Spring Days/Journées de printemps

We are currently enjoying spring in Montreal, taking long walks in the parks, spring flowers are blooming everywhere.  We've been having lots of rain too, which is making everything very green and it's good for knitting...

En ce moment, nous profitons du printemps à Montréal. Nous faisons de longues promenades dans les parcs. Tout est en fleur. Nous avons eu beaucoup de pluie aussi dernièrement, ce qui rend tout très  vert. Les journées de pluie, c'est aussi très bon pour le tricot...

Pondering what to make with gorgeous Canopy yarn by the Fibre Co. in sunny Mango (love this yellow!) while I work on my second Antarktis shawl in Fibre Co's Meadow. I finished knitting my Seashore Cowl as well as a little Marple dress for Evie. I'm really happy with both of these projects and thoroughly enjoyed knitting them. For the dress, I used Luna Grey yarn in lovely Blush colour. Luna Grey yarns are among my favourites for clothing.

Je réfléchis à ce que je vais faire avec ma nouvelle laine Canopy de Fibre Co. Je trouve ce jaune magnifique (la couleur c'est "Mango")! Je travaille aussi sur mon deuxième châle Antarktis avec la "Meadow" de Fibre Co. J'ai terminé mon châle Seashore ainsi qu'une petite robe pour Evie (Marple) et je suis très contente des résultats. J'ai beaucoup aimé tricoter ces deux projets. La petite robe est tricotée avec la laine Luna Grey que je trouve parfaite pour les vêtements.

Evie has been taking many long baby naps in her Snug As A Bug sleep sack. I don't think there is a more peaceful activity than knitting quietly next to a sleeping babe. Bliss!

Evie fait beaucoup de longs dodos dans son sac de couchage (Snug As A Bug). Je ne crois pas qu'il existe une activité plus paisible que de tricoter tranquillement à côté d'un bébé qui dort. Quel bonheur!

Bringing Spirit Into Matter (and homeschooling)

I'm back from Bringing Spirit Into Matter summer workshops at the Rudolf Steiner Centre in Toronto and feeling very inspired and energized to start a new homeschooling year (hoping to start lessons again once our summer camps have ended mid-August). My friend Jan and I attended a workshop designed especially for homeschoolers. Our teacher (Marg Beard) was wonderful! She helped us to better understand Waldorf pedagogy, child and human development, identify our needs and our children's needs (and find ways to meet them), work on our homeschool rhythm and goals and she shared many ideas and tools to help us better organize our home environment and teach our children. We even learned some great new songs and games to try out with our kids! Wow! I'm amazed at how much I've learned and how much useful help I've received in one week! I also attended a Eurythmy class and silk and yarn dyeing workshop, both equally inspiring. I came home with a suitcase full of colourful silks and rainbow yarn and feel confident to keep working and experimenting with plant dyes at home, on my own or with the children. As a homeschooler, I felt very welcome at the Steiner Centre. I met many amazing Waldorf teachers and early childhood educators as well as other homeschoolers from all over the world. Everyone was happy to share their experience, exchange ideas and teaching material with others. It was interesting to be in the classrooms of the beautiful Toronto Waldorf School for our workshops and Jan and I were lucky to be able to stay on site at Hesperus (watch the video, it's interesting!).

beautifully lazured walls everywhere...

and stained glass...

the farm, hard to believe we are in Toronto!

plant dyeing workshop, so nice to do outside!

I also brought home some interesting books...

Lately - Dernièrement

Photos taken over the last few weeks…

Photos prises dans les dernières semaines…

On the continent

Sur le continent

Back in the Islands

De retour aux Iles

Apples and Other Good Things

Busy, busy days have been keeping me away from this space. The above photos were taken a few weeks ago while visiting an orchard on the continent. We have started canning applesauce and will surely do several more batches over the next few weeks. We have also been canning apple butter and wild cranberries that we have been picking.

We have started lighting our wood stove once again. 

I have been working on some birthday gifts…

And exploring some new painting techniques that I learned with this wonderful teacher.

Busy with school work as well.

Enjoying the colours and cosiness of fall!

A Long Weekend in Maine - Long week-end dans le Maine

Acadia National Park