Medieval Games

Valerie's 6th grade class studied the medieval period this year. A culminating activity for them was to participate in an exhibition with other Waldorf schools in Northern California.



Students were divided into Shires and demonstrated some skills for the king and queen. Here's Valerie dancing across the pontoon bridge. She made it look easy.


She had good form on the javelin.





And what an archer!


She slayed the black dragon!


She crossed the swamp on a pole.


But decided to go for a refreshing plunge.


Mmmmm! Leaches!


At the end of the day she was knighted.


Meanwhile the parents horses around. You can see the executioner caught up with me .


Here's Valerie's class with their tabards they made with their personal crests.


Up close you might be able to see her crest is of two rats that look like Cookie's & Cream in a yin and yang pose.


Huzzah!

13

First off, I must update you on the Useless Cat:




Valerie came home from school today and reported, "Okay, there are two things on my bed. I find one of them disturbing."

I don't blame her. That cat drags in all kinds of foxtails and itchy things.

The skull is a souvenir from Michael & Rex's hunting trip today. They said that thing was coming right for them. So, not the wild boar meat they were hoping for, but not empty handed.

Today Rex officially turned 13. We have an actual teenager in the house. Michael and I cannot even remember our 13th birthdays (although 12 and 14 can be recalled) so we snapped a few photos for posterity:











He requested a cheese cake. I made it with eggs from our chickens and honey from our bees. On the side was a strawberry rhubarb compote that was also harvested from our yard.

In fact, at dinner tonight the salad and artichokes came from our yard and were served with a homemade mayonnaise (also compliments of our hens).

So, when Rex was in my belly I was still eating canned tomato soup and tater tots. 13 years later we are harvesting as much food out of the yard as possible. We've come a long way ... Baby!

Thank goodness for Rex and his sisters for this grand adventure.

Useless Cat!

Let it be known throughout the land that Mr. Whiskers (aka: Steve Austin, the $6 million cat) is utterly useless! He woke me up at 2:30am to go outside. Darn cat.

At 6:15am I stumbled into the kitchen and put on water for tea. I turned to get a glass of water when something sprang out of the garbage disposal toward my face. Naturally I screamed. I stood staring at the sink for a moment wondering if I had just imagined that. A dark gray shape sprang back up toward my face and fell back into the sink again. "Mouse!! Mouse!!! Mooooouuuuuuse!!!" I screamed in the hopes that someone would come rescue me. Who? Oh, you know, one of my children. They are so brave!

I never thought of myself as the type of woman who would shriek at the sight of a mouse. I think it was the combination of the utter surprise, followed by the suspense of wondering where it would go, would there be others? And then the larger issue: We have mice!

So, I screamed again, "Valerie!!! Mouse!! Mouse!!!"

Now, normally it's difficult to get the girls out of bed for school in the morning. But when Valerie heard her name followed by the word "mouse" out she ran. "Oh, it's one of those little jumper mice," she said. We discussed catching it and she put on some leather gloves as I ran to get a box. "What ever you do, Mommy, do not turn on the garbage disposal. It is already really wet and scared." With the authority of someone who has years of experience with these situations she took charge. "I need a flashlight. Okay, I can see he has lots of food and water down there, so he'll probably hide out a while. I'm going to have to go in after him. How much will you give me if I catch the mouse and turn it loose in the field down the street? $5? Okay."

And the next thing I know, it was done.

Later in the morning she was taking some scraps out to the chickens and came in to inform me that there is a squished mouse under the hinges of the nesting boxes in the chicken house.

Mr. Whiskers, you are so fired!