Green Week - Day 7 Sunday

Whew - I did it - I posted everyday for a whole week!!! This week I have really enjoyed starting to write again after a long absence. It has also been really, really lovely to read your comments. I am really starting to enjoy this blogging thing! That's enough "really's" I think. Time to put my feet up and enjoy a cuppa.

The end of Green Week - really.

Green Week - Day 6 Saturday

This gorgeous green Phlegmatic Puzzle is handcrafted by Grimm's Spiel and Holz and is coloured with natural non-toxic dyes. It is one of a set of four that is based on the four temperaments.

I discovered the four temperaments when I was studying the work of Rudolf Steiner (founder of Steiner/Waldor education), and I found it incredibly insightful. The four temperaments were first described by Hippocrates, the father of medicine. He described the basic personalities of all humans as being made up of four temperaments being: Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic. While there are four temperaments, each of us may have a dominant one, but usually a combination of two.

As a parent I have found that by recognizing and working with your own and your child’s temperament you can turn a challenging situation into a much more positive experience. For instance, a child that is bossy and stubborn, may really respond to being given leadership situations.

Each temperament has it’s own unique challenges and attributes. You might be surprised to know that A A Milne based his main characters on each of the four temperaments:

Cholerics- passionate; natural born leaders, temperamental, stubborn and prone to anger, get things done. Like Rabbit.

Sanguines - optimistic, fun, talkative, popular and sometimes over-bearing, a social butterfly skipping through life, enthusiastic, lacking focus, curious, difficulty finishing things. Tigger, Roo, Christopher Robin

Melancholics- gentle and kind, moody, can suffer from depression or negatitvity, sensitive, preoccupied with their inner world, cares for others. Eeyor, sometimes Piglet

Phlegmatics - easy going, steady going, likes to observe, reliable, willing to comple tasks, slow to action, calm, gets-along-with-all types. Winnie the Pooh

If you would like to learn more about the four temperaments, you can visit:
http://www.openwaldorf.com/temperaments.html

Green Week - Day 5 Friday

Was just wondering what to post today, when I came across this wonderful voice http://www.myspace.com/jakewalden - I love discovering new music and this is beautiful...sublime vocals and a poet too. Jake's favourite book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein which is also one of my own personal favourites - it was given to my eldest for her 8th birthday a few years ago. This is the story of a relationship between a young boy and a tree who become best friends. The tree always provides the boy with what anything he asks for: apples, shade, wood, until in the end "tree" makes a final act of unconditional love. Simply written and illustrated, I enjoy the rhythm of this book, both in the lilting language, and the sense of time and growth. Although simply told, this is not a straightforward story, it raises many questions for the reader about the nature of life, love and the human condition.

Green Week - Day 4 Thursday

This is the door my eldest walked through for the first time two weeks ago - to be welcomed with real warmth, care and friendship into her new school. She's the happiest I've seen her for a long time and it is a joy to drop her off by this door each and every morning. More pictures and stories from beyond the door soon.

Green Week - Day 3 Wednesday

Look carefully, yes, it's true, there are raindrops in our pond!! We are having rain for the second time in a week. OK, it was only a little, but we are enjoying every single drop. The girls are very excited - 10 years of drought makes up their entire lifetime - so when we have rain they really do love it. Sometimes this means running around the backgarden in sheer delight - grabbing pots and pans from under the gutters and tipping them over all the ailing plants - all done with much laughter, squeels and dripping hair and clothing!

Green week - Day 2 Tuesday

Day 2 - Tuesday 10th March

My favourite little green folk from Ostheimer - I can't resist them! Made it with a second to spare - too much twittering tonight!

Green week - Day 1 Monday

I've been inspired by Shelley at waldorf mama. To mark the beginning of Spring, in the Northern Hemisphere they are celebrating green week . I thought I would celebrate too (albeit a week later). Here in Melbourne in the Southern Hemipshere we are entering Autumn, but with a little rain after a long hot summer, drought and bushfires, instead of turning shades of gold and amber, we are experiencing joyous (!) splashes of GREEN. This is a celebration indeed!!!

DAY 1: Monday
Even after the drought Mother Nature has still provided some harvest in our garden.