2017: finding my way home

Brace yourselves!  Here comes the pensive pondering of the year that was...

In January the purchase of our ten acres went through and it all became official.  We were really and truly going to move to New Zealand.  I remember when B sent me this photo of our new front gate and I just about couldn't breathe from excitement.  Was this really happening??

Those first few months of 2017 passed in a blur of stress, excitement, fear, apprehension, and joy.  Oh and sleep deprivation.  Always with a side of sleep deprivation.

Suddenly it was April and we packed up our house in Perth that had so many happy memories attached.  Splashing in the pool, scootering up and down the driveway, many beers and laughs shared with friends on the back verandah.  J's first steps, A's arrival, it all happened here.



We farewelled that sun-drenched suburban garden...

...for a slightly damper but much bigger one.

With the added bonus of our country lifestyle dream.  Acres for our girls to roam, animals for them to raise and care for, warm eggs collected from under soft feathers, fluffy calves waiting at the gate, wood smoke and muddy puddles and apples hanging in the orchard.

Yes, it rained this winter.  It rained a lot.

There were so many peaceful misty mornings that I stopped rushing out in my pyjamas to photograph them.

It rained some more.  The paddocks literally streamed with water from all the rain.

And in between times it was very cold.  Biting frosts, layers upon layers of woolies, the fire roaring all day.

We got sick.  Over and over, the revolving door of coughs and colds that everyone had warned us about when moving to a new country.  The girls coughed and coughed and coughed, they had permanently runny noses, we consumed (what felt like...) litres of children's paracetamol and ibuprofen.  We were up with them, worrying, in the cold tiny hours of the night, or lying awake listening to one - or both - cough in their beds, and worrying.

We were stuck inside due to the rain for days on end.  J's gumboots all sprung leaks.  The cows huddled in the sodden paddocks.  The trees were bare and cold, and the wood basket was filled and emptied, filled and emptied.

Then someone threw the switch and the sun came out.

A learned to crawl, and her sleep improved (for a time anyway).  A sunny little toddler personality, with a side of fiery temper, emerged from that forlorn difficult little baby.

The trees and the garden beds all sprang to life with blossoms popping open and bulbs poking through the soil.

The paddocks exploded with buttercups.

My baby A turned one.

We added chooks and sheep to the menagerie, and had homegrown produce that we could barely keep up with.

The girls fought and cuddled and made each other shriek with laughter, then fought again and made each other cry, and then cuddled and read books together.

The feijoas, hydrangeas and the pohutukawas flowered.  The sun beat down, the ground dried and cracked, the grass grew tall, went to seed and died.

The joy and excitement of Christmas filled little J to bursting, we ate and drank and the girls opened mountains of gifts.  A day on the beach, shells in little plastic buckets, sunburn, hats, sandy toes.  Little girls fast asleep in the back of the car winding our way back home, hot chips for dinner, early to bed for us all.

It's been a busy twelve months.  So much has happened since this time last year!  It's been hard at times, feeling lonely and exhausted and sometimes plain fed up.

Over and above all, though, it's been the year we finally got to start living the life we've dreamed of since we first met.  It's been watching J pick a sprig of thyme to smell as she passes by.  It's seeing A laugh properly and joyfully for the first time.  Watching B tend to his animals.  Sunshine, rain, frost, and steaming humidity.

And for me, it's that feeling of being a long way from where I started, but also home at last.

The abyss between Christmas and New Year

You know I've had a sedate new year's eve when I'm up and blogging by 9am on the 1st...

We've had such a good post-Christmas week.

I've totally fallen into that "no idea what day it is" mode.

Firstly I want to discuss beeswax wraps briefly.  If you haven't heard, they're the new environmental replacement for cling wrap.  I don't want to lecture because if you don't care you just don't care.  BUT... just think for a second about the fact that every piece of plastic you've ever used is still in existence.  Probably landfill, but just as likely the ocean.

Even if you really don't care, there can't be any harm in using less, right?

Anyway, I got mine from Lilybee Wrap, who were fantastic, but you would be able to find a seller local to you.

I've only had mine a couple of weeks but I'm a convert.  They work exactly like cling wrap, except you give them a quick wash under the tap in between uses.  I've also seen recipes online to make your own and it looks really easy.

Ok, lecture over.  Moving on!

