Greenwich Steiner School
Woodlands
this Sunday 10th July
Multi- cultural Festival
Fun day for all families of our school...come along!
great food from different countries, crafts, games, workshops, puppet play for Acorns children, singing, dancing and drumming and much more...see you there!
Saturday, 9 July 2011
going to the market!
Going to the market is fun.
Craft Market Greenwich
Indeed wild about food and food markets! ( Blackheath Farmer's market)
yummy!!!
Olga, Russian lady married to a Maltese man have this wonderful little stall and they have a passion for wild and locally grown and picked herbs and use it for their delicious food, this pie was really good. I had a lovely elderflower cordial too! A nice touch on a very warm days!
I was inspired by these super colourful tomatoes for my Greek salad last Sunday
Full of sunshine!
These lovely purple cauliflowers were so attractive! Got to back tomorrow to get some!
I hope to see you at the farmers market in Blackheath! Sunday 10th
A multi sensorial experience!
Colours, smells, people...
Inspiration and much more
Inspiration and much more
Craft Market Greenwich
Olga, Russian lady married to a Maltese man have this wonderful little stall and they have a passion for wild and locally grown and picked herbs and use it for their delicious food, this pie was really good. I had a lovely elderflower cordial too! A nice touch on a very warm days!
I hope to see you at the farmers market in Blackheath! Sunday 10th
Sunday, 3 July 2011
To market , to market...
Market atmosphere is just so great, with busy, buzzy people, selling and the browsers looking ; the regulars, who know all the stalls and the best produce, the ones looking for good bargains, the simply curious, the tourists...I go for the simple reason that I just love hanging around markets and in the past I had the pleasure to work at a shop which had a stall in front of it, in the middle of super trendy and alternative Spitalfields Market...it was still not as popular as now, never as busy as Camden Market...but more relaxed and original: that was in 1998!
Markets have a vibrant positive energy, a gathering energy, which I simply adore!
I go to different markets on different days and locations; on Sundays I go to the Blackheath Farmer's market: there I usually get some salad, greens, like kale or sprouting broccoli, I sometimes get flowers or a little plant for my front porch, I always get focaccia bread and pretzel and cheese straws, all from different bakeries! Sometimes I get apples and apple juice. So Monday Morgana gets pretty much the same lunch!
On Wednesdays I go to Greenwich Market; there I go always to this lovely lady who sells fresh vegetables from Kent. She also sells lovely households and kitchen objects such as knitted animals, tea towels, cups and vases, mainly from friend's houses or home made patchwork rugs and cushions, baskets, etc...I always go to Steve's shop, the health food shop, to get little bits that I can't get with my weekly supermarket delivery - a bit like a top-up shopping.
I usually sit down to have lunch in the middle of the market at a table near the little coffee van, I sometimes get a cup of tea from there; my lunch is sometimes brown rice and vegetable curry from the heath food shop, or veggie sushi, or I bring my own hummous and crudites from home...
On Saturdays I go to various markets and not as regularly...it kind of depends on my mood! So sometimes I choos Borough Market, sometimes Greenwich market, both of which I need to go very early to or otherwise will be 'crushed' by people! Occasionally I visit Dulwich Farmer's Market, which is on the 4th Sunday of each month. Occasionally I go to Manor House Park to their Farmer's Market each first Saturday of the month.
On my last visit to Dulwich I met EvaGreek and had the most amazing stuffed baked tomato with rice and herbs and potatoes and these biscuits which were the closest thing to the sesame biscuits my Auntie makes in Italy, it is a Sicilian recipe, surely similar to the Greek one! So I felt at home!
More info on Dulwich market here:
http://www.weareccfm.com/Dulwich.html
What a choice out there! What a delight!
So now enjoy my snaps that I took from time to time as a market journal!
It was the hottest day of the year in Blackheath, London, and these chillies inspired me to make a salsa for tortilla chips!
Morgana's favourite apple juice!
O che bei fiori!
Morgana's crying Mummy pleeeeeeeease can I have a pretzel?!
Markets have a vibrant positive energy, a gathering energy, which I simply adore!
I go to different markets on different days and locations; on Sundays I go to the Blackheath Farmer's market: there I usually get some salad, greens, like kale or sprouting broccoli, I sometimes get flowers or a little plant for my front porch, I always get focaccia bread and pretzel and cheese straws, all from different bakeries! Sometimes I get apples and apple juice. So Monday Morgana gets pretty much the same lunch!
