Must Byt Deep Sea

The highlight of our time away was to be the first ever deep sea fishing adventure for Garren. A time for just him and his Papi to both do something that they love together - fish.

He has watched all the fishing shows on the tele and has for years been in awe of it all.

The boat.. the ocean.. the fish.. An adventure to top all adventures.

[gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="1021,1022"]

My poor bass fisherboy and fisherman. The ocean was not very kind to them at all. The waves chopped at their small boat and the glare off the waves brought on the sea sickness for our small human. I was told of his braveness when the anchor had to be cut from the boat and how in all the turmoil of being thrown from side to side he came through stronger for it.

Secretly, I think in the future he will more partial to the dams and lakes than the untamed ocean.

A Mami's vain hope? Time will tell.

https://youtu.be/2zQ11tRx408

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zQ11tRx408]

Riverbend Crocodile Farm

The weather was poorly most of our time away down the South Coast. With winds that howled off the waves and the on-and-off-again outburst of wetness that fell from the sky. Minding two small humans cooped up inside all this time proved to be a challenge especially when they are accustomed to so much freedom and space.

https://youtu.be/GxXy92t6pcI

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxXy92t6pcI]

We clambered on into the pickup and ambled our way further down to Riverbend Crocodile Farm for a morning outing to stretch our legs and feed their minds with all that is Crocodile. Not quite what I would go out of my way to experience personally but for Garren learning a little about these enormous ancient reptiles was captivating and not something he would ever be able to experience in a classroom.

Danika loved the family of Ducks that waddled about the lazy lizzards without a care in the world.

https://youtu.be/Hy4TfLpvrSg

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy4TfLpvrSg]

The Morning Of My 39th.

We're back from our impromptu escape to beautiful Shelly Beach. There is a whole cauldron filled with emotions brewing within me, beginning from before we left to while we were there and now that we are back. I am still trying to sort through them all whilst flipping through precious moments captured while we were away. These few days were so intensely needed. A breather from it all and a time to just BE without the pressures of the corporate world that seem to keep crossing over into our family life.

I will be sharing pictures and video clips of our time away over a couple of updates. I am still working on those but in the meantime I had to share this small clip from our last day there.

It was the perfect end to my 38 years here Earth side, with a message of rebirth and renewal for the future years to come - signs that kept unfolding daily on our holiday.

On the morning of my 39th trip around our Sun they came so close to shore - have a peek here.

https://youtu.be/3F2NZSUG-5A

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F2NZSUG-5A]

Woolen WIPS

Bonnie bear is complete, well almost. I am pleased. I know that in all her imperfections she is made with love for our sweet girl and there will be no other one like her out there. I loved the play on colours with these prints. I plan to use what is left of the skein for a Foxy Neckwarmer in each colour and if enough just maybe a Baby Star Gnome in each too for Our Shop.

I cast on for her frock through the week and with good judgement I will be done before the big day. Now, for a pretty box to gift it in.
I will share the dear Bonnie on the big day!

************************************************************************************

I love adding woolen rows to my needles and watching as the hoops and loops and stitches transform into something sweet and beautiful. I would love for you to join me here every Wednesday for Woolen WIPS and share a link to your blog in the comments below, or a tag on Instagram #woolenWIPS of your knitting or crochet.

On His Way.

Today Josh leaves for his Leadership Camp.

Spirit of Adventure Berg Hike in Cobham.

He will be hiking through the Drakensburg with his school House.

This hike is to

"form a crucial step in leadership identification and role implementation for your son's senior phase within his House." (said in an oh so very posh voice)

In other words... they will be sorting through the boys to see whom shows leadership qualities and who will be illegible to become prefects in their final year of high school. (this is a tedious process that happens every year of high school).

Usually at a camp like this the boys pack all the warm clothes and bedding and head off to camp with all food and shelter provided for. This year, they are changing things up a little. The boys have to pack all their equipment for camping and their own food!

Tent, camping gear, food, utensils and means of cooking it all on their backs all through the hike.

So, off he goes out into the wild with his new hiking boots, the trusted family travel ruck sack, his sleeping bag, thermal undies, a small pot to cook in, an enamel cup to drink from, the small camping kettle to boil up water for his coffee addiction, a mini camping stove with fuel and a lunchware box of one packet meals in ziplock bags for the next three days.

I will repeat this again dear humans just in case you didn't get it...
.... OUT INTO THE WILD....

Wish me.. I mean... him luck please - this Mami's heart and nerves are all bothered.

I have to keep reassuring myself that he's going away unable to boil himself an egg and returning home a little more self-sufficient. (or devastatingly starving!).

This. That. The Other.

