Merci!
Good evening loved ones. The seasonal difference between you and I is hitting home now that you all have summer and we don’t! Hearing about backyard barbeques, gardens, fresh organic CSA produce, and festivals makes me homesick for good American summers. Summer here seems to last forever so it can’t be as lovely and hard-earned as a Mid-Western summer, which only lasts for a quarter of the year. We can still eat breakfast and lunch out on our veranda in winter, so don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It is citrus time right now, though not in our backyard. Our trees will take a few years before they can produce. Both Mary and Keith weekly bring home sacks full of mandarins, lemons, oranges, passion fruit, grapefruits, and limes given to them by co-workers. Just today I squeezed 25 lemons, and to be honest by the last 10 lemons, my hands weren’t capable of getting out all of the juice. Then I looked at the 4 cups of lemon juice and wondered, “what the heck am I going to do with all of this?” Typically one needs loads of sugar to use that much lemon juice. I’m open to suggestions…any ideas? Unfortunately no one ever brings in sacks of bananas to give away. After the cyclone, prices went up legitimately to 10$ a kilogram (about 5$ a pound), after all, we live on the Banana Coast and the banana crop was destroyed. I don’t know how long it will take until they are once again affordable. Our oatmeal is a bit lack luster without the bananas these days. Jacinta somehow even knows what a treat it is to have bananas now. She saw a bunch on the counter today and exclaimed, “Mommy bought malohs??!!”
Jacinta’s language is coming along quite nicely. We are all amazed at how clearly she is speaking, though some phrases are still only discernible by me, her translator. I just love hearing her pick up grammatical concepts, like the past tense. I recall spending years learning the past tense consciously and arduously in French class, granted the French past tense is much more difficult than adding “ed” to verbs as we do in English. She found herself counting to five this week, silently counting alone.
After much thought and yearning, I’ve decided that it’s time to start speaking a little more French to Jacinta. Just yesterday I was a fruit shop chatting with the only French woman I know in Australia. Jess sat politely on the counter and listened. As we were saying our goodbyes, she called out to Edith, “Merci!” Although she can’t possibly understand what all of these French words mean, or that we were speaking a language which originates from far away, she must have sensed that “Merci” was a word that fit in that conversation. She’s been hearing French lullabies at night, French music on the cd player and mom speaking French to others since she was born. We sing a French blessing at meals holding hands saying “Merci, Merci pour le pain d’aujourd’hui.” She recognizes the song instantly and reaches her hands out to be held even if I’m just singing it while cooking. She playfully says “Merci” (thank you) or “Bonne nuit” (good night) or “bisou” (kiss) to family members and close friends. I worried a little that she would start using French with people who do not speak it and who may be intimidated by others using language they do not understand, but as time goes by she is starting to realize that she can only use it with me. Matt would understand too, but she hasn’t yet tried!
Jess is starting to link the French words together, she can hear their similarity. Toddlers’ imitation skills are awesome, if I say “oiseau,” talking about a bird in a story book, uninvited, she instantly repeats the word “oiseau,” giggles, and says “bisou???” asking for a kiss. She picks out words from songs, “Nagez, tip tip tip, zip zip zip, boum boum boum, Clic clac! c’est beau!” and repeats them to herself while playing and of course this makes me smile. Sometimes in her routine of repeating my name over and over, a call and response assurance, she says “mommy? Yes?” and moves on to, “Maman?” I respond, “Oui?” and it goes on and on. Tonight I called out to her and she replied, “Oui?” This takes adolescents years to master the pronunciation of most foreign language vocabulary words. I am no longer worried that it will affect her English skills. Given the amount of time in the day we have to converse, and the recurrent occasions for a toddler to repeat the same conversations, she’ll hopefully be a confident little bilingual girl someday. Too bad she’ll have no one to speak French with on a daily basis but her mother! Some day we’ll visit our French and Senegalese friends and she’ll be able to play with the children and understand them. That will be a true celebration and an “ah hah” moment for her after years of playing in a language that no one else understands here.
