Cozy little house
The dancing flames are more than beautiful right now. Fire is tantalizing, it draws you in, but tonight I am not watching the flames. The fire is our heater. Growing up in a cold part of the USA, fire meant cracking nuts with my family, cuddling on the couch, listening to mom or dad play the piano. At camp it came to mean stars, s’mores, loud children’s songs and skits. In Honduras fire meant tortillas and dinner being cooked. In a remote area of the Pyrénées mountains I spent hours cooking chapattis and raspberry jam on the fire. In Matt’s and my first home together we had fires outside in our chiminea just for fun. If we wanted warmth, we’d have stayed inside. Those fires were a good way to spend time outside at night and burn up off fallen branches from the back yard. These fires often involved a glass of wine, a guitar, some knitting, and friends. Tonight I sit in the little house that Matt built in the hills of the Nambucca Valley of Australia, enjoying the warmth. I miss all the old fires in my life, but I surely love the new fires. I’ve been rooting for a fireplace since Matt and I got married. Voila, ten years later, he cuts the hole in the roof to put in the chimney and installs the whole thing himself. Tonight he hooked up a fan to blow the heat all through the house. It seems to be working. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago with no idea on how houses or built, I never could have guessed I’d marry someone who would build our house. Matt’s grandpa built his own house, but I don’t think Matt imagined he would do the same thing.
It is cozy sitting here in my Ugg boots next to the newly hung curtains. They block out the chill of the windows. Last week I said making curtains was a fun task, hee hee. By the end, it became a drag. I understand why people buy pre-fabbed curtains, but nonetheless, I’ll do anything I can to save money, to come up with something exactly as I imagine it, and to prove to myself that I can. Thus, it was a good project. Wednesday Matt had his first RDO (Rostered Day Off) because of a dental appointment. He had already installed all of the rods, but was able to help me hang the last huge curtains. We now have no curtainless, chilly windows. This is also how Matt found the time to get up on the roof in daylight and install the fireplace, thanks RDO. It was shocking that evening, the warmth and the fact that we had actually finished two major winter preparations on the same day after planning them for months.
The girls are sounds asleep and Matt is watching a scary movie in another room.
He enjoys his weekends, as do most working people. He is tired, but energetic having put in a good week’s work and getting paid for it. This morning he took Jacinta and Genevieve to dance while I gardened. He did some brick work on the fireplace, relaxed and worked on his book. The table of contents is now almost complete. You can have a peek if you like at www.originallyblessed.org . This is quite an achievement because it means that all of his contributors are actually locked in and most have sent in their work. In a few weeks book orders can also be made on the website, the printer is ready to go. It will be printed soon, as the conference at which he will launch Originally Blessed is in July.
My choir sings in many beautiful languages, thanks to our director Fiona. Right now we are singing a Cuban freedom march, numerous South African freedom songs (with clicks!), a Bulgarian love song, a few Latin and French Taizé chants, a Mexican carol, a Tahitian song, and a few African American spirituals. I can’t believe my luck, running into my dream choir in this small town (which doesn’t seem so small anymore). I have sang in choirs since age seven, singing in Italian, French, German and English, of course. My church choir sang a few African songs, but generally my choirs were pretty Eurocentric. To understand the words or to feel the vibrations, the harmonies, the rhythm, this is always a question. Although I could pretend to be linguist since I majored in French, I am certainly one to happily ignore language and feel the notes. Thus singing in foreign languages is great for me, as it also adds a new element: totally new harmonies, rhythm and soul. One new thing is that solos are sung without written music, and I actually have to listen to the choir before I come in, rather than just counting and watching the music. Sometimes I have to close my eyes to tune out and listen for the rhythm. This is an amazing feeling, singing above awesome harmonies, bellowing a different line and feeling the wholeness of the music, of the group. The choir went out for coffee afterwards for the first time this week. Matt had picked the girls up after work and took them home to bed. I felt like a giddy teenager out past my bedtime. As the girls get older, I’m sure I’ll feel this freedom more and more, and miss the times when they needed me constantly.
Monday afternoon I had a Mother’s Day massage while Keith took Jacinta for ice cream and Evie slept in the pram. A masseuse can rub bones you didn’t even know existed and bring out pain you didn’t know you had. I find that amazing, perhaps a little troubling also. Afterwards, we ran a few errands, one of which was very exciting. We bought train tickets to go to Sydney and meet my sister Lecia and her family at the airport. We also bought their return tickets to come North to Macksville to stay with us after our 3 days of tourism in the big smoke. All relaxed and happy, we came home for French class. This was the first time Genevieve stayed with us for the entire class. Usually she stays with my friends, whining the whole time feeling bad about being left behind. It was a good change, she played along very well. She hears French a lot anyway. Unlike Jacinta, she doesn’t insist on English. At naptime, I read her to sleep with French poetry.
