HOTM July Digital Issue

The July issue of the Heart of the Matter Digital Magazine is up over there! Go and check it out! In it you'll find the unit study I wrote on Falconry. I wish I could give you a direct link to the article, but I cannot. Follow the link and browse the magazine. Fun stuff in there!

Look for my unit study on falconry!

Owl Prowl

Last Monday, while camping, we went on an owl prowl. We met at 7:30pm and the naturalist talked with us a bit about the three owls in the park- the barred owl, the eastern screech owl, and the great horned owl. She told us only the screech owl was found in the northern end of the park and we likely wouldn't see any at all! I think she said it four times and told us not to be disappointed that we didn't see an owl and she hadn't seen any at all this summer yet. She added that she had a cataract (one left and one surgery down) so she wouldn't see anything. We'd have to do the spotting. Sufficiently encouraged for a good night walk with no owl sitings, we took off down the same trail we'd biked on earlier in the day. The naturalist called for owls now and then while we waited in silence. No answers. After a time, Dan decided to take J6 back to camp. It was about 8:30pm after all and he was beat after a long day. Not long after Dan left, R11 says "I see an owl!"

Amazingly, I looked up into the tree where she pointed and there it was. A barred owl. What a stunning sight! It was a large owl with just the right markings for a barred owl. It was in the crook of a tree branch, but it was far enough from the trunk to see it's whole form. All the kids left were able to see it, but the other adults were not convinced until the owl turned and took off. It had a huge wingspan!  It was high in the tree but on the first branch and probably 30 feet from us.

public domain- barred owl

The call of the barred owl- it has a really fine call so have a listen! It was a great hike and would have been a good time even without the owl siting. If you'd like to find out more about owls, have a look at The Lab of Ornithology's Owl Prowl- with lots of owl information! We did learn that we wouldn't hear any Great Horned Owls because they call and mate in December which explains the setting of Owl Moon, doesn't it? It's cold when you try and see Great Horned Owls!

As we were getting ready for sleeping that night, I told R11 that surely God had placed that owl in the tree just for us and she told me that she'd prayed that God would show us an owl. It was a divine moment for certain. I'm so thankful for little girls with owl prayers and for the Owl-Prayer-Answering God we serve.

Just One More Kids!

Overlook that is... On Monday when we viewed those falls, we also hit some overlooks and a museum all about William Pryor Letchworth and Mary Jemison. We saw trees planted 142 years before and other stands of trees planted at various times. We had ice cream. We had fun. It was miserably hot, but we carried on. Finally, we had to give up. But, we remained undaunted and hit the rest of the overlooks on the way out of the park when we packed out a day early!

There was face painting and game playing and more face painting...which I have to warn you all is not such clean affair when sweat is pouring off of you!

I9 was well equipped with his binoculars and his compass. Love a boy with a compass!

The Odyssey...carrying everything and almost everyone and some bikes.

That's a Saturn Coupe carrying all the food supply (including three coolers!) and some bikes.

Question: Have you ever seen a rabbit haul like that? I mean that rabbit is cookin'...check out his ears flying in the wind. Apparently, he's being chased by a snake.

Sure it looks different here kids...can't you see it?

By the third overlook the kids had decided to stay in the cars. So, Dan and I got out and Dan looks over the edge and shouts, "This is AMAZING!" which brought out the two younger boys. When we got back to the van R11 says, "It was just another overlook and I and J fell for it!" She was also famous for saying, "It's just another gorge. It doesn't matter how many waterfalls it has!" Let me just say that we are no stranger to gorges here!

I have one more special post to share and I need a great picture for it. Stay tuned!

Niagara Falls

On Tuesday, we continued our adventure in Niagara Falls. None of the kids had ever seen the falls and since we were reasonably close we planned to take a day there. It was so hot we spent ourselves on the American side and didn't view the falls from Canada. I was only disappointed that I didn't get to flex my enhanced NY driver's license on the way back through customs. Ah well... We did take a ride on the Maid of the Mist which was lots of fun. I kept asking Dan how much for the wedding package!

View from the platform above the Maid of the Mist dock on the American side of the falls.

This is probably the best view of the American Falls from the US. Check out the mist from the Horseshoe Falls in the background there...you can see that when you cross the Niagara further up river just as you are approaching the city of Niagara Falls.

