international peace day.

September 21 is the United Nations International Day of Peace.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations as an annual observance of global non-violence and ceasefire. Every year, people in all parts of the world honour peace in various ways on 21 September.

This year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will ring the Peace Bell at United Nations Headquarters in New York in the company of the UN Messengers of Peace. He has called for a 24-hour cessation of hostilities on 21 September, and for a minute of silence to be observed around the world at noon local time.

Nonviolence, compassion, and peace is not something you can teach to children, you have to live it. That said, having a platform to create open discussion, ask questions, and consciously focus on nonviolence and peace is a good thing. We have some crafts planned, some books to read, and we will light a candle and observe a moment of silence at noon, sending love and peace to the world. Won't you join us?

Links:
The Jane Goodall Foundation participates in International Peace day, and has a great idea for creating giant doves of peace and flying them. Roots & Shoots Day of Peace

Pledge for Peace

Peace One Day

International Day of Peace


Books:






A Little Peace
by Barbara Kerley













Peace One Day
by Jeremy Gilley

“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” ~Robert Fulghum

41 Today.

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.
~Anais Nin

September Garden.

"Autumn arrives, array'd in splendid mein;
Vines, cluster'd full, add to the beauteous scene,
And fruit-trees cloth'd profusely laden, nod,
Complaint bowing to the fertile sod."
- Farmer's Almanac, 1818

I love walking through the garden on these cold gray rainy days. So many things are starting to turn - some flowers are withered, squash leaves are turning brown, the finches have picked the sunflower heads clean. But there is also so much still happening! All of the late summer flowers are in bloom and their bright colors pop on those dark wet days.


So many tomatoes still green (will they make it before the frost?), leeks and chives green and tall. Radish and spinach seedlings just peeking out of the soil.


Squash turning golden and leaves turning brown amidst the fuchsia petunias.


Raspberries ripening - so sweet and juicy they never make it into the house in our basket but are eaten right off the cane.


And the pumpkins are turning orange! We have had pumpkin vines winding through bushes, around prairie grasses, through lemon balm, over deck railings and across morning glories. Only now as the plants thin a bit and the pumpkins are turning orange can we even see where they are or how many we have. The boys love finding that peek of orange which signals another renegade pumpkin. We have some smaller ones, but we discovered a very large one in a bush the other day - very exciting!


We love the cooler days and the rain. Fall is almost upon us!

clay beads.

With two sick boys (yep, both) we took it slow much of this week. They didn't have much energy to do too much at a time, but did want to be somewhat busy, so in between playing a lot of board games, reading books, listening to books on CD, doing sticker books and watching a few movies, we also did some craft projects. Both boys really like working with the air dry clay, and enjoy any excuse to include that in a project.

This time around we made beads. Making beads is pretty easy - pinch off a bit of clay, roll it up, shape it into whatever you want it to be (cube, circle, tube), and stick it onto a skewer.


From there we decided we wanted some texture, so the boys rolled the beads over some stamps to imprint the moist clay. We also tried winding thin craft wire around and then removing to add a pattern too.


We let the beads dry about 24 hours and then moved on to paint.


Using acrylics, the boys painted a base color - we used brown and deep red. Before the paint was dry we wiped it quickly with a sponge to get most of the paint off (while there was much that did still absorb into the clay). The boys then added some metallic paint over the top. They liked the idea of copper (which we saw at the geology museum), so we used copper and green as our two metallic colors.


We let that dry and then just coated one layer of clear matte acrylic varnish.


We have beads! They turned out great. They can be added to twine or leather to make a necklace, or - what I think we plan to do - they can be tied on to string or twine as embellishments...I'm thinking holiday gifts!

While the boys worked on their beads, I played around modeling heads (inspired by Gwen). Here is one of my screaming heads in progress... ;)

under the weather.

I have a sick little boy and a husband who keeps moving (and therefore crashing) my iPhoto. Too much for one week. :) G and I have been crafting up a storm with all of the one on one time we are having while big brother is watching movies and listening to books on CD to distract him from feeling so horribly cruddy. So, once my iPhoto is back up and I can download photos from my camera once again, we'll have lots of fun to share!


Can you believe it is almost mid-September already? I have a birthday coming in a few days (and an anniversary) - just doesn't seem like another whole year has passed. Wow.