Chasing chickens
Good evening y’all. This is perhaps the first time when I’ve sat down and thought… “Hmmm…what is there to say?” I suppose this is a sign that life is becoming very normal for me here. These newly formed intentional routines are guiding us through our days very nicely. Our early morning garden jaunts have led us to the last few strawberries in the patch, to the corn patch to scatter compost, to the clover-filled tepee for weeding, to the shed for story-telling, to the seedling boxes for transplanting, to the clay fort to make walls. Little tiny jobs that used to be written down in a to-do list get done almost as soon as I notice the need. I’m feeling like a real gardener now, well almost.
Matt would never call himself a real builder, although he has built a house and its furniture. It’s nice to hear the buzz of the big saws again. I missed the thrill of observing new walls pop up out of nowhere. This week Matt has framed the cellar walls and made the whole veranda/cellar construction project look real. You can see the shape now, it’ll be great to have more space to store things and just to sit outside on a shady afternoon. Today he dug out another pit beneath the veranda which will provide a space to park our bikes. He used to joke about digging himself an office, but now he’s getting a bit tired of digging. Matt’s website has also been “built” but unlike a house which once built remains as is for awhile, it is undergoing updates each day. For another challenge, Matt thought he’d push both girls into town to the park in the double stroller, up and down the hill. Jacinta is at an age where she is too little to walk all the way into town and back, and VERY heavy to push in the pram. Oh well, I suppose it keeps us fit. Matt’s biggest success this week was perhaps the garage sale that renewed his faith in garage sale-ing. He found recording equipment, books, Ugg boots and a booster seat. Garage sale-ing is part of Matt and Keith’s Saturday morning routine, if there are any good ones advertised.
In my newfound love for routines, I have turned Monday into “town day.” I drive the girls into town after gardening to do whatever we might need or just want to do. We usually hit the library first. We check out new books to keep Matt and I sane. Jacinta usually talks us into reading her at least five books a day. If the librarian wasn’t the absolute coldest woman I’d ever met, I’d probably love our time there. The little children’s section is really nice though, it’s a clean enclosed space for Evie to crawl. Amidst our errands, we have a picnic lunch on the river. We usually read one of our new books while dodging Evie’s grubby, grabby fingers. Lastly, we end up at the public pool for Jacinta’s swimming lesson. She is quite happy to be back in the pool with her teacher. Evie can’t wait to get in, she is actually quite hard to restrain while watching Jacinta’s fifteen minute lesson.
Perhaps that is a good image for Genevieve at this stage. She is struggling to jump in the water, to stand up, to walk, to chase her sister, to follow me out the door, to crawl off of the bed, to get over the terrace wall, to climb over the wall of pillows meant to block her out, to get her teeth out. Her third tooth is coming out, and Matt swears he can see the fourth. She doesn’t seem to be in terrible teething pain, although it surfaces from time to time. She is still smiley, chirpy, and now even chatty. Her conversations usually start after she has been freed from her high chair and go something like this: “guh…guh….mumumumumum.” Genevieve sometimes makes Jacinta laugh. More often, she inspires Jacinta to repeat the same antic that made Evie laugh once. This can go on forever, Jacinta getting louder and more boisterous each time her little sister giggles. I think this is Jess’s way of winning the attention, “Look at me! It is I who made Evie laugh and be cute.”
Jacinta is not constantly worried about her little sister stealing the show, just when she is tired or when Genevieve is doing something for the first time. Tonight at the dinner table Genevieve discovered her tongue, she was winding it in all directions and making us laugh. Jacinta’s response to all of this attention on her cute sister was to repeat the same phrase over and over. “What are you doing?” she asked Genevieve about one hundred and fifty times. The very repetitive nature of the question made Evie laugh, thus Jacinta kept going, progressively growing in volume. Obviously this had to be stopped. She dealt with the blow rather well, compared to instances when she is tired. The other day she had a major fatigue induced tantrum, started off while threading beads on to a bracelet. Genevieve had just fallen asleep, and Jacinta cracked. She bawled about the size of the bracelet, waking up her little sister who then also needed me. What a rough bit of logic for a three year old to figure out. If somehow she could understand that crying at the top of her lungs when in need of cuddles and a rest is only going to wake her little sister whose needs will then trump her own. Oh well, I suppose it’s life. She had dibs on the momma for a few years, now it’s Evie’s turn. In the end Jacinta ended up falling asleep on the fluffy wool rug on her floor and slept for almost two hours. Genevieve went back to sleep and I had an hour of daylight to myself.
