170 Playing docta

Hello there. I hear spring has sprung for you folk in my homeland. I am smiling as I contemplate the light green, the odor of wet beautiful dirt, hope and the bulb flowers popping their heads out of the dirt in your land. We had our first fire the other night. The wind has been blowing hard for the past few days and it is raining again. The ground is so wet that really, I shouldn't be messing with the soil for fear of compacting it all. But alas, I am not a trained gardener and will give anything a try if I have fifteen minutes to pop a few things into the ground.

 

The summer is clearly over, it is dark by the time we have dinner. We still have nice fruit in season though. If we only ate local fruit, our fruit salad these days would be kiwis and guavas from our garden (the kiwis are finally ripe after sitting in the fruit basket for over a month) and bananas from the fruit shop. Apples are in season a few hours drive from us so we are starting to enjoy the beauty of autumn apples. What does local mean? Good question, I suppose it is a spectrum of HOW local. Ideally, local food could mean anything grown in your town. Perhaps practically, local food might be anything grown within an hour or two hours driving radius from your house. If we ate only veggies from our garden, we would have cucumbers, green peppers, a few lettuce leaves, one cherry tomato, one leek, some rocket, garlic and warrigal greens every night. But we don't, we buy most veggies from the fruit shop. If we ate only eggs from our chickens (who don't lay well in the cooler days), we could share one or two eggs a day. If we were really dedicated to eating truly local and needed some more protein, we might eat one of the nuisance turkeys who dig up the garden. Instead we just buy local beef and local pork from the butcher. I hope to learn to grow a constant and better variety of veggies some day, and perhaps eat our chickens. We might have to invest in a rooster in that case.

 

For now, I am just experimenting when I get time, even starting to mow the lawn. This season I am trying out new ways of planting having as my major goal: leaving the soil structure intact. Most importantly I want to preserve the integrity, the life in the soil (worms, fungus, beneficial bacteria, minerals). Anytime the soil is uncovered or looks slightly tilled the turkeys dig it all up in search of worms and grubs and the rats dig up seeds. Introduced to me by my friend Martina almost ten years ago, no dig kind of gardening is much easier, just the addition of compost and liquid fertilizer to build up the fertility in the soil. I pulled out the old corn stalks in my bottom terrace, threw them on the compost heap and did not weed. With my large shovel, I jammed the tip in about 6-8 inches deep, pushed the shovel away from me, dropped in a handful of dried up chicken manure and a potato. I then pulled out the shovel, never taking out any dirt, leaving 13 potatoes underground, hopefully to sprout through the weeds in a while. I did the same with about 80 garlic cloves in the top terrace. I am interested to see how they grow in comparison to my previous efforts involving a lot more labor. I probably should have added some mulch and manure but any doctoring up attracts the turkeys. The girls and I have been weeding and planting peas everywhere in both gardens, and a few have actually come up in spite of too much rain. The fallow ground is diminishing as I find little blocks of time to transplant winter crops like broccoli into the ground. This comes at a good time, when Genevieve has learned to like broccoli.

 

Matt hacked down a large tree in the middle of the terrace garden with a machete the other day, while standing on a ladder. This does sound insane, yes, but we don't have a working chainsaw and he wanted to help me out. This endeavor made way for more sunshine on the plants and also created a third sturdy post to prop up our heavy kiwi vines. New stepping stones that we made together with our friend Emily will also inspire our garden this winter. We are hopeful for a productive garden. The girls hope to eat peas by the fistful, so we will continue to plant them every chance we get.

 

Our long awaited guests have come and gone, but what a lovely time we spent with them while they were in our midst. The Easter bunny didn't stay long enough to even sight him. Matt's sister Allison came and spent a few days with us for Easter which was so nice. Jacinta and Genevieve were thrilled to have their aunty here to play, as were we. They had a lovely time baking cookies together, and of course eating them. Jacinta proudly sat on Allison's lap through out the whole Peter Pan play, knowing it was a treat to be near her aunty. We went on a rainy day outing to Koala Park and strawberry picking.

 

Our friend Emily from Michigan stayed almost two weeks. Her loving, positive and energetic spirit inspired all of us. She had just finished her medical degree in osteopathy. She came to us after six weeks of medical work in Malawi, and a short stay in South Africa with stories and the desire for more adventure and exploration. We chatted late into the evenings, (giving me the chance to knit, listen and flap my gums), shared music and life. She played with the girls who were electrified by her energy. She worked on Matt, Keith, Mary and I, on all of our sore bones and even taught Matt and I how to help each other's knees (me) and back and shoulders (Matt). Her hands were magical. None of us had really had much experience with osteopathy, but after last week, I wish I had an MD who was also an osteopath like Emily. It seems to be one of the best options in the US, an MD who has knowledge and faith in natural remedies and deep tissue therapy. Not only did we have free medical care and great company, but also help with dishes, cooking and child care. Amazing. She slept on a hammock in our tiny abode for a few nights and didn't mind being awoken each morning by Genevieve looking for a playmate.

 

We packed more outings in the last two weeks than we usually have in two months. Matt took Emily and the girls to Coffs Harbour to visit the Big Banana and the ocean. They walked up and down a small island, Muttonbird Island, no small feat, but beautiful of course. We saw a wood chopping contest, a really funny version of Peter Pan put on by a local theatre group, and went to Bellingen for outdoor church both Sundays. Last Sunday Matt led Ecofaith for the first time while Jason was on vacation.

On Easter Sunday Matt sang his funny version of how the Jesus story can be connected to chocolate eggs. It was great, in between each serious historical verse, he had us all sing, "What about the Easter eggs? I really like Easter eggs! Where are the Easter eggs?" Only Matt could connect chocolate eggs to Jesus.

 

Easter was really nice.  The girls woke up extra early for breakfast and a few non-edible gifts from Matt and I, bulbs to plant and special stones. Soon, they found Easter bunny tracks leading to baskets in a few different places. Jacinta was so in love with the markers Pop and Grandma left in her basket and the one page to color in that she instantly went to work drawing and didn't look at anything else in her basket. There was chocolate to be consumed. While Genevieve began the demolition of her chocolate bilby, our task oriented Jacinta said she'd have chocolate after she had finished. Eventually we hopped down to the garden to find their wheat grass filled baskets, lots of chocolate, jelly beans and the hard boiled dyed eggs. It was quite a crowd of picture-taking admiring adults, Allison, Emily, Keith, Mary, Matt and I. The girls enjoyed the hunt, the chocolate, the company, and it wasn't raining! I hid their baskets over and over, until they ran out of steam and proceeded to have a very chocolatey day. They had a nice playful morning, followed by a long drive to church and another exciting chocolate Easter egg hunt. Emily and I took off on the canoe upon return to Macksville while Matt relaxed with the girls. It was the first time I canoed without the girls in our canoe and actually got to paddle hard. Mary cooked us all a nice dinner to wash away some of the chocolate. The only missing part of Easter was my family in the States. On Monday, we had the chance to connect with some of them on Skype and even talk to them on a web camera and even look at them! It was really weird, but amazing. My little niece in Indiana was baptized on Easter and we got to "see" her along with some more of my family.

 

After Easter Matt had to go back to work, so Emily and I decided to take the girls camping to the rainforest and see some waterfalls. Emily, like me, is a bit risky and loves a good challenge if beauty and excitement lie at the end of it. We took these girls to some gorgeous hidden corners, "Never Never Land" was our first real stop, a swimming hole on the Never Never River located in "The Promise Land" between Bellingen and Dorrigo. We played on big beautiful slippery rocks, walked through shallow pools, and climbed mossy trees, had a picnic and even saw a Peter Pan and Tinkerbell (or a couple we named as such). Emily was a great navigator, entertainer for the girls and after searching through tens of travel brochures, found a camping site for us. I love traveling in spontaneous company. En route we saw a few amazing waterfalls, and eventually made it to our destination. Dangar Falls was magnificent, and a great hike up and down to get a close up. Jacinta's legs have surely grown up and made the hike all on her own. After a nice dinner in town, we camped under the bright stars close enough to the waterfall that the splash lulled us to sleep. It was a wee bit chilly, but four girls squished in a little tent helped keep us warm. Although one shooting star after another tempted us to stay out stargazing all night, the chill in the air sent us in the tent to find a space in the big sleeping bag. We had such a nice time in Dorrigo that Genevieve has added "Dowigo" to her vocabulary. When asked what she did today, regardless of the truth, she says, "I went to Dowigo." When she packs her little bag and heads out the door, she is going to Dowigo.

