A lovely sweaty Christmas
A lovely, sweaty Christmas
It is Christmas Eve here, and now 11pm and still stinking hot. Although my legs are sticking to the chair and I am thousands of miles from all of you, I am still in a good space. I had a hard time getting into the holiday spirit, not being able to send all of my friends and family the tacky homemade gifts that you usually receive. First off, customs doesn’t allow homemade goods like herbal teas and dried fruits and nuts to be sent overseas, and secondly, postage is just out of this world. The heat of the summer is so much that baking just is not an option. Christmas to a mid-western American girl means cold and/or snow, hot drinks like egg nog, big baked dinners, cozy chats by the fire, going to church on Christmas Eve, maybe singing Christmas carols while mom plays the piano and staying inside. Here, Christmas is camping, parties, going to the beach, drinking, barbeques, summer vacation begins for children, Santa Claus (I think every mum from playgroup had their kids picture taken with Santa), and presents. Two very different holidays. Last weekend we drove 6 hours South to Sydney for a Christmas party with our good friends the Websters (2 Aussie American couples and their cool parents). Jacinta played and ate fruit to her hearts content and then fell asleep under the Christmas tree on a bean bag chair.
So I’ve tried to meld my view of Christmas into this strange new world, and I baked Gingerbread men even though it was hot! I sewed a few little bags for kids’ presents and wrapped everybody’s presents in cloth, to be reused next year. We received so many kind Christmas cards from friends and family from the US so this helped to bring on the Christmas spirit. We camped out last night with our friends and had a blast hanging out, laughing, chasing crabs on the beach at night, looking at the big starry sky, playing music for hours with our newly arrived instruments, hiking out onto the headlands, and swimming in the ocean. Jacinta loved being outside for so long, falling asleep to the sounds of Justin and her daddy’s guitars, drums and our singing. This was a great way to lead into a hot Christmas weekend.
Today was spent seeking solace from the heat. Rather than cooking all day, we tried out the spa, but no luck, it too, like the air was like a hot bath. We tried sitting on the veranda with the air cooler blowing on us, but the lack of breeze there was no good. Eventually we laid out a blanket closer to the dam (pond), Matt set up a few hammocks, Jess played with toys, read books, climbed in and out of the hammock with Matt while I chopped veggies and we all just sat there, drinking cold coffee and tea, decapacitated by the heat. A black cockatoo perched on the fig tree for a while, that was awesome. Eventually I cooked up a great West African sweet potato and peanut dish, and Mary made a few salads and we had a nice feast. The only glitch in the day was jumping ants, this is another new creature encounter. It is astonishing that this smallish ant can create almost as much pain as birth, on my left foot, and 10 minutes later on my right. Keith showed me that wet tobacco leaves help ease the pain, but wow. We finished off the night with some presents, cake, and another dip in the unfortunately hot spa. Jacinta gave everyone present “scratchies,” $1 lotto cards in honor of her Great Grandma Jess, who used to give out scratchies for Christmas. She had a great time playing with her new drum from my mom (Thank you Mommy!) made locally from all recycled materials, and with her new wooden choo choo train. She actually spent a long time trying to put her new swimming diaper on her new stuffed dog. It was a good day, and it felt like Christmas, finally. Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we will drive 4 hours south to spend a few days at Matt’s dad’s house, and do the whole feast again, not bad aye?
As for the garden, it is zooming along, though I fear the wilt coming from this heat. The corn is now taller than Matt and I can see corn silk and ears forming! Perhaps, this is the most amazing vegetable for me to watch, so tall and majestic, and with no true flowers, I suppose it’s a grain though. Have you ever seen the outer root system that each stalk grow to support itself from the wind? Its’ like a circle of toes surrounding the base of the plant, just amazing. Jacinta, Keith and I have picked a few beans off of the gorgeous vines and chomped on them raw, but they are not yet prolific. I’ve had to stake a few tomato plants, a good sign. I gave up on the caterpillar hunt since the sunflowers don’t seem to mind as much as I do. The melon vines continue to climb and flower. There is one huge pumpkin vine that is growing so forcefully that it has left the garden, climbed through the chicken wire, strangles some garlic, wrapped a few plants in tubs and is now on its way down to ground, which is about 3 feet down. I’ve eaten some arugula and cooked with my coriander. Ooh, and I bought a pear and a mango tree. So the garden is progressing and bringing me great joy, even though I have not spent more than 2 hours in it this week.