On Wednesdays I go to Greenwich Market; there I go always to this lovely lady who sells fresh vegetables from Kent. She also sells lovely households and kitchen objects such as knitted animals, tea towels, cups and vases, mainly from friend's houses or home made patchwork rugs and cushions, baskets, etc...I always go to Steve's shop, the health food shop, to get little bits that I can't get with my weekly supermarket delivery - a bit like a top-up shopping.
I usually sit down to have lunch in the middle of the market at a table near the little coffee van, I sometimes get a cup of tea from there; my lunch is sometimes brown rice and vegetable curry from the heath food shop, or veggie sushi, or I bring my own hummous and crudites from home...
On Saturdays I go to various markets and not as regularly...it kind of depends on my mood! So sometimes I choos Borough Market, sometimes Greenwich market, both of which I need to go very early to or otherwise will be 'crushed' by people! Occasionally I visit Dulwich Farmer's Market, which is on the 4th Sunday of each month. Occasionally I go to Manor House Park to their Farmer's Market each first Saturday of the month.
On my last visit to Dulwich I met EvaGreek and had the most amazing stuffed baked tomato with rice and herbs and potatoes and these biscuits which were the closest thing to the sesame biscuits my Auntie makes in Italy, it is a Sicilian recipe, surely similar to the Greek one! So I felt at home!
More info on Dulwich market here:
http://www.weareccfm.com/Dulwich.html
What a choice out there! What a delight!
So now enjoy my snaps that I took from time to time as a market journal!
It was the hottest day of the year in Blackheath, London, and these chillies inspired me to make a salsa for tortilla chips!
sometimes I go by bike and sometimes I walk to the market!
today was too hot for bikes!
fresh herbs are essential in my cooking, my favourite is coriander, but I have basil on my mozzarella and tomato salad and rosemary on my oven potatoes, oregano on my greek salad and parsley on my potatoe salad with chives...yum
This is where I get my salads...they are so fresh...Morgana loves munching on sorrel as we walk amongst the stalls...
My favourite of the month!
And this is the lovely wild herb man!
today they sold edible flowers too!
which I put a few hours later in my salad at Svetlana's house, for all the guests to have!
How pretty ( and how delicious!)
Then we got some apples...
Morgana's favourite apple juice!Then off to Exeter Street Bakery stall...for authentic taste of Italian bread...
If I don't go early, focaccia will be all gone!
Morgana's crying Mummy pleeeeeeeease can I have a pretzel?!
And of course I have to get two, one for eating on the way back home, and one for her lunch at school in the morning!
This is Sunday's Blackheath market...for the other markets I will edit a new post!
It is Sunday now and it is 10.20 and I am getting slightly worried about missing the focaccia, so off to market now!
Hope to meet you there!
Susannah
Sunday, 26 June 2011
The Return of the Sun King
Summer Solstice mood and the way we celebrate it:
Being outdoors, smelling flowers, having picnics, walking barefoot on grass, dancing and singing.
We make an outdoor fairy house and garden. Morgana still loves doing this and she receives gifts from the fairies too! She gets sparkly precious stones and crystals and other interesting objects.
My nature table at the moment has dark pink/fucshia cloths and roses with crystals and pink quartz, felt butterfly and birds but Morgana's nature table in her own room has similar things with an addition of a blue scarf with sea shells and beach findings.
Morgana and friends always play outdoors mainly, is only natural! She loves picking petals from the fallen flowers and mixes them in bowls with water and gets purple or yellow coloured 'potions'!
I have been pressing flowers with the children I look after. It teaches them to be patient as they have to wait for the result...a week or two at least!
We stop and look at ladybirds, ants, spiders, bugs...
I tell stories about them and the children want them again and again!
It is also a time when we, mostly Morgana and I, can be more spontaneous and funny and sometimes silly!
Here are some special moments captured in the last 10 years...
Above: dancing fairy Morgana, a willow butterfly we made at a workshop, Morgana is about 3 years old. Making fairy cakes for our annual fairy party ( midsummer gathering of friends each year!)
Friends in our garden...children dressed as fairies
Bath time for dolls!
Summer 2005
Summer is all about getting wet! Barbie dolls in the swimming pool too!
it's all about freedom....the boundaries loosens, the rules are less strict in the summer: running back indoors for a drink straight from garden door!
Morgana was in that summer's 2005 production of 'HAIR'...in our house!
Then we went to the 'BIG HOUSE' @ Unstone Grange near Chesterfield at the Macrobiotic Gathering
eating a summer's favourite: CORN on The COB !
guess who is climbing trees?!!!
