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!).

Nine Full Moons.

You are determined and stubborn and knowing.

Smiles are not parted with easily but when given they brighten your whole being.

You speak so intensely with your eyes.

Your eyes that pierce right through to our souls. Your eyes that know things, other things, not from this world things.

You have a love for food of all varieties but pasta and strawberries and whatever may be dished on Mama’s plate are preferred.

You already have a favourite pony toy and love to ride your Papi like a he is your own personal horse.

Your favourite lullaby is Twinkle Little Star. It soothes your immediately and if I gently stroke the side of our face you fall peacefully asleep.

Outside with nature and daily grounding is a must with no exception to a stop off at the coop to talk to the chooks.

As soon as we step outside Zeus is there by your side watching and waiting. I’m sure he’s counting the days until you there walking him and just him alone.

You have all your brothers wrapped around your small delicate finger. I know there is nothing that they would not do for you dear girl child.

Today we are celebrating your 9th month Earth side.

To think it wasn’t that long ago that you joined us on the 9 month and we cant believe that it has already been a whole 9 months you have been part of our earth bound lives here.

https://youtu.be/M7hNMSGSrCU

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7hNMSGSrCU]

Beginnings Of New.

There is dust from the belt sander still laying thick on my towering Hibiscus and there is a splattered fine dust of the same on my potted Strawberry plant - that bird that has tweeted us to school and back home again for the last few months has finally died and with it our little grey car too. Thank goodness the boys are on their mid-year break, how I have welcomed it, not only for them but for myself too. They’re sleeping in and catching up with themselves after a very busy second term of school. Which means now our little grey Tazzie car can recover and get the tender loving care it needs to get it back on the road again.

Our home is beginning to get a makeover, starting from the outside. Wooden window panes and doors have been sanded and are drying from the second or third coat of varnish lovingly slathered all over it. It’s been so wonderful watching the wood come to life again. There is still so much to be done though. The front veranda and pathway are also under construction after a root from the knobbly green trunk was lifting the paving and slithering its way under the house. That now needs to all be cemented and tiled back into place again. Tristan has been heading the man power behind these projects while Rob is at work and its looking amazing. For a man-child who isn’t hands on physically he sure knows how to get it all done professionally.

He may just have to start his own business in household repairs and small renovations. We are in Africa so qualifications don’t count here.

I have been fighting off something. I still haven’t figured out just what it is yet. Headaches, a twitching right eyelid and slightly low demeanour of late. I can’t put it down to anything much. Danika doesn’t sleep badly at all, she does get restless at times, but once nursed she settles again. I remember the days when the boys used to wake and want to play through the wee hours of the morning. Thank goodness she doesn’t do that. I don’t think I would be managing. But, in saying that, I do feel like there is something amiss at the moment that may need a good dosing of tissue salts, essential oils and mild hibernation to bring me back from. Could it be all about the Wolf full moon approaching on Sunday? Maybe once we’ve peaked I will get all balanced and aligned again. I look forward to the coming Equinox. We really haven’t had an unbearable Winter at all this year, but longer daylight hours would make for more hours in the day for me to get things done. With that being said I bet Rob will curse me by admitting that there hasn’t been that much freeze, cause he knows that come September the snow falls on the mountains and he will have to take us all to it. (he isn’t a winter, snow, dark and cold person at all).

I’d like to say that I have a few more knitted baby star gnomes to add to our shop but sadly I don’t. I just haven’t had a moment to get the needles together but I do plan to get a few more soaps listed this month. The last batch of Chamomile + Rose did so very well, I am please – thank you for your support everyone. I had no idea this batch that I had made for Danika would be so pretty and popular. One customer said she even uses to wash her hair with.

I can’t seem to make up my mind if I should do another batch of Hibiscus or Lavender.

What do you think? I do have dried flowers of both. I have enough for one more batch before I order in new supplies.

Again this year I only received a school and class photograph of our Garren. Joshua has claimed a no go again. Rob and I had a good ol’ chuckle when we received it and were told that this was his Justin Bieber look!

In Reality.

It’s the first catch up for this years yarn along today and I am so looking forward to linking up.

So, what has happened since we last connected? Let’s see… I posted a little of my thoughts for this coming year. I opened shop and I chose my word!

In all of that I added a few more rows to my first pair of socks with the sock wool that I was gifted from my beautiful family for Christmas and finished off a Fungi Friend for our Forest Friend Collection I have started on for Danika.

