A Beautiful Slip of the Camera.

Sometimes I work so hard to take the "best possible" photos ... that I neglect to see the beauty in my photographic "mistakes". This became clear to me when I was searching out a photo for today's blog post. I simply wanted to announce the winner of the "Name This Photo Giveaway" ... and to find a photo that would somehow connect to the giveaway photo:

I must have deleted a hundred "ho-hum" photos from my hard drive in the process of searching out a photo that would fit today's intended agenda. Then I saw this one:

And it spoke to me in a new way. I was just about to delete it when I noticed that it held some unexpected and unintended beauty. This photo was a total accident ... it was a slip of the camera ... and with a few Photoshop fixes ... I have come to love it. So, I will try to remember that beautiful, captivating images cannot always be captured by strict adherence to method and process ... sometimes they just happen ... and they are all the more beautiful because of it. (That goes for SO much else in our lives, doesn't it?).

Anyhow, I am not certain how that thought ties into the announcement of the winning title for the giveaway contest ... but without further ado ... here is the moment that some of you have been waiting for ... the winning title of the toy boat photo is ... "Ti Bato Yo" submitted by Chapter Two Manmi . The title is in Creole and translates to "Little Boats" (it is pronounced "Tsee BAH-toe Yoh."). I just love it.

So, Thank You K! And I look forward to sending you a reward for your submission.

All the title offerings were great ... and I hope to do this again. You guys are so much fun :) Thank you for participating.

Enjoy your weekend ... with all its beautiful "mistakes" ... Talk to ya on Monday.

Love,
Jodi

P.S. My husband just told me that he finds the bubble photo "creepy" and "a little spooky". Hmm. Everyone's a critic!

Read More

The Indoor Pond.

When I began this "unschooling" adventure with my son ... which essentially began the moment he came home to me ... (see You Are Your Child's First Teacher) ... I thought of all sorts of ways that we could keep wonder, creativity and opportunities for self-learning within our home. We keep lots of musical instruments, books, blocks, puzzles, rocks, seashells, crayons, and oh so much more ... scattered in baskets throughout our home. But something was missing ... we needed a habitat ... something where we could house living things ... and watch them for a little while before setting them free and replacing them with another local pond find. So, we searched yard sales and found this $1 aquarium. Auntie found some aquarium goodies at another yard sale for $1. Voila! ... throw in some pond water and plants, a few pond snails and we created an instant indoor pond for viewing the occassional frog, turtle, or fish that we capture from our "outdoor" pond.

You might wonder how my three-year-old is able to part with these creatures after we watch them for a while ... Well, at this age it is fairly simple ... you just tell them that the frog/fish/mermaid really misses their Mommy and Daddy and so we have to put them back where their parents can find them. Isaac totally gets that, and would never want to keep a creature from its Mommy.

Anyway, friends of ours have started their own "unschooling observatory river tanks" as well. Their tanks were also yard sale finds ... and are currently housing several river fish.

This is such an inexpensive and fun learning experience. No filters or other tank gadgets. Just a tank, some river/pond water and fauna & a bubbling do-dad thingy (for circulating the water). You can feed your fish with commercial fish flakes (as my friends do) or you can just keep replenishing the water and animals so that feeding isn't necessary (what we do).

Let us know if you give this a try.

Enjoy your day.

Love,

Jodi

Read More