Pictures

City Rat

Good evening loved ones :) So daylight savings has come and brought us all something new: shorter days for you and longer days for us. It’s good news for our chickens who wait on our lazy butts to get out of bed for hours after they arise. Now they’ll have one less hour to wait. Matt is happy because it gives him one extra hour of daylight to build our house, and of course, that makes me happy too. One nice thing is that Jess and I can spend time right before dinner in the garden, on the rare occasion that dinner is prepared or in the oven.

We have had a great week together, enjoying the familiarity we have found in the year we have been here, and also the solitude in our home right now. Some highlights are Jacinta’s new talent of sleeping with no diaper. I haven’t yet gotten rid of the diaper bin, for fear of jinxing it but will, soon. Matt zoomed ahead on the house and completely enclosed the kitchen/living space with house wrap. He finished the roof on this section which now means that all of the roofing is done, save a few fiddly jobs and some rain gutters. He took down the wood paneling in Keith’s old room and built an interior wall dividing the room in half, thereby creating the space for our bathroom. He also found time to work three full days at the bank. I did some major cleaning, cooking, playing and some relaxing.

Friends also made our week fun, starting out with my knitting friends bright and early on Monday morning at 9:30am coming and going until 2pm. I’ll admit I’m losing some social energy being out here. It may also be due to constant interaction from Jacinta, but now I need a day of rest in between visits. Saturday night we had another drumming potluck with my knitting friends who brought their partners and had a lovely time. The food on these nights is so lively, you’d be out of luck if you didn’t like spice; there was Middle Eastern, Indian, Greek, and Japanese followed by sugary Lemon Lime Meringue Pie. Jess loves making music with all of us and has a chance to relish her huge basket of musical instruments. Sunday morning we had a breakfast picnic with our next door neighbors at the edge of our dam. We had great food and awesome company all weekend.

Gardening this week was slack, although it still looks beautiful, just weedy. Tomato plants are popping up everywhere. Perhaps we have over 35 now due to the fact that our soil is compost which is made up of rotting vegetables. Jess and I found 3 blueberries on the bush and excitedly gobbled them up. The corn is almost as tall as Jess now but some critter gobbled up a few of these precious plants. I did actually do some work in the house garden, preparing the ground for transplants and herbs. One load of compost and one load of mulch was all I could do, but it’s good enough. I planted my few successful basil seedlings here and have brought up a few pepper and tomato plants to transplant. This garden does not necessitate a walk up and down the hill, but has no easy watering options. We shall see how the rainfall is this spring. We had a few days of rain this week, which was great for the garden. Unfortunately the neighbors’ cows broke in and knocked the pipe out of our water tank, and then I completely detached it from the connecting pipe in an effort to repair it. Thus we missed out on collecting most of the rain that fell this week.

Matt has had more quality time with Jess these past few weeks and hashad a few stories to tell. She is constantly calling out to him on the worksite, “Daddy! What are you doing up on that ladder?” “What are you doing in there?” She’ll call him to dinner long before it is ready, probably because she is ready to eat it and she thinks since we’ve stopped chopping vegetables that it must be done. Tuesday afternoon Matt took Jess to Bunnings, the hardware superstore and they stopped for some ice cream on the way home. She has gone along to Bunnings a few times now, (it’s quite a journey being 40 minutes away) and takes great pride in telling me that she bought those nails with daddy. On this last trip Matt said he heard the longest sentence come out of her mouth, “Sometimes when I’m with pop, I sit in the front seat in the big truck when we go to Noel’s to see the cows.” He had asked her why she insisted on sitting in the front when she never gets to sit in the front seat. Matt drove on in amazement at the coherence of her speech. Before bed each evening Matt and Jess have taken on a new activity. I’ll finish brushing my teeth or cleaning the kitchen and come to the bedroom to hear, “Sshhh! Let’s hide from mommy.” Every night they hide in the same spot, under the covers in the bed. It will be interesting to see how the realization comes about that hiding spots must change to be a real challenge. I suppose now it’s not about challenge, it’s just about amusement, and that, it is.

Jacinta amuses us and brings us so much joy, as do all children. There are so many funny stories I must share before I forget them. First off, I told Jacinta that we may go to America some time after the baby is born. She was very excited about having her own suitcase and her own seat to share with the baby. She went on about all of the people she would be able to see in “America.” I didn’t think about the concept of time and how difficult it would be for her to wait once I told her. Each time I start to pack a bag to go to town, or we put boots on to feed to the chickens she asks, “Is it time to go to America?” The funniest instance happened after a nap when she came straight out of sleep and asked, “Is it time to go to America?” She’s learning what “a long time” means and now speaks of the voyage using the term, “in a while.”

She said a phrase a few times last week that I did not understand and this week, I caught on. When there is a noise or something unexpected happens, Jacinta will now say, ‘“What was that?’ cried Flap.” This is a line from a book called Stellaluna in which a baby fruit bat falls into a nest of baby birds. I can see how children start using cartoon character or movie language, anything repetitive that they like the sound of is worthy of adding to their vocabulary. Thanks to the mice scaring me with their boldness, Jacinta now says, “Oh my Gosh!” and “Oh my God!” The mice are still here, and even stole a trap the other day.

Language learned from repetition is fun to watch but when new phrases are created out of these words it is even more exciting to hear. I found this same revelation when teaching French to my third graders. After three years of repetition, they began putting phrases together that I had never taught them and it warmed my heart, as Jacinta does now. One evening while preparing for dinner Jacinta said, “I like cooking with you.” How sweet, and she wasn’t even eating at the time! Tonight after dinner we were playing in the lounge room and she started to dance, twirling around and around, tooting with each step. We both giggled and Jess said, “I toot while I dance!” The other day she was watching the chickens while I finished my lunch out on the veranda. “Mommy, why is Little Mister sitting on Major (a hen)?” Laughing inside I replied, “He’s cuddling her.” Jacinta wisely remarked, “He cuddles Mrs. Red and Painted Lady too.” “Yes he does.” Speaking of the chickens, about four have disappeared in the past few months. Iris, our only surviving chick has also gone missing. We hope they’ve gone wild, but it could have been a fox. Bummer.

I’ll close with one more Jacinta creation. We sometimes talk about being city people. A lot of our friends here came from the city also so the term city girl is common in my vocabulary. Jacinta knows that she was born “in the city, in America,” and talks about how tiny she was. She loves to show you with her hands how tiny she was. With her new habit of making up silly stories she decided that “When I was born, I was a city rat.” Rat? “Aren’t you a big girl?” Matt will ask. “No, I’m a big rat.”

So our daughter has turned into a rat and my belly is so big I could be bearing a horse.

Our goat is learning to eat the grass, our chickens are disappearing, and our dog is spoiled and snoring. What can I say about Matt concerning animals??? Well, he actually likes the goat that I find obnoxious. He may work like a dog but is getting happier and more settled each day. We miss you and wish you all a fulfilling week with your shorter days and colder nights.

Love,

Shana

Big carrots and bandicoots

Good day dear friends and family (: I hope this letter finds you all warm, satisfied, and at peace. I am feeling greatly satisfied with life, very peaceful, but not so warm. The last few days have been dreary, wet, and a little chilly. If we were smart and closed up all of the windows and doors again, it would be fine, but it’s hard to close the windows once spring has shown itself no matter what country you live in. These kind of days are great for gardening in general, but especially with Jess. She could go for hours in this weather, if only we had the time to stay down there. I’ve had a lot of other things that need doing or I choose to do. Choir has started up again. Anyway, we’re lucky if we spend even one hour a day in the garden. In spring, that seems to be a sacrilege. With all of the space I have to plant out, all of the delicious vegetables I could be planting, and the fruit trees that need loving, it seems terrible. I suppose I’m intentionally taking it slow for the baby and my back, but I sure wish I could do a lot more in the garden.

We are at 21 weeks now in the pregnancy. I guess I was half way last week and didn’t know it. We also hit week 53 in the journal, so that means we’ve been here for over a year. Baby Henry #2 is due in late February/ early March. It’s hard to believe that I’m already half way through, physically, yes, but not mentally. I see a local doctor each month, but next month will go and sign up at the birthing center in the hospital in Kempsey, which is 45 minutes away. Unfortunately their midwives can’t see women pre-natally, the doctors have a monopoly on that business. Matt came along this week and heard the heartbeat for the first time, and the doctor still only hears one heartbeat. My back hurts more than it did with Jacinta, but back in Ferndale I didn’t walk up and down hills, tether stubborn goats, take care of a toddler, chickens or dogs. I taught French and cooked for children, but had time for cat naps in between classes. It’s hard to believe life could change so drastically in just two or three years, wow.

The house project changes drastically each week. Living in the dark and not really knowing what the next step in building will be is actually quite exciting for me. I am always pleasantly surprised with each step towards livability, while Matt, the mind behind the plan just trucks along, knowing exactly what and how much work lies ahead. Sometimes it is overwhelming for him, the pressure to build, work a few jobs, and plan for more rewarding work to follow when the house is finished. He holds it all together quite well though, just requiring chocolate, coffee, and comic relief from Jess. This week we made a few of our first purchases towards the interior of the house: a mattress for Jess and overhead lighting for the whole house. We also began drawing lines on the floor to layout our kitchen, this is very exciting. This week Matt somehow single-handedly built the frame for our kitchen/living area, even with an aching wrist and three days at the bank and four days at Macnuts. He then prepared the wood to use on the one day he would have help so that on Saturday the rafters could all be installed on this room. My friend Anissa brought her family over on Saturday and while the men worked on the rafters and the rain held out, we played, cooked lunch and just held the children together all day long.

This friendship is quite a lucky one, Anissa and I met at playgroup almost a year ago. She had the only little girl around Jacinta’ age and we’re both into knitting and gardening. She has a little boy who is four and a Gemini like Jacinta. She and her husband are also city refugees trying to live out a dream and their garden is gorgeous! Her husband loves cooking the long slow way like I do. Now we’re both pregnant and due within a month of each other. We’re starting to spend more time together and it’s really nice. The children have loads of fun together, they enjoy the same things, they share, love animals, cooking and food. Lilly still has a thing for eating random objects, so food isn’t as exciting for her. She prefers magnets, sticky tack and crayons. Jess and Aidan both find this strange, Jess is just confused by it, but her brother finds it hilarious.

Yesterday Lily ate an entire blue crayon of Jess’s. Bewilderment was Jess’s only response at the time, but today when I told her that her friend Rory was coming for a visit, she asked, “Can we draw?” I said sure, and she stated that “Rory doesn’t eat crayons.” I had a good laugh at her clever logic but she didn’t understand why I found it humorous. In spite of her girlfriend’s strange habit, Jess just loves having Lily beside her, you can see her newfound joy and confidence in having a friend the same age who loves the same things she does. They mill around her playhouse cooking and playing with pots and pans in the sand. They slide down the big box Jess crushed over and over. We have three rocking horses for some strange reason (Keith collects everything) and all three children mount the horses, just enjoying a communal rock. Lily and Jacinta have started running off together and not just to the bedroom to jump in the crib. They took off twice the other day, both times towards the same tree at the edge of the property. I don’t know why they chose this tree, but the first time we were close by and said it was fine. The second time they ran from the house all the way down all the while heading for a small group of cattle, including the only bull. They were chased by a mom, and caught, and busted. But oh did they have fun doing it. You can imagine what a cute picture it is: two little blond two year olds running down a hill, holding hands, overjoyed with their newfound freedom. They’ll have to enjoy their freedom closer by though. Too bad.

There is not much to report in the garden this week other than rain and the purchase of a sprinkler. This saved some time and what has been planted looks great. Jess and I transplanted eggplant and pepper plants and planted another patch of corn. Those darned turkeys not only crack open our chicken eggs to eat the yolk out, they also have discovered the fresh soil to dig up in the teepee garden. I threw things at them to no avail, but they kept coming back to dig up the same patch. By some unknown stroke of genius, I decided to cover that patch in squash seedlings to deter them, and so far it has worked. Weekly I am shocked at how long seed saving takes, expecting to collect seeds from at least one of the six plants I am waiting on. The carrot flowers are beautiful.

We have about four patches of carrots from which we can harvest, and today I found some fat ones! Our celery is abundant and so tasty compared to the supermarket variety. The beets have been discovered by a rat or a bandicoot and are being dug up and chewed upon. We dig up a tiny patch of potatoes once in a while, and then Jess eats potatoes. Otherwise, she couldn’t be bothered eating them. Today we made a soup almost entirely from the garden. Perhaps it is my favorite soup: Red Lentil Curried Vegetable Soup. We used carrots, celery, potatoes and parsley straight after picking them. This could be why Jess has all of the sudden started eating soup again, but maybe not. It’s strange how certain foods come in and out of the range of acceptability on a child’s palette.

Jacinta again, made us laugh all week. It has been nice being a nuclear family again, even though it will be just a few weeks. A change in pace is always nice. Jess had a few milestones, first being shopping for her first “big girl undies (underwear).” Secondly, after counting to herself for months and going higher and higher counting chickens, she always skipped the “six.” We corrected her once in a while and she would laugh at us. This week, she began counting with a six. She’ll go up to eleven now, it’s quite cute. She says silly things like, “My calf came from a duck,” knowing that this probably wouldn’t happen, but goes on and on. She’ll giggle and repeat the same joke over twenty times like tonight she talked about liking “pinenuts, peanuts and poonuts (this was a daddy joke).” You can’t help but to giggle with her for quite a while, but then, it gets old. Then other times she makes statements that just warm your heart. In the garden the other day she was transplanting her first seedlings, with lots of direction from mom and caution. After she had successfully done a few eggplant she proudly said to me, “I’m learning to carry plants!” Another sweet comment she made was that, “Lilly’s daddy and my daddy are building me a house.”

Well, I guess I’ll close on that note and go to bed to dream about our new house and big beautiful eggplants. I wish you all good dreams, peaceful ones at night and that you can reach the ones you work to achieve all day long.

