I'm cute now!

Good evening my ever so far away loved ones. I hope this August is making you smile as the summer heat continues on. It seems as if winter is coming to a close here. It is not the smell of fresh mud coming out if the thaw that you may know, it is a few trees here and there coming into bloom, the magnolias and black wattles. It is the masses of bees buzzing in these newly flowering trees, so loudly that you have to stop what you’re doing, follow the sound and go find the tree that they are loving. It is a few lush patches of green grass amidst the short dry grass for the goat to munch. The air is growing warmer, Matt is even wearing shorts to collect the census booklets. Perhaps shorts are no sign, workmen wear strangely short shorts all winter long here. Matt still wears long ones though (: We haven’t lit a fire at night in about a week, but we have to restrain the wind chimes more often these days. After this weak excuse for a winter, I guess I’m ready for spring. It’s a new Aussie season which I have not yet seen and it means we can plant corn, peppers and tomatoes again! It might mean more time out on the hammock now that we have permanent place to hang them. Most important, it will mean longer days, more time to build our house!

The lumber has been transported from the “pile of junk” to the building site, the nails have been removed, and the windows have been chosen from the pile. Matt is continually refining details in the plan, but I think we might start building the wall closest to the existing house this week. Macnuts and the census collection took a lot of Matt’s time this week, but as we all know, income is pretty important. His range of activities each day is as diverse as mine and Jacinta’s. He may start out working on the house, run out for a few hours of census collection, and finish the work day off with a few hours at the macadamia factory. Then home again for dinner, bath and play time with Jacinta, tickles and stories at bedtime, a documentary on TV, and inevitably at some point, doing something productive on the computer or erring aimlessly on the internet. Yesterday he did census collection all day, but came home for a midday break to watch Aussie rules football. It’s nice to be able to make your own schedule. I can’t express how overprivileged I feel to have no obligations outside of the home, perhaps even guilty. Of course my days are filled with no problem and my body aches each night from activity, but I never stop and think, “what shall we do now?” The next need is always there telling me what to do.

The potatoes were in desperate need this week. Following some advice from a friend I concocted some “Bordeaux” to fight the fungus destroying a bunch of our potatoes. I used two ingredients I have never owned before: lime and copper sulfate. After 3 days, the leaves still look pretty sad, but underneath those sad leaves lie a few good potatoes. In fact we ate a few this week and they were delicious. Newer potatoes were in need of mulching, so Jess and I lugged and spread a few loads of mulch on the lovely new green shoots. Typically Michelle and Rory join us in these endeavors, but Rory has the measles! Needless to say, our garden buddies are taking a break. A wire needed burying to bring electricity to the shed, but it wasn’t risking failure so that task hasn’t been done yet. The cows figured out that our wire (enclosing the orchard) is not electrified and busted in to have a bite to eat. Luckily they only ate half a mango tree, half a lillypilly and maybe some grass before they moved on. But they needed to be chased out, later chased out of the neighbors’ yard, and later chased out of the yard near Jess’ cubby house. We need to add an extra wire to keep them out, but that day was a tiring and adventurous day and the cows have’t come back since. I must be pretty scary (: Daisy the goat also added to the fun that day by eating half of my potted seedlings. Jess won’t get too close to her anymore, she’s “a little bit scary.” One all positive animal experience this week is the chickens, they are laying between 4-6 eggs a day, finally!!! We are eating well now.

Food wise, the broccoli is abundant, as are the Chinese greens and spinach. There is a whole head of cabbage to pick but I can’t bring myself to do it, it’s too pretty in the ground. I made beetroot burgers for the first time and they were great. I also had a rare success with bread rolls actually rising. Tonight I made French toast (strange for dinner, but quick) by dipping bread in egg, milk, crushed macadamias and cinnamon, and it was very good. Yes, I do use these nuts in everything.  I search for ways to include them because they are free and delicious. Any finely crushed nut would do the trick though, you can even use them in place of breadcrumbs in any recipe. We joke that either Matt or Keith will need to continue working at the nut factory forever to keep Jess and I full of protein. Given the abundance of the broccoli, Jess will not eat it, if she can see it. It’s self-congratulatory, yes, but I must brag that I found a way to get it in! Mince the broccoli like an herb, mix it up in an omelet with egg, brown rice and cheese, and it works! Speaking of Jacinta and food, she is in love with her new baby butter knife. She stands proudly on her chair cooking with me, chopping (attempting) lettuce, bananas, cucumber, thin carrots, tofu and cheese. Since I have been practicing my choir music (only one week remaining before the Jazz Fest) with a cd, Jess and I sing along to choir songs while cooking. I’ll sometimes ask, “what should we listen to?” Her constant response while cooking is, “choir music!” Although I still have two songs to memorize, I’m growing tired of it so her need for repetition is urging me on.