Genevieve’s week was spent teething, eating, enjoying the outdoors, climbing anything and anyone, trying out new words, and moving objects from one place to another. I haven’t given her chick peas in a few weeks, but she loves them. The last time she saw them she wasn’t saying anything but mommy and da. Today she saw them and before I said anything, she excitedly said, “chih pea!” This is evidence that they really are filing things in their brains, waiting until their mouths can express what their ears took in a while ago. She also started saying Jacinta’s name, “Jinta.” We made play dough and let Evie join in when it was time to play. She only licked it a few times, but mainly enjoyed squishing it and moving it from container to container. This has been a major pastime this week: putting things away. She loves tipping the crayons out of the box after she packs them away, then picking them up one by one, methodically laying them out on a chair. She is starting to associate certain cupboards with certain items. Every time she goes past Keith and Mary’s fridge she insistently requests, “Gay, gay, gay!” (grapes). Whenever she passes their pantry, she calls out, “BOH, BOH!” (bone) wanting to give Jedda a bone. She doesn’t really want to give the dog a bone, she wants to run around with it, have Jedda follow her and chew on it herself. She’s a funny little girl.
Jacinta also loves to grab your attention and to laugh. Sometimes she goes on laughing just to hear what it sounds like, well, it seems that way. Genevieve thinks it’s funny, but even her friend Lilly has tried to tell her, “Jacinta, stop laughing. It’s not funny.” This gives her all the more energy to keep it up. She has watched Lilly and Aidan’s response to their little baby brother Henry pulling their hair, it is laughter whereas Jacinta’s is anger and a sense of inequality. Once this week, when Evie hurt her, she started to get angry and forced a laugh out. It was a strange laugh. I could see how hard it was for her but her strong will pushed it out.
Jacinta had a lot of crafty energy this week, spending hours with play dough, taping and stapling papers together, colouring, decorating with stickers. My mom sent her hundreds of stickers, so many that she actually admitted that it was too much for her and wanted to share rather than hoarding them. She made us each a ring with them, made cards, and constantly put them on our hands and gave them to Evie for pure entertainment. She made birthday cakes for herself with play dough, even singing to herself in anticipation of her upcoming 4th birthday. She enjoyed preschool on Tuesday from start to finish, no tears. This made us all smile in relief.
Genevieve and I spent preschool day moseying around the house and playing in the garden. We hopped back and forth between gardens to keep her spirits up, weeding, and discovering the few successful seeds. Slimy, crawly creatures keep Evie happy for a while, but fatigue eventually wins. She had a two hour nap that day, wonder of wonders. It may be that she has a cold, she and Jacinta caught colds again. Keith and Mary have them too. It was another week full of herbs, liquids, cough syrup, vitamin C, the humidifier and without much dairy. Nonetheless, we had a lovely week, it is only the nights that they seem sick.
I’ll close with a good picture of our meandering days and what kind of activities pop out of nowhere. Genevieve and I went out to hang laundry on the line. Jacinta decides to join us, taking a break from crafty creation at her desk. She does trick after trick calling out every minute, “Watch this Mom!” Genevieve is taking clothespins out of my bucket, walks them up the hill, one by one, to put them in a stone plant pot, marvelling at her work. Keith comes out to feed the chickens. I mention that there are some ripe guavas on the tree above the old chook pen. Keith pulls out the ladder, climbs precariously up it, stands in the tree, contemplating how we can get up ten feet higher. He lays out a plank of wood across the weak roof, and I take his place, walking out on it to pick the guavas. Keith is helping me as I gain my balance on the tree and before we can do anything about it, Genevieve is halfway up the ladder. All I can do is pull her up on the roof and let her pick a guava, then passing her back down to Keith. Jacinta then decides that she is done doing tricks and needs to come up the ladder and get a guava. So Keith and I help her up and down, guava in hand. After I collect about twenty-five pieces almost ripe guava, some munched by fruit bats I climb down and we enjoy them at the swing set.
