Lalita Living

Aloha 2011

2012-01-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

This fall was so busy! Dear husband was fortunate to travel to Sweden twice for work. He brought back our little miss 2 Elsa Beskow books in Swedish - Sol-Aggett and Tomtebobarnen. In November we took a vacay to visit relatives on Kauai and a little side trip to San Francisco.
For my food adventures, check out my food blog at: http://www.veggiebytes.com

Here's some happy photos from the trip.

Knitting at Poipu Beach

Ms. K catching a serious wave at Brennecke's Beach

Raft made of driftwood and coconut fiber found at Lydgate

Shaka while snorkeling

Rainbows of sunshine in Alakai Swamp

Window in the woods

My favorite part of the trip was the 7 hour roundtrip hike along the Alakai Swamp trail. Even when I lived on Kauai in my early 20s I never did this hike. I was so proud of my daughter and she never complained, especially with the promise of cone sushi when we were done.

Here's some projects I completed at the end of last year.

Yoga Bags
We had been doing more sweaty hot yoga this fall and I was tired of bringing a bag that could not be washed easily, ie. backpack. So we had a bunch of yoga t-shirts that we never wear anymore and I made them in to washable yoga bags. It takes less than 10 minutes to make one and only 1 line of sewing!
Take a T-shirt, cut off the sleeves, and cut off the neck band (cut more if you think you would a larger opening). Turn it inside out and cut off the hemmed bottom. Then uses a simple stitch and sew the bottom closed. If you would like it sturdier you can zig zag or overlock the edges. If you have a serger you could do this in one step. I also like to reinforce the corners. Instant yoga bag to carry towel, extra clothes, and all the sweaty stuff back and can be thrown right into the laundry.

Wool Felt Seasonal Tree
I have been wanting to make this for a while. The goal is to have a wool tree picture that can be changed with the seasons. Ours is still looking like fall as the trees here in Central Texas still have leaves. Winter will be quite easy to make as I will remove the red and gold leaves and place a blanket of snow on the ground and purple mountains.

See the next post about our winter break and holiday :)

Birthday Wrap-Up

2011-08-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago my daughter celebrated her 7th birthday. I realized this year when I turned 35 that we will both be going through our seven year changes together. I'm not really sure what that will entail but like Life itself, it is sure to be interesting!

Happy 7th Birthday!
Yellow arugula flowers are from the faeries.

Here are little glimpses into her special day(s). We celebrated on her actual birthday and also had an ice pop/slip and slide party with friends. This year we were also able to enjoy the company of 2 other girls with the same birthday!

Gifts from mama

Thanks to some special friends who had Waldorf toy/book sales, I got these great Kinderkram wooden castle walls and the LMNOP book (perfect for starting 1st grade!) at a great price. Our school store had this great swing-a-round...perfect for faeries to have fun on. The The Land of Long Ago is another beautiful Elsa Beskow book. It just happens to have a little girl in it named Kelly who goes on a fantastic adventure. My little one got a great kick out of having her name in the book.

Pounce and Sneaky

A new friend made this cute set of felted animals. There is a little rodent named Sneaky and a cat named Pounce. Pounce likes to bounce and sneaky is really fast!

So Beautiful!

This is one of the most beautiful handmade gifts my daughter has ever received. It is a flower matching game. Each wooden coin has a flower etched into the wood via pyrography. The detail is amazing. A talented mom friend did this all herself! It came in a cotton flower print bag.

Other notable gifts: Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. The Jabberwocky was one of my favorite poems as a child and to share the silliness with my daughter is fun..."twas brillig and the slithy toves...." She also has been initiated into the American Girl franchise via her grandmother and got the girl of the year, Kanani (she's from the isle of Kauai). With our trip to the island to visit family again in the fall, there will definitely be some interesting adventures with this doll. I think any doll play should be encouraged...they will only stay little for a short while.

At her party, I made lots of food and it all was eaten before I could take photos. There were summer rolls with peanut sauce, BBQ tofu, grilled eggplant, red & blue potato salad, garden salad, and of course the ice pops. I used this great stainless steel popsicle mold for many of the pops. I took these photos after the party as so many were left over. I also wanted to enjoy the fun of being with everyone instead of walking around with the camera.

Kiwi Strawberry

Orange Mango & Acai Berry

Chocolate Sundae & Root Beer Float

Since I'm not a great baker I decided to leave the cake to the professionals. Here's my post about it on my other blog: www.veggiebytes.com

I want to thank everyone who has celebrated these seven years with Kelly. All of you have created special memories for her. I truly appreciate those of you who have taught me how to preserve the innocence of childhood, keep the magic of the world alive and nurture her love of nature.

Crossing Over

2011-07-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late but still worth celebrating. My sweet little girl finished her 3rd year in Waldorf kindergarten. Here are some photos from her crossing over ceremony.
I attended the previous celebrations and always cried happy tears to see the children meet this milestone in their lives. I was prepared this year for my own little girl to walk slowly over the bridge and only had big smiles for her. We will treasure this innocent time and always be thankful for the beautiful foundation built to help support her growth for the years to come.


Almost forgot to go over the bridge :)

Smiling over the bridge

Gentle handshake

Thank you for a wonderful 3 years

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:50:00.001-07:00

A little Spring Bunny wanted to wish you happy Easter!

Ravelry info here

Daffodillies

2011-03-30T12:33:00.001-07:00

daffodils, a photo by lalitaliving on Flickr.

A friend gave me these beautiful sunny daffodils and my daughter has been singing this song:

Spring is coming, Spring is coming,
birdies build your nest,
weave together straw and feather,
doing each your best.

Spring is coming, Spring is coming,
flowers are waking too,
Daisies, lilies, daffodilies,
Now are coming through.

Spring is coming, Spring is coming,
All around is fair,
Shimmer, glimmer on the meadow,
Joy is everywhere.

W.I.P - Spring is here!

2011-03-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

Nature's got her own W. I. P! We've already had a couple 80 degree days here in Central Texas. Flowers are blooming everywhere. Here's the view under the tree in our front yard.

I've already done a bunch of Spring cleaning! It's been so long since I scrubbed our bathroom baseboards with a toothbrush. How satisfying that was! I also cleaned out my baking cabinet and found some items that I forgot I had, including some ceramic apple shaped ramekins. They would have been perfect in Autumn!

I'm in the process of finishing a quilt that I started when my daughter was 8 months old. I still have quite a way to go (making more blocks, picking a backing, sashing etc.) Since it's been such a long time, I feel like I am learning to do everything all over again. Do you have a favorite way to quilt or know much about the "quilt-as-you-go" technique? I would love to hear your thoughts. I would like to finish the quilt before Summer.