What do you expect from the beach in Wales but a few drops of rain?!
Summer 2006
painting
Cycling
on the merry go round with my sister Laura
last but not least at the OPERA ( near Witham- in an apple orchard- Essex- they had a summer evening opera al fresco!)
The rehearsals where intense so a bit of running around was good during the breaks!
backstage with make up...I am the ghost and my sister is a Pirate!
remembering dance moves and lyrics too!
nice memories of that week!
(resting at rehearsal)
midsummer dance with fairies Essex 2005
Summer 2008
summer 2009
Mother Earth
Mother Earth, Mother Earth, take our seed and give it birth.
Sister Rain, Sister Rain, shed thy tears to swell the grain.
Father Sun, Gleam and glow, until the roots begin to grow.
Brother Wind, Breathe and blow then the blade green will grow
Earth and Sun, wind and rain, turn to gold the living grain.
The Return of the Sun King
by Christine Natale
Once upon a time, there was great sorrow among the fairy folk. Something had happened to the Fairy Queen, Titania. She had fallen asleep and would not wake up. The winter had come, terribly cold and full of ice and snow. In the fairy wood, no fires were burning. The seed babies were safely tucked in their beds, deep under Mother Earth’s coverlet of leaves and moss. The gnomes and dwarves were working deep underground. The water sprites waited under their ice roof, which covered the crystal lake and bubbling brook. Most of the fairy folk, those who tend the flower children in meadows and forests, were left to wander through the winter, seeking warmth and shelter. They sought these in the homes of mortals, hoping to rest beside the fires both in castle and in hovels. Where ever fairy stories were being told at night or where ever Christmas candles were burning, there they were allowed to rest awhile. This winter, the Fairy Queen and her troupe had been wandering and wandering. The snow blew in great swirling clouds and Old King Winter laughed and crackled. Jack Frost had a jolly time pinching their noses and toes. Worst of all and sad to say, there were not enough resting places for the fairy troupe. Most of the stone castles were dark and deserted and had been so a long time. The houses, great or small, where real fairy stories were still being told were few and far between. And the Christmas Candles burned in but a few windows. One very dark night, after Yuletide, but long before Spring was due, the Fairy Queen began to grow very sleepy, as mortals do when they begin to freeze. Not being a mortal, she could not die but she could not wake up either. All of the fairies tried to wake her up. They danced and fluttered around her and sang songs as loudly as they dared. At last, with the help of two white snow-hares they managed to bring the Queen back to the stone
circle, which is their palace and dancing place. Without their Queen, the fairies were entirely without direction and purpose. Many also fell asleep and the ones who stayed awake were mournful and very miserable. Lady Spring finally came back from her house in the South. She sent old King Winter back to his ice palace in the frozen Castle. The ice melted and gentle rains fell. Seed babies began to awaken and the first flower children appeared. The fairies grew hopeful and hurried to bring Lady Spring to the bed of her sleeping sister.
Lady Spring took Titania’s hands and breathed the promise of Spring over her. She sang her magic song of roses and butterflies, of newborn lambs and nightingales. Titania’s cheeks grew rosier and she seemed to breathe more fully than before. But alas! Her eyes would not open, nor would she speak!
Lady Spring grew sorrowful and this brought a tremendous Spring storm. She had to dry her eyes quickly so as not to bring on a flood. She took leave of Titania’s attendants, saying, “I must continue on to waken all of the seed babies. Guard your Queen well and wait for Summer.” The fairies promised to do their best, but in truth, the seed babies and flower children were not taken care of as well as they should have been. Day by day, the fairies could see the ascent of the Sun King on his fiery steed. He was still far away, just over the horizon. Little by little he came closer and the day began to grow longer than the night. Finally, it was Midsummer’s Eve and the Sun King reached the pinnacle of the sky. He was riding very high over the palace of the Fairy Queen. The fairies shouted and clamored, pranced and danced, trying to catch the Sun King’s attention. He was too high up to hear them, but he soon noticed that the Fairy Queen had not come to greet him on this, their meeting day. The Sun King turned his steed toward the Earth and came as close as he could without harm. Of course, everything grew tremendously hot and the flower children took refuge under the broad leaved trees and bushes. Still, Titania did not wake up. Here hands and feet were still icy, although her hair shone golden in the brilliant light. Then the Sun King took off his mantle of fire and climbed down from his sky horse. Without the fire mantle, he would not scorch anything or anyone. Still, he was almost too bright to look at! He came to the Fairy Queen’s couch and he bent down and kissed her. He took her hands in his and felt them grow warmer and warmer. She opened her eyes and drew a long breath. She arose with all of her sleeping companions.
