A new set of eyes!

Santa came a little early for me this year. Thanks to Jean-Maurice and my mom's generosity, I treated myself with a Nikon D90, the camera I dreamt of having for a very long time. I used to be an amateur photograph when I was in College. I would spend hours on hand alone in a photo lab and days shooting in the streets of Montreal. I participated in contests and won a couple of awards... I feel like I was just gifted a new set of eyes, I am so excited! I feel like a kid! So here's two days worth of playing with my new toy! Most of the photos have been taken with the Nikkor 50 mm 1.8.

Le Père Noël m'a apporté un cadeau un peu avant les autres cette année. Grâce à la grande générosité de Jean-Maurice et de ma mère, je me suis offert un Nikon D90, l'appareil photo dont je rêvais depuis très longtemps. J'étais photographe amateur au collège et je passais des heures d'affilée dans un labo de photo, et des journées complètes à faire de la photo dans les rues de Montréal. J'ai participé à des concours et remporté des prix... J'ai l'impression de venir de recevoir une nouvelle paire de yeux, je suis tellement excitée! Je me sens comme un enfant! Voici donc deux jours de plaisir avec mon nouveau jouet! La plupart des photos ont été prises avec la Nikkor 50 mm 1.8.





Candle decorating with some decorating wax. This is such a fun activity!

Décoration de chandelle avec de la cire à décorer. Une activité tellement agréable!













Frisée. We just found out that she is pregnant! She should have her calf in early July.

Frisée. On vient d'apprendre qu'elle est enceinte! Elle devrait avoir son veau au début de juillet.



Fernande



Bella, Blanka and Sauvagine



Gypsy



Aïsha milking Fernande with papa.

Aïsha qui traît Fernande avec papa.



Brunette voraciously bites a carrot.

Brunette croque voracement dans une carotte.





A barn cat looking for compassion on the porch.

Un chat de grange qui cherche un peu de compassion sur le seuil de la porte.



Third week of Advent: the animals arrived on Mary's star path. We are telling Flocon blanc's story, the little sheep who didn't want to be sheared because he wanted to keep his wool as a present for the little King.

La troisième semaine de l'avent : les animaux sont arrivés sur le chemin de Marie. On raconte l'histoire de Flocon blanc, le petit mouton qui ne voulait pas se faire tondre, car il réservait sa laine en guise de cadeau pour le petit roi.



A beautiful gift (the hat) by a dear Yukon friend! Thank you so much, Bonnie!

Un superbe cadeau (la tuque) d'une amie yukonnaise! Merci du fond du coeur, Bonnie!



Some watercolor painting this morning.

Un peu d'aquarelle ce matin.



Sprinkled with salt, the results are stunning!

Saupoudrée de sel, les résultats sont éblouissants!



Some of our favorite window stars. Check this book to learn some techniques.

Quelques-unes de nos étoiles en papier plié favorites. Regardez ce livre pour apprendre les techniques.





Our first snowshoe expedition of the year on the land behind our house (and the last two photos from my old Olympus...).

Notre première expédition en raquette de l'année sur la terre derrière la maison (et les deux dernières photos de mon vieil Olympus...).



With a snack or raw chocolate milk warmer and gingerbread! Yum!

Avec une collation de chocolat au lait cru tiède et de pain d'épices! Mium!



How I love to pull out our decorations every year! This wreath was made in the Yukon with my dear friend Bonnie who offered me the rainbow hat.

Quel plaisir de ressortir les décorations chaque année! Cette couronne a été faite au Yukon avec mon amie Bonnie qui m'a offert le chapeau arc-en-ciel.



May this last week before Christmas be a peaceful one and try to not be caught up in the whirlwind of preparations and doing that can surround this celebration.

Que cette dernière semaine avant Noël soit empreinte de paix et puissez-vous ne pas vous faire prendre dans le tourbillon des préparations et dans la frénésie du faire qui peut entourer cette célébration.

And please, take some time to read this on unschooling.

Here's some excerpts :

I admit it. I do it because I’m selfish. I want my time for myself. When I think of the time I would have to spend away from my family to earn more than bare living expenses, it becomes so precious that I cannot put a price on that time. We are a post-civilized stay-at-home family. Of course we don’t always stay at home. As Grace Llewellyn writes in The Teenage Liberation Handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education, “The idea is to catch more of the world, not less.”

(...) We have all the time in the world together to do whatever we feel like doing, whenever we’d like to do it. We don’t purchase experiences to experience, we just live life however it comes to us every day.

This is pretty much the basis of unschooling for children. It’s a particular kind of homeschooling that is child-directed; that is, children pursue any kind of learning and experiences they desire. It’s funny. A lot of people who have kids in public school assume that if given the opportunity, children will cease all learning; that children only learn because they are forced to learn in school. I think all children are naturally inquisitive, unless this desire is completely quashed by parents and/or schools, and I might add television in there too. As parents and communities, it is up to us to provide opportunities for children to learn whatever they desire. And to me specifically, being a completely spontaneous stay-at-home family is the best way to provide any and every kind of experience for my child.

So how does she learn without being taught? She is curious about life. She is free to ask questions. She is free to experience. There are days we stay at home in comfortable clothes, cleaning the house and reading a hundred books. A lot of days we go to the park, pool, or beach. We visit family and friends. We play dress-up and pretend. We have earnest discussions about death and adoption and where babies come from. We count. She likes to sweep up piles on the floor and sewed up a rip in her blanket. She paints with real paints, has always used real scissors, and uses a knife to cut vegetables. She can do cartwheels, straddle rolls, and spin in the air. She loves to dress up as a princess in high heels and crown, and play in the dirt. She can roll out tortillas & knead bread. She even took her own pizzas out of the oven by herself. She’s four years old.

My point in telling you all that is not to brag on my child or point out how gifted she is. She is a child who gets to experience real life everyday. I could tell you the things I have learned to do since I got out of the work-consume-die lifestyle. I can grow vegetables, cook without recipes, identify edible weeds, walk several miles, conjure up money when there is none, fix things, make do or do without, sew, share and help when I can, and publish alternative zines! I am by no means gifted either. I just now have a lot of time to do things myself.

And here's part 2.