Although my feet have frozen in the time I have been writing and gloating about our fireplace and curtains, I still maintain that we are incredibly lucky to be in this paradise. My friend Khady of whom I have spoken many times, studying in Paris, missing her family in Senegal, has found a good job in a non-profit in Dakar, her home town. Next month she will return home to live with her husband and eldest daughter to live surrounded by her huge, loving family. China, Burma, wars, rebellion, terrorism, famine. Yes, we know of immeasurable pain and suffering in the world. What does the information do for us? Make us sad and miserable? Make us feel lucky, or guilty or unjustly privileged or just aware and informed? Does it make us yearn for change? Whatever it does for us, we must also rejoice at the little victories against the odds whether they occur in our homes, our towns or in the poorest, most remote places in the world. Search out a few little triumphs this week and rejoice.
Peace to you all,
Shana
It is cozy sitting here in my Ugg boots next to the newly hung curtains. They block out the chill of the windows. Last week I said making curtains was a fun task, hee hee. By the end, it became a drag. I understand why people buy pre-fabbed curtains, but nonetheless, I’ll do anything I can to save money, to come up with something exactly as I imagine it, and to prove to myself that I can. Thus, it was a good project. Wednesday Matt had his first RDO (Rostered Day Off) because of a dental appointment. He had already installed all of the rods, but was able to help me hang the last huge curtains. We now have no curtainless, chilly windows. This is also how Matt found the time to get up on the roof in daylight and install the fireplace, thanks RDO. It was shocking that evening, the warmth and the fact that we had actually finished two major winter preparations on the same day after planning them for months.
The girls are sounds asleep and Matt is watching a scary movie in another room.
He enjoys his weekends, as do most working people. He is tired, but energetic having put in a good week’s work and getting paid for it. This morning he took Jacinta and Genevieve to dance while I gardened. He did some brick work on the fireplace, relaxed and worked on his book. The table of contents is now almost complete. You can have a peek if you like at www.originallyblessed.org . This is quite an achievement because it means that all of his contributors are actually locked in and most have sent in their work. In a few weeks book orders can also be made on the website, the printer is ready to go. It will be printed soon, as the conference at which he will launch Originally Blessed is in July.
My choir sings in many beautiful languages, thanks to our director Fiona. Right now we are singing a Cuban freedom march, numerous South African freedom songs (with clicks!), a Bulgarian love song, a few Latin and French Taizé chants, a Mexican carol, a Tahitian song, and a few African American spirituals. I can’t believe my luck, running into my dream choir in this small town (which doesn’t seem so small anymore). I have sang in choirs since age seven, singing in Italian, French, German and English, of course. My church choir sang a few African songs, but generally my choirs were pretty Eurocentric. To understand the words or to feel the vibrations, the harmonies, the rhythm, this is always a question. Although I could pretend to be linguist since I majored in French, I am certainly one to happily ignore language and feel the notes. Thus singing in foreign languages is great for me, as it also adds a new element: totally new harmonies, rhythm and soul. One new thing is that solos are sung without written music, and I actually have to listen to the choir before I come in, rather than just counting and watching the music. Sometimes I have to close my eyes to tune out and listen for the rhythm. This is an amazing feeling, singing above awesome harmonies, bellowing a different line and feeling the wholeness of the music, of the group. The choir went out for coffee afterwards for the first time this week. Matt had picked the girls up after work and took them home to bed. I felt like a giddy teenager out past my bedtime. As the girls get older, I’m sure I’ll feel this freedom more and more, and miss the times when they needed me constantly.
Monday afternoon I had a Mother’s Day massage while Keith took Jacinta for ice cream and Evie slept in the pram. A masseuse can rub bones you didn’t even know existed and bring out pain you didn’t know you had. I find that amazing, perhaps a little troubling also. Afterwards, we ran a few errands, one of which was very exciting. We bought train tickets to go to Sydney and meet my sister Lecia and her family at the airport. We also bought their return tickets to come North to Macksville to stay with us after our 3 days of tourism in the big smoke. All relaxed and happy, we came home for French class. This was the first time Genevieve stayed with us for the entire class. Usually she stays with my friends, whining the whole time feeling bad about being left behind. It was a good change, she played along very well. She hears French a lot anyway. Unlike Jacinta, she doesn’t insist on English. At naptime, I read her to sleep with French poetry.