Our celebration this week was Keith’s (pop) birthday. Another birthday cake, and a request for a chocolate cake with cream in the middle, this was a good challenge for me and a fun mess for Jess. We woke up in the morning and made a birthday card (a new favorite pass time), gave Keith his new Ugg boots, helped him lug firewood, then with Rory and Michelle, we frosted the cake. I must brag that Jacinta’s willpower to not lick the frosting was very strong even after Rory broke down and took a lick. It wasn’t until I walked away that she snuck in a finger (: Once finally decorated with flowers, the children almost hyperventilating, we had rich, sugary chocolate cake, right before lunch, and it was good. It gave us the energy to garden for over an hour before lunch time. It was a lovely day and ever since Jess has been making birthday cards. It’s a good thing because there are a lot of family birthdays in the summer! She even made one for Matt today, but his birthday was back in February. She wants to give people cakes for their birthdays, after all that’s what birthdays are: cake and cards. Since Dja Dja lives in America and his birthday is a few days away, she’s learning to draw cakes on her cards since she can not send them in the mail.
Speaking of food, it was an inspired cooking week. I’m finding myself cooking for hours each day and loving it. I even took Jess to a fish shop on the river and bought a few little fish to try. I’m discovering her love for fish, she even likes to hold them and pretend they are swimming before we cook them. I found a fennel bulb in a fruit shop so I made tomato fennel soup. I was trying to relive an awesome dining experience with my friend Judy a few years ago, but sadly, my soup wasn’t near as good, perhaps lacking basil, but it warmed me up and reminded me of Judy so that was good enough. I made cough syrup for Jacinta, potato leek soup, Thai coconut fish soup, hummus, bread, lots of salads and a few less inspired meals. One evening I ran into an old friend of Matt’s from Sydney who happened to be passing through on his way up North to do some business. I bumped into him at the gas station, 5 hours from his home and 5 minutes from ours! So he came to dinner the next night and I made a nice deep dish pizza. I’ve realized that I need more than a smile and busy mouths at dinner to know that the love I’ve put into the food was appreciated. Some people are less vocal about food, but I grew up with my father who LOVES food and raves about it throughout the meal, that is, if it is good. I owe my food love largely to my dad, thanks daddy! I’m working on noticing the more subtle forms of appreciation, but still sometimes have to ask in the silence when I’ve prepared a meat dish, “Is it good?” How pathetic! I guess it detracts from the gratitude when Jacinta begs at the table for the French fries or white bread that other family members may be eating when we cook separate meals. She would rather have that than the healthy soup and brown rice in front of her! Can you blame her? I’m on a soup kick and unfortunately, Jess isn’t. Oh well.
On the land this week we worked all over the place. Matt put in a three more piers on the small side of our addition (the future kitchen), tore off part of the veranda, and with some help, hauled over the bearers and joists for this section. Michelle and I dug around, leveling things out on the building site. Keith and I worked on transplanting useful plants from the building site. Jess did some cooking and played with worms, while Rory “worked” with the children’s tools trying very hard (while picking up Matt’s hammer) to grasp the fact that he is not allowed to touch any of the adult tools.
Keith revamped the chicken pen again in an effort to get the hens laying and chopped a lot of fire wood. We took Daisy the goat around with us, tethering her to a nearby tree wherever we worked. She bleats when left alone, and loves our company. We also kept an eye out for the new chickens and their whereabouts. Mona Lisa, a tiny little chicken who came to us with an injured foot, has refused to join the flock due to the two roosters efforts to win her affection (: She hid out on top of a shed for a few days, until Jess found her calling out, “Mum! Loot!” She was lucky to have not been eaten by the fox, and now sleeps in her own shed, where my bike lives. The five new bantam chooks sleep in the chook forest in the trees and never leave the pen, fearful of the old chooks and their pecking order.
Inspired by some nice dirt in from our travails on the building site, Michelle and I cleared another section in our terrace garden and found a way to use the soil. While Jess was out at “morning tea” with Mary this morning, Keith and I (Keith with the chainsaw) did some garden detail and child proofing on the terraces, making steps, handrails, and a two-seater chair out of a stump. The potatoes need continual mulching as they seem to grow an inch a day. The peas are outgrowing their stakes, the bok choy has gone to flower, but more are coming up anyway. The lettuces are on their way to seed, but more are coming up too. Carrots and beets are coming up slowly. There are a few which we are letting go to seed, and it takes a lot of will power to leave them in the ground. The herbs are finally done this season and advised by a friend, I have given them a haircut so they will come back soon. In Michigan this was simple, cut at the end of the summer or fall, and they come back in spring. Here, they come and go all year long. Not bad, aye? I’ll figure it all out in a few years.
So, on another subject, Australia got knocked out of the World Cup by Italy. The referee made a controversial call right at the end, so their loss seemed unfair. The country, and yes, Matt are in mourning. Matt will Blog about it once he can speak of it (: He is now in Sydney watching a Swans football game with his sister Allison and will return on the train tomorrow. Allison is Matt’s last remaining family member in the city where he grew up. Soon she will move to Canberra, where their other sister lives, to take on a new position working in the government. She’ll be working for the party which is not in power, the Labor Party, and is very excited about the opportunity to try and bring down the party in power with John Howard as the prime minister. One of Howard’s major faults is that he, like Tony Blair, is a puppy to George Bush and the US war on Iraq and on the poor people of the world. Many Aussies dislike him for this fact but have to wait until he calls an election to vote him out. Australia, like the US, is having difficulty coming up with a strong opposition with real differences in policy. Right now almost everyone has money as their god and thus, allow business to run governments. War happens to make money for some, so we keep on warring. How can I close on that? I’m not even feeling negative today! I’ll come up with a better ending…
Having met a few tiny babies in the past months, Jess knows that babies live in bellies for a while and then come out into the world. We can discuss it at length, each and every time she brings it up. “Baby Kai? Teeny weeny weeny baby.” “Yes, he’s small, but he is growing,” I reply. “Bigga Bigga Bigga, Baby Kai is growing.” “Baby JD…teeny weeny weeny.” “Yes, did you get to hold him?” I ask. “Yep, like that,” she imitates the handhold. A few minutes later she inquires, “Baby Kai….in Lecia’s belly?” I agree. “Mommy’s belly, baby Jess?” “Yes, you were in my belly too!” She giggles. We go on to talk about my friends who have babies in their bellies. “Tiny baby in Lauren’s belly? Carrie’s belly? Adriann’s belly?” she inquires. “Yes, soon they’ll come out and keep on growing,” I go on. “Yep,” she happily assures herself. Conversations with a two year old are much nicer than those about government, war and politics.
Goodnight y’all. Excuse the length (:
Happy 4th of July, have fun eating and spending time with loved ones!
Jacinta’s language is coming along quite nicely. We are all amazed at how clearly she is speaking, though some phrases are still only discernible by me, her translator. I just love hearing her pick up grammatical concepts, like the past tense. I recall spending years learning the past tense consciously and arduously in French class, granted the French past tense is much more difficult than adding “ed” to verbs as we do in English. She found herself counting to five this week, silently counting alone.
After much thought and yearning, I’ve decided that it’s time to start speaking a little more French to Jacinta. Just yesterday I was a fruit shop chatting with the only French woman I know in Australia. Jess sat politely on the counter and listened. As we were saying our goodbyes, she called out to Edith, “Merci!” Although she can’t possibly understand what all of these French words mean, or that we were speaking a language which originates from far away, she must have sensed that “Merci” was a word that fit in that conversation. She’s been hearing French lullabies at night, French music on the cd player and mom speaking French to others since she was born. We sing a French blessing at meals holding hands saying “Merci, Merci pour le pain d’aujourd’hui.” She recognizes the song instantly and reaches her hands out to be held even if I’m just singing it while cooking. She playfully says “Merci” (thank you) or “Bonne nuit” (good night) or “bisou” (kiss) to family members and close friends. I worried a little that she would start using French with people who do not speak it and who may be intimidated by others using language they do not understand, but as time goes by she is starting to realize that she can only use it with me. Matt would understand too, but she hasn’t yet tried!