In spite of our best friends absence, we still had quite a social week. Jess came along to the “big choir” again and had a ball because there were a few young girls to play with. Different adults give her attention when they are not singing so she did the rounds, but stayed close to the main soloist, sweet, smiley, humble 17 year old Amelia. The children sat at her feet in awe, just glued to her beautiful voice and playful eyes. When she looked too distracted with the music, Jess would run around playing ball or checking out new people and things. Our director pulled out a balophone which she brought back from Guinea Conakry. Jess was as in awe as I. She just stood in front of Fiona throughout the whole Senegalese song and stared at the wooden piano on the floor. It’s funny how children break social cues and just do the things we all long to do.

Having the house to ourselves this weekend, Saturday night we had a few friends over to eat a potluck dinner, make pecan pie and drum. It was good fun, and lovely food. It’s a wonder that I met so many good cooks so quickly! We had quite a spread: roasted vegetable salad with homemade mayonnaise, a fruity green salad, spicy blue cheese muffins, Thai fish cakes, briani (a saffron vegetable rice), beetroot burgers, and bread rolls. The pecan pie was a funny, overly rich and disgusting reminiscence for a bunch of people who either once lived in the US or wanted to try pecan pie, or in Matt’s case, did the dishes while we ate because he doesn’t like nuts. Finding the corn syrup was difficult. It cost Osha $7 for a small bottle of the nasty genetically modified corn sugar, imported from the US. High fructose corn syrup is one of the most commonly used sweeteners in US processed foods purported to be healthy and “fat free,” but it is not good for the human body. Drumming was fun, a new thing for us all to drum together, but a good way to take a break in the middle of a chatty evening. Jess loved it and played with all of her instruments, mostly enjoying sailing above the drums with the high pitched Australian bird whistle that my mom and George sent from the US. Again, she lasted until pretty late, 10:45, but it was worth it.

It’s a wonder that Jacinta still had the energy for the “fairy birthday party” we attended this afternoon. It was lovely though, I’m really starting to love the people from playgroup: the ladies, the children of all ages (well, 0-5) learning to play kindly.
Seeing them all dressed up as fairies and pixies in a backyard filled with mandarin covered trees was beautiful. The children trust other moms to help them when they can’t see their own and I love it. Last week at play group Jess actually yelled out, “Shana!” knowing that the word “mom” wouldn’t be specific enough to get me. In preparation for the party Jess, Keith and I spent a few hours making a little fairy to give as a gift. The mother had made wands, crowns, little fairies, and heaps of food for each child, it was awesome. Our little fairy seemed quite insubstantial, but it’s the thought that counts I guess. Jess had a blast and will be flying for days.

Her vocabulary is exploding, it’s so much fun to partake in the learning process. She shocks us hourly. While sitting on Matt’s lap watching a movie of her earlier days of babyhood, Matt jokingly said, “Look how cute you used to be.” Jess retorted, “I’m cute now!” I suppose they learn sarcasm young here, I still don’t like it but it’s Australian and she is starting to sound like one. She still says “sweater” with a real American R, rather than saying, “jumpa.” When walking by the recycling bin the other day Jess caught a glimpse of an old newspaper clipping of a dog and a chicken. “Those don’t go in there mum! That’s not rubbish!” My jaw dropped first because she caught me, secondly, because she said all of those words. Matt often grabs her for a big tickle if she’s anywhere near the bed and this week, amidst the giggles she called out, “Hey, that’s my little bum!”

So after all that, to sum it up…we’re having fun with our little girl, getting to know some nice people and keeping busy. But I miss you all so much that I ate pecan pie and got a headache from the sugar. I hope flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and that life is lovely in your neck of the woods.