1st grade haircut

Yesterday was Tommy's first day of 1st grade. He cut his own bangs for the occasion. 😂✂️

The third time around this "leaving at school business", it was easier. When Adelaide went to first grade (last picture), I would be anxious and praying for her the whole day. When Daniel dropped Davy off two years ago (second to last pic), I was checking into the hospital to have Lettie lightly induced at FORTY TWO weeks. (Some of you might be thinking: I didn't know you could wait so long! You "can't" in the sense that doctors don't like it, but you should be able to make your own (informed) medical decisions, freely.)

Anyway, Lettie was born and I couldn't wait to know about his day at school and support him during his first weeks. 

Little did I know that there was already a hospital bacteria (came in with the epidural needle), growing on my lower spine. I spent some very painful and scary-for-the-kids days. It was probably traumatizing for them seeing their mom writhing and crying with pain for days. Finally, I had my operation, spent 10 days at the hospital and came home, but with an entourage of nurses twice a day, physical therapy twice a day, personal higiene, etc. 

.....so, do you get the idea? There went the supporting Davy. 

This time around we were all relaxed, we took pictures and talked to the other families we love. A lot better!

Artigo imaginação

 Artigo! 

https://expresso.pt/opiniao/2024-01-08-Como-matar-a-imaginacao-do-teu-filho-43dfd06b

An encounter with a future saint

I got to see Bishop Barron live at a conference and was also able to take a picture with him. What a blessing! Since so many Portuguese friends were left outside the door in a long line, I wrote up some notes I took in Portuguese for them. 

Olá amigos, 

Hoje pude ver o Bishop Barron falar sobre a educação porque entrei com prioridade. Sinto-me uma priveligiada, pois centenas ficaram fora. Acho que se devem ter enganado, foi pena, pois era um auditório muito pequeno. Partilho convosco alguns apontamentos que tirei, caso sejam úteis. Foi um grande dom poder ouvir e vê-lo ao vivo. Passei tantas horas na nossa casa no Barreiro e aqui em Lisboa a ouvir os podcasts dele. A lavar loiça, a dobrar roupa, a cuidar de diferentes bebés. Foi incrível vê-lo! O Daniel (que repara nestas coisas!) reparou que ele é esquerdino. Abriu a garrafa com a mão esquerda e amparava a cabeça com a mão esquerda. É sempre diferente ver alguém ao vivo!

Tema: Educação

• A educação é trabalho pastoral. Não se pode "drive a wedge", inserir uma barreira entre os dois. 
• Boaventura isse que o Logos está relacionado com o Logoi e teve éco em John Henry Newman, que disse o mesmo, no século 19. Ele disse que a teologia pertence ao coração da universidade. Disse isto, mesmo assistindo à onda crescente do secularismo. 
• Isto não é imperialismo religioso. Cristo está relacionado com tudo o que é académico. Como o vitral rosa na Catedral Notre Dame, Cristo está no centro donde tudo irradia e é iluminado por esse centro. 

Deus

• Deus não é um ser entre outros seres, Não está no "genus" dos seres. Como uma cadeira é um tipo de móvel, Deus não é tipo o mais algo ser ("en sumum") mas é o ACTO DE SER ("ipsum esse"). Isso quer dizer também que ele não está em competição com o que ele cria e sustenta. Como nós seres humanos movemos-nos aggressivamente para o espaço uns dos outros. Ele trabalha de dentro das diferentes disciplinas, tornando-as mais luminosas e mais ricas. Se não vemos Deus assim, escorregamos para visões "deístas" e erradas. 

Matemática

• Deu o exemplo da matemática que abre para uma realidade para além da experiência ordinária e sensorial
• Os filmes "Matrix" são uma maneira nova de contar a Caverna de Platão. Estamos no mundo real da experiência sensorial, mas essas coisas são todas passageiras. Quando percebes uma verdade matemática (tipo vês sete coisas, mas percebes o número, o conceito de 7; ou uma coisa ao quadrado; ou um circulo são vários pontos com a mesma distância de um centro mas quando desenhas uma nunca é um círculo, é um conceito abstrato)... quando percebes algo absoluto sais fora deste mundo. É uma experiência "mística". 
• David Tracy, um teólogo moderno, diz num artigo que para além do religioso, a principal forma de invisibilidade é a matemática. 
• Mas donde vieram estas inteligibilidades puras?

