Hot Peppers...Ha ha ha
Last week I opened with a description of “autumn.” This week, I found out that we had actually already changed seasons and that it was really winter. There are not many native trees that change colors and eventually lose their leaves, so far I’ve heard of one, some type of native cedar is deciduous. Although I love the presence of native flora and fauna, I love the colors of autumn, and luckily we have quite a few gorgeous trees (most likely imported) in full color right now, red and yellow leaves holding on tight to the branches. We spent most of this week outside, and my theory on just long sleeves failed. Monday the sun was strong and warm, Tuesday the winds came and necessitated coats, Wednesday the rain came and we celebrated the needed water inside by the fire, Thursday sun, Friday sun and Saturday brought “all day rain.” It is 10pm and the rain is still going strong. So winter is now showing a little more of its force.
Winter seems like a good season to build a house. The sun is weak and thus far, it has been pretty dry. Matt had two days of work this week, one rain day to write a paper for his geography course, and two days to work on the addition. The description of what is being done would be much more detailed if Matt were to write it, but I’m the journaler so deal with me (: While Jess and I were having a picnic down at the dam with Michelle and Rory and some friends from play group, Matt and Keith fixed the alternator on the truck. While we drank tea and ate, Matt was slaving away on the house (: He dug a few trenches to lay pipe whose purpose is to divert water which is running down the hill away from the house. Once all the hard word was done, pipe laid, I later got to drill holes in the tops and sides of the pipes. On Friday hole digging began, Matt and Michelle dug quite a few, and after cleaning the house, I dug one token hole. Sixteen big holes to sink in cement piers which, I’m learning, will hold up the base of the house. Michelle commented later that the reason she went so slow is because Jess hopped in the hole each time she looked away. Matt thinks it’s because he’s bigger, well...maybe a little. Matt later brought over the huge cement piers with the tractor. Today it probably rained the holes back to half size while Matt was off in Sydney watching football.
“Daddy….somewhere,” Jess repeated over and over while watching a few minutes of the football game. “Fooball….peeeeple,” I had told her he was amongst the many people watching the game, making sure she didn’t confuse him with the players. Jacinta is expressing herself so clearly these days, but doesn’t hesitate to express herself constantly, with no new thoughts, just the same thoughts again and again. One day after a nap, she walked into the kitchen and spotted the red hot chili peppers I had hung on the curtain rod. She burst out laughing and said, “Mommy…hot peppers hanging! Ha ha ha!” Now each time she walks in the kitchen, she points, laughs and says the same thing. Perhaps it’s funny to her because they are out of context, no longer on the plant in the garden but inside. It’s the same story with the yarrow flowers I hung inside to dry, she looks for them and says that they are hiding. She has a new little girlfriend from playgroup who she doesn’t really know very well yet, but is excited about her. Lily came over for the first time this week with her older brother and mom. So a few days later while humming along in the bike seat behind me en route to playgroup Jess said, “I see Lily!” Later in the week she assured herself that “I see Lily lata, some day.” On Friday she and I heard a mouse in our rodent proof cupboard. Excitedly she helped me clear the way in search of the mouse to find about 2 cups of cracked sunflower seeds and other brown traces of a mouse who had been there a while. We called out to the mouse, “ay yay yay yay! Mouse….get out!” So now everytime we open the cupboard she repeats the exclamations verbatim.
Speaking of unfortunate repetition, you’d think I’d have learned by now, but a large piano leaning a little too far to the right made me forget. “Shit!” I yelled out in my efforts to spot Matt and Keith while they moved the large player piano from the trailer to the back porch. Although I wasn’t much help at all, I did manage to teach my daughter a new word which she yelled emphatically about 10 times before I managed to change it to “sweep” and help her forget she’d ever heard it. So a piano, yes! An old piano that has been in a garage for quite a while, has about half the keys stuck, but is in tune and is gorgeous. What more can you ask for 300$? Matt is researching the issue and will probably figure it out in time. I haven’t had a piano (in my home) at my fingertips since I left mom’s house when I was 18. I always love going home, for many reasons, but one is that there is a piano, not just any piano, but the one I listened to mom play and teach lessons on and learned on myself. I’d love to play like my mom and dad some day, and maybe teach any child that wants to learn.
Music, music, music. This week I went to join another choir, the “Drongoes” acapella choir in Bellingen, (45 minutes northwest) for the first time. My choir director had asked if I might “moonlight” for them until the Jazz Fest which will take place in August. They were short on altos and she thought I might be able to learn their 14 songs sung mostly in African languages with no written music (besides the words) in the 8 remaining rehearsals. Yikes!!! What a challenge but also, what an honor. Of course I said yes, and Matt, Keith and Mary willingly obliged to take care of Jacinta. I could go on forever, but for now, I’ll just say, WOW! I’ve never been surrounded by so many strong voices to follow, I tend to lead, but not here. The African rhythms, the drumming, the laughter, the joy, the ease, the fire in the fire place, and men! Usually choirs are laden with female voices, and this was balanced. There is even a song in Wolof sung by Youssou N’Dour, a Senegalese singer that I once met in Senegal. We’ll see if I can catch up! Jess knows when I’ve gone to choir and what I’m doing there, and as a treat, she came along on Wednesday night to the smaller choir. She sings all on her own now, and not just “O le le!” She sings “la la la,” she sings choir warm ups, “Oh my darling (Clementine), and a few bits of African lullabies. It was funny on Wednesday night at choir, after she worked up the energy to come out of herself she waited for the silence and tried to get the choir to sing “O le le.” She said, “No no no…..O le le! O le le!” Unfortunately, no one really heard her so she went back to feeding her pig some of her left over dinner, corn.
The rain did a lot more work in the garden this week than I did. Michelle and I are making an effort to cut back on gardening and put our muscles into the house, which is equally inspiring and exciting. Jess and Rory enjoy the hole digging so far. When allowed, Jess likes watching Matt and just finding pebbles to play with near by. Inspired by the chickens munching down all of the broccoli seedlings in the house garden, we did finally enclose the fifth terrace with chicken wire. We saved those broccoli seedlings and linked all five terraces into one enclosure, one beautiful garden brimming with green goodness. Today I went down in the pouring rain, very proud of my recent purchases: mud boots and rain pants, and transplanted some lettuce, celery, chilies, parsley and leeks. Kindling for the fire is one job I try to do each week, but the rain caught us off guard and now we’re short on firewood: tinder, kindling and fuel. Keith gets stuck with most of the chopping, but the rain was in charge today. Guess we’ll just have to wear an extra sweater!
It’s been another eventful week. Jess is living into her status as a two year-old and we’re loving her even more. She peed on the potty for the first time, once was enough for her. She learned to say “three” this week, so now when she sees large groups of things, there are three of them instead of two. When counting oranges as she stocked up her wheelbarrow, I counted out loud and out of nowhere, she said “sixteen” after I said fifteen. The human brain is unbelievable, what a child can pick up effortlessly is astounding. I shouldn’t say effortlessly though, given the struggle she feels in her mouth when trying to spit out each new word, it is work. It’s toddler work and it’s gratifying.
Here’s a tasty story to end with: Keith brought home about 10 pounds of macadamia nuts, shelled, but in need of sorting out the bad nuts. He works at the local macadamia nut factory. On a rainy day, which is almost like a snow day for us, in that laziness sense, Keith, Jacinta and I sat near the fire sorting nuts. We listened to music, ate nuts, and sorted. Jess sat in the middle in her high chair with a pan of nuts and a few cups to play with, picking out shells, pouring them to and fro, and eating most of the good ones. “Good nut!” She handed me all of the bad nuts she could find and said with disgust, “Bad nut!” She’s learned to love these nuts and it’s a good thing, because they are one of our major protein sources.
Good night y’all. Have a gratifying work week and eat lots of nuts (:
Winter seems like a good season to build a house. The sun is weak and thus far, it has been pretty dry. Matt had two days of work this week, one rain day to write a paper for his geography course, and two days to work on the addition. The description of what is being done would be much more detailed if Matt were to write it, but I’m the journaler so deal with me (: While Jess and I were having a picnic down at the dam with Michelle and Rory and some friends from play group, Matt and Keith fixed the alternator on the truck. While we drank tea and ate, Matt was slaving away on the house (: He dug a few trenches to lay pipe whose purpose is to divert water which is running down the hill away from the house. Once all the hard word was done, pipe laid, I later got to drill holes in the tops and sides of the pipes. On Friday hole digging began, Matt and Michelle dug quite a few, and after cleaning the house, I dug one token hole. Sixteen big holes to sink in cement piers which, I’m learning, will hold up the base of the house. Michelle commented later that the reason she went so slow is because Jess hopped in the hole each time she looked away. Matt thinks it’s because he’s bigger, well...maybe a little. Matt later brought over the huge cement piers with the tractor. Today it probably rained the holes back to half size while Matt was off in Sydney watching football.
“Daddy….somewhere,” Jess repeated over and over while watching a few minutes of the football game. “Fooball….peeeeple,” I had told her he was amongst the many people watching the game, making sure she didn’t confuse him with the players. Jacinta is expressing herself so clearly these days, but doesn’t hesitate to express herself constantly, with no new thoughts, just the same thoughts again and again. One day after a nap, she walked into the kitchen and spotted the red hot chili peppers I had hung on the curtain rod. She burst out laughing and said, “Mommy…hot peppers hanging! Ha ha ha!” Now each time she walks in the kitchen, she points, laughs and says the same thing. Perhaps it’s funny to her because they are out of context, no longer on the plant in the garden but inside. It’s the same story with the yarrow flowers I hung inside to dry, she looks for them and says that they are hiding. She has a new little girlfriend from playgroup who she doesn’t really know very well yet, but is excited about her. Lily came over for the first time this week with her older brother and mom. So a few days later while humming along in the bike seat behind me en route to playgroup Jess said, “I see Lily!” Later in the week she assured herself that “I see Lily lata, some day.” On Friday she and I heard a mouse in our rodent proof cupboard. Excitedly she helped me clear the way in search of the mouse to find about 2 cups of cracked sunflower seeds and other brown traces of a mouse who had been there a while. We called out to the mouse, “ay yay yay yay! Mouse….get out!” So now everytime we open the cupboard she repeats the exclamations verbatim.
Speaking of unfortunate repetition, you’d think I’d have learned by now, but a large piano leaning a little too far to the right made me forget. “Shit!” I yelled out in my efforts to spot Matt and Keith while they moved the large player piano from the trailer to the back porch. Although I wasn’t much help at all, I did manage to teach my daughter a new word which she yelled emphatically about 10 times before I managed to change it to “sweep” and help her forget she’d ever heard it. So a piano, yes! An old piano that has been in a garage for quite a while, has about half the keys stuck, but is in tune and is gorgeous. What more can you ask for 300$? Matt is researching the issue and will probably figure it out in time. I haven’t had a piano (in my home) at my fingertips since I left mom’s house when I was 18. I always love going home, for many reasons, but one is that there is a piano, not just any piano, but the one I listened to mom play and teach lessons on and learned on myself. I’d love to play like my mom and dad some day, and maybe teach any child that wants to learn.
Music, music, music. This week I went to join another choir, the “Drongoes” acapella choir in Bellingen, (45 minutes northwest) for the first time. My choir director had asked if I might “moonlight” for them until the Jazz Fest which will take place in August. They were short on altos and she thought I might be able to learn their 14 songs sung mostly in African languages with no written music (besides the words) in the 8 remaining rehearsals. Yikes!!! What a challenge but also, what an honor. Of course I said yes, and Matt, Keith and Mary willingly obliged to take care of Jacinta. I could go on forever, but for now, I’ll just say, WOW! I’ve never been surrounded by so many strong voices to follow, I tend to lead, but not here. The African rhythms, the drumming, the laughter, the joy, the ease, the fire in the fire place, and men! Usually choirs are laden with female voices, and this was balanced. There is even a song in Wolof sung by Youssou N’Dour, a Senegalese singer that I once met in Senegal. We’ll see if I can catch up! Jess knows when I’ve gone to choir and what I’m doing there, and as a treat, she came along on Wednesday night to the smaller choir. She sings all on her own now, and not just “O le le!” She sings “la la la,” she sings choir warm ups, “Oh my darling (Clementine), and a few bits of African lullabies. It was funny on Wednesday night at choir, after she worked up the energy to come out of herself she waited for the silence and tried to get the choir to sing “O le le.” She said, “No no no…..O le le! O le le!” Unfortunately, no one really heard her so she went back to feeding her pig some of her left over dinner, corn.
The rain did a lot more work in the garden this week than I did. Michelle and I are making an effort to cut back on gardening and put our muscles into the house, which is equally inspiring and exciting. Jess and Rory enjoy the hole digging so far. When allowed, Jess likes watching Matt and just finding pebbles to play with near by. Inspired by the chickens munching down all of the broccoli seedlings in the house garden, we did finally enclose the fifth terrace with chicken wire. We saved those broccoli seedlings and linked all five terraces into one enclosure, one beautiful garden brimming with green goodness. Today I went down in the pouring rain, very proud of my recent purchases: mud boots and rain pants, and transplanted some lettuce, celery, chilies, parsley and leeks. Kindling for the fire is one job I try to do each week, but the rain caught us off guard and now we’re short on firewood: tinder, kindling and fuel. Keith gets stuck with most of the chopping, but the rain was in charge today. Guess we’ll just have to wear an extra sweater!
It’s been another eventful week. Jess is living into her status as a two year-old and we’re loving her even more. She peed on the potty for the first time, once was enough for her. She learned to say “three” this week, so now when she sees large groups of things, there are three of them instead of two. When counting oranges as she stocked up her wheelbarrow, I counted out loud and out of nowhere, she said “sixteen” after I said fifteen. The human brain is unbelievable, what a child can pick up effortlessly is astounding. I shouldn’t say effortlessly though, given the struggle she feels in her mouth when trying to spit out each new word, it is work. It’s toddler work and it’s gratifying.
Here’s a tasty story to end with: Keith brought home about 10 pounds of macadamia nuts, shelled, but in need of sorting out the bad nuts. He works at the local macadamia nut factory. On a rainy day, which is almost like a snow day for us, in that laziness sense, Keith, Jacinta and I sat near the fire sorting nuts. We listened to music, ate nuts, and sorted. Jess sat in the middle in her high chair with a pan of nuts and a few cups to play with, picking out shells, pouring them to and fro, and eating most of the good ones. “Good nut!” She handed me all of the bad nuts she could find and said with disgust, “Bad nut!” She’s learned to love these nuts and it’s a good thing, because they are one of our major protein sources.
Good night y’all. Have a gratifying work week and eat lots of nuts (:
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
12:04 AM
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