We have a new holiday. Though Japan may have a Boy’s Day (May 5) and a Girl’s Day (March 3) and former East Germany has Kindertag (June 1), only Massachusetts has “Boy and Girl Day” (August 21).
Boy and Girl Day was originated by Sabine and Violette Smith and is celebrated on the third Thursday of August.
Here are some photos from the celebration in Groveland.
Just like last year, we enjoyed the peaches right off the tree at Brooksby Farm in Peabody, MA.
Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm by Nicola Smith
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Contrary to what other reviewers said, this made me think, “Why would anyone do it?” The photos are beautiful and the writing is excellent — you are a fly on the wall and get to witness the good, the bad & the ugly (fights between the couple). It definitely made me appreciate the farmers at our farmers market a lot more.
School As a Journey: The Eight-Year Odyssey of a Waldorf Teacher and His Class by Torin M. Finser
rating: 4 of 5 stars
With Leo about to start at a Waldorf Kindergarten, I thought this might be a good way to learn about Waldorf schools. It was interesting to read and gave a teacher’s perspective about what having a class for eight years was like.
Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work by Gary Lachman
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very readable and I definitely learned about Steiner and his times. I have a new understanding of his very interesting life.
We saw someone doing this game a few years ago here in Swampscott. A perfect beach game if the beach is sloped and you have a few minutes to build it. The original set-up we saw had multiple holes worth varying points, but the kids just liked the one hole. We used croquet balls and dug a gutter all the way around to catch the balls.
For the second Thursday in a row, we went to Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton, MA (near the Topsfield/Wenham borders). It’s probably the only CSA started by a Major General of the U.S. Army .
We’ve been there many times before, but today we had another great time at the Peabody Essex Museum. Though not officially a “children’s museum”, they try really hard to make kids welcome. And now they’ve added a fun scavenger hunt in the form of this brochure, with two tear-off cards that kids can easily hold on to.
It’s their way (it seems) of getting kids to explore more than just the first floor of the museum, where the child-oriented “Idea Studio” is located. The four year olds had fun doing the search, but the six year old with us, Lily, was really the one who could find the objects.
The shows in the kids’ room last for a year — the origami show is now over and a new one, Polar Attractions, is up. To see a cool slide show of some art (which you really won’t get to look at if you’re chasing small children), click here.
Here are more photos of what they had fun doing -
Caressing the Deborah Butterfield horse sculpture in the atrium
Looking into a periscope installation called Polar Peek-A-View
Inside one of the Peek-A-Views
Making up stories with the story tiles (always a favorite)Playing a game
Designing a fish
Story with finger puppets from the activity boxes
Contemplating modern Native-American art (not pictured: doing the limbo underneath it)
Jenny Godley and Bill Keating tied the knot at the beautiful Mt. Engadine Lodge near Canmore, Alberta. It was a wonderful occasion and we felt honored to be a part of it. Here are some photos from the day.
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