What did I do with an hour alone? Instead of continuing my normal productive paths through the house, I lay down on the floor, stretched out and read a book. The book was about preserving food, a new interest of mine. I have had large amounts of fruit to use lately, boxes of peaches and nectarines. Typically I either make a fruit sauce or freeze the fruit for later. Matt took both girls out to the park on Saturday, leaving me yet another hour or two on my own. This time I was productive. I made a peach-apple pie, went on a walk and starting making pesto. I have decided that pesto really can be made with any pungent green herbs that are abundant in your garden. This time I used a combination of mint, lemon balm, arugula, oregano, and parsley in addition to the normal oil, garlic, salt and nuts (macadamia). Honestly the basil doesn’t seem to be that important, although it is good. Today’s food success was getting through a huge box of white flesh nectarines, eating quite a few but freezing the rest.
Our food cooperative group met today, this time at the beach. It was a funny place to divvy up large quantities of honey, macadamia nuts and macadamia oil, but it worked. The kids swam first, then we all came back to the shelter to set out our potluck lunch and start pouring oil and weighing nuts. The children stood partly in awe and confusion as their parents turned into shopkeepers exchanging money and weighing out food. Mostly though, they just grabbed bits of food and played at the park. It was a lovely morning, swimming and food sharing. It just so happens that all of our friends are into food. Hmmm…I wonder how that happened.
It has been a good week for getting together with friends. Friday night we had some new friends over for dinner. They have three older children, the ages of children Matt and I used to work with. Having been surrounded by children between the ages of zero and five for the past few years, it was really nice to soak up some of their energy. Last Sunday we went to the Miles’ house for lunch. Jacinta was in heaven playing with her little girlfriend Lilly, as she is going through a phase where girls are it. At one point she, Lilly, Rory and Aidan were all chasing chickens, trying to get them out of the garden and back into their pen. We do this at our house too, but never before has it been such fun. Anything with four children is better than with your mum. She told me later that Rory and Aidan were the ones to carry the chicks back to the pen after they had been caught. The boys are at least a year older than Jess and Lilly. She also happily commented that they let Lilly and Jacinta hold them before they threw them back over the fence.(In the meantime, Matt went checking on the beehives with Craig, and when a bee got into his netted hood, he kinda screamed like a baby and ran away… from “what” is unclear…) A few days later while storytelling in the garden, Jacinta embellished my story about two little girls named Jacinta and Genevieve. “and…..Jacinta chased the chicks, but this time, she caught the chicks herself and put them back.” Sometimes I hear her dreams coming through in stories.
Lately Jacinta has been asking me to “tell” her stories at bedtime, rather than read her stories. It keeps my mind working, but lately she is very specific about what she wants in the story. It’s either two, three, or four little girls out picking berries or some food she likes. The storyline gets old, but I suppose children like repetition. After the stories we usually finish the night with a few lullabies, I have mentioned this before. Well, the other night we thought she was tired enough after the stories, we said goodnight. Genevieve was in her crib sleeping. Out of the room came a loud sound which made us think one of them was crying. It was Jacinta singing herself lullabies because we had forgotten. We could have left her to do it herself, but Matt went back and sang to her.
After all, I had a lot to say, as usual. It takes me two nights now to write my journal. I blame it on Genevieve, as I never get a good night’s sleep and usually fall asleep before I can finish. I could also blame it on busy days, but such is life. We are all busy in our own way. I don’t imagine there are many people on this planet who go to bed thinking, “Oh I have so much energy left, I wish I had more to do!” Even the peacock, who seems to live a life of relative ease, I’m guessing he goes to bed feeling that he’s earned himself a good night’s sleep. Lately, he has been displaying his beautiful tail for us, perhaps as a Thank You for the seed. That could be work to him. Keith found out that he belongs to a lady up the road. Rumor has it that his tail has been run over a few times by cars as he lollygags across the road. It doesn’t look any worse off though, what a magnificent sight.
