OK, I know it’s a bit drab around here right now. I’m just in the middle of trying to pretty up the place so bear with me…..I’m terribly swamped with everything…in a wonderful way. See you soon!!
Another long absence I know, but we’ve been plagued by colds and flus and what have you, for weeks now. Just as the kids start to get back to their old selves, I come down with it. As I’m in the fog of a really horrible bout and I feel like all I can do is knit and cough, I’ll keeps this short!
A couple of weeks ago we had a brilliant camp out at The Dreaming Festival, which is Australia’s finest Indigenous Culture/Arts/Music festival held at Woodford on the Sunshine Coast. It was everything a grand festival is- overwhelming, chaotic, peaceful, frustrating, cold, inspiring, stimulating…..
I really get a lot of joy from taking our kids to festivals. It’s very hard work. There is usually a lot of wingeing, crying and laughter (mostly from me 
) but it’s so very worth it. It’s so eye opening for them and this one was a brilliant insight into indigenous cultures which I think we can all get a little more of.
My highlights were watching the amazing singing and dancing at Dancestry and soaking up the beauty and art of the Tjampi Desert Weavers. I managed to do a basket weaving workshop with the women and it was brilliant in so many ways.
For now, the needles and yarn beckon so I’ll leave you…..
I had a birthday on Thursday. It was mostly lovely…a few chaotic meltdowns from the kids, yummy food and lots and lots of green in the form of a meander and picnic at Mapleton Falls national park. Beautiful.
From the blurry start of the day and a early morning breakfast breastfeed to pics taken by R whilst descending the mountains, here’s a few snippets of my day. Amazingly, I failed to take a picture of the cake (!) but rest assured, it was delicious.
Welcome back!
I felt the need to disappear for a little but now I’ve returned fresh and grounded, ready to write of our adventures and nothings yet again.
I guess things around here have been busy with the general meanderings of life. Illness, art, food, conversation, love, gardens, life, life, life.
Some days it seems like I get swept along and then the sun is setting and another day is over, a another week, another month. I do believe I’ve been needing to draw back in to living in this moment.
The kids are growing up fast with full-bodied personalities and energies that leave us parents joyful and frazzled. Both little ones fly in opposite directions and come back together briefly to share a sweet moment of play, a million times in a day.
Our minds are whirring with thoughts, recipes, drum patterns. Our ears ringing from the constant chatter from the firey 4 year old and relentless cheekiness of the wee sweet boy. The strains of reggae can still be heard, reverberating through our space, as the book is carved out and worked out by our precious man. There has been much music making, knitting woolies for Winter festivals, morning walks, reading storybooks and birthy texts, snuggling down on cool nights, craft, cooking, stormy sea watching and chaos as always.
You’ll be seeing more of our moments really soon. I promise.
Urgghhh, we’re sick with the flu here, in some form or another. Leo was the first to go down like a tonne of bricks. We had a week of seriously broken sleep as the poor little fella couldn’t breastfeed due to being so very congested. A week of that makes for a pretty run down set of parents, thus, now I am feeling very under the weather while John fights it off….
I know I’ve been very slack with this blog of late. Many apologies for this. Time has really been getting away on me and really things are very much the same as always….or perhaps I haven’t been taking enough time to capture the little moments of our life with all the study, book compiling and the like going on? I will make efforts in the future to get my camera out and and share a bit more…….but for now, it’s back to lying on the living room floor and drinking ginger tea…..
Well, our sweet boy turned one a few days ago. One!?! I can’t believe it has been a whole year since his birth and what a wild and wooly year it was indeed!
He really is the most beautiful little soul. A real little imp and it has been divine to watch him grow and change. From his first breath, his first smiles, the crawling, steps and giggles. The clapping hands and waving. His emotional yet entirely individual personality…..every bit has been such a pleasure to watch (except for teething; ain’t no joy in that!!).
I am so very thankful to be his mama. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.
Anyway, we spent the day in a very laid back way. Eumundi markets was a spot of fun with Ruby having a pony ride and Leo digging into the dirt with a plastic spoon.
Simple things. Beautiful things.
Meh…we’ve been busy. I’m sorry this blog hasn’t been all that loved but you can always pop over to my other blog, Mama Nuture and read of birth if you’re so inclined.
So apart from the study and the book writing and the parenting, not much has been going on as that’s plenty!!
Had a lovely weekend with the sprites. John worked and gigged with the sistas, later we all lay on the grass and got involved in Ruby’s fairy game. Our “fairy names” were Rose, Muhummed, Barry…….gotta love independent imaginary play!! Leo roamed around the grass, eating (and occasionally choking) on leaves and flicking sand about. I love watching him walk around and explore. He is SO mobile now!
Sat in the sunshine at Peregian Originals on Sunday and watched a great band by the name of A French Butler called Smith. Funk, latin deliciousness at its best. They were thoroughly entertaining!
Loving life at the moment!!
We’re finishing up Summer now…still having hot days but the nights are becoming cool and there is that feeling in the air that Autumn is around the corner. I love the change in seasons, the ebb and flow of nature and its cycles. It’s got me thinking about this time last year and the rhythms of our life as we nested and prepared for Leo to join us. A year goes by so very fast doesn’t it?
We have been enjoying the last of the Summer around here with much watermelon, splashing in wading pools, lazy afternoons reading books, beach walks and stormy rains from time to time.
Not to mention Summer colds, teething (both Leo and I – wisdom teeth, you’ve gotta love ‘em), work, study and whingeing kids…..but as I lay on the grass the other afternoon cuddling Ruby as Leo pottered and stepped (yes,walking!!) around the garden, we looked up into the beautiful green canopy of leaves and chatted….I felt incredibly thankful.
With so much sorrow and devastation going on in the world, it is so important to count your blessings….I know I am.
Hope there’s much sunshine in your days too.
Well, Ruby undertook a crash course in death the other day when three quarters of her brand new fish bought the farm. Poor Tico, Goldie & Sam left this life & Luna to the merry confines of the tank…..perhaps we were feeding them too much? Perhaps the filter wasn’t up to speed yet? Who knows? Goldfish are so damn fickle though.
Anyway, she spent a few days being quite emotional and making the connections that the fish were not coming back. She had invented little lives for these creatures and relationships…apparently Goldie was Luna’s mama, so when Goldie decided her time was up, Luna was rendered motherless. Which was a big thing for Ruby to comprehend. Mothers die?!? So, we dug a little grave, placed some flowers and had many conversations.
A couple of days later will gave in and bought one more fish because Ruby was extremely concerned that Luna was lonely. So now there is Silver.
Hopefully they stick around a little longer… If not I think we’ll move on to Siamese Fighting Fish. I hear they are a little less temperamental.
So Ruby is now four! We celebrated in style with much delicious food, silliness and presents…..and balloons, can’t forget the balloons! Thank you all for your gifts!! She was SO excited!
We have welcomed some new members into our house -Ruby’s birthday fish Sam, Tico, Goldie and Luna. Ruby is incredibly in love with these creatures and has been telling them stories, writing them notes, asking if it’s time for their dinner about a hundred times a day and frequently yelling “Hey! Look at the fish!!”.
I cannot believe our biggest girl is four already. Where does the time go?
I do love what four brings though. I am so in love with our daughter….the feisty, free-sprited, switched- on little individual she is. I love our little conversations, our dance parties, the way she loves Marvin Gayes’ “My girl” and insists I sing and point to her in the chorus, the baking sessions, the sharing of cups of chai, the incredible CHEEK of her, the way she writes her name, the way she whispers new words to herself as she tries them out in her mind, her voracious appetite for books, her cuddles, her laughter, her jokes…..I could never mention all the things about Ruby that are so wonderful. She is truly one of a kind and we are so blessed to have her.
I must remember that next time she asks “Why? But Why? Why?” in true four year old fashion!
