We had our mid-winter Christmas last night. We started this last year, after getting the idea from Leanne over at The Good Life. The children anticipate it for weeks ahead and were counting down the sleeps this week.
I keep it fairly low key with roast chicken and a yummy desert and our hot apple cider (or wassail). We give them a handmade gift with a winter theme. If they want they can make gifts for each other as well. Hugh made Theodore a fireengine station from cardboard boxes (this was an idea in Family Fun magazine). Meredith made Alice a little knitted blanket. Meredith spent most of Saturday afternoon making little placecards for everyone - with loads of gold glitter!
We also ate by candlelight with the glow of the fire in the background. The kids loved doing this, and we had Christmas music playing. Our mid-summer Christmasses are quite different to the normal snowy, cold, Christmasses of the northern hemisphere. We are usually roasting in hot weather on Christmas Day.
Instead of the traditional Christmas pudding, I made Banoffee Pie which is one of our favourites and so rich and fattening, we probably only eat it twice in one year.
For Teddy, I knitted him an earflap hat. I love earflap hats for winter. It was a fun pattern to make.
For Meredith, I made a winter nightie from very pretty fabric. She loved it!
And I started to knit Hugh a hat as well, but it ended up being an absolute disaster at the last minute, so instead of something handmade, I went and bought him some ski gloves from our favourite outdoor store, Kathmandu. He's been wearing them all day today.
One of the things the kids love to do after dinner is dance to the song, "Grandma got run over by a reindeer". When that is finished we roast marshmallows on the fire and make s'mores.
We all really enjoyed it. It's so nice to be making our own traditions and our own family stories. This is firmly planted in our family calendar of things to do every year. T'was fun.
I have been enjoying watching Rick Stein's Mediterranean tour on Saturday nights. I looked at buying his book a couple of weeks ago, but it's close to $70, so I think I'll have to be content with the tv programme, and what I learn from that.
On the current show, he is doing a tour of Mediterranean countries and discovering each country's unique style of cooking. I particularly wanted to see the episode this last Saturday as he was visiting the Greek Island of Corfu, and it just so happens that I am re-reading, for the trillionth time, one of my favourite books by Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals.
I think what I love about this book is the mix of eccentricity in the Durrell family, the beautiful descriptions of the Corfu landscape and people, and the descriptive, interesting stories of the buglife and animal life Gerald encounters on Corfu. As we are in the grip of winter, I love reading some of it outloud to my husband about the searing, lazy heat of Corfu, the shady olive trees, and the cicadas and the sleeping Greeks and the warm, blue, still sea that surrounds the island.
I laugh out loud at stories of his funny family. His widowed mother and her 4 children, Larry, Lesley, Margo and Gerrry. They are all unique, hillarious and I love the way Mrs. Durrell encouraged with reckless abandon, Gerry's love of natural history, to the peril of all family members; like when his brother Larry opened a matchbox expecting to find matches and found a family of mother and baby scorpions instead, and the chaos that ensued as they scattered all over the family dining table.
So on Rick Stein's tour of Corfu, I was interested to watch and relive parts of the book. He showed us the Durrell house and the beach where they took family picnics. Probably the beach where the family held a celebration meal in honour of mother's new bathing suit, with disastrous results.
It looked as though the tall Cyprus trees that are depicted in the paintings of my book are still prevalent on the island too. And Rick Stein lunched with a Greek family on a little farmlet, and the table looked delightfully inviting and mouth-watering. You could almost feel the heat and hear the stillness of the summer afternoon with the shady trees and the green grass giving relief to the heat of the day.
And I learned how to make a white sauce properly and tried it out last night on my family with a perfect outcome. As Rick Stein said, white sauce (in chef-world, I guess), is hot with debate, because some think you should add hot milk and some think you should add cold milk. He (and I) add cold milk slowly, stirring all the time. He said white sauce should be the consistency of cream, which means getting your quantities of flour just perfect.
A couple of years ago Rick Stein did a tour of France as well, travelling down a river on a canal boat. I loved this series also.
What I like about Rick Stein is that he isn't a celebrity chef in the traditional sense. He started out with real restaurants all over England, and made a couple of tv programmes out of his great passion for English and European food. For some reason he is extremely popular with us down-under-ites. He travelled alot with his little terrier Chalky (I remember once where he smuggled the little dog into a flash hotel), and maybe this endeared him to us - he wasn't too high-faluting, but fairly down-to-earth.
