Go away Toot!
Hello loved ones (: As I sit here near the fire with my new wooly Ugg boots cuddling my feet, I can hear the brutish sounds of the televised rugby game from my left, yet coming out of the computer I hear the peaceful sound of a friend from Michigan playing the piano. It’s dark and cold in the bedroom, so I’ve decided to change location and write in the company of others. It has been an active week, full of contrasting activities. The yellow leaves on all of the birch trees have fallen down to the ground, covering up lost toys and leaving more space for the sun to warm the vegetation and us humans through the winter. I was anxious that autumn would not bring the beauty and scents that I so loved in America because the few Australians that I asked about autumn didn’t really describe it as such. Perhaps the changing of the seasons aren’t that exciting to us all. It could be my strong sense of smell and sanguine nature that makes me so interested in the change of appearance, the colors, and the smells of each season. So far autumn and winter run together for me. I can smell fire wood burning, fermenting leaves, wet dirt, fresh dew, the occasional fresh scented frost. The grass doesn’t grow very much, so rotting grass is an odor that is missing at the moment. There are dry leaves piled six inches off the ground below the deciduous trees, but new growth and bright greens on most of the trees. The colors of the flowers have changed, now mostly purple, red and white. The chrysanthemums are in bloom, as are a few other unidentified flowers but not near as many as in warmer months. It is pitch black outside by 5pm and I couldn’t tell you when the sun rises because I’ve never seen it!
The full moon last weekend was so big and bright that I took a walk down into the paddock all bundled up with no fear and no flashlight. I kept hoping that once down the hill I would reach an angle where I didn’t have to bend my neck awkwardly to gaze at the moon. No such luck, I ended up lying on a bench watching the clouds roll by. The halo encircling the moon shows some brilliant colors when the clouds cover it. It was bright enough to go for a garden inspection of the newer seedlings and marvel at the impression the plants gave, as if they had opened up, and were smiling while drinking up the moonlight. According to the lunar planting cycle, the full moon gives you the go ahead to plant root crops. So after playgroup, lunch, and a little building with Matt, Michelle, Rory and I put in another block of carrots, beets, carrots, and turnips. Why plant turnips when you hate them? Good question. Besides that, Jess and I encircled a few potato patches with chicken wire to allow higher mulch piles and mulched the potatoes up to their top leaves. It’s a funny picture to me, imagining the whole potato plant covered up in mulch, almost as tall as Jacinta, with a few potatoes hanging on way down below. At present the garden is giving us broccoli, spinach, lettuce, peas, and arugula. The green tomatoes I saved from the frost took two weeks to ripen, so now in winter we are eating tomatoes! It takes a long time to get through a pumpkin, we harvested six of them over 2 months ago and still have four left.
Building plans began so long ago that it’s hard to believe how quickly things are going since groundbreaking. Our friend from Michigan, Lindsey, came for her last visit before she returns to America after her semester abroad. Not only was she an excellent inspiration to work on the building site (we had to make use of her willing hands and muscles!), she was also good fun to have around. Matt took the week off (no bank work) and with Lindsey, Keith, Michelle, Rory, Jess and I, we are on our way. Last week, we left off at the sixteen holes full of rain water, so this week began with scooping out the water, deepening and widening the holes. Cement piers were then sunk in the holes, leveled and secured by more cement, and more cement. Bearers (unbelievably long and heavy 4x4 logs) were then brought over from the huge pile of recycled building materials which Keith pain-stakingly accumulated by taking down an old church and transporting it to the northwestern corner of the property. The bearers were then laid out across the piers. More timber lugging later brought over the joists (a little thinner than the bearers) which now lie perpendicular to the bearers. Matt has been working on removing old nails from the joists. More joists, attachment and then a floor to follow next week…maybe. Jacinta likes working on her little work/cooking bench on the site and can occupy herself for hours with the mud, the pebbles, a few cups, bowls and a shovel. She and Rory love working with us, digging, carting goods in the wheelbarrow and trying to help in any way they are allowed. They both really wanted to help pour cement...but were more easily diverted than the dogs and their paws. Back to the work bench…Hi ho Hi ho, it’s off to work she goes. Matt particularly enjoys her raisin omelette (: Today she made me some pasta, and of course, a cup of mint tea.
Speaking of food, I had a good cooking week. All in one day I soaked and cooked two different types of beans, froze some for later, made granola, hummus, salad and pumpkin and tomato stew. Jess did her share, surely never leaving anything untasted. We made spaghetti and my favorite Argentine spinach pie. She enjoys measuring the spices and tipping them in the dishes, but even more, licking the spoon. When asked what she wanted to give to a friend for his birthday, she replied, “Birthday Cake!” Instead we made him a “nut man,” out of pecans and macadamias in their shells with a star anise for his hair. Keith did all the hard work, drilling and adjusting. All I had to do was come up with the idea and be the assistant with the glue! We thought “nut man” looked like a warrior, but after Jess handed him the bag and said “Here you go Aidan,” he opened up his gift and exclaimed, “a scarecrow!” Lindsey took us out for pizza at our favorite restaurant on her last night with us. Other than the delicious pizza, we sat next to the heater, surrounded by jovial people also waiting a long time for their food, drank red wine, played with Jacinta and truly enjoyed our time out of the house.
