How ya goin?
Good evening. Today is our Spring Equinox and your Autumn Equinox. There sure seem to be some ugly economic problems and justified anxiety in the US at the moment. It’s probably not such a concern that the seasons are changing. It’s understandable, it seems like a pretty intense time. But just a few hours ago marked the perfect balance between light and dark, twelve hours of each. It’s time to let go of the things that aren’t working, move on to new ideas, to feel the balance of the dark and the light and search for such balance in our own lives. From here on out, our days will gradually overpower our nights as your nights will gradually overpower your days. You’ll laugh at what pagan hippies we are becoming, but we had an Equinox celebration with our friends last night. None of us had ever planned such a thing, so it took some major preparation. I am actually quite relieved. We didn’t dance around the fire or anything, but it was lovely to mark the season together.
Mainly we planned activities for the children, much safer to get them to do things we don’t have the courage to do. We set up a balance beam with ice on one side and flowers on the other, (Matt’s idea). I acted out a sprouting seed behind a curtain, while the children played the role of the sun and the rain. Anissa made “hairy caterpillars” with them, putting cotton balls in egg cartons with alfalfa seeds on top to be watered. The kids all brought “treasures” to decorate the nature table, surrounding the little handmade beeswax candles that Anissa and I made with our girls. Craig robbed his beehive for the occasion and brought containers full of fresh honeycomb for us all to take home. Sara dried and crumbled herbs to sprinkle in the fire. Spinach, asparagus and artichokes are all in season so we had a little bit of each, all home grown. We feasted on dishes, funnily enough, all containing spinach. Luckily it was dark by the time we ate so the children couldn’t see what color they were eating. We enjoyed ourselves, although it’s hard not to with a bright fire and stars above your head.
The weather has been good, warm enough to garden first thing in the morning. With strawberries to hunt and the nectarines getting bigger each day, I don’t have to drag anyone down to the garden. It is even warm enough to get wet, let the girls water the plants and play in the sprinkler. This morning I set Genevieve up in the sandpit with a big bucket of water and lots of little cups, quite a treat after being deprived of water play for a while. The mosquitoes are on their way, but not out in full force yet so we are making use of our freedom thus far. We spent some time planting seedlings, playing with dirt, planting new native shrubs and flowers, watering everything, bagging fruit in the trees as fruit fly protection, and of course, strawberry hunting. I spent a few hours in the dark planting potatoes, their sprouts were over four inches long so they could not wait any longer. My back was sore the next day from wheeling barrow loads of compost and mulch down the hill, but it was worth it, knowing such a task would have been impossible with the girls.
On the night of the full moon, Matt and the girls and I went out on the veranda to watch bats and to watch the moon rise. The bats are amazing here, their wingspan looks like it is surely over a foot wide. After a while we laid out a few blankets and Evie fell asleep looking up at the stars with the sound of large bat wings filling her ears. Matt played with his new camera snapping shots of anything he could.
Matt seems pretty happy: having a good job, lovely little girls and me , a kayak to release some energy and a new camera to fiddle with. If he gets home early enough from work and can see that I am in no great need, he puts on his massive black gum boots and runs down to grab the kayak. On Friday he got home in time to grab the girls and I to go canoeing. Dinner may have been terribly late, but it was worth it. Canoeing at dusk when nothing but dinner is left of the day. Matt finished up the chook pen yesterday, so complete that all we need now is grain, straw and some chickens. The girls and I joke about decorating the walls of the pen for the chickens,
I too am well, content, peaceful now, and very tired. Genevieve is still a terrible sleeper but she’ll grow up some day. Each morning she wakes before 6am, having slept the last few hours in our bed in hope of keeping her asleep until at least 6. Matt and I grumble around while she tries her hardest to will us out of bed. Eventually she gets me (or Matt sometimes) by saying, “Nappy?” “Drink of Water?” If that doesn’t work, she pulls on me saying, “Come on.” “get up!” She tries to dress me, “Jumpa? Slippers, socks?” I need to go to bed earlier but just can’t, so I am grumpy with her for waking. It’s not right, I know. Choir is good fun, I am also practicing my guitar more. I am feeling well connected to my family. My mom has just sent me a few cds of her piano music, and just today a cd of her reading stories to the girls. I hear my mom’s voice now any time I turn on her cd. My dad and Barb called today and we were able to spend Saturday with Matt’s dad and Carolyn.
After dance on Saturday, we took the girls out to Koala Park to meet Matt’s dad and Carolyn. It was nice to go on a long drive as a passenger. I was able to sew en route: a few screen sleeves to protect the fruit trees from fruit fly. Genevieve slept and Jacinta entertained herself pretty well. We don’t see Pete and Carolyn too much, so it was quite a special day, not to mention the animals. We pat koalas, fed kangaroos, held baby guinea pigs, watched quolls hunt, and checked out all the birds and reptiles. I don’t think I have ever fed a kangaroo out of my hand, what a thrill. Jacinta was able to feed crushed corn to a momma kangaroo and the joey in her pouch, it was beautiful.
