Blow ya kisses all day
Hello there. Time is flying, it’s hard to believe that it is already the third week of November. Your stores are probably filled with Thanksgiving decorations (which I actually miss) while ours are already turning red and green. Jacinta is getting so excited for Christmas, especially when she sees the trees, garland, ornaments, and even the fake Santas.
We have had another relaxing week, with no playgroup, French class or choir to outline our days. I love waking up with no place to go although I do miss chatting with my friends. I am sure Jacinta would be happy to play with her buddies, but I love being able to focus on the girls and can’t do so with a full house. We moved slow, read books inside, even on beautiful sunny mornings, painted, created with play dough, packed for our trip, dressed up dollies, built towers out of blocks for the little wine cork animals, danced, drummed on our bellies, and sang. It’s nice to be out of voice because I can really hear the girls sing. I still had to keep up with the laundry and the cooking, but I’ll admit, I am an incredibly uninspired cook these days. I hear the inspiration comes back as the children get older. I feel like we should stay inside for some reason when we’re sick, perhaps because the out doors make you want to run and move fast. But I think I expend less energy outside because I am not surrounded by dirty dishes and unfolded laundry, but lush green foliage and colorful flowers.
On these lovely lollygagging days at home the only packing I do is packing water and extra clothes to head down to the garden. Packing and unpacking to go out is a big time investment for me. So I have welcomed the change, even if our seclusion is caused by illness. We watched our seeds grow each day and observed amazing insects in the garden. We jumped on the new stepping stones that Matt made with the girls. I discovered some hidden red pepper seedlings, which was one of the only seeds I could not successfully sprout. We transplanted those, sunflower seedlings, and lettuce seedlings. Jacinta’s love for the garden goes up and down, right now, she is on a high. She asks to transplant, and is learning how to do it very well. I am teaching her the few new tips I learned from my gardening class. She is shockingly receptive and quite eager to learn. She makes little stick fences around each seedling to prevent us from stepping on the tiny plants, knowing that Genevieve might tear them down. My effort to save certain plants from being squashed by little girls’ feet and turkeys claws uprooting them has been plant pots. I cut the bottom off of a pot and shove it down in the ground until it the plant is established. Although the pots are a bit of an eyesore, so far it is working out for the corn, zucchini and melon plants.
On the fruit front, our first plum tree and our nectarine tree are coming to an end. We ate a lot of the fruit. The bats had their share and we got rid of a lot to destroy fruit fly larvae. There is one plum tree left with fruit. Our apple tree was ripe and lovely on Monday when we discovered sweet apples and evidence of bat munching. We ate a few apples, picked a few for the house and rejoiced that they were ready, given that we had no clue they’d be ready so soon. On the same day, Jacinta discovered that the apple tree was climbable, so she sat on a branch munching happily away. Giddy that we had actually grown a good climbing tree, I started pruning, to make it safer and easier. That night the bats enjoyed my pruning job, I had make a lovely space for them to get in and eat all the apples, except for three. Jacinta has retold this story quite a few times already to friends, “Do you want to hear something REALLY sad?”
Genevieve got through her conjunctivitis in three days, but then I got a sore throat. Both girls were in great health by the time my immune system gave up. Two of Genevieve’s eye teeth came through, leaving two to go which cause her great pain and give her “the grumps.” Or so we think this is the reason for her snootiness. “MINE,” she yells nastily. Jacinta of course still reminds her that, “No Genevieve (in a calm voice), it is not yours. It is ours. Everything belongs to Mother Earth.” She says this with such a superior calm, as if she remembers this lesson every time she refuses to share with her little sister. Although I must say, Jacinta is increasing her ability to share, speak calmly and remember that she is older and should be calm and understanding with her little sister friend.
Genevieve, keeping up the reputation of a little sibling, has started crying wolf. While Jacinta is three feet away, she calls out, “Jinta hurt me.” Genevieve is getting to the age when I can bust her for things like that. As you can imagine, this makes Jacinta very happy, and restores her faith in fair treatment. Genevieve gets pickier by the day and lately, refuses to eat her meal saying, “no like it…..Pear!!!” She is trying out the power to refuse what is offered and demand fruit. Jacinta also loves to share the rules with Evie, “You have to eat your meal before you can have any dessert.” Jacinta then tries the same trick and I ask her what she just told Genevieve. The sheepish grin says it all. She loves knowing the boundaries and teaching them, but acts more her age when it comes to following them.
Jacinta is starting to realize the power she has over Genevieve. Evie almost always says, “Ah huh,” to every question, meaning yes. Jacinta constantly gives Genevieve choices, which of course, she can not answer. A child her age is not meant to make choices, it is not developmentally appropriate. So after four or five attempts, Jacinta picks the one she wants Evie to have and asks, “Evie, do you want the green one?” (Jacinta doesn’t like green.) “Ah huh.” Jacinta is also noticing how her little sister repeats everything she says and is proud. Jacinta says to Matt every day as he leaves for work, “I’ll blow you kisses all day long!” Now Genevieve says the same exact thing every time Matt walks out the door.
Matt has been going out the door to work all week, nothing new. He doesn’t say much about it, other than that it is busy and he has too many clients. This week he drove back and forth a bit more than usual and is tired of driving, taking clients to and from hospital. He does get insight into life at the end. He meets and assists all different kinds of people, which is interesting culturally. He did mention this week that one of the drugs that almost all of his patients take was first marketed as rat poison. Hmm…
Besides paid work, Matt finished his little storage shed, so he is now onto another project. Our garden/building shed is a bit of a wreck, too much stuff in a small space and with inadequate methods of storage. Matt is using a massive red truck tarp to increase the size of the existing tin roof and keep rain off the building materials. He cut weeds down with the whippersnipper for a few hours too. Friday night after work he came home from work and found us playing in the garden. So he dove into a half-finished project. The sandpit needed shade and the grapevine needed a trellis so he set a few long birch tree poles in concrete and screwed on four sheets of lattice. I dreamed this up a while ago, and am pretty excited to see the results. It adds another level to the garden, and of course, the grapes and the shade will be much appreciated.
Besides taking turns being ill this week, there were a few days when we were all well. These were extraordinary days. We were pretty lucky to have “Pa and Carolyn” stop in for a few hours for a cup of tea, to check out the garden, the new things Matt had built, play with the girls and even go out for Chinese food. They hadn’t been out since Genevieve was born, the mosquitoes scared them away. Luckily this year is much better on that front.
Today I took the girls out to Bellingen for the markets. It was a hot day, but we found some lovely Christmas gifts and fresh blueberries and peaches. We ran into a few friends and even met another French woman. Jacinta and Genevieve particularly enjoyed the music, the jumping castle, the smoked fish, and the swimming pool. My favorite purchase was a few old garden tools, in much better quality than what you can buy in a store. It poured down rain as we were leaving, a quick way to cool things off.
On Tuesday, I left the house at 4:45am leaving the girls in Matt’s care until 7:30 and then in Keith’s care for the rest of the day. I drove to Coffs Harbour to pick up a few kind refugees from Burma and Togo. I then drove us all to harvest garlic in Thora, a lush rainy valley of hippies, many of whom work, share, live and play together. Not only was it my first full day away from the house actually being paid, but I was surrounded by really interesting people, pulling hundreds of garlic heads out of beautifully fertile soil in a gorgeous valley. The harmony of the four different languages danced in my head, transporting me to a place I have never been before: in the beautiful isolated countryside surrounded by people from all over the world, something that seems to happen only in the city. I translated French into English so the locals could learn a little bit about the Togolese folk. I learned from the local Thora people what people talk about in a close knit community tied to the land: grown men discussing birds, chamomile growing techniques, sheep, soil health, and beer brewing. I chatted with my new friend (a former chauffeur) from Togo who sat shot gun, nervous that I couldn’t drive. We talked about African politics. We talked about vegetables, what they could not find here, and what they can probably grow here. I couldn’t speak much with the Burmese people, but we tried. Mostly, I just watched the woman as we pulled garlic together, mystified and in awe of her silence. I wondered how she was so good in the field, tried to imagine what her life before had been, and what was inside her silence as she stared off into the mountains. I love being at home with my girls, but the lessons I learned this day made all the effort worth it.