It has been a wonderful, tearful, exhilarating and soul searching week to say the least. There have been emotions felt that I never thought that I had. We had to come to a decision this week, being the first week of the month and as my maternity period is so rapidly coming to end. Over the past few months there have been emotional conversations as to whether we could manage our home with one proper income or not. In a perfect world I would be home raising our children, tending our garden, feeding our chickens, knitting up a storm and adding homemade goodies to our homestall. But, in all reality, its not that perfect. It would not be fair to add such a burden to my soul partner to carry alone. So, I will pick myself off from the self pitiful fetal position on the floor that I have found myself in a few times over the last few months and dust myself off and really partner up with my life partner so we can do this all together. I can still raise my children, tend my garden, feed my chickens, knit up a few more rows here and there and add a couple of homemade goodies to the homestall just not all of the time. I will be contributing a little extra by going back to a day job away from the home and aiding Rob with the finance that is needed to keep a home with 4 Adults, 3 boy children, a little baby girl, dogs, chickens and a tortoise., oh and lets not forget about the gang of monkeys! I’ve come to the realisation that it just as important if not more important to provide this way for my tribe. Although secretly I wish it wasn't.

I promised myself that this year my updates will be more real without just the fluff of all the prettiness that I so dearly love.

It will be more REAL.

So while I mull through all this and try an ease my way into a new routine of expressed milk and leaky engorged breasts and the emotions that come with that and setting up play dates for a new member to our tribe ( I will share all about that soon) and welcome our eldest home for a little longer and get Joshua and Garren ready for their first day back at school…. the list does go on a little longer… I will count my blessings and know that in the end I will do anything to make our home work and my tribe happy and healthy.

Until, next week my special yarn friends… Blessings a plenty from my heart to yours.

Angie xx

INTENTION

So, on my post Sock Wool last year… last month, I had mentioned that I was considering New Years Resolutions (of sorts) for the year. I had given up on them so far back – that in truth I was kind of at a loss as to how to go about starting them all again. Then the very lovely Finding What I Am Looking For suggested I have a look into OneWord365.

I am ever so glad that I did. The whole concept behind it just sings to me. It didn't take me long to come up with my Word, but it has taken me a few days to feel it and set my intention for the new year. To go forth with intention in all that I set out to do every day of this year. I intend to be more present in everything I do and with everyone I am with.

This piece from Living With Intention by M.Tamara really resonates with me.

Truly living with intention involves engaging all of your energies and strengths, not merely your mental ones. It means activating your inner helpers, however you get them out of bed. It means both affirming what you want and being satisfied with being on the journey. It means honoring your intention, even if you have not yet reached your goal.

Living with intention means pushing your comfort zone, but it also means appreciating every nuance of your life, and appreciating yourself for being conscious as you live it. It means recognizing that the act of envisioning itself, that moment of connecting with your intention, counts as much as the more visible actions that you take. The first step to making your world different is imagining it so, and envisioning yourself in the new paradigm.

Living with intention means persistently and actively affirming your goals. Not merely so that you don’t forget or diminish their value when you face a challenge, but so that you are sending out into the universe your connection with both process and outcome.

…. read more >HERE<

It really is a beautiful word isn't it. Not only does it ring true in all things magick but in life and how one lives. I truely hope to focus on that.

At the end of this calendar year, I hope to come back to this post and be able to show how I added intention into my life each day for the year. So, here is to living a life less out of habit and more with intent.

Do you have your Word?

hugs a plenty all round.

Angie xx

Sock Wool

Merry in between everything day everyone. This little space between Christmas and the New Calendar year is always wonderful. One coming down from the high of the holidays and reflecting on whats new on the horizon for the Calendar year. Do you do resolutions every year? I haven't for a good couple years gone by now and I think that this year I may go against all that from before and set my intentions for the coming year this old years day.

For Christmas I was gifted my first Sock Wool ever and a set of new DPN’s from my beloved family. I am so super excited about knitting up with these. I have never made socks before and I have always wanted to try my hand at it. Sock wool is rather an expensive buy around these parts so I will be going slow on this pattern and just enjoy learning and growing with the experience. I have no intention of rushing through, although I know the temptation will be strong to get them done as fast as possible to see the finished project, and I think our wee one will help with the go slow process too.

I have cast on for Vanilla Socks with my Bermuda coloured sock wool. Who will these be for? I always say they’ll be for me, but that never ends up being. So, I will weave them up and add them to the homemade gift basket for the our Yule celebrations in the coming year. Who knows, as I knit up a face or name may come to mind. Time will tell. I will just have to wait and see, again a patience game.