Here's what I have so far:
8 Grandmother's Fan blocks ( put 4 together to create a flower center)
4 Log Cabin
4 (made with triangles - don't know the pattern name)
4 Simple 9 patch
8 Flip and Stitch half blocks (top and bottom diagonal borders of central flower)

My mother and I took the quilt class together to learn many different techniques, so the quilt is more of a sampler. She's given me her finished blocks for which I am very thankful! I plan on using a natural fiber batting. I'm still not sure whether to use cotton or wool or even the newer cotton/bamboo blends. The finished quilt should cover a twin bed.

Besides the quilt, I'm also working on a Lady Spring needle felted doll for our Spring nature table.
Here's some fairies that me and my little miss made recently. They still have super long braids while our lovely locks got more than a trim on mother/daughter haircut day.

I'm also thinking of some simple way to celebrate Gaura Purnima this year. It is one of most special Vaisnava holidays that happens on a full moon around this time in the Spring. I may make some moon shaped cookies, Bengali food and go to a kirtan the night before being led by the Mayapuris while they visit Austin. Another fun festival is Holi - where there is a lot of merrymaking by splashing bright colors on others in a playful mood.

Hope your Spring is blossoming nicely!

Winter Time

2011-02-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is staying warm and relying on that inner sunshine!

We have had quite a few cold days and even a bit of snow! Making snow angels, sliding down hills in a cardboard box, and eating Nature's shave ice by a frozen stream are rare in Central Texas. We've also enjoyed a couple slower days to recoup from night coughing and lots of warm soup.

With the coldest part of the year upon us, I have been quite inspired to knit. I was able to send off some small gifts to a friend (Devadeva at Sabjimata) who had a baby with the most adorable name: Bindumati. I am reminded of how fast babies grow and what a special time it is with a wee one.

I also made some super leg warmers for my little miss. They were finished just in time for her half birthday at school. Since she is a summer baby, she celebrated with her class last week. Her teacher gave her the sweetest peg doll with long dark hair and a cute acorn cap beret. This will be her 3rd and last year in the kindergarten. I'm feeling a bit wistful about the change but at the same time I feel lucky to witness all of the growth she's experiencing.

I am thankful for the cold and what it brings: a slower pace, a respect for Mother Nature and her power, and how good warmth feels from a cozy home and family.

Holiday Gifts

2010-12-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

When your daughter is the only grandchild on both sides of the family, she usually becomes inundated with gifts galore. This has happened every year since she was born on both Christmas and her birthday. I wanted our gifts be handmade and have meaning.
Here's what she got from mom & dad.

I asked her in the summer if she could have something knitted what would it be. She said "a rainbow blanket." Here is what manifested after a couple months and thoughtfully completed Christmas Eve.

I think it came out wonderful and the perfect size for cuddling under.
The happy colors bring automatic smiles.

The other gift from us was one I had my eye on for a while - a Baby Krsna doll made in true Waldorf style. He is so adorable and so full of love. Leslie of Govinda's Peace Farm created him with natural materials and wool from her own protected sheep. Her farm and family are a true testament to simple living and high thinking. To have such a wonderfully handcrafted baby Krsna that one can hug and continue the process of bhakti in a simple, loving way, seems to be such a blessing! My little one's name means the one who serves the beautiful and playful pastimes of the Divine. She has already begun her service by making a baby crib from a fruit basket we received.

The director of the preschool my daughter went to asked if anyone would like to participate in the Holiday Project. It is a special organization that helps to coordinate visits to the nursing homes, hospitals, prisons and other institutional settings on holidays. Since I knew that we could not go on Christmas day, I asked if we could send some gifts along.

hand made cards

rainbow bookmarks

We sent some clementines, hand drawn cards, and made some bookmarks from school watercolor pictures. We hope our small homemade gifts brightened up their day and let them know that people were thinking of them.

I hope your Christmas was full of love and I wish you a most splendid New Year in 2011!

Gift of the Gita

2010-12-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

Gita Jayanti is a celebration of the advent of the Bhagavad Gita.
It was spoken over 5000 years ago by Krishna to his devotee and friend Arjuna
on the battlefield of Kuruksetra.

On this day around the world, many recite its 700 shlokas (verses) and also
perform ritual fasting to concentrate their hearts and minds on this transcendental message.

In a nutshell, the Bhagavad Gita describes the Supreme, the living entities (souls), material existence,
and the nature of time and karma.

What great souls have found a deep philosophy for life from the Bhagavad Gita?

Albert Einstein: When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.

Mahatma Gandhi: When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day.

Henry David Thoreau: In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.

Rudolph Steiner: In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it.

Aldous Huxley: The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity.

Madhvacarya: The Mahabharata has all the essential ingredients necessary to evolve and protect humanity and that within it the Bhagavad-Gita is the epitome of the Mahabharata just as ghee is the essence of milk and pollen is the essence of flowers.

"One may cleanse himself daily by taking a bath in water, but if one takes a bath even once in the sacred Ganges water of Bhagavad-gītā, for him the dirt of material life is altogether vanquished."
-Gita Mahatmya verse 3

So in this season of giving and the advent of the wonderful, I would like to extend this gift of the Gita to anyone who would like one.
Leave a comment and I will get in contact with you to send you a book.

Handmade Gifts in the Round

2010-12-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple handmade gifts me and my daughter have made, which just happen to both be round.

Pomanders
We started the process the week of Thanksgiving because I wasn't sure how long it would take for the fruit to dry. It's quite easy and I think would be enjoyable for any child...especially the spice sprinkling.

An apple already drying out

Spices: Whole Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg

I poked holes with a bamboo skewer first, then we put in the cloves

Sprinkle Time!

Almost Done

The apple was also joined by a lemon and I would have to say that the lemon is probably a better choice. We let the pomanders dry in a hanging paper sack with some more spices. We shook them everyday. It's been about 3 weeks and the lemon is done. I will wrap them in some lightweight fabric and they will be ready to give. My daughter's class made them last week, so it looks like I will get one made with love too!

Felted Soaps
I have seen these many places and they are usually out of my budget for soap. My daughter was gifted a $14 one from Anthropology and she loves it. After all the soap is gone, you can cut it open and use it for a little pouch to keep treasures.

We have a bag of wool roving scraps and this is what we used for covering the soap. I found a good bargain on an all-natural traditionally kettle made vegan soap with no preservatives or EDTA from Sappo Hill in Oregon for under $2 a bar. They are such cute and fresh smelling round disks. We picked almond and it seems like a good choice to mask any wet wool smell.

Sappo Hill Almond Soap Disks

1st layer - Remember to rub gently!