I have a lot to learn. It’s lucky they are twenty-four hours in each day. But the night is fast disappearing, so I will leave you and surely learn something as I slumber the night away. Good night.
Peace,
Shana
We have had another relaxing week, with no playgroup, French class or choir to outline our days. I love waking up with no place to go although I do miss chatting with my friends. I am sure Jacinta would be happy to play with her buddies, but I love being able to focus on the girls and can’t do so with a full house. We moved slow, read books inside, even on beautiful sunny mornings, painted, created with play dough, packed for our trip, dressed up dollies, built towers out of blocks for the little wine cork animals, danced, drummed on our bellies, and sang. It’s nice to be out of voice because I can really hear the girls sing. I still had to keep up with the laundry and the cooking, but I’ll admit, I am an incredibly uninspired cook these days. I hear the inspiration comes back as the children get older. I feel like we should stay inside for some reason when we’re sick, perhaps because the out doors make you want to run and move fast. But I think I expend less energy outside because I am not surrounded by dirty dishes and unfolded laundry, but lush green foliage and colorful flowers.
On these lovely lollygagging days at home the only packing I do is packing water and extra clothes to head down to the garden. Packing and unpacking to go out is a big time investment for me. So I have welcomed the change, even if our seclusion is caused by illness. We watched our seeds grow each day and observed amazing insects in the garden. We jumped on the new stepping stones that Matt made with the girls. I discovered some hidden red pepper seedlings, which was one of the only seeds I could not successfully sprout. We transplanted those, sunflower seedlings, and lettuce seedlings. Jacinta’s love for the garden goes up and down, right now, she is on a high. She asks to transplant, and is learning how to do it very well. I am teaching her the few new tips I learned from my gardening class. She is shockingly receptive and quite eager to learn. She makes little stick fences around each seedling to prevent us from stepping on the tiny plants, knowing that Genevieve might tear them down. My effort to save certain plants from being squashed by little girls’ feet and turkeys claws uprooting them has been plant pots. I cut the bottom off of a pot and shove it down in the ground until it the plant is established. Although the pots are a bit of an eyesore, so far it is working out for the corn, zucchini and melon plants.
On the fruit front, our first plum tree and our nectarine tree are coming to an end. We ate a lot of the fruit. The bats had their share and we got rid of a lot to destroy fruit fly larvae. There is one plum tree left with fruit. Our apple tree was ripe and lovely on Monday when we discovered sweet apples and evidence of bat munching. We ate a few apples, picked a few for the house and rejoiced that they were ready, given that we had no clue they’d be ready so soon. On the same day, Jacinta discovered that the apple tree was climbable, so she sat on a branch munching happily away. Giddy that we had actually grown a good climbing tree, I started pruning, to make it safer and easier. That night the bats enjoyed my pruning job, I had make a lovely space for them to get in and eat all the apples, except for three. Jacinta has retold this story quite a few times already to friends, “Do you want to hear something REALLY sad?”
Genevieve got through her conjunctivitis in three days, but then I got a sore throat. Both girls were in great health by the time my immune system gave up. Two of Genevieve’s eye teeth came through, leaving two to go which cause her great pain and give her “the grumps.” Or so we think this is the reason for her snootiness. “MINE,” she yells nastily. Jacinta of course still reminds her that, “No Genevieve (in a calm voice), it is not yours. It is ours. Everything belongs to Mother Earth.” She says this with such a superior calm, as if she remembers this lesson every time she refuses to share with her little sister. Although I must say, Jacinta is increasing her ability to share, speak calmly and remember that she is older and should be calm and understanding with her little sister friend.
Genevieve, keeping up the reputation of a little sibling, has started crying wolf. While Jacinta is three feet away, she calls out, “Jinta hurt me.” Genevieve is getting to the age when I can bust her for things like that. As you can imagine, this makes Jacinta very happy, and restores her faith in fair treatment. Genevieve gets pickier by the day and lately, refuses to eat her meal saying, “no like it…..Pear!!!” She is trying out the power to refuse what is offered and demand fruit. Jacinta also loves to share the rules with Evie, “You have to eat your meal before you can have any dessert.” Jacinta then tries the same trick and I ask her what she just told Genevieve. The sheepish grin says it all. She loves knowing the boundaries and teaching them, but acts more her age when it comes to following them.
