Birthday

Guess who's turning 6 tomorrow?

While I was Away ...

Life has been very eventful lately! We've had a once-in-a-hundred year flash flood, which swept away the bridge on our road, damaged the kindergarten and evacuated our local primary school. We couldn't even get to the school from our house, so Eric was kept there (and fed biscuits at the staffroom) until late in the evening. He was most disappointed that he just missed out on being billeted overnight to a friend's house!

Luckily the school had dried out enough for Grandparent's Day, which is the social event of the term at the primary school. Our small boy was very proud to have three grandparents (and Mummy, Daddy and Adam) as his guests.

We were treated to a delicious morning tea, attended a special assembly where the children sang "The Three Bears' Rap!" and the Smile Song, then our little boy showed us excitedly around the classroom and enormous playground. Finally it was time for a sausage sizzle, then Eric had a early mark and came home with his family.The cousins have been to visit -- Rory stayed the night, and the two boys sat up late building lego, playing Xbox, and reading choose-you-own-adventure books (Rory read patiently to Eric for hours!). Then off to sleep -- two little boys together in a big bed.

A "boys only" birthday party was the next big occasion -- a lego theme with plenty of bunting, games, prizes and personalised take-home bags. There's an entire post coming just on this, although I was too busy rushing about and entertaining to take many photos.

And our 'puppy' (below -- named because he actually pants when he's pleased) is well and truly scooting about underfoot. Still mudskippering along on his tummy, but that doesn't slow him down! He'll eat anything -- lasagne, whole slices of watermelon, cucumber, plums and sandwiches. Of course I always watch him carefully when he's eating, but everything's been thoroughly gummed up and swallowed up t0 now. He's started waving, too, but never quite on demand -- usually a few minutes after a request to say "bye bye"! But he's as good natured, smiley, friendly and easygoing as even, and a joy to all of us.

Jerusalem Artichokes

These make a lovely show against the pink crepe myrtle. Once the flowers wither and die we'll dig up the delicious tubers, then roast them for a warming winter treat.

Rose Valley Homestead

An afternoon out for Eric and I: viewing cows being milked at the dairy, a tour through the 1900s house, then homemade scones and hot tea in the garden.

Posy

If only you could smell them, too.

Reading to Baby

Baby is fascinated by book, and the rhythm of words -- he'll flip like a little mud-skipper across the room with an eager look whenever he sees a book on the floor. I've taken to reading to him during the day, and he'll sit quite still on my lap unless I pause, and then he'll thump the pages as if to say "More! more!".
Eric can't yet read well, but still recites the sentences he remembers to Adam, and turns the pages while pointing to pictures.
As an aside, I'm reading the Little Prince to Eric in the evenings now. He's entranced, and I'm again struck by its sweetness and poignancy. It's both adult and naive at the same time, and like most of the best books I've read, it can work on so many different levels.

Lucky Door Prize

Each time I've been to Garden Club as my mother's guest, I've won the lucky door prize.
This month it was a balloon flower -- I've loved these blooms since the days when I'd visit the flower markets early in the mornings, and see huge buckets spilling over with long-stemmed, sky-blue balloon flