Monday, November 24, 2014

50 degrees north


One day, this will be Tony, Piet and I.  A white Christmas….with reindeer, cinnamon buns and snow.

I can’t imagine it but if I had a bucket list this would on the top of it.

I receive the odd email from 50 Degrees North, travel specialists for Nordic countries, the Artic, and Russia. Wow! Another world away it seems.  A friend of mine took a dog sledding adventure, although it turned out to be more adventure than dog sledding.


Piet would love it….and I just know I would!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Piet's art work


Reading between the lines...I have many photos on my phone similar to the above red explosion.  Putting 2 and 2 together I believe it may be Piet's handiwork as it's the same day he made a few phone calls to Tony ....... and one very understanding client :-)





Friday, November 14, 2014

Baby birds

 
Little P and I may or may not have been stealing these baby robins from their nest when there mum is not looking.  Especially on hot days, they're hanging out of the nest gasping for air.

The mum has created a nest in the roof of a shed, which faces west so get up to 50 degrees or more on a hot day.


Little P becomes very concerned when I'm up on a chair reaching for the birds and tells me to be 'Careful, careful mumma, no fall'....

Caught!


Yes you! 
Been eating my new trees? No?  
Well then, how do you explain the plastic
tree guard around your neck? 
Hmmm?

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Post-Halloween lessons

The weeks have been passing by so quickly, November here you are!  Piet and I have fallen into a comfortable routine making our days together much more enjoyable, I'm not sure if it's his growing independence or eagerness to learn or maybe it's his wonderful sense of humour that's making an appearance.

On the other hand he's not backwards in showing when he's had enough.....however I've become one smart mama and am working out how to get him out of the blues.

Example A. 
A trip to (another) market From the minute he spotted market with not slides or swings to be seen little P was lagging 20 metres behind me. Not interested in walking with me, holding the basket, choosing the veges and definitely 'NO PHOTO'!


Answer?
Let him climb a fence and watch the local school kids.




Example B
Learning how to eat a Zooper Dooper iceblock. 




These are meant to be fun, right? Nope, not when your 2 and don't know what your meant to do with this slippery frozen stick. Even wearing two hats doesn't help.....



He threw his away, grabbed mine - but, nope, it was still too cold, too slippery and really not worth it (even with a supplied teatowel)




Answer?
Forget thet Zooper Dooper and Go Spider Hunting! (with tongs)



Example C 
Dressing as a spider for Halloween. OK he was a BLACK spider and it WAS over 30 degrees C with a tight string around his stomach.  (And yes I realised he only had 6 legs - but it was too late by then).







Answer?
Take off annoying spider legs, black shirt, black stockings and go for a ride on the mower with Dad - genius!

Monday, October 27, 2014

The Bellarine Growers Market day!



Two weekends ago I achieved something I'd always dreamed of - selling my produce at a farmers market! Was so much fun and has given me a buzz that's still going.....oh yeah!


With thanks to my sister who got me back into the vege garden to face with the grass & weeds.

I woke at 6am on the morning of the market - in fact the moon was still shining - and picked my parsley, chives, golden oregano, lavender, silver beet, rocket and lettuces til I couldn't feel my frozen fingers anymore. Tony and I had picked the Euphorbia flowers the night before.


I packed the car, put on my new $30 Target top, kissed my husband and little P farewell and headed off to the market - the best feeling ever!


Met amazing people, got to chat with market-goers about my produce and had a surprise visit from Tony & Piet.  It's so addictive!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

I live in the world

Campbell Point House, Leopold
On the Bellarine Peninsula
 www.campbellpointhouse.com.au

I've begun a meditation course and our Swami began the study with a statement: 'I live in the world'.


A simple statement but with more than one meaning; he explained that there are TWO worlds. 

 The first world is our personal 'inner' world, the 'I' - which we can learn to control through meditation.

* The second is the 'outer world' - in which we have NO control. 

So really, we're expected to live in harmony in both worlds. Not so easy.

Meditation is,
 in essence, learning how to control our inner world to survive in the outer world.

Food for thought.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Ready to write again


Not sure if it's the weather or the hectic life I lead.
Between working, getting the farm on track and looking after a toddler I've had no energy for writing.
But the time is right, I feel sad that much has been missed, it's important to detail the days, months & seasons because they're disappearing so quickly.

Looking at the images of Piet from my last post and my heart hurts that he's growing so quickly.
Today he runs and kicks a ball; this time last year he couldn't even walk!

