Winter Vacation
As I sit here typing away on a Tuesday afternoon, behind me lie two sweet tired out little girls sleeping in our “big bed.” Matt has just gone off to try out work at the macadamia nut factory with Keith for a few hours. Off in the distance I can hear the moaning of little Zach, whose mum is kindly trying to dig out the few splinters he got while helping to clean the dirt off of our floor boards this afternoon. Tim, dad and friend to us from Sydney, is out finishing off the cleaning of the floorboard pile, removing all dirt and sun-dried mold from the tongues and grooves of the boards. After lying in a moist pile for over six months, they were transported to the building site, laid out to dry and will be laid down as our floor this week. It’s not forced labor induced upon our guests, it’s voluntary, I swear (: The roosters are crowing, the goat is bleating and all of the animals are getting ready to retire as the sun begins to set.
This week ends the two week-long winter holidays from school, thus the visit from friends and the camping excursion with friends who have children in school. I suppose school holidays here will not mean anything for us for another 3 years or so, other than choir and play group being cancelled. In America Matt and I both worked around the academic calendar so it is strange to be unaware that children are on vacation. Poor Zach, the splinters must still be in his hand…
This weekend we spent in the mountains, in the New England National Park at Point Lookout. I can’t tell you how high up we were, just that it took almost 3 hours to get 55 kilometers from our home because it was up and down and around mountains. We shared a very tiny cabin with our friends, mostly keeping warm and entertaining ourselves inside, sheltered from the wind and cold. We hiked a few trails and found that Jess is a great little mountain climber, fearless, yet reckless. She was determined to climb the mountains herself, but luckily was convinced to ride on Matt’s back in the carrier for a good portion of our longest hike. We saw no frozen waterfalls, but saw Weeping Rock which dripped water out of its pores. Parts of the park were lush rainforest and others classic Australian bush land. We saw lyre birds, gazed out at the mountains and stood in awe beneath great cliffs. Jess played hard with the other children and we all had a chance to catch up, play some music, cook hearty meals and play board games.
I knew nothing about where we were going or what it would be like. One thing Matt and I both found was reduced enthusiasm for hiking new paths to discover beauty. We haven’t even had enough time to truly explore the other side of the property we live on. Thus driving 3 hours to explore another spot seemed a bit strange at this busy time of building, yet it was gorgeous and we had a nice time. The uncomfortable truth of the history of this beautiful mountain stung the whole experience. Back in the beginning of the white man’s occupation of Australia there was a white woman and her child murdered near on this mountain. The killer was unknown, but assumed to be Aboriginal so all of the local Aboriginal people were rounded up and pushed off of Point Lookout, to crash down below and die. They all died with the exception of one baby who was cradled so strongly in the arms of his mother that he survived. The tribe at the base of the mountain brought up the child. It was hard to look out at the beauty with fresh and delighted eyes.
Drastically changing the subject, the World Cup Soccer Tournament is over, Italy won. Thus ends the crazy waking hours to watch mostly well paid men kicking around a ball. Matt is sad, for multiple reasons, but will probably sleep better. I’ve been curious…who pays the soccer players of poor countries like Togo? Is it their governments, advertisers, or who? And is it just enough to feed their families or more? Is it the quality of the coach they can afford that determines how far they make it in the World Cup or is it truly a level playing field for nations to meet at the international level? Just seeking insight from anyone who may know (:
On the land…the garden grows on without much intervention. I don’t believe there is much new to eat: still peas, arugula, little bok choys, some spinach here and there, slightly bitter lettuce (it’s going to seed), and tiny beets if we’re desperate. I actually got around to fertilizing a few fruit trees that I don’t know much about, the kiwis needed cow manure and the pomegranate needed green manure so I used some lovely smelling (rotting) comfrey tea. This kind of work gets left undone mostly because of the reading involved in learning how to care for individual trees. The only reason I had time this week was thanks to Jess’ first nap in the hammock down in the garden shed. This same day a large cow challenged Jedda, the small dog, to a game and pursued her for about thirty minutes, this immense beast playfully jumping back and forth, making great holes in the grass while Jedda whined and hid inside the garden fence. Ever since that day I’ve looked at the thin chicken wire as less of a real barrier to anything.