Jess is starting to link the French words together, she can hear their similarity. Toddlers’ imitation skills are awesome, if I say “oiseau,” talking about a bird in a story book, uninvited, she instantly repeats the word “oiseau,” giggles, and says “bisou???” asking for a kiss. She picks out words from songs, “Nagez, tip tip tip, zip zip zip, boum boum boum, Clic clac! c’est beau!” and repeats them to herself while playing and of course this makes me smile. Sometimes in her routine of repeating my name over and over, a call and response assurance, she says “mommy? Yes?” and moves on to, “Maman?” I respond, “Oui?” and it goes on and on. Tonight I called out to her and she replied, “Oui?” This takes adolescents years to master the pronunciation of most foreign language vocabulary words. I am no longer worried that it will affect her English skills. Given the amount of time in the day we have to converse, and the recurrent occasions for a toddler to repeat the same conversations, she’ll hopefully be a confident little bilingual girl someday. Too bad she’ll have no one to speak French with on a daily basis but her mother! Some day we’ll visit our French and Senegalese friends and she’ll be able to play with the children and understand them. That will be a true celebration and an “ah hah” moment for her after years of playing in a language that no one else understands here.
Our celebration this week was Keith’s (pop) birthday. Another birthday cake, and a request for a chocolate cake with cream in the middle, this was a good challenge for me and a fun mess for Jess. We woke up in the morning and made a birthday card (a new favorite pass time), gave Keith his new Ugg boots, helped him lug firewood, then with Rory and Michelle, we frosted the cake. I must brag that Jacinta’s willpower to not lick the frosting was very strong even after Rory broke down and took a lick. It wasn’t until I walked away that she snuck in a finger (: Once finally decorated with flowers, the children almost hyperventilating, we had rich, sugary chocolate cake, right before lunch, and it was good. It gave us the energy to garden for over an hour before lunch time. It was a lovely day and ever since Jess has been making birthday cards. It’s a good thing because there are a lot of family birthdays in the summer! She even made one for Matt today, but his birthday was back in February. She wants to give people cakes for their birthdays, after all that’s what birthdays are: cake and cards. Since Dja Dja lives in America and his birthday is a few days away, she’s learning to draw cakes on her cards since she can not send them in the mail.
Speaking of food, it was an inspired cooking week. I’m finding myself cooking for hours each day and loving it. I even took Jess to a fish shop on the river and bought a few little fish to try. I’m discovering her love for fish, she even likes to hold them and pretend they are swimming before we cook them. I found a fennel bulb in a fruit shop so I made tomato fennel soup. I was trying to relive an awesome dining experience with my friend Judy a few years ago, but sadly, my soup wasn’t near as good, perhaps lacking basil, but it warmed me up and reminded me of Judy so that was good enough. I made cough syrup for Jacinta, potato leek soup, Thai coconut fish soup, hummus, bread, lots of salads and a few less inspired meals. One evening I ran into an old friend of Matt’s from Sydney who happened to be passing through on his way up North to do some business. I bumped into him at the gas station, 5 hours from his home and 5 minutes from ours! So he came to dinner the next night and I made a nice deep dish pizza. I’ve realized that I need more than a smile and busy mouths at dinner to know that the love I’ve put into the food was appreciated. Some people are less vocal about food, but I grew up with my father who LOVES food and raves about it throughout the meal, that is, if it is good. I owe my food love largely to my dad, thanks daddy! I’m working on noticing the more subtle forms of appreciation, but still sometimes have to ask in the silence when I’ve prepared a meat dish, “Is it good?” How pathetic! I guess it detracts from the gratitude when Jacinta begs at the table for the French fries or white bread that other family members may be eating when we cook separate meals. She would rather have that than the healthy soup and brown rice in front of her! Can you blame her? I’m on a soup kick and unfortunately, Jess isn’t. Oh well.
