Pride and Mischief
Good evening loved ones, cough, cough. I hope you are enjoying the lovely scent of autumn all around you. My nose hasn’t been lucky enough to sniff the fermenting leaves and fires for three years now. I am very smell-oriented, cough, cough. This scent stayed in me for a long time, I could inhale deeply and summon this scent to mind, but it seems to have disappeared. I hope that arriving in the US in early December there will still be a little of this scent in the air to replenish me, cough, cough.
My chest infection has decided to stay a while. I stayed home this week and tried to stop talking for a little while, but I am not very good at that. I rested a little bit. Keith took the girls out a few times, to help me out. But of course, I did not rest as I should have. I gardened and cleaned as fast as I could to make use of the time. I did rest a little though. I actually sat and played in the sandbox with the girls, rather than gardening in the sun while they play in the shade. We turned a sand mountain into a volcano with baking soda and vinegar. I am exhausted by the end of each day though, so my body forces me to sleep early. It seems to be the only way to stop coughing at night. The girls don’t mind me being sick though. My temper is a bit shorter, I wonder if they notice. Probably. Jacinta thoughtfully said, “Mommy…you’re still a good mommy…even with that yucky sickness.”
Sweet Jacinta, she is full of kind words these days. When we say good night to the girls, we always say, “I love you,” just like my parents always did. Jacinta sometimes thoughtlessly mumbles, “I love you too…” Last night she surprised me when I told her “I love you.” She thought a moment and strongly replied, “I love you too Mommy. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.” What a rewarding development. Besides incessant comparisons and competitions, Jacinta is learning the art of honest flattery. She said to Matt that same evening, “Daddy, I love you sixty-four million. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.” Luckily in her explorations of the superlative, there is room for more than one at the top.
Our newly formed chicken flock doesn’t seem to have determined their pecking order yet. Rather than sleeping on their roost and battling it out who gets the prime spot on top, they all scrunch up into one corner on top of their laying box. Sometimes I pick them up mid-sleep and relocate them on the roost, only to discover an intruding rooster hiding underneath the brown hen’s bum. In addition to the three laying hens, we came across a bantam (small) hen in Keith’s shed who had just hatched eleven chicks. So the flock has just gone from 3 to 15, plus a desperate rooster or two. The roosters have lost their will to roam free. They either sit outside the pen looking in all day long, or simply fly in and hang out with the hens. It is interesting that they choose imprisonment rather than liberty, just to get a little action from hens that are too large for them anyway. I understand all boys’ schools now.
Like the roosters, Jacinta too is in love with the chickens, but mainly the chicks. She was able to grab the little chicks for the first few days but now the mother hen has become more aggressive so I have to grab the chicks for Jacinta to cuddle a few times a day. She’ll sit with a chick for as long as it will let her, sometimes set it upon the greens she has gathered and always says goodbye with a nuzzle on the cheek. Today all of the chickens escaped through a half-open door, so we had an adventure getting them all back home safely, nets, chasing, cages and all. Matt was the star of the show, I never knew he was such a clever chicken chaser. He seemed rather annoyed though. I on the other hand, while running and chasing them further from their pen, actually smiled and thought, “Wow, this is great fun!” Although I don’t have the sense to steer them in the right direction, I did catch Madame Poule with a net and was quite proud. Jacinta and Genevieve (well…somewhat) guarded the door to the pen and made sure they all stayed in while we chased the rest.
The girls are both getting so big and confident. Genevieve and I picked Jacinta up from preschool on Tuesday, with her bike in the front seat, some popcorn and a mango to share. We went to the duck pond in town to play, an outing we love more each time we go. Jacinta was straight out the car and on her bike, riding as fast as she could, back and forth under the beautiful shady tree cover. Genevieve and I went to a bench and dove into the popcorn, feeding ourselves and the moorhens, and watching the amazing birdlife on the islands in the middle of the pond: cranes, spoonbills, ibis, galahs, rainbow lorikeets. Jacinta looked joyful, carefree, and confident. I know she is truly enjoying herself when she does great things without the need to know I am watching. Not once did she say, “Look at me!” But of course, I was.
