a quick catch-up and a five year old!

   Easter in the sun... but the summer is now really over and this weekend the drought has broken for real!

  We've been busy, doing textile classes, cubs,  drama club, playgroup ( for homeschoolers), easter and birthdays. I between the kids have learnt stilt walking, Joska is running, climbing and dancing, and Tobin turned 5!

  We celebrated his birthday in the local park with campfire cooking, and old-fashioned games like three-legged , and sack races. A very relaxed but fun birthday and the rain held back that day.

  Today we are off on a plane to visit my sister and her family for a week. Yay!

mud monsters

...some late-afternoon mud-monsters invaded our house...

...and told the baby he could have a dip too...

 

 

.."okay friends, just let me kick the ball around first..."

...before

after...

Late summer ( i did think It could be really autumn now, but then we had three days of 28 degrees c again, so late summer it still is, although we are optimistically decorating with the few autumn leaves we can find...), play, sewing, home-making for the winter to come. Wood pile is in the shed, tomatoes are souped and canned, peaches stewed and frozen and sauced, blackberries frozen. Autumn are you ready?
 My cupboards are full of tallow, rendered by me; the used -to -be lifetime vegetarian!

playgroup camp

 Homeschool/playgroup camp to Pakawau ...

 some much needed relaxation and space....

joska turns one!

 our baby turns one today...an early morning wake up from excited siblings ( one didn't sleep all night in anticipation of a tooth fairy visit)...

 paleo birthday cake for breakfast....

 everyone had made something for him...maaike a pillowcase, anoushka some pants and tobin some more pants... the girls are doing a textiles class and are getting more independent with the machines and techniques... so proud!

late summer homeschooling

 I love the freedom to make a quick walk, evolve into a slow amble, and a paddle and then make plans to do it again tomorrow.

 I love having lessons on the sandspit, surrounded by sea birds and waders and godwits before they take flight again.

 I love listening to the pace of the children, and not push my own agendas too much.

 I love learning to take care of my own body and that of my family ...http://teethz.wordpress.com/tag/comfrey-root-powder/

 I love the cooler mornings and evenings, but the still warm water: it makes it easier for me to get out and do "walks" etc, now that the sun isn't quite so burning. I feel like a solar bank, storing up the sun's energy before the cold comes.

  I love the slowly changing light, and leaves on the trees.

 I love the way our garden is feeding us and enabling us to squirrel away food for the cooler months, we are harvesting peaches grapes, nashis and apples, and prune plums, the veges are slightly more pathetic, but we have beans, greens , pumkpkins and tomatoes we share with the stink bugs.

 I love feeling inspired by the gathered garden art I can spy in people's seaside gardens as we amble.
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What do you love?

house of two halves

We've been working on he outside,just what w can afford, so lots of our own blood sweat and tears, a bit of help from Struan's father and a tiny bit for a builder-man to do. The brick work is just cladding and underneath we discovered weatherboards, mostly in good nick, just some splits from where they nailed in the supports for the cladding and a few rotten boards. We are working on the bits, the kids have started off for us, trying to be helpful they said, ha!  

 

 These pictures are a "during" moment, obviously "before" is the brick cladding, and "after" will be due for 'reveal "  soon.

And the jungle I call my "kitchen garden".  Anyone got ideas for vegetable(stink) bugs? Someone said water stress, and true its been hot and i've been distracted with house stuff, but I don't think they'll go away now just because i'm watering more?

holidays

 We've been doing some more work around the place; taking out the carpet and painting the hallway and sealing the floor etc, ( not to  mention the work happening outside ; we've taken off some of the fake brick cladding to restore the weatherboards... that will take a while...). I did most of the work inside but I've been taking the kids to  the local park to get out of Struan's way while he works outside. In the park we've been: playing pooh sticks, Building fairyhouses, a tiny

bit of knitting and swinging, and picnicking. what have you been up to?