Evenings this week were very sporty, not in the active sense, but on television. Lindsey, to Matt’s delight, also likes watching sports, as does Keith. I am the odd ball.
Each night there was either soccer commentary or some type of football on before the World Cup soccer games began at 10:30pm. Games here are on at 10:30pm, 1:30am and 4:30am and live, they are only for the real fans, not for me. So Keith held on until 11 or so, and like me, waited to hear the result in the morning. Lindsey and Matt chose their preferred games, of course including the Australia vs. Japan match, and woke at the appropriate times or just stayed up very late drinking coffee. As you might know (if you care), Australia defeated Japan scoring 3 goals in the last 6 minutes of a close game. This propelled a previously nervous Matt up off his feet jumping for joy at 1:30am and just made Lindsey chuckle at Matt’s elation while I slept sweetly in my warm bed. This is the first time Australia has EVER scored a goal at a World Cup Tournament, this is very exciting for Aussie soccer fans, not for Japan.
Another cause for celebration is Jacinta’s continual success on the potty and in the dirt. The last three mornings she has sat on the potty next to the fire (it’s gotta be warm!) and done a “wee.” She reads books while waiting but within a few minutes, she gets a glazed look on her face, and starts clapping. “Pee!?” “I did a wee!” I still can’t believe her until I look. Since we are often outside and far from a toilet, she is learning to quickly squat and pee in the dirt. I’ve been coaching her for a while with her bum blowing in the breeze and nothing happening. On Wednesday she walked down toward the compost heap(????), pulled her pants down all by herself, squatted and peed a little puddle. She didn’t even get wet! She had to take Michelle down to show her the puddle she was so proud. Later on in the week when told she needed to quickly “wee” next to the building site, she promptly ran 50 yards with no pants to the exact spot she had peed the previous day thinking that was the only possible outdoor potty. Other firsts include riding a pony at Aidan’s birthday party and eating broccoli.
She has finally decided that she has outgrown her “baby table” (high chair table) and that she is big enough to eat at the “big table.” New words include Barna Grass (a bamboo like grass which she likes to feed the cows), Placemat (now that she sits at the dinner table), Big Girl, Big Boy, Man and Woman. She can discuss who is who for quite a while. “Daddy..man, Mommy…woman, Grandma…man.” Not quite, I replied that “Grandma’s are women, all grandmas.” We got all the way to the fact that women can have babies in their bellies. “Daddy…baby in belly?” You can guess that response.
On the theme of potty celebration, I’ll close with a story explaining the title. Everybody toots, here, they “fluff.” Jacinta uses the American word thanks to me, and everyone gets a kick out of how much she uses it, we are vegetarians, so hey! My dad named me “Tooty” when I was a kid, and I may have passed on the genes. One evening I heard Jess toot while sitting with Keith and he replied, “What did I teach you to say when you toot?” I’m expecting something like, “excuse me.” Jacinta thinks about it and starts waving her hand near her bum saying, “Go away toot!” No shame, just the essential clearing of the air, and she repeats it over and over.
Thanks for humoring me and reading on and on….
Good night.
The full moon last weekend was so big and bright that I took a walk down into the paddock all bundled up with no fear and no flashlight. I kept hoping that once down the hill I would reach an angle where I didn’t have to bend my neck awkwardly to gaze at the moon. No such luck, I ended up lying on a bench watching the clouds roll by. The halo encircling the moon shows some brilliant colors when the clouds cover it. It was bright enough to go for a garden inspection of the newer seedlings and marvel at the impression the plants gave, as if they had opened up, and were smiling while drinking up the moonlight. According to the lunar planting cycle, the full moon gives you the go ahead to plant root crops. So after playgroup, lunch, and a little building with Matt, Michelle, Rory and I put in another block of carrots, beets, carrots, and turnips. Why plant turnips when you hate them? Good question. Besides that, Jess and I encircled a few potato patches with chicken wire to allow higher mulch piles and mulched the potatoes up to their top leaves. It’s a funny picture to me, imagining the whole potato plant covered up in mulch, almost as tall as Jacinta, with a few potatoes hanging on way down below. At present the garden is giving us broccoli, spinach, lettuce, peas, and arugula. The green tomatoes I saved from the frost took two weeks to ripen, so now in winter we are eating tomatoes! It takes a long time to get through a pumpkin, we harvested six of them over 2 months ago and still have four left.