Peace,

Shana

Can I have that?

Hello dear friends and family :) I hear Michigan had an early snow already, wow! True to form, everything being opposite here, it has been a hot week. We’ve all had our first sunburn and are much the wiser, and are finding it hard to take a siesta in the heat. I’ve had to water the garden every day and watering this beast is no simple task. It takes about one hour, doesn’t that sound crazy? It’s really not that big, well, yes, it is. I will soon have to hook up some sprinklers and/or irrigation hoses because this strong sun demands a lot of water, but my schedule before the hot sun sets in (9am) is a bit busy with Jess and breakfast. Jess and I made it to the beach again and had a nice swim as the water is warming up. This is the end of a two week school holiday, so playgroup and choir will start up again this coming week.

Matt worked three bank days and with one of his days off, took Jess out shopping. This is a small town and if you want choice or anything cheap, you must travel 45 minutes by car. So off they went, leaving me to dawdle in the garden for about five hours, my longest, slowest day in the garden here. They had a great time followed by stories to tell about food, the shops and a petting zoo in the mall. I completed small random tasks that had been left undone for too long like patching up fences, filing away seeds, replanting seeds that had failed in the first attempt, picking off caterpillars, filling in the last two weeks of my garden journal, staking and transplanting tomatoes and a few flowers, and watering, of course. I realized how differently I work with Jacinta versus working alone. I had time to contemplate my next move, weighing its importance in the long list of tasks in need of completion. I also had time to stare at the flowers and evaluate whether their location was a good choice. Gardening with Jacinta is somewhat like being a teacher, always having to come up with new and exciting ideas of how to present the same old lesson. There are so many things for her to do in the garden but the sun is too hot, so she must stay in the shade, playing with water or playing in the shed. On the other hand I had no one to laugh at or with, no one to make me take a break or stop and eat a carrot. I will admit though, I rejoiced in eating the only red strawberry around, whereas usually Jacinta gets almost every strawberry we grow.

The garden looks great. All of my seedlings are flourishing, especially the corn. There still remains plenty of plantable space while I await eggplant and pepper seedlings to develop. I am also leaving space to plant crops like corn every two weeks, so it doesn’t all come at once. The trees are growing but the citrus trees continue to attract aphids. Watering with diluted urine helps a bit, but saving it up is not so appetizing, nor is working near the tree once it has been “treated.” There will be nothing new to harvest for at least a month or two, but we still have carrots, beets, spinach, lettuce, a few strawberries, herbs, chamomile flowers, a tiny bit of broccoli and more celery than I could I ever use. I need to spend more time mulching my lovely trees because the sun sucks up their water very quickly now, but can’t seem to work up the steam with my aching back to pull the wagon down the hill. I did two trees this evening while Jess was out with Keith with the smell of urine lingering above my head. I have started, this is good.

White mulberries have been the hit of the week. Our neighbors went on vacation for a week so Keith decided that he’d better get the mulberries rather than allow the birds to get used to the bounty. Mind you, they were really to make Jacinta happy more than for himself. He took her along a few times so she got to know the location of the sweet berries. Today she decided that she would go on her own, as if it was the most normal thing to do. She ducked under the neighbor’s fence and walked straight down to the tree while Keith was getting ready to take her somewhere in his truck. Just when she arrived at the beloved tree she was caught by our neighbor, who had just returned home and Keith, who heard her calling out to him that she had mulberries. This was her first wandering and she hopefully learned her lesson.

Speaking of getting caught red-handed, we went to a garage sale today. Jess and I lingered at a table full of good quality kitchen ware. There were plenty of little things down low for her to play with, but when I started paying for things and filling my shopping bags, Jacinta too, began packing the bags with things she wanted. I corrected her repeatedly while the kind lady selling her wares laughed. I took a strawberry spoon out and told Jess that we would not be buying that and she stood up. She held the spoon up high and bypassing me, directly addressing the lady, she boldly asked, “Can I have that?” Her tone let on that she expected a “yes,” but I quickly quieted her down and told the lady we really didn’t need it. Once we had paid and left with all of our new cookware and Matt’s new jigsaw, we found in the car that Jess had taken a pot she liked. I ran back to return it, but the lady insisted that I take it for her to play with. Nothing like getting off easy, I suppose she’s young though. We’ve got time to teach her about stealing. After the garage sale we ran into a footbridge and stopped for a look. We took a walk across Newee Creek and spotted a stingray down below! I’ve never seen one in the wild, and now know first hand why people don’t swim in the rivers here very often. It was a beautiful spot though, and like any path made Jacinta joyfully run back and forth chasing her daddy. I’m too slow to be chased these days.