I did enjoy this last episode with one of my favourite family's (the Durrells), and one of my favourite "celebrity" chefs. Nothing better than the mix of good food, and good literature!
Russian Fudge - especially homemade Russian Fudge is so delicious it's sinful! It is so creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, sweet, rich and extremely yummy. I'm going to give the recipe here, but I thought I better warn you first. It's not healthy, and it's guaranteed to add inches to your waistline. But it's worth it!
It's also very easy to make.
Ingredients:
12 ounces of sugar (granulated)
1/4 tin condensed milk
1/4 cup milk
2 ounces butter
pinch salt
1/2 TBSP Golden Syrup (generous).
Put sugar and milk into a large microwaveable bowl. Stir. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir.
Add rest of ingredients.
Now, here is a picture of our Golden Syrup tin and Condensed Milk tin. I have a feeling you can get Condensed Milk in the USA, but I'm doubtful about the Golden Syrup. I don't know how you survive without it, but it's kind of a combination of treacle and Maple Syrup. Not as dark or strong as treacle, and not as thin as Maple Syrup. In this case, you could try either one to see if it works out. If it were me, I'd try the Maple Syrup first.
Stir. Microwave for another 2 minutes. Stir.
It should be starting to look like this:
Now, microwave it for 6-8 minutes. WATCH!!! It can burn easily. Take it out every 2 minutes and stir it. If it starts to get too dark don't microwave it anymore. After 6 minutes, stir again, and microwave for 45 seconds. Then stir and microwave again for 30 seconds.
Take out and beat well with an electric mixer until thick - usually only about 1-2 minutes.
Pour into a greased or buttered dish and slice into squares. Then see how long it lasts!
If any of you are as familiar with the Anne of Green Gables books as I am, then you will know what that title means. LM Montgomery is one of my favourite authors. I just love the Anne books (Anne's House of Dreams is my favourite), and many of her other books also. They transport me into a world that is romantic, innocent, beautiful and interesting. I am not ashamed to admit that I still read them, enjoy them on audio and follow various internet websites dedicated to her too.
Quite by accident I came across a website last night which has a few radio recordings on LM Montgomery's life, writings and excerpts from her journals. They are well-worth listening to, if you are interested. In many ways, she had a sad life, with a sad ending. Just this last year, at the celebrations of the 100 year anniversary of Anne of Green Gables, her family revealed that she took her own life in the end.
But this website is a jewel, a treasure, and here is a transcript of one of the readings from Lucy Maud's journal. It was written in 1920, and is a list of things she likes. It's a fascinating glimpse into her personality, and as I was listening, my husband, who was in the room and didn't know what it was, turned to me and said, "that sounds just like you." And, apart from perhaps one or two things, this list is very akin to my own likes, and just what I would list down too. So, I thought I'd put it up here. I think Lucy Maud would have been very good company for me. A kindred spirit indeed - one from the race that knows Joseph - but then why would I expect anything different from the author of Anne.
"I like my own children and all nice, fat clean babies anywhere.
I like all kinds of books if they’re well written, whether they’re religious or philosophical or sentimental or cynical or humorous or exaggerated or indecent.
I like writing books myself.
I like cats and horses and some dogs.
I like curling breakers and woods and mountains and stars and trees and flowers.
I like nicely furnished houses.
I like good victrola records and the music of the violin.
I like pretty china and glass and old heirloom things.
I like a cosy bed and a tight hot water bottle.
I like to be kissed by the right kind of a man.
I like jewels and pretty clothes.
I like doing fancy work, and I like cooking, and I like eating the nice things other people cook.
I like motoring and driving and walking.
I like a systematic life with the occasional dashings over the traces.
I like open fires and moonlit nights.
I like nice chatty letters.
I like compliments.
I like to see a person I dislike, snubbed.
I like my own looks when my hair is dressed a certain way.
I like a snack at bedtime.
I like going out to dinner.
I like helping other people and I like to be very independent of help myself.
I like sunsets and pictures and sea-bathing.
I like keeping a journal.
I like reading old letters.
I like housecleaning.
I like daydreaming.
I like going to concerts, good movies and plays.
I like, or used to like, before I wedded a minister, dancing and playing whist.
