Finch looks mighty handsome in his new hat, but I'll have to take care not to overdo the blue or he'll hate it when he is older. The older children have rediscovered their knitting (Robin) and weaving (Wren) after a summer-long of neglect and their projects are coming along nicely. We've been diligent these past few days with schoolwork, but have little to show for it as we don't do a lot of written work. Wren is eating up her math book, and I'm having a ball helping her with the Maths Olympiad. Robin has vindicated my assurances to relatives (and quieted my private fears) regarding his reading -- he knows all the short vowel sounds and several consonants, and can read three letter words. I'll be breaking out the Bob Books soon, and he is very excited. He is, like his sister, adept at math, so I'm hoping he'll overcome his shyness and join the math club next semester. Both children are studying (after a fashion -- we're all of us rather desultory and undisciplined) Latin, biology, and American history, and Wren is working through English from the Roots Up. Mostly, we are reading, crafting, cooking, and walking because that is what we do in the Autumn!

dinner tonight: shrimp scampi with tomato rice pilaf, toasted butter cupcakes

In which I cut up a chicken and Wren decides about Columbus.

I bought a broiler/fryer from the farm co-op last week, full of ambition. I'd never cut up a chicken, but I was tired of buying Perdue 'Pick of the Chick' and getting Frankenchicken parts of vastly different sizes. As it turns out, my breast halves still are different sizes, but the rest of it is pretty even and I'm absurdly pleased with myself for doing something that I suppose nearly every homemaker knew how to a generation ago. I brined the thing all day while we were at math club, and began the dissection after Mr. Baby went down for his nap. Now the pieces are marinating in rosemary-infused olive oil with lemon juice and zest. I'll brush them with more olive oil and sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and additional lemon zest before broiling them. I was tempted to fry them in peanut oil, but we haven't any potatoes and fried chicken without mashed potatoes just isn't right. Instead we're having egg noodles with lemon-herb butter and sweet peas. While I slaved away at chickens (and not a few dishes, besides a demanding baby!) Robin built with Lincoln Logs and Wren read about Columbus. We emphatically do not 'celebrate' Columbus Day, but we do take the opportunity to talk about the man and his impact on his own society as well as (Native) American civilization. Wren was incensed that the D'Aulaires didn't mention Columbus' cheating a crew member over the 'land ho' bonus, but towards the end felt a little sorry for him as he fell out of favor. Then she read about him taking advantage of a lunar eclipse to exploit more Indians and decided that he deserved to die a broken, disappointed, man who insisted that he'd found a western route to Asia despite all evidence to the contrary. So opens our study of American History, saints preserve us! We're more inclined to the Howard Zinn/Vine Deloria understanding, but I'm trying to strike a balance.