My belly is growing at great speed and I am feeling lots of movement now. Sometimes I feel so much going on down there that I can’t do anything but lie down and get through it. The heartbeat is so strong that I can feel it without the doctor’s tools. The hardest thing is knowing that spring/summer is just beginning and I’m not even half way through. Matt’s been helping me with my back ache and fetching me late-night meals while I’m in bed. Jess still dives on my belly, but less now than before, and she hardly ever asks for me to carry her. She wants to spend most of her time inside playing, or on the veranda in her playhouse made out of a cardboard box with a “window.” She must know I need to slow down…hmmm…probably not. Whether she means to or not, this plus the heat will make me slow down. She is also reducing my workload by using the toilet regularly. We don’t even have to carry a diaper bag now, she’ll use the toilet in public places or the grass if we’re in a park! What a gift and a load off, literally. For Jess, it just makes her even more confident and a “big girl.”

This “big girl’s” imagination is also developing. She can play with her friends and enjoy their company, rather than just playing near them. She makes up words while she is playing. Today while playing in her box she decided that she had a farm. And on that farm she had some chickens. But what did she grow? She grew basil, pronounced the Aussie way, and beesil. What is beesil? Perhaps it goes in the same category as the “sida” that she spreads on her cow’s back and the “saywah” that “is not a tent, it’s a saywah!” After a while “on her farm,” she began playing peek-a-boo with me while I lay on the beanbag reading an Australian historical cookbook. She then peeked out of her box and asked me, “Do you like my hat?” She had a pretend hat on, and I recognized this question from a Dr. Seuss book called Go Dog Go! I answered, as the dog does in the story, “No, I do not like that hat.” Giggling all the while, she tried on numerous pretend hats asking me the question every few minutes until I finally answered, “Yes, I like that hat!” It’s a new phase in that she is inventing her own games, with language that she has learned purely through imitation and no grammatical correction. Earlier today, with a big smirk, she asked me, “Are you my mother?” This is yet another Dr. Seuss book. They are catchy and were all given to us by friends from our church in Michigan, so they are even more special. Until Matt mentioned that he’d like Dr. Seuss books for our baby to be, I never knew there were so many. I think we have the whole library. Her vocabulary could turn out quite strange if she continues learning phrases from them!

The house has developed, as it always does. Matt tore down the outside wall of Keith’s old room, windows and all, and opened it up to the form in which we will use it. Half of it will be the bathroom, and the other half living space including the piano. There were two roofs on this section of the existing house so Matt tore down the lower roof which housed the possum. Michelle and Rory were here on that day to help Matt and witnessed the stubborn and scared nocturnal possum’s refusal to vacate his home. With each layer they took down, covered in possum “residue,” they thought she might get the idea. She did not leave until her board was removed at the last second, poor thing. But really, we can’t share our lounge room with a possum! Onward building…I punched a few nails in the floorboards and Matt began removing some of the wood paneling in Keith’s bedroom to be used elsewhere. He also put up the first wall and window frame on the kitchen/living room half of the house. Each day it becomes more real, we will soon have our own house again and it will feel more like “our own” than anything else we have ever possessed.

Hope you’re all happy and healthy this fall. We miss you and love your letters.

Thanks for being with us from afar :)

Love,

Shana

I walk myself

Good evening loved ones :) It has been a fulfilling week, both busy and relaxing. I took a few long naps with my little girl and whenever I stopped moving, felt plenty of movement from baby Henry #2 inside my womb. I saw my first naturopath and took my last bike ride and loved it although I was saddened knowing that it would be another 6 months or so before I can ride again. I had long conversations with friends in the US on the phone and also had some nice visits with friends here in Macksville. It’s comforting when you realize your friends are really starting to know you. I was given quite a few spontaneous gifts this week by three different friends, all food: a box of peaches, a jar of homemade strawberry jam, home grown dried rosemary, dill, a mango and a bunch of spinach. Needless to say, it has been a tasty week in the garden and in the kitchen.


Perhaps the best part of the harvest this week was digging up two separate potato patches. They had not grown to maturity, but the greens were all dying and showing signs that they would just be wasting good space which could be planted with corn. In spite of their ugliness above ground, we harvested about seven pounds of beautiful potatoes of which we have already eaten over half. Digging for them is terribly exciting because there is the chance of finding none, since they are hidden underground. Thus, each and every potato is a total surprise and a gift, especially the “babies” (less than 2cm in diameter) because those are Jess’s favorite. I made a few dishes this week almost entirely composed of garden produce. This is always gratifying: potato salad with my own mayonnaise, eggs, celery, parsley, green onions, and potatoes, green salads, quiche with our own spinach, broccoli and eggs, roasted potatoes, beets and carrots, and pasta with our own leeks, broccoli, carrots, beets, celery, oregano, parsley, and shallots.