I like reading the Bible, most of it. I like the folklore of Genesis and the drama of the Exodus, and the gorgeous furnishings of the tabernacle, and the doings of the kings and the good maledictions of the Psalms and the warm imagery of the Song of Soloman, and the cynicism of the Ecclesiastesies and the worldly wisdom of the Proverbs, and the idyll of Ruth, and the blazing fire of the prophets, and the wonders of Jesus’ teaching and the poetry of Revelations.
I like listening to good sermons.
I like gardening.
I like good spruce gum.
I like my husband.
I like people to like me.
I like a good joke.
I like rainy days.
I like old homesteads.
I like people who agree with me.
I like chocolate caramels and brazil nuts.
I like, or liked in pre-prohibition days, dandelion wine.
I like perfumes.
I like a little gossip with carefully selected people.
I like shopping at Eatons."
A few weeks ago we had Carole come and visit us. Carole is one of those special people we are privileged to know. When we moved to an isolated community in the far south some years ago, I was a new mum in a town full of strangers. Someone recommended I try the Clyde Playcentre as a family-friendly place to go to with my baby son and to meet other mothers. It is one of the best things I ever did.
Playcentre was set up in New Zealand during WW2 as a place for mothers to meet and gain support from other mothers while their husbands were fighting abroad. It is different from kindergartens and daycare centres in that it is extremely family-focused and encourages the parents to stay through the sessions with their children. Most days you just got to go along and play with your child using the fantastic facilities and games and toys, but there were also days where you were rostered on for parent help (cutting up the apples for morning tea), and mopping the floor afterwards.
My children thrived here and Carole ran the place like a smooth, well-oiled machine. She is a gifted educator who has dedicated much of her life to preschoolers and their mums. She was such an encouragement to me during these years and was so supportive when we decided to home-educate. The one regret I have of moving from that area is having to leave Carole and the Clyde Playcentre behind. And of all my children, I think Teddy would have really benefitted from time there - as it was he only saw it as a baby. But we have kept in touch with Carole, and a couple of weeks ago we saw her when she was up in Christchurch.
Teddy is not yet ready for reading. He's 4 1/2 yrs, and I have tried to teach him a little bit to see if he is ready, but he just isn't. But he's a bright boy with a very quick mind, and I have been struggling with ideas to keep his brain stimulated during the hours that I am homeschooling the older children. As always, Carole came to the rescue and gave me some great ideas to try with him, and they are working fantastically.
Here are two ideas that don't take long to set up, and keep him busy for a little while.
The first idea was to lay out blocks of different shapes and sizes and colours in a pattern and get him to copy the pattern. I don't have blocks, so I used the math foam shapes instead which worked just as well.
This was pretty easy for him, but he enjoyed doing it.
When I was at the school supply store last week I found these wonderful wooden number cards. They have holes drilled down the numbers and came supplied with laces. They weren't expensive, and Teddy is loving learning to lace them up and down through the holes and he's learning the numbers at the same time. I have to say this is probably one of the best things I've purchased.
There were other ideas from Carole too, such as finger-painting and water play. Teddy is a very tactile chid and learns this way, but these were the simplest and easiest ones for me to set up and are working very well.
I know that sometimes it can be hard to find a children's movie that is completely innocent. No subtle comments, no bad music, no innuendoes, no rudeness, no bad attitudes. These are rare things in our day. I thought I'd write about this movie which is one of our family-favourites. And as many of my readers are American, I didn't think it would be very well known in the USA, as it is completely Australian and Australian-made.
The movie is Napoleon. I put this movie in the ranks with Beatrix Potter, Charlotte's Web, Brambly Hedge, and all those other sweet movies where animals are anthropomorphisized. It's probably for a younger viewer (ages 3- 7), but we all enjoyed it the first time we saw it.
The entire movie is set in Australia. In fact it features most of the well-known Australian animals, such as the Kangaroo, the Koala, the Dingo, the Goanna. Napoleon is a little Golden Labrador Puppy, growing up in suburban Sydney. He longs for adventure and excitement and to meet the wild dogs he can sometimes hear on the winds. One day his wishes come true when he accidentally gets caught in a basket with balloons attached and flies out over Sydney Harbour, until the balloons pop, one by one depositing the puppy in the wild bush and outback. He meets a wild, deranged cat, a crazy bird who helps guide him. A disinterested Koala; he saves two little Dingo dogs and meets their grateful mother. They meet a mad Goanna, hitches a ride with a Kangaroo, and takes lessons in how to catch a rabbit (very funny and cute).