Ciência

• Quando o Bishop Barron era pequeno, a afiliação religiosa nos Estados Unidos era 97%. Agora é 26%. Uma grande razão que as pessoas dão é porque acham que a fé e a ciência não são compatíveis. O Hawkins e os filósofos ateus da geração dele foram grandes "evangelizadores". A Igreja também fez uma catequese muito pobre. 
• A ciência tem como pressuposto que o mundo a que vamos ao encontro está marcado pela inteligibilidade. Diz S. Tomás de Aquino que a mente está à procura de forma, padrão. Sem este pressuposto, não há ciência. 
• Disse Ratzinger: A grande inteligibilidade do mundo aponta para uma maior inteligência. Nós não inventamos a verdade. Nós reconhecemo-la. We "RE-COGNIZE",descobrimos um mundo que já foi "COGNIZED". 
• Pois "no início estava o Verbo/a Palavra"
• Einstein disse a mesma coisa por outras palavras: "A coisa mais incompreensível no universo é a sua compreensibilidade"
• Eugene Wigner, um físico, prémio Nobel, judeu secular do século 20, escreveu num artigo: É incompreensível/irrazoavel/estranho a eficácia da matemática nas ciências físicas. É preciso o nível mais alto de matemática para explicar a realidade física e para fazer coisas (lançar foguetões, etc). Nós esquecemo-nos disto ("take it for granted").... mas porque é que é assim? Parece que a fonte por detrás do universo é um matemático. 

História

• Um bom históriador não decora só factos e datas sem nexo. Procura padrões de significado e "overarching meaning". Procura narrativa. 
• Santo Agostinho fez a primeira tentativa disto com a Cidade de Deus. 
• Hegel propôs um relato "meta histórico" de um espírito absoluto tornar-se real. 
• O seu discípulo Karl Marx infelizmente ficou muito famoso e virou a visão de Hegel ao contrário. O comunismo é o cume, o melhor da história. 
• O que os historiadores de agora, as pessoas do nosso tempo, têm como "meta narrativa" pode-se chamar o relato liberal democrata. Existe uma longa história de opressão, escuridão, etc até o aparecimento da ciência moderna no século 17 e as ideias e revoluções políticas no século 18. 
• Na parte trás da nota de $1, tem duas coisas escritas em Latim que indicam esta visão da história: "annuit coeptis" ([Ele] aprovou a nossa tarefa) e "novus ordo seclorum (nova ordem dos séculos). Isto mostra que Jefferson e os primeiros americanos fundadores não achavam o novo país um evento significativo entre outros, mas o cume da história. É a voz do "enlightenment", dum conhecimento que vai em crescendo. 
• Os Católicos têm outra visão e outro cume da história e é estranha, não faz sentido. É bom que se apercebam e que aceitem essa estranheza. O cume da história aconteceu num monte obscuro e sujo, com um judeu sujo, pendurado num instrumento de tortura do Império Romano. 
• É o cume porque foi aqui que aconteceu a verdade mais profunda das coisas. O amor de Deus conquistou o pecado, a morte, a tirania, etc. Deus entrou naquele sítio. E engoliu tudo com a sua misericórdia. 

Depois ele disse que tinha uns apontamentos sobre literatura e lei mas não tinha tempo. E eu quase que morri. :)

Podcast 3 (em português)

The third episode of our podcast in Portuguese is up:

O terceiro episódio do nosso podcast está disponível hoje! Podem ouvir no Spotify aqui: 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UJckZlLFFmRJ4syzGagsc?si=9EKtOWdESVKjGUfnKlLIpw&utm_source=copy-link

E também nestes dois sites sem aplicação: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chai-com-newman/id1609882219

https://popcasts.pt/podcasts/chai-com-newman/

Sigam-nos no IG @chaicomnewman

E por favor façam like e partilhem com amigos. Obrigada!!

