Warm welcome

Hello there. Crickets, cicadas and frogs are the choir I hear this evening, so yes, we have safely returned to Australia. We finished our journey with a restful week at my sister's place, the grand finale being a festive Mexican restaurant and margaritas on our last night. Besides the usual United Airlines' errors, our journey home was incredibly easy. Just for a laugh, I'll tell of one of their errors. They changed Jacinta and Genevieve's flights and put them on a flight two hours earlier than mine. It all worked out in the end, but after the fifth person behind a counter told me that they "just couldn't find us any seats together," I chuckled. On our flight from Sydney to San Francisco, a flight attendant actually scolded me for having taken matters into my own hands and swapping seats with someone. I am pretty patient, and did keep up the illusion for my girls that all was well. But after ten years of devoted patronage and even a few free flights from flyer miles, we may not fly United ever again.

 

Enough complaining, we made it around the world, had an awesome time and came back in one piece. The girls were so much fun, really. They stayed up until about midnight waiting, flying, playing, and wandering airports, then slept sweetly on our final flight across the Pacific. They slept so well, I was able to sleep and even read a book! This hasn't happened on a flight since Jacinta was born. We woke to a sunrise, breakfast, played a little, and landed in sunny Sydney. Customs, immigration, baggage claim, were all painless. One benefit of traveling alone with two small children and a lot of baggage is that the officials pity you and whisk you through quickly without many questions. Jacinta ran out to find Matt while Genevieve was stuck on my cart perched amidst all of our bags. Seeing my bald Matt standing alone waiting with a cute smile on his face brought back memories of my first trip to see him twelve years ago. My how times have changed, but strangely enough the love and anticipation felt much the same.

 

The warm air felt good, but not a relief. For Genevieve, I think it was a relief. She was born in a land with no snow or ice. I love the cold and always will. Jacinta likes newness and adventure, and loves to do anything I have talked about. What I have come to prefer is life outside, whereas much of my Midwestern American life was lived inside, understandably so. Once we made it out of the airport we spent the day catching up, talking Matt's ears off, visiting friends in Sydney, and driving north to Macksville. Jetlag wasn't really an issue as we slept so well on the airplane. Any normal child would take a nap on a five hour car trip, but our stubborn girl usually makes it through without a rest. This day Jacinta fought fatigue as hard as she could, but finally gave into sleep, more out of anger for being stuck in a car seat than jetlag.

 

Walking down the path to see our much loved little home was very exciting. Genevieve first noticed, "otha boom flowa," meaning that she saw another rose blooming on the vine. Next the girls ran into their new bedroom to see what their daddy had built them. Drop jawed, we were in awe. I can not describe this amazing new structure, but can now understand what he meant when he told me how long it was taking to complete the project. He built bunk beds perpendicular to each other laced with drawers, drawers that are also steps to climb up to a closet, shelves, hiding places, closets, reading lights, a trap door, even carved a large heart in the side of Jacinta's bed so she can see the sun better from her bed. It is AMAZING. I know he built our house, so I shouldn't be amazed. Our house is useful, efficient, cozy and cute. The beds are full of curves, they are beautiful, and perfectly done. To say the least, the girls instantly fell in love with their new space.

 

We all enjoy watching our loved ones blossom into right livelihood. I don't think Matt will ever try to market his work because hand craftsmanship takes a LONG time and no one around here would be able to afford him. Most of us buy things mass-produced and shipped from China, made by people and machines who work quickly and don't expect high wages. We surely do, it's hard not to. But it is nice when we can make a few things ourselves and strengthen our skill base and our local economy. 

 

Keith welcomed us home with sausages, salad and "chips," (Jacinta's dinner request). The chickens welcomed us home with a nest full of eggs to eat. My friend Michelle had left us a big box of garden produce on the table. Sweet summer. The girls and I had heard rumors of the garden's growth after lots of rain and sun so we had to run down before dinner. What an amazing beautiful jungle it was! There was corn to eat, little strawberries everywhere, a few blueberries, some beets, cherry tomatoes dripping off the vines and tens of massive yellow cucumbers hiding beneath the vines. The purple beans had successfully climbed and staked themselves on the corn plants, the sunflowers had come up well also. We found a few little green peppers, some honeydew melons, and melon vines everywhere. It was prolific green beauty, so overgrown with weeds that the melon vines were climbing two feet in the air, propped up by the weeds. The grape vine took off and has made few use of its new trellis. The kiwi vines have gone wild and are still home to about twenty little kiwis ripening up. What a welcome home!

