April 2010 – Page 4 – Lemon Drop Pie

Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go by John Langstaff

This book arrived on my bookshelf courtesy of my mom. Mom was a music teacher, and she loved to incorporate literature in her classes. Everytime she went to an Orff workshop, she would come home with an armful of books! When she retired from teaching, she started bringing these books to our house, but only one or two at a time…she always thought she might go back to teaching, and then she would need her books!

This first book starts off with the traditional verses to “Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go” and then the author adds new verses that children helped him write. The music is included at the end for you to sing! (I also sing the tune in my vlog below.) This book is a wonderful way to teach rhyme and rhythm to young children.

A-Hunting We Will Go! by Steven Kellogg

This book arrived at our house via my mother as well. Steven Kellogg takes this folk song and completely changes and adapts it as a bedtime book. The children are told it’s time for bed. They begin the journey toward bedtime with their stuffed animal companions, and have a rollicking romp along the way!

Steven Kellogg also includes a musical score at the end of this book, but he uses a different tune; “A-Hunting We Will Go” can also be sung to the tune “The Farmer in the Dell.” One of the joys of folk songs is the use of different melodies; the variations in the melodies; and the variety of verses and words. Folk songs are vibrant and alive; always changing and never the same, and this makes them so much fun!

My vlog this week was filmed in the kitchen; however, this time I edited it (instead of my husband) and cut off the beginning! My family members will be disappointed that Emmy did not want to sit on my lap this time; she was too busy doing other things. If you look carefully, you will see her walk behind me at one point in the vlog.

This week, Vanessa at Silly Eagle Books is hosting Feed Me Books Friday. Head on over there for more fun book recommendations! (Our regular hostess, Janna, is at a conference this weekend. I wrote this post before Janna told us that next week’s topic is books you can sing! I apologize for jumping the gun!)

Have fun singing your books this week!

Emmy entering the installation “From the Inside Out.”

Ever since I can remember, my little sister Heather has been sewing. (This really isn’t true, since I remember when she was born.) Using the fabric scraps from my mom’s projects, she would sew little blankets for her dolls, and small presents for our parents. Now that she’s an aunt, she sews little bags for Lily and Emmy. The bags arrive filled with gifts; books and ribbons and stickers; all the wonderful trinkets little girls love. So it was no surprise to me to see Heather sewing scraps of fabric together every time I saw her this winter. But I was surprised to see what she made those tiny scraps of fabric into.

Lily and Emmy’s bookbags, which arrived with surprises inside

I received a postcard in the mail a few weeks ago; Heather was collaborating with her good friend Nicholas Nyland and her students at Bradley University to create a special installation and exhibition. This was an art opening I couldn’t miss, so I packed the girls in the van and headed to Peoria.

View from the balcony above

When we arrived, we found a wall in the shape of a spiral extending from the inside to the outside, draped with quilted fabrics of all colors and textures; there was a doorway and peepholes and little creatures hiding in the patterns. Lily was excited to spot the same fabric that her sister’s bookbag was made out of in this huge, quilted piece. At first, I told the girls DON’T TOUCH! Heather reassured me and said when they were creating this installation, she imagined the girls running around and playing in the exhibition. They played for the whole two hours of the opening, touching, exploring, laughing, twirling, and taking breaks to eat cookies. (Yes, art openings usually include food!)

Lily and Emmy run to find their aunt’s hand coming through a peephole.

Heather was quoted in the local paper:

“While this exhibition is not about the history of quilting, there is a tradition of saving things that can be used, and that’s part of what we’re doing here,” Brammeier said. “We usually think of fabric as a feminine material and part of the feminine arts. This is not going to be limited that way. It’s not going to be a feminist piece. But it is going to incorporate those qualities where we think of fabric as comforting.”