There's one part that the little ones might find a bit scary, which is when Napoleon meets the wild cat who tries to attack him. There is a fight between them towards the end, but this is a movie where nothing dies, nothing gets hurt and the worst that happens to the cat is that it gets wet - after an unexpected swim.
I can absolutely recommend this movie with no hesitation. If you haven't seen it - it's one your whole family will love and enjoy. It's my four year old's favourite! Amazon have it for sale at $9.99 (US) and here is the link for it: Napoleon movie
On Tuesday, my friend's husband flew to the USA. He goes every year for a business trip, stays in fancy hotels and eats at fancy restaurants and gets to travel all over the USA. She sends a big list of toys to get for her 4 boys - this year it's a cowboy costume for each boy, because if you want to buy the whole complete outfit here in New Zealand four times over, it will cost you mega-bucks, whereas in America you can pick them up cheaply at WalMart or Target or ToysRUs.
And everytime he comes back to little old New Zealand, he gets culture shock, and I can understand it.
Now I know that staying in nice hotels and eating at fancy restaurants is not a true picture of the average American, but I do know what he feels like. You see, New Zealand is just a little, isolated, kinda old-fashioned, island nation at the bottom of the world. We might be the most beautiful country in the world, and recently voted one of the most peaceful places in the world, but the cost of living is expensive and our population of 4 million is only slightly more than the popluation of Los Angeles alone! To travel is expensive, as the only way out of here is by air, or weeks on a boat sailing the high seas.
When I first came back from the USA after being there for awhile, and seeing my wardrobe in my bedroom that I'd grown up with, it seemed like the wardrobe out of a miniature house - it was so small, compared to the larger wardrobe I'd had in my room in Chicago! And America has central heating! To this day, I think that I should be able to walk around my house in the middle of winter in short sleeves and bare feet (my husband blames it on my time in America lol)! 15 years ago that was an unknown in NZ, although it is fast growing in popularity. We're mostly hardy, fresh air fiends, opening our windows even on chilly days to 'change the air', with only a wood fire (usually only one) to heat us in winter - and maybe a heater in the bedroom if you could afford the extra power cost. Just layer up with extra socks and singlets and jump into bed with a hotwater bottle as quick as you can! I tell you what though - we have really great constitutions as a result!
My friend began to tell me about the only time she has ever been to America, and it was on a layover in LA when they were travelling to Europe to live for a few years. She needed to use the restroom at the airport, but was shocked to find that the toilet was flooded or blocked, (or so it seemed to her). She went down the entire length of the restroom opening up the cubicle doors to see if she could find a toilet that wasn't flooded, and there wasn't one! I laughed so hard as she told me this, because the toilets here in NZ and Australia are different to the toilets in the USA. We only have a tiny amount of water in the bottom, whereas the American toilets are higher and have lots of water. I can't believe I'm going to do this, but here is a picture of a New Zealand toilet:
Anyway, that conversation got me thinking about other differences between New Zealand and America.
Our vacuum cleaners are different. Well, the vacuum cleaners I used when I lived there were different - I don't know if that's true for all of America, but here is a picture of our vacuum cleaner. We have a long stick with a small head at the end that rotates and moves around as you need it to. I do find them much easier than the American vaccuum cleaners - they're easier to maneuvre in tight places.
And we drive on the left hand side of the road, and all our cars are left hand drive; and I have to say, seem alot smaller than American cars. And we don't generally need anti-freeze in our cars. The first time I ever heard about anti-freeze was in the USA and to me it sounded like anna-freeze. It wasn't until we were living way down south, where they need anti-freeze in their cars, that I learned it was called anti-freeze, and because I learned the term in America, I still call it anna-freeze.
Another difference is our electrical system. It is higher voltage than America, and if I want to use my curlers that I bought at a Chicago walmart, I have to use an adapter. This is what our wall plugs look like:
One thing that I couldn't get over when I went to the USA, was that you don't use jugs for boiling water! With America so advanced in just about everything else, I was surprised that you all still boil water in a pot. I can't imagine life without my electric jug - it's just easier!
The drawback of being small and isolated is that we don't have the same variety of products available to us that there is in America. For instance, A & W's Root Beer is unknown here. And so is this:
Spiced Hot Apple Cider bought out for me by my sister who lives in Canada. I'm down to five packets and on rations!