We had a great Christmas day, with all the joy and wonder that small kids in the house provide.  We ticked off all the cliches:

Cookies for Santa...

Carrots for the reindeer (from our own garden hence so miniature)...

And a shiny new bike for a certain almost-three year old.  The squeal of joy when she came around the corner and saw it on Christmas morning will be tucked away in my heart forever.

We had a big breakfast with family: poached eggs, croissants, smoked salmon, gift wrapping strewn across the floor, and B at the stove labouring over his hollandaise sauce.

After breakfast there was time for a quick go on the new bike.  Suffice to say that there will be a lot of practice required!

We then spent the rest of the day visiting various family, including a huge reunion on B's mum's side of over one hundred people.  Back home in time for the girls' bedtime and then a very early night for us.



Boxing Day was the slow pace we all needed, pottering around playing with Christmas gifts.

So many happy memories!

We've had some damp cooler weather thank goodness and the garden is loving it.  Check out the first dahlia!

And this sunflower clearly has triffid in its genes.  It's well over two metres tall.  We got the seed from a Little Gardeners pack that one of the supermarkets here was giving out as a promotion in spring.  I don't recall exactly but I think if you spent over a certain amount they'd give you a little box with a degradable pot, some seed mix and a couple of seeds.  There were about 30 different plant varieties to collect.  Such a cool idea to get kids interested in gardening.

Last night for new year's eve we had a quiet dinner of freshly caught snapper at home with B's mum and sister.  After dinner The Last Samurai was on tv.  As B hastened to tell me for the fiftieth time, it was shot here in Taranaki, with Mount Taranaki standing in for Mount Fuji.  I must admit it was pretty cool to watch the outdoor scenes and recognise the scenery.

B and I shared a Kit Kat and were in bed by 10.30.  Up this morning early with the little girls, and on we go into 2018.  I'm aiming for a quiet year with no major life changes...!

Happy new year to you all, and thank you for the support, advice, and laughs throughout 2017.

Pre-Christmas bits and pieces

One of my favourite things about living in Taranaki (and let's face it, there are MANY), is how it rains overnight and the day dawns clear.  It happens all the time.

It's been hot and dry recently, as we have previously discussed, and last night we had one of those big refreshing downpours.  This morning the place positively sparkled, all washed clean.  I had both girls in the car strapped in when I turned around and saw these cobwebs strung with raindrops.  Of course me being me I had to get out of the car and unlock the house so I could take some photos.

Totally worth it.

I swear the lawn has already grown since B mowed it yesterday.  It grows at a phenomenal rate here.  That is one thing that can become a little tiresome, while we're talking pros and cons.  The grass is beautifully green because it never stops growing.

Unlike the grass, we're all in that end-of-the-year winding down mode.

B is now on holiday until early January.  J's last day of kindy for the year is today.  And I have a solid list of jobs to tick off while B is home to help with the toddler wrangling.

Ah, J and her books.  She does this kind of thing often - finds herself a suitable spot, chooses a book and plops down to read.  Last night when I went to tuck her in before I went to bed, I discovered her fast asleep with a book next to her.  She must have got up after I'd said goodnight and had a quiet little read to herself before going to sleep.  Bless her adorable little heart.

Look at the vegetable garden!  I went on a weeding rampage during naptime the other day.  So satisfying.  As I said to B when I came inside literally dripping with sweat, if this is what I can do in an hour imagine what I could do with a whole day.  Soon, my friends, soon.

And yes I did weed too vigorously and half-kill that zucchini plant in the foreground.  Whoops. Luckily it's rallied itself and is making a comeback.

Obligatory Christmas baking is done and distributed.  I even hung about at the front gate pretending to pull weeds so I could catch the rubbish truck man and give him the traditional six-pack and shortbread.  B scoffed at me but the driver was very nice, so there.  People like to be appreciated.

Here's my pensive girl again.  Who is this child?  She turns three in a couple of months and I'm certain she has not prepared me at all for the terrible twos that A will inflict on us.

A's walking has so far taken a backseat to her determination to master the English language.  Although apparently she's now happy with he vocabulary because her laser-like focus has been turned to standing and walking.  The progress she makes in a day is incredible.  She's certainly strong enough, she's just got to coordinate those heavenly fat legs and she'll be away.  One of our friends suggested "first steps by Christmas?" and I wouldn't be at all surprised.

