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Poetry Friday: October's Bright Blue Weather

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O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
        And flowers of June together,
    Ye cannot rival for one hour
        October's bright blue weather …

  O suns and skies and flowers of June,
        Count all your boasts together,
    Love loveth best of all the year
        October's bright blue weather.

The stanzas above represent the opening and closing of October's Bright Blue Weather, a lovely poem by Helen Hunt Jackson, one you can read in full here. It's perfect for this mid-autumn Friday, despite the rain lashing the windows ...

As I considered this verse bright dark and early this morning, I remembered a craft I had in mind to do with the boys sometime this fall: an autumn leaf suncatcher. It was the first thing we did this morning, even before math!

I set out just a few materials:

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A few shades of blue tissue paper, double-sided tape and several clean Pringles can lids.

You might be wondering why I have a homekeeping book here. Well, it came in very handy ...

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... it's been pressing tiny fall leaves for over a week! I collected these way back on our woodland adventure day, specifically with this craft in mind.

By the way, I got the idea for this craft from a charming little book called The Harvest Craft Book by Thomas Berger. Here it is open to the Transparencies page where a more complex (yet very beautiful) craft was described:

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Our craft may be considerably more humble, but it required just the right amount of effort from the boys. Actually, I ended up doing most of the finish work as the bits of double-sided tape did prove a tad fussy. (Remember we did this craft early - I'd already had my coffee, but the boys were still waking up, lol!)

Quick directions: Cut a piece of tissue paper to fit inside the lid. Lay tiny leaves against the paper in a pattern you like; adhere them with a bit of double-sided tape. Stick slivers of d.s. tape along the inner edge of the lid and press down the paper with leaves facing down. Hole punch the top and tie a string through; hang where the sunlight will catch it:

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Next time we do this craft we will choose brighter leaves - say vivid orange and fiery red - which will stand out more, I think.

There was a promise of blue skies 'round middmorning, but by lunchtime it was pouring again (thunder and all!).

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It was time for a warm and hearty afternoon snack:

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Grilled cheese sandwiches cut into oak leaf shapes, maple creme cookies, and mugs of mulled cider. It all hit the spot.

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Let it rain all it wants today ... October's bright blue weather will return in all its glory tomorrow. :)

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