Home is where...your stuff is?

A heart-shaped stone found on a recent walk along the creek

If you were to step into our house this evening, you would be greeted by the very fragrant aroma of fresh guavas and ripe prickly pear awaiting the blender while coffee-scented logs crackle away in our fireplace. You would also see two little ones, madly eating cold-brewed coffee popsicles, snuggling on their Papa's lap watching Iron Chef America. You would even notice yours truly, typing away and giggling to myself every time baby#3 kicks, flips or hiccups in my belly. On nights such as this, I take cinematic snapshots of these moments in my mind, these moments in time that will never lose their lustre.

It has been a wonderful day of shopping and eating, and a much-needed day off as a family. I must stress that the quality and variety of food available in Austin is absolutely incredible. Where else in the USA can you buy massive branches of aloe vera alongside citrus trees, chile relleno, and more fruits, chile peppers and artisinal beer than we've ever heard of AND feast on Texan barbecue with all the fixings... all in the same grocery store? In my husband Grant's words this afternoon: "I'll take brisket with a side of ribs, please!"

At home, the organising continues and I am relieved to report we are nearly finished with our grand exodus to the Lone Star state. The movers managed to locate all of the furniture that had gone missing.  It seems that our lost items have always dreamed of travelling to the American Southeast  and are now somewhere in Miami, indulging in mojitos and languishing on a beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Wouldn't you do the same if you hopped on an 18-wheeler heading for the horizon?

While I have long been a proponent of reducing our possessions as much as humanly possible, I cannot begin to tell you our elation in having our things back. We set to work piecing back our possessions bit by bit, hanging paintings on walls, placing books on shelves and re-imagining this blank space of a home. Every item we chose to bring are things we cannot live without: favourite books, artwork, pottery...These things tell the story of who we are as individuals and what we represent as a family. Even our cat was delighted to see his old, beat-up basket again, this tiny circular wicker basket into which he stuffs himself as a circle, curling up and dozing off.  All of us have a desire to carve out our personal space, to craft our domains according to our lifestyles, and I suppose animals are no different.

...Here now are some photographs of our treasures...What are yours?


1.  Some of my favourite books...

First edition, signed Salman Rushdie books are prized possessions

Stevens, Baudelaire, Walcott, Cummings - a definite poetry enthusiast!

This porcelain dove was the first present we received for baby-on-the-way. It comes from our dear friends  N+O back in Vancouver...

And just a wee few of Grant's cookbook collection for good measure...

Good taste all around

Before the invention of "push presents" ...there were watercolour paintings....

My husband bought these for me after the birth of our first child.  One afternoon, several days after A's birth, Grant wandered down the avenue in our arrondissement, Plateau-Mont-Royal, and stumbled upon a vernissage of a local Québécois artist.  What spoke to him was the deep russet colour of the moon, the very same colour of the moon that was hanging in the sky the night A was born.  It is called a "corn moon" or "full harvest moon" and occurs in the month of September, marking the time of year when corn is to be harvested. 

Mother, Father, and Baby in the light of the corn moon

And...a fisherman casting his line into the sea...

Craggy trees, corn moon and a wayward sea

Parents embracing their children seems to be a theme in our household...

This Cecil Youngfox print was purchased on our very first visit to Vancouver as a new family (years before we actually moved there)...

Winter Travel

I wish we could track down the artist of the following two paintings.  We purchased these when we lived in TriBeCa, during our week-end ambles through artists' stalls in Soho. One is a dog and one is a rat, symbolising the years of our children's births. We thought these were unique because they each incorporate the Chinese character they depict. We are currently in the Year of the Dragon, and we would love to have one for the new baby. Any talented calligraphers and painters out there?

Year of the Dog - 2006

Year of the Rat - 2008

Lastly, this ceramic tile is an item that has given us great pause for the past 7 years. This is the only wedding present we received to which we cannot attribute a gift-giver.  We have absolutely no idea who gave us this dynamic yellow bird.  My suspicion is that is from a very close teaching colleague of mine named Caroline; sadly she passed away shortly after our wedding so I have no way of confirming this. What we do know is that it was a very fitting gift for us - we will treasure this unassuming piece for its beauty and mystery always.

