Sheep and Wolves

Ever since Camille has learned to sing the Baa-Baa Black Sheep song she has had her own endearing version of it. I am writing it down here since I have a feeling it will change soon. All it will take will be one person pointing out her "mistake" and then that version will be gone. I would like to think that I will always remember her version, but we recently watched some old baby videos of Noah and all of sudden I realized that I had forgotten one of Noah's first "words". So glad we had it on video: "minga, minga". It didn't have any specific meaning but he loved the sound of it and would repeat it to himself throughout the day, every day. I loved it so much and yet I had totally forgotten about it. And here's another Noah word that I still remember and still love but should record before I forget it: "dribbling" (in place of drizzling rain).

So here is Camille's version of the song:

Baa,Baa Black Sheep. Do you have any wolves?
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Three bags full.
One for my master, One for my dame, and one for
the little boy who lives down the lane.

Wolves in place of wool. It always makes me smile. Probably just a silly mama thing but with the current state of my mind I feel the need to record it before it is gone. I seem to be in a constant state of disorganization lately. Lost my little black book where I keep all of my lists, phone numbers, etc. Always seem to be running late and not surprisingly all of the Hanukkah packages I meant to wrap, pack, and ship weeks ago still aren't done (sorry they will be late!). This time of year always makes me feel a little frantic and I crave simplicity and organization more than ever. Working hard to re-gain some sense of that this week so I can really enjoy the holidays without feeling stressed to the max. So in light of that it may seem even sillier to take the time to write this post when I should be decorating (Hanukkah starts next week and we still have turkeys and pumpkins hanging around), but actually it does make me feel a little better. It is a good reminder to myself to stop in the midst of the holiday frenzy and to focus on the little things that make life good. Like wolves and dribbling. Eggnog, latkes, and fresh oranges. Stories of miracles and hope. And candles. And homemade cards. And hot cocoa.

Fresh and Sweet

Fresh from Bina's tree to our little juicer. We are loving the start of the orange season here.

Winter Garden

Over the past few weeks we have been building and planting our winter garden. Friends who were moving back to the States generously gave us the wood and the dirt from their raised garden bed. Adam moved all of it from their yard to ours with a wagon. Lots of dirty, heavy work (thank you, babe) and then re-assembled it in our back yard. That bed is now full of lettuce, broccoli, onions, and purple sicilian cauliflower. I had some left over cauliflower and broccoli so I tucked them into our front bed (remember our lasagna style bed?). We have truly embraced the concept of edible landscaping. In addition to the broccoli and cauliflower, our front yard also has rosemary,three different types of thyme, oregano, basil, chives, sage, and lettuce. Makes me very happy. The only thing that is not making me happy is a visiting cat who has chosen our new raised bed as his personal litter box. He keeps returning to one specific corner of the bed. Any suggestions? I am getting ready to try sprinkling pepper in that area, but would welcome any other ideas.