homespun chicks

I have woken to a morning of blissfully cooler skies and a more comfortable 23 degrees. I cant believe how sweltering it has been over the last few days. Yesterday, midday, saw us reaching temps of over 40 degrees Celsius! How are we expected to cope with this kind of heat? (only Mother Nature dearest must know). I feel a little frightened for when our Summer does eventually arrive. Garren said that when they weren't in PE lessons, yesterday, the teachers let the boys take breaks through the day and run through the sprinklers at school. And when the boys got home from school they all jumped in the pool again. 

 
But, with that being said, yesterday afternoon the heat wave finally broke and dirty grey clouds circled the sky for a slightly cooler afternoon and milder evening. Not quite the weather and natural light I needed for picture taking for this post today though. It seemed, at the time, that there may not be a post today at all - Zeus had a hand in it too - when he saw me trying to take photos outside for a little more natural light, he kept on playfully pouncing at me and truly thought the eggs here were a treat just for him. Contending with a puppy his size can sometimes be overwhelming. He of course has no clue that his puppy bounding can almost knock me right off my feet. Oh well, its just one of those things - right? I will have to try again through the week.

The inspiration for our Homespun Chicks came from the lovely Nalle's House, they are so very easy to whip up with simple stitching. I just love that! I am busy with other knit projects, that take a little longer to finish off, so I find that knitting up something like this is fun and I could see the results within a few minutes. I haven't quite finished loading all the blaah blaah on my Ravelry account just yet - I will get to that a little later in the day. And as soon as I capture the right picture I will load them up on our little store too. 

 
Of course, today I will be joining the lovely Ginny for Yarn Along. It has been far too long since I linked up! 

 
Will I be connecting with you there? 

 
love angie xxx

gone fishin'

 

We are in the swing of all things that include anything outside and throwing out the lines. With beautiful blue skies above and a soft breeze rippling off the dam, there is no better way to spend our morning. Well, that is, according to Rob and Garren.

Rob and I have been deep in conversation, for awhile now, about how we can bring a few more out door activities (on a frugal budget) into our daily lives. Camping was one, fishing another and more beach time. I also added that I would love to add a few trips to the night craft markets.

We meandered through Baynesfield Estate and found this lovely dam aptly named “Big Dam”. The water level was very low due to the dry spell we are having at the moment but that made for easy fish spying. The policy is catch and release which is perfect for this “big” little dam. Sadly no fish were caught but they were there teasing on the end of the lures which brought on great excitement. It was perfect for a little man to practice his casting. This was Garren’s third fishing trip. The previous times he loved the outing but I felt that all that time spent on the boat made for a very impatient and tired little lad. This trip we could not get him to reel in his line – Rob, as we all know, is a true fisherman at heart and to have a son who is showing signs of sharing this same passion made him ever so proud.

And me, myself and I…. well, this time I did not cast out my line. I found a beautiful Plain tree with umbrella branches filled with lush green leaves for shade and caught up on my favourite magazine.
I truly believe that, that Plain tree will be seeing me again in the not so distant future, maybe with our family tent, some camping chairs, a few more fishing rods and my knit projects.

love angie xxx

changing rooms

I have no clue as to where spring has  gone to. We seem to have stepped right in to the toasty days of mid summer around here. The boys have already had their first swim for the season and I keep watching and waiting for the last of that winter cold front that always sneaks up on us around the end of September into the beginning of October. But nothing….. just clear skies and that fiery hot sun shining all its vitamin sun rays down on  us. With thoughts of summer racing through our minds we know that inevitably there will soon be our summer rains. They are a blessing and a reprieve in the afternoons after a long blistering day.

Which bring us to our hen house. It’s time to move the gals and their roo to the other side of the coop. We spent the weekend doing just that. The hen house is divided into two. In the past we had the bunnies on the one side and the chooks on the other. Then the bunnies moved to a new home on a farm where there were many other bunnies. So when Mama Mavis had our first chick, dearest Fluffy-Butt she had the whole one side  to raise her safely away from the others. Now that Fluffy -Butt has grown and is part of the flock they all live happily together. I don’t see us having any more peeplings in the future so its time to move them all onto the left side. It is half covered with a thatch roof for shelter from the summer storms and gets beautiful sunshine through the mornings for them to go about their scratchings while soaking up the glorious vitamin sunshine. The right side.. well, we are working on filling up all the holes that the flock have scratched away at and then giving it a little make over for a new family member.

I’d say the gals are impressed and of  course got to scratching about as soon as we opened the inter-leading gate to start on the move. I do know that we may be short of an egg or two while they are nesting and settling into their new home. But, that’s ok, it will be worth the wait.

I may have in, conversation with the family, stated that I would like to add a little prettiness to our very rustic hen house by adding a few curtains to the nesting boxes. But, alas — the boys are dead against it! Should I just go ahead and do it – what do you all think? Do you think if I get enough raised hands in favour of new prettiness that I could stand trial and win?

Love

Angie xxx