Genevieve’s week was spent teething, eating, enjoying the outdoors, climbing anything and anyone, trying out new words, and moving objects from one place to another. I haven’t given her chick peas in a few weeks, but she loves them. The last time she saw them she wasn’t saying anything but mommy and da. Today she saw them and before I said anything, she excitedly said, “chih pea!” This is evidence that they really are filing things in their brains, waiting until their mouths can express what their ears took in a while ago. She also started saying Jacinta’s name, “Jinta.” We made play dough and let Evie join in when it was time to play. She only licked it a few times, but mainly enjoyed squishing it and moving it from container to container. This has been a major pastime this week: putting things away. She loves tipping the crayons out of the box after she packs them away, then picking them up one by one, methodically laying them out on a chair. She is starting to associate certain cupboards with certain items. Every time she goes past Keith and Mary’s fridge she insistently requests, “Gay, gay, gay!” (grapes). Whenever she passes their pantry, she calls out, “BOH, BOH!” (bone) wanting to give Jedda a bone. She doesn’t really want to give the dog a bone, she wants to run around with it, have Jedda follow her and chew on it herself. She’s a funny little girl.
Jacinta also loves to grab your attention and to laugh. Sometimes she goes on laughing just to hear what it sounds like, well, it seems that way. Genevieve thinks it’s funny, but even her friend Lilly has tried to tell her, “Jacinta, stop laughing. It’s not funny.” This gives her all the more energy to keep it up. She has watched Lilly and Aidan’s response to their little baby brother Henry pulling their hair, it is laughter whereas Jacinta’s is anger and a sense of inequality. Once this week, when Evie hurt her, she started to get angry and forced a laugh out. It was a strange laugh. I could see how hard it was for her but her strong will pushed it out.
Jacinta had a lot of crafty energy this week, spending hours with play dough, taping and stapling papers together, colouring, decorating with stickers. My mom sent her hundreds of stickers, so many that she actually admitted that it was too much for her and wanted to share rather than hoarding them. She made us each a ring with them, made cards, and constantly put them on our hands and gave them to Evie for pure entertainment. She made birthday cakes for herself with play dough, even singing to herself in anticipation of her upcoming 4th birthday. She enjoyed preschool on Tuesday from start to finish, no tears. This made us all smile in relief.
Genevieve and I spent preschool day moseying around the house and playing in the garden. We hopped back and forth between gardens to keep her spirits up, weeding, and discovering the few successful seeds. Slimy, crawly creatures keep Evie happy for a while, but fatigue eventually wins. She had a two hour nap that day, wonder of wonders. It may be that she has a cold, she and Jacinta caught colds again. Keith and Mary have them too. It was another week full of herbs, liquids, cough syrup, vitamin C, the humidifier and without much dairy. Nonetheless, we had a lovely week, it is only the nights that they seem sick.
I’ll close with a good picture of our meandering days and what kind of activities pop out of nowhere. Genevieve and I went out to hang laundry on the line. Jacinta decides to join us, taking a break from crafty creation at her desk. She does trick after trick calling out every minute, “Watch this Mom!” Genevieve is taking clothespins out of my bucket, walks them up the hill, one by one, to put them in a stone plant pot, marvelling at her work. Keith comes out to feed the chickens. I mention that there are some ripe guavas on the tree above the old chook pen. Keith pulls out the ladder, climbs precariously up it, stands in the tree, contemplating how we can get up ten feet higher. He lays out a plank of wood across the weak roof, and I take his place, walking out on it to pick the guavas. Keith is helping me as I gain my balance on the tree and before we can do anything about it, Genevieve is halfway up the ladder. All I can do is pull her up on the roof and let her pick a guava, then passing her back down to Keith. Jacinta then decides that she is done doing tricks and needs to come up the ladder and get a guava. So Keith and I help her up and down, guava in hand. After I collect about twenty-five pieces almost ripe guava, some munched by fruit bats I climb down and we enjoy them at the swing set.
Although my feet have frozen in the time I have been writing and gloating about our fireplace and curtains, I still maintain that we are incredibly lucky to be in this paradise. My friend Khady of whom I have spoken many times, studying in Paris, missing her family in Senegal, has found a good job in a non-profit in Dakar, her home town. Next month she will return home to live with her husband and eldest daughter to live surrounded by her huge, loving family. China, Burma, wars, rebellion, terrorism, famine. Yes, we know of immeasurable pain and suffering in the world. What does the information do for us? Make us sad and miserable? Make us feel lucky, or guilty or unjustly privileged or just aware and informed? Does it make us yearn for change? Whatever it does for us, we must also rejoice at the little victories against the odds whether they occur in our homes, our towns or in the poorest, most remote places in the world. Search out a few little triumphs this week and rejoice.
Peace to you all,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
11:14 PM
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