You also have this delectable product:
And you have these..... and would you believe it, the dates on both of these packets have expired. You see, I save them up in my pantry for a special occasion, but I'm too scared to use them, because once they're gone, they're gone, and they're hard come by.
So yes, I can understand my friend's husband's culture shock when he comes back to New Zealand. I love living here - I would not want to live anywhere else. I like the fact that we're isolated and unimportant and pretty much left alone to live our lives as we want. Long may it last - but I just wanted to blog about the differences today, and I hope, if you've managed to read all of it, that you have enjoyed it.
We had a relaxed week of homeschooling last week, because I needed to get organized. It drives me nuts when things get into a mess. So I rearranged things in the school room, and we're slowly getting there. I didn't want to get all stressed out with it trying to get it all done in one day, so I spread the tasks out over the week. I'm feeling pretty happy with the way it is now. The only snag is that the kids keep messing it up.
I've always wanted to have an area where they could keep their books and watch DVD's and do painting or drawing, so I sectioned off this end of the room for that purpose, and kept their school desks at the other end.
On Thursdays I get to go shopping with just Alice, as the older three are in art class for the morning. I am trying very, very hard not to like shopping as much as I used to - it is very hard, and I have slipped up several times, but this last Thursday I happened to be at the shopping mall I used to go to all the time before Alice was born, and I haven't been back in about 6 months (I avoid it over Christmas), and there have been some big changes and major alterations and I arrived 2 hours after the opening of the new section and the new stores.
And the second shop I walked in to was kikki-k which specialises in home organization! Wow! I was thrilled. This is my dream shop - and the designs are Swedish - very minimalistic, with smooth lines and beautiful colours. And I bought this menu planner:
I know I could probably design and print out something like this for myself, but there's something very attractive about a neat little pad like this bound up with shrinkwrap. And the lady gave me a $20 voucher for shopping there on the opening day, and I have my eye on a recipe box, so I'll be back there again this Thursday.
Today feels like summer, in spite of the fact that we are officially two days into winter. Apart from a very frosty, chilly start this morning, the sun has come out and we are now all in short sleeves. Meredith played with Teddy this morning blowing bubbles in the sun, while Hugh and I did math.
Alice is growing so fast. Her new little friend Evie was born on Sunday. I can't wait to go down and see my neighbour and the new baby. I took this picture sometime during the week of Alice in the knitted dress I made. I know I am not exactly impartial, but I do think she's a beautiful baby. And see that little red cheek.... yep, she's teething!
She is also enjoying the Jolly Jumper. All our children have played in it, and loved it. It's fun to see how they like being upright and when they 'find' their feet. In fact, I think these were around even when I was a baby.
Teddy is finally off the Tegratol medication. So far we have not seen an improvement, but another day ought to show us for sure. Not sure what the docs will suggest if he doesn't respond to the new medicine. Sigh. (Thank you Amy, for asking). :o)
The hens are still laying well. They are mostly free range now because the garden is pretty empty, so we're getting some lovely-tasting eggs.
It's a short week this week, thanks to Queen's Birthday weekend. I do love short weeks. Meredith has gotten it into her head to write a letter to Queen Elizabeth, so we are planning to do the final copy of it this afternoon, after working on a rough draft over the weekend. I'll post about it here when we've done it.
Well, the children had loads of fun yesterday afternoon when Robin took them to the netball.
Their cousin Millie was playing our Canterbury team (the Tactics) with her team from Wellington (the Pulse). It was very hard knowing who to support, but blood is thicker than water, I guess!
We've had dreadful weather here the last few days, so I didn't venture out with Alice. We were also expecting guests for dinner, and I had quite a bit of preparation work to do for that. I will blog about that later.
From the sounds of it there was quite a good turnout for the netball. Robin and the children met Robin's brother and his kids there, along with Millie's Mum (my sister-in-law) who had flown down from Auckland for the game. Millie's team didn't win, but I think they got pretty close. I love netball. It's such an exciting game if the teams are fairly evenly matched. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a game played with seven players on a team. The ball is thrown from the center of the court and the players have to get the ball down to the net circle without stepping over their boundaries, and without the ball bouncing. It's a high contact sport, as there is lots of defence and attack, intercepting the ball or knocking it from another players hands without getting a penalty. When I played it as a teenager, I was Goal Shoot, the one responsible for getting the ball into the net. Only two players are allowed to do that. Millie plays Center, which is usually a position reserved for the fastest, most fit player as they are allowed to go all over the court, except within the goal circle. Here are some shots from the game. Millie is the tall, slim blonde girl with the C on the front and back of her outfit. I noticed she was paired up with Julie Dawson, a Silver Fern player (from our national netball team).