On the land this week we worked all over the place. Matt put in a three more piers on the small side of our addition (the future kitchen), tore off part of the veranda, and with some help, hauled over the bearers and joists for this section. Michelle and I dug around, leveling things out on the building site. Keith and I worked on transplanting useful plants from the building site. Jess did some cooking and played with worms, while Rory “worked” with the children’s tools trying very hard (while picking up Matt’s hammer) to grasp the fact that he is not allowed to touch any of the adult tools.
Keith revamped the chicken pen again in an effort to get the hens laying and chopped a lot of fire wood. We took Daisy the goat around with us, tethering her to a nearby tree wherever we worked. She bleats when left alone, and loves our company. We also kept an eye out for the new chickens and their whereabouts. Mona Lisa, a tiny little chicken who came to us with an injured foot, has refused to join the flock due to the two roosters efforts to win her affection (: She hid out on top of a shed for a few days, until Jess found her calling out, “Mum! Loot!” She was lucky to have not been eaten by the fox, and now sleeps in her own shed, where my bike lives. The five new bantam chooks sleep in the chook forest in the trees and never leave the pen, fearful of the old chooks and their pecking order.
Inspired by some nice dirt in from our travails on the building site, Michelle and I cleared another section in our terrace garden and found a way to use the soil. While Jess was out at “morning tea” with Mary this morning, Keith and I (Keith with the chainsaw) did some garden detail and child proofing on the terraces, making steps, handrails, and a two-seater chair out of a stump. The potatoes need continual mulching as they seem to grow an inch a day. The peas are outgrowing their stakes, the bok choy has gone to flower, but more are coming up anyway. The lettuces are on their way to seed, but more are coming up too. Carrots and beets are coming up slowly. There are a few which we are letting go to seed, and it takes a lot of will power to leave them in the ground. The herbs are finally done this season and advised by a friend, I have given them a haircut so they will come back soon. In Michigan this was simple, cut at the end of the summer or fall, and they come back in spring. Here, they come and go all year long. Not bad, aye? I’ll figure it all out in a few years.
So, on another subject, Australia got knocked out of the World Cup by Italy. The referee made a controversial call right at the end, so their loss seemed unfair. The country, and yes, Matt are in mourning. Matt will Blog about it once he can speak of it (: He is now in Sydney watching a Swans football game with his sister Allison and will return on the train tomorrow. Allison is Matt’s last remaining family member in the city where he grew up. Soon she will move to Canberra, where their other sister lives, to take on a new position working in the government. She’ll be working for the party which is not in power, the Labor Party, and is very excited about the opportunity to try and bring down the party in power with John Howard as the prime minister. One of Howard’s major faults is that he, like Tony Blair, is a puppy to George Bush and the US war on Iraq and on the poor people of the world. Many Aussies dislike him for this fact but have to wait until he calls an election to vote him out. Australia, like the US, is having difficulty coming up with a strong opposition with real differences in policy. Right now almost everyone has money as their god and thus, allow business to run governments. War happens to make money for some, so we keep on warring. How can I close on that? I’m not even feeling negative today! I’ll come up with a better ending…
Having met a few tiny babies in the past months, Jess knows that babies live in bellies for a while and then come out into the world. We can discuss it at length, each and every time she brings it up. “Baby Kai? Teeny weeny weeny baby.” “Yes, he’s small, but he is growing,” I reply. “Bigga Bigga Bigga, Baby Kai is growing.” “Baby JD…teeny weeny weeny.” “Yes, did you get to hold him?” I ask. “Yep, like that,” she imitates the handhold. A few minutes later she inquires, “Baby Kai….in Lecia’s belly?” I agree. “Mommy’s belly, baby Jess?” “Yes, you were in my belly too!” She giggles. We go on to talk about my friends who have babies in their bellies. “Tiny baby in Lauren’s belly? Carrie’s belly? Adriann’s belly?” she inquires. “Yes, soon they’ll come out and keep on growing,” I go on. “Yep,” she happily assures herself. Conversations with a two year old are much nicer than those about government, war and politics.
Goodnight y’all. Excuse the length (:
Happy 4th of July, have fun eating and spending time with loved ones!
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
2:12 AM
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