Many layers later - One rainbow and one cool blue

I'm not a master felter but I think I'm getting a better hang of it. All you need is hot water, soap, some towels, and maybe a little extra bubble wrap to aid in felting and keep your whole area from becoming terribly wet. Felting does take a proper technique and using the same kind of wool fiber will help it felt properly. Most of all, it takes patience and gentleness at first. I think anyone would love a felted soap bar and it's easy to make a different one for each person's liking.

I hope you are having fun with all of your homemade gifts.

Stones and Plants

2010-12-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

Two weeks of advent are almost gone...the festivals of both stones and plants.
Here's some pictures of our progression this year.

Stones & Shells
I love our conch shell from our Deity Altar

Little Stones arranged in front of large white crystals in
a rainbow of colors

Rosemary Topiary and the advent spiral apple

Before we came to our Waldorf school, we had not been very big on celebrating the traditional holidays as it was not really within the Vaisnava spiritual tradition. Other than family obligations of gifting, we did not set up a tree or decorate our home. I grew up in the Catholic tradition and yes, we celebrated Advent and Christmas Eve, but it seemed much overshadowed by the gifts on Christmas morning.
I appreciate the anthroposophical view of each of the weeks, with light and consciousness growing
as the days occur.

After the advent spiral in the kindergarten, my daughter came home and made her own with cedar, marigold petals, shells and stones and a red candle in the middle.

A Mini Advent Spiral

Tomorrow I will post some of the handmade items we have made as gifts.

Advent coming soon!

2010-11-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We are saying "so long" to our fall nature table.

I hope all of your holiday crafting is going well.

More of that on WIP Wednesday!

Merry Marigolds

2010-11-15T06:35:00.001-08:00

Originally uploaded by lalitaliving

It's our week to bring flowers for the classroom. Our marigolds are so healthy with nice fragrant blooms. How wonderful it is to be able to cut these orange pompoms and share them with others!

Star Shine

2010-11-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has been enjoying a beautiful autumn.

We went to a nice fall festival at Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberley, TX.
What a wonderful place filled with great fiber artists and sculptors! I had brought home a skein of yarn from the Hill Country Yarn Crawl earlier this month that happened to be baby alpaca and merino wool.
My daughter loved it and asked if she could meet a real alpaca. Luckily, alpacas are sweet residents at this ranch and she got to pet their super soft coats.
I learned quite a bit about alpacas that day. They would prefer a llama as a body guard than a dog. Big brother llamas will stand up to predators. Here's my little knight running up to greet this brave counterpart.

Mariposa the mellow alpaca

Brave knight meets brave llama

With the traditional festivals of light coming up, I thought I would start a bit early.
Of course, with Halloween celebrations, there is always the jack-o'lantern. We brought one to our school's fall festival that evening. We are always amazed at the talent, cooperation, and artistic endeavor of the Waldorf community.

Star Pumpkin

Now most people were wondering if our little miss was an angel. Read this short and sweet story by the Grimm Brothers and you will know who she is.

The Star Talers (Die Sterntaler - German)
Once upon a time there was a little girl whose father and mother had died, and she was so poor that she no longer had a room to live in, nor a bed to sleep in, and at last she had nothing else but the clothes she was wearing and a little piece of bread in her hand that some charitable soul had given her. She was good and pious, however. And as she was thus forsaken by all the world, she went forth into the country, trusting in dear God.

Then a poor man met her, who said, "Ah, give me something to eat, I am so hungry."
She handed him her entire piece of bread, saying, "May God bless it for you," and went on her way.
Then came a child who moaned and said, "My head is so cold. Give me something to cover it with." So she took off her cap and gave it to the child. And when she had walked a little farther, she met another child who had no jacket and was freezing. So she gave her jacket to that child, and a little farther on one begged for a dress, and she gave her dress away as well. At length she made her way into a forest and it was already dark. Then there came yet another child, and asked for a shift, and the pious girl thought to herself, "It is a dark night and no one can see you. You can very well give your shift away," and she took it off, and gave it away as well.

And thus she stood there, with nothing left at all, when suddenly some stars fell down from heaven, and they were nothing else but hard shining talers, and although she had just given her shift away, she was now wearing a new one which was of the very finest linen. Then she gathered together the money into it, and was rich all the days of her life.

Stars from Heaven

Here she is in her brand new, white linen dress (soon to be favorite nightgown!) I used the simple pattern from The Children's Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes of a child's smock but added more length to make it a dress.

A pumpkin carving of Blessings

Time spent on kindness is not wasted. Without the expectation of return, we are all blessed.

May your inner light shine with the upcoming festivals of Martinmaas and Diwali!

WIP Wednesday - Gopi Skirt

2010-10-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

I finished my gopi skirt and was quite happy with how it turned out. I still have quite a bit of fabric left so I may make my daughter one too.

Floral Gopi Skirt

I want one too!

For our upcoming pumpkin path walk, I have a special costume to make for my little one. It's inspired by a more obscure Grimm's fairytale but it is well known in Waldorf circles.
Let's just say she will be giving away everything but getting the stars in return.

Also, I am almost done with a Garnet Hill inspired top. You'll see how a very unbecoming tourist T-shirt transforms into a floral masterpiece.

My inspiration - from www.garnethill.com

Hope everyone has a nice visit from the pumpkin fairy this weekend!

Happy Autumn & WIP Thursday

2010-09-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Autumn Everyone!
Here's a blog post I particularly enjoyed about the autumn equinox - from Om School.

Yesterday was Michaelmas and my wish for you is that all your dragons be vanquished by the light of goodness and knowledge.

Now on to what I've finished and my WIPs. If you are thinking of making gifts for the holidays coming up, now is the perfect time to start. Join other crafters at Handmade Holiday.

The little ruffled summer top is done. After doing the sleeves wrong a couple times, I finally figured it out with the help of a friend. Thanks Waldorfmama!
It came out with wonderful variegated pink stripes and will be perfect for layering during our mild Texas autumn. I'm glad I made the 7-9 version so she will be able to wear it for a couple more years.

Now on to something for me!

I think it's great when moms take the time to make something for themselves. Children can see that mom is worthy of handcrafted items too.

I have been wanting to make some skirts for myself for a while. This usually happens when long skirts are no longer in style and hence are hard to find in stores. I love tiered skirts and also those that are affectionately called "gopi skirts". These are long circular skirts that often are wrap around style. My mom gave me the Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics book last Christmas and I'm finally getting around to using it.
September was National Sewing Month and I hope you got a couple stitches in. I hope to have 3 or 4 skirts finished this fall.

Sew What Skirts & Fabric

Gopi Skirt fabric

I do have some sewing projects for my little miss, including some from this darling book I found at the most awesome consignment sale in central Texas (the MamaCents sale). I have been going for 3 years and am amazed at what I find. If you are a fan of the Little House Books you will love this one.
I plan on making some doll aprons and hope to make a matching one for my girl too.

