We went up to Gloucester and had a picnic at Stage Fort Park. This seagull watched us while we ate and hoped for our scraps. He wasn't disappointed.
 

Gloucester is America's oldest seaport and well known for its sea monster, mad scientist, haunted castle, and ghost town. "Dogtown" was an early 17th century settlement that became a haven for witches, fortune tellers, and prostitutes when it was abandoned in the early 19th century. Locals don't go there, as there are still sightings of strange things in the area.

There are many beautiful trails at Stage Fort Park and magnificent views of Gloucester Harbor from the top of the granite cliffs.

Middle Street is home to The Sargent House Museum. For over one hundred years the Sargent House was the home of sea merchants, American patriot and community religious leaders. It was built in 1782 for Judith Sargent Murray, an early feminist writer, philosopher and social activist, and the Sargent House is "a fine example of high-style Georgian domestic architecture...it features one of the finest small collections of 18th and early 19th century decorative and fine arts in the region. Paul Revere silver, Chinese export porcelain, and superb examples of early New England furniture, as well as American paintings by Fitz Henry Lane and John Singer Sargent."

Middle Street is also full of little shops and cafes, including our favorites: Mystery Train Records, Virgilio's Bakery, Toodleloos! Toys, and The Bookstore.

I bought Murder at Hammond Castle by indie author Gunilla Caulfield. Hammond Castle is one of my favorite places--I couldn't resist a murder mystery set there!

After a bit of browsing in the shops and ice cream cones, we drove down Atlantic Avenue and got out of the car at Bass Rocks. The beach roses were spectacular .

The undertow of the waves tumbling the rocks made the coolest sound. I took a little video so you could hear it. 

Gloucester is one of our favorite places. We hadn't been there since March, and it was a really lovely outing--the best part is that it is only a 35 minute drive from our house.

Look at Mr. Lucky all stretched-out on the carpet. Currently, every animal in my house is shedding. The vacuum is in almost constant use, and still there are fur and feathers everywhere.

Last Sunday at the flea market, I found a new head vase for my collection. She has little earrings as well as sparkly polka dots on her hat and dress. I love her rose corsage and the ruffle on her glove.

The scented geranium is in bloom, along with many of my roses including 'Munstead Wood' aka Baby Groot. The color of his blossoms is deeper, less purple and more velvety than it looks here.

I don't know what're better, summer evenings or summer mornings. Both are pure bliss! I am reading the story of Mary Anning, an early 19th century fossil hunter in Lyme, England. It is a quiet book; just right for my current mood.

If I have birds and roses I have everything I need. If they are the color yellow, I am rich indeed.

My teeny tiny garden is full of raspberries, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. The August harvest is going to be grand! 

Next week I have to work on putting together my end-of-year home school report, as well as my next-year-plans for the school district. To be honest, I have serious doubts as to whether the powers-that-be ever look at it, but it is a requirement nonetheless, so it gives me anxiety even though I have been doing this for nineteen years. A school report card to a parent is a skimpy thing compared to the reporting that a home school parent must provide to the school district. 

I've spent my entire adult life thinking about education and practicing it with mixed results. If you home school, everyone in your life is going to judge how your children "turn out" (whatever that means) based on that single decision. If one of my children struggles in any aspect of his education (or in every aspect of his education) it is my fault. If I send that child to school and he still struggles, the school bears little to no accountability for their results. 

There have been sleepless nights in which I have wondered if homeschooling has been a horrible mistake. What am I doing to my kids? (Are school superintendents, principals and teachers losing sleep about their decisions in our kids lives?) I remember meeting a  homeschooling mother in Texas some years ago who said to me, "If you do nothing but keep your kids at home, they will be better off than kids who go to school." I spent a lot of time pondering her statement and wondering if it was true. I honestly don't know. I can't say that homeschooling is best for every kid. However, I do not have any confidence that our public school system is best for most children (although, at one time, it may have been one of our country's greatest strengths)--there is too much money and politics involved. 

My only solid conclusions about homeschooling my children are: 

• my children's education has been different from other children's
• they have had a lot more freedom in their learning--time to experiment and explore and just be 
• they think critically and understand a lot more about life than I did at their age
• they are not peer-dependent 
• they are creative, resourceful, and responsible
• they are hard-working and helpful to others
• their personalities are well-developed and intact
• they have the confidence to follow their own path

So, maybe homeschooling has been a good thing for them. And, maybe not. Who knows? All I can say is that I went to school and university, and my life is, and always has been, a frightening, beautiful struggle. Most of the time I feel bewildered and ill-equipped for it and just do my best--which is a far cry from brilliant.  ♥

It has been months since I last posted--an update is certainly long overdue. : ) I really didn't mean to disappear for so long!

Summer is here now. Everything is in bloom and reaching up to the sun.

This is one of the new English roses I received for Mother's Day this year. Her name is Gertrude Jekyll. She struggled a bit at first, and I worried about her, but now she's putting out lots of new growth and just finished her second flush of deep pink blossoms.

I've had a few dogs in my life, and I have loved them all, but this pug, my Elvis, is the sweetest, funniest boy. He is my shadow, always beside me. Just look at that face--I can't take it!!!