 

I will close with a story about the girls' latest imaginative play. "Evie, do you want to play docta?" Evie replies, "Yeah, I be docta." Jacinta, disregarding her says, "Yeah, Ok, I'll be the docta, but first I am going to make some bandages." Paper, crayons, scissors and a few minutes later Jacinta has three new colored bandages. "Ok Evie, sit down. What hurts?" Evie replies, "My belly hehts." Jacinta instructs her to lay down. It takes a bit of encouragement. I peek in. Evie is on her back on the wooly rug while Jacinta adjusts her legs, looking calm and very involved. I leave them alone and in a few minutes come back in and Genevieve has the colorful bandages on her legs. Jacinta is hoisting her up on her lap, sitting in her doctor's armchair and giving her a big cuddle. Genevieve is actually accepting the cuddle (abnormal). They eventually switch places and Evie cures Jacinta's legs. I try to remain unseen and don't hear much. Today I asked Jacinta to tell my mom about their doctor game. She happily obliged and proceeded to tell mom about their illnesses. "We get bellyaches from eating too much chocolate."

 

Genevieve, who keeps good track of everyone's whereabouts will tell you that Allison is in Canberra, working, Daddy and Granma are in Kempsey, working, Popy is on hollyday and Emily is in America. We loved our busy home for the holidays and laughed a lot but now we are back to normal and this is pretty good too. With new inspiration and relaxation from our visitors, we are tired, filled with love and still ready to play, new and old games.

 

Hope you all had a nice "hollyday" too. Enjoy your spring, perhaps with a burst of new life and hope.

 

Peace,

Shana

 

 

 

 

 

 

169 New Life

Good evening my friends. I hope this letter flies over to you and finds you in springtime, in flower and in the sun. My sister told me of their spring snow in Wisconsin. I remember Easters in the snow, but there were always buds on the trees and green sprouting up out of the cold, damp earth to remind you of new life springing forth. Today was daylight savings for us, so we are “falling back” as Easter tells of new life. I still can’t wrap my head around celebrating Easter in the autumn. There is never a season of total dormancy here, there is new life in every season. But as we prepare for Easter, this holiday celebrating fertility, rebirth, renaissance, renewed hope, the deciduous trees are dropping their leaves and going to sleep. The sweet summer crops are dying off. The corn, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, zucchini, melons, and berries who need more sunlight are making way for broccoli, spinach, peas, greens of all kinds and the lovely citrus fruits.

 

Lillypillies (bitter native berries with seeds) are in season. Harvesting them is really exciting as it involves climbing a massive tree and shaking it until the berries fall onto a sheet laying on the ground to catch them. Climbing higher in a tree than I’ve climbed in my life at age 31 was exhilarating, much better than the berries themselves. In addition to eating a lot of lillypillies, Jacinta scored a rope swing out of this experience. Genevieve got bored and whined for attention.

 

The garden is actually in quite a dormant state, mainly because I haven’t planted much. There is room for masses of plants, but I haven’t yet converted my attempt at a summer garden to an autumn/winter garden. The nice thing is that I am at peace with the fallow ground. The terrace I redid last month is still empty and the turkeys have dug up my attempt at neatness and a clear path. They are also curbing my attempt at growing salad greens right up at the house. If the girls ever learn a swear word, I will have to blame it on the turkeys, our lovely native pests. We are still eating corn, green peppers and masses of cucumbers from the garden. The rats get a lot of the corn, but when I remember to spray the cobs with clove oil and water, they leave it alone, until it rains.

 

Rain, rain, rain, yes, there is no shortage of this. We have just had our second major flood in a month. After much damage done to towns around us, the rivers have gone back down, but it is still raining. Schools were closed for a few days in some areas, people were evacuated, many couldn’t get to work or get home to their families. Children and teachers were stuck in schools and on school buses one night until 10pm. Violent winds knocked trees down, power lines, and hills crumbled. Matt was called out at midnight one night to help evacuate families in Urunga, to assist setting them up in temporary housing at the bowling club, fetching their prescription drugs from flooded houses. Cows and horses floated out to sea mooing.

 

We live on a hill and our bridges didn’t go under, so again, we just played at home, watched the rain and went to town when we needed something. Genevieve had a cold so we didn’t puddle jump as much as we like. But one day we went out with the neighbor girls and almost swam on the road between our dam and the river. I needed a reason to stay inside for a few days and cook and create in the kitchen. Thanks to this rain which hurt so many others, I got what my body needed. The girls and I got busy in the kitchen making gingerbread cookies, applesauce, chocolate, laundry soap, salsa, soap. We decorated baskets for Easter with ribbons and mended a few things. We planted wheat grass for the Easter baskets and I finally found some time to knit.

