All done?

Good evening loved ones (: I hope this letter reaches you all in good health, good spirits, and ready for fall. Spring (feels like June in Michigan) is here, I dare say. No cold fronts have returned, but the rains came. Hallelujah! We had three full days and nights of lovely sloppy rain. I love the sound of it, there’s no mistaking the sound of rain in a house with metal roofing, even in deep sleep. Although half of our rain gutters are out of order due to the construction, the water tank is now overflowing.
Mostly, we stayed inside, painted, played, sewed, cooked, and slept, only venturing out to fetch eggs, chase cows out of gardens, and feed chickens. Matt, on the other hand, got lucky and had two days of bank work during the rain. So there was no lost time for him, especially after setting up a tarp to build under on the last day of intermittent wimpy showers.

Before the rains came, last weekend was full of family and friends who had come from afar to celebrate Mary’s (Matt’s mum) 60th birthday. We all met at the local Chinese restaurant and surprised Mary who knew only that her daughter Allison and Keith’s daughter Jo has come. Most exciting was her sister from Tasmania and brother from the Blue Mountains, she was overwhelmed with joy. I made my first cheesecake and luckily, it turned out well. Macadamia crusted passionfruit cheesecake is quite a complicated thing to make, but that’s all I cooked for the whole weekend so I shan’t complain. Good food, good wine, and good company kept us busy Saturday and Sunday. Jess, of course, was enchanted by all of the admiring family members giving her love and attention. Imagine, as a sanguine little two year old, having three rooms full of people to visit. She could leave any room once the thrill expired, and move on in search of more attention or entertainment, or better food. We all had a lovely time.

Keeping up the social atmosphere, two friends came for knitting on Monday morning and helped us with the overwhelming leftovers from the weekend. It was nice to start knitting again, I’ll probably finish Jess’ wool socks by summer (: It’s so nice to have such an abundant garden that your friends can’t leave empty handed. The most common garden gift these days is broccoli. I don’t know what will follow. You never know which crop will overproduce, and which ones won’t even come out of the ground, well, at least I don’t. The terrace garden is beautiful right now, overflowing, overgrowing, so large that Michelle went through this week pulling out plants going to seed to make way for shaded spinach or pea plants. It’s getting so warm that the broccoli plants are all going directly to seed. The bees are thrilled, buzzing around all of the yellow flowers. They say that broccoli plants in flower, many flowering vegetables are great companion plants attracting predators to eat the bugs that munch the leaves. But spring is here and we need room to plant more, so we’ll be pulling out a few here and there. Below is a photo of Jess celebrating the harvest, munching on a purple carrot and posing for her proud mommy.

Speaking of more garden space, I’m proud to say that I finished half of the new enlarged teepee garden beds. After completely enclosing the orchard in with chicken wire and installing a new gate, (with Matt, Michelle, Keith, Jess and Rory’s help), I dove into hauling dirt, mulch, compost, and wood chips down the hill. I was worried that it would take weeks as I can’t push the wheelbarrow full of heavy dirt while pregnant (I tip even when at full strength). But Michelle carried a few loads, and then I figured out the wonders of the wagon, Jess’s huge American SUV wagon given to her by my mom and George. This wagon is awesome for many reasons. If I put a tarp in the wagon, I can fill it up with anything and take it down the hill without hurting my back or losing my balance, even carrying Jess sitting under all of the mulch. Et voila, after newspapering the ground, tens of trips down the hill, tipping the wagon, spreading the materials evenly on the ground, dirty hands and knees and a terribly dirty Jess, a new garden ready for spring! It even has little paths to each of the fruit trees and some cow manure left as a token of appreciation from the cows who ate the fruit trees.

Again you ask? The cows got in again? What about the fences you put in? Yes! Four frisky little calves and one big momma broke in the one weak link, a temporary gate to the orchard in the rain, in the dark one night. Keith is attuned to the sounds of the animals and had been listening to one cow moaning for an hour or so. Finally, he put on his rain gear, took his flashlight and went down to see what was wrong. This large white heifer was crying because she could not get to her baby and give her milk. Her baby was “stuck” in the orchard, eating my trees! They ate most of the branches off of my apple, plum, nectarine, and orange trees. They decimated two native bushes, but left over half of the fruit trees untouched. None of the trees are ruined, just set back. I am sad, sad to see all of the flowers gone off of those beautiful trees, but learning. Just today Mary caught a calf entering through the one open link on the neighbor’s side, so I blocked that off too. Soon the grass will grow all over and they won’t be so desperate for food.
Amidst the rain and the visitors, Matt was able to do some building this week. He constructed the dividing wall between the two bedrooms. This is no simple wall though, nor a simple task. It is made up of closets, drawers, and shelves. If you know Matt, this is a true love of his: built-in storage. No shelves yet, just framework, we still need a roof.

