More porter brook, and then a very unexpected surprise

I love Fridays, as we don't have set plans, but  lots of options... a few months ago I was crippled by the indecision involved, and the fear of missing out that accompanies lots of choices.  However, I have decided to work with this by simply enjoying what we decide to do to the fullest, even if it is simply hanging out at home.  Last Friday we had  a chilled out day because my ankle was hurt, so plenty of book reading and cuddles.  Today, my ankle is much improved, and I gave the kids a variety of options - Forest Friday, Museum, crafting, sorting out the garden or continuing our journey down the Porterbrook.  Evan chose this last option.  i was pleased, as I thought it would be great to visit again before all the trees become bare.  We were noticing the shapes and forms as well as the sounds of the river along different point.  Evan was noticing how the river carves out the sides of the river.

I loved this bit - the kids said it was like a shower, and certainly sounded like it.  Around this point I remembered I have a sound recorder on my phone and we decided to record some of the different sounds of the river at various points.

Here is one of the first tributaries which we noticed, it joined the river underneath a small bridge on the path - leading into a pond-like spot where it is super deep, and therefore didn't flow very fast.  It was fascinating noticing the different speeds of the water depending on the width and depth of the water at different points.

Evan noticed that today the river wasn't flowing as fast as last time - and this was confirmed by the fact that along the path, last time a lot of it was covered with water, but this time it was just squelchy.  He spied a bit where it seemed like if the rain came down hard it would travel down this path from the path towards the river, but he believed it to be blocked by leaves and some excess stones, so he spent a while adjusting this to make a smoother path for the water.  We watched as the water which was pooling in the area slowly head towards the river as he freed it up, bit by bit.

This is Evan by the last bit of this path.

Here Evan noticed that there was a fast flowing current going directly downwards to the mini waterfall, whilst the water close to his feet, where the 3 lobed leaf lies was actually very still, but for a bit of wobbling.

Evan noticed the tributaries tumbling down the side of the cliff in the form of mini waterfalls which were really nice and loud.  (Difficult to see in this photo, but check out the middle)

Now this is why we love rivers.

This was great to see, and do a sound recording of, there was two quite separate sounds coming from each of the waterfalls here.

The path up.

Squelch.

Mushrooms

Some great sounds were heard near to the bridges. Quite gurgly.

Nearly done, we return with a few more sound recordings.  The trip was loads of fun.  We sat down for a while and listened and contemplated the shapes and flow of the water.  We decided to write a poem, so came up with some lovely descriptive words from this...  We set out to write it at home after lunch, however....

A wonderful lady I know had posted on facebook about how there was exciting stuff going on in Tudor square in town, as there was the filming of the Cbeebies panto (I knew about this, but forgot it was happening on this day. We had applied for tickets and didn't get them.)  Anyway, she had said there were plenty of good stuff to do in the square outside the Crucible, so we decided to head on down there and check it out.  The first thing we saw was Rastamouse, Autumn had a little dance.

We saw Sid from Cbeebies give us a rundown of what was going on, and then with a plan in mind to come and watch the live performance and 4.30 on the big screen, we went off to put some more money on the car meter and get some food.  On the way we played a few games and things.  Here is Evan lighting up the Christmas tree with his pedal power.

Autumn and Evan used some programmable toys to take the buzzy bee on a little journey.  They played a ghosty game, and then returned in time for the performance.  

So we sat down ready to watch the performance, and watched the warm up guy getting the children to do lots of things.  Then some BBC people came up to us and ushered us into the Crucible Theatre, and before we knew it we were sat there in front of the Panto, surrounded by film crews, and right there in front of us was Cat, from Cbeebies.  And the deluge began, Andy, Mr Bloom, Captain Jem, Cerri, and so many more.  The sight of Mister Maker nearly made Evan's eyes pop out of his head.  To my surprise he stood up and joined in with the singing and all the other actions.

Unfortunately we had to rush off at the end as I had to get to work, but OMG, what an exciting day.