Hope you are enjoying the seasonal change and if you are in Texas, our second spring where plants come back to life! I'm off to my first Lazure painting experience.
Cristina

Love Feasts - Make Your Own Butter

2010-09-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks were filled with some of the biggest Vaisnava festivals of the year. Balarama's festival was on the Tuesday with the full moon and then 8 days later Krsna's special day and then the following day, the birthday of our Guru. He said there is a festival to celebrate almost everyday of the year. With the traditional Waldorf/Steiner celebration ones as well, our life is filled with lots of meaning and joy.

You could say our branch of Vaisnavism is basically the "kitchen religion". Anything can be offered up to God...including food. In some temples, food is offered 6 times a day, many of the dishes being quite elaborate. On special festival days, sometimes there are 108 or more offerings. The Supreme of course does not need anything but accepts the love. This food becomes prasadam, which means mercy.

Rasagullas, Raspberry Halava, Mango Buttermilk, Cucumber Raita

My daughter and I decided we would like to make some butter to offer. It is said that baby Krsna loved butter! The gopis (beautiful cowherd women and girls) would spend much of their day making butter, ghee, and yogurt. So following in their footsteps, here is our modern attempt without a churning pot and fresh milk.

Make Your Own Butter
What You Need
organic cream (1 pint is a good amount)
mason jar with lid
3 clean marbles (we did Balaram white, Krsna blue, and Radha yellow)
jars or containers to store the butter milk and butter

Instructions
SHAKE IT

You pour the cream into the mason jar with the marbles. Seal the lid and start shaking. I remember doing this in 1st grade and it must have been easier with 25 children to help shake. With just the two of us, we almost gave up!

You will hear the marbles at the beginning. When it stars to thicken, the sound will disappear and you will begin to have whipped cream. This is when it gets hard, but keep going!
We took turns and chanted the maha-mantra while shaking.
Now we know why the gopis had such nice figures...all the physical work.
Eventually you can see through the glass again and thick curds start to form.
Then you will start to hear the marbles again and tinges of yellow appear. The yellow is the butter forming and the white liquid is the buttermilk. When you have a solid mass of butter, pour off the buttermilk into a clean container. Rinse the butter with cool filtered water until no buttermilk remains. This keeps it fresh longer as the buttermilk can make the butter go rancid faster.
You can then transfer the butter into a fresh container.
If you have cute butter molds, this would be a good time to use them.

After making butter, we made several more dishes and preparations for our celebration in the evening. We also dressed our Deities (traditional forms of the Divine) in new outfits and fresh flowers.

We sang special devotional songs.

For our Guru's birthday, we made one of his favorite snacks - Kachoris. It also happens to be one of mine as I have a love for all things flaky and fried.

Kachoris with Roasted Peanut Chutney

Anyway, someone might ask why all this effort....can't the Supreme just be happy without your offerings? This practice of offering items with love helps us to go beyond ourselves and thinking of our material bodies. Love is a verb...it means thoughtful doing.

Wishing you love and devotion in all your relationships,
Cristina

A Flowery First Day of School

2010-08-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Happy first day back to school everyone! I know many of you have been preparing for this day by making something special for your loved ones.

Here's what a made for my little flower - A Tulip Lunch Set

Since her symbol at school is the tulip, I made her a pink cotton bag with some vintage trim and an applique felt tulip. I got a couple Japanese craft books when I visited San Francisco. They are full of ideas with perfect pictoral instructions. I'm not very expert at sewing, nor do I like to follow instructions exactly. These books were the perfect balance of giving me the sewing know how and of course the cutest motifs.

Since there is no plastic liner (hooray for being fully washable!), I made a couple of little bags to carry eating utensils, and used containers. A new set of napkins made it complete...but wait, the food! With the Vaisnava holiday season in full bloom, she is sure to have lots of super tasty lunches. From our Balarama celebration, she's having rice, dahl and eggplant paneer subji and yogurt with pickle today.

I can see more wonderful qualities blossoming in my little girl. Being one of the oldest in the kindergarten this year, she will have lots of opportunities to help her teacher and younger classmates. I am happy that she gets another year to just be a carefree child with no academic expectations.
Happy 1st day of school and have more fun growing in the Sungarden!

Happy Birthday!

2010-07-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

My little miss has traveled another year around the sun and is now six!
The past couple days have certainly been birthday focused, with a preschool celebration in her honor on Friday, a birthday party of a classmate on Sunday, her real birthday today, and a birthday tea party coming up on Saturday. I don't have a shy gal, but one who loves people and friends! She gets me out and about and for that I am thankful.

Here's her little birthday at home.

She woke up to fresh pink roses and a card. Then she got 2 simple gifts:
a rainbow bamboo geometric puzzle and a wicker basket satchel/drawing board.

After a morning with friends, she came home to spend time with mom and dad hearing Vedic tales and stories, then had a special birthday dinner of salad, spinach lasagna (one of her favorites), and chocolate cake with strawberries.

I am continually amazed by her playfulness, love and good fortune. I know she is going to do great things in this life and I hope to help her along the way.

Work in Progress Wednesdays

2010-07-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a leap and hoping to have more frequent posts on Wednesdays. There's a great group of bloggers who participate in W.I.P and I thought it would be fun to join the list.

So here's my 1st official W.I.P post!

I've been planning my daughter's 6th birthday party. It's going to be an afternoon tea for with several of her friends. Here's a peek at the invitations that we sent out. Each teapot has its own picture drawn by our little miss. She did the teapot tracing, some cutting, drawing, all the gluing, putting the stamps on the envelopes etc. Such confidence comes from being able to do things and she was all smiles.
In the era of all things electronic, it was fun to sit down and make these then mail them.

There are a couple more crafty things planned, but I did want to share one of the items I'm making for the tea table. Homemade napkin rings/ponytail holders. How many of you reuse napkin rings for anything else than to hold a napkin? I took out my stash of felted sweaters and some pink hair elastics and voila! So pretty! I hope all the girls will like them.

My current knitting project is a pink ruffled sweater. It's found on Ravelry here.
Another pink/rose variegated yarn that happens to be organic cotton (Tahki Yarns - Palma). I found it at our local Waldorf school store, The Juniper Treehouse. I've only made a doll sweater before, but this looks like it will be quite easy as the whole thing is knitted in the round...no seaming. I'm hoping to have it done by the 1st day of school!

Could someone say the collecting of cats is a work-in-progress? Well, here's our latest addition.
Maybe we will have a constellation of cats one day. Our big boy cat is Sunny and this little guy is named Mercury.

Hope you are having a great week!

Natural & Practical

2010-06-29T20:47:00.001-07:00

woolpillowfront
Originally uploaded by lalitaliving

I love it when something is beautiful, natural and practical. Here are 3 items I wanted to share with you.