What rejoicing there was! Such a shouting and singing! Each fairy nurse ran to find her poor neglected flower child.
Titania thanked the Sun King for bringing her back to life. She told him how dark and
cold the winter had been. She wondered what to do the next time King Winter’s might was stronger than human love and light. “Do not fear,” said the Sun King, “For the darkest winter has passed and Winter’s power will someday be totally overcome. Human beings will remember to light their fires again. The Christmas candles will burn brightly in many homes and around the hearths, real fairy stories will be told again. I myself will proclaim this from the skies. For the light of the world has come to birth in human hearts and this can never again be extinguished.” Then the Sun King mounted his winged charger, put on his fire mantle and rode back to the summit of the sky. The fairy folk waved him on his journey with love and gratitude. That Midsummer night, they held the most joyful festive there ever was in all of fairy land. And if the lights have not gone out, they are dancing still.
Christine Natale 2003 All Rights Reserved.
and, finally, this is something I got from some book a few years ago and I put on the wall of our parent and child session's room!
Being outdoors, smelling flowers, having picnics, walking barefoot on grass, dancing and singing.
We make an outdoor fairy house and garden. Morgana still loves doing this and she receives gifts from the fairies too! She gets sparkly precious stones and crystals and other interesting objects.
My nature table at the moment has dark pink/fucshia cloths and roses with crystals and pink quartz, felt butterfly and birds but Morgana's nature table in her own room has similar things with an addition of a blue scarf with sea shells and beach findings.
Morgana and friends always play outdoors mainly, is only natural! She loves picking petals from the fallen flowers and mixes them in bowls with water and gets purple or yellow coloured 'potions'!
I have been pressing flowers with the children I look after. It teaches them to be patient as they have to wait for the result...a week or two at least!
We stop and look at ladybirds, ants, spiders, bugs...
I tell stories about them and the children want them again and again!
It is also a time when we, mostly Morgana and I, can be more spontaneous and funny and sometimes silly!
Here are some special moments captured in the last 10 years...
Friends in our garden...children dressed as fairies
Summer 2005
Summer is all about getting wet! Barbie dolls in the swimming pool too!
Now Morgana's feet!
Morgana was in that summer's 2005 production of 'HAIR'...in our house! Then we went to the 'BIG HOUSE' @ Unstone Grange near Chesterfield at the Macrobiotic Gathering
eating a summer's favourite: CORN on The COB !
Unstone Grange is a lovely place, Vegiventures organizes little retreat weekends there, check this out! is very family friendly, we go there each year!
Another place where we go for a long weekend is Wales ( family lives there!) and we always go to the beach in Porthcawl
Morgana's precious moments at the beach...
time to go home...
painting
row row row your boat...
At a rehearsal of Dengie Hopes and Dream show with me and my sister taking part of the production of Treasure Island!
The rehearsals where intense so a bit of running around was good during the breaks!
(resting at rehearsal)
Summer 2008
Summer 2009 on the heath Blackheath
OXLEAS WOODS 2009
So enjoy the SUN this weekend 25th and 26th June 2011!
it is going to feel hot and humid for a few days! I was waiting for the Sun...I miss it sometimes!Coming from The land of Sun, Italy...I have the need to warm my bones....
so for tonight I will ditch the blanket!
this is a story that I told at Kindergarten for this time of the year!
Mother Earth
Mother Earth, Mother Earth, take our seed and give it birth.
Sister Rain, Sister Rain, shed thy tears to swell the grain.
Father Sun, Gleam and glow, until the roots begin to grow.
Brother Wind, Breathe and blow then the blade green will grow
Earth and Sun, wind and rain, turn to gold the living grain.