He worked between the raindrops, while Jess and I worked on the garden. It’s raining! Run under the shed! It stopped, let’s go play in the dirt! One day after picking Matt up from the bank and dropping him off at Macnuts, upon return Jess and I decided to stay out in the rain. We found five eggs, what a thrill to go searching at 4pm, knowing that no dog had stolen them because New Dog went back to his home! We ventured down in the orchard to check out the cow destruction in the daylight. It was good fun, until we came inside and realized that Matt’s cell phone in my pocket had gotten soaked. Later on it was declared dead and necessitated lots of money to buy a new one. Oooops ): Another bummer is that I threw our sopping wet clothes in the dryer, including a rusty nail in my pocket. The clothes all came out green and speckled. Lessons learned: 1) close your pockets in your rain jacket and 2) clean out your pockets and never put a rusty nail in the dryer.

Jess had a busy week, even without playgroup or choir. On Tuesday Keith took her up to see Mary at work for her 60th birthday and to visit all of the elderly people who live at the retirement home that Mary manages. She had cake, charmed everyone, explored the halls, and sang the whole ride to and fro. She spent a few hours painting this week with Matt and I, but mostly with Keith who is an excellent painter. She has her own paint smock and paints with feathers and Qtips. She cooked up a storm in her playhouse while Keith brought up loads of dirt for her garden. Then she and Keith planted some native bushes in her little cubby house garden. Jess and I cooked quiches, bread, shortbread, pizzas and a few other things. She went to town with Matt a few times, and they had choir night together painting and playing. It’s funny, when she requests a long Dr. Suess book and I groan saying, “No…it’s too long.” She replies without a doubt, “Daddy read it,” as in “he will read it to me even though it’s long!” Her speech continues to entertain us endlessly. Today’s new word was “ointment?” (She has a diaper rash) Do we teach her these words, so unnecessary for a two year old? No, she just hears them and thinks they are fun to sound out and repeat. When you ask her simple questions like, “Where did you get that head band?” She’ll give great detail, “In pop’s sock drawer!” “Who made you that sweater?” “Mommy knitted it!” In the morning she has taken to the routine that both Matt and I need cuddles before she can get out of bed. It’s so funny because she willingly gives us cuddles, mum first, dad second. By the end of Matt’s cuddle though, she’s ready for breakfast and sunshine. Lying on Matt, head nuzzled into his neck, she looks up and eagerly asks, “All done???” She is released and off she goes...to the drawer for apricots.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day here in Australia, it is very confusing having two different days. Jess and I went shopping in Macksville this morning looking for a very specific gift…a brewer’s kit. Where might one look? First we stopped at a gift shop and bought what Jess thought Matt would like: soap?! We checked the camping supply store, he said, “check the health food shop.” It was closed, so we checked the pharmacy, the hardware store, the grocery store, the department store, the pawn shop. Everyone had a suggestion as to where I might try next. Now Jess had done very well walking but by this point grew tired. Luckily, she was meeting grandma and friends for morning tea, so I continued solo. Passing by the thrift shop, I saw a 5$ bag sale and had to partake. By this time, I bought Matt some chocolate thinking I’d never succeed. Someone else suggested the health food shop, so back I went. This time, it was open. “Try the small grocery store.” There it was, beside the river, a brewer’s kit all alone on the back shelf, waiting for a home. I breathed a sigh of relief, I did it! Out little town has exactly what I need, I just have to search for it! A few shop owners even said, “You’ll have to drive to Kempsey or Coffs Harbour,” bigger cities both 45 minutes away. As I walked along the river, passing by couples eating on picnic tables and a big hungry pelican, I felt happy, at peace, and in complete disbelief that this is my town.

Here’s wishing you a peaceful week. May you be in love with your town, be it quaint or bustling.