The chickens, well, Major and her 4 little black chicks are doing fine, but little Rory, poor little traumatized Rory, the neighbor’s chick, given to us to save him from following his sister’s fate. Major finally accepted this bigger chick under her wing. Rory learned to sleep under Major’s wing and was imitating her every move, as if he were one of her own. Last night, while Keith and Mary were here sleeping, and Matt, Jess and I were camping, a big fat carpet snake, just like the one that ate his sister, somehow got into my snakeproof chick coop and ate little Rory. Keith found the snake curled up and digesting his meal in the remaining chicken’s water dish. The other chickens were hiding in a corner, Major bravely protecting her chicks, and fearing more of the same. The snake was about 10 feet long, and had already done its damage. So Keith pulled him out the pen and drug him around the grass, trying to deter him from returning, without killing him. So terrible, poor little Rory.
Matt worked five days this week since it is a busy time for other workers to take vacation. We hit the beach a couple of times, and due to his ankle cut still healing, he wasn’t able to do much manual labor. Although, he did get back at the mulcher, and then got himself a huge bruise on his arm. Not much luck in the healthy limbs department this month, but he did some successful Christmas shopping! We continue to work on unpacking boxes, the trick is finding space for all of their contents.
Jess is just so much fun these days. She can now run full speed, especially when she is on flat land and loves chasing our legs. She is really in the rhythm of the chicken/duck/bird feed in the morning. She likes to hold her own small bucket of bird seed and when we arrive at either of the two places that we spread seed, she automatically sits down and puts the bucket between her legs. A few times this week, I have needed to hurry a bit in the morning, but no, she will not be hurried in this task. She takes her time: sifting the seeds through her fingers over and over, occasionally throwing out tiny handfuls to the winged creatures who will soon after come and feast. Eventually I begin taking out large handfuls and scattering them myself while she gazes at…….While feeding the smaller birds, usually if we sit down and go slow, the tiny red beaked wrens will come and eat just a few feet from us. She is speaking so many new words now, each week, its’ hard to remember but for a start she’s saying honey, birdie, money, toot toot, stink, (a theme??), Rory (a friend), toes, book, swimming, and car. Jacinta’s become aware of sores, aka..booboos, owies, etc, and points at them until you show her sincere empathy. She calls them “muh??” Her new favorite foods are whole dried bananas, frozen bananas, cherries, gingerbread cookies and veggie soup. She speaks in sentences saying many things that we do not yet understand and is so sincere, she looks at me so intently while she speaks.
I’ll end with another beautiful Jacinta story. Picture her on a big sandy beach when the tide is low in the pitch black night under millions of stars. She is in my arms until she realizes that this is a safe place. First she watches Bronty, her oldest friend, a kind 10 year old girl who dotes on her, running around in circles shining a flashlight down on the sand, searching for something. Then she sees her first crab, about the size of my fist, dig itself back into the sand to hide from us women and girls. Jacinta then signals to me that she wants down by saying, “hmm? Hmm? Hmm?” She then begins chasing Bronty and the light wherever they go, bobbling her little head from side to side, smiling from ear to ear. Melina, my friend, and I follow closely by, laughing and making sure she doesn’t run too close to the water.
Goodnight y’all. Happy Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and happy New Year!