The peacock and I will sleep well tonight and we hope you do too! I also hope you see something as gorgeous and shocking as a peacock’s tail on display or as sweet and peaceful as a baby snoring after a long day’s work. Good night y’all. Happy Daylight Savings.
Peace,
Shana
Matt would never call himself a real builder, although he has built a house and its furniture. It’s nice to hear the buzz of the big saws again. I missed the thrill of observing new walls pop up out of nowhere. This week Matt has framed the cellar walls and made the whole veranda/cellar construction project look real. You can see the shape now, it’ll be great to have more space to store things and just to sit outside on a shady afternoon. Today he dug out another pit beneath the veranda which will provide a space to park our bikes. He used to joke about digging himself an office, but now he’s getting a bit tired of digging. Matt’s website has also been “built” but unlike a house which once built remains as is for awhile, it is undergoing updates each day. For another challenge, Matt thought he’d push both girls into town to the park in the double stroller, up and down the hill. Jacinta is at an age where she is too little to walk all the way into town and back, and VERY heavy to push in the pram. Oh well, I suppose it keeps us fit. Matt’s biggest success this week was perhaps the garage sale that renewed his faith in garage sale-ing. He found recording equipment, books, Ugg boots and a booster seat. Garage sale-ing is part of Matt and Keith’s Saturday morning routine, if there are any good ones advertised.
In my newfound love for routines, I have turned Monday into “town day.” I drive the girls into town after gardening to do whatever we might need or just want to do. We usually hit the library first. We check out new books to keep Matt and I sane. Jacinta usually talks us into reading her at least five books a day. If the librarian wasn’t the absolute coldest woman I’d ever met, I’d probably love our time there. The little children’s section is really nice though, it’s a clean enclosed space for Evie to crawl. Amidst our errands, we have a picnic lunch on the river. We usually read one of our new books while dodging Evie’s grubby, grabby fingers. Lastly, we end up at the public pool for Jacinta’s swimming lesson. She is quite happy to be back in the pool with her teacher. Evie can’t wait to get in, she is actually quite hard to restrain while watching Jacinta’s fifteen minute lesson.
Perhaps that is a good image for Genevieve at this stage. She is struggling to jump in the water, to stand up, to walk, to chase her sister, to follow me out the door, to crawl off of the bed, to get over the terrace wall, to climb over the wall of pillows meant to block her out, to get her teeth out. Her third tooth is coming out, and Matt swears he can see the fourth. She doesn’t seem to be in terrible teething pain, although it surfaces from time to time. She is still smiley, chirpy, and now even chatty. Her conversations usually start after she has been freed from her high chair and go something like this: “guh…guh….mumumumumum.” Genevieve sometimes makes Jacinta laugh. More often, she inspires Jacinta to repeat the same antic that made Evie laugh once. This can go on forever, Jacinta getting louder and more boisterous each time her little sister giggles. I think this is Jess’s way of winning the attention, “Look at me! It is I who made Evie laugh and be cute.”
Jacinta is not constantly worried about her little sister stealing the show, just when she is tired or when Genevieve is doing something for the first time. Tonight at the dinner table Genevieve discovered her tongue, she was winding it in all directions and making us laugh. Jacinta’s response to all of this attention on her cute sister was to repeat the same phrase over and over. “What are you doing?” she asked Genevieve about one hundred and fifty times. The very repetitive nature of the question made Evie laugh, thus Jacinta kept going, progressively growing in volume. Obviously this had to be stopped. She dealt with the blow rather well, compared to instances when she is tired. The other day she had a major fatigue induced tantrum, started off while threading beads on to a bracelet. Genevieve had just fallen asleep, and Jacinta cracked. She bawled about the size of the bracelet, waking up her little sister who then also needed me. What a rough bit of logic for a three year old to figure out. If somehow she could understand that crying at the top of her lungs when in need of cuddles and a rest is only going to wake her little sister whose needs will then trump her own. Oh well, I suppose it’s life. She had dibs on the momma for a few years, now it’s Evie’s turn. In the end Jacinta ended up falling asleep on the fluffy wool rug on her floor and slept for almost two hours. Genevieve went back to sleep and I had an hour of daylight to myself.