22 . 33 . 22 . 33 . 33 . 18 . 21

The numbers in degree Celsius predicted for our weather for this week gone by.

Funny thing about last weeks' post was that as soon as it was sent a strange wind howled on in  - whipping through the tops of the pine and gum trees - causing such a hullabaloo, not only on our homestead but around our town. Just outside of town a poor man was caught in the throws of the storm while fishing and sadly never made it to shore alive. Fallen trees brought down power lines and the rain disturbed the already sorely neglected infrastructure to the water pipelines that carry water to our suburb. So, no electricity and no water for the rest of the weekend. We would have coped without the water, as we do have a water tank in place for times such as these, but Rob had just filled the very low pool for fear of burning out the pool pump, an expense we could just not entertain. We are kitted out with solar emergency lights, which Rob has set up, throughout our home and we do have a gas stove to cook and make tea and warm water on. In reality we were absolutely fine and thankfully safe this time and I am so very grateful for that.

Here's a small clip of those howls that screeched through the tips of the trees.

https://youtu.be/KHmI16hxfNg
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHmI16hxfNg]

Ostara

The wheel of the year turns again dear sweet humans!
Bright brilliant blessings at this time when the hours of the day and night are again in balance. I love that this time of the year signifies renewal and abundance and new life to come. I have been silently watching and waiting and I know that although awakenings of Spring have already long begun there is still such abundance in the making.

Here is to the season of life and sweet beginnings.
Here is to the egg, the bud and the seed.
Here is to the prosperous harvests to come.

May the returning light bring you and yours abundance in all that your heart may desire.

Recovery In The Coop.

She adores them - the chickens that is, and he feels so much safer and is spending more time in here with them.

The girls are much happier too. Our Roo is no longer with us and they (the girls) are now safe from his perpetual bullying. Their feathers are beginning to come in all magnificent again and we have four eggs a day from the coop.

All four girls are happy and recovering from their skittish behaviour.

Well, only four eggs when one doesn't lazily drop an egg while scratching and then they all scramble to it for their share.

Such strange creatures these Zulu Fowls.

https://youtu.be/EwMsFcxPVCQ

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwMsFcxPVCQ]

Woolen WIPS

Hot off the needles and oh what a difference from all the ones before. I think I am quite enthralled by this rich creamy double knit Foxy Neckwarmer. I have made quite a few before, all different colours on different sized needles with different gifted balls of wool. I may have a soft spot for this one and I may just keep it for our a sweet little girl's neck for the Winter to come instead of adding it to our handmade shop.

I cast on for a knitted Bonnie Bear this week. I have knitted one before for Danika, with left over Teaberry but I wasn't happy with the feel of it, so didn't go on to knit up the frock to go with it.

I've had it in mind for a long while now that I wanted to gift something homemade for her each birthday and when I was given Val Pierce's Knitted Bears All dressed up! I knew what it is that I wanted to knit for her for her first birthday. But it had to be just right! Finding the right wool sometimes proves to be difficult and often very expensive. I finally found Charity DK Pull-Skein Print in Gunmetal. Obviously not what I had pictured in my mind before walking into the Wool & Habby but when I saw it, picked it up and felt it, I knew it was the one.

I ended buying one in Gunmetal grey for the body and Italiano rose  for the frock.

Now, please hold all those finger and toes so that I can get it all done before her birthday next month.

*********************************************************************************************************************

Hello there and welcome to my first Woolen WIPS link up party on the blog.




document.write('');

New Moon

The New Moon is always a time of beginnings. It is my favourite phase through the lunar cycle because of the promise of new things to come.

It is a time of hope and renewal.

A time to wipe the slate clean and start afresh.

So go and plant your seeds and set your intentions in motion!

 

Degrees in Celcius

6 . 38 . 37 . 19 . 26 . 31 . 20

I wish these were the winning numbers for this weeks' Lotto draw - but they're not. These numbers were the high temps (in degree Celsius) that we experienced this week and it is only September! I am a little worried as to the highs in the making at Mid Summer. Usually around this time of the year we have the last of icy Winter. It's as if Winter would say "Hey you all - just so that you dont forget me - here is some snow for you all to play in" and then we would make our way into the Berg to play in the cold white stuff. Kind of like our last farewell to Winter.

Somehow I don't think we will be doing that this year.

A Month Away.

We are one month away from this dear human having made her way one whole trip around our Sun.

I wish I could have written more and shared more. But, I am living in the moments with you, my child. Trying to imprint it all to memory. And I feel I may have lost a few of those already. Is it age or does one really loose a little of ones mind with each child that is bought here Earth Side? (insert chuckle here.) I know that my eyesight has faded ever so slightly and there are times when the further you seem to crawl from me the defining lines become more hazy.

