Oh Ani, we need to cut your bangs! Only one would never really know that for certain because not only does she despise the hairbrush, but this girl is always in motion and so I never can be sure exactly where those bangs sit on her face. Whether running or dancing, cartwheeling or summersaulting, she is always on the go. And each and every (one-sided) conversation with her resembles more of a performance art piece, really. Moving, moving, moving. She'll be starting modern dance this fall with a fabulous teacher we all love dearly who has now had all of the Soule kiddos in her classes and I can't wait to see what Ani does with that in her repertoire. I can't quite imagine a more perfect match really (she gave classical ballet a try for all of twenty minutes and decided that structure was most decidedly not for her). Oh, my girl. Yet for all of her wildness, she's as sweet as sweet and tender as can be. And oh, this girl loves animals! She talks often of people's spirit animals and she dreams of them nearly each and every night (which we all are entertained by the stories of at the breakfast table). She helped me make her cousin a dress out of this fabric back during our ski sewing days last year (is she really joining the ski crew on the slopes this year? She is!), and she has not stopped reminding me that she needed one too. At long last, I got around to it this week in some pockets of time that seemed just right for such a thing. It is, of course, a Geranium Dress. The bodice is a cotton muslin that I dyed earlier in the year. And the skirt fabric is Anna Maria's pegasus. which is pretty spectacular, is it not? We all love it lots. And it's just right for summersaulting, cartwheeling, dancing, storytelling and everything else that Ani does in her days. So very many things, in motion.
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Greetings! I'm Amanda Blake Soule - mother of five, author of four books on family creativity, editor & owner of Taproot Magazine. I live with my family in an old farmhouse in Western Maine where we raise animals, grow vegetables and make lots of things. I write about it all here on the blog. Thank you for visiting!
