21.5 pounds, but still plenty for what I had planned to do with them... JAM!

We returned home with our treasure and rejoined reality for the rest of the day. Then this morning I woke up extra early to begin the jam making process.

I remember making jam only a few times with my mother when I was a girl. Then in 8th grade my Home Ec teacher showed our class how to make grape jelly. I loved it! When we moved out to Florida, I decided it was time to start canning again, and in that spirit I gamely tackled both strawberry and blueberry jam. Each time I made a batch I learned more about canning, which eventually brought me to this morning.

With everyone else still tucked up in bed, I quietly assembled the necessary supplies. When I first started canning, I did it without any special supplies, but it didn't take long before I saw the wisdom in investing in an inexpensive canning set to preserve singed fingers.

Freshly Picked Berries Waiting for a Bath!

 I set the berries to wash in a bath and then laid them out to dry on paper towels.

Jars on the bottom

 While the berries dried I prepared the jars, seals, and lids. I don't have a special canning pot, so I utilize my large stock pot with the pasta insert and steamer basket.

Lids and seals on top!

As the jars started to boil, I began to work on the jam. I gathered up the berries, sugar (oh, so much sugar!), butter (to control foaming), lemon juice, and pectin.

By the time the household began to stir, I had jam bubbling on the stove and was almost ready to begin filling the jars.

Berries and sugar... YUM!

I did a double batch. By 10:30 in the morning all the jars were completed and the kitchen cleaned up.

Jars of Florida Sunshine and Sweetness!

I've got quite a few jars, and I'm looking forward to having jam to last for the year and to give as gifts.

If you want to make your own blueberry jam, now's a good time to pick up berries at the grocery if you aren't near an orchard. Here's my favorite recipe:

Blueberry Preserves

7 cups whole blueberries, washed

5 cups sugar (yes, 5 CUPS)

2 T lemon juice

1/2 t. butter

1 package liquid pectin (I like Certo)

Boil all of the jars and lids, being certain to leave them in the hot water until you are ready to use them.

Bring all of the ingredients to a full rolling boil and then make certain you stir the mixture constantly. When the boil can't be stirred down any longer, add one package of the liquid pectin. Keep stirring. When it reaches a full boil again, boil for one minute longer. Remove from the heat.

Take one jar at a time out of the hot water and ladle it into hot jars and seal them. Check to make certain they seal properly. If they don't, no sweat, just transfer the jar to the fridge and make certain you consume it first! As you pull the jars from your pantry to consume throughout the year, be certain to visually examine them to ascertain that the seal is still intact. And enjoy!

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8, NIV

Sleeping Beauty

I am schizophrenic when it comes to my spinning. It seems I am either all in or all out. Lately I've been all in in a big way. Not only have my spindles been seeing a lot of action, but I finally completed spinning a project that has been sleeping for several months on my Rose!

Frankly, I can't remember when, exactly, I began spinning on this lovely lace, but I believe I worked on the first bobbin more than six months ago.

Lace Singles

 I spun the fiber (Blue Faced Leicester) with a worsted (short draw) method with my wheel set on the second highest ratio.

It seemed like it took forever! Of course, when I let the first bobbin sleep for almost half a year, that may account for why I felt that way! Eventually I settled down to business, and I quickly spun up the second bobbin. The very next day I plied everything on my highest ratio setting, and that DID take forever!

Finally plied!

I only had a small amount left on my remaining bobbin, so I did a fairly good job of guestimating my fiber. After that, it was time to skein it on the niddy noddy.

Some day I may invest in a skeiner, especially if I start spinning more and more laceweight, but for now, it's a wonderful way to run my fingers over the entire length of the yarn, noting any flaws or differences in grist.

Recently I discovered a new scent of Eucalan that I've fallen in love with.

Wrapture is Rapturous!

I first heard about it on the Craftlit podcast, but as I only go through wool wash about once every five years or so, so it took me awhile to justify buying it. I'm so glad I did! It's a delicious and decadent scent of night-blooming jasmine, one of my all-time favorites! I washed the yarn and hung it up to dry under no tension.

Because of our lovely Florida climate, it took an entire day to dry, but I think it turned out fabulous!

I'm not certain what I want to knit out of it, but I've got a few ideas, namely either Citron Grand or Salish Sea. I'm open for suggestions, though! If you have any ideas, please send me a comment!

We Will Run

Late last night my middle child and I returned home from the Florida Parent Educators Association Homeschool Conference. While there, instead of doing my usual of stalking the vendors' booths and attending workshops, I had the privilege of working in the IEW booth by assisting parents in selecting materials for their children. I saw the gamut, too. Some parents were brand new, excited and charged to begin their educational journey with their kids. Some parents had hit that bump in the road, and came in with tears swimming in their eyes. Some parents waxed nostalgic as they selected materials for their child's last year of homeschooling. I was crazy busy, and no wonder, too, as I later learned that that conference was officially the largest homeschool conference ever gathered...in the world!

In my element! (Thanks, Michelle, for taking the photo!)

Perhaps that's why, once I got home and crawled into bed, I had this dream. In it, I was traveling with my family in an RV. We were cruising down the back roads of America, on our way home from a long journey. Suddenly the RV came to a halt. There was congestion up ahead. As I looked around, I realized there was no way to turn the RV around, so I climbed out of it, walked about a football field length away to find out what was holding everyone up, and searched for assistance. While I was searching, I saw the congestion almost magically clear and the RV, containing my loved ones, instantly disappeared with everyone else, presumably on its way home.