Jacinta went to playgroup without us on Thursday, but with a friend of mine. It was a dress-up day and she went as a butterfly. We had fun making her costume. It felt strange sending off my beautiful butterfly and missing out on her flight. She never gives much detail when she spends time away from me, but she told me about a few sweet treats and playing on a huge play structure. She talked about sliding down the pole, with help. She has mentioned before that her other friends Lily and Adelle can both go down without help, more amazed by their ability than feeling sorry for herself. Friday I took the girls to a new park and there happened to be a pole there. Jacinta worked on that pole until she could do it alone. Genevieve climbed across this scary hoopy thing over and over while I followed closely below with my hands ready to catch her if she fell. But climbers are climbers, and of course, she never fell. Siblings are good to teach that important lesson that we all have different gifts. Jacinta openly admitted that she was too scared to even step on the thing that her little sister could do. She was proud that she had mastered the pole and that was “her thing.”
Genevieve’s thing is climbing. She climbed higher this week than ever before. It is mulberry season now so there is a need for a big ladder, for the mulberry tree is much taller than the guava tree. Usually Keith climbs the ladder and fetches the berries alone, but I joined him a few days ago and I can see why he goes alone now. It is physically impossible to restrain Genevieve from climbing that ladder. She understands the word “no” now, but her physical will is so much stronger than one little word and sometimes my strength. The ladder is like a magnet sucking her in. We all went swimming at the neighbor’s pool the other day and again, she found an even higher ladder to a slide that even scared me. I shook in my boots as I stood at the bottom, doing all I could to make sure she didn’t tumble. But of course, she slipped down safely and loved the steep metal slide, hand made by our neighbor.
Our little climber is also mischievous, nothing like her sister at this age. Jacinta didn’t really toy with mischief, if I remember correctly. Genevieve’s will to experience is much more powerful than her will to please. In the past few weeks, I have had to clean up more “experiential messes” than ever before: sunscreen, water, juice, goldenseal ointment, flour, porridge, and rice. Yesterday the girls helped paint a plank of wood for the cellar (Matt is back in action on it). I stripped them down ahead of time, knowing it would be messy. But Genevieve immediately gave up on the plank of wood, her belly really needed to be blue. Genevieve’s mischief inspires the same in Jacinta, who a few minutes later joined Genevieve in her blueness.
Matt took the girls to Mount Yarrahappini to explore the creek and look at the waterfall this morning. Laughing at the insanity of it all later on, he described Genevieve as a maniac with a death wish. She started off walking in one inch deep puddles in her gum boots, and soon enough, went in up to her knees, and eventually sat down in the cold creek, and lay back to look up at the trees. Matt and I took the girls canoeing Sunday morning at low tide. It was rough getting the canoe out over the muck, but Matt did well. Getting the girls and I through it was perhaps the worst part. With our boots stuck under the mud, we became immobile. I fell flat on my behind with Genevieve in my arms and Jacinta next to me, about to have a meltdown. After carrying the canoe out, Matt came back and helped us out, all leaving our boots behind and trudging barefoot, sinking six inches below the surface with each step. It was a rough start but we had a nice time once we got going. The girls both get antsy after about 20 minutes, so Genevieve in her bulky life jacket leaned out of the canoe to touch the water. I’ll do anything to keep us out on the water, so I counterbalanced her with my weight. Eventually she leaned in so far she got her hair wet, and put her feet in. Jacinta, again, was inspired by her little sister’s idea of entertainment and joined in. Genevieve is fearless in many ways, and very trusting, I’d bet that most children her age are too. I remember that Jacinta used to be almost fearless. I guess fear and caution come with experience, a little later.
When Matt takes Genevieve out in the kayak, she seems calm, restrained and perhaps even cautious. It may be the way she is held between his legs while he paddles. Both girls look so peaceful and content sitting in Matt’s lap while he does all the work. They take turns going out, but both like the feel of the water rushing through their fingers and the hunt for duck feathers floating on the surface. Matt doesn’t get to go out as much as he’d like, it is still a treat. He snuck off one afternoon as soon as he got home, since the girls were busy playing with Keith. Jacinta found out and was pretty sad. Needless to say, he’ll probably say hello first next time.