John Henry Newman on education

I haven't listened to a lot of podcasts lately, and I also haven't read or heard many things on education lately, but I listened to this podcast by Christopher Perrin (love him!) on Saint John Henry Newman (love LOVE him... my daughter Rosie was born on his feast day, October 9th) and it is so wonderful I have to share. 

Please listen to "John Henry Newman" on the podcast "Café Scholé" on spotify (or elsewhere): 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/68DcHYOWCeFQajVs2A1bwQ

These are ideas from John Henry Newman's book, The Idea of the University. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes: 

8,18min: He believed that school should involve nurture. Our schools should be like a nourishing mother, which is what "alma mater" means. Knowing her children one by one, not a manufactory or a mint or a treadmill. 

9,15min: Liberal knowledge. He contrasts that with a purely practical, utilitarian or instrumental view of learning. He thinks liberal knowledge forms human beings to be prepared to serve in all kinds of ways which are difficult to predict. 

11,03min: By focusing on liberal knowledge, we will find a kind of utility that comes about as an indirect result, but we don't seek directly for utility. We seek for the connected view of things, that's the university's direct aim. Practical utility ends up being one of the direct results. 

13,35min: Theology has been called the governess of all liberal arts, or the queen of the sciences. That which brings unity and coherence to them all.

21min: A Christian university is made Christian not so much by its formal teaching of theology, although he thinks it should be present, but by the "ethos", the character, the atmosphere of the place. Above all, the influence of teachers who exemplify, however imperfectly, the Christian ideal. Back again to his comments about how important the relationship between teacher and student is. A relationship which is one of charity, humility, love. 

22min: This liberal education we would seek in a university consists of the knowledge of first principles and relations, rather than mere facts. This is the best preparation for any career. Whose attributes are these: freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation and wisdom.

Article

My first article written in Portuguese!

https://observador.pt/opiniao/uma-tragedia-grega-para-o-8o-ano/

Discovery of the world

On a hike to Praia Grande, Sintra to see the dinosaur footprints fossilized on the rocks (last picture). 

One of the things that I keep getting better with each child is good habits. They motivate me to want to do things better. 

Something else surprising that happens more and more with my children is the enlarging of my world and my discovery of it. First came Charlotte Mason and the observation of the natural world as the first step of science, tree classification and nature walks. Then came books about the solar system and animals and me realizing I know nothing about them. Then came visiting interesting places like a dinosaur park and a butterly center. This year it has been forest school and wanting to know more about birds and plants and bugs. It has also been our book about the 50 states and wanting to know more US history. And world history. 

Sometimes I think: I can't die yet. I have so much more to learn about the plants and animals and places to visit. 

"The question is not, - how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education - but how much does he care?" Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason Ideas and Books quotes

This is a third in a series of compilations of Charlotte Mason's writings and each one seems to get better for me. This one kept me saying "exactly!" the whole way through. Here are some of my favorite quotes. 

"It is only as we recognise our limitations that our work becomes effective: when we see definitely what we are to do, what we can do, and we cannot do, we set to work with confidence and courage; we have an end in view, and we make our way intelligently toward that end, and a way to an end is method. It rests with parents not only to give their children birth into the life of intelligence and moral power, but to sustain the higher life which they have borne." pg 13

"We know that to form in his child right habits of thinking and behaving is a parent's chief duty, and that this can be done for every child definitely and within given limits of time. To nourish a child daily with loving, right, and noble ideas we believe to be the parent's next duty." pg 19

"We lay ourselves open to the spiritual impact of ideas, whether these be conveyed by the printed page, the human voice, or whether they reach us without visible sign." pg 21

"We as ourselves, 'Is there any fruitful idea underlying this or that study that the children are engaged in?" pg 21

