Light in the world

Dear Beth has asked me to share some thoughts on light with you.
When I look up at the stars and moonlight in the early morning ,I think about how powerful they are, their light shines down on me and lights my way. I often ask the stars and the moon to light other peoples way.
Sometimes peoples light dies down a little bit, due to the hustle and bustle of modern life,
If I can send them light, then maybe I can ignite there flame inside and they will see clearer.
Think about the beautiful white light of an angel, that is bringing a child down from the heavens to place in its Mothers arms,and the beauty that surrounds the babe. Even deep underground the light still shines,( our own inner light still shines). The Gnomes with their beautiful crystals, are caring for the treasures and protecting the seeds in Winter time.

I have been interested in Waldorf education for 25 years, and I found that the warm soft colors resounded with me and warmed my soul

I am a needle felt artist and had the very best of luck when Rudolf Steiner said to me that I needed to follow my heart and through my art, send my light out into the world and "Warm peoples hearts and ignite in them a stirring of their spirits."
I have never really been very Earth bound at all, but always somehow connected to the cosmos.
Love and light Marie
www.softearthart.blogspot.com

FIddlehead

I've been tired recently and feel like I am a little fiddlehead, gathering up my underground energies, and waiting to unfurl them. For that reason postings on Acorn Pies have been very scanty in the past few weeks. I hope to feel my energies returning again soon!

Doll Commissions!

Summer is coming, and I am probably going to make few dolls after May. I plan on spending the summer having adventures with my child. Have you been thinking of ordering a commissioned doll from me? If so, get your order in soon. I will be accepting commissions for a few more weeks. After that, I will resume in September. love, Beth

The Velveteen Kitty

This is a story about love which I read on Nicole's blog Frontier Dreams. It's the story of a loving little girl, and a very loving Daddy. This little girl loved her soft toys, especially White Kitty. Here she is giving her kitty a kiss.


Here is a picture of the Velveteen Kitty up close, looking soft and floppy, and a little bit worn, with his squashed ears and sagging whiskers and much-stroked fur.

One day, the little girl's grandmother gave the family "The Velveteen Rabbit," a special book which her son had grown up with. Have you read it? Here are some special words about being "real."

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

The little girl absorbed these words and pondered them. She told her Mama that she wanted White Kitty to be so loved that she came to life. When her Daddy heard about this, he made some magic happen.



Click on the title of this post, and read the whole beautiful story!

I retold this story with Nicole's permission. Thank you, Nicole!

Read "I Am a Child of Nature" Today!

Happy Earth Day! In celebration of Earth Day, I invite you to read (or reread) "I Am a Child of Nature" today, a photo story which I wrote for Magic Onions last year. You will find a link for it near the top of the right hand column.

Spring Printmaking

For this project you need paper, newspaper, water-soluble block printing ink, a brayer, and an inking surface, like a piece of glass or smooth plastic. We picked deep green and yellow ink, so that we could mix a light spring green.

Children, go into the outdoors and collect some spring leaves.

Roll out your inks with the brayer. A palette knife would be a nice help if you are mixing inks.


Choose a leaf or a branch and gently ink it with the brayer in one direction. Some spring leaves are very delicate.

Now arrange the branch the way you want on the paper.

Cover the paper and branch with a piece of clean newspaper, and rub your hand over the branch to transfer the ink.


Pull off the newspaper and the branch and look at your print. Some of the prints have amazing detail! I liked the children's assymetrical compositions, too. Fresh and simple, like spring.

Let Your Baby Touch Spring

Take me outside! Take me out of the stroller or sling and let me touch spring!

Let me feel grass on my skin.

It prickles.

It tickles. It makes me curl my toes.

Let me reach out with one finger to touch this eye-popping, velvety red azalea.

I love it.

I love this leaf so much I want to pull it off, put it in my mouth, and find out more about it.


I bring my hands together, gently, gently, to touch these candle-like blossoms.

I stroke these soft iris blades.