On the food subject, I must divert to discuss oysters. Oysters are harvested right here on the Nambucca River. I’ve seen them advertised and thought, “I should try cooking them….but I don’t know how.” I don’t even know how to open them! So now I am pregnant and in need of iron and oysters are one of the best sources of iron available, better than all meat excluding clams which are not sold here. Shellfish….hmmm…it’s a tossup, but they say if it’s cooked it should be alright. Anyway, I cooked some (pre-shelled) last week and didn’t cook the wine off very well, and Jess spat them out. Mind you, she eats anything from the sea whereas no one else in the family here eats any seafood except for shrimp. I finished them off because I knew I needed to. I have bought a dozen unshelled oysters which are sitting in the fridge waiting to be consumed and cooked in a different way. Any ideas? Still on food, Matt, Jess and I tried out a “Mexican Italian Pizza Restaurant” this week. Jess and Matt stuck with pizza and pasta, while curiosity forced me to try their bean enchilada. It was strange, yet tasty, and hovered between a flour tortilla filled with whole kidney beans cooked in Mexican“ish” spices and a pita wrap with a tiny bit of cheese baked on top. I suppose it’s like me cooking international recipes having no idea what the food is meant to taste like. I’ll admit I was disappointed, missing real Mexican food, but hey, they had a pinata hanging from the ceiling. Perhaps somewhere in Mexico they don’t use corn tortillas or sauce, don’t fry the tortilla before stuffing it, and use whole red beans rather than refried pintos. I am only familiar with Mexican food from American restaurants and one week spent in the poor part of Cancun.

Corn sprouting in the garden cheered me up though! Jess also found a few tiny, red strawberries to munch on, and even saved me a few. The seedlings were growing so well that they had to be transplanted. Michelle and Rory camped out one night with Jess and I so that gave us extra time in the garden, clearing out old growth and transplanting. The teepee garden is starting to fill up with newly transplanted seedlings artichokes, squash, chervil, dill, and borage and the corn, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, beans, basil, carrots and beets that I planted last week. The tomatoes and pumpkins from last year have self sowed and they may take over. I’ll be vigilant J I previously mentioned the difficulty of seed saving, well, this week it became more difficult. Well intentioned little Jacinta tore off the top of our last purple carrot which after five months had grown to be huge and was just sprouting flowers, which would soon have turned into seed. Looking for carrots for dinner, Jess tried to get the “big purple one,” she loves the purple ones. Her initial response to my not so subtle sadness was to self-soothe, repeating over and over to herself, “It’s alright, oh well.” For a few minutes I couldn’t do the excusing, just silent lamenting. Perhaps she knew I wanted to tell her that it was alright and thought she would do it for me.

Or…she may be learning that she can do no wrong. She has become VERY confident and bossy. Try as we might, constantly correcting her bossy demands telling adults what to do rather than asking does not work when her major playmate, her “pop,” (grandpa) does whatever she says whenever she says it. He loves to play as she does, so they have a great time together. She learns so much about how to fix things, to be creative with any old piece of junk, and how to find solutions to any problem. Nothing is too hard for Keith, “Pop, I want to eat mulberries.” When I have already said “No Jacinta, there are no more ripe ones that I can reach and I am hanging laundry right now,” she finds Keith a few minutes later. Pop climbs up the tree, stands on top of the ten foot high water tank, and picks twenty more mulberries. She finishes them off and tells him she wants more. Up the tank and back down again, he gives her another handful. She does say “thank you,” but my oh my! She prefers that kind of treatment, as anyone would, and at times, her expectations are becoming difficult. I’ve always said, “I will never have a child that disrespects her elders,” and it seems that our efforts may not prevent that. Or perhaps she is just two and it is just linguistic, but that can not be an excuse for letting her rule the house. She is starting to tantrum like a two year old should. It’s amazing how a parent learns to tune out until their sweet child has realized the impossibility of changing the decision. I never imagined myself being able to listen to her wail, but knowing so strongly in my heart that giving in to her impossible infinite demands will create a terror in years to come.
On a happier note, most of the time Jacinta makes us smile, laugh and melt inside with love and joy. Playgroup was at the beach this week, on the river right near the ocean. After playing in the sand for a while and watching me swim in the cold water, Jess ran out into the shallow water. She realized that there were no waves, but it had been so long since she had walked in the water alone that she forgot how much the sand moved under her feet. She ran straight to me, uneasy on her feet, grabbed on for dear life and pleaded with me to come out of the water. She then watched her little friend Lily carelessly bounding in and out of the water, splashing and smiling. She also saw Rory out in the deep with his mum and boom! All of the sudden she lost her fear and crawled in the water. She ran up and down the shore, galloped like a horse, slithered like a snake, jumped in little pools and splashed around. I eventually had to use food to get her out of the water.
Camping out was equally enjoyable: the excitement of a tent for young children is contagious. Even more, we had an enclosed fire in a bucket, a night hike under the stars, looked for twigs, played with flashlights and looked for frogs in the pond. Michelle and I of course relished the time to chat under the stars without children talking or garden tasks at hand. Bedtime has also been fun, it is sometimes our only time alone as a “nuclear family.” Jacinta and Matt have nightly bed jumping time. Of course she gets all giddy because it’s amidst changing into pajamas and is her “nudie jump.” She runs back and forth between the crib and the bed, giggling and dodging Matt’s tickling. Usually after the stories she has calmed down and is ready to crash. The other night we asked Jess if she would sing us a song before we sang her a lullaby. She happily obliged and proceeded to hum unrecognizable syllables for about two or three minutes. Usually she stops after a few seconds of humming and says, “This song’s about….bee bee bee.” That night she just sang continuously and it was lovely. I think Matt and I both lay there in awe, just hoping she’d go on and on.

