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Re: Music map
Thank you Sandra, this is one of the best ressources i've ever seen.? Already sent it to my irish/english friends living in France. They used to live in Lisbon, before that San Francisco and somewhere in Australia. They are really happy to be able to tune to all of this places, and more, in one click. This friend listens to radio all day long, she as a little radio on each room, with the same radio station, not loud at all, just enougth to be confortable. I used to find really interesting to listen to the english radio talks, or the american radios, when at her house but never had the patience to research how to broadcast those radios at home. Now i can do it at home too. Also sent it to our american friends who lived with us in sintra and are now in Marrocco. The oldest daugther is learning Korean.? I'm listening korean music now - dadafruits - it's really different. My son and husband are interested in the places without radio stations.? The students who live in the student huse where i work are putting toguether a list of their favourite radios, from Jaipur -? to Greifswald -? , they will know each other a bit better trougth radio. This made my day :) I will have lunch with mornas, from Cabo Verde? This list, this radio website, are a proof that life on the 21st century is really good. C¨¢tia? Maciel? A sexta, 12/02/2021, 07:43, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> escreveu:
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C¨¢tia Maciel? |
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Music map
Radio garden.? It's a globe.? It's a map without any markings or borders.? It's world music in the most worldwide, up to the moment way I could ever have imagined. I hope it's available everywhere; let me know if it's unavailable where you are, please.? I'm very curious about it. In another topic, I wrote more: /g/AlwaysLearning/message/78702 On my friend's facebook page, I shared my first experiences:
On my own page, I kept on about it. :-)? I was giddy. ? https://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/10158232447831374 ? ? |
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Re: Looking for ideas to help my child during a strict lockdown
On Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 02:36 PM, Karen James wrote:
Sometimes subtle things can create a bit of a shift that gets one moving in a new or lighter direction.? A new piece or style of music playing in the background.? This game/toy/miracle-of-modern-life came to my attention this week.? It's a zoom-in-or-out globe, satellite views edited to remove? clouds or shadows, no political boundaries, no names of rivers¡ª? there are games to play with this. Green dots are individual radio stations. Grey or white seem to be a place with several stations, and those will be listed in a box on the left.? (I've only used it from my laptop, not a phone, so I can't advise or predict how it will work there.) When you click on a dot, it will tell you what town and country it's in.? And there will be a radio station playing, or else a note.? If there's just static, it might be off the air.? I heard a station in Nepal play the national anthem (sounded national-anthemy, and the only word I understood was "Nepal"), and then go quiet.? It was about 2:00 a.m. their time.?? Keith and I were exploring the tundra, looking at shallow lakes.? Somewhere else, we found what seemed to be a salt-processing place.? I found the town Vlad lives in.? I found Pune, in India, on the fourth guess.? I clicked around the southern Mediterranean and heard very cool music in styles that some friends of mine know how to play. Keith and I used to play map guessing games 35 years ago, with an atlas, and a file folder with a circle cut out of it.? One of us would put it on a map, and the other would try to guess where it was by features and place names, or road names.? Last night we played at this radio site, looking at natural boundaries¡ªmountains, deserts, rivers. Here are the tools I've used with it:? Shazam (to identify a singer I didn't recognize, on a familiar song), google (for place info), and my phone's camera, to magnify the names of towns because some were hard to read. |
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Re: Looking for ideas to help my child during a strict lockdown
***I would like to have some more ideas to help Conchinha with her thoughts and fears***
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I believe that different people have different ways of working through their thoughts and fears.? Ethan liked to talk about them, but not before he was ready to.? He came to me.? He'd come and sit by me.? I could tell he had something on his mind.? I'd put my hands in my lap and wait.? Sometimes I'd ask, "What's on your mind?"? After he shared his thoughts, he liked suggestions, but not too many.? Not everyone likes suggestions.? He liked to argue a bit if it was something he was frustrated with.? I'd engage in a non-confrontational way.? Basically, I learned to see what he was needing and I did my best to be there for him.? I wasn't always successful, but we both came to trust that I was giving it my best effort.??
