Monday's musings....

We spent the weekend with one of our daughters and her family-they live 3.5 hours away and we drove over so that they could go out for dinner without their one year old..... For The First Time!

 

As they are expecting their second later in the year, this may be one of the few times they get to go out and "be grownups" together for a while!

 

My parents met us there for a daytrip-they are 2 hours from our daughter's home & 3.5 hours away from us. We all took our grandson to the park and four generations of our family had fun together-with the older males all trying chin-ups and climbing a rather large tree- with varying degrees of success I may add!

 

I have such a satisfying sense of continuity when we have multi generational outings like this-how lucky are our grandchildren to know not only their grandparents-but also their great-grandparents and in the case of my husband's grandmother, great-great grandparent? There is every chance that these grandchildren of ours will live into the 2100's-and they will have memories of someone who was born in 1918!

 

 

It is for this next generation that we decided to buy this land & build this home-when our grandchildren visit here they are in contact with the soil and animals which provide food. They help with baking-and eating. As the years go by, without realising it they will be gaining knowledge and skills-and more importantly to me...memories.

We had a casual drive home-stopping at whatever took our fancy along the way ( stuffed camel anyone? I kid you not!) and arrived home to land that is finally taking on a verdant hue after the recent rain.

 

No photos I'm afraid- I was too busy enjoying our time. :)

 

This morning sees MORE rain-deep and soaking. The plants are no longer dusty and seem to turn their faces towards the sky and glory in it's gift.

 

I am working indoors this morning, housework; then this afternoon I will head into work for a few hours. Today, I am content.

 

 

Gratuitous chicken shot of one of our older hens Betty:

 

 

 

Monday's musings....

After a weekend where we ending up accomplishing more than I thought we would, I am comfortably perched on our couch watching the closing ceremony of the London Olympics-and thoroughly enjoying it!

I love the British ability to poke fun at themselves and add a touch of whimsy to supposedly serious events. I mean-Mr Bean in the opening ceremony and Monty Python in the closing! Gold!

Around the abode we have had a busy weekend-commenced with picking up the 5 & 4 year old grandsons Saturday morning after swimming lessons for a sleepover. We then made a day of it with them-visiting their great-great grandmother, having a picnic lunch down at Lake Pertobe and generally allowing them to run....and run....and run! Got to tire the blighters out somehow! ;)

We took them back to their parents Sunday morning-after a 3 am visit from the 4 yr old, a 6 am wakeup from the 5 yr old and me giving in at 6-30 and getting up with them! Yep 4 hours sleep works for me... *rolls eyes.

Grocery shop on the way back here, then His Lordship dragged out the whipper snipper whilst I stayed inside and made a sourdough pizza for lunch, dog food in the pressure cooker and then got the urge to do some rearranging......

Lamps have been swapped, vignettes created and areas generally tweaked-all in all a good days work!

Celebrating.....

I'm taking a moment today to reflect......it is 20 years ago since His Lordship and I were married; which means that we have spent more than half our lives together. We have learned much along the way-how to cope with whatever life throws our way...good, bad or indifferent. We have learned to appreciate the time we spend together-alone, without family or friends. We have always had busy lives and at times have been on opposite sides of the world. One anniversary we were on opposite sides of Australia!

Through it all, we have managed and muddled our way along and somehow, perhaps against the odds, managed to still love and more importantly LIKE each other! :) These days I can truly say " My husband, my friend. "

We have other reason to celebrate this week-our 4th grandchild and grandson made his way into the World. Elijah Philip is the first child of our elder daughter and her husband- al 9lb 12oz of him!

We are truly blessed.

A day to dally....

Today finds me with a day to do as I like-I have had a long week at work, putting in more hours than I normally do and really needed today at home...well, at least half of it!

We are having various family members staying over this weekend-my brother; our son, his partner and their 3 boys plus our youngest and her partner will be here as well! So a quick trip to the supermarket saw me nab a couple of fresh chickens marked down to half price ( they had to be cooked by tomorrow) and they have been roasted-together with fresh vegetables from the garden everyone will be fed! I've now got the carcasses in the slowcooker to make stock for soup which will be made later in the week.

I've also freshened up some sourdough starter-I'll make the dough tonight, leave it overnight to raise then bake in the morning when I make the scones for cricket.

Yesterday I tried a garlic braid for the first time-I kept it small as I had already prepared most of the harvest for storage in a lined basket I have. Next year I think I will braid more!

At the moment my kitchen bench has citrus cleaner brewing ( thanks to Nellymary for the "recipe" ) and tomatoes ripening-the kitchen window faces North-East, so is a lovely spot to catch the sun and in the winter brings warmth into the house. The window looks out over the backyard towards the orchard and is one of my favourite places in the house!

There are moments when you know exactly WHY you have made the choices you have-and this photo is one of them! Grandsons devouring freshly harvested sweetcorn...fresh from our own garden!

I guess the whole point I'm trying to make in my roundabout way today is that no matter how much or how little time you have each day, there is ALWAYS an opportunity to do something ( no matter how small it seems) around your home which will nurture yourself and those around you!



Cream,cinnamon and continuity....

When I couldn't get back to sleepafter 4-30am this morning I decided to be productive instead! Last night I'd freshened some of my sourdough starter ( Edie), so as well as baking some more bread I also made a sourdough cinnamon cake...mmm...!

To a cup of the sourdough was added warm water, flour, bi-carb, sugar and cinnamon and this was mixed to a batter and place in a greased & lined square cake tin:

In another bowl I mixed some flour, butter, honey,sugar,cinnamon and rolled oats into a thick paste:

The paste was spread over the cake batter and baked for 35mins at 170c

Yumm is all I can say! :)

The two cuties below are our two elder grandsons Zane (on the right) and Angus); they are enjoying a treat my grandmother used to give me: fresh bread spread with jam and whipped cream. I love the sense of continuity this picture brings to me-my grandmother passed away 23 years ago, yet at moments like these I feel her beside me still. I hope to develop that sort of relationship with my own grandchildren.