I recently photographed a project that I finished in May but started in November. It's a fluffy woolly pillow! The front is hand knitted with a lovely wool roving ribbon yarn called Sasha - color is Snow.

The back is an upcycled felted cashmere sweater. The two panels are held closed by recycled cotton buttons. A down pillow within makes it very soft.
It normally stays on my red couch for hugging and for naps.

Do you live in a two-story home? Do you have the problem of little items from upstairs or downstairs ending up in the wrong place? Yes, I know, all those steps are great exercise but sometimes you need a better way to carry things! Here's my solution: a beautiful basket to keep where needed.

My mother recently returned from Alaska and brought me a beautiful gift. Those who know me have seen my super long hair. Most combs would never do. This handmade comb featuring pyrography (fancy word for writing with fire) has nice wide teeth. Ayurveda recommends wooden combs. Not only does ancient wisdom make sense, but who likes the static electricity made by plastic combs and brushes. My last wooden comb had broken a couple months ago, so this was a welcomed surprise.

What's a natural and practical item you use everyday? :)

Slow Snail

2010-06-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's a slow Thursday morning. I love days like this when there is nothing planned and I can sit down, think and perhaps do something creative. Then I remembered this little blog of mine and how I wanted to share with you all some of our snail adventures.

While planning our trip to San Francisco at the end of April, I thought about bringing some food for the airplane ride and wanted it to be portable, not messy, and of course, tasty!
I started looking through the Baking Bread with Children book and came across this adorable recipe for making bread shaped snails. My daughter and I made them the day before we left and they came out wonderfully. Now she asks that anytime we go on an airplane ride we have to make snail bread. I see the beginning of another family tradition!

If you are looking for a wonderful craft that even a preschooler can feel proud about, why not make a beeswax snail. My talented friend, Nicole (Frontier Dreams), has a tutorial on how to make them. It's very simple: all you need is modeling beeswax and a favorite snail shell.

I also recently joined Slow Food USA . It's a great organization that is encouraging people to slow down, think about their food choices, and the people who grow it and make it. It also just so happens that the Slow Food logo is a snail. Austin's local chapter features one with a cowboy hat.

Want a cute Father's Day story? This one just happens to be about a snail family and a young snail's dilemma about what to give his father. Check out The Best Father's Day Present Ever.
We found the book at our local library. It gives a great non-commercial message. I think any dad would love to go on a nature walk led by his child.

So here's my little tribute to snails. These little friends take their time, enjoy the journey and leave a magical silver trail behind.

My Nest at Honeybloom at Home

2010-04-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'm here in San Francisco meeting some family who flew over from Hawaii for a week vacation.

-from VRBO.com

We are in a beautiful Victorian home. It has many personal touches and is great place to come back to after walking throughout the city.
http://www.vrbo.com/262220

While I'm away, take a peek at my recent interview with Shannon Honeybloom for her To Nest column. Find out a little more about me, my family, and home.

If you want to get inspired to have a slow home full of peace and laughter, check out Shannon's book:
Making A Family Home

See you back in Austin soon!

Remembering and Renewal

2010-04-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

Life has been quite happy and playful for us, so much so that there is often less time to talk about it, much less blog about it. Moms who run their own businesses have even less time!
But I thought not having a post for over 3 months was a bit long.
So with Spring comes change, more light, renewal and rebirth.

Here's a brief synopsis of the past 3 months:
Lovely gifts all around during the holidays. I got a great Namaste knitting bag at the time. My daughter received gifts galore, including some wooden trees and bushes that I hand painted and sealed with beeswax. I will put up a post about them soon.

We had a fun Valentine's Day Fondue party at home. Late February, we had snow here in Texas and made a happy snow bunny with apricot eyes and nose.

Snowbunnies

Soon a warm Sunday appeared, and we headed out to Barton Creek Trail to do some Geocaching. Basically, you use a GPS (iPhone), get coordinates and find caches hidden along the trail. You still have to be observant and do a little hunting to find the hidden boxes.

Old ammunition box

People from all over the world open the metal boxes and leave messages and trinkets. We left a few crystals and some beeswax. A picnic by the creek after crossing it makes for a perfect respite.

Late March we did more trail walking and came across morel mushrooms. What a pleasant surprise!
Finding mushrooms made me think of Children of the Forest and how the family gathered and dried them for the winter. It's so important to know which ones you can eat. More about our mushroom hunting on my food blog: Veggiebytes.com

Farmer Carolan has been composting, preparing beds, shoveling soil, hanging supports and sending out his love to our little backyard garden. Here's a pic of all the green "volunteers" about 1 month old after our snowfall in February.

Arugula, Bok Choy, Gai Lan, Lacinato Kale, Snow Peas

Onto crafting, we particpated in our school's Knit-A-Thon by making some scarves and hats. I knit some wrist warmers for myself and a Noro silk hat for my mom for when she goes to Alaska in the summer. I'm also so happy I had time try out Nicole's felted egg tutorial at Rhythm Of the Home. I got to do it twice: once with my dear daughter and then with ladies from our school's handwork group.
The pics are coming, I promise!

Faerie Dreams

As we move into April, it seems like all the brightly colored flower faeries have appeared. We attended the Greenwood School's annual Faerie Festival and had fun flitting and flying. It's always good though to come back and have some quiet time in our own realm.

Happy Spring to Everyone!

December 2009 - Advent Table

2009-12-26T22:46:00.000-08:00

This year I thought it would be fun to have an Advent Table and celebrate a countdown to Christmas Day. Being a little Vaisnava family, you would wonder why we would have a Nativity Scene and how does the anthroposophical view of Christ line up with our beliefs. We both believe in spiritual evolution, with the soul reaching the highest level in the material world as a perfected human being.

These traditions and festivals are supposed to fill our spiritual longings and bring forth light in our lives...especially in the dark of winter. We are looking for meaning and it's not something you can buy at the mall. Many cultures celebrate the winter Solstice, the return of the sun, and it's no coincidence that Christmas day is very close to that time.

We enjoyed reading a light-hearted book for young children, "The Festival of Stones", about a faerie named Tiptoes Lightly. We received it as a belated birthday gift and it was delightful to read the stories each Advent week.

1st week of Advent - The Mineral Kingdom

Our varied selection of minerals and shells

24 day advent candle

2nd week of Advent - The Plant Kingdom

We added some juniper (mountain cedar), pine cones, the cutest rosemary topiary tree and the apple candle used at the kindergarten Advent spiral walk.

3rd Week of Advent - The Animal Kingdom

May we not be stubborn donkeys and be gentle like Mary's.

