aside from a long weekend trip to see friends and family, we have decided it would be perfect to spend our vacation this year as tourists in our town. 

photo: the lake of constance from the pfänder,  at the austrian border in bregenz

{day 5 of august break}

we hiked down into the valley and back up today. it was beautiful. it is the beginning of harvest season now and the wheat and barley fields are yellowing with dried grass. seed heads are everywhere.

today marks the beginning of the official vacation month in most of europe and i am looking forward to having my husband home. will be sharing more about our vacation plans for this year in the coming days….

also,  susannah conway’s august break 2010  starts today. simply share one photo per day {i’m sharing two today}.

be a catalyst for change. join the movement. observe earth day everyday.

calculate your carbon footprint and learn how you can help reduce it here.

we just finished a late, slow breakfast. it is a beautiful morning here in our part of the world. the sun is shining, the birds are singing…..quite hard to believe that we had freezing conditions yesterday with over 10 cm of snowfall- there is not a trace of it left. it is the begining of a four day weekend, i have all my boys home with me, and i am feeling happy.

one of my favorite things to do is to read, or learn about the way christian holy days coincide with nature and the turning of the seasons throughout the year. i discover more and more every year and there are so many- even certain saint’s days.  i may throughout this year share here the ones that i find to be really interesting.

eastertime celebrates the light of god, jesus, and his triumph over darkness (death) as spring begins,  the season of rebirth and the reawakening of nature.

flowers bloom, birds lay eggs, trees and plants are renewed. it also marks the beginning of the farming season.

this year i became curious about the symbols of easter after my son brought home his osterpalmen (easter palm, pictured above) from kindergarten. they made them to commemerate spring equinox and palm sunday.

they planted what he calls easter grass in plant pots, there is a cross in the middle of the pot that has a rooster or cockerel sitting at the top, in the center of the cross is myrte leaves (evergreen bush), and on either side of it is a moon and sun ( i assume to represent the equal balance of day and night), and of course there is a bunny made out of wool sitting in the grass.

what do the rooster, myrte, summer wheat grass, and bunny represent? easter eggs too.  well, according to the nature corner and all year round  (nightstand staples),  all of these symbols represent  and celebrate the emergence of new life, whether from nature’s renewal after winter or christ’s renewal through divine resurrection.

i love the correlations, the mutual relations. here is a brief summary: 

rooster- a natural symbol to proclaim or promise the coming of christ, the new covenant, new life, new season.

the myrte- an evergreen used instead of palm, as a symbol of “welcome”. 

grass- new growth, new life.

bunny- fertility

eggs- new life, rebirth

also, this year the coptic or greek orthodox and gregorian calendar easter happen to fall on the same date.

so happy easter to everyone!

my boys, the alps.  fall poloroid week 2009  submission

art is a form of exploration, of sailing off into the unknown alone, heading for those unmarked places on the map. if children are not permitted—not taught—to be adventurers and explorers as children, what will become of the world of adventure, of stories, of literature itself?

-michael chabon, manhood for amateurs: the wilderness of childhood

i started a list of masterpieces that fueled my imagination as a child, igniting a lifelong enthusiasm for reading. adventure books that i adore still today and look forward to sharing with my children:

a wrinkle in time 

charlotte’s web

island of the blue dolphins

little house on the prairie

charlie and the chocolate factory

james and the giant peach

 feel free to add more!