 

We have come home from a great trip, energized by strengthened relationships with my faraway friends and family, to a place we also love and thrive. Each time I come back here I have new revelations. Outside our front door are hundreds of things to occupy, inspire and entertain us. We don't need to leave as much as people in the city to find entertainment. We can swim, canoe, garden, hike, ride bikes, use the playground, build, pick flowers, etc. It sounds picturesque, it sounds like summer camp. But most often we spend our days doing what any other city family does, Matt commutes to work and craves time to unwind from work. I spend most of my day cooking, cleaning, eating, laundering, changing diapers, breaking up fights, and trying to teach good manners. We all have to do these things. What I love about my life here is that I can sit on the veranda and pick apart basil for the pesto, and watch my kids out the window while I do dishes. Although I have a hard time getting out the door to put the clothes on the line, I am so grateful for the laundry line when I get there. Just walking out the door brightens my outlook. Looking at the vast sky above and hearing the birds sing makes the mundane tasks better. Often the girls play and giggle together, they are not always battling it out for the same toy.

 

To celebrate our return, Matt took a few days off. He took the girls on a few good outings to give me space to put away our things and fill up the girls' closets and drawers. What a privilege to fill the new drawers and take advantage of the newly created play space for the girls. I have emptied boxes and boxes and suitcases. It is gratifying: decluttering and creating space. Nicer than anything, it's just nice to have Matt back in our daily lives, not to mention how good it is to share the load. He's still doing hundreds of little jobs around the house, the most exciting at the moment is the see saw he has built. Keith is painting beautiful designs all over the see saw, he has even let the girls and their friends help. Soon it will be finished and ready for play!

 

Jacinta's first request for an outing was on the airplane as we were flying home. She wanted to go to Mount Yarrahappini and swim in the rocky creek when it was hot. And so it was, and so we did. Matt and Jacinta dammed up the little creek at certain bends in the river and created little waterfalls, while Evie and I threw rocks in the water.  Mainly, my job was to keep our younger, riskier family member out of harm's way and somehow, I did it.

 

We went slow this week and spent time at home. Usually I must reunite with friends instantly, but not this time. I waited a few days and just celebrated our home, our lovely space, and worked in the garden. I cleared paths to the plants which were ready to harvest, discovering under the jungle unexpected veggies or herbs that I had forgotten. It was a celebration for the girls too, hiding in the corn patch and more importantly eating raw corn and baby cucumbers in the garden. We swam in the dam, played in the bedroom, and spent time cooking our lovely garden produce in our beautiful kitchen. I love coming home to my own kitchen. By the end of the week, we caught up with some friends and Jacinta went back to preschool, in the older " Sun" class this time. Mary came home from work on Friday and we celebrated a calm, late Christmas. Saturday night we went out to beautiful Taylors Arm for the full moon and dinner at our friends' house. The girls played their hearts out with their little friend Nickolas, letting their boyish sides out for the evening. No dollies or games inside, they made "poison" and dug in the sandpit for hours. Sunday we had friends over for brunch and the girls played so hard Genevieve fell asleep on me and Jacinta broke down in tears.  So the social calendar has picked up, not all bad.

 

One highlight this week was Jacinta becoming Genevieve's "potty trainer." She rings a bell when she has to go to the bathroom and tells Genevieve, "It's time to go to the toilet! Come on!" The thrill has worn off, but Genevieve has weed on the potty a few times since we have been back. Another highlight was a late phone call last night from my Senegalese friend Massamba Diadhou who lives in France. I knew only that he had just published his first novel, Oedipe, Le batard des deux mondes, which I love. He called to "introduce" me to his fiancée Isabelle and share the news that his first comedy is about to be acted out for the first time in Paris and then travel around theatres all over France, Couples Mixtes. To top it off, they hope to come to Australia for their honeymoon. On our trip to the States I learned of a few friends who are making real plans to come out and see us. This makes us so happy. We usually have to rush visits with friends in the US, but when people come here, it's usually a long slow visit because they don't have anyone else they need to see.

 

I do intend to slow down somehow. But there is so much to do. Tonight I couldn't help myself, I went out to mulch, add logs to the terrace garden, water and harvest a little after the girls fell asleep. I have decided to write my journal monthly now, instead of weekly. I want to write something else, so I will keep up the discipline of writing weekly, but only send out my journal monthly. So count yourselves lucky! If you are one of the few who actually read all three pages I write every week, you are free! You can spend a few extra minutes doing or not doing something else.

 

Take care my kind friends. Peace,

Shana