This blog is really for me but also for friends and family who love far away.  I'm not the best writer but hope to make your day a little cheerier.


Welcome back to me.....
Why, thank you!

Friday, February 28, 2014

.....and that, ladies & gents, was Summer 13/14


Werribee Zoo visit - just last weekend. A great end to Summer.
Notice the zoo map sticking out of my pocket? That was the same zoo map we spent most of the time looking for and found it in my pocket just as we jumped in the car to head home.


Looking through images from the last three months, I can't believe how much little P has changed.
At aged 18 months he's finally started to walk, thank goodness, 
a 14 kg baby makes ones arms & shoulders a little strained.


He's in the 98th percentile for weight & height, coming in at 88cm!
What a little man he is.


The words coming out of his mouth include: Dizzy, moon, baa-baa, Dadda, Mama, cheese, shoes ('sooz'), oh-ohhh, ball, bath, bye-bye, hi, nigh-nigh, car, a version of truck (guk), and of course 'noooooo'. Very impressive!


This climbing thing is over-rated...


First day of Summer.


And his hair has finally grown back after my 'trimming' attempt - never again little P.



February monthly achievement


And for the month of February....
we've finally chosen our architect and given him the go-ahead to design us a new house.  

And with that, I'm done.  Time to move on....

Geelong Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2014


Sometimes, a picnic lunch can take the drama out of a stressful meal time.
However this was one drama-packed picnic lunch with little P showing off his acting skills, modeling useful accessories, dressed by none other than himself.




The orchard is just the perfect spot for a catwalk runway, sans walking.  I
 better call his agent - New York here we come!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Learning how to water


I feel the weather is cooling. Have we had our fun in the sun for 13/14?
This morning I almost considered grabbing my dressing gown for the short run 
between quilt and shower.


Typically, little P has finally learnt how to point the hose at the plants...not at the dog....not at me...and now we'll have to wait a whole eight months to teach him all over again.

Big storms yesterday and another short one today;  I can feel the gentle wasps of Autumn in the air.


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Watching from above



So often I've walked through our paddocks wondering what animals may be around hiding, watching and wondering about us as we push the pram or Dizzy runs back and forth.


T spotted this amazing sight - not one, or two, but THREE frogmouths in the one tree;  
a dead eucalyptus we were planning on chopping down.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Exam countdown


Moving closer to NOT having the exam hanging over my head....4 days to go!

Valentines Day was not as special as the above image....a crazily busy week with two of three in this house unwell but still surging forward with all that had been planned for the week so sleep was well needed.

We ordered a Valentines Day delivery of gourmet pizza, but it arrived a half hour earlier than expected - smack bang in the middle of bath/bedtime for Piet.  So I ate mine while P was bathed then T ate his while I put P to bed.  So we didn't even eat together!

As I sit here eating left over pizza for lunch, I've finished a two hour study session so feel much better.  But now the third member of our family is a little under the weather - but still managed to go sailing for the day.

At least the water has come back on after being off for at least 12 hours, because it's time for a cuppa on this warm Saturday afternoon

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Serendipity

Werribee Zoo lion & little P cuddle

During the Summer break I talked T into travelling to a discount plant nursery - we have 5 acres to fill, people - it was on a Saturday and I had my little (big) list of plants to check out.  It closed at at 3.30pm.

Took us an hour or so to get there  - about the same amount of time little P will sit in the car without throwing a shoe, water bottle or pack of sultanas at our heads.  The car boot & back seat both covered in plastic sheeting for ALL the plants I intended on purchasing.  But as we arrived it was pretty-well closed up - apparently it closes at 3.30pm on week-days and 2.30pm on Saturdays!!! Aaarrrgghhh...i was in the bad books!

Trying to put P back into his car-seat was almost impossible - that kid is strong - poor little thing wanted to run (crawl around...somewhere anywhere) so another 1.5 hour drive home was definitely out of the ques-ti-on!

We scratched our heads - but it wasn't that hard  - Werribee Zoo is just around the corner.  But to make it more difficult it shut at 4pm - the time was 3.45pm when we arrived and we refused to pay full price for 15 minutes but little P had the time of his life crawling around the fibre-glass animals situated at the zoo entrance - so it was free!

Poor Piet, if only he knew his parents were tight-*&#%@ 

No, not really, we will come back and spend the WHOLE day at zoo.  He'll just love it when he realises the animals in his books can actually move - he loved them just enough when they stayed still - as per the cute pics....










And sometimes parents want to have a little bit of fun too! However I was a little stuck and had reverse my way out....