Autumn begins

Well, I thought it was going to be a normal day of hanging out in the morning and then friends round for the afternoon, but things became so much more.  We started off by Evan making the beginnings of an Octonauts calendar (before I even got out of bed actually), he is eager to work on it more, but we decided to go climbing before our friends came round, so we headed off, and after a few chores on the way we got there.  We were lucky enough to be joined by a couple of other home ed families, just by chance, and they had a good time.  I bumped into a friend from my NCT days with her children, and her son, about 8 years old struck up a lovely friendship with Autumn.  Autumn, got pretty hot, and stripped off pretty quickly down to her "Monday" pants.  Evan stopped climbing and decided to draw a picture of Autumn on the cheese.  This picture was taken by Evan so that he could use it to draw from .  I helped him to look at the shapes her body was making and after he struggled a bit, and got quite upset I helped him sketch the key triangle shapes.  I love that this project was entirely self-directed, and simply facilitated by the fact that I often bring drawing and painting materials out with us everywhere, and he simply went into my bag (probably searching for biscuits or chocolate) only to discover paper and pencils instead!

I simply adore this photo that Evan took, showing Autumn's spirit, strength and joy altogether.  Someone commented on how she looked powerful, and I had to agree.  I am so incredibly proud of Autumn, and the power and strength she has, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally.  I enjoy her company so immensely, and I love that she shares these wonderful things with those around her.

Evan was particularly proud that he was using some of the more difficult holds in this photo, and asked for this photo to be taken.

On returning home our friends came over and as we had planned to do some work on our new Seasonal table we worked on it together by doing some flat wet felting of some Autumnal leaves.  The process is particularly child friendly as it involves some really fun things as well as not needing any sort of perfection.  At the end of the day Evan said his favourite thing of the day was throwing the leaves on the table (which was the last process in the felt making).  I've not taken photos of the whole thing, but here is the process:

1)  Tease out bits of desired wool

2)  Lay down on a square of bubble wrap slightly overlapping, Vertically down, ensuring no wool is too thick or clumped together.  Do this about double the size of your desired piece of felt.

3) Repeat the process with the same colour of wool but this time with the wool fibres horizontally positioned.

4)  Place on small bits of wool teased out in the formation of the pattern or picture you desire.

5)  Spray the wool with a water spray with a small amount of liquid soap, or dissolved solid soap in it.

6) Slightly wiggle the wool fibres with the tips of your fingers saying "tickle tickle" or "wiggle, wiggle" or "little little" or anything similar which encourages a small massaging motion to begin to bring the fibres together.

7)  When it is starting to shrink slightly cover it with another square of bubble wrap.

8)  Roll up the bubble wrap and secure in place with a few elastic bands along its length.

9)  Do a variety of rolling, squeezing, rubbing and whacking with your bubble wrap roll (BWR).

10)  After a good 5-10 minutes of fun activity with your BWR, remove the bands and unroll.

11)  Check the felt has 'come together' and beginning to feel solid. (if it hasn't reroll and repeat  #9 for a few minutes)

12)  Once done, plunge into cold water and rinse soap off.

13) Squeeze a bit of the water off, and now for the best bit....

14)  Screw the felt up in a ball and chuck it (hard) onto the table.

15)  REPEAT #14 as many times as you feel like... if holes begin to appear, massage that and surrounding wool with a bit of wet soap.

16) Rinse, dry then enjoy - you can cut it up, sew on it, sew it onto stuff, whatever you like.

_____

After a few weeks of tricky situations when spending time with friends in either our or their homes I have decided that Evan and his friend need to be with us or outside during their play.  This led to a very great need to let off steam, so after the felting and a bit of rambunctious play upstairs under our supervision we decided to go to Graves park for a run about and explore in the woods.  I love that this fantastic place is on our doorstep.  The new excitement was the hay bale which had mysteriously been deposited in the stream.  The best bit today was the clay at the root of a fallen tree which is very clay-y. Thankfully welly boots were the order of the day, and such play was totally brilliant and so much fun. The stream just next to it meant that the clagged up boots could be cleaned before returning home.  Not before a clay ball or two could be made, a clay screen on the Gup (AKA the roots of the tree), and lots of trampling in the clay and splashing in the stream.  We searched for some lovely Autumnal leaves to add to our newly installed Season table at home.

Walking up the hill after our lovely time out - I love these moments of freedom the kids enjoy, and the chats I overhear them having about their surroundings and often exchanging ideas about nature.

We finished the day off by doing a little Autumn painting, Evan's was demonstrating a very windy day when all the leaves flew off. Evan put some more acorns on the table and his newly felted leaf. I have included a beautiful piece of embroidery that my friend made for me a couple of years ago, which is very treasured and totally typifies what this season table is about.  I have also included a screenprinted piece of fabric that I made during my teaching degree, which I have always loved.  I look forward to us adding more to this over the years.  

To complete this very crafty day, Pat came home from work and assisted Evan making a painted wooden door for a new game idea he has. What a day!!!!