Here is Millie trying to get the ball to her Goal Shoot (GS) team player. See how her feet cannot cross the line into the shooting circle, and her team member is trying to get away from the red team so she can get a clear shot of catching the ball when Millie throws it. No player is allowed to hold the ball longer than 3 seconds, so the pressure is on.
Once again, so much of the action is around the goal shoot circle. I can't even see where the ball is in this picture. And who are those important-looking people around the tables in the background? Maybe they're selectors for our national team, the Silver Ferns?
Jackie from England, over at Hedgerow Fireside is having a giveaway, with a lovely little book, Food From The Kitchen Garden, with a month by month guide on what the garden is offering with recipes as well. Pop over and check it out!
I can't believe it's a whole week since I last posted! Oh well - the days are full and busy and flying by, and I've had an especially busy, crazy week this week.
But I love the quietness of the evenings when the children are all settled down for the night, and we have the fire roaring, and I knit. I'm really enjoying knitting at the moment, and have so many projects planned. I've just completed two baby garments. One is for Alice and one is for my neighbour, whose baby is due any day now. I actually started the little green striped cardigan for Alice when I was expecting her, but with all the drama and busyness going on here, I have only just finished it, and it is probably getting too small for her now, so I might give this one to my neighbour, and keep the pink one for Alice.
Now I have started knitting an earflap hat for Teddy for his mid-winter Christmas gift. This is a fun one to do, and I'm halfway finished already.
When that is finished I'm going to knit this gorgeous wee cardigan for Alice. I found some pretty watermelon-coloured wool - it's a soft 4ply, to knit it with. I can't wait to start this too. It's from a beautiful book by Patons called Heirloom Collection.
Here is the wool that I'm going to knit it in:
We have a busy weekend coming up. Tomorrow Robin is taking the children to see their first 'live' netball game at the stadium. Their cousin Millie plays for the Pulse team from Wellington, so we are going along to support her. The kids are making a big sign today to hold up, just in case they get on tv. I can't go, unfortunately, as I love netball, but I'll be sending the camera along with them, and hopefully they'll get a few good pictures.
There are so many parts of Autumn that are wonderful.
Beautiful big, orangey, self-sown Pumpkins. This American variety look great on the outside, but don't taste so great on the inside. But the kids won't mind if the soup has lashings of cheese on top.
And I love these New Zealand Variety (Crown) Pumpkin. Looks dull on the outside, but beautiful taste on the inside. I'll have to ration these out - I've already gone through two!
And it's tree-planting season. I was thinking about this. Most see Autumn as the death of summer because most plants and gardens go to sleep for a little while through the winter, but I think Autumn is just as hopeful as Spring because when you're out planting trees, you're planting the future too, in the hopes that that tree will grow and spread and bring shade or fruit or beauty, or shelter, or, in our case today, firewood. These arrived by courier this morning. 100 Eucalyptus trees in a box. Hugh couldn't believe that there were a hundred trees in this box! But we will plant them out in a little corner of our acreage, and in a few years we'll chop them down just before winter. What a savings that will be. They're also self-coppicing, so they'll keep giving and giving.
And here are the last of the Chrysanthemums given to me this morning by our dear friend, June.
(Does anyone else recite the Anne of Green Gables movie when spelling Chrysanthemums)?
And I love this particular Autumn day, because it brought me this . . . . . . . .
Which has this . . . . .
All from the beautiful and delightful pattern catalogue by Ottobre, a Finnish magazine.
And I love this Autumn day, because while the children were at Art class, Alice and I found this brushed cotton fabric . . . .
. . . . which will, one day soon, become a nightdress for Meredith, and will be given to her at our mid-winter Christmas dinner. A tradition I have adopted from Leanne over At The Good Life. Teddy is getting a knitted earflap hat, and I haven't decided what to do for Hugh yet - maybe a scarf, or something from Ottobre.
Normally at 5.30 in the morning, I struggle to wake up and to get out of bed, but it's funny how sometimes you wake up with strange things on your mind, and this morning, somehow, we had this weird conversation going that actually had both me and my husband laughing out loud - in a sort of whispering laugh so as not to wake up the children.
