Windsong has been quiet this Autumntide, with me abiding in the lovely mountains of Virginia, where I had wondered if my aging folks might not be needing just a little more of my attention and assisting than the lovely families of Windsong.  And, what a fun time assisting my folks I have had(!); trying to be an able first mate/co-captain for my 85-year-old dad on his bought-on-Ebay 32' sailboat, auction-going with my mama, lovely times at beautiful beaches...And, living with them in the house that my grandma and grandpa built so long ago, and has been a wonderful part of my childhood.  This time has been wonderful!  But, I am quite sure that my folks can do well enough without me still, and, tho' we shall miss each other so much, I am happily returning to Portland via a wintery cross country whirlwind roadtrip just after the New Year.
We have a few children already enrolled in our programs for January, but we so hope there will be more children looking for a sweet little preschool in the midst of the year...!?
In the meanwhile, a happy Advent-tide to all!  I am loving having Advent with my folks this year...They have been so inspiring in my love of celebrating the seasons...!  (Why, my mama just had cataract surgery in the morning on friday, and was making springerle with me by nightfall!)
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From 'Waldorf Today', some articles you may enjoy... I hope this link will get you there....
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=a0ce04e5a70babb8ef1330163&id=554856a4cd&e=cdad7cc114

Our longest autumn of dry days ever, and my, how nice that has been our Fall gardening doings!  We have picked pumpkins from their fence-climbing vines, dug potatoes and carrots and garlic...and found the onions hiding in the nasturtium patch...!  We washed, set out to dry, and, at last, filled our Soup Days with our own vegetables.  Lovely.  We have planted a little clover cover crop for Flopsy to enjoy one day, and replanted some beds with those veggies that don't mind the cold ...  We hope for lots of greens to harvest the winter through!
   We've decorated aprons to bring home for our 'home work', and spun yarn for future handwork, (with the children so adept at peddling the spinning wheel for miss sue).
  And now the rains have come at last, and what delight when the sandbox again has 'plumbing'!! 
I hope you enjoy this hodgepodge semblance of photos of our recent mornings...!

" When I am grown up, when I'm grown up, as big as the world,
I'll follow my hero with my banners unfurled.
When I'm grown up, when I'm grown up, as strong as the oak,
I will tame the wild dragon with my sword in one stroke.
And the earth, and the moon, and the stars will be mine...
Yes, even the sun for our hero will shine!"
   ...So we sing to honor this time of Michaelmas..The season of the seeds and the harvest and the sun's giving over to the ever-increasing darkening til the winter solstice... 
Hooray for courage and the taming of our dragons!!
  I share a small window into our last weeks through a hodgepodge of quickly stolen photos...I hope you enjoy them!.. 
[These have been the most beautiful days the lovely NW could offer!  And our shooting star balls glowed against the blue sky!]

With a warm welcome to our new school year, and a celebration of many a lovely, sunny morning... The Windsong children have washed our wool and carded it too, for Michaelmas shooting star balls.. and next comes the felting(!).  We've  collected golden calendula petals from our garden to set in the warm sun in our olivey oil, and we've chopped our beeswax.. and melted it into our magical golden petaled oil to make our Windsong healing salve ...  And we've found the potatoes planted last spring have multiplied and grown big and round and we're digging them up for Soup Day... and we've painted and baked and tried some new snacks....                    And mostly, and best of all, we're back together and we've met new friends !! 
   In case you'd like a little peak, here are a few pictures to give a window into our First Days....

Well, I did manage a few photos taken, as discreetly as I could...a hodgepodge of sorts, but I hope you enjoy them:   From Ukrainian egg dying with the mama's to Maypole parties and our new sweet Flopsy baby-of-a-bunny,   Mama Gooses's ducklings (I wonder where those photos went(?), a walk up the mountain with our red, yellow, and green silks to direct our traffic up to the woods,  felting soap-on-a-rope for our dear papa's.....such a lovely spring!!  And now, I so hope I will check in again sometime, in hopes of finding some Summer Camp photos...!  I seem to have so many I am failing to load them up.....     Thanks to our dear families for so much!!