4th Week of Advent - The Human form of Life

Each day of Advent, we added a shining star to our blue silk sky, culminating with the largest star of all on Christmas Eve. As followers of Vedic astrology, the chart of the planets and stars at birth is significant.

Hope you had a special Christmas filled with light and surrounded by loved ones.

Book Bargains

2009-11-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

We love to read at bedtime and contrary to traditional Waldorf bedtime routines, we like new stories... almost every night.
I'm sure if I had started earlier with reading only the same couple books, my daughter's love for the new and exciting would not have been ignited. She still likes books with pictures but is able to create an image in her mind's eye of what I have read from books without any.

I like to find vintage books with beautiful illustrations along with mode of goodness storylines.
Many modern children's books have garish drawings, silly stories, adult sarcasm or are recreated from the original book after it had been made into a movie. We love to find treasures at Half Price Books. I'm still waiting to find beautiful books by Elsa Beskow and Sibylle Von Olfers and I look every time.
We feel fortunate to have found some special ones below.

Here's a beautiful Waldorf-style Snow White book:

It's the traditional Grimm's tale with the wicked queen visiting 3 times. I love Snow White in a long white linen dress. The dwarves are very adorable and also quite elemental looking. From my 80's media-rich upbringing, they look like the California Raisins, but I did not mention that to my dear daughter.

Rudolf Steiner had recommended books with moving pictures or components that the child could move. Making Picture Books with Moving Pictures looks like a fun resource for those who would like to explore the craft. It teaches you how to make interactive books.
I found this delightful reproduction of a vintage Merry Magic Go Round book where you can turn a circular disc to see a changing scene.

Here's one example....watch the bowls on the left..there is no one eating.

Then see the bowls on the right and the Three Bears having their porridge.

The book below is a 1947 vintage craft, fingerplay, jump rope song, wonder book.
We even found a song that my daughter sings in Kindergarten.

Oats, peas, beans and barley grows,
Oats, peas, beans and barley grows,
You nor I nor nobody knows
How oats, peas, beans and barley grows.

Here the farmer sows his seed,
Then he stands and takes his ease,
Stamps his foot and claps his hand,
And turns around to view his land.

I have also found some early childhood education gems like "You Are Your Child's First Teacher" (an older edition from the 80's) and "Children At Play". You can sometimes find older Goldenbooks as well that show children actually engaging in imaginative play. Our favorites we have found are Little Mommy, Nurse Nancy and Doctor Dan, the Bandage Man

Wishing you wonderful books and the precious time spent reading together!
Cristina

Pumpkins and More

2009-11-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

What fun it is to see orange pumpkins!
Here's a recap of the days before Halloween up to the kindergarten
lantern walk in celebration of Martinmas.

We found 3 nice pumpkins at the AWS pumpkin fundraiser.
Not organic but a good price for a good cause.
Here's the harvesting of the yummy insides!

No need to let this all go to waste even though it's not exactly a pie pumpkin. It made great pumpkin soup, and pumpkin puree to add to our kitty's food. Cats love pumpkin, in case you didn't know!
Don't forget the seeds make yummy snacks that build patience and are a great nutritional value.

Pumpkin and chocolate chip pancakes!

I was so proud of my husband for creating this spooky pumpkin lantern.

It went on the Pumpkin Path but we did not get to see it as we only went on the Parsnip Path for the wee ones.

After we did about 10 minutes of trick-'o-treatin' on Saturday night and getting about 2 handfuls of candy, we called it a night and told our dear daughter about the lovely Pumpkin Fairy who gives a timely gift in exchange for candy. This was quite well-received and even though she didn't come early in the morning, more like afternoon nap time, her little gift was met with awe.

She brought a golden felted pumpkin and a glass beaded bracelet/anklet.

The cute small one was wet felted by little miss, next to the one a la the Pumpkin Fairy. The foreground one I made for a handwork group that is giving handmade items to sell in the school store. So if you go to the Juniper Tree store, and see an orange pumpkin, you'll know who made it.

A lovely set of lanterns made by our little miss. One sun-bleached one from last year and this year's one made from a small mustard jar.

Hope you were able to celebrate the autumn season with light and with the humblest of all lanterns that gives so much.... a happy pumpkin.

Festivals of Light

2009-10-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

As fall progresses and the days get shorter, people around the world will be celebrating festivals of light.
In the Waldorf tradition, Martinmaas and colorful lanterns ask us to remember the light within. In India and places where people celebrate Vedic culture, this is a special month called Kartik. During Kartik, there are many festivals including a very popular one called Diwali.
Diwali is a celebration of where hundreds of lamps and candles, called diyas, are lit in homes, businesses, and temples. It is to commemorate a special day that happened hundreds of years ago when Prince Rama returned to be king of Ayodhya. Sri Rama rescues his kidnapped wife Sita from the wicked Ravana who was the king of what is known today as Sri Lanka. Prince Rama had also been exiled from Ayodhya for 14 years as a boon given to his stepmother Kaikeiyi. This is a magical story filled with monkeys, flying flower-airships, battles, and love and devotion. It is called the Ramayana and it's a well loved story in India and abroad.

I was lucky enough to participate in a Waldorf-inspired puppet show to celebrate Diwali at my daughter's kindergarten class. All the children watched with awe. One particular part they liked was when Rama goes to chase the golden deer that Sita asks for. My daughter was so happy to see Hanuman (Rama's most beloved and dedicated monkey friend). Each child was given a diya to take home. Children in a Waldorf school typically learn about the Ramayana in the 5th grade when studying world cultures.

Our Ramayana Finger puppets with handmade diya

At home we celebrated the festival of Govardhana Puja, which is a Vaisnava holiday to remember when a special boy named Krsna protects the whole village of Vrndavana from a horrible rainstorm.
The villagers of Vrndavana had gone against the tradition of worshiping Indra, the demigod of rain and the heavens, and decided to offer their thanks to a special hill named Govardhana. This hill would give them everything they needed, such as grass for the cows, fruit trees, water, caves with minerals, etc. Indra was quite angry and sent down rain for a week. Krsna picked up Govardhana Hill as easily as a mushroom and protected everyone.

One of the many traditions of celebrating is Govardhana Puja to make a large feast including a hill of sweets. Since we have been trying to reduce our consumption of sugar and being sick the last week, we decided to make a hill of uppma (a semolina based savory polenta type dish..recipe here) with fresh veggies from our garden. This was decorated with flowers, tulasi (holy basil), and some of my daughter's cows.
We also made burfi (a condensed milk sweet).

Govardhana Hill with Cows (In Sanskrit, Go means cows, Vardhana means gives pleasure)

Another ritual we do during this month is offer light to baby Krsna and sing a precious song called Damodarastakam. Similar to the worship of the Christ-child, we come to see the Divine in the form of a baby. He is sweetness personified.