The Return of the Sun King
by Christine Natale
Once upon a time, there was great sorrow among the fairy folk. Something had happened to the Fairy Queen, Titania. She had fallen asleep and would not wake up. The winter had come, terribly cold and full of ice and snow. In the fairy wood, no fires were burning. The seed babies were safely tucked in their beds, deep under Mother Earth’s coverlet of leaves and moss. The gnomes and dwarves were working deep underground. The water sprites waited under their ice roof, which covered the crystal lake and bubbling brook. Most of the fairy folk, those who tend the flower children in meadows and forests, were left to wander through the winter, seeking warmth and shelter. They sought these in the homes of mortals, hoping to rest beside the fires both in castle and in hovels. Where ever fairy stories were being told at night or where ever Christmas candles were burning, there they were allowed to rest awhile. This winter, the Fairy Queen and her troupe had been wandering and wandering. The snow blew in great swirling clouds and Old King Winter laughed and crackled. Jack Frost had a jolly time pinching their noses and toes. Worst of all and sad to say, there were not enough resting places for the fairy troupe. Most of the stone castles were dark and deserted and had been so a long time. The houses, great or small, where real fairy stories were still being told were few and far between. And the Christmas Candles burned in but a few windows. One very dark night, after Yuletide, but long before Spring was due, the Fairy Queen began to grow very sleepy, as mortals do when they begin to freeze. Not being a mortal, she could not die but she could not wake up either. All of the fairies tried to wake her up. They danced and fluttered around her and sang songs as loudly as they dared. At last, with the help of two white snow-hares they managed to bring the Queen back to the stone
circle, which is their palace and dancing place. Without their Queen, the fairies were entirely without direction and purpose. Many also fell asleep and the ones who stayed awake were mournful and very miserable. Lady Spring finally came back from her house in the South. She sent old King Winter back to his ice palace in the frozen Castle. The ice melted and gentle rains fell. Seed babies began to awaken and the first flower children appeared. The fairies grew hopeful and hurried to bring Lady Spring to the bed of her sleeping sister.
Lady Spring took Titania’s hands and breathed the promise of Spring over her. She sang her magic song of roses and butterflies, of newborn lambs and nightingales. Titania’s cheeks grew rosier and she seemed to breathe more fully than before. But alas! Her eyes would not open, nor would she speak!
Lady Spring grew sorrowful and this brought a tremendous Spring storm. She had to dry her eyes quickly so as not to bring on a flood. She took leave of Titania’s attendants, saying, “I must continue on to waken all of the seed babies. Guard your Queen well and wait for Summer.” The fairies promised to do their best, but in truth, the seed babies and flower children were not taken care of as well as they should have been. Day by day, the fairies could see the ascent of the Sun King on his fiery steed. He was still far away, just over the horizon. Little by little he came closer and the day began to grow longer than the night. Finally, it was Midsummer’s Eve and the Sun King reached the pinnacle of the sky. He was riding very high over the palace of the Fairy Queen. The fairies shouted and clamored, pranced and danced, trying to catch the Sun King’s attention. He was too high up to hear them, but he soon noticed that the Fairy Queen had not come to greet him on this, their meeting day. The Sun King turned his steed toward the Earth and came as close as he could without harm. Of course, everything grew tremendously hot and the flower children took refuge under the broad leaved trees and bushes. Still, Titania did not wake up. Here hands and feet were still icy, although her hair shone golden in the brilliant light. Then the Sun King took off his mantle of fire and climbed down from his sky horse. Without the fire mantle, he would not scorch anything or anyone. Still, he was almost too bright to look at! He came to the Fairy Queen’s couch and he bent down and kissed her. He took her hands in his and felt them grow warmer and warmer. She opened her eyes and drew a long breath. She arose with all of her sleeping companions.
What rejoicing there was! Such a shouting and singing! Each fairy nurse ran to find her poor neglected flower child.
Titania thanked the Sun King for bringing her back to life. She told him how dark and
cold the winter had been. She wondered what to do the next time King Winter’s might was stronger than human love and light. “Do not fear,” said the Sun King, “For the darkest winter has passed and Winter’s power will someday be totally overcome. Human beings will remember to light their fires again. The Christmas candles will burn brightly in many homes and around the hearths, real fairy stories will be told again. I myself will proclaim this from the skies. For the light of the world has come to birth in human hearts and this can never again be extinguished.” Then the Sun King mounted his winged charger, put on his fire mantle and rode back to the summit of the sky. The fairy folk waved him on his journey with love and gratitude. That Midsummer night, they held the most joyful festive there ever was in all of fairy land. And if the lights have not gone out, they are dancing still.
Christine Natale 2003 All Rights Reserved.
and, finally, this is something I got from some book a few years ago and I put on the wall of our parent and child session's room!
Happy Home Recipe
4 cups love 3 cups forgiveness
2 cups loyalty 1 cup friendship
4 quarts faith 5 spoons hope
2 spoons tenderness 1 barrel laughter
Take love and loyalty. Mix thoroughly with faith. Blend with tenderness, kindness and understanding.
Add friendship and hope.
Sprinkle abundantly with laughter.
Bake with sunshine.
Serve daily in generous helpings.
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