Death of cursive writing

Thought some of you might be interested in this article about the death of cursive writing in schools...

Must admit that I mostly use printing, unless I am in a more, shall we say, fancy frame of mind :) Do like the curls and fancy do's that occasionally show themselves on Charles Dickens movies or the like:) Not sure old movies with modern print would work... but what about cursive style with all the curly-swifty, whooply-do's in modern society?

My mother recalls spending considerable time at school doing 'penmanship' lessons (in USA) and I've only ever known her to use a flowing cursive style to this day...

Interested in your thoughts... do you think there is a place for cursive today or is it old hat?

Smell your baby!

In Joshua's Science program we have been studying bats and all sorts of fascinating things about them. I never realised just how crucial they are to farmers - as they play a huge roll in pollinating bananas, mangoes, and a host of other yummy fruit trees.

Having learned about how mother bats use their sense of smell to find their babies, we did an experiment. In the experiment Joshua had to choose a smell he liked (tropical blossom body fragrance :) and then had to find 19 more scented items from around the house (balsamic vinegar, toothpaste, vanilla, etc.) I numbered cotton balls with each scent and Joshua, wearing a blindfold (this was only because some items had colour as well as scent) had to find his tropical blossom baby amongst them all! I kept the list of each scent hidden away to reveal at the end...

Some smells were pleasant.. bringing to mind sweet meadows of honeysuckle...

Some nearly brought tears.. perhaps the smell of bonjella reminded him of the pain of cutting teeth;)

Others were plain awful , like the smell of balsamic vinegar on Daddy's salads!

I wonder if he could still find his smell in a bat colony of a couple hundred bats?

There are certain times of the day where I can most definitely smell my baby!

mushy melting mallows

Chocky-mallow biscuits

Here is the recipe for these biscuits. I just added a marshmallow to each while they were still hot from the oven. Best eaten warm and gooey!

I must confess to having a weak, gooey spot in my heart for mushy marshmallows (must come from being married to a mush-ball!)

My friend from highschool made these many moons ago and here I am trying them out on our Bible study friends all these years later...

ooohhh... just wondered if i might have made these before and posted them on my blog... think I need to organise my blog a little better so i can find out... ;)

give it your all, Owie

Over the holidays my building contractors put their materials to work:

Owen let out a gutsy song on the bus to his pacemaker check at the hospital... Owen sings loud (rarely in tune;) but always joyfully on such outings. It makes me smile to know he enjoys life so! We are never inconspicuous quiet passengers ;) ah, but who would be when you could be making so many new friends!

For soaking in

I have enjoyed these verses of Scripture so much recently... soak them in!

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all thing in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1v18-23

I just love all that He has done and does!