For my Pho-tag friends....

I wanted to share these pics of my sister's family. They are beautiful and inspiring.

Sacred Harp

When my brother comes to town, he usually times it along with a Sacred Harp convention. Sacred Harp is singing early american christian songs most written in the 1700's. There are no instruments. And it seems the goal is to sing as loud as you can. There are two sacred harp songs on my playlist (The Morning Trumpet and the Sacred Throne)...take a listen. (the first verse is shape note singing where they sing fa so la me....listen long enough to pass that and so you can hear the words of the song)

The singers sit in their part section and form a square around the room. The leader stands in the middle, keeping time while waving his/her arm. Usually the very dedicated singers sit in the front rows of the square, close to the leader. These singers usually wave their arms also, keeping beat with the leader. Here's my brother leading in the square.

What I love about it: The words to the songs. They are so beautiful and full of lines about salvation through Christ and obtaining rest in heaven when we pass on. I plan to buy one of the books just to have the lyrics on hand. Also...it's fun to sing loud and not worry about what others think (my voice is usually drowned out by my brothers' anyway.)

If you like singing...and are willing to give up control over dynamics and pleasant sounding voices (the more old-timey you sound the better) then find a Sacred Harp group and attend a singing. Take some water and some headache medicine.

This singing was in Seattle near Belltown. So when I needed to clear my head I went for a walk and happened upon the Olympic Sculpture Park - part of Seattle's art musuem. It was really cool with HUGE sculptures and nice pathways and benches to enjoy them. I only saw a few...there were more near the water but I was limited on time. I plan to go back with my children. This is one of sculptures....I didn't see the plaque but I think it was titled, Waves.

Saint Edward

Today we went to a really cool park. Saint Edward. There's a huge playground for the kids. Then we hiked down to the lake and the kids put their feet in the water despite how cold it was!

Austenland

Today my sister hosted her first Austen Tea-Party. (See her blog here) It was sooooo fun! We had punch and (amazing) cocoa. (Maybe if you comment on her blog we can persuade her to post her recipe). We had a delicious assortment of tea sandwiches, fruit and other finger foods.

My sister has a lovely dress she had made for a Jane Austen convention. And I've coveted it ever since. I decided the tea-party was the opportunity I needed to make a dress for me. I didn't have the money to spend on all new fabrics and patterns, so I bought the dress you see below from goodwill. And happily "made it up new again" to be fit for the party.

So to this potato sack dress I added a silky blue bodice, sleeves and adorned it with ribbons.

I also altered a goodwill dress for Ashlynn while Reese had a very suitable dress hanging in her closet. Here they are with their cousin.

We put on a short play which my sister had adapted from one of Jane Austen's Juvenalia work. And we also learned "The Hole in the Wall" dance. All in all it was quite a pleasurable afternoon.

Under the bridge

We ventured in to Seattle and found the Fremont Troll. Ash, Reese and their friend loved it, running around it pretending they lived there.
But Josie wasn't too sure about it. She kept a cautious eye on it the entire time and even when we took her out of the stroller she never made it too close to him.