Yellow bird, yellow bird, sing us a song...

Indeed, no matter our location, our tangible treasures remind us to always be joyful and to follow our hearts. Afterall, who knows - they might just lead us back home to where we started.

Homeschooling 101

Morning Mathematics

At times, given the instability that accompanies an itinerant family like ours, we often find ourselves getting creative with our adventurous lifestyle.  We have committed to raising our children in a variety of locations and environments and it is our belief that these experiences will hold the children in good stead in life.  When we ask each other where we want to live or settle down, the conversation usually shoots to where we'd all like to go try out next. "China!" my son shouts. "Paris," says A. "Barcelona, I've always wanted to spend more time there," I state.  "How about Hawaii? South America?" inquires my husband. And on and on.

It seems that every time we ask the question, "Yes, but where will home be? Where is home?" we do not feel as though we have sufficient means to answer. In other words: we don't know the answer.

A while back, way before Austin even showed up on my husband's radar for work, he came home one evening and told me all about a property his company was opening next year in St. Petersburg, Russia. It seemed they were conducting initial hiring inquiries. Though the job was not perfectly suited for him per se, he wanted to gather my thoughts on the idea. I must add that this was during the time of year of the White Nights, when St. Petersburg is aflame with bright light after a long period of darkness, when twilight conflates with midnight, strolls and riverboat parties last until the wee hours, and the city celebrates the onset of nearly 24 hours per day of daylight - a decadent and enthralling prospect.

While I must admit that I am a bit of a Russian history nerd (I count Robert Massie's tome "Peter the Great" as one of the best books I've ever read, and that love affair with the czars began when I was 15 years-old!), it is a fascination that carries with it a desire to keep learning and discovering; I wasn't hard to convince. After a few minutes, it became very clear from our discussion, that we were all game for the challenge. We had always wanted to visit St. Petersburg, to take in the vastness of the Hermitage (the largest art museum in the world), to walk along the banks of the Neva River, to experience the city built by Peter the Great.

But what about the cold? We used to always joke during the many years we lived in Montréal that 'even St. Petersburg has warmer winters!'  We had a great many laughs about that one.

It was then, all those months ago, that our discussion of homeschooling began.

I have been homeschooling our children since we arrived in Austin. Our daughter had been enrolled in a wonderful French-immersion kindergarten at a proper-sized elementary school in Vancouver. During that time, I took it upon myself to do a Waldorf-inspired at-home preschool with our son, which also allowed me to work on contracts for Blue Pencil Communications and Niko & Nonnie, of course.

Before we arrived here, during the course of the moving process, A spoke up and asked "Remember how you said you could homeschool us if we lived in Russia? Could we do that in Texas?" I told her that we would consider it, but that I wanted to also check out the schooling options in our eventual  neighbourhood as well.

While the options in our neighbourhood are by no means insufficient options, we have decided to homeschool until the end of the school year, to keep up the French-immersion and to provide some stability in a brand new city. I was a teacher for many years and still accept teaching contracts when I can fit them in.  I absolutely love teaching and I am pleased that I can partake daily in my children's enthusiasm for learning. Homeschooling does require a commitment though, and I have had to find time in our already jam-packed schedules to do my lesson plans in advance and to set up our 'classroom' each morning.

Our daily curriculum follows the Canadian curriculum, and includes several hours of focused learning, interspersed with free play and gross motor activities.  We cover Math, Writing/Reading, Art, Music & Singing on a daily basis, and have special days of the week and field trips for Science and Geography.

I thought I would share a sample lesson with you, to give you an idea of our process. I instruct the children half in French, half in English. For the purposes of these homeschooling posts, I will present the material in English.

February 3, 2011

Welcome


Sing:
Hello everybody, how are you?...How are you?...
Hello everybody, how are you?...How are you today?

Waldorf greeting:
"The earth is firm beneath our feet. The sun shines bright above. Here I stand, so straight and strong - all things to know and love."

Discussion of the day's lesson and schedule

Imaginative free play with today's selection of toys

Pirates, animals, options for building...