Goodness Part 2.

We have been talking and talking and talking about setting up a new bed for the kitchen garden, and sweet humans - it is finally in! Rob went early on Saturday morning to collect the most wonderful poop ever from our dear friends at Bits and Pieces Farm. Sally and Neil are the same friends who gifted us our small flock of Zulu Chickens all those years back.

I was paging through my chicken photographs this morning. Most of them blurry but there are quite a few that show the majesticness of our Cock, Nugget. I will miss him - he has moved on to a new home this past week. For those who have followed from the beginning of our adventure into backyard urban farming you will remember the love hate relationship I have had with this jerk of a Roo. I loved him and hated him all at once. He was beautiful and oh so very cruel. Over the last few months his cruelness had become lethal. The boys could not enter the coop for fear of his full fledged talon attack and Rob would not allow Danika and I to collect eggs from the girls. How could we not collect eggs - all we could do was watch from the fence while Rob battled it out with rake in one hand and food for the girls in the other while feathers and talons flew through the air. He was pomp ass and magnificent and utterly devilish. I already miss his crow in the mornings. The girls, on the other hand, look less disheveled and have thanked us with a full house of eggs.

So poop.. it makes this heart of mine smile. It must be a Mama thing. If the children are all pooping we're happy and when there is good organic poop for the kitchen garden we are grinning from ear to ear. Am I right? Over the years we have had one failure after another. Well, not really failure, maybe more of a few learning curves. Learning to grow with shade from the abundance of trees. Learning to grow with the constant attack of the monkey troupe that terrorise our neighbourhood. Learning to just grow. But after all of this I feel we may have got it right this time. And we are now ready to expand and grow with the sprouts. (watch this space there will be at least two more beds to come in the future.)

We have planted new heirloom seeds of Finger Carrots, Runner Lazy Housewife Beans (dont ask - do you think Rob maybe trying to tell me something?), Black Beauty Egg fruit, Capsicum (Green Pepper California) and for my edible and medicinal flowers we have added Echinacea, Nasturtium, Chamomile and Sunflowers - for the love of flowers for the vase. We also added a Pansy variety (from seedling trays) - which is an absolute delicious and beautiful add to our salads! I have a thing for all things bright and pretty. I think being blessed with the dearest of baby girls has bought all that back for me.

Oh, and those sweet young faces you see there belong to our tribe from the Big City.

Pretty Flowers.

I almost didn't make it out of bed for most of the week. That darn flu bug caught me in its cold cruel talons good and solid, although not completely healed I do feel so much better. I have been able to fare the worst of Winter and now the change into Spring without a doctor for each of my tribe members. It has been an all natural all love change for my humans this year and I love how we are building our immune systems stronger for it. Thank you copious handfuls of tissue salts, drops of Hyssop herbal tincture, sweet dark honey, oranges and deep magnesium eucalyptus oil baths to soak in.

The weather has confirmed that it's Summer, today the high was 36 degrees Celsius. I dont know what has happened to Spring. If you see her please send her back our way - she hasn't even celebrated the Solstice with us.

Oupie must have overheard me saying that we needed more colour in all our greenness. Come to think of it never bothered me before. I love the lush that illuminates and vibrates around our home but lately Ive been searching for a little more along the lines of colour. He went out and added just that to the top of our garden stairs. They're beautiful and fresh and new and Spring! It is such a welcoming sight when arriving home after being away.

Oumie planted some Cosmos seeds. We are waiting in much anticipation. The last seeds planted didn't germinate, not even one. These planted last week have already started sprouting. I so look toward to the days when the Summer evening crickets chirp as we stroll on by and admire them in all their beauty.

What is it that you may be looking forward to as the season changes again?

Tristan Welcomes 21.

I have struggled to find the right words to say here. And, then I realised it doesn't really matter what I say here but rather what is said to this young man.

This is Tristan and he has just seen in his 21st spin around our Sun.

What I do want to say to this young man who is about to take on the world away from the arms of his tribe - is - THANK YOU!

You are my first, You are the one who knows me so much better than I remember myself. YOU are the one that shaped me into the Mother that I am and that I have become. Thank you for your patience with me and always loving me unconditionally.

Thank you for choosing me.

May these new steps around our Sun bless you with love, abundant light and earthly magic.

I love you to infinity and beyond.

Welcome September.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omsV6gtxg3Q]

https://youtu.be/omsV6gtxg3Q

Welcome the month of September, the month of Ostara, the month of the Spring Equinox.

May it be blessed with just enough of what we all really need.

The Brightest of Blessings,