Just want to note that this post was supposed to go out prior to the previous one – oops! An inauspicious day blossomed into loveliness, as we picked the glowing red ruby fruit under a refreshingly cloudy sky. Boxes of fresh strawberries were picked, each one a treasure to be hunted for and celebrated. Of course someone had to check that they were all tasty. I mean it’s a tough job… Despite the tell tale signs of juice around the mouths…
I think a kind of summer madness overcame me; I thought, we can make jam together, the boys will help me. And they did, they chopped, crushed, weighed and stirred, the helping was wonderful indeed. We were jammin, it was great. But then the helping had to stop. We reached the bubbly pot of syrupy death stage and the boys needed to leave the kitchen but one of the boys, who shall remain nameless (he’s blonde, two years old and…
What’s that you say? Your life seems an empty hollow shell and only pictures of an ongoing build with actual walls will satisfy you? Well I happen to have the very thing! Ok, that is a lot of pictures of wooden beams but I just can’t get enough! I was so happy I actually hugged one of my walls. We have walls! Granted the ones on the south side are mostly gaps where the whacking great big windows are…
Lest I give the impression that I spend my entire life sitting in a field of meadow flowers waiting for someone to build me a house (although I do this for a significant portion of the time), here is living proof that I am also dedicated to introducing my children to fresh, seasonal produce and cooking skills. What? Baking is a skill. And cherries are fruit, that is super healthy I’ll have you know. Plus you can eat the cake…
Although this is something that happens frequently, I am still surprised by the way that life will organise itself to fully celebrate the sabbaths. This weekend the brilliant weather led us to glory in the rise of the sun king, Bel shone down on us and we turned our faces to him in gratitude for the Earth’s abundance. Today we shared our land with lovely friends, walking the trail that Stephen had mowed and enjoying the freedom our children had…
This weekend felt like a weekend of moving forward, of taking solid steps that bring us nearer to our goal. We have a basement! This week the framing is starting and the house will begin to take shape. But it isn’t just the house that has seen some work… Base camp! After some serious strimming (and some serious cursing of the strimmer for being useless and stalling…a lot) Stephen erected this tent. It feels good to have a little ‘home’…
This weekend was supposed to be all about the chicks. Last time I said that in any seriousness was back in ’94 at university and if I’m being honest, both my best mate Stephen Hayward and I knew we were most likely going to finish the evening unaccompanied at 3AM, walking home via the 24hr petrol station to buy a jumbo packet of onion-ring flavoured crisps, two Gingster’s pies with dubious meat fillings and 40 Marlboro Lights to chain smoke…
Now when you say to me 31C and humid, my instant thought is not ‘let’s head to the woods’. But when you have two boys who love to be outside you say to yourself ‘suck it up princess’ and pack up the rucksack. Despite some whining on my part (my friends will attest to this) it was so worth it. I can’t imagine the boys inside on a day like today; and I can’t imagine a place that could have…
Doing this blog is quite a new experience for me. I’ve been writing in one form or another since I was about five (the first novel I can remember writing was for an Australian great uncle Eddie who was kind enough to encourage me before I could really form legible letters). But even though writing has always been something I do, it’s never been something about me. Anyone that has a blog will understand that I’ve developed an unhealthily obsessive…
As I mentioned in a previous post we are going to carry on with homeschool (roughly 3 days a week) through the summer. I’m aware that our family rhythm is going to be very disrupted in the autumn, with weeks of finishing the build and moving house. So I’d like to feel that we are a little ‘ahead’ so that we can get ‘behind’ and feel that all things have worked out equally. It makes sense in my head….