Work for Matt has been very busy, for there are lots of sick people. A hospital overload means a case overload so he is running to and fro. But lo and behold, he is in the middle of a four day weekend. So he dove back to work on the cellar, insulating the walls, filling holes, trying to make it efficient and rodent proof. One recent joy Matt had was the arrival of Matthew Fox’s latest book, The Hidden Spirituality of Men, in which my Matt has an eight-page essay printed in full, including two of his own songs. Upon request, Matt wrote this essay on the paternal heart a while back, not really knowing how Fox might use it. The first he heard of it was a few weeks ago when a friend emailed to congratulate him on the essay, having read it in the book. Needless to say, Matt (Henry) is feeling pretty happy about the whole thing. Otherwise, one of Matt’s major interests at the moment is the US election, obsessed by the polls and news articles. We both received our absentee ballots this week. He is an eager voter as am I, but he even took a photo of his ballot, so proud of his choice. Jacinta helped me vote today, it’s all very exciting.
We were anxious for the Vice Presidential Debates this week. I couldn’t wait to hear both Biden and Palin speak, not having heard either of them speak, unedited by the media. I taped it while Matt was at work, as it was on at 10am here. We sat down that evening with a glass of good red wine to enjoy. I’ll spare you detail, but just say that I liked them both as humans with a good sense of humor and good intentions, a much more pleasant tone than the McCain/Obama debate. I thought Governor Palin was a slight bit more intelligent than the media has made her out to be, although she did make up her own questions (as I tend to do). I was not convinced of her ability to lead this US out of the rut we are in. Again, I agree with Biden’s plans and policies and am more convinced by his ability to lead a country. Obviously I don’t live in the US and have not been bombarded with the overwhelming media like you all have been because I was actually sad when the debate ended. Just two days until the next one!
Another exciting event was the arrival of a package I ordered from Amazon.France about a month ago. I have in my hands a novel written by my Senegalese host brother, Massamba Diadhou, published and for sale on Amazon. This is amazing, and really good reading to nourish the Franco-Senegalese side of me. I can hear him speaking through his characters. I know which traits of his main character are a mirror of his own personality or what he aims to be. I can see the places he describes, and hear the same stories Massamba and his siblings told me echoed in this book. I also ordered a few children’s movies in French, so now Jacinta is watching a cartoon about a little boy who lives with monks and talks to animals. Music speaks to her more than anything. She has already fallen in love with the theme song. I told her we could learn it too. Breathlessly she replied, “No mommy, this is the prettiest song ever and only they can sing it like this.” This inspires her to watch the little 20 minute stories as much as she is allowed.
It’s hard to be ill and have this much excitement in one week, but yet another event happened and required energy and voice. Our food co-op met and began discussing how to become a “Transition Town.” http://transitiontowns.org (There are a few transition towns in the USA, Boulder, Co is one.) It will be years before we can truly organize ourselves, but we have opened the discussion. We know there are hundreds of people in this valley who would agree on the need for these type of changes, it is just the question of how and if we have the energy to gather and do something together. The individual will is there, so it will be interesting to see how we make it a collective will, at least for those already convinced. For now, I’m just doing a little research...and trying to garden, cook simply and play more in the sandbox with the girls.
We made a volcano in the sand, with baking soda and vinegar, very exciting as Jacinta has never even heard the word, volcano. Another simple joy is that Genevieve now tells you when she needs a nappy change. After the announcement, she goes to the couch and lies down flat, awaiting relief. Jacinta’s big news is her new suitcase, special for big girls who are flying to America for Christmas. She is packed, literally, and ready to go. Her suitcase contains eleven books and five sweaters and is wheeled around the house constantly. “Mommy, I feel like we are leaving tomorrow!” Two months, tomorrow, what’s the difference to a four year old?
Matt has put a few more movies on our website and will put a new one on this week so have a look if you get a chance, www.paintedguitar.com
Have a lovely October, enjoy the scent. If anyone can figure out how to bottle it, please send me some!!!
