終於來了

The Summer holiday eventually begins ... we celebrate with homemade ice pop.

captured with iphone

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SOME TIME LATER

This is not an image from a kaleidoscope but the dried up dye for Easter eggs.

Iza is always curious on " how do things look like SOME TIME LATER ? "

It is her observation game ... certain things look like as they are at a particular moment, in state which we are most familiar with, but they will change their form, color, smell, volume ... with time.

She has once pleaded for watching the change of state of an opened egg. The 28 days of observation was recorded here ( II, III, IV ). It was nothing serious and no great findings, but it was a fun guess game!

I tried to recall how iza first got started ...

Maybe ... this was it ... a piece of dried up glue she made at 2-3 Years old. She squeezed some glue onto a lid and placed 4 cotton buds into it. It then turned into something semi translucent, elastic and the buds were frozen as they were. I know it is nothing special to us. To a child, it might be something incredible.

About the dye ... originally, I was a bit reluctant to keep the pot of dye ... as a person easily irritate by disorganization, I got mad with iza's "here a bit and there a bit" ... and, I thought it would just remain as its original color which was a dark green. To satisfy her curiosity, I agreed though I did not fancy on this. But, she was so excited and said,

" I think it will turn into jelly. "

I thought she was silly ...

After almost 2 months, the dye has totally dried up. Instead of turning into opaque pigment of dark green or turning into jelly, it becomes crystalline in form.

The change of color is dramatic. For the dye, we originally mixed the same portion of red and green of organic food colorings. Out of my expectation, we did not get a dark grey or dark brown, but a dark green mixture. The red was dominant by the green. The dyeing result was magical too. The exterior of eggs became purple and the interior turned emerald green. From the dried up dye, we do not see traces of purple or red, but crystals of green, cyan, blue on the bottom ... some yellow and lime around the rim. I must admit that it is far beyond my imagination.

There was another day I saw iza dissolving a soluble crayon and mixing it with glue ...

I thought she was making her own acrylic paint :) In the dried up specimen, we found traces of blue, violet, cyan and some magenta ... so beautiful.

On the other day, she suggested another fun game ... using Easter eggs shells to make color pigments again.

We ground the red egg shells with small amount of water ... but it did not turn back into red dye ... then we put some red organic food coloring into it and let it dry again.

She then shared some portion of the mixture onto another plate ... and added some talcum powder and shampoo. It was no longer a liquid but a thick paste ... After 2 weeks, we discovered that the color of the first specimen will change during rainy days. The color of the second one with talcum powder is comparatively stable. Baby powder really serves its purpose of keeping dry!

Always we do not plan ahead for "experiments". Every case, I'm just following iza's instincts and be her helper. For our child, what is invaluable is not the experience or knowledge from the "experiments" but the enlivenment of CAPACITY OF LISTENING TO THE GENTLE VOICE IN HER HEART... the innate sense of wonder. This is what I miss, the most, for the whole school year. I enjoy watching iza following her passion, her inner call ... to wander, to question, to examine the wonder-filled world around her with SPONTANEITY. We aware that this sense of wonder and the capacity of curiosity will fade if we do not intentionally keep it alive ... the best we can do is to do LESS, to abandon the impulse to teach, to allow aimless activities, to accept messiness (!) ...

In this Summer, we plan to have no Summer course. It's the time to set our child free from programs and structures. It's the time to response to the calling of SPONTANEITY again. I can't wait anymore for the Summer holiday! It is only 2 days ahead.

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MY AVIATOR

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" I'm practicing flying! "

She runs at her highest speed ... and jumps ... she takes off ... with her "aircraft".

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Trippen, beautiful designs for men, women and kids.
They have a great choice on materials and colors.

MESH ... the ones iza was wearing on the last post ... the upper is plaited elaborately across the instep.

DANCE ... like ballerina with ankle strap and buckle fastening.

Iza's favorite is NEPTUN, a pair of high cut sandal with low cuts on sides, which is very classic!

And, she is always wearing ROUND, a functional pair with a wide Velcro strap, easy to put on.
Years ago, I've got a pair of KAFKA (under Mens Closed) for papa. They are still perfect in shape.
Trippen is also available here.
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A lovely parcel from yanyan of suvi ainoa.

Love this zipper back white linen blouse.

And the beautiful note books.

iza made this little "red" riding hood right away when she opened the parcel ...

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不乖：比標準答案更重要的事

This article pops up in my mind these days. I used hours to find the lost link ... Posting this is a way not to losing it again.

原來，要遠離自己，才能看清楚自己 ? 侯文詠談「視野」

『 ... 要打開心眼得到更寬闊的視野，首先要做的事就是：想辦法讓平時 那些「不知不覺」的「理所當然」，變成「有知有覺」。

... 我們看到了，明明就在面前，他聽到了，卻不覺。這是「肉眼」的眼界到了，但「心眼」卻還沒打開。要打破這個慣性，得有足夠的刺激，讓他相信在這個「理所當然」並非真的這麼理所當然。他把心眼打開，視野當然也就變得更寬闊了...

... 很多時候，我們反而要透過別人的目光，才能看見自己的「不知不覺」的理所當然，並不一定是那麼理所當然 ... 這也正是說，很多時候，我們必須遠離自己，才容易看清楚自己 ...

... 行萬里路就不再只是單純是「眼界」的問題 ... 因為除了「看到別人所看到的」之外，行萬里路更另一個重要的目的是為了要從擁有看到別人所看到的「眼界」，進一步到從不同的角度「看清楚自己」、到最後有能力跳脫自己的侷限，正是走向「視野」必經的過程 ... 學習可以獲得眼界，但是光是「眼界」是不夠的，還要在生活中拿出來映證，藉由來自遙遠的時空、文化背景的朋友不同觀點以及價值的刺激，讓我們不斷地瞭解自己、跳脫自己的盲點，看見更大的「視野」，這才是人生最無可言喻的喜悅 ... 』

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LITTLE TREASURE

I found an acrylic box under iza's pillow last morning ...

This funny little thing threw light on my dull sky and cheered me up the whole morning ...

I recalled that night ... she was enchanted by the secret pop up of the light and soft plumage on her bed ...

it's actually the down coming out from her new quilt ...

i just don't know she's collecting it and treasuring it like gem ...

Together with the sleeping bee found on the sill ... here is her collection of little treasures.

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