If you would like, you can follow along or get the pattern from my Ravelry account >HERE< and my Instagram account >HERE<

So, slow and easy does it. I also cast on for a Toadstool Baby Rattle in left over bits n threads that we have plenty of. Danika will be coming of age for something to hold onto and jiggle about soon. I cant believe that she is close to heading into her third month in her beautifully gifted earth suit.
 

I remembered that it’s Wednesday today – for a change - so I will be joining in with the lovely creatures over at Ginny’s yarnalong. Looking forward to catching up with you all again ladies!

hugs a plenty.

Angie.

xox

T’was the day before Christmas.

We have made it! We have made it all the way to Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas. The build up has been excruciating for some I might add. I love this time of year and the excitement that comes with it from our littles. And, just as we thought we were coming to the end of the deep seated belief of it all with Garren and his moments away from finally becoming a “non-believer”. We were gifted our little Danika.

I think he confessed that .. “When I am in Grade 3, I cant believe in Santa Claus anymore” – with great thanks to his peers at school for that, and yes, my heart broke. Who knows, just maybe, Santa will gift me another year with him?

I will keep believing in the magick, no matter what, and now I get to do it all again with our littlest of them all.

Merry Christmas my friends may you always believe in the magick of it all.

Love Angie & Family.

solstice blessings

I love how my feeds are filled with snow and how my favourite humans are all welcoming in their Solstice, the Winter Solstice. And I'm here breathing in our Summer Solstice and reflecting on how I will share this dark half of the year with my beautiful tribe.

I love how in my little space the earth is awash with all shades of green and that there is an abundance of magick in the air around us.

May this day, whether it's the longest or the shortest be filled with peace, love and light.

santa's message

I absolutely love this time of the year. Especially this week, the week that leads up to Christmas Day, I've always been about getting the kids all crazy excited for the day.

Garren has been getting his yearly message from Santa for years now and we have just added Danika to Santa's long list of messages that he has to send out.

I had hoped to embed the actual video of each here on this post - but this looks just as sweet and can be kept for our littles for a later day to look back on.

I am certainly excited about this year. We seem to have been able to get all the pressies done on time. All except for one. Which I am still busy working on. Hold thumbs!

Happy week before Christmas everyone.

changing tables

This sweet little flower of ours is a whole two months. I look at her precious little face and ask where on this sacred earth does the time go to? Surely not two whole months already? But, in all honesty, I have to check myself and just come to terms with it and acknowledge it. So what better way to acknowledge it than to do it right here.

I had also told many a face that I was not the kind of Mama that broadcast each and every milestone that my little ones (who are now all big - I might add) had achieved. And, I promised not to go through all of that here – but… in all fairness there was no social media or this blog here when they were all small. So, who knows in all truth if I would have been that kind of Mama or not. AND, I rearranged her dressing table in celebration of her turning a whole two months as she has grown so lately that her changing area was just getting too darn small!

This was a team effort and I presume the start of many other changes to come in the future. They were ever so eager and oh so proud to be part of it all.

Oh and those little purple and white shoes there that look all a blur – (‘cause as Ive said before.. children like chickens are hard to capture) they are a little crochet gift in celebration from our Oumie.

hello..tap..tap..tap.. is this thing on?

Hello?

Is there anyone out there?

I really haven’t left you or gone that far away. I think I may be back to share with you again!

tap… tap.. tap…. is this thing on?

So much has happened and if you followed along here ~> instagram <~ you would have seen all of these moments…

Yes, we have finally welcomed our littlest seed from the stars.. our pretty flower – our baby girl, Danika Robin, to our little tribe.

So, I am sure you will forgive me for my absence. She has consumed all of me and all of us. With only a few moments to share with the world through the day a picture here or there I hoped would suffice for the time being?

I hope to be back and gentle ease may way into sharing again. I do hope you stay?

Many beautiful blessings to you and yours my friends.

Love Angie x

Day-Night Hockey Festival. Term 3

As always there were a gajillion photos taken in the vain hope that there would be a few pictures we could share here. The late afternoon into early evening lighting does not bode well for amateur photography.

There were 3 clusters of 4 dots that followed through on all the photos and most of the video clips – did you spot them? I think we should call them the little angels watching over our team as they played against the various school.

Our little team did very well, we are so very proud of them!

(ps Rob has become quite the vocal cheerleader on the sideline, dont you think?)