Approaching the Canadian Falls from the Maid of the Mist

Passing the American Falls on the way back to the dock- on the way up to the Canadian Falls you see these closer up and I could have stood there all day to feel the mist on my face.

The whirlpool- you can just see the cable car you can take over the river from the Canadian side.

It was so dreadfully hot that day that we almost just left after our Maid of the Mist experience, but we managed to pull ourselves together for a drive (on the American side) down to the whirlpool. The whirlpool is where the Niagara river takes a sharp turn and all the water tumbling from the falls can't make the turn so well and goes around before exiting and continuing down the river toward Lake Ontario. E12 took a look at it and was disappointed. He felt the whirlpool was not dramatic enough. Somehow he thought it would be this amazing swirling vortex of water sucking anything down in its path. This thought reminded Dan of something he'd read. Now if you knew Dan in person, you'd know that this is a thing with him. He remembers everything he reads and is able to call it up in conversation at will. It's his super power. Really.

The story was about a lake in Louisiana which drained like a bath tub and emptied completely in a very short amount of time- the whirlpool sucked down fully loaded barges and caused the canal and the connecting Gulf of Mexico to flow north into the hole! Sure enough, Dan found the video of it and shared it with the kids. I just viewed it again to share here with you and I made a wild discovery. The earth science professor they interview is from SUNY Brockport (a State University of NY campus very near where we were camping) and in the background is a portrait of William Pryor Letchworth for whom the state park was named! My point? That just brought all of this together very tidily! Now, watch this video and stand in awe of a remarkable engineering failure which caused a huge whirlpool-yes, it's worth the time! Warning: ignore the typed comments that go with the video! 



Now that was a swirling vortex with some crazy power.

Our trip to Niagara Falls was a success despite the heat- yes...it was even hot so close to Canada! I only wish we could have lingered on the Maid of the Mist that afternoon.

Letchworth State Park

We have returned from the hottest camping trip on record. That's the trouble with making reservations four months in advance...you have to take what you get with the weather. When, according to the weather radio, we would be in for a temps at 100 and a heat index of 110, we decided to pack out a day early. We did get some exploring in despite the extreme heat (it was still HOT the rest of the week even before the big day) and hopefully you'll enjoy seeing our adventures at Letchworth State Park over the next few posts.

From the bike trail- we had to keep the kids in line and watch they didn't get too close to the edge!

One perk of this park is the extensive sets of trails including biking trails. We only went on one loop which wasn't too long. The rest we had to drive to and with six bikes, the heat, and not being familiar with the trails we decided to stick with this one. Everyone in our family is on two wheels now and we were fortunate to be given a 20 inch bike for I9 so he and J6 could move up one. Here we have one extra friend with us. She's got the pink bike. The rest are ours! Minus mine...which is probably with me.

The Middle Falls- we never did see the lower set of falls, but these must have been pretty impressive in our wet spring. Right now, we need rain and the river was running low.

The Upper Falls- with the footing of a railroad bridge in the background

We are no strangers to waterfalls and gorges where we are, but this was a huge gorge. The park is situated around the gorge so no matter where you are in the park, you are near the edge of the canyon- even in our campsite! Stay tuned for more exploring news!

The Game Streak

As most of you know, we are big gamers. We've decided to start a game streak. We haven't completely decided on all the parameters to make our challenge, but we do know we'll be playing at least one game a day. But that's the thing. We probably already do that...so we have to tweak it some! We'll officially start the streak during our camping vacation this week (another scheduled post) and to do so we've packed Dominion, our card game box, travel Catan, and travel Scrabble. We're hoping for a great week!

E12's New York State game- it plays pretty well

Ocean-Opoly- great fun and trivia

Super Deluxe Scrabble...the two oldest and Dan and I played the other night over a few days. Great game. I especially like the raised board for securing tiles.

Why not consider some sort of activity streak at your house? What would you like to try? Time with our children is always a good investment!

Blueberry Pie

It's that time of year in New York State when we pick and process blueberries! We hope to pick when we arrive home again (this post was scheduled for while we are gone), but I did buy a flat of them to freeze and to make a pie.

A very yummy, amazing pie. Polly's Perfect Blueberry Pie

The crust is as easy as...well...pie! You mix it right in the pie dish.

The blueberries stay whole for this pie.

Ready for the oven...

Perfection!