Mathematics


-Number sense & numeration - Printing Numbers (1-10)

My daughter tells me, "Everytime I draw the number 2, I always add a heart or one of my favourite shapes on top. 2's need crowns, I've decided."

-Counting & matching
Always referencing the natural world when possible, we set up an activity using seashells. The children were asked to count the shells and to sort them based on colour, pattern, shape, texture and size.

Seashells awaiting sorting

What a lovely collection!

-Numbers in French (1-10)
Counting song:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...Violette, Violette...
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...Violette à bicyclette!


Science


-Animals found in USA & Canada
Documenting animals we have seen and animals we would like to see.
Spotlight on: WHALES

All vocabulary is done in both English and French, singular and plural (when not too advanced to explain to children at this level)



SNACK TIME

The children always help prepare our snack

It needs more colour, Mama!

Art


-Structured: Combined action poem and craft project

"Things to Buy"

Three things to buy in the baker's shop
Creamy and rich, with a cherry on top.
Along came a girl with money to pay
She paid a quarter and took one away...

Two things to buy in the baker's shop...

One thing to buy in the baker's shop...

No things to buy in the baker's shop.
No creamy things. No cherry on top.
No one comes with money to pay.
So the baker closes shop and goes home today.

Craft project: Re-enact song with paper cut-outs. You will need to make 3 cupcake cut-outs, 1 bakery shop window, 1 baker, 1 child (girl/boy)
Materials: Construction paper, glue stick, markers

-----
-Unstructured: Watercolours - Valentines
Materials: large sheets of finger-painting paper, decorative scissors, stampers, aquarelles, pens and coloured pencils

Valentines from my sweetie pies

A painting for Papa

Writing


-Printing letters A-L
-Printing one- and two-syllable words

Ensure a variety of letters in the words and a variety of combinations of vowels and vowel sounds.

Ex:
Cat, apple, ball, balloon, mouse, bird, house, popcorn, monkey, farm, tractor, chair, table, zoo, week, dog, puppy, kitten, giraffe

Story time
"The Valentine Express"
"Parfois..."


Closing song
Goodbye, everyone... goodbye, everyone. Goodbye, everyone - we'll see you all again!



Playground/Outdoors


------

That's it for today. February is already off to a roaring start, with a curriculum that includes Valentine's Day (mais oui!), dinosaurs and fables. Any month with a bizarre number of days that also involves hearts, chocolate and handing out Valentines is particularly delightful for little ones - and grown-ups, too!

XO.

A little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll!

One of the many incredible food carts in ATX

It's been 2.5 months...are you still there dear readers?

Here we are in Austin, TX! Even though there were many events, too varied and numerous to mention here that seemed determined otherwise, we made it. But I must tell you, not even a plane engine failing us on our final leg from Dallas to ATX was going to keep us away, not after all we'd been through! *phew*

While I have many impressions and things to share about life in our new hometown, I thought it might be easier if I just posted some photos to let you know what we've been up to. As a result, bits of this post might be a tad disjointed. All the things we've been told about Austin appear true so far...hip, young, musical, relaxed, countless options for great food, HOT (yes, the two seasons in Texas really are 'summer' and 'next summer')...

To my spectacular joy, the bats are all on holiday down in Mexico and will return in March. By then I should be ready to 'confront' them, as it were. Apparently when they are back in Austin they fly nightly from here to Houston on their hunts, isn't that amazing? You see, I am learning all about them so I can conquer my fears! Dreadful, just dreadful.

Legendary Driskell Hotel, of Top Chef Texas fame

We had a soft landing at the Four Seasons Hotel Austin, where we stayed for over a month, and we sincerely must thank everyone there for their legendary Texan hospitality. Impeccable hotel. Beautiful, smiling faces. A most wonderful experience!

One of several amenities we received upon arrival

Daily morning room service - divine!

As many of you are aware, we re-located from Vancouver, Canada to Austin, TX because my husband Grant was promoted from the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver to their Austin property. He is Chef de Cuisine at Four Seasons Hotel Austin's signature restaurant, TRIO. Steak, seafood and wine - sublime! Grant also serves as the Executive Sous-Chef for the hotel's Food & Beverage operations in general.