One day this week while Jess and I were playing in the bedroom I put on a cd of lullabies that Matt and I made. Matt was singing a song called, “I Will Take You Home,” a song she has heard him sing quite a few times. This time though, she was listening very carefully while silently playing with her dolls. He sang the line, “I’m gonna carry you back home in my arms,” and she commented, “No, I walk myself.” I broke up laughing hysterically and she just kept playing with her dolls, not understanding what I was laughing about. I was laughing at her certainty that she wants to walk herself when she often pleads for us to carry her. I guess we all think we’re independent but love having people to lean on, not realizing we truly need help.
Matt kept busy this week, as he always does. In addition to four days at the bank, creating a nice gate for the orchard, and a long conference call to the US with other Creation Spirituality graduates, he also accomplished quite a bit on the house.

He finished the third wall on the bedrooms (the fourth wall will be a hallway between the bedrooms and living room). Each day he works a little bit on the roof doing touch up work like patching holes from previous nails in the recycled roof, attaching gutters and other things that I can’t explain. Keith moved out of his room so today Matt began the demolition of that part of the existing house. This is the only pre-existing space which we are taking over, it will become the bathroom and part of the living room. I suppose it is not demolishing, that would be easier. He is preserving each board and window to be re-used so he must work slowly and carefully. After this work is done he will begin framing the last half of the house. I began “punching” nails this week, this is easy, but tedious and time-consuming work, especially with Jess. Each nail on the floor boards must be punched down below the surface of the floor so the wood floor can be sanded and made beautiful. I have a job!

The construction is progressing, the garden is growing, and we are now parents who have to contemplate “parenting,” so we are growing too. We think of you all often and hope that autumn and life in general, are making you dance, sing, laugh and groan with the earth. Enjoy the colors!

Take care,
Shana

Ancient weatherboards and artichokes

Bonjour mes amis :) Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. We’ve had a nice week here, lots of sun and a little bit of rain and wind. What you may hear about drought in Australia doesn’t often include us because we live on the east coast, which is mostly lush and fertile. Matt had the whole week to work on the house so we now have the weatherboards on two out of three exterior walls with windows installed! This means that from the outside, you could think the house was done, until you looked inside. Since the lumber all came off of an old church, the house already looks centuries old. The wood is in great condition, it just has old chipped off paint all over it. Nestled in nicely with the existing house, it looks as if it has always been there. This week Matt will work more at the bank but hopes to finish the third wall and begin framing the kitchen and living room.



Gardening this week was exciting: planting! I have lots of space to plant and it is spring, it’s a wonder I have planted so little. My seedlings in pots are growing beautifully, well, the ones that have come up. Artichoke plants, who could guess what they would look like ten days old? Some seeds are especially interesting to witness their development, plants that are new to me I suppose. Although, corn seedlings are also really fun to watch even though everyone knows what a corn stalk looks like. I planted a few beds with seeds directly, carrots, beans, beets, corn, peppers, basil, lettuce and sunflowers. I’ve been very attentive watering them, especially because Jess loves to water or play with it while I water. Keith helped (did most of the work) transplant the mango tree to a new spot with more sun and more space. We did this in the rain, as suggested. Jess and I poured diluted urine on the citrus trees to kill the aphids. She is very proud that her “wee” from the potty is saved in a bucket to be used on the trees. Spring is a great time to watch the trees in flower. Although the cows “trimmed” quite a few fruit trees, they have all come back with great force, with the exception of one of our orange trees. I am planting strawberries and cucumbers and melons beneath the trees and they seem to be happy. Our potatoes seem to be doomed, diseased once again. Oh well. We are still harvesting lettuce, spinach, a few peas, a tiny bit of broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets and the first few strawberries of the season. It’s such a neat concept to be planting for spring and harvesting from winter. Lo and behold, Jess is starting to munch on spinach and says it is yummy! I think it’s because she likes picking and there’s not many fat peas right now.