I hope to make another one or so this season and I seriously wonder how it would freeze. If any one knows, leave a comment!

Summer Library Fun

This year's NY State Library summer theme is Stories around the World- uh or something like that. The kids signed up for the reading program and have been doing the craft days at the library on Tuesday afternoons. E12 has been a volunteer to help and the other kids have enjoyed doing the crafts. We'll miss the last one due to our camping trip (in fact this post was scheduled), but the summer fun continues. I managed to get their book lists into the children's librarian today- only I forgot the library is closed on Saturdays in the summer. Don't ask...anyway, hopefully she finds them in the book drop! Don't worry, our book drop is a slot in the door that lands in a bin that you can see through the glass door.

They issued a paper with all kinds of Around the World activities.

This provided a great morning of entertainment at our house! I happen to really enjoy the book list.

The crafts have been from around the world and the god's eye project inspired a whole lot more of them! That blue one there is J6's. He's an expert!

We still have more summer reading fun ahead. I've planned a lot of things for our week long camping trip. You know...just in case things get a bit slow. There will be projects available!

Sewing Camp- The Video

We made a little video at the end of the day and we thought we'd share it with you. Sewing Camp was so worth the effort. We are hopeful that the rest of the camp days are just as much fun!



Stay tuned in August for more Sewing Camp News.

Sewing Camp Day 1 (cont)

There was way too much to share in one post so I thought a new one was in order. After they sewed the applique to the pocket, it was time to sew the pocket to the pocket liner and finally attach the pocket to the bag. This library bag was a great project to choose because it let the girls practice a lot of basic sewing skills and ideas.

I decided to get some practice and make a bag. It was fun to participate with the girls and have a new bag at the end!

R11 played photographer as well...

Woohoo! The pocket looks nicely sewn to the bag.

Aren't these stitches grand? I love that the liner comes over the edge of the pocket. I should mention that the bag directions call for french seams which I have to admit I really like making!

R11's almost finished bag! She only needs to add the button. The strap gets a lining too which I had fun making.

This is the pocket on the strap which is for the library card. R11 chose to do the opposite and make the pocket in the bag color and the strap the lining fabric.

Handsome bag or what? Remember we changed the dimensions of the bag along with the length of the strap. Obviously for an adult we had to make the strap longer.

Love that creative mess! Yay for Sewing Camp!

The button- snappy little arrangement there, yes?

I finished my bag that night as well- who could stop the fun? Here I'm working on the strap.

My bag- just needed to sew that button on and it would be all finished. Isn't that the perfect button? Buttons with a shank work best here and this one had a funky shank, but we made it work!

What a feeling of accomplishment! Ok...almost. I still need to put an embroidered apple stem on the apple with brown floss and when that is finished, so is my bag!

Just one more thing to share with you all. We made a little video for you. This was an excellent project choice for our first sewing camp day. We have three more days of sewing camp- two in August and one on September 1st. My vision was just to gather the girls together to work on a project and learn some new things, to spend time together and have fun, and to make something cool. Mission accomplished so far! The only thing I might change next time is to let my boys have a playdate at another house so it can be an all girls affair. This time we had an extra brother with us for a playdate at our house. So, four boys and four girls and two adults. We had the boys and girls eat lunch in shifts and everyone had fun, but it might be more fun for the boys if they had a day of their own. So, I will think on this. All in all it was a fabulous time and I encourage you all to try it!

Sewing Camp Day 1

Don't you just love camp? Summer time is full of opportunity for our kids to visit any one of a number of camps. Working parents wait impatiently and sign on as early as January/February for slots in the camp of their choice. Because everyone knows, if you wait until summer everything is filled up! I always love to watch Amy at Sewing School put on her summer sewing camp. R11 went to sewing camp at a local sewing school for the first time a few years ago. It began a relationship with that little school which continues today- though not with super regularity.

There's only one thing with camp. It costs money. Lots of money. Lots and lots of money if we are talking four kids or even 2 or who am I kidding? Even one! So, I decided it would be fun to have our own sewing camp- especially after I saw how much the girls enjoyed it at R's birthday party this year. I invited three girls and today we had two of the three (one was too sick), one mom, a sister (who did sew), and a brother- to play with our guys. We had a great time! I'll share with you the order of the day and our plans for next time. We'll meet three more times in August for Sewing Camp which the girls are super excited about. This was time well spent. If you have the opportunity to encourage your kids in this way- seize it! You won't regret it!

