Random snippets

Hello lovely people,

Once again my apologies for my absences of late; thank you Rhonda, for drawing me out of my hibernation today :-)

I'm still struggling with the chest infection I've had since February - the cold, wet weather this winter has had a lot to do with that - as well as a few other things in life, none of which were the least bit improved after reading this book. As someone who has struggled with understanding why so many ordinary, otherwise sensible people, are ignoring the manifold environmental issues we face in the world, Hamilton's book was utterly absorbing.  The down side was of course, that it was also utterly depressing.

Nevertheless, onwards and upwards, as they say.  'They' also say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so here is some recent, random photos from around here, a la SouleMama.

:: There's been kids climbing bare, wintery trees (because every child needs to climb a tree at least once in their lives),

:: and harvesting of summer root crops, including ginger, turmeric, sweet potatoes and yacon,

:: whilst being ably assisted by gardeners-in-training.

:: There's been experimentations with homemade breakfast cereals for the non-muesli lovers in the house,

:: and new, old biscuit (cookie) recipes from the CWA ladies.

:: There's been knitting of warm things,

:: for little people,

:: and big ones.

:: There's been regular Saturday night cooking sessions by the kids (spaghetti and meatballs were a hit; the heavy-handed pepperoni pizza topping, not so much ;-)

:: There's been rain, rain and more rain,

:: tree onion and perennial leek seedlings gifted by a talented blog-reader on her way through town,

:: and a finally-finished but forlornly-empty chicken shed and pen whilst we continue to search for local, pure bred Australorps. Sadly, it seems that most Australorps are crossed with ISA browns these days, to improve their egg production. Buying cross-breeds sort of defeats the purpose to me. Since a) I have no experience with chickens and b) Miss Six thinks that black chickens are "scary" (she's not a big fan of birds in general), we will more than likely end up with local Hy-Line Brown chickens (similar to the ISA browns), which are supposedly very robust and great with kids. When we expand our flock, it will be with pure-breeds.

:: Finally, today there will be unpacking and ironing of birthday bunting & decorations, wrapping of presents, chocolate cake-cooking and pinata-filling, just to mention a few, as tomorrow Miss Four becomes Miss Five.  Five!  Which means that I will shortly have been blogging for four years! Wow. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun?

Have a lovely day everyone :-)


Cheers,