What could be better?

My object in living is to unite

My avocation and my vocation

As my two eyes make one in sight.

Only where love and need are one,

And the work is play for mortal stakes,

Is the deed ever really done

For Heaven and the future’s sakes.

via Two Tramps in Mud Time.

I actually started this project last year, but unfortunately didn’t keep my recipe. I do remember that to get the nice creamy consistency, I had to go the extra step of straining the yogurt overnight through a coffee filter. I also always use a thick, greek-style cow’s milk starter and not soy milk.

I made a batch this week and added some tapioca – not a great idea. I ended up with tapio-gurt. Yogurt with shimmery little tapioca beads in it… not very appetizing.

Here are some of the resources that I found VERY helpful in my research (in no particular order):

http://www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org/CtLaw-StateLaw.htm

http://www.thinkfinity.org/state-standards-search

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/grades/109/109

http://www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org/HowToHomeschool-Methodologies.htm

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/YCHLinks/default.asp

I spent the day today researching the Connecticut State Guidelines for homeschooling, for High School graduation requirements and for resources for curriculum studies. I’ve asked each of the kids what they might feel about the idea of being homeschooled. I floored my husband with the suggestion that I might want to do it.

And now, I am ruminating, contemplating, meditating on whether this is a pipe-dream or something that might really be good for all of us.

in·tro·vert/ˈintrəˌvərt/Noun
1. A shy, reticent, and typically self-centered person.
2. A person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things.

I would have thought that 3 hours of yoga would be more challenging then 2 1/2 hours of painting. But I discovered that process art is definitely a process. Our first assignments included painting with our non-dominant hand, painting with both hands at once and finger painting. All fairly straightforward assignments, but on another level,  for me anyway, very difficult.

One of the participants asked if it was OK for her to sing. Pamela said she preferred the room be silent so that each participant could be fully present with their own process. I felt as if I would have liked to ask if it was OK for me to keen and wail. Something about putting color to paper using my non-dominant hand, or trying to use both hands at once (much more challenging than you think) felt like an “opening up” on such a level that it was far too frightening to be with a group of people. The tears were right at the surface and while I could see people around me totally getting into their artwork; with hands and fingers and toes, I felt as if I was locked in an invisible box and could only swirl the paintbrush around in curves and lines and circles, following some internal pattern, some structure that only I could see.

I will look again at the paintings I created and see if they have more to tell me. For cracking open the shell of your creativity, I don’t think there is a more accessible tool than Process Art. For me, however, I think a solitary session/art practice would be a better option.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/images/eabtrap.gif

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/images/EABadultsideview.jpg

The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect that kills Ash Trees.  Here is some information from The Emerald Ash Borer University:

Emerald Ash Borer
Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennisFairmaire, is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. The adult beetles nibble on ash foliage but cause little damage. The larvae (the immature stage) feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients. Emerald ash borer probably arrived in the United States on solid wood packing material carried in cargo ships or airplanes originating in its native Asia. Emerald ash borer is also established in Windsor, Ontario, was found in Ohio in 2003, northern Indiana in 2004, northern Illinois and Maryland in 2006, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia in 2007, Wisconsin, Missouri and Virginia in summer 2008, Minnesota, New York, Kentucky in the spring of 2009, Iowa in spring of 2010, and Tennessee in the summer of 2010 . Since its discovery, EAB has:

• Killed tens of millions of ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Quebec, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
• Caused regulatory agencies and the USDA to enforce quarantines (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana,Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Tennessee,Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Kentucky) and fines to prevent potentially infested ash trees, logs or hardwood firewood from moving out of areas where EAB occurs.
• Cost municipalities, property owners, nursery operators and forest products industries tens of millions of dollars.

If you think you have found Emerald Ash Borers in Connecticut, here’s a link from the State Department of Agriculture describing what you should do:

http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/special_features/alb/what_to_do_invasive_insects.pdf

Write a lot. Try to write every day, or multiple times a day if possible. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Writing is a skill, and like any other skill, you have to practice it to get better. Write stuff for yourself, write for a blog, write for other publications. Write just to write, and have a blast doing it. It gets easier after awhile if you practice a lot.

and

Create a writing ritual. Find a certain time of day when you can write without interruptions, and make it a routine. For me, mornings work best, but others might find lunch or evenings or midnight hours the best. Whatever works for you, make it a must-do thing every single day. Write for at least 30 minutes, but an hour is even better. If you’re a full-time writer, you’ll need to write for several hours a day, as I do. But don’t worry! It helps you get better.

And here is another interesting article I found, with some good advice How To Be A Writer from the ThoughtCatalog.com

Just relax. …Um, seriously. Chill. When are you funniest and most interesting in life? When you’re hanging with your friends, maybe having a few beers, and telling a funny story. So when you write, do that. Just be normal. Act like you’re telling a story to your friends. Write the way that you talk. This will be much more interesting, I promise you.

You’re going to have to realize that you suck and that you’re awesome at the same time. …Which is a little something that the poet Keats called “Negative Capability” — i.e., the ability to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time.

So, I guess I’ll just keep writing.

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online.

Now, on their answer page about it, they say you can simply click the setting that says: Disable customizations based on search activity Yet, I cannot find that option anywhere on the page. I also don’t want to delete all my search history (which apparently is another way to do it) because I USE the search history to refer back to websites I’ve found and research I’ve done.

They say you can disable personalized search by signing out of your google account, well yes, that’s true, but it also means you will have signed out of Gmail, calendar, docs, etc. so if you have those pages open a the same time, they will no longer work.

I did find a site that tells you how to disable personalized search by adding a parameter to your search results (&pws=0). He also has instructions on how to do it with several browsers.

So, if you want to see the “real deal” when you are searching and not results based on previous websites you’ve visited, disable personalized search. I think I may do a How To at Hubpages on this.