Regular readers of my blog will know that I love Dickens. The thing I love the most is his characterization and the study he makes of human nature. It always amazes me how a writer can create so many different personalities, and Dickens obviously had a very fertile imagination when it came to creating characters for his stories.
Anyway, what had us laughing was we were talking about a certain politician, and I happened to say,
"he's just like Mr. Pecksniff in Martin Chuzzlewit". It happened to 'fit the bill' so aptly that we both burst out laughing. That made us progress to others. I said I wanted to blog about it, but my cautious, legal-minded, should-have-been-a-lawyer husband advised me not to be specific, so I won't, but it would make such a great editorial. I'm so tempted to do it and send it in to a newspaper.... but I won't.
It was a very amusing exercise, and probably quite irreverant, to take our members of parliament and find them a parallel in Dickens. We did quite well too.
The Villains:
Mr. Tolkinghorne (evil intelligence) - Bleak House
Mr. Murdstone (cold, cruel, a bully) - David Copperfield
Miss Murdstone (hard, cruel) - David Copperfield
Lady Haversham (bitter, vindictive) - Great Expectations
Mr. Pecksniff (stupid, a hypocrite) - Martin Chuzzlewit
Uriah Heep (slimy and evil) - David Copperfield
The Heroes:
Mr. John Jarndyce (wealthy, wise, kind, generous) - Bleak House
Doctor Strong (intelligent, kind, benevolent) - David Copperfield
Mr. MacCawber (lots of children and worried about pecuniary matters) - David Copperfield
Mr. Dick (nice, funny) - David Copperfield
Betsy Trotwood (strong, no-nonsense, kind, a little bit of a feminist) - David Copperfield
Mark Tapley (very jolly, and very good) - Martin Chuzzlewit
I'll probably spend the rest of the day in this mental exercise. It is probably very silly, but it was fun!
Yesterday it stormed all day long. It was lovely. The rain drummed on the roof loud enough so that we could all hear it. It was lovely to wake up to, and lovely to go to sleep to. We had the fire going all day long and we watched a movie in the afternoon while I knitted, and I made Rhubarb and Apple Crumble for dessert - such a nice wintery pudding to have (and it was our own Rhubarb too).
And this morning we woke to this.... fresh, crisp, clear blue sky.
I've let the hens out - they can enjoy free-ranging today after being shut up all day yesterday. There isn't much in the garden that they can eat right now, and their run is too muddy and needs to dry out a bit before they can go back in there. We are about to start schoolwork for the day, and later on I hope to run into our little town to get blankets for the dogs from the Salvation Army shop, and drop off some library books that are overdue.
I love rainy days, but it is nice to see the sun again.
I love doing this with my babies. Prop up a mirror in front of them and watch the fun!
Sweet little Alice is giving us so much joy, and she's getting so big. Here are some of our favourite mirror photographs.
As an update on Teddy, the paediatrician is changing his medication. We are praying that the new one will cut out these petite mal. It takes a month to ease him off one medicine and onto the other.
I haven't had much time or inclination lately to blog. We're still having ongoing challenges with Teddy. The medication he is on has seemed to stop the grande mal seizures that he began having at the beginning of the year, but now he is having many petite mal seizures throughout the day, which are far less dramatic, but of great concern, nonetheless.
Our doctor has increased his medicine, but after a few days his body seems to get used to it and we're back to square one again. Today we are going to see the paediatrician at the hospital, so we will see what he suggests. I am thinking that he will probably change the medicine to see if that helps. I'm thinking about requesting an MRI, even though the CT scan and EEG were clear.
We are so grateful for our church family - they have been wonderful in their support of prayers and offers to mind the children when we go for appointments, and today I don't have to worry about dinner, as a dear lady in our church is doing it for us. We could not have survived through all this without them, and our lovely (non-christian) neighbours who have shown such concern and support and offers of help.
We are just praying and hoping for a resolution and reprieve from all this worry. I'm sure I have aged about 10 years in the last 4 months.... it's funny though how something like this suddenly puts life into perspective and you realize that the most important things in life are faith in God, my husband and our children.
I mean I knew this before, but a crisis really helps cement it. It also makes the hope of Heaven so much more precious. At the moment, we feel as though we're in survival mode, and those three things are all that matter right now.