"The education of the day, it is said, does not produce reading people. We are determined that the children shall love books, therefore we do not interpose ourselves between the bok and the child. We read him his Tanglewood Tales, and when he is a little older his Plutarch, not trying to break up or water down, but leaving the child's mind to deal with the matter as it can." pg 22

"To secure that adaptation and the expansion and activity of the person, along the lines of the relations most proper to him, is the work of education; to be accomplished by the two factors of ideas and habits. Every relation must be initiated by its own 'captain' idea, sustained upon fitting ideas; and wrought into the material substance of the person by its proper habits. This is the field before us." pg 34

"... a special literature for children is probably far less necessary than the book sellers would have us suppose. Out of any list of 'the hundred best books,' I believe that seventy-five would be well within the range of chilren of eight or nine." pg 35

"But let information hang upon a principle, be inspired by an idea, and it is taken with avidity and used in maing whatsoever in the spiritual nature stands for tissue in the physical." pg 46

"...there is no education but self-education…" pg 46

"He practices various handicrafts that he may know the feel of wood, clay, leather, and the joy of handling tools, that is, that he may establish a due relation with materials." pg 50

"It cannot be too often said that information is not education." pg 56

"We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests… Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking - the strain would be too great - but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest.". pg 57

Beauty in the Word quotes

This was the best book I've read about education and it inspired the last article I wrote called "What is Education?" It's about the Trivium and his other book about the Quadrivium is now on my to-read list. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes: 

"The gravest threat our civilization faces is in fact not ecological but philosophical. It is the widespread belief that there is no objective truth and no 'true' way of considering the world and its history, only a plurality of subjective points of view, each point of view being of equal value and deserving equal respect." pg 7

"The liberal arts are a golden thread that comes from the Greeks, from Pythagoras and his successors both Islamic and Christian, especially St Augustine; a thread that weaves its way through the history of our civilization. These arts were intended for the cultivation of freedom and the raising of our humanity to its highest possible level." pg 9

"The basis for a good education is, on the one hand, the self-motivation of the child to pursue what engages and interests him, and on the other, the creativity, responsiveness, and love of the teacher, who sets the terms for learning and encourages the child to flourish." pg 25

"She almost goes as far as to say that the subject studied and its contents are irrelevant; the important thing, the real goal of study, is the 'development of atention.' Why? Because prayer consists of attention, and all worldly study is really a stretching of the soul towards prayer." pg 30

"All this suggests that the earliest stage of education is not simply the learning of words, of names, of vocabulary, but the learning of how to name." pg 43

"All through life we are seeking a place where we can be at home, where we can truly belong. If we cannot remember that experience of belonging, then we are forced to remember something that defines it by contrast. Either way, it is memory that defines our journey." pg 45

"The contemporary dissolution of the family is also the dissolution of tradition, because it can only be passed on within the community whose identity it helps to define." pg 47

"The purpose of tradition is to serve the personal growth and development of man. But the purpose of the mechanical order that currently dominates education is for man to serve the growth and further evolution of the machine." pg 47

"I have tried in this chapter to loosen Grammar from the narrow confines of an association with sentence construction, to show that the birth of language is bound up with memory and poetry and the telling of stories about the world and about ourselves." pg 56

"'Trivium' is therfore the vital importance of crafts, drama and dance, poetry and storytelling, as a foundation for independent and critical thought. Through doing and making, through poesis, the house of the soul is built." pg 57

"A child's head is more like an acorn than a jam jar, says Atkins." pg 66

"Thus on a deeper level I am not just what I hapen to do, or choose to do; I am that which God gives me to do. I am my mission." pg 90

"The starting point is always reading (and playing music) to the child as soon and as much as possible." pg 121

"In this perspective, the teacher's task, on the one hand, is to testify that the ruth about oneself is not limited to a projection of one's own ideas and images, and on the other, to introduce the student ot the marvellous and ever surprising discovery of the truth that precedes him and over which has no control." pg 37

What is education?