 

The girls always love playing with Grandma and Pop. They do a lot of drawing and painting together. Keith draws them beautiful pictures to color in. Genevieve sits for a few minutes and draws but moves onto new things quickly. Jacinta will sit there as long as she is allowed and creates intricate colorful designs to hang up on the walls. Last week at preschool she began a snail, filling in the spiral little by little with a new ray of color. Kids move pretty quick at preschool so she was asked to finish it at home. Jacinta needs to complete things, so different to myself. This beautiful snail was quite a prize for her after she finished. Jacinta prizes her artwork so much that she has a hard time giving it away. It is not uncommon that in her card making for someone else, she spends a long time, then wants to keep the original. She will then quickly make something else for the card. Anytime she makes something for Genevieve (who will probably destroy it), you know she is feeling very loving.

 

The girls’ games change all the time, what they can do together peacefully and what evokes major fights. This month the peaceful games have been building trains, building marbles towers, drawing and gluing, dolly play, the sandpit and cooking on our new “stove” in the orchard. I set up an old wooden frame on its side and we placed a few bowls and pots on top. It seems to rain almost every night so each day we go to the garden there is fresh rain water ready to cook up. All they need is sand from the pit, some herbs and flowers from the garden, spoons and cups. Blue food coloring added to the fun for a few days, turning the creations into blueberry flavored food. The girls climbed the apple tree together this week, Genevieve’s first solo climbing experience. It was very exciting. Watching the seeds sprout that we have planted in the little seedling hut is also something we can all enjoy. 

 

Although I tried somewhat to make the girls rough and tough, I enjoy quite a few arts which have the reputation of being typically feminine. I have girly girls who love mirrors, clothes and shopping, already. Evie packs a bag or the dolly pram and calls out as she leaves a room, “I’m going to town now, bye bye.” Jacinta takes a few real coins, picks up items from shelves in the house and pays me for them. As her coins are limited, she always requests the money be returned after the purchase. They both gaze in the mirror after each hair do. My oh my.

 

The games which erupt in screams all come from their will to possess.  Jacinta is quite benevolent sharing most everything, but there are certain things she is precious about and for these she pulls the “MINE” card. It’s understandable because Evie still destroys things, sucks things, and pees her pants, charming. Genevieve takes any venom and multiplies it by 10, so her “MINE” hurts your ears. Her most recent rebuttal is to whack Jacinta. She is two. “I am Evie. I am 2.” There is no doubt she is two, she is painfully possessive at the moment. If anyone touches anything that she has ever touched, she nastily reminds you that it is hers. Most times, it is not, she just wishes it were.

 

She fights a hard fight, but Genevieve makes us laugh a lot too. One of her latest anthems is, “Fruit makes you TOOT! Fruuuiiit makes you ….POOP!” waiting for us to respond with laughter. Jacinta and I often have to confer and ask one another, did she just say…?” She cracks us up and she knows it. Genevieve is saddened by Jacinta’s absence on pre-school days and comments through out the day. “Cinta kwying, no like pee school. Cinta will be happy at home.” Then she’ll ask me, “Mommy why I no go to peeschool? You give me cuddle and say goodbye?” When we leave Jacinta in a good mood at pre-school Genevieve exclaims, “Cinta no kwying!” When I wake Evie to go fetch Jacinta at preschool, in her stupor she says, “Jacinta will be happy.” She knows that every time we pick her big sister up, she is in a good mood and has enjoyed herself. The other day we found an overly exuberant Jacinta at pre-school, thrilled about the new songs and games they had played and about shaking a pretend gorilla’s hand. Jacinta’s friend tried to pick Genevieve up. In a loud strong voice Evie said, “Lily don’t pick me up! I big girl now!” She doesn’t mean to make us laugh all the time, but hearing her string all those words together and say so much is just funny coming out of her tiny little body.

 

Songs are constantly pulsing through both girls most of the day long: French songs, pre-school songs, dancing songs, lullabies, daddy songs, poppy songs, nursery rhymes, funny songs, and choir songs. Evie has had one song from the Down from the Mountain soundtrack stuck in her head for over a month, “In the Highways In the Hedges.” Jacinta is just about over it. Keith has it on a Dvd and doesn’t mind playing the three little girls singing as nasally as possible over and over, sometimes four times in a row. They stand next to each other as if they are on stage and sing this gospel song just as nasally as the Peasall sisters. Genevieve loudly sings it out on the town, in the fruit shop, at the butcher, “I’ll be somewhere searching for my Lord.” I try to quiet her down but the shop owners encourage her.