With no choir outings this week, we created a few outings. Jess went to play at the neighbors’ one evening and Matt and I took her on a beach picnic another evening.
Unfortunately we are on the wrong side of Australia to see the sun set on the beach, and we will most likely never get to the beach by sunrise. Nonetheless, it was beautiful with the waves crashing and the pelican waiting by the water’s edge for fish to eat. We sat near a huge sand castle/moat (labor donated by earlier beach visitors) and played for quite a while. Jess is quite fearful of the water, wanting to stay over 100 feet from it at all times, except when riding on daddy’s shoulders. At one point Matt and I were sitting in the castle and she moved back to the picnic blanket whimpering, “the water’s going to get me.” We never stay long enough for her to warm up to the idea, but by the end of our stay she was chasing Matt towards the water to “tackle daddy,” up until she got about thirty feet away from the water. Then she’d turn around and scamper back to me. I’ve missed the beach throughout winter and am looking forward to floating in saltwater as I get heavier and heavier.

I am starting to feel the baby move around inside any time I slow down. It’s great to feel it so early. I always invite Jess and Matt to feel too, but it may still be too early for that. Jacinta is very “baby conscious” at times, but mostly, she’s just enjoying becoming a big girl, asserting herself and using new words. You will hear her ask over and over throughout the day, “What YOU doin?” Sometimes she uses proper grammar saying, “what are you doing?” but always wants to know what everyone is up to. Often she knows the answer, but just likes to ask questions. She seems to have an answer for everything. Her latest explanation for lost items is that “the mouse ate it,” even for my boots! Each night before bed she gives Matt and I different types of kisses: eskimo, butterfly, fairy, etc. This past week she has decided that daddy asks for too many kisses and when he asks for his bedtime kisses, she firmly answers, “no, no, when you wake up.” He usually steals one or two, but she sticks to her word and gives him his kisses when he wakes up as a bribe to get him out of bed.

Here’s a question for other parents…do all children learn how to sniff, first by blowing air and sometimes snot out of their noses rather than inhaling through the nose? Jacinta loves to sniff things, especially now imitating the dogs, but also because I am so smell-oriented. I wonder if she really smells anything though, by exhaling rather than inhaling.

Today was a sunny Saturday, which made work on the house and in the garden very pleasant. Jacinta and I went to see a children’s play, “Snow White” in a nearby town. It was really nice to see an arts program out here in the country, and it was actually really funny and entertaining. The Queen was a man dressed in drag who lip-synced to “Simply the Best” and the dwarfs had broadband and ate packaged muesli bars for snacks. Matt and I both had a hard time remembering the story to tell Jacinta before she went, but he finally remembered the seven dwarfs’ names. He got them right, but at the play they named Bashful, “Shy!” How strange. Jacinta didn’t seem to mind the play, but was a little too tired to get excited so she just munched on an apple for most of it.


All the while Matt was home watching the Aussie rules football grand final in which his favorite team was playing: the Sydney Swans. It was an intense game, but in the end his team lost by one point, the score was 83 to 84. They won it last year, oh well. Cricket season is up next.

This week I found that I had hurt one of my family members in a few of my journal entries with some blunt political statements and societal critiques. I realize that what I write is sometimes generalizing and criticizing of certain ways of life. I have never meant to hurt any of you, but now know that although my intentions are pure and mean only to explain myself, what I say is sometimes hurtful and terribly judgmental. If I seem to have written off the USA as a terrible place, I did not intend to. Most of the people I love in this world are American. I am, and we are who we are because we come from the USA. There are things I dislike about our country, mainly the government and the consumer culture, but these are not unique to the USA, it is Western culture as a whole, of which I am a part and always will be. I love Americans who like the government and the consumer culture. My big move was more from city to country rather than leaving the USA for some amazing peaceful vegetarian loving hippy natural land with no televisions, because this is far from it. We may not have a McDonald’s within 30 miles but we’ve got everything else. What we don’t have is much cultural or religious diversity and this is a terrible lacking. The USA and cities are awesome in so many ways. So please excuse my blanket statement judgments and feel free to share with me any thoughts or feelings about anything offensive or ignorant I may have said. If you don’t have the time, have a good laugh at my ignorance. In the mean time, I’ll work on my critical side.

Besides all that, I’ve not much else to say. No clever closing, just an apology for making anyone feel judged and for acting as if I am not grateful for the chance to have grown up in America with all of the amazing opportunities I was offered. I am still grateful for endless opportunities, just in a smaller version of the USA, situated on the other side of the earth.

Have a good week y’all.