Peace,
Shana
My chest infection has decided to stay a while. I stayed home this week and tried to stop talking for a little while, but I am not very good at that. I rested a little bit. Keith took the girls out a few times, to help me out. But of course, I did not rest as I should have. I gardened and cleaned as fast as I could to make use of the time. I did rest a little though. I actually sat and played in the sandbox with the girls, rather than gardening in the sun while they play in the shade. We turned a sand mountain into a volcano with baking soda and vinegar. I am exhausted by the end of each day though, so my body forces me to sleep early. It seems to be the only way to stop coughing at night. The girls don’t mind me being sick though. My temper is a bit shorter, I wonder if they notice. Probably. Jacinta thoughtfully said, “Mommy…you’re still a good mommy…even with that yucky sickness.”
Sweet Jacinta, she is full of kind words these days. When we say good night to the girls, we always say, “I love you,” just like my parents always did. Jacinta sometimes thoughtlessly mumbles, “I love you too…” Last night she surprised me when I told her “I love you.” She thought a moment and strongly replied, “I love you too Mommy. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.” What a rewarding development. Besides incessant comparisons and competitions, Jacinta is learning the art of honest flattery. She said to Matt that same evening, “Daddy, I love you sixty-four million. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.” Luckily in her explorations of the superlative, there is room for more than one at the top.
Our newly formed chicken flock doesn’t seem to have determined their pecking order yet. Rather than sleeping on their roost and battling it out who gets the prime spot on top, they all scrunch up into one corner on top of their laying box. Sometimes I pick them up mid-sleep and relocate them on the roost, only to discover an intruding rooster hiding underneath the brown hen’s bum. In addition to the three laying hens, we came across a bantam (small) hen in Keith’s shed who had just hatched eleven chicks. So the flock has just gone from 3 to 15, plus a desperate rooster or two. The roosters have lost their will to roam free. They either sit outside the pen looking in all day long, or simply fly in and hang out with the hens. It is interesting that they choose imprisonment rather than liberty, just to get a little action from hens that are too large for them anyway. I understand all boys’ schools now.
Like the roosters, Jacinta too is in love with the chickens, but mainly the chicks. She was able to grab the little chicks for the first few days but now the mother hen has become more aggressive so I have to grab the chicks for Jacinta to cuddle a few times a day. She’ll sit with a chick for as long as it will let her, sometimes set it upon the greens she has gathered and always says goodbye with a nuzzle on the cheek. Today all of the chickens escaped through a half-open door, so we had an adventure getting them all back home safely, nets, chasing, cages and all. Matt was the star of the show, I never knew he was such a clever chicken chaser. He seemed rather annoyed though. I on the other hand, while running and chasing them further from their pen, actually smiled and thought, “Wow, this is great fun!” Although I don’t have the sense to steer them in the right direction, I did catch Madame Poule with a net and was quite proud. Jacinta and Genevieve (well…somewhat) guarded the door to the pen and made sure they all stayed in while we chased the rest.
The girls are both getting so big and confident. Genevieve and I picked Jacinta up from preschool on Tuesday, with her bike in the front seat, some popcorn and a mango to share. We went to the duck pond in town to play, an outing we love more each time we go. Jacinta was straight out the car and on her bike, riding as fast as she could, back and forth under the beautiful shady tree cover. Genevieve and I went to a bench and dove into the popcorn, feeding ourselves and the moorhens, and watching the amazing birdlife on the islands in the middle of the pond: cranes, spoonbills, ibis, galahs, rainbow lorikeets. Jacinta looked joyful, carefree, and confident. I know she is truly enjoying herself when she does great things without the need to know I am watching. Not once did she say, “Look at me!” But of course, I was.
Jacinta went to playgroup without us on Thursday, but with a friend of mine. It was a dress-up day and she went as a butterfly. We had fun making her costume. It felt strange sending off my beautiful butterfly and missing out on her flight. She never gives much detail when she spends time away from me, but she told me about a few sweet treats and playing on a huge play structure. She talked about sliding down the pole, with help. She has mentioned before that her other friends Lily and Adelle can both go down without help, more amazed by their ability than feeling sorry for herself. Friday I took the girls to a new park and there happened to be a pole there. Jacinta worked on that pole until she could do it alone. Genevieve climbed across this scary hoopy thing over and over while I followed closely below with my hands ready to catch her if she fell. But climbers are climbers, and of course, she never fell. Siblings are good to teach that important lesson that we all have different gifts. Jacinta openly admitted that she was too scared to even step on the thing that her little sister could do. She was proud that she had mastered the pole and that was “her thing.”