I was alone. Here's where it gets strange. Oddly, I wasn't afraid. In an instant, I decided I would just run home. I kicked up my heels and took flight. And I was fast! I ran quickly and nimbly, easily jumping streams and running up hills, and I never got tired or out of breath. I knew with all that I was that I would see my family at home as long as I stayed the course. When the alarm clock rudely interrupted my epic journey, I was initially upset. I could still feel the warm breeze on my arms and smell the grass in the field. I could hear the trickle of the stream. I wanted to be back in that dream and not sitting on the edge of my bed, rubbing my eyes, and willing my sore feet to move.

This dream reminded me of C.S. Lewis' fabulous series, The Chronicles of Narnia. In the last book (The Last Battle), the Pevensie children go through the mysterious door to a wonderful land on the other side. Excited, they also begin running, "further up and further in," little suspecting they have arrived in heaven. They run joyfully, faster and faster, marveling at having no fatigue. I thought it was such a powerful description of heaven written for young children, fascinating them and encouraging them, as they imagined the Pevensie children's fate.

Life, any way you slice it, is tiring. Daily we face uncertainty and battle fatigue. Life places demands on us, and we respond, but simply because we live in finite bodies, we tire. As we go about our daily business of living, loving, working, playing, and serving, it is a comfort to me to know that at the end of the race, there will be rest. Perhaps my favorite scripture illustrating this comes from Isaiah:

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

the will run and not grow weary.

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31, NIV

Those are words of comfort and truth! They provide rest for my soul, and strength for my day. And when my days are done, they will carry me over.

Mac Powell sings a song that I keep reflecting on. "When Love Sees You," is sung as if it is the Lord Jesus singing to us. I love the video, and I hope you do too. May you have peace for your days and rest in Him!

Ars Gratia Artis (or Living the Luddite Life)

I believe there is a monumental disconnect in our society with the tactile arts. I believe there is a tragic forfeiture of anticipation that has been supplanted with the immediacy of information. I believe it is strangling our creativity, our relationships, and our health.

What do I mean by tactile arts? I am brushing with a broad stroke, but in general I am referring to anything that is done that elevates and improves the mind. In this vein, reading a classic novel, baking homemade brownies, tending a small garden, and journaling with ink and paper all count. I am specifically excluding anything of an electronic nature (this blog incuded) in my definition, simply because the internet ether has become our modus operandi, almost our god, of late, and I think it's important to carve out time to deliberately leave that world.

For me, creativity flows in several ways. Lately I've been spinning. It's as if the incessant spinning of my life has sparked a need to reflect it in a more creative and peaceful way. The more briskly my world moves, the more I struggle to break free of the constraints, the more I choose meditative pursuits to practice.

My latest spindle spun yarn

Bottom Edging

Happily, I am now in the finishing stages of my Lily Cardigan now, too! The knitting is completed, the blocking finished. All that's left is to tuck in the ends, sew on the button, and then wear and enjoy!

Placket

I have loved every step of this swea- ter, and I'm already envisioning wearing it in air conditioning. Contrary to what many may suppose, Florida is definitely sweater weather for much of the year, except it's born of the necessity of living in cool air conditioned houses!



It is my hope that in reading this post, you may be encouraged to slow your steps for even just a few spare moments. Linger a little longer over a book (or start one you've been meaning to start!). Pull out a favorite recipe and prepare it. Think of the person who gave it to you. Doodle. Dabble. Dream.

Am I a Luddite? No. I love my technology (just ask my family!). But, I recognize the dangers technology presents that I don't regularly think about. It can be isolationist. It can be all-consuming. The potential is there, and I see the results not only in my life, but in the lives of my friends, my family, and my community.
So what will you try today?

May Day

It's May Day! A reminder that sweet spring is here is the first bloom of my gardenia bush.

These are my favorite flowers, both for their sweet scent and even sweeter memories, as they were the flowers I carried the day I married my sweetheart!

I remember as a little girl my sister and I preparing May baskets for our neighbors back in my small hometown. We would grab whatever flowers we could find:  lilacs, pansies, dandelions. Whatever we could find (and hey, we occasionally "borrowed" flowers from neighbors as well), then we formed cones out of newspapers or wove baskets of construction paper and delivered our gifts to the neighbors. Sneaking up as quietly as two giggling girls could, we would lay the bouquet down on the front stoop, ring the doorbell, and run away as fast as our little feet could carry us. They are sweet memories. How I wish I could experience the joy of a sloppy sweet floral gift from a neighborhood child, but I've never had that pleasure before. I think it must have fallen out of custom. Even my own children haven't done them. Perhaps it's time to rectify that today!

May Day reflects back on a fascinating heritage, most notably of which is the May Pole. I remember dancing around the May Pole at the summer solstice garbed in my Swedish Dancer costume. It was so much fun to weave in and out with the ribbons and gaze as the  the pole grew attractively clad in the bright colors.

There is an obvious pagan connection that as a child I never considered, but the May Pole dance goes all the way back to the medieval period. Other connections, such as fertility and male and female relationships are also reflected in May Day traditions. It is only natural, given that this time of the year is just bursting with new growth.

Regardless, let's not let this May Day go unobserved.

Here is a lovely poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson called May-Day. I've reprinted just the first lines, as it is quite long, but it is gorgeous, and I plan on stuffing myself full of it later today! Enjoy!

Daughter of Heaven and Earth, coy Spring,
With sudden passion languishing,
Teaching Barren moors to smile,
Painting pictures mile on mile,
Holds a cup with cowslip-wreaths,
Whence a smokeless incense breaths.