What did I do with an hour alone? Instead of continuing my normal productive paths through the house, I lay down on the floor, stretched out and read a book. The book was about preserving food, a new interest of mine. I have had large amounts of fruit to use lately, boxes of peaches and nectarines. Typically I either make a fruit sauce or freeze the fruit for later. Matt took both girls out to the park on Saturday, leaving me yet another hour or two on my own. This time I was productive. I made a peach-apple pie, went on a walk and starting making pesto. I have decided that pesto really can be made with any pungent green herbs that are abundant in your garden. This time I used a combination of mint, lemon balm, arugula, oregano, and parsley in addition to the normal oil, garlic, salt and nuts (macadamia). Honestly the basil doesn’t seem to be that important, although it is good. Today’s food success was getting through a huge box of white flesh nectarines, eating quite a few but freezing the rest.
Our food cooperative group met today, this time at the beach. It was a funny place to divvy up large quantities of honey, macadamia nuts and macadamia oil, but it worked. The kids swam first, then we all came back to the shelter to set out our potluck lunch and start pouring oil and weighing nuts. The children stood partly in awe and confusion as their parents turned into shopkeepers exchanging money and weighing out food. Mostly though, they just grabbed bits of food and played at the park. It was a lovely morning, swimming and food sharing. It just so happens that all of our friends are into food. Hmmm…I wonder how that happened.
It has been a good week for getting together with friends. Friday night we had some new friends over for dinner. They have three older children, the ages of children Matt and I used to work with. Having been surrounded by children between the ages of zero and five for the past few years, it was really nice to soak up some of their energy. Last Sunday we went to the Miles’ house for lunch. Jacinta was in heaven playing with her little girlfriend Lilly, as she is going through a phase where girls are it. At one point she, Lilly, Rory and Aidan were all chasing chickens, trying to get them out of the garden and back into their pen. We do this at our house too, but never before has it been such fun. Anything with four children is better than with your mum. She told me later that Rory and Aidan were the ones to carry the chicks back to the pen after they had been caught. The boys are at least a year older than Jess and Lilly. She also happily commented that they let Lilly and Jacinta hold them before they threw them back over the fence.(In the meantime, Matt went checking on the beehives with Craig, and when a bee got into his netted hood, he kinda screamed like a baby and ran away… from “what” is unclear…) A few days later while storytelling in the garden, Jacinta embellished my story about two little girls named Jacinta and Genevieve. “and…..Jacinta chased the chicks, but this time, she caught the chicks herself and put them back.” Sometimes I hear her dreams coming through in stories.
Lately Jacinta has been asking me to “tell” her stories at bedtime, rather than read her stories. It keeps my mind working, but lately she is very specific about what she wants in the story. It’s either two, three, or four little girls out picking berries or some food she likes. The storyline gets old, but I suppose children like repetition. After the stories we usually finish the night with a few lullabies, I have mentioned this before. Well, the other night we thought she was tired enough after the stories, we said goodnight. Genevieve was in her crib sleeping. Out of the room came a loud sound which made us think one of them was crying. It was Jacinta singing herself lullabies because we had forgotten. We could have left her to do it herself, but Matt went back and sang to her.
After all, I had a lot to say, as usual. It takes me two nights now to write my journal. I blame it on Genevieve, as I never get a good night’s sleep and usually fall asleep before I can finish. I could also blame it on busy days, but such is life. We are all busy in our own way. I don’t imagine there are many people on this planet who go to bed thinking, “Oh I have so much energy left, I wish I had more to do!” Even the peacock, who seems to live a life of relative ease, I’m guessing he goes to bed feeling that he’s earned himself a good night’s sleep. Lately, he has been displaying his beautiful tail for us, perhaps as a Thank You for the seed. That could be work to him. Keith found out that he belongs to a lady up the road. Rumor has it that his tail has been run over a few times by cars as he lollygags across the road. It doesn’t look any worse off though, what a magnificent sight.
The peacock and I will sleep well tonight and we hope you do too! I also hope you see something as gorgeous and shocking as a peacock’s tail on display or as sweet and peaceful as a baby snoring after a long day’s work. Good night y’all. Happy Daylight Savings.
Peace,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
10:25 PM
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