Genevieve’s thing is climbing. She climbed higher this week than ever before. It is mulberry season now so there is a need for a big ladder, for the mulberry tree is much taller than the guava tree. Usually Keith climbs the ladder and fetches the berries alone, but I joined him a few days ago and I can see why he goes alone now. It is physically impossible to restrain Genevieve from climbing that ladder. She understands the word “no” now, but her physical will is so much stronger than one little word and sometimes my strength. The ladder is like a magnet sucking her in. We all went swimming at the neighbor’s pool the other day and again, she found an even higher ladder to a slide that even scared me. I shook in my boots as I stood at the bottom, doing all I could to make sure she didn’t tumble. But of course, she slipped down safely and loved the steep metal slide, hand made by our neighbor.
Our little climber is also mischievous, nothing like her sister at this age. Jacinta didn’t really toy with mischief, if I remember correctly. Genevieve’s will to experience is much more powerful than her will to please. In the past few weeks, I have had to clean up more “experiential messes” than ever before: sunscreen, water, juice, goldenseal ointment, flour, porridge, and rice. Yesterday the girls helped paint a plank of wood for the cellar (Matt is back in action on it). I stripped them down ahead of time, knowing it would be messy. But Genevieve immediately gave up on the plank of wood, her belly really needed to be blue. Genevieve’s mischief inspires the same in Jacinta, who a few minutes later joined Genevieve in her blueness.
Matt took the girls to Mount Yarrahappini to explore the creek and look at the waterfall this morning. Laughing at the insanity of it all later on, he described Genevieve as a maniac with a death wish. She started off walking in one inch deep puddles in her gum boots, and soon enough, went in up to her knees, and eventually sat down in the cold creek, and lay back to look up at the trees. Matt and I took the girls canoeing Sunday morning at low tide. It was rough getting the canoe out over the muck, but Matt did well. Getting the girls and I through it was perhaps the worst part. With our boots stuck under the mud, we became immobile. I fell flat on my behind with Genevieve in my arms and Jacinta next to me, about to have a meltdown. After carrying the canoe out, Matt came back and helped us out, all leaving our boots behind and trudging barefoot, sinking six inches below the surface with each step. It was a rough start but we had a nice time once we got going. The girls both get antsy after about 20 minutes, so Genevieve in her bulky life jacket leaned out of the canoe to touch the water. I’ll do anything to keep us out on the water, so I counterbalanced her with my weight. Eventually she leaned in so far she got her hair wet, and put her feet in. Jacinta, again, was inspired by her little sister’s idea of entertainment and joined in. Genevieve is fearless in many ways, and very trusting, I’d bet that most children her age are too. I remember that Jacinta used to be almost fearless. I guess fear and caution come with experience, a little later.
When Matt takes Genevieve out in the kayak, she seems calm, restrained and perhaps even cautious. It may be the way she is held between his legs while he paddles. Both girls look so peaceful and content sitting in Matt’s lap while he does all the work. They take turns going out, but both like the feel of the water rushing through their fingers and the hunt for duck feathers floating on the surface. Matt doesn’t get to go out as much as he’d like, it is still a treat. He snuck off one afternoon as soon as he got home, since the girls were busy playing with Keith. Jacinta found out and was pretty sad. Needless to say, he’ll probably say hello first next time.