Sometimes distraction was better than talking.? If he was bored or restless, for example, talking about it doesn't help at all.? In that case, I'd look for things that might help pass that uncomfortable time between engagements.? A new game, maybe.? A movie, occasionally, although Ethan isn't a big movie guy.? A walk/bike ride someplace new.? I'd show him something I'm working on or bring out something hidden away that might be of interest.? Sometimes I'd just talk about something different--share a story about my parents or my past or something I've read or seen recently.?? It was/is good for me to remember that it's not my duty to erase his fears or uncomfortable thoughts.? The best I can do is be there for him, solidly, creatively, and in a way that's sensitive to his needs and helpful to his process.? ***I need some ideas to change our days up a bit, because I also feel like we're in a rut.***
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We've been in lockdown, off and on since March of last year.? These are some things that have worked for us.? They may or may not work for you, but hopefully they'll spark some ideas.? :)
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Dinner, in a way we don't usually do it--make our own pizza, rolling out the dough ourselves and each picking our own toppings;?rachlette grill on the coffee table with all the fixings to cook each our own plate of food; breakfast for dinner; picnic blanket in the middle of the living room (or back yard) all set up like we're in a park; picnic in a new place outdoors somewhere; food we haven't tried before; candles while we eat; a card game while we eat; a new show saved to watch at dinner time.
We watched The Great Pottery Throwdown recently.? Ethan has done pottery in the past, but isn't very interested in doing it now.? He did, however, really enjoy watching this show with Doug and I occasionally.? Then, when I tried something he'd seen in one of the episodes, it gave us a little something extra to talk about.? Even if he hadn't watched, I'd talk?a bit about what I'd seen and what I planned to make in response.? Then I'd show him.? Cooking shows might be fun that way.? Dog shows.? Other making shows.? I've found it useful lately to try to connect what we watch to what we do in some way, even if it's only peripherally?for Ethan.? It feels a bit like getting out, without the ability to actually get out! Do you have local friends you can swap things with?? Every month I drop a box full of goodies off at a friend's place.? She and her kids explore the contents for a month or so and then they return it.? I fill it with all kinds of random curiosities and games and puzzles.? Her younger daughter, especially, loves it.? Ethan helps me pick things out.? It's fun to go through some of our things with him this way.? I think it would be fun to do a swap if you have friends who might want to do that with you.? You could just leave it on each other's doorstep, perhaps.?? We've done beach cleanups in our area.? That's been a good way to get out and feel useful.? Often, we chat about things we probably wouldn't chat about if we were home doing our usual things.?? Sometimes subtle things can create a bit of a shift that gets one moving in a new or lighter direction.? A new piece or style of music playing in the background.? New smells from cooking new foods, or lighting new candles, or using new soaps.? Maybe from soap or candles you've made!? A new lamp (or an old lamp) in a new spot.? Rearrange the furniture a bit.? Paint a wall a new colour.? Make some temporary art to hang on the walls.? Origami cranes flying down a hall or across the ceiling maybe. Do goofy or quirky things.? Put googly or sticker eyes in fun places for people to find.? Hang a picture upside down.? ?Wear your clothes backwards and see how long it takes someone to notice.? Screw in a disco light bulb in the washroom or kitchen.? Live lightly, when possible.? Bring cheer, when you can.? Remember, this, too, will pass.? <3 Karen James |
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Re: Looking for ideas to help my child during a strict lockdown
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýThese are indeed tricky times, and as you implied, to begin with when we first locked down it seemed many unschoolers had a real advantage - they were used to being at home and often loved being at home. ?It¡¯s getting a bit harder for many of us as time goes on. ?I wanted to reply as some things came to mind, and there are not many people replying on this forum any more - but it¡¯s my favourite one, I hope it survives. Firstly you asked if there¡¯s something you aren¡¯t seeing, ?and I wonder about this:
I don¡¯t think anybody ever ¡¯stopped¡¯ a thought by trying to. ?When my daughter had a lot of anxiety at about 12 years I decided to acknowledge all her feelings and thoughts. ?Accept them and process them. Explore whether they were based on real or imagined fears etc. ?This really did seem to help. ?It showed her I wasn¡¯t frightened of her thoughts even if she was, and that they were just thoughts. Though I was careful not to talk too much, to do a lot of calm listening and breathing and maybe just help her breathe too. Sometimes I just lay on her bed knitting or reading and it was enough just to have me around. ?We also made her up a bed on our bedroom floor so she knew she had the option of just slipping into it if she needed it in the night. ?Just knowing the option was there seemed to be enough most of the time. ?All the lovely fun things in your list sound very exciting for bed time, and I wonder if you are frightened of her being frightened. ? Secondly you asked for some ideas to change things up a bit: What has worked for us to some extent is to have some actual ¡®dates¡¯ in the diary to meet up for things with other people on zoom. ?Like exercise classes (me), or musical instrument lessons with a much loved teacher (my daughter), or gaming parties (my son) or collaborating with people where you contribute to a larger online project - it has felt connecting and given us some landmarks. ?? Another thing that has been central to many of our days is baking. Sourdough bagel anyone? ?It¡¯s felt a little big magical and very comforting. This isn¡¯t to downplay the very real difficulty that your family and so many are going through. Belinda?