Oh, look at my dinner the other night.  Mmmmmm.  Clearly I was pretty impressed with myself because I took not one but two photos of it so you could get both angles.  It was needless to say delicious.

Well that about wraps it up around here for now.  I'll be back again I'm sure before the end of the year to wrap things up and ponder the year that was.

Have a very wonderful secular end-of-year festival, or a Merry Christmas if that's your bag.

Miscellaneous greenery, with added sandflies

It's been hot.  

I never thought I would say that when the maximum is usually 26C (so that's about 78F) but it has been really hot.  Laugh at me if you must, Aussies, but listen.  I'm from Adelaide.  I've lived in outback Queensland and spent the last five years in Perth.  I know hot weather.

The difference here is that it's humid heat.  Oh and NZ bears the brunt of the hole in the ozone layer.  Oh and there is no air conditioning.  So trust me when I tell you it's hot.

Being so hot, it's usually much nicer outside than in.  Or it would be if it wasn't for my personal nemesis and the one reason I may pack up and move back to Australia in a huff: the sand fly.  They love me.  I can't go outside at all without being attacked so I am constantly slapping myself in a slightly deranged manner.  The bites hurt, and then they itch for ever more.  Like three weeks later you will still be scratching.  I still have every sandfly bite I've ever had since we got here and at this point I'm just waiting for someone to ask if they can photograph me for a medical journal.

The worst part, other than the actual bites of course, is that literally no one else seems to be bothered by them.  I keep saying to people "My god these sandflies" as I slap myself around the knees, and the other person is usually like "Oh really?  I never get bitten".  Why jeebus why.

Anyway, since I have vented my spleen non-stop since the start of this post, let's move onto more positive topics.  

As we have observed it is high summer (see: heat, and sand flies).  The garden is going off its head.  I can't keep up with the produce, which the chickens are 100% ok with.  Currently the vegetable garden is planted out as follows (don't worry I don't expect you to be interested, this is for my own record-keeping purposes): rhubarb, thyme, peas, parsley, sage, potatoes, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, silverbeet, kale, sunflowers, snow peas, beans, baby spinach, pumpkin, corn, carrots.  I think that's it.  Lucky it's so massive.

I would share photos but it's infested with weeds and grass and distinctly un-photogenic right now.  So here is a photo of a kale and silverbeet tart I made also with eggs from our very own chickens.  So rewarding.  And delicious.

We started a Christmas tradition a couple of years ago of getting a photo of the kids (or, back then, kid) with Father Christmas.  That first year went great, J kept a beady eye on me to make sure I wasn't going to slip out but she was very keen for Santa cuddles.  Last year we also had A who lay in Father Christmas' arms like a sack of potatoes and J who was still keen but needed me to be in the photo as well.

Yesterday I took the girls into Centre City for the annual photo because the Santa there is AMAZING and as far as I'm concerned is the real Santa.  Unfortunately J, while very excited in the lead up, found it all a bit overwhelming and clung to me for dear life, and couldn't even bring herself to look at Santa to begin with.  I guess it was like her version of seeing Kim Kardashian in the flesh.  She eventually warmed up to a very shy wave but the photo was a definite no this year.  My sweet timid little girl.

Would you look at these two curly-tops?  The old biddies go berserk, trust me

J's kindy is run along Steiner/Waldorf principles, and has the most amazing rambling garden.  They have a big stand of sweet peas which are all in full flower.  The other day J picked a couple to bring home for Daddy (be still my big mushy heart).  They smell so lovely on the dining table that I've planted some of our own.  Hopefully they'll grow equally as well and we'll have the scent wafting in the windows.

In my efforts to weed the entire property during nap times, I uncovered this very sad little fern, bone dry and forgotten in amongst the weeds.  Now re-potted and brought inside from some TLC, it seems to be making a comeback.  One thing this place is missing is some indoor plants, I've decided, which I'll be rectifying immediately.  I wonder if I could sneak a macrame plant hanger in without B commenting...

Check out the orchard!  It's all looking very productive.  Even if the birds get stuck in there should still be plenty for all of us.  We've got a couple of rams grazing in the orchard paddock permanently now.  I do like the cows but my heart lies with sheep for some reason.  I love the smell of lanolin, I love seeing their woolly bulk out my kitchen window, I love how they keep the grass to lawn smoothness (well not yet, they have a LOT to get through).  And they taste DELICIOUS.