Building plans began so long ago that it’s hard to believe how quickly things are going since groundbreaking. Our friend from Michigan, Lindsey, came for her last visit before she returns to America after her semester abroad. Not only was she an excellent inspiration to work on the building site (we had to make use of her willing hands and muscles!), she was also good fun to have around. Matt took the week off (no bank work) and with Lindsey, Keith, Michelle, Rory, Jess and I, we are on our way. Last week, we left off at the sixteen holes full of rain water, so this week began with scooping out the water, deepening and widening the holes. Cement piers were then sunk in the holes, leveled and secured by more cement, and more cement. Bearers (unbelievably long and heavy 4x4 logs) were then brought over from the huge pile of recycled building materials which Keith pain-stakingly accumulated by taking down an old church and transporting it to the northwestern corner of the property. The bearers were then laid out across the piers. More timber lugging later brought over the joists (a little thinner than the bearers) which now lie perpendicular to the bearers. Matt has been working on removing old nails from the joists. More joists, attachment and then a floor to follow next week…maybe. Jacinta likes working on her little work/cooking bench on the site and can occupy herself for hours with the mud, the pebbles, a few cups, bowls and a shovel. She and Rory love working with us, digging, carting goods in the wheelbarrow and trying to help in any way they are allowed. They both really wanted to help pour cement...but were more easily diverted than the dogs and their paws. Back to the work bench…Hi ho Hi ho, it’s off to work she goes. Matt particularly enjoys her raisin omelette (: Today she made me some pasta, and of course, a cup of mint tea.
Speaking of food, I had a good cooking week. All in one day I soaked and cooked two different types of beans, froze some for later, made granola, hummus, salad and pumpkin and tomato stew. Jess did her share, surely never leaving anything untasted. We made spaghetti and my favorite Argentine spinach pie. She enjoys measuring the spices and tipping them in the dishes, but even more, licking the spoon. When asked what she wanted to give to a friend for his birthday, she replied, “Birthday Cake!” Instead we made him a “nut man,” out of pecans and macadamias in their shells with a star anise for his hair. Keith did all the hard work, drilling and adjusting. All I had to do was come up with the idea and be the assistant with the glue! We thought “nut man” looked like a warrior, but after Jess handed him the bag and said “Here you go Aidan,” he opened up his gift and exclaimed, “a scarecrow!” Lindsey took us out for pizza at our favorite restaurant on her last night with us. Other than the delicious pizza, we sat next to the heater, surrounded by jovial people also waiting a long time for their food, drank red wine, played with Jacinta and truly enjoyed our time out of the house.
Evenings this week were very sporty, not in the active sense, but on television. Lindsey, to Matt’s delight, also likes watching sports, as does Keith. I am the odd ball.
Each night there was either soccer commentary or some type of football on before the World Cup soccer games began at 10:30pm. Games here are on at 10:30pm, 1:30am and 4:30am and live, they are only for the real fans, not for me. So Keith held on until 11 or so, and like me, waited to hear the result in the morning. Lindsey and Matt chose their preferred games, of course including the Australia vs. Japan match, and woke at the appropriate times or just stayed up very late drinking coffee. As you might know (if you care), Australia defeated Japan scoring 3 goals in the last 6 minutes of a close game. This propelled a previously nervous Matt up off his feet jumping for joy at 1:30am and just made Lindsey chuckle at Matt’s elation while I slept sweetly in my warm bed. This is the first time Australia has EVER scored a goal at a World Cup Tournament, this is very exciting for Aussie soccer fans, not for Japan.
Another cause for celebration is Jacinta’s continual success on the potty and in the dirt. The last three mornings she has sat on the potty next to the fire (it’s gotta be warm!) and done a “wee.” She reads books while waiting but within a few minutes, she gets a glazed look on her face, and starts clapping. “Pee!?” “I did a wee!” I still can’t believe her until I look. Since we are often outside and far from a toilet, she is learning to quickly squat and pee in the dirt. I’ve been coaching her for a while with her bum blowing in the breeze and nothing happening. On Wednesday she walked down toward the compost heap(????), pulled her pants down all by herself, squatted and peed a little puddle. She didn’t even get wet! She had to take Michelle down to show her the puddle she was so proud. Later on in the week when told she needed to quickly “wee” next to the building site, she promptly ran 50 yards with no pants to the exact spot she had peed the previous day thinking that was the only possible outdoor potty. Other firsts include riding a pony at Aidan’s birthday party and eating broccoli.
She has finally decided that she has outgrown her “baby table” (high chair table) and that she is big enough to eat at the “big table.” New words include Barna Grass (a bamboo like grass which she likes to feed the cows), Placemat (now that she sits at the dinner table), Big Girl, Big Boy, Man and Woman. She can discuss who is who for quite a while. “Daddy..man, Mommy…woman, Grandma…man.” Not quite, I replied that “Grandma’s are women, all grandmas.” We got all the way to the fact that women can have babies in their bellies. “Daddy…baby in belly?” You can guess that response.
On the theme of potty celebration, I’ll close with a story explaining the title. Everybody toots, here, they “fluff.” Jacinta uses the American word thanks to me, and everyone gets a kick out of how much she uses it, we are vegetarians, so hey! My dad named me “Tooty” when I was a kid, and I may have passed on the genes. One evening I heard Jess toot while sitting with Keith and he replied, “What did I teach you to say when you toot?” I’m expecting something like, “excuse me.” Jacinta thinks about it and starts waving her hand near her bum saying, “Go away toot!” No shame, just the essential clearing of the air, and she repeats it over and over.
Thanks for humoring me and reading on and on….
Good night.
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
11:15 PM
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