I am really excited about this article. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Sunday!

http://www.catholicstand.com/what-is-education/

Back to school feast

I have been inspired by NieNie's back to school feast for years now and this year we finally got around to doing it… barely! I bought crowns for the girls and made stapled crowns for the boys, like NieNie. We had fondue for dinner, which was actually Addie's idea when she found a closed fondue set I've had for years. We had it on the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary and chose one of her titles from the litany instead of the "family theme" We've actually been asking for Mary, Seat of Wisdom's intercession for a while now when we agonize over/ponder WHAT THE HECK TO DO about our kids' education. So it was fitting. 

We did those fun interviews and I have them "schultutes", which are school supplies wrapped up in a tube shape… a german tradition methinks. It was basically socks and pencils and they were sooooooo happy. Plus, they went to bed late and ate gummy bears. Practically the best day of their little lives. I hope we will be able to repeat it again next year and compare our pictures! 

And that's enough

Us doing "preschool" in the morning. 

I was pretty depressed for the first half of December, feeling like everything was going wrong. Perhaps pregnancy hormones, perhaps normal mommy guilt, perhaps being an obsessive type-A perfectionist psycho. No one was making me feel better, not even the priest at a great retreat I went on, not even my husband. Then one day I sent a simple WhatsApp message to a friend in the US and her answer was so genuine and so true that I INSTANTLY felt better. And I've hung on to those words ever since. Especially: 

"I weep at how bad of a mother I am now with my kids. Distracted, unloving stressed, angry and sometimes uninterested. There's just so much more work now. So many more things to think about. So many more people making demands. And so many more things that can throw the day off kilter. 
"All the kids want is you, so don't feel bad that that is all you have to offer!"

It felt so reassuring to have someone... that I know isn't doing a bad job and really cares.. who felt like a bad mom like I did. I feel like I can't give them what they need and it's because of my own faults. I had told my friend that I felt I only had myself to offer and I was losing it. I said I only have myself to offer in the sense of my ideas, what I look up on Pinterest, the books I like. Most of the time I wonder, what am I doing? But her words, all the kids want is you, are true. Small children like them need to be close to their mother. They are truly blessed to have a mother and a father, and the most important thing I can do is focus on that relationship and on loving and serving the Lord. It is hard to not need reassurance I'm going the right things, not messing them up for life... taking one small step in the right direction everyday, sometimes groping in darkness, but trusting in the Lord and His plans. That's the only way and that's enough. 

Wild and free... and kind and responsive

I've been reading the farmhouseschoolhouse.com blog recently and her posts about nature walks (and all posts in general! and her house!) have been making me feel pretty terrible. So we went on an impromptu, quick (hour-long) hike last week. And even though it was short, and even though it was just us, it was worth it.

I also subscribe to her Charlotte Mason-classical education mixed philosophy and would love my kids to be more "fed" in terms of brain and to be outdoors a lot more. I feel incredible mommy guilt most of the time and try to NOT PAY ATTENTION TO IT and take it to prayer and all that, but I especially feel mommy guilt when I think about the amount of time they spend cooped up in an apartment, are bored while I cook or clean, have to tag along for grocery store or other errands, or even worse (gasp!) have to stay with babysitters while I take care of my spiritual life or other such important things. 

But then there are those small moments that are so incredibly beautiful and that I know are only possible with the long moments of boredom, hard work or prioritizing. Because life can't be fun 24 hours a day, or happy 24 hours a day, or entertaining 24 hours a day. It's an uphill battle with great views. And having my kids at home fits in with what I want for them: to have a strong bond and be responsive to us parents, to learn virtues like kindness in the family environment, to not be spoiled, to work at home, to do wholesome recreational activities (like reading a book, playing a game, playing an instrument) at home. And most importantly love. They have a mother and father who really, really love them and that is the most important. 

