I know it seems counter-intuitive, and it's certainly counter to all the advice posted above, but look into the science behind barefoot shoes. Nutritious Movement is a good place to start. Gait Happens is another great resource. Barefoot shoes aren't what most folks think they are, just flat shoes with no support. For example flip flops are def not barefoot-friendly. Nor are birkenstocks. Both of which I wore regularly until I read about why and how they might impact one's gait negatively. There are several components necessary for a shoe to qualify as barefoot; zero drop, wide toe box, no arch support, super flexible sole that allows your foot (and thus your whole body) to move naturally. Foot health impacts the whole body in ways both subtle and overt that I had no idea about. I was having really bad knee trouble on my daily hikes with my dog, specifically on the downhill. At the time I was wearing a pair of basic LLB winter shoes. The sole was thicker than I normally wear so after a few weeks I switched to my Converse to see if that would help. It did. And then I started to do research and re-found the barefoot shoe movement. I bought my first pair 4 years ago and now I'm mostly transitioned to all barefoot-friendly shoes. My knee pain has disappeared. The transition to barefoot-friendly shoes is something that needs to be done gradually, accompanied by foot-strengthening exercises. You can do a lot of damage by forcing the unused muscles and bones in your feet to work so differently after a lifetime of being in shoes that don't allow for natural movement. I realize it's not an option for everyone but it's an option for more more folks that you'd think. Anya's site is a great resource for all things barefoot.

Wordle 284 2/6 ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 It’s only happened a few times.

Late to the party for this thread but it seems ds's college has gone the extra, extra mile based on the previous responses posted here. Here's what that looked like. His college is on a 4-1-4 system, the 1 being January term. He was scheduled to fly back on the 3rd of January but in late December we received an email saying the college was moving things online for J-term for at least half the students. Athletes, students needing lab access, orchestra students and theater students were allowed to return. In addition those with 'extenuating circumstances' could fill out a form explaining their situation which would be reviewed and decided upon. Ds fell into the latter category and was approved to return but then we all came down with Covid a couple of days before his departure date so he did end up staying home. For those at the college there was no choir, no clubs, no extra-curriculars, strict policies on how many students could gather in one place (I think it was 5) no visiting other residences, classes online whenever possible, no off-campus trips other than for medical and necessities, down-sized dining hours (no breakfast on weekends, only an hour for lunch and dinner) masking at all times except in dorm rooms, mandatory testing upon return and random testing over the course of the month. Even with all that in place entire athletic teams went down with Covid in addition to a lot of the students there. However the numbers have dropped dramatically in the past 10 days and Spring semester is slated to begin in person. All students must take a rapid test no more than 24 hrs before their arrival at college, or a PCR test within the PCR time frame. Boosters are required, masking at all times and they will conduct two college-wide mandatory testings over the course of the month to see where they are with things. They use a code level, Orange, Yellow, Green with each color requiring different protocols wrt masking, social distancing, gathering etc. It was green all last semester and has been orange since the beginning of J-term. They'll keep it at orange for a couple of weeks until the testing tells them where they stand.

@Momto6inIN So did I when mine was younger and that's why I came back to post. Yes, it can be done, and done with fun 😊

Thanks so much! Great to hear from someone who's walked this path already. And done it well, I might add. Time does indeed fly!

It's been a few years since I last posted but back in the day I was a regular poster and reader of these forums and was so grateful for the wealth of information and experience that all the moms shared here. Ds homeschooled through grade 9 and then worked primarily online for his classes while remaining at home for 10 through 12. Fast forward to this month and he committed to his college of choice for a double degree in Vocal Performance and Mathematics with very generous scholarships to help out. What a year to end on though. It has probably been our hardest homeschooling year ever, maybe even in general, as I imagine it has been for so many folks. The days of planning and researching and drawing up schedules for each year, Augusts spent gathering books and materials and making lesson plans, endless google searches for just the right history curriculum or the perfect science program, convos here on WTM with others in the same boat, they're are all done. I have to admit I'm pretty sad about that part of things. I loved homeschooling ds, loved his enthusiasm and curiosity and watching his interests sprout and grow according to his inclinations, loved being part of the homeschooling communities in my area and organizing things for the kids. It's a new chapter for us, a new landscape to navigate but I wanted to come back here to where it all started for us and say thanks for all the years of wisdom the WTM forums have offered. I'm guessing some of your kids are similarly positioned so congrats to them and to you wonderful moms for shepherding them through the whole experience. Brava! 🎉

Thanks for this, Kareni. I just got four of the titles listed.