Each night a new chicken joins the flock and roosts with the others, 14 chooks now roost together while 5 still perch in the trees. But with all the chickens, the eggs are not coming! We’re sure they must be laying in hidden locations. The goat is loving life here, we think, and Jess is loving Daisy. Today we took Daisy on a walk around the dam on her lead with our friends and the kids had a short turn in holding the lead. Jess loves feeding her, and always asks to lead her around, but Daisy is too strong.
Matt worked four days at the bank last week so not much changed on the house front, he fit little bits in here and there though. Preparing the floor boards to be laid was the major task, and also securing the last joists. Matt does most of the work on the building site, as he’s learning on the job and can’t answer many questions because he is either contemplating what needs to be done or just needs to do it himself. Keith, Michelle, and I (and any lucky visitors) do the brainless labor, which suits me. Jess and Rory make us laugh, bake us cookies, make us take breaks and keep us on our toes. You can see the outline of the entire addition now, so it’s becoming more real each day. Soon we’ll be able to walk on the floor.
Jess knows that this will be her room, and now that we are getting ready to build “Jess’s floor.” She doesn’t let anything slip by her, even lengthy conversations about people that we don’t really want her to repeat. She is learning little routines each day and although it is sometimes hard to follow instructions, after a bit of whining she’ll eventually comply. One example would be after meal time when she instantly stands up in her high chair when she wants to get down and is told repeatedly, “Bum down! You may not get down until you sit down on your bum. Tell me that you are finished and ask politely to come down.” So then after a while she gives up, finally sits down and says, “All done. Help down, please?” I’ll then carry her down but Matt usually asks for better English (:
Today we were on a walk with Daisy the goat, and our friends from Sydney moseying around the dam checking out the flora and fauna. We stopped and sat on a log and took a few pictures and then moved on. As we moved ahead following the anxious goat, Jacinta stayed behind. A few minutes later I looked back to find her down on her knees inspecting the log, quiet, alone and content. I watched for a while and then asked her what she was doing. “Playing with bark,” she replied, and continued. We chatted for a few minutes and played with the goat and then asked her if she would join us. She kindly obliged.
There are so many examples of Jacinta’s verbal life that I just have to share a few. She has just learned how to ask that burning question she’s had for her entire short life, “What’s this?” She’ll comment on where she is like today at lunch while we were picnicking by the dam, “Sitting next to Daddy…” Matt has been teaching her right and left feet, you’d think it was a bit fast. He’s just trying to avoid her learning as late in life as I did. She talks about her “right foot and left foot” every time a shoe goes on. This week she had her first nasty splinter and bravely got through the needle digging it out, crying “booboo…hurt…finger…splinta…bandaid?” Poor dear. She’s become vocal about what she likes. “I like this!” she’ll comment, or less correctly, “Me no like this,” not having been asked. She actually liked zucchini this week, but now knows the words, “raw and cooked,” as she told me she did not like raw zucchini but only cooked zucchini. She requests two different “fishy songs” but one is “Daddy’s” (The Starfish song Matt wrote) and the other is “Mommy’s” (the French one with motions). She is quite insistent upon hearing certain songs but I have to temper her by refusing from time to time (:
Right now Jacinta is in heaven as she has two friends here, ages 2 ½ and 5 who love to play, draw and read stories as much as she does. Everything is twice as exciting, she has friends with whom she can share her experience with the animals and the land. She falls asleep and rises mumbling about the fun she has had with Zach and Caitlin. Matt is happy to have friends here, happy to have a few little jobs, happy to play with Jess and I, and eager to put down a floor. I am slightly tired, but enchanted thinking about life here and how much smaller the world seems today. I received a package from America containing homemade Lavender shortbread cookies by my friends the Eddy’s also including a bunch of lavender flowers from Barbara’s garden. Not many people would bother paying the postage, let alone think customs would allow it in. But somehow they missed this package and we are eating cookies made just a week ago by dear friends in Michigan.