The alphabet path

Before I get ahead of myself, I knooooow there is no rush in starting letters and numbers and the educational models I like say "when in doubt, do less". Having said that, Addie has known the alphabet song for a while and she spontaneously started pointing out letters in books or on signs outsider and asking about them, so I feel like I'm following her lead and not forcing anything. Last week she asked, "Do you want to see me write my name?" And I thought yeah right but said "yes". And she drew something that resembled the letter "A"! I was so surprised. So I said, we're starting the alphabet!
I've admired ShowerofRoses's Alphabet Path, but when I actually looked into doing it, I got a headache. It is so confusing, there are so many different crafts and baking activities she does... my goodness! So I got the simplest ideas possible: printable letters to make a book with, a handwriting page for practice, modeling clay to shape the letters with, a new mini chalkboard for practicing letters on. And we don't do one a day or one a week, but one whenever she feels like it. I say in the morning, "Let's pick something out to do for preschool." Somedays she might not want anything, but if she wants to pick a letter ("let's do the ABCs!"), I help her cut and glue the printable letter (eventually we'll put them all together for a book), then she does the handwriting page and I help her model the letter out of clay, which goes in the oven 5-10 min. The next day, if she wants to do a letter again, we might do a simple craft from Pinterest with that letter (see apple stamping above), paint the modeling clay that has dried, and draw on the chalkboard. That's it! And it has been so much fun for the both of us, it really has. The main struggle has been keeping her brother away, who wants to be doing the EXACT thing she is doing. Oh my goodness, what a wrecking machine. 

PS We also really like SuperSimpleSong's Turn and Learn the ABCs videos and Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book. 

Homeschooling and scholé

I finally got around to making a "fine art gallery" for our budding artists. I thought this pin was so cute at least a year or two ago, and it has always stayed in my mind since. Funny how that works. And I still have other pins in my head for a future date, or a future house. 
Even though my children are one and three years old, lately I have been feeling like I am actually homeschooling. Oddly enough, I love it. Even though it is something I don't really want to do, too counter-cultural especially in Portugal, something that hasn't been decided by my husband and I, it is something that seems to naturally grow. I guess even people who have their kids in school still "homeschool" to an extent. Some 'homeschoolers' just delegate a little less. When you are constantly envisioning what you'd like your family culture and family traditions to look like a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, etc., and when you see really great ideas about what could be so healthy and happy for your child's development... who is FULL of potential and can be shaped any which way (the vulnerability and potential of it all really scares me)... you don't want to delegate education. You don't want to hand them over to another "curriculum" or program that is not that dream that keeps growing in your head. At least when they are so small. 

My homeschooling friend sent me this podcast with Dr. Christopher Perrin, which touches on classical education and the Greek concept of scholé. I LOVED IT. I identified so much with this concept of learning, even as adults... perhaps especially as adults, because then kids just follow along. I think back to a few really restful dinners or coffees I've had with friends where there was this intense exchange of ideas and communion. Or the theology of the body congresses I've been to, where everyone was learning the same thing and so excited just to meet each other and talk to each other. 

I liked Dr. Perrin's suggestions about how to do "scholé" with kids, which is an environment of beauty for all the senses, reading to them, contact with nature.  Those have been all of my goals, too. I also have the goals of musical instruments, art/drawing well, sports, living the liturgical year with a special snack and book at home, praying together and doing the housework together like Laura Ingalls Wilder. For now, these goals just aren't possible to achieve if they're at a school all day. So it's exciting to learn more about this scholé and be able to shape our family and our future in this way. 

PS Another podcast I liked was "No-Fuss Art for Morning Time" and we bought the preschool chalk art course, which is what is pictured above. 

"Tree blindness" and tree classification, part two

Auntie Leila linked to an article called "Cure Yourself of Tree Blindness" and it's the most amazing article. An answer to my most recent problems. I just wish I had a tree walk or a course close to me. The article starts out with: 

"I start by asking participants who they are and why they want to spend precious hours looking at trees. My students are nearly all highly educated, successful people who work impressive jobs, speak multiple languages and effortlessly command sophisticated computers and phones. Yet most know barely the first thing about the trees around them. They want to change that.