Thank you, VC :) And since we're talking food I'll expound on the lowly shallot. More refined cousin to the onion, small but more vocal than the leek or chive, the oft-passed over shallot is rocking my culinary world these days. I know it's a fave of cooks but as the past few years have seen my cooking go from innovative to pedestrian to keep up with the demands of a very active homeschool schedule involving lots of commutes so such refinements have been missing. Things have eased up a tiny bit in the commute/hs regard and I'm refinding my cooking chops. Latest fave is lacinato kale chopped into very fine ribbons and sautéed with shallots and garlic. The lads love it and served with some roasted kabocha squash it makes for a nice vegetable combo. Latte and choc in hand as I write this... ☕️ ?

Hi Friends, It's been a long while since I posted but something inspired me to return to TWT boards only to find it in the middle of a massive changeover. But here I am after chatting a little with some of my BaW friends who directed me to this thread. It's encouraging to see so many familiar names posting. I'm in a non-fiction mode right now, immersed in several at once. Witches and Pagans :: Women in European Folk Religion 700-1100 by Max Dashu. Lady of the Beasts :: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals by Buffie Johnson The Runes Revealed :: An (Un) Familiar Journey by Ingrid Kincaid I've got a couple of audiobooks on the go as well, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman. My most recent fiction read was the fab Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and she has a newish book out called To the Bright Edge of the World that looks promising. I hope to post more regularly than once a year ? and it's good to 'see' you all.

Not much of a reading week for me. Finishing up with The World's Wife which I thoroughly enjoyed. Started Alphabet of Thorn and am liking it so far. Leaving you with a poem by Carol Ann Duffy from The World's Wife. Pope Joan After I learned to transubstantiate unleavened bread into the sacred host and swung the burning frankincense till blue-green snakes of smoke coiled round the hem of my robe and swayed through those fervent crowds, high up in a papal chair, blessing and blessing the air, nearer to heaven than cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, being Vicar of Rome, having made the Vatican my home, like the best of men, in nominee patris et filii et spiritus sancti amen, but twice as virtuous as them, I came to believe that I did not believe a word, so I tell you now, daughters or brides of the Lord, that the closest I felt to the power of God was the sense of a hand lifting me, flinging me down, lifting me, flinging me down, as my baby pushed out from between my legs where I lay in the road in my miracle, not a man or a pope at all.

Kindle daily deal at $1.99 is The Other Einstein. Just be aware that Audible has now automatically checked the 'include audio version' to each kindle book so if you don't want the audio version you need to manually uncheck each order. A bit sneaky on their part. Stacia, your book arrived :hurray: Thank you, my dear. Looking forward to delving in. Sigh, to be in a geographical position able to write such a phrase ;)

It's a slow book week here. But the familia is thoroughly engrossed in the Merlin series. I imagine most of you have already seen it as it's several years old but we are new to it and it's proving to be good fun and something all of us enjoy. I am continuing to read The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy. A poem every few days. I didn't realize she was the first female Scottish Poet Laureate in its 400 year history. Her poem Mrs. Midas is wonderful, full of evocative and visceral images and phrases like, Now the garden was long and the visibility poor, the way the dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky, AND Do you know about gold? It feeds no one; aurum, soft, untarnishable; slakes no thirst. He tried to light a cigarette; I gazed, entranced, as the blue flame played on its luteous stem. And one more poem by her to finish out this post, Anne Hathaway. For anyone interested in this book here's the GR description, Stunningly original and haunting, the voices of Mrs. Midas, Queen Kong, and Frau Freud, to say nothing of the Devil's Wife herself, startle us with their wit, imagination, and incisiveness in this collection of poems written from the perspectives of the wives, sisters, or girlfriends of famous -- and infamous -- male personages. Carol Ann Duffy is a master at drawing on myth and history, then subverting them in a vivid and surprising way to create poems that have the pull of the past and the crack of the contemporary.

I wonder how Pam and Eliana are doing.

Finished two books last week, The Palace of Illusions, excellent. And Uprooted, very good but I need to go back and reread the last part. All of a sudden it became plot-driven at an alarming pace and I'm left a bit confused about a few things. Not sure what next. No energy to choose or post book covers. Dinner is in the oven for ds. He's currently memorizing his lines for Twelfth Night. Dh is at a friend's watching the Superb Owl as we don't have a tv. I've just been out with the pup for a hike on the ridge. Elements were wild with life force and power. Soaked it in while little pup trotted along in her rain gear. Life is!