It is Christmas Eve here, and now 11pm and still stinking hot. Although my legs are sticking to the chair and I am thousands of miles from all of you, I am still in a good space. I had a hard time getting into the holiday spirit, not being able to send all of my friends and family the tacky homemade gifts that you usually receive. First off, customs doesn’t allow homemade goods like herbal teas and dried fruits and nuts to be sent overseas, and secondly, postage is just out of this world. The heat of the summer is so much that baking just is not an option. Christmas to a mid-western American girl means cold and/or snow, hot drinks like egg nog, big baked dinners, cozy chats by the fire, going to church on Christmas Eve, maybe singing Christmas carols while mom plays the piano and staying inside. Here, Christmas is camping, parties, going to the beach, drinking, barbeques, summer vacation begins for children, Santa Claus (I think every mum from playgroup had their kids picture taken with Santa), and presents. Two very different holidays. Last weekend we drove 6 hours South to Sydney for a Christmas party with our good friends the Websters (2 Aussie American couples and their cool parents). Jacinta played and ate fruit to her hearts content and then fell asleep under the Christmas tree on a bean bag chair.
So I’ve tried to meld my view of Christmas into this strange new world, and I baked Gingerbread men even though it was hot! I sewed a few little bags for kids’ presents and wrapped everybody’s presents in cloth, to be reused next year. We received so many kind Christmas cards from friends and family from the US so this helped to bring on the Christmas spirit. We camped out last night with our friends and had a blast hanging out, laughing, chasing crabs on the beach at night, looking at the big starry sky, playing music for hours with our newly arrived instruments, hiking out onto the headlands, and swimming in the ocean. Jacinta loved being outside for so long, falling asleep to the sounds of Justin and her daddy’s guitars, drums and our singing. This was a great way to lead into a hot Christmas weekend.
Today was spent seeking solace from the heat. Rather than cooking all day, we tried out the spa, but no luck, it too, like the air was like a hot bath. We tried sitting on the veranda with the air cooler blowing on us, but the lack of breeze there was no good. Eventually we laid out a blanket closer to the dam (pond), Matt set up a few hammocks, Jess played with toys, read books, climbed in and out of the hammock with Matt while I chopped veggies and we all just sat there, drinking cold coffee and tea, decapacitated by the heat. A black cockatoo perched on the fig tree for a while, that was awesome. Eventually I cooked up a great West African sweet potato and peanut dish, and Mary made a few salads and we had a nice feast. The only glitch in the day was jumping ants, this is another new creature encounter. It is astonishing that this smallish ant can create almost as much pain as birth, on my left foot, and 10 minutes later on my right. Keith showed me that wet tobacco leaves help ease the pain, but wow. We finished off the night with some presents, cake, and another dip in the unfortunately hot spa. Jacinta gave everyone present “scratchies,” $1 lotto cards in honor of her Great Grandma Jess, who used to give out scratchies for Christmas. She had a great time playing with her new drum from my mom (Thank you Mommy!) made locally from all recycled materials, and with her new wooden choo choo train. She actually spent a long time trying to put her new swimming diaper on her new stuffed dog. It was a good day, and it felt like Christmas, finally. Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we will drive 4 hours south to spend a few days at Matt’s dad’s house, and do the whole feast again, not bad aye?
As for the garden, it is zooming along, though I fear the wilt coming from this heat. The corn is now taller than Matt and I can see corn silk and ears forming! Perhaps, this is the most amazing vegetable for me to watch, so tall and majestic, and with no true flowers, I suppose it’s a grain though. Have you ever seen the outer root system that each stalk grow to support itself from the wind? Its’ like a circle of toes surrounding the base of the plant, just amazing. Jacinta, Keith and I have picked a few beans off of the gorgeous vines and chomped on them raw, but they are not yet prolific. I’ve had to stake a few tomato plants, a good sign. I gave up on the caterpillar hunt since the sunflowers don’t seem to mind as much as I do. The melon vines continue to climb and flower. There is one huge pumpkin vine that is growing so forcefully that it has left the garden, climbed through the chicken wire, strangles some garlic, wrapped a few plants in tubs and is now on its way down to ground, which is about 3 feet down. I’ve eaten some arugula and cooked with my coriander. Ooh, and I bought a pear and a mango tree. So the garden is progressing and bringing me great joy, even though I have not spent more than 2 hours in it this week.