This moment, when the sky is all lit up with delight from the day, is my favorite. Just then, there is an opening and an exchange between Everything, if you know what I mean. And under the trees are so many rabbits that you would be frightened if you have ever read Stefan Spjut's novel The Shapeshifters.

In the last week, my son sold his 225 gallon aquarium and I turned the front room into a cozy study--a little dream of mine for several years. Here is the room 'before' (the tank used to be against the brown wall). 

And, here is the room 'after':

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.. :) We found the rug at the flea market for $40. The daybed was less than $90.00 at Walmart (we already had a hardly-used mattress on-hand in my daughter's trundle bed). The little table and the desk chair were flea market finds for $10 each, and the bookcase is from IKEA. The piano got to stay where it was, and my antique desk got a nice new corner nook (I love it there--who knows, maybe it will motivate me to write).

Elvis thinks it's a good change. :)

 

The garden is like a little jungle just now. Peas and raspberries are ripe for the picking.

These two girls are six years old and still laying eggs every day! 

Things are changing in the world. There is a loudness which has made me and others quiet. You can see it in the mass exodus from personal webpages to instagram. Some people have shifted to sharing more often yet less. Connecting through conversation--sharing thoughts, ideas, words--is now blasé. If social media was superficial before, what is it becoming now? 

I understand that for a lot of people (most people?) the internet has expanded the world, but for a person like me, an introvert who values deep relationships, the internet has reduced my universe to a hermit's cell. I have relatives who won't communicate with me because they prefer to text, and I don't own a cell phone. I have friends who no longer keep in touch with me because they prefer facebook, and I don't have a facebook account. I could get these things, I suppose, like I got an instagram account, but I know I would never use them, just like I don't use instagram. The thing is, I don't want to be anyone's fan. I want to be their friend. ♥

  

  

 

In the last few days, the trees have burst their buds in a delicate display of chartreuse, pink, white, and lavender lace. Beside every fence and lane are bright drifts of golden forsythia and purpley-pink mounds of azalea. I've donned my garden gloves and tidied the flower beds and pruned and nourished the roses. 

Last Thursday the David Austin rose catalog arrived in my mailbox--I haven't put it down since. Do you receive this wonder? It is a coffee-table-worthy publication of gorgeous photos, beautiful descriptions, and lots of helpful information and tips on growing English roses. I don't have any English roses in my garden yet (I have two floribundas: Moondance and Sunsprite; and two hybrid teas: Falling in Love and Let Freedom Ring; none of which are particularly happy with our New England winters--makes you wonder why they sell these varieties here), but I've told my family that my Mother's Day wish is for two D.A. English roses: The Lady of Shalott, and Mustead Wood--even the names are delightful to me.

Last week I saw the most dazzling sunset of my life right outside my door. The sky was lit up in every shade of pink (the photo above is completely untouched). I stood there marveling at the awesome play of colored light, and for just a moment I was enraptured and forgot all the earthly things: the bills and bombs and health concerns and dead fish. The only thing of true importance was the way the sky flared pink as the sun went down.

I'm still knitting my 'Fronds' nap blanket, but I've cast-on some socks, too. The pattern is 'Lace and Cable Socks' by Wendy Johnson.  I'm using Ivy Brambles 'Sockscene' yarn in the Secret Garden colorway. I'm obsessed with this yarn--it's all the colors of spring: moss, chartreuse, lilac, azalea, rose; sqeeeeee! I'll probably finish one sock and then cast-on a new project (my life is incredibly mundane, so I must insist on variety in my hobbies😁). I have an old skein of Dream in Color 'Starry' in the Some Summer Sky colorway that I want to knit into a Soft Sunday shawl by Suvi Simola next. When I'm finished with that project, I will knit the other lace and cable sock, and perchance get back to working on 'Fronds'. In between, I'll be painting rocks for our town's Kindness Rock Project (the ones in the photo above, however, are not mine; I tend to paint whimsical scenes and critters) and painting postcards and other little things. 

Easter was the strangest I've ever experienced. My older kids all had to work, so we didn't have dinner until quite late--after seven pm. We dined al fresco on the deck because it was 86 degrees (New England gets a few rogue summer days in the midst of our traditionally cool, wet springs). We colored eggs Friday evening, and I made Easter bread on Saturday. Sunday was sleepy and unseasonably warm. We spent most of the day lazying around and puttering in the garden. 

I'm reading aloud The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles to my youngest (who is not quite eleven). It's an old and wonderful telling that has made me want to find a good novel about King Arthur to read myself. I've been looking at different books and series but can't decide. A lot of people like The Mists of Avalon, but I don't think it's for me. I love Mary Stewart, so The Crystal Cave is in the running. Are there any other King Arthur novels you can recommend to me? 

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. I intended to reply to each one, but time got away from me. It seems I rarely have the chance to be online for very long these days, which makes me wonder why I try to keep a blog at all. A great deal has changed in my life in the last few years, and in some ways blogging isn't the best fit anymore, but I really don't like Instagram. I do deeply appreciate everyone who takes the time to read here. ♥