The feijoa is looking very festive with its fluffy little red flowers, kind of puts you in mind of a eucalyptus flower doesn't it?

And check out this patch of hydrangeas, just flowering like crazy in the most electric blue, out the back of the orchard where I can't even see them from the house.  As soon as they die back next winter I'll be moving them to a better location.  Hopefully they still flower like this.

So all in all, midsummer in Taranaki is a very happy place. 

Sandflies notwithstanding.

Weaner calves, pasta, and crayfish

Weird title.  Sounds like a recipe.

Anyway.

This week we've weaned our cute fat little calves and the bellowing is. driving. me. insane.  The only upside is that we're weaning them from powdered milk, not their mothers.  So although I may be unable to go outside right now without setting off the most unholy cacophony, at least my heart is not breaking listening to them yell for their mothers.

As an amusing aside, did you know that the calf milk feeder is called a CALFETERIA?  How good is that!!  And the cereal feed we're weaning them onto is called MOOSLI?!  I am beside myself with these puntastic names.

In totally unrelated news, it's crayfish season.  I'm totally underwhelmed at the thought because I don't actually like crayfish that much.  So.... moving on I guess.  Next topic!

Hey, remember that Christmas decoration I ordered off eBay with great trepidation?  Well IT'S AWESOME.  Look!

Come closer!  Sorry I don't know why these photos are so dingy.  Clearly I was too excited at the excellence of my ornament to actually check the camera settings.  You'll have to squint a bit.

Amazing right?!  I love it.  I switch it on every night, even after the kids are in bed I just love to look at it.  And needless to say J is obsessed.

 

Here's another hopelessly dingy photo of the Christmas tree all lit up.  Confession time: I un-decorated it.  I was yelling about it every day, plus A was eating a LOT of glitter, J kept smashing the baubles together and crumpling them in her fists... they both kept trying to unwrap the little gift-shaped decorations... and the last straw was when I found A (part baby part goat apparently) eating polystyrene from inside a gift decoration that she had successfully unwrapped.

So now we just have tinsel and lights!

B has been away for work a bit recently which means pasta for dinner every night!  My most favourite effort the other week is pictured above.  I rolled two massive bowlfuls without any trouble.  It's basically slow roasted carrot, sweet potato (sorry, kumara), and zucchini, plus some crispy fried bacon, all tossed together at the end with a big dollop of my number one kitchen staple: tomato paste.

Delicious, I tell you.  Make it tonight!

Last of all,  I'm proud to say that I've been very industrious in the evenings recently.  Normally once the kids go to bed I flop on the couch with The Good Wife.  I'm only on season two but I'm really enjoying it.  I just wish they wouldn't yell "OJBECTION!" eighty-five times every episode.

What was I talking about again?  Oh yeah.  Other than an epic amount of gardening work getting done recently, I even pulled out the old sewing machine last night and made some fabric gift wrapping bags.  This is a project I've had on my to-do list for about, oh, four years.  And it took me less than half an hour.  Boom, as they say.

It was so easy - I made nine gift bags and two santa sacks in, as I said, less than half an hour.  I even had time for sips of wine in between.

Who's up for a sewing tutorial?  No one?  Perfect!

First you cut your fabric into a long skinny-ish rectangle, or whatever shape you choose.  I made a few different sizes and shapes.  It can be wonky and slapdash!  It's just gift-wrapping!

I used the selvage edges at the top of my bags wherever possible because: less sewing.  So you fold your rectangle so that one edge overhangs the other as in the photo above.  Wow these explanations are so clear.  A craft blogger I am not.

Like this.  That overhang is going to be the "flap" of the envelope that you fold in to close the bag.  If you know what I mean.  Let's carry on.

Then you sew all around the edges of your bag and across any raw edges so they don't fray.  I did the whole lot in a big zigzag stitch which meant I had to reload my bobbin about three times.

Can you see that?  It was getting dark as I was taking these photos.  I should just rename this post "dingy photos of stuff".

And... that's it!  Done!  That last photo shows how the flap tucks into the bag.  No more mountains of gift wrap going to landfill to keep you up at night.

Or is that just me?


Have a good week, friends!