Happy summer! Eat some local produce, make some cookies, maybe build a house (: and think of us on the other side of this small world.
This week ends the two week-long winter holidays from school, thus the visit from friends and the camping excursion with friends who have children in school. I suppose school holidays here will not mean anything for us for another 3 years or so, other than choir and play group being cancelled. In America Matt and I both worked around the academic calendar so it is strange to be unaware that children are on vacation. Poor Zach, the splinters must still be in his hand…
This weekend we spent in the mountains, in the New England National Park at Point Lookout. I can’t tell you how high up we were, just that it took almost 3 hours to get 55 kilometers from our home because it was up and down and around mountains. We shared a very tiny cabin with our friends, mostly keeping warm and entertaining ourselves inside, sheltered from the wind and cold. We hiked a few trails and found that Jess is a great little mountain climber, fearless, yet reckless. She was determined to climb the mountains herself, but luckily was convinced to ride on Matt’s back in the carrier for a good portion of our longest hike. We saw no frozen waterfalls, but saw Weeping Rock which dripped water out of its pores. Parts of the park were lush rainforest and others classic Australian bush land. We saw lyre birds, gazed out at the mountains and stood in awe beneath great cliffs. Jess played hard with the other children and we all had a chance to catch up, play some music, cook hearty meals and play board games.
I knew nothing about where we were going or what it would be like. One thing Matt and I both found was reduced enthusiasm for hiking new paths to discover beauty. We haven’t even had enough time to truly explore the other side of the property we live on. Thus driving 3 hours to explore another spot seemed a bit strange at this busy time of building, yet it was gorgeous and we had a nice time. The uncomfortable truth of the history of this beautiful mountain stung the whole experience. Back in the beginning of the white man’s occupation of Australia there was a white woman and her child murdered near on this mountain. The killer was unknown, but assumed to be Aboriginal so all of the local Aboriginal people were rounded up and pushed off of Point Lookout, to crash down below and die. They all died with the exception of one baby who was cradled so strongly in the arms of his mother that he survived. The tribe at the base of the mountain brought up the child. It was hard to look out at the beauty with fresh and delighted eyes.
Drastically changing the subject, the World Cup Soccer Tournament is over, Italy won. Thus ends the crazy waking hours to watch mostly well paid men kicking around a ball. Matt is sad, for multiple reasons, but will probably sleep better. I’ve been curious…who pays the soccer players of poor countries like Togo? Is it their governments, advertisers, or who? And is it just enough to feed their families or more? Is it the quality of the coach they can afford that determines how far they make it in the World Cup or is it truly a level playing field for nations to meet at the international level? Just seeking insight from anyone who may know (:
On the land…the garden grows on without much intervention. I don’t believe there is much new to eat: still peas, arugula, little bok choys, some spinach here and there, slightly bitter lettuce (it’s going to seed), and tiny beets if we’re desperate. I actually got around to fertilizing a few fruit trees that I don’t know much about, the kiwis needed cow manure and the pomegranate needed green manure so I used some lovely smelling (rotting) comfrey tea. This kind of work gets left undone mostly because of the reading involved in learning how to care for individual trees. The only reason I had time this week was thanks to Jess’ first nap in the hammock down in the garden shed. This same day a large cow challenged Jedda, the small dog, to a game and pursued her for about thirty minutes, this immense beast playfully jumping back and forth, making great holes in the grass while Jedda whined and hid inside the garden fence. Ever since that day I’ve looked at the thin chicken wire as less of a real barrier to anything.
