An unexpected chance for a visit from friends turned our afternoon from regular to fun! We got outside into the glorious sunshine, wrapped up against the chill wind and basked in the beauty of it all. From small and inquisitive to large and fluffy, we all found reason to rejoice in the crisp white world around us. The snow was fluffy, the wind sharp and the sun bright. We could have stayed out for twice as long but I think…
Mornings around here rest pretty much on the broad and capable shoulders of Daddy. While Mummy is attempting to make herself human, or at the very least unsmelly, Daddy tackles the chores of the house and gets things moving with breakfast. He tackles the fire, the dogs, socks, missing slippers, variable breakfast selections (and re-selections) and all before he has had so much as a cup of tea himself. That hour before he heads off for his day of…
I have a dark secret. It’s something that I’ve kept locked away from the world for quite some time but it’s fighting to come out. So, like a tearful teenage mum confessing on daytime TV about how she shagged their Susan’s boyfriend’s brother’s half-cousin Wayne while Billy her husband was working his third job frying burgers to keep little Dwight in diapers and Red Bull, I feel an overwhelming urge to reveal the whole sordid truth (just without the Kapper tracksuit). I…
Our day so far… – One boy and his welding glasses, a match made in heaven. – Huwyl’s history project, a diorama based on the history story we read this morning. A million dollars to the person who can guess which story it was! Hint – it does NOT include a ‘magical chest’, pirates on horse back or a glittery staff recharger. Love, love, love how he sees the world. – Morning smoothie got me off to a healthy (and…
I’ve been a bit absent from the old blog this week due to having a small piece of wood in my eye. I quite literally poked myself in the eye with a stick. Well a piece of kindling actually but the upshot was the same. Ouch. Despite me doing a thoroughly convincing impression of a pirate for a couple of days we have rediscovered our arty mojo here at Chez Jhompson and the boys have been arting up a storm…
As I look over the pictures I’ve snapped these last three days I’ve noticed how much making there is going on. That spring tingle is beginning beneath our feet and with it comes the motivation to get the house sorted before the farm work begins. Of course there is a little farm productivity going on already in the form of our three laying hens. I began the weekend with a breakfast of fresh eggs (just collected by Stephen) and…
This is it. No more lame excuses that we don’t have the space to plant anything bigger than a couple of marigolds. There isn’t anywhere to hide when you have 100 acres, a tractor and a stack of farming books big enough that if artfully arranged could spell out the words “armchair farmer”. The time for saying “just think, when we have a farm we’ll be able to…” is over because that day is now. Scarier than Russell Crowe in…
One of the things I love most about ‘home’ schooling is that we get to be out and about doing fun things in the middle of the day when no one else is around. Today we had a bowling alley to ourselves (a good job really as bowling with mini balls really didn’t suit me) and had a mucho splendido time practicing our sporty skills. Bowling is a sport right? Of course it is. So today we filled our sport…
I hate Valentine’s day. There, I’m in the ‘hate’ camp. Well more accurately I am in the ‘don’t really notice’ camp and occasionally the ‘mild irritation’ camp. Not because I have no beloved (I have the best!) or because he forgets (it was me who said ‘let’s not bother’) but for other reasons entirely. I used to think Valentine’s was important, I was envious of friends who received cards and bunches of flowers, it was all so romantic. The first…
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about food. This isn’t massively unusual, thinking about eating, cooking, shopping for food (as well as actually doing all of these things) takes up a goodly portion of my time and energy. And this time is only going to increase as I commit to making more and more food from scratch. My goal is to use nothing pre processed by the end of the year. Now I will still be buying cheese, milk…