Photo of @chefgrantm courtesy of TRIO 

One of the lovely things about the weather being so temperate is our ability to take the children around the city. While we don't have a car here, we manage to walk and take public transit for most of our daily activities. Public transit is $1 (nope, you read that correctly). We were totally astonished at the low price. A day-pass is $2 and a monthly pass is $30. That being said, it doesn't seem as though the general population takes enough advantage of the greener options the city offers. We do find that too many people drive cars that are in fact way too large to transport just themselves, and that the number of cars here on the road is superfluous given the population.

In addition, Austin does not have a city-wide recycling program in place, so we have to gather our recycling and walk it over to Whole Foods. While I will not go on a rant here, I would just like to remind the municipal government of this dear city that cities far larger than this one have city-wide recycling and composting in place, have done so for years, and it is possible!

On a brighter note, if you have or are taking care of children, the Austin Children's Museum downtown is an ideal place to spend a day of indoor activity. Without a doubt, this has been A+F's favourite thing about Austin thus far! I have been homeschooling the children and will continue to do so until the end of the school year, to keep up the French-immersion schooling that A had in Vancouver.  I have been quite diligent in my lesson-planning and daily school schedule and I hope to share more of that with you in future postings this week.

Behind the scenes on the kitchen line

Order up!

Today is February 1st and it is a whopping 28C / 80F outside! Winter in Austin is best depicted as this:

 Lady Bird Lake

Just an ordinary winter day

Hammocks are best enjoyed together

It is also my great pleasure to share that Niko & Nonnie is about to gain a sibling! I am due in July with our third child. We are so excited to welcome a little brother or sister for A+F! Speaking of which, have you been on Niko & Nonnie's Facebook page lately? I'm having a little baby bump contest and the winner will receive a very special Bunny & Carrot organic playset!
www.facebook.com/nikoandnonnie

Here I am a couple of weeks ago...do you think it is a boy or a girl? We've opted for a delivery surprise this time around. I hope I'll be able to keep to that!

How many days left til July 14th?

In other Niko & Nonnie news, the shop officially re-opened on January 15th and I am working my hardest to get inventory up, re-stock and regain the momentum I lost over the course of our travels. This is a recent little sweetie I made as part of our Valentine's Day offerings. Don't you want some bunny to love?

Finally, the Spring Guide from the Natural Kids Team is up! Have a look and browse items from N&N and all the other Natty Kids! http://naturalkidsteam.com/wordpress/spring-guide-2012/

Sunset has fallen over the city and it is time for me to sign off for now.

"The drawing-rooms of one of the most magnificent private residences in Austin are ablaze of lights. Carriages line the streets in front, and from gate to doorway is spread a velvet carpet, on which the delicate feet of the guests may tread. The occasion is the entrée into society of one of the fairest buds in the City of the Violet Crown." -O Henry

Sunset in the City of the Violet Crown

As always, with much gratitude from all of us at N&N. Thank-you for reading!

**Giveaway Winner**

Congratulations to K. of Boulder, CO! You are our winner :-)

*Gratitude and Giveaways*

One lucky winner will receive...

Today, in honour of Remembrance Day, we celebrate our soldiers and our veterans - those who have given their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice in honour of our freedom, and those who are still entrenched in the cause. We thank you. We salute your bravery.

I am feeling particularly grateful for what I have this week, so I thought a little giveaway wouldn't go amiss. Here are some baby acorn caps (collected from Mount Seymour in BC and Central Park, NYC) adorned with brightly coloured wool roving. My daughter and I made these the other night for one lucky winner...

To enter, simply leave a comment below and tell me what you are grateful for - it could be your health, your family, a stable job...or something as simple as the crunch of the leaves beneath your shoes during the month of November. You can also send an email to info@nikoandnonnie.com with your reply. I'll be putting the names of everyone who enters into a hat and selecting a winner on Monday.