Each night a new chicken joins the flock and roosts with the others, 14 chooks now roost together while 5 still perch in the trees. But with all the chickens, the eggs are not coming! We’re sure they must be laying in hidden locations. The goat is loving life here, we think, and Jess is loving Daisy. Today we took Daisy on a walk around the dam on her lead with our friends and the kids had a short turn in holding the lead. Jess loves feeding her, and always asks to lead her around, but Daisy is too strong.
Matt worked four days at the bank last week so not much changed on the house front, he fit little bits in here and there though. Preparing the floor boards to be laid was the major task, and also securing the last joists. Matt does most of the work on the building site, as he’s learning on the job and can’t answer many questions because he is either contemplating what needs to be done or just needs to do it himself. Keith, Michelle, and I (and any lucky visitors) do the brainless labor, which suits me. Jess and Rory make us laugh, bake us cookies, make us take breaks and keep us on our toes. You can see the outline of the entire addition now, so it’s becoming more real each day. Soon we’ll be able to walk on the floor.
Jess knows that this will be her room, and now that we are getting ready to build “Jess’s floor.” She doesn’t let anything slip by her, even lengthy conversations about people that we don’t really want her to repeat. She is learning little routines each day and although it is sometimes hard to follow instructions, after a bit of whining she’ll eventually comply. One example would be after meal time when she instantly stands up in her high chair when she wants to get down and is told repeatedly, “Bum down! You may not get down until you sit down on your bum. Tell me that you are finished and ask politely to come down.” So then after a while she gives up, finally sits down and says, “All done. Help down, please?” I’ll then carry her down but Matt usually asks for better English (:
Today we were on a walk with Daisy the goat, and our friends from Sydney moseying around the dam checking out the flora and fauna. We stopped and sat on a log and took a few pictures and then moved on. As we moved ahead following the anxious goat, Jacinta stayed behind. A few minutes later I looked back to find her down on her knees inspecting the log, quiet, alone and content. I watched for a while and then asked her what she was doing. “Playing with bark,” she replied, and continued. We chatted for a few minutes and played with the goat and then asked her if she would join us. She kindly obliged.
There are so many examples of Jacinta’s verbal life that I just have to share a few. She has just learned how to ask that burning question she’s had for her entire short life, “What’s this?” She’ll comment on where she is like today at lunch while we were picnicking by the dam, “Sitting next to Daddy…” Matt has been teaching her right and left feet, you’d think it was a bit fast. He’s just trying to avoid her learning as late in life as I did. She talks about her “right foot and left foot” every time a shoe goes on. This week she had her first nasty splinter and bravely got through the needle digging it out, crying “booboo…hurt…finger…splinta…bandaid?” Poor dear. She’s become vocal about what she likes. “I like this!” she’ll comment, or less correctly, “Me no like this,” not having been asked. She actually liked zucchini this week, but now knows the words, “raw and cooked,” as she told me she did not like raw zucchini but only cooked zucchini. She requests two different “fishy songs” but one is “Daddy’s” (The Starfish song Matt wrote) and the other is “Mommy’s” (the French one with motions). She is quite insistent upon hearing certain songs but I have to temper her by refusing from time to time (:
Right now Jacinta is in heaven as she has two friends here, ages 2 ½ and 5 who love to play, draw and read stories as much as she does. Everything is twice as exciting, she has friends with whom she can share her experience with the animals and the land. She falls asleep and rises mumbling about the fun she has had with Zach and Caitlin. Matt is happy to have friends here, happy to have a few little jobs, happy to play with Jess and I, and eager to put down a floor. I am slightly tired, but enchanted thinking about life here and how much smaller the world seems today. I received a package from America containing homemade Lavender shortbread cookies by my friends the Eddy’s also including a bunch of lavender flowers from Barbara’s garden. Not many people would bother paying the postage, let alone think customs would allow it in. But somehow they missed this package and we are eating cookies made just a week ago by dear friends in Michigan.
Happy summer! Eat some local produce, make some cookies, maybe build a house (: and think of us on the other side of this small world.
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
12:40 AM
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