I don't know, the Patricia Wrede books looked like YA to me and I believe that's her target audience. However I would have thought Uprooted to be YA until I got towards the end of the book and one scene in particular, likely the one that made you think twice about your daughter having read it. I'm looking forward to The Bear and the Nightingale. But what I like about Uprooted is that it doesn't feel formulaic despite being a "fantasy-fairy-tale". An amalgamation of tales perhaps such that there are lots of unexpected twists and turns.

The Lyra Novels, all five of them--Shadow Magic, Daughter of Witches, The Harp of Imach Thyssel, Caught in Crystal, and The Raven Ring--are a kindle deal today, at $3.99 I'm in the homestretch with Uprooted which I'll likely finish today. Loving it!

Prairie Song, my thoughts are with you and your family :grouphug:

Imbolc Blessings to you all on this day to celebrate Brigid or Saint Brigid depending on your leanings, pagan or religious. She of the flame of inspiration, the maiden earth, spring buds and the forge. Ds and I made Brigid crosses the other day out of yarn since we didn't have any reeds handy nor even the more prosaic pipe cleaners. I love that my teen ds jumped in to the project with enthusiasm. Ooh, can't wait, thank you! I need to scan my shelves for something you might like. Our tastes are pretty different but there are a few lovely intersections. Speaking of which, I'm thoroughly enjoying Uprooted. I got in a nice long read this morning before the house was awake. Always a treat. You're in, naturally, but you may be required to eat poutine, tourtiere, butter tarts, nanaimo bars and beaver tails. Not all at once of course :lol: That is not Boston Brown Bread, that is a travesty :scared: :ack2: :ack2: :ack2: Nan, how are you doing?

Ha! I have such fond memories of this stuff. My mom would make it in a blue and white Maxwell House coffee can, Boston Brown Bread it was called, sweet, dark, and moist from molasses. She'd only make it once or twice a winter and always with homemade baked beans and only when it was super cold. She'd put the beans on in the morning and set the bread to bake early in the afternoon and our anticipation would grow with the wonderful rich smell filling the house. I can remember one particular time having been out all day long in a sub-freezing Canadian winter wonderland, tobogganing, making snow forts and the like with my brothers. It was dark as we found our way home. We were tired with that delicious feeling of having been immersed in the raw elements all day, spent and content with the prospect of homemade Boston Brown Bread and homemade baked beans to nourish us upon our return home. It's a memory that has stayed with me all these decades. In the bookish realm, I finished Palace of Illusions. The ending was so...poignant, moving. I won't say more as I know at least one other person on this thread is reading it but it was very satisfying in a kind of ontological way.

Ds just finished this and gives it two thumbs up as long as you've read the two books preceding it.

Ha and thank you! This and a couple others of hers have been on my tbr list for awhile now after I heard an interview with her on onbeing. Will be interested to hear what you think. She mentioned her mother leaving her the journals and her reaction upon finding them blank. It's kind of a marvelous koan, really.

Isn't the narrator for PoI fabulous! She brings the characters and atmosphere alive in a way that reading it alone couldn't do. That said I'm going to go ahead and read it as there are things I know I missed this time round, names, clans, various wars. Thankfully ds knows the Mahabharat inside and out and I can stop the narrative any time to consult him. I'm pretty sure I read Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon a few decades ago and enjoyed it. And possibly a few of his other books.

I found my library book :hurray: It was hiding under a pile of my own books that had been stacked on the floor beside the bed. So I'm back in with that and really enjoying it. From the GR page :: Stunningly original and haunting, the voices of Mrs. Midas, Queen Kong, and Frau Freud, to say nothing of the Devil's Wife herself, startle us with their wit, imagination, and incisiveness in this collection of poems written from the perspectives of the wives, sisters, or girlfriends of famous -- and infamous -- male personages. Carol Ann Duffy is a master at drawing on myth and history, then subverting them in a vivid and surprising way to create poems that have the pull of the past and the crack of the contemporary. Link to one her poems, a favorite so far, Little Red Cap and here is a link to a long interview with the author for those interested in more from her. Still reading Beauty and Uprooted and just a few chapters to go in The Palace of Illusions. It hasn't been a productive reading week but it's been one with a steady pace, tortoise-like

Hmm, I've read the whole Dalhousie series and very much enjoyed it, the slow pace, attention to detail and as you say, 'flashes of depth'. I couldn't get into the No. One Ladies Detective Agency books though. And teen romance doesn't sound like a big draw either but I'm going to check this out and see if I'd like it.

Very much enjoying Uprooted. I'm reading it concurrently with Beauty by Sheri Tepper which I'm only partially enjoying and The Palace of Illusions which I'm almost finished listening to and enjoying so much I'm planning to read it.