I chose the library book bag from Sew Mama Sew! for our first project. It was the perfect choice. The girls did a wonderful job listening to directions and I'm glad I had the help of a friend!

I had the board ready to tell what sized pieces to cut, but actually we increased the dimensions of the bag.

The two yardsticks came in handy to measure out 16x16 fabrics squares- 3 of them and the straps and lining pieces.

We used fusible webbing to make our appliques. Love that stuff.

One camper had brought a recital flyer with a humming bird which was a popular choice for an applique.

Camper E has a very grown up styled bag! I love how the humming bird looks like it's eating on this great piece of fabric.

Camper J works on her red bag with hearts- the appliques went on the outer pocket of the bag so our first step was to trace those and get them cut out and fused to the pocket.

Then it was time to zig zag around the applique - I suppose a tighter stitch might have been better. But Camper R11 did a nice job!

R11 dons her super hero cape to become "Super Sewer" as she sews the pocket liner to the pocket. It has a nice edge over the top of the pocket. Very fun!

I have a lot more to share, but I will put it in the next post! The girls did a great job. We ended camp at various times based on the girls' schedules, but if they could they kept working. We planned to have them finish their bags at the start of the next camp day, but R11 kept working into the evening and finished her bag by reading the tutorial herself. Then I finished mine - with a little direction from her! So, next time we meet there will be girls finishing up the bag and some starting the new project. Stay tuned for what that will be...

The Library Shelves

I thought it would be fun to update you on how we're doing with our library book shelf. It.is.awesome. Before this bookcase was in my life all the books you see here were sprawled all along this wall and no...we really didn't have that much better of a place!

During the school year I keep some relevant study items on the top of this shelf. It's perfect! I was also keeping books open for exploration. Right now the stuff of summer is there...R11's seasonal crafts, a bird watching book, a set of binoculars, a whole jug of beads just given to us and a Presidents trivia game.

This is a library book's home away from home. I'm still in love with my $40 shelf from the consignment store. I waited patiently and it paid off!

So, where do you keep library books while they visit your house?

Laminators

I've had a laminator for years...my Xyron 900 has been a faithful tool at our house. The Xyron is a cold laminator and you just crank the handle and it puts the film on your paper as you roll it through. It's like having a tool that allows you to put Contact paper on seamlessly. The nice thing about the Xryon is that you can buy different rolls of film to put on your paper and they interchange out of the machine really easily. The cartridge just drops in and out. I love to use the sticky backing and laminate front roll to put covers on our folders for school, for example. I can also put a magnet backing on cardstock with my Xyron. There's a few other films too- an all occasion tool! The only downside is the price of the cartridge. At AC Moore, I can get the laminate for $34.99 for 50' of double sided laminate. The other specialty rolls are the same price- only they offer less footage. Magnet backing is $34.99 for only 10'. I usually use a coupon to purchase them, but I have always conserved on using it because of the price.

My Xryon 900- a versatile and faithful tool

The Scotch Laminator- a trim little performer!

Until now! At Christmastime, there were a few bloggers singing the praises of the Scotch laminator and it was on sale at Amazon for $16! I notice the price right now on Amazon is a bit high. You can get it at Walmart and Target for about $25. Now I know many of you have probably had this laminator for a long time, but having a laminator already prevented me from buying it. However, it doesn't take up much space and the whole machine was half the price of a cartridge for my Xryon. So...I took the plunge. I used it for the first time to laminate our summer cards- because I ran out of the Xyron laminate. And I have to tell you...this laminator is a dream! It feeds so easily, the pouches are inexpensive particularly compared to the Xyron and it's a thermal laminator which means no sticky to deal with on scissors when you cut it. It heats up quickly and works like a charm.

I will not abandon my Xryon, but now I can use it for the adhesive backings rather than the laminate and I can laminate more things!

So, what sorts of things do I laminate? Anything I want to last a while! Game cards and boards, charts, animal cards for our classification game, and my next project is to make some cards from grocery flyers...a grocery store challenge sort of game.

Cards from our animal classification game- laminated magazine cutouts.

What sorts of things do you laminate? And if you've always thought of getting one but have not...now's the time! Go for it! Stay tuned for news an another new tool at our house. I will demonstrate its usefulness just as soon as I take it on its maiden voyage!