Why is it that my children always want to start gardening in Autumn? I was thinking about this the other day and I realized it's because Autumn is when we harvest most of the garden. Pumpkins, corn, tomatoes, beans, beetroot, carrots. Their desire to garden is driven by their stomachs!
Teddy (4) seems to have a real love of getting stuck in with a spade and plants and seeds and dirt, so I wanted to encourage this in him, and thought about doing a square foot raised garden with winter vegetables.
Not wanting to go to the expense of buying in planks of wood, I got my 9 year old son to pull apart one of the builder's old crates. And we used what was left to put together the garden. It took half an hour one afternoon and once Teddy's garden was made, the other two have decided they want one as well, so Meredith (7) enlisted Hugh's help and Daddy's, and knocked up one for herself.
Here is a picture of Teddy's and Meredith's raised beds. I used some old wool to divide them into little plots.
Teddy really loves gardening, and he used a little gardening set that my sister gave him for his 4th birthday. Did you know that gardening (according to a poll that was done a few years ago) is the favourite past-time of New Zealanders. I guess it's in the blood.
I got a few little unnecessarys to make it fun.
We planted cabbage, spinach, parsley and a few tulip bulbs that I had left over from my Spring pots.
And what is this? A ripe strawberry in April! Bizarre weather!
I've been very domestic these last few days. And it's pure selfishness! It's Quince time again, and this year I was determined that I'd get some to make jelly and preserve them.
Over the weekend I was travelling down a rural road when I saw a sign out saying this place had Quinces to sell. I was in a hurry at the time and determined to go back the next day. When I did I drove up and down the road searching for the sign and could not find it (it was a long road too).
I called into our local raspberry farm and asked the man there if he knew who it was who was selling Quinces and he said to drive about a mile back down the road and pull into the upholsterers studio. So I did. And a lovely, friendly Maori lady (with really long braids) who was working on an armchair with a fire roaring in her studio buckled up a fruit-picking basket around her shoulders and went and picked me 10 kgs of beautiful, divinely-aromatic Quince.
I noiticed the trees out the back - several of them, and absolutely laden with Quince. They're such a pretty tree when in fruit with the dark green leaves in a lush canopy around the solid trunk and the large yellow fruit hanging from them.
So I came home and the next day I made this: (pictured here next to a little quince-shaped jam jar that my friend gave me).
Quince jelly is not jam, but the real true jelly made from the juice of the pulped Quince. It hangs overnight in a jelly bag, dripping into a bowl. In the morning I added the sugar and about 20 minutes later I potted it.
Today I preserved some of the Quince. I processed 8 large Quince and got two and a half jars. I'm not sure it's financially economical with all the sugar and the cost of the Quince (unless the fruit is free), but it is oh so very worth it, as the taste is wonderful! And I have planted my own tree last winter, and they are fast growing and I have heard that they fruit in 3 years. Quince is kind of an old-fashioned fruit, and I don't think it's very trendy, but it has a lovely flavour. I don't know why it's not more popular than it is. I love it!
Last night Alice slept in the big cot. She turned 12 weeks old yesterday, and that's usually about the time when my babies get a bit restless in the bassinette. And true enough, she was right on cue - starting to get too big for the little bassinette. My neighbour was over in the morning and said how it only seemed like yesterday we were admiring the bassinette, and just waiting and waiting for the baby to arrive, and now she's too big for it, and moving in to the cot. Time sure is flying by.
So I made up the bed in the cot and she had her first night in there, in her own little room. It's the first time she's slept so far away from me.... all the way down the other end of the (short) hallway. I'm sure I felt it more than she did.
We had this cot made for us out of oak, when our first child was born, so it is fast becomming a family heirloom.
I wanted to have the bedroom all nicely decorated for Alice before she moved in, but it didn't quite work out that way. It's blue because Teddy slept in there to start with, and I am trying to think of ways to pretty it up without having to repaint it.
I did this above the cot.
I'd like to get a nice armchair to put in here and perhaps some pretty pictures and rugs and lamps to make it more feminine.
Welcome to my blog. I'm glad you dropped in. I'm a wife and mum to 4 children. We are blessed to live in the beautiful South Sea islands of New Zealand, and I love to write about our life and the things we do on our homestead of 10 acres, our adventures with animals and homeschooling, and the little things that touch my life and those around me. I hope you'll enjoy visiting.