Hope you are celebrating meaningful festivals too!

It's Autumn!

2009-09-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday was Autumn Equinox, when the day and night are of equal measure. It's a time of harvest and preparation for winter. We have had much needed rain and unlike the northeast where they have true seasons, Texas looks very very green now! As the cool weather sets in slowly, I look forward to the change and the breathing inward that the Earth and all of us do.

Our nature table is slowly growing as we have been working on making it festive. We participated in the Seasons Round exchange and mailed off our package to Hannah of Home Baked Education in the UK. We hope that she and her son liked it.
Here's some materials used in the process and what we made.

Wool sweaters for felting

I made this Harvest Gnome with cordoroy pants and a felted orange sweater. He is fully poseable due to a wire frame, has warmth from wool, and a hemp belt for holding tools. He has found the cutest pumpkin with curly tendrils.

Gingko Leaves from our tree inside a little coconut top. The scene is set with a little mat I knit with 3 strands of yarn and then felted.

When our package arrives from over the Atlantic, I'll post more pics. I really enjoyed this exchange and hope I can participate in the upcoming Light one.

To keep some of the brightness of summer, I learned a great tip from Tipnut.com and made both orange and lemon vinegar for cleaning. I saved the peels from organic oranges and lemons, put them in glass jars and covered them with plain white vinegar. In about 1 more week, I should be able to strain the peels and have a safer and more natural way to clean.

Here's a happy little plant I found, bursting with berries, and the last of our summer tomatoes.

The Pin Cushion Plant

Warm Wishes,
Cristina

A New School Year

2009-08-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. The sun still shines quite bright in our nook of the world, with temperatures still hovering around 100 degrees. We are thankful for trees and the breeze.
We feel so blessed with the opportunity to learn and grow and be part of an awesome community.

Happy Back to School Everyone!

Are you wondering about school lunches? Here's a post from my other blog from last year:
Happy & Healthy School Lunches

Late Rainbows and Family Drawing Time

2009-08-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

This past week a couple different Waldorf bloggers celebrated Rainbow Week (Waldorfmama, Frontier Dreams). Thanks for sharing all things rainbow! I'm a little late, but I figured it's never too late to see a rainbow.

Rainbow "Thank You" Cards from my daughter's watercolor painting time. We are sending some out to thank others for coming to her birthday party.

Rainbow Wool in my recycled magazine bowl

A special Fabulous Fruit picture my daughter drew that is above her kitchen.

We got another orange tabby kitty on Friday. His name is Sunny and joins Bindi, our 2 year old orange tabby. Even though she's still being like an evil stepmother to him, we hope that she can overcome her grumpiness, be more motherly, and realize they share the love of wool.

I had bought a 3 set of Moleskin notebooks for our family drawing time. The fantastically creative mom, Amanda Soule, suggests this in her book "The Creative Family". Even though my husband was not so enthusiastic and said "He can't draw," he gave it a try. Our inspiration was Sunny. Our daughter was so thrilled at us all drawing together. It's a great way to relax and bring out your inner child, who is always a wonderful artist!

Our first entry: Sunny
Dad's pic has the cat with caption "Brains"..oh well, zombie cat returns.

Have a great week!
Cristina

A Summer Girl's 5th Birthday

2009-07-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

It was my little girl's 5th time around the sun and what sanguine child would not want a birthday party with special friends. Last year we did a "Save The Bee" Party but this time we did not have a particular theme. I bought The Birthday Book: Celebrations for everyone and was able to read it and get ideas several months ahead of time. I highly recommend this resource if you want to throw a homemade, non-commercial, non-plasticky Waldorf-inspired party for your child. We had animal friends visit, some games, homemade pizza and cake, and a table puppet show.

I made a wool felted crown and found a rainbow dress at the MamaCents consignment sale for $6 in the spring.

I also found a beautiful redhead doll on Ebay. I named her Scarlett Sundari (Sundari means beautiful in Sanskrit). I knit my first sweater using Waldorfmama's Doll Cardigan. It was wonderfully easy to knit for a newbie knitter like myself. Scarlett is wearing a cotton knitted dress that both me and my daughter wore when we were infants. Hooray for vintage!

Making the take-home gift bags was fun. I did not want to give anything plastic or anything too sweet, since we know that children open those bags on the way home. There's no need to have more sugar after birthday cake and lots of excitement that day. I also wanted to include some homemade items. The birthday girl and I made beeswax flowers from unrefined beeswax and she decorated the bags with a sun potato stamp and some other stamps and tempera paint a week before.
Here's what was in the bags: rainbow craft stick bundles, beeswax flower, organic raisins, soft wool yarn for string games or crafts, shiny origami paper, small animal stickers.

My mother wanted to pay for Traveling Zoo to come visit with a pony and some small farm animals. Even though I thought it might be too much activity for the children in one day with the activities i already had planned, they all loved it. They got to ride the pony several times and used their gentle hands while petting the goats, duck, chicks, and fluffy bunny. I also learned that the woman who owns the business considers the animals her business partners and friends and does not send them to slaughter. I'm not too sure about the chickens, but to a peace-loving vegetarian family like ours knowing the goats aren't going to become a stew means a lot.

After the animals left, everybody washed up and then went on a surprise trail. We flitted like butterflies, walked slowly like big bears, went across a canyon (balance beam), visited a fairy home and a gnome home, then finally came to a bell bush, where each child got a ribbon necklace with a jinglebell at the end.

Then everyone came inside because it was getting warm and we played the game Pass the Parcel.
It's basically a layered tissue game where each layer has a small item and it is wrapped individually around the previous layer. The children sit in a circle and pass the gift around while everyone sings a song. When the song is over, the child who has the parcel in their lap gets to open one layer. Some ideas for small items: shell, crystal, marble, small ball of yarn, origami paper, small dollhouse items, wool ball, stickers, jinglebell.

Then it was PIZZA time. I normally do lots of the cooking but dearest husband offered to make homemade pizza. Some for the kids (cheese, cheese and pineapple), some for the adults (arugula, pesto, and even goat cheese with figs). We are very lucky to have such a special guy in our family! Hardly any waste was made from the meal because we used Chinet compostable plates, cups made of corn PLA, and compostable knives and forks. Everything went out into our 2 wire mesh compost bins. Most food was organic and some was even from Greenling (that's where we got the compostable cups)!

After pizza, we had cake which I got from Whole Foods. I'm not a baking extraordinaire and last year I was up to 3am crying because the cake I was baking was sinking in. We aren't vegan, but we don't use eggs in our home, so baking a decent eggless cake especially for a lot of people is not my forte'.
While the eating was going on, the children who were done fast were able to make a craft that would be used in the puppet show. Little wooden figures were covered in wool felt, cotton fabric, ribbon, and wool hair. They all turned out so cute with their own personalities, just like the children themselves. It's amazing what beautiful things can be made with simple items.