One highlight was meeting their first chatty cockatoo. Over and over she said, “hello! How ya goin?” Supposedly she was shocked to hear an animal speak, but eventually she got used to it and now expects all birds to talk, hee hee.
Be thankful for the short journal tonight. Genevieve fell asleep in her chair at the table this afternoon, as I am falling asleep here at the computer.
Take care my friends,
Shana
Mainly we planned activities for the children, much safer to get them to do things we don’t have the courage to do. We set up a balance beam with ice on one side and flowers on the other, (Matt’s idea). I acted out a sprouting seed behind a curtain, while the children played the role of the sun and the rain. Anissa made “hairy caterpillars” with them, putting cotton balls in egg cartons with alfalfa seeds on top to be watered. The kids all brought “treasures” to decorate the nature table, surrounding the little handmade beeswax candles that Anissa and I made with our girls. Craig robbed his beehive for the occasion and brought containers full of fresh honeycomb for us all to take home. Sara dried and crumbled herbs to sprinkle in the fire. Spinach, asparagus and artichokes are all in season so we had a little bit of each, all home grown. We feasted on dishes, funnily enough, all containing spinach. Luckily it was dark by the time we ate so the children couldn’t see what color they were eating. We enjoyed ourselves, although it’s hard not to with a bright fire and stars above your head.
The weather has been good, warm enough to garden first thing in the morning. With strawberries to hunt and the nectarines getting bigger each day, I don’t have to drag anyone down to the garden. It is even warm enough to get wet, let the girls water the plants and play in the sprinkler. This morning I set Genevieve up in the sandpit with a big bucket of water and lots of little cups, quite a treat after being deprived of water play for a while. The mosquitoes are on their way, but not out in full force yet so we are making use of our freedom thus far. We spent some time planting seedlings, playing with dirt, planting new native shrubs and flowers, watering everything, bagging fruit in the trees as fruit fly protection, and of course, strawberry hunting. I spent a few hours in the dark planting potatoes, their sprouts were over four inches long so they could not wait any longer. My back was sore the next day from wheeling barrow loads of compost and mulch down the hill, but it was worth it, knowing such a task would have been impossible with the girls.
On the night of the full moon, Matt and the girls and I went out on the veranda to watch bats and to watch the moon rise. The bats are amazing here, their wingspan looks like it is surely over a foot wide. After a while we laid out a few blankets and Evie fell asleep looking up at the stars with the sound of large bat wings filling her ears. Matt played with his new camera snapping shots of anything he could.
Matt seems pretty happy: having a good job, lovely little girls and me , a kayak to release some energy and a new camera to fiddle with. If he gets home early enough from work and can see that I am in no great need, he puts on his massive black gum boots and runs down to grab the kayak. On Friday he got home in time to grab the girls and I to go canoeing. Dinner may have been terribly late, but it was worth it. Canoeing at dusk when nothing but dinner is left of the day. Matt finished up the chook pen yesterday, so complete that all we need now is grain, straw and some chickens. The girls and I joke about decorating the walls of the pen for the chickens,
I too am well, content, peaceful now, and very tired. Genevieve is still a terrible sleeper but she’ll grow up some day. Each morning she wakes before 6am, having slept the last few hours in our bed in hope of keeping her asleep until at least 6. Matt and I grumble around while she tries her hardest to will us out of bed. Eventually she gets me (or Matt sometimes) by saying, “Nappy?” “Drink of Water?” If that doesn’t work, she pulls on me saying, “Come on.” “get up!” She tries to dress me, “Jumpa? Slippers, socks?” I need to go to bed earlier but just can’t, so I am grumpy with her for waking. It’s not right, I know. Choir is good fun, I am also practicing my guitar more. I am feeling well connected to my family. My mom has just sent me a few cds of her piano music, and just today a cd of her reading stories to the girls. I hear my mom’s voice now any time I turn on her cd. My dad and Barb called today and we were able to spend Saturday with Matt’s dad and Carolyn.
After dance on Saturday, we took the girls out to Koala Park to meet Matt’s dad and Carolyn. It was nice to go on a long drive as a passenger. I was able to sew en route: a few screen sleeves to protect the fruit trees from fruit fly. Genevieve slept and Jacinta entertained herself pretty well. We don’t see Pete and Carolyn too much, so it was quite a special day, not to mention the animals. We pat koalas, fed kangaroos, held baby guinea pigs, watched quolls hunt, and checked out all the birds and reptiles. I don’t think I have ever fed a kangaroo out of my hand, what a thrill. Jacinta was able to feed crushed corn to a momma kangaroo and the joey in her pouch, it was beautiful.
One highlight was meeting their first chatty cockatoo. Over and over she said, “hello! How ya goin?” Supposedly she was shocked to hear an animal speak, but eventually she got used to it and now expects all birds to talk, hee hee.
Be thankful for the short journal tonight. Genevieve fell asleep in her chair at the table this afternoon, as I am falling asleep here at the computer.
Take care my friends,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
11:10 PM
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