Lastly, I wanted to share that I recently published the website for my "other" business (the one that puts those university degrees to good use!)... I'd been meaning to do it for ages but simply kept running out of time. Who would have thought web design was a welcome distraction from packing boxes? Stop by and have a look http://www.bluepencilcommunications.com

Looking forward to hearing your comments,
N&N

Happy Halloween!

"Potiron" or Cinderella pumpkins

Wishing everyone a most spook-tacular day! Best wishes from Niko & Nonnie for a ghoulishly fun time filled with ghosts, witches, vampires, frights, tricks and treats! We'll be handing out glow sticks and candy to trick-or-treaters and taking our little queen and pirate out in the neighbourhood for all the Halloween festivities. How will you be celebrating where you live?

Happy Halloween!!!!

Niko & Nonnie

From Here to There...

<<Écrire est un acte d'amour. S'il ne l'est pas il n'est qu'écriture.>> 
-Jean Cocteau

I'm still here. Still packing. I'm becoming more and more shark-like in my old age: if I don't keep swimming, I'm gonna be a goner...

Today I felt like I could barely keep my head above water. My husband and I have been surviving on just about 3-4 hours of sleep per night lately and I think it is slowly taking its toll. He comes home late from work, we put the children to bed, and try to have a bit of time together. I work on the shop, my writing, whatever seems most pressing, then to bed and up early again to take our daughter to school.  We have started going out for coffee or breakfast in the mornings with our son, which has helped to give us a bit of clarity before being washed away by the day's activities.  Lately, all the phone calls I make seem to disappear into the telecommunications ether... there are a lot more people away from their desks or mobiles at any given time than seems reasonable. Messages and emails head into the void where they'll be trapped in the mythical "cloud" of virtual computing...

The thing about moving is that once you commit to the inevitable, you just need it to hurry up and be done with it.  I am sort of at that point...the other day I was thinking about how the world could stand to be more like Harry Potter's Floo Network - just toss a bit of silvery, glittery powder, state where you want to go, and bang! You're there. Instead, my days resemble more like his tireless search for horcruxes minus the winding plot.

Switching countries again is not short on bureaucracy, but the good news is that I am starting to get the hang of it. The trick is paring down your things to simple essentials with a bit of nostalgia thrown in, and to think about what you most likely will read, wear, or want to re-visit again in your new dwelling.  I also keep an old tea canister filled with impossible treasures and photos that are essential traveling companions. Anyone who knows me will attest to the magical gleam I get in my eyes when I am given the chance to rid the house of whatever clutter is gumming up the works. Rushes of adrenaline come in many forms you know!

When we last moved, from Montreal to Vancouver, we shipped 5,000 lbs of furniture, personal effects and books.  Books weighed in at a whopping metric tonne! While we adore the collection we have amassed over these many years, we simply cannot do with lugging around 2,000 extra pounds. Not to mention the kids' collection! At last count they had over 400 books ... Now each time the city of Vancouver opens the blue BOOK DROP donation bins scattered across the eastside, they will find many volumes of well-read tomes from which we have parted ways.  The wonderful thing about books is that you can read them, love them or hate them, "devour" them, pass them on to a friend, borrow them, share them in a discussion group, admire them in your bookcase...my most favourite part (after owning them and reading the stories they have to tell) is donating them, the momentary lapse and wonder at what books someone will find when they open the box...

Bearing all of this in mind, my clever husband bought me an eReader yesterday. He'd already promised me a meyer lemon tree once we arrive in Austin, but an eReader takes my desire for pared-down living to a whole new extreme.  Which one did we get? The Kobo Touch.  You can read about it here. I've just bought Murakami's new release entitled "1Q84," Erin Morgenstern's "The Night Circus" and also found many free volumes ranging from classics from the literary canon to Children's Literature from the 1920s. At present I've loaded 88 books onto my Kobo, and have space for about 900+ more. I'm thrilled!


Tomorrow is Friday, a welcome end to the week and the start of a very exciting week-end! Our son is turning three years-old on Saturday and Halloween is Monday... I am swimming in preparations, but it's that good ol' shark thing again ... you've just got to keep going...


Time for tea, stories and the not-so-melodic stylings of my roll of packing tape.
xoxo