so far

So far...  we have got a cat and 5 chooks! Dug over some vege garden, planted broad beans and transplanted strawberry plants and a rosemary bush from poole st house. We have unpacked everything except all the books and the adults clothes. today we read a story about the letter P ( in a very roundabout, Oak meadow curriculum way), and did pictures of P in our workbooks,  divided and planted a  clump of daffodils, baked bread from scratch ( though not sourdough so none for me).

                                

The cat called mittens or slofjes came from the spca and  is very tolerant! She came from a family with children and is about 12 months, they moved I think? She is very loved! ( all sorts of lessons happening here... how when animal s hide under the bed they might need some space....), the chooks are brown shavers from the BUy, sell,swap, a local  mag, very interesting to read, actually!
There is lots more to do!

A place of our own ( well kind of)

We are here!!!! Finally! Well we've been  here a week but they only connected our phone line today, so I couldn't communicate till now! And it snowed on the mountains close by us last night! Our move into our home ( a converted woolshed) seems to have coincided with the arrival of winter, which is great as I have been looking forward to a Dovedale winter for a while. We feel like we've come home. ( we lived in the house next door when I had Maaike, she tells everyone she was born there, in the kitchen. it snowed in our valley that night too). The kind of? Well we don't own it. But we can stay as long as we like and we can use the land ( about an acre?) as we like.

I have forgotten how slow dial up can be, and how many photos our digital camera can store.Expect some retrospective shots over coming weeks, he he. And now some pictures.

The children spread out and  play with new-old toys, outside the house, and the snowy mountains.

more yarn

 Maaike started trying to knit earlier in the year, but needed a bit of help, but yesterday, while I was untangling bits of wool she found her knitting and polished off four whole rows with only a quick reminder of the rhyme we use. the shot is a bit grainy though, woops!I had a play on my spinning wheel ( a new to me one, donated by a colleague of my husband, rescued from her garage), playing with how skinny I could make the singles, using scrap bits of fibre that a few months ago I couldn't spin, plying them together etc. Fun!

 The two fibres used here are in natural colours but I have no idea what sheep they came  from. Finally confirmation of moving day! This friday we finally move our stuff into our rural rental and start to make it our home!