The crazy part of the party and probably at parties everywhere is the gift opening. Last year I requested no gifts because I was afraid of the onslaught of Disney and media characters that my child would love and things that would make me cringe. Since most of her friends go to a Waldorf school or are Waldorf inspired, the gifts were lovely...yarn & needles, wool felted doll, beeswax, playsilks, child's apron, bead set, colored chalk. My brother got her more of those wonderful Fairy Books (Red, Green & Blue). She even got an Ostheimer mama lion and cub. My husband got her the knight's outfit from Nova Natural. My funny sister did not follow the "rules" and got her a Sleeping Beauty outfit! It is pretty in pink but I think we may just have to remove the Sleeping Beauty likeness for now and make it just a generic princess dress.

I wanted to end the party on a sweet and quiet note. Children under 7 are generally still within a dreamlike state where fantasy and reality are not separate realms. They can believe stories and the moral lessons they impart. They also believe in the good of the world and if they have nice examples to imitate, the goodness of the human being. The table puppet play comes from the Birthday Book. It incorporates some of the traditional elements of Waldorf birthstory including an angel friend, the rainbow bridge, and the parents waiting for the child.

In this story, the angel has given the child a treasure bag with heavenly items to bring with her to the world. She comes over the rainbow bridge, meets a gnome and forgets the bag on the side of a stream. She goes on playing, then sees a path that leads to her parent's home. Then they give her a name. One day, she has a birthday and invites friends. The wooden figures the guest children made had been gathered and are placed on the table one by one in the order they came to the party. The children all laughed when their figure was placed on the table. Finally the birthday child is sad when her friends have to leave and wishes she could give them something. A birthday fairy tells her that the Wise Gnome has kept her treasure bag and she will ask him to bring it. Each child is then given one of the heavenly treasures on a golden string.

A heavenly raindrop is a piece of blue glass, a sunbeam is a glass ball etc. To hear the oohs and ahhs and the wonder of the children was enchanting. Then the Wise Gnome gives the birthday child a golden star to remember the light and to share it with the world.

It was such an endearing story that I teared up at the end. I find the innocence of children so beautiful. Here's to Kelly, a little light to the world. Happy 5th Birthday!

The Seal Maiden

2009-07-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Are you going on a road trip to the beach or somewhere far away?
Are you looking for something different from the regular genre of fast-paced music?
Here's a great CD I recently discovered with beautiful music for children and (adults).

The Seal Maiden: A Celtic Musical

Usually recorded music is not encouraged in the Waldorf tradition, but I would have to say that folk music or something that your grandmother would have sung in her traditional land is a wonderful thing. This is definitely better than what is on the radio for kids nowadays.
Most children's music insults the child's intelligence, is too silly and garish with unnatural instrumentation.
The Seal Maiden is more than just music, there is a narrative that blends the songs together seamlessly. If you are a fan of Celtic music and traditional pieces from Ireland, you will love this. If you like a good story and enjoy hearing peaceful and beautiful voices, you will find that Karan Casey's vocals and narrative will transfer you to the land of Silkies.

Happy Listening!
Cristina

Rainbow Wool

2009-06-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

What to do on a record hot Texas summer day? Dye some wool!
My daughter's teacher had sent me this link sometime ago about a fun wool dyeing project for young ones.
A Child's Dream
At first I was a bit reluctant because the coloring agents were unsweetened Kool-Aid, but it was so easy and gave a wonderful result.
My little miss has never tried Kool-Aid and after our dyeing session she believes the rainbow packets of artificial color are only for dyeing wool. She said "If I drink this, my insides will get dyed weird Mom." Children are so smart!

ITEMS NEEDED
Wool roving, about a 8 inch piece for each color
6 old glass mason jars (I used a Pyrex bowl too)
Small Kool-Aid packets (unsweetened)
- They were 5 for $1 at the local grocery store
Bamboo skewers for mixing if you don't want to have dyed hands
Hot water
HOT SUN!

First we soaked the wool roving pieces in a bowl with some warm water.
We filled each jar a quarter of the way full of water and then added the Kool-Aid powder to each one. Then I filled it halfway full with hot water from our tea kettle.
Then we took the pieces of wool roving and placed them in each colored water jar and stirred with the bamboo skewer. Soon it was time for the jars to make a beautiful rainbow in the sunshine.

It was about 95 degrees out by 10am. We left the jars out for about 4 hours, coming outside to stir a bit then running back in.
Then it was time to wash the wool. I got a large bowl and filled it with warm water.
Amazingly, for most of the colors, all of the dye was absorbed into the wool! The water was clear and we were able to rinse it out with our hands.

Then we hung the wool rainbow in the shade on our hemp twine light line and it dried in about 1 hour.
It looked so beautiful and we have yet to think of a project for it. We did give a bit of it as a present to one of my daughter's friends in a birthday gift.
It's fun to share wool love.

I'm going to start thinking of doing some plant-based dyeing now, but this was a great beginner project.

Solstice Sun Day & Father's Day

2009-06-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely longest day of the year! It was the perfect day for everyone to do a little Surya Namaskaram..the salutation to the sun.
Surya is the sun god according to the Vedic paradigm and I found a bright watercolor painting of him on his chariot with his 7 horses. He is very similar to Apollo of Greek Mythology.

Our little miss gave dad a handpainted ceramic mug she painted at the local ceramics shop, Cafe Monet. She included much "ALOHA" as Sean always thinks back on his childhood days spent on the beaches of Kauai!

Then we had a nice breakfast, trip to the bookstore with daddy, and then some summer faerie making. We also found out about a local business nearby called Solstice Gardens that we hope to visit soon.

Here's a picture of our Summer Solstice nature table.

Sun star, faeries, sun princess and gnomie friend, sunflowers and zinnias from our garden, crystals and more.

We celebrated Father's Day with a homemade lasagna, salad with greens, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers from our garden and cannolis.

All glories to the shining sun!

Welcome to Lalita Living

2009-06-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

I thought I would start another blog to compile all the wonderful crafts and thoughts I have had since my daughter began going to a Waldorf school. We have had such a wonderful experience and I thought that perhaps others would like to share in that. My parenting attitude has changed for the better and I can see more and more that childhood is really meant for play. Children are expected to grow up too fast in our society and become adults with perfect speech and manners. They need time to play and be protected, given good examples to imitate, and less talking to but true warmth. Believe me, it is a challenge! But all seriousness aside, this blog will mainly be about playfulness and experiencing the beauty around us, in Nature, people and relationships, and through the hand-crafted. Lalita is a Sanskrit name that imbibes the playful and beautiful.
Welcome to Lalita Living!