 

Last weekend our choir sang at a community show Friday and Saturday night. This was going to be Jacinta’s first time on a stage, singing the whole set with us. Friday night I led the choir and Jacinta tentatively stood in front of me, held my hands and sang. I had overdressed her, so after a song or two the stage lights overheated her and needed some care, while I was conducting and singing.  “I’m hot mommy.” Ignored a few times, she became more insistent. In between songs she asked loudly if she could take off her dress. At this point she went down to see Matt, who was keeping Genevieve off the stage. He had come directly from work/flood relief to help with the girls while I led the choir. Then Genevieve escaped and boldly approached the stage and raised her arms to be picked up and join us. My friend Trish happily obliged. Matt said that when Evie looked out and saw the bright lights and the audience, her eyes lit up saying, “Oh yes, this is the life!” Both evenings were lovely, the girls loved watching the junior high girls and loved the attention they were given for being so little and cute. Their favorite act was the jump roping act put on by the “big girls.” The second night Mary and Keith brought the girls and kept them happy. This night Jacinta chose a cool outfit to wear and was then able to sing the whole set. I was quietly so proud of her, knowing all the words to these songs in Shona, Galithian French, Zulu, and Latin. I try not to outdo her own pride with my joy for her accompishments. It was also Jacinta’s first time holding her own part when I strayed off to sing a solo. We all enjoyed the show, even the cheesy Aussie sing along songs. My favorite act might have been the belly dancers, I always love watching older women with real bellies find freedom and beauty in dance. We don’t dance often enough in Western society. 

 

We have been keeping very busy on the weekends. One Sunday I took the girls to a Harmony Day festival and watched the Coffs Harbor international population put on a show, alongside Aussie culture, both indigenous and non-indigenous. I was surprised by the diversity represented in a small coastal city and just felt so lucky. Different languages, cultures, dances, songs, foods, only 45 minutes from Macksville! A little shot of color and adrenaline flowed through my veins that day. Other weekend activities have included our Autumn Equinox party, an environmental film and discussion night at a café organized by our group of friends, local markets, tree fairs and visits with friends. Besides hanging out with his little girls, Matt has been busy building cabinets and shelving for the bathroom. He is also using up some creative energy on creating a new web-based education model for Creation Spirituality.

Both of us have been digging into the Easter season, trying to figure out how to celebrate it deeply and beautifully with the girls, in autumn. I am looking for songs and poems that lend themselves to rebirth and fertility in autumn in Australia, this is almost fruitless. So much literature is written for the Northern Hemisphere, thus an autumn with true chill and apples and an Easter with tulips and trees coming back to green life. The girls are still too young to know that Jesus was killed off by mean people, so they can’t yet know that Easter is a day when he rises from the dead. So what is left of the Christian story for small children? Bunnies, eggs and chocolate I suppose. Matt is trying to write a story for them for Easter. I have planted wheat grass with them, which I must say is growing quite amazingly and will make a beautiful bed in their Easter baskets. The Easter bunny will give them bulbs to plant, beautiful stones to hold and jellybeans, to pass on a bit of my childhood. We will surely dye some eggs this week. Matt is taking care of the chocolate for us all.

 

If  Easter is about new life, then we should be set, given the fertility of our friends. Since I last wrote, three healthy babies have been born to good friends of ours, two different couples in the USA, and my Togolese friends here just had their little boy yesterday. Just this week two couples of Aussie friends announced their pregnancies. So here’s to Easter, to new life.

 

Our friend Emily from the USA will be here soon to celebrate the season, as will Matt’s sister Allison from Canberra. Jacinta just started counting the days until our guests Emily and Allison arrive, but even more exciting for her, the guest with long white ears and a stash of sweets. Matt and I are just hoping Emily makes it here safely and with less drama than the last few days of trying to get a visa to travel from Johannesburg to Sydney. My naturopath Belinda gave me a few simple tips that will take years to sink in and perhaps heal little wounds and obsessions of the past. To new life and lasting peace.

 

I wish you all a lovely Easter, Passover, a refreshing springtime, or a big, bold renaissance, whatever you choose to celebrate.

 

Peace,

Shana