And when you bring lilac close to me, I am amazed. Light, softness, and fragrance. I'm going to need a nap after this. And my dreams are going to be breathtaking.


This adorable little butterball is my nephew and Godson. I love him. Take your baby outside like his Daddy did, and let him touch spring.

Annina's House

These pictures are from Annina's house.

The cozy sewing room,

the kitchen after dinner,

the recycling on the sidewalk in the early morning.

This is a house where a family lives, with a pocketbook and a bike in the hallways, crumbs on the kitchen table, all the lights blazing, a laundry basket in the hallway, homework on the desk, and an unmade bed. Can you believe that this is a miniature house? It was made by Annina Gunter. Her blog is called Miniatures by Annina.

http://anninagunter.blogspot.com/

She was featured in The New York Times this weekend in an article about miniature house makers. To see more great pictures, go to http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/04/07/garden/20100408-minimod-slideshow_12.html These pictures make me want to build a miniature house, too.

All the pictures in this post are from The New York Times and Annina's flicker account. Thanks, Annina! I'm fascinated by your miniature world! love, Beth

A Tiny Beach Cottage

We went to the beach and looked into the clear water. I saw a barnacled oyster and some slow moving aquatic snails. My son took off his shoes and stepped into the frosty cold New England waters! Brrrrr! I probably won't be doing that until the end of June.


Look at his toes. They don't seem to agree to go into the water with his feet.


Then he played gravel factory for a long time. Here is the the gravel factory's fine product, below.

While he was doing that I built a little stone house on the beach.

I was thinking about one of my favorite children's books while I built it. Have you read "The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry" by Rosalie K. Fry? It was made into a wonderful movie by John Sayles, "The Secret of Roan Inish". Try to get an old copy of the book from the library, the original illustrations are really special.


In some of my favorite scenes, Fiona and her cousin Rory (Eamon in the movie) fix up the stone cottages which the family abandoned on the island when they moved away a few years back.


They scrub the windows, sweep and wash the floors, fix the broken roofs and thatch them with reeds, whitewash, cut peat, start a garden, and gather bits of furniture to fill Grandmother's house. The children want to move back to the island with their grandparents. That's the only way they can get little Jamie to come home.


Jamie is Fiona's baby brother. He was kidnapped by the seals and seagulls when the family left the island, and people say that he is still alive and that he sails the sea about the island in his little cradle boat.

Listen to what happens when the children start to work on the cottages.

"They had not been long at work before a shadow moved across the bay and a sleek, dark head broke the surface of the water and turned toward the shore. A few minutes later a second head appeared and then a third and a fourth, and as though in reply to a secret summons, the bay became suddenly crowded with seals. They remained in the deep green water offshore with little more than their eyes above the water, silently watching everything that Fiona and Rory were doing."

For another idea for a way to build cottages on the beach, see "Make a Driftwood Cottage" in the column to the right.

Winner of the Raffle for SOS Children's Villages

And the winner of Flore is......(drum roll please!)

Corinne Onnen!!!!!!! Hooray! Clap, clap, clap!

Actually, the winner is SOS Children's Villages in Port au Prince, Haiti, because we will be sending a donation of over $250.00. Thank you so, so much to Grace K., Sara N., Cheryl H., lovealittle@etsy.com, Sharon P., Sarah F., Mercy F., Karen S., Suzanne C., Jane H., Marcia K., Nancy C., Sarah B., Margaret H., and Corinne for participating and giving generously to such a wonderful cause. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!! Your gift means so much. I wish you all could have won something. love, Beth

The Fresh Air Fund

What is your child looking forward to doing this summer?

Going barefoot,
spitting watermelon seeds,
blowing bubbles,
eating pie,
building sand castles,
climbing trees,
getting muddy knees,
riding bikes,
doing sparklers,
finding bugs,
catching hermit crabs,
chasing fireflies,
identifying constellations,
playing outside after dinner,
seeing if he likes butter?


Consider sharing the fun with an inner city child through The Fresh Air Fund this summer! Click on the picture of children playing in the waves in the right-hand column. love, Beth