Work for Matt has been very busy, for there are lots of sick people. A hospital overload means a case overload so he is running to and fro. But lo and behold, he is in the middle of a four day weekend. So he dove back to work on the cellar, insulating the walls, filling holes, trying to make it efficient and rodent proof. One recent joy Matt had was the arrival of Matthew Fox’s latest book, The Hidden Spirituality of Men, in which my Matt has an eight-page essay printed in full, including two of his own songs. Upon request, Matt wrote this essay on the paternal heart a while back, not really knowing how Fox might use it. The first he heard of it was a few weeks ago when a friend emailed to congratulate him on the essay, having read it in the book. Needless to say, Matt (Henry) is feeling pretty happy about the whole thing. Otherwise, one of Matt’s major interests at the moment is the US election, obsessed by the polls and news articles. We both received our absentee ballots this week. He is an eager voter as am I, but he even took a photo of his ballot, so proud of his choice. Jacinta helped me vote today, it’s all very exciting.
We were anxious for the Vice Presidential Debates this week. I couldn’t wait to hear both Biden and Palin speak, not having heard either of them speak, unedited by the media. I taped it while Matt was at work, as it was on at 10am here. We sat down that evening with a glass of good red wine to enjoy. I’ll spare you detail, but just say that I liked them both as humans with a good sense of humor and good intentions, a much more pleasant tone than the McCain/Obama debate. I thought Governor Palin was a slight bit more intelligent than the media has made her out to be, although she did make up her own questions (as I tend to do). I was not convinced of her ability to lead this US out of the rut we are in. Again, I agree with Biden’s plans and policies and am more convinced by his ability to lead a country. Obviously I don’t live in the US and have not been bombarded with the overwhelming media like you all have been because I was actually sad when the debate ended. Just two days until the next one!
Another exciting event was the arrival of a package I ordered from Amazon.France about a month ago. I have in my hands a novel written by my Senegalese host brother, Massamba Diadhou, published and for sale on Amazon. This is amazing, and really good reading to nourish the Franco-Senegalese side of me. I can hear him speaking through his characters. I know which traits of his main character are a mirror of his own personality or what he aims to be. I can see the places he describes, and hear the same stories Massamba and his siblings told me echoed in this book. I also ordered a few children’s movies in French, so now Jacinta is watching a cartoon about a little boy who lives with monks and talks to animals. Music speaks to her more than anything. She has already fallen in love with the theme song. I told her we could learn it too. Breathlessly she replied, “No mommy, this is the prettiest song ever and only they can sing it like this.” This inspires her to watch the little 20 minute stories as much as she is allowed.
It’s hard to be ill and have this much excitement in one week, but yet another event happened and required energy and voice. Our food co-op met and began discussing how to become a “Transition Town.” http://transitiontowns.org (There are a few transition towns in the USA, Boulder, Co is one.) It will be years before we can truly organize ourselves, but we have opened the discussion. We know there are hundreds of people in this valley who would agree on the need for these type of changes, it is just the question of how and if we have the energy to gather and do something together. The individual will is there, so it will be interesting to see how we make it a collective will, at least for those already convinced. For now, I’m just doing a little research...and trying to garden, cook simply and play more in the sandbox with the girls.
We made a volcano in the sand, with baking soda and vinegar, very exciting as Jacinta has never even heard the word, volcano. Another simple joy is that Genevieve now tells you when she needs a nappy change. After the announcement, she goes to the couch and lies down flat, awaiting relief. Jacinta’s big news is her new suitcase, special for big girls who are flying to America for Christmas. She is packed, literally, and ready to go. Her suitcase contains eleven books and five sweaters and is wheeled around the house constantly. “Mommy, I feel like we are leaving tomorrow!” Two months, tomorrow, what’s the difference to a four year old?
Matt has put a few more movies on our website and will put a new one on this week so have a look if you get a chance, www.paintedguitar.com
Have a lovely October, enjoy the scent. If anyone can figure out how to bottle it, please send me some!!!
Peace,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
10:28 PM
2 Comments:
Shana, hello!
I looked through the last movie with you and your sweetest girls and wanted to ask where I could find a song you played there. It is so beautifull and calming! "You shall be"...
I also often listen to Matt's songs you sing and wanted to tell you sing just beautifully. Many our stars are just not to be compared with you. Honestly :)
Lena (from Moscow with love :)
Shana
Hi i always love reading about all the adventures you have:) It is fun to see how Reed and Genevieve are going through similar phases at times (reed is a climber too!)I've been trying to email you but it won't go through so if you could please email me so i can respond back that would be great!
Thanks
Caroline
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