Jacinta is starting to realize the power she has over Genevieve. Evie almost always says, “Ah huh,” to every question, meaning yes. Jacinta constantly gives Genevieve choices, which of course, she can not answer. A child her age is not meant to make choices, it is not developmentally appropriate. So after four or five attempts, Jacinta picks the one she wants Evie to have and asks, “Evie, do you want the green one?” (Jacinta doesn’t like green.) “Ah huh.” Jacinta is also noticing how her little sister repeats everything she says and is proud. Jacinta says to Matt every day as he leaves for work, “I’ll blow you kisses all day long!” Now Genevieve says the same exact thing every time Matt walks out the door.
Matt has been going out the door to work all week, nothing new. He doesn’t say much about it, other than that it is busy and he has too many clients. This week he drove back and forth a bit more than usual and is tired of driving, taking clients to and from hospital. He does get insight into life at the end. He meets and assists all different kinds of people, which is interesting culturally. He did mention this week that one of the drugs that almost all of his patients take was first marketed as rat poison. Hmm…
Besides paid work, Matt finished his little storage shed, so he is now onto another project. Our garden/building shed is a bit of a wreck, too much stuff in a small space and with inadequate methods of storage. Matt is using a massive red truck tarp to increase the size of the existing tin roof and keep rain off the building materials. He cut weeds down with the whippersnipper for a few hours too. Friday night after work he came home from work and found us playing in the garden. So he dove into a half-finished project. The sandpit needed shade and the grapevine needed a trellis so he set a few long birch tree poles in concrete and screwed on four sheets of lattice. I dreamed this up a while ago, and am pretty excited to see the results. It adds another level to the garden, and of course, the grapes and the shade will be much appreciated.
Besides taking turns being ill this week, there were a few days when we were all well. These were extraordinary days. We were pretty lucky to have “Pa and Carolyn” stop in for a few hours for a cup of tea, to check out the garden, the new things Matt had built, play with the girls and even go out for Chinese food. They hadn’t been out since Genevieve was born, the mosquitoes scared them away. Luckily this year is much better on that front.
Today I took the girls out to Bellingen for the markets. It was a hot day, but we found some lovely Christmas gifts and fresh blueberries and peaches. We ran into a few friends and even met another French woman. Jacinta and Genevieve particularly enjoyed the music, the jumping castle, the smoked fish, and the swimming pool. My favorite purchase was a few old garden tools, in much better quality than what you can buy in a store. It poured down rain as we were leaving, a quick way to cool things off.
On Tuesday, I left the house at 4:45am leaving the girls in Matt’s care until 7:30 and then in Keith’s care for the rest of the day. I drove to Coffs Harbour to pick up a few kind refugees from Burma and Togo. I then drove us all to harvest garlic in Thora, a lush rainy valley of hippies, many of whom work, share, live and play together. Not only was it my first full day away from the house actually being paid, but I was surrounded by really interesting people, pulling hundreds of garlic heads out of beautifully fertile soil in a gorgeous valley. The harmony of the four different languages danced in my head, transporting me to a place I have never been before: in the beautiful isolated countryside surrounded by people from all over the world, something that seems to happen only in the city. I translated French into English so the locals could learn a little bit about the Togolese folk. I learned from the local Thora people what people talk about in a close knit community tied to the land: grown men discussing birds, chamomile growing techniques, sheep, soil health, and beer brewing. I chatted with my new friend (a former chauffeur) from Togo who sat shot gun, nervous that I couldn’t drive. We talked about African politics. We talked about vegetables, what they could not find here, and what they can probably grow here. I couldn’t speak much with the Burmese people, but we tried. Mostly, I just watched the woman as we pulled garlic together, mystified and in awe of her silence. I wondered how she was so good in the field, tried to imagine what her life before had been, and what was inside her silence as she stared off into the mountains. I love being at home with my girls, but the lessons I learned this day made all the effort worth it.
I have a lot to learn. It’s lucky they are twenty-four hours in each day. But the night is fast disappearing, so I will leave you and surely learn something as I slumber the night away. Good night.
Peace,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
11:34 PM
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