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Siblings, sharing, whatif?
Site announcements:??Siblings, sharing, whatif? ? Also a new page not announced yet in that blog, with a sound file, and notes, and links.?? If Just Add Light and Stir is insufficiently engaging and inspiring, don't forget? If there's something someone would like for me to expound on here, you can write to me on the side and I'll consider it.?? My e-mail has become more about my order is ready at Subway, or my cat food from Target has been delivered to my porch.? Pretty boring.? Not like e-mail used to be !? But I'm willing to work to stir this group up if people want me to. Sandra |
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Re: Our nest
I LOVE that wood floor in the third photo and the wall tile in the last one. ? To be fair, it's likely that the pictures Cat¨ªa saw were when I was tiling a shower.? I'm embarrassed then to admit that we had two other showers working at the time, so it wasn't a giant sacrifice.? We bought a house that needed work, on purpose, because it was big and it wouldn't be so bad if kids messed it up.? Now that Keith and I are the only ones here, we have four working showers and rooms we don't go into.? It's a very empty nest these days.? But because there was room for kids to get some privacy, away from other kids, it was very good for us. This is the first picture in my series.? I didn't keep (or share, anyway) a photo of the old tile broken and swept up and hauled away.? This is greenboard and early tiling: The planning of the crazy-quilt layer.? I used leftover tiles from the upstairs bathroom (the brown)¡ªstarted full-size tiles from the ceiling and floor, and filled in a row between. Wow.? It has been finished for nearly ten years. :-)? That's the shower I use these days.? It's the one nearest the fireplace, so a fave in winter. Now that I see all my three children living in houses that aren't this one, they are different in their current lives there.? And that could change, for any of them.?? Kirby's has lots of computers and games.? There are clothes wherever the younger girls drop them, and shoes, and blankets. Marty's is sparser, and quieter.? His work computer is in one bedroom, and Ashlee uses her laptop wherever she is.? Ivan has a tablet, and the Playstation runs the videos. Holly lives alone.? The house is nicely decorated (in her own style) and full of plants, and quiet. What is common in all of their homes is contentment. Keith and I have the dregs of things they didn't take, and of all our hobbies that we're too old for now, or that Covid restrictions disallow.? We're starting to divest ourselves of old projects, papers, supplies, media we can get to online... Things change and will keep changing, but contentment is good furniture. Yesterday's Just Add Light is a bit like that.? A nest of thoughts.? Ooh.? "A little birdhouse in your soul"? ? Tangent ("," by They Might be Giants) Be well. :-) ? Sandra ? ? ? ? ? |
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Our nest
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Would like to share my thoughts with you today.?
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While my daughter was creating art with lunch, in our unfinished kitchen, i was thinking about the proce\ss that allowed me to be so grateful our life as it is.?
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10 years ago, I read a text by Sandra Dodd who spoke about her bathroom under construction. maybe I had an image to illustrate because I remember seeing plastics and water leaks. at that time my eldest son was no more than a year old, I had quit my job full time and was still teaching at the university. At the time, it was very important for me to have a high monthly income, a good house, with the works finished and to my taste, beautiful and comfortable furniture. as I no longer earned a full salary, the work on our apartment was about to be finished, the beautiful furniture did not leave the vision board and I was frustrated. At the time, reading about an unfinished bathroom with leaking water because the parents decided that the quality of relationships and the experiences that are lived inside a house are more important than the house itself, gave me a lot to think about.
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5 years later, we left the city center, from our completely renovated apartment, with a stunning view, to a small? and old?rented house,?40 minutes from the center and very cheap. the apartment is still ours, it is being paid to the bank, with the rent of the tenants, and we hope to come to enjoy it one day.?
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For now, we are creating memories in the rented house. Our daughter was born here, we have a? small and?very wild veggie?garden, swing, trampoline, space for dogs, for games, for guests and workawayers in the unfinished and crazy attic. We also have an?unfinished kitchen where delicious and creative foods are prepared. I still have days of frustration with the conditions of the house - and I love watching the fixer upper and love it or list it tv shows while I dream of the ideal house - but I always remember that the important thing is the quality of? our?relationships, it is the love and joy that we create and we feel together at home, not the house itself.?
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Now, when I look at my house, with all its recycled furniture that doesn't always match, the library in the corridor, the porch always wet, the dance of the heaters because it seems that there are always new places to let in the cold, I feel affection and peace. My people feel comfortable at home, they enjoy each space without restrictions. I am not conditioned to a full-time job, to pay for a beautiful house that no one has 100% enjoyed, our bank accounts are balanced - despite the pandemic and economic crisis - our food is good and without budget restrictions, we can pay all the desired toys and games - it is true that they do not have expensive demands - and we may even be able to create wealth to leave to our children (following Dave Ramsey Financial University and learning). No furniture or wall in my life is more important than the people who use it. And, we like to be at home, confinements don't scare us because we're right here, together, we don't need to go out to have fun. This may seem obvious but it is not experienced by everyone and it is so liberating, it feels so good!?
we didn't get here by chance, not even suddenly. in these 10 years, we have been making choices with a focus on our relationships. At each moment, is it possible for us to choose what will bring us more stress or more peace? what will bring us together or away? what is the most gentle choice or action? what can make our home more interesting, more inspiring? And we continue to choose, every day, always creating and living? our nest. Not the most minimalist,?decluttered, modern, cleaned or whatever is the tendency now, no, it is our exquisite,? messy, noisy and lovely everyday life that sets the tone.?
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I'm so grateful for all the shared experiences that allowed me to think, do better choices and be where i am today. This includes all of your photos and house tours, it was so inspiring no see images of real life houses, not instagram perfect shots.?
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I'm sending a few of our images too.?
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-- C¨¢tia Maciel |
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Re: Janitors, McDonald's and Harvard
=== And for us, growing up, the threat was Woolworths. "You'll end up stacking shelves in Woolworth's if you don't pass your Maths O Level". === My mother used to say that if i didn't study i would end up cleaning stairs. When I decided to become a full-time mother, I started cleaning the stairs in my building, and at my airbnb at every check out. A few years after a was cleaning a 16 rooms student house.? She was shocked, after studying for 7 years at university and having a prestigious job, i decided to quit and was cleaning stairs. She even got sick because of it. It took some time to explain - and for her to see -? that I liked what I was doing, I could put on the headphones, listen to my podcast or music amd get the jod done. It was fun to do the check in's and talk with new people (in one of the 5 languages ??I can speak). The student house was my house as a student, I met my husband and lived with him there. I'm be the manager of the house but always clean it.? Yes, i clean stairs with pleasure and joy, I don't drag myself to work and if one day i don't like it, I'll know how to stop, as I stopped working at the research center, and at the university. I do it by choice and that is the best thing one can do, to choose where to work.? My years of university where not a waste, i would never be able to manage that huge student house, and a few airbnb's that always had profit and have 100% occupation, even during a pandemic, without my skills and that includes to do the real work, like cleaning it myself instead of paying another person, or persons, to do it.? I'm proud of myself, of my job and have plenty of time to be at home with the kids, i work out of the house once of twice a month, 12 hours a day.? The big secret is that i'm paid, per hour, the double than what my?colleagues can get at the research centre and i don't bring papers and worries home, don't have classes to prepare or exams to mark.? ?What is interesting is that i know many woman who complain that they have no money, can't even pay utilities and when i offer them my job they refuse. Maybe they had their mothers telling them that cleaning is for loosers. My mother passed away last year, and before that she told me many times how proud she was of me and my choices, how happy she felt that i know what i want for me and my family, she said many times "?thanks for being who you are" she says it helped her to see how i was living. I'm also very proud of her,?one of 7 children, from a very poor family, managed to study and be a nurse, loved her job, everyone in the hospital knew her by name, liked her and respected her. She also knew what she wanted and worked for it, she felt good about it and tried to encourage me to achieve the same. I understand why she was so harsh with me and pushed me so much to achieve an academic carreer.? My goal now is to support my children in their paths and i don't need to wait until i'm almost dead to understend them, what a blessing!? A quinta, 17/12/2020, 22:08, Bernadette Lynn <bernadette.lynn@...> escreveu:
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C¨¢tia Maciel? |
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Janitors, McDonald's and Harvard
When I was a kid in school in the 1960s, the threat was "Study, or you'll have to be a janitor." Last I knew in American schools (maybe further out) it had morphed, by the 1990s, into "If you don't do well in school, you'll have to work at McDonald's. ? If that was the stick, then the carrot was "If you study hard you can go to Harvard."? I KNOW that offer (made by people who had no power over the admission process at Harvard) was and still is made to kids in LOTS of countries.?? I was going to ask the group "Why Harvard?"? Is it just easy to say and remember, compared to other universities? So I guess it is a serious question. :-)?? I did a search in this group, and there are 63 posts that mention Harvard.? Some of those might be a quote from another post, but still.... that's a lot.? There are 78,687 messages, counting this one.? Still, given the topic, I think mentions of Harvard are too numerous. /g/AlwaysLearning/search?q=harvard I have another kind of question, about the size of the world, and of Harvard, but I'll ask it in a comment. ? Sandra |
Catia Maciel
Sandra Dodd
Karen James
belinda dutch