There was a time when knowing your trees was a matter of life and death, because you needed to know which ones were strong enough to support a house and which ones would feed you through the winter. Now most of us walk around, to adapt a term devised by some botanists, tree blind."

Here are some of my most recent tree classifications around me: 

Indian Rubber-Tree (English)/ Borracheira (Português)/ Ficus elastica (Latin) 

This tree has wide, smooth leaves with unbroken edges. My book says it is usually grown as a pot plant, but we have two of them in the little park behind our house and they are taaaaaall. Addie calls it her "climbing tree".  

Strawberry-tree / Medronheiro / Arbutus unedo

I was expecting bigger berries from the picture in my book, but they're actually pretty small. This is a small tree or shrub with a funny name, because the berries don't look like strawberries at all. 

Oleander / Loendro / Nerium oleander 

So here is a perfect example of why it was important 100 years ago to know about trees and plants for your survival (like the article says, which wood to build your house with, which berries to eat) and even nowadays. This is a highly popular shrub in Portugal, in the park behind our house, in playgrounds, lining highways, and IT IS POISONOUS. Wikipedia says if you put it in your mouth you could get extremely sick or DIE. I just think of my 14-month-old and this knowledge I only have now and think, HOLY SMOKES! My husband used to alwas pick one of these flowers with Addie to give to me when they would come home from some walk. So watch out for this shrub with pointy leaves and flowers.

Olive / Oliveira Brava / Olea europaea 

A classic olive tree, also so common in Portugal, that is easy to classify (NOW, that I'm looking for that) because of its olives, of course. It is small, sometimes a shrub and has a gray, twisted trunk. 

Cottonwood / Algodão Americano / Populus deltoides

My neighbor helped me out with this tree, because it is everywhere and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what it was. She remembered that they had been "snowing on us" in the Spring at a park we usually go to. Cottonwoods! What an appropriate name for a tree that "snows" cotton-like catkins. These are very tall trees with a fissured, grayish bark and heart-shaped leaves. 

Tree classification

I've decided to record some of my *very important* tree classification notes here. I can't believe my entire tree vocabulary has been reduced to "tree" my entire life. These wonderful Montessori conferences explain how small children will absorb any vocabulary you say to them, so you should start with flower and then specify "dandelion" or "rose". The more complex the word, the better it is for their brain. Well, now I can start to do that with trees. Every time I walk or drive around I try to look at the tree shapes and trunks and my head almost explodes from thinking about how many different types of trees there are in the world and how I will never learn them all. Creation is really very beautiful and diverse.

London Plane tree (English)/ Plátano (Português)/ Platanus (Latin)
The first tree I learned to identify, after cork oak and pines, is the London Plane. By the way, I am almost exclusively using the Kingfisher Field Guides Trees of Britain and Europe pictured in that post. I was very excited to learn the London Plane because they are everywhere, in every playground and I remember them from my childhood! I clearly remember the spiky balls and wondering if that's where walnuts come from. Well friends, it's not. This is a tall tree that is easily spotted by its scaling bark with patches of creamy white and by its globular, spiky fruits.

Jacaranda/Jacarandá/Jacaranda mimosifolia
This took me forever and online help to identify because they are not flowering right now. When they are flowering, their purplish/blue flowers are easily spotted and fall everywhere, especially on your car. They are very common in Lisbon. And around my house, too. Luckily they still have their woody seed pods, which are tough and 2-3 inches big. They have leaves twice divided into leaflets.

Silver Birch/Vidoeiro branco/Betula pendula

I was happy to find a silver birch tree because they also remind me of my childhood neighborhood. They have beautiful smooth, white bark, they are slender and have long, green catkins (those caterpillar-like "fruits" of trees).

Red bottlebrush flower/Callistemon/Callistemon
This is actually a shrub, and not a tree, so I didn't find it in my book. But it is so common and I've seen it so many times that I wanted to know what it was called. And now I can see the difference between shrubs and trees better.