The chickens, well, Major and her 4 little black chicks are doing fine, but little Rory, poor little traumatized Rory, the neighbor’s chick, given to us to save him from following his sister’s fate. Major finally accepted this bigger chick under her wing. Rory learned to sleep under Major’s wing and was imitating her every move, as if he were one of her own. Last night, while Keith and Mary were here sleeping, and Matt, Jess and I were camping, a big fat carpet snake, just like the one that ate his sister, somehow got into my snakeproof chick coop and ate little Rory. Keith found the snake curled up and digesting his meal in the remaining chicken’s water dish. The other chickens were hiding in a corner, Major bravely protecting her chicks, and fearing more of the same. The snake was about 10 feet long, and had already done its damage. So Keith pulled him out the pen and drug him around the grass, trying to deter him from returning, without killing him. So terrible, poor little Rory.
Matt worked five days this week since it is a busy time for other workers to take vacation. We hit the beach a couple of times, and due to his ankle cut still healing, he wasn’t able to do much manual labor. Although, he did get back at the mulcher, and then got himself a huge bruise on his arm. Not much luck in the healthy limbs department this month, but he did some successful Christmas shopping! We continue to work on unpacking boxes, the trick is finding space for all of their contents.
Jess is just so much fun these days. She can now run full speed, especially when she is on flat land and loves chasing our legs. She is really in the rhythm of the chicken/duck/bird feed in the morning. She likes to hold her own small bucket of bird seed and when we arrive at either of the two places that we spread seed, she automatically sits down and puts the bucket between her legs. A few times this week, I have needed to hurry a bit in the morning, but no, she will not be hurried in this task. She takes her time: sifting the seeds through her fingers over and over, occasionally throwing out tiny handfuls to the winged creatures who will soon after come and feast. Eventually I begin taking out large handfuls and scattering them myself while she gazes at…….While feeding the smaller birds, usually if we sit down and go slow, the tiny red beaked wrens will come and eat just a few feet from us. She is speaking so many new words now, each week, its’ hard to remember but for a start she’s saying honey, birdie, money, toot toot, stink, (a theme??), Rory (a friend), toes, book, swimming, and car. Jacinta’s become aware of sores, aka..booboos, owies, etc, and points at them until you show her sincere empathy. She calls them “muh??” Her new favorite foods are whole dried bananas, frozen bananas, cherries, gingerbread cookies and veggie soup. She speaks in sentences saying many things that we do not yet understand and is so sincere, she looks at me so intently while she speaks.
I’ll end with another beautiful Jacinta story. Picture her on a big sandy beach when the tide is low in the pitch black night under millions of stars. She is in my arms until she realizes that this is a safe place. First she watches Bronty, her oldest friend, a kind 10 year old girl who dotes on her, running around in circles shining a flashlight down on the sand, searching for something. Then she sees her first crab, about the size of my fist, dig itself back into the sand to hide from us women and girls. Jacinta then signals to me that she wants down by saying, “hmm? Hmm? Hmm?” She then begins chasing Bronty and the light wherever they go, bobbling her little head from side to side, smiling from ear to ear. Melina, my friend, and I follow closely by, laughing and making sure she doesn’t run too close to the water.
Goodnight y’all. Happy Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and happy New Year!
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
12:37 AM
3 Comments:
I hope you guys have (or is it had now?) A very merry christmas!!!! And just out of curiosity, do you sing let it snow at this time of year? :D well, MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I hope you had a wonderful christmas! :D
I listened to your christmas songs from 'There's Hope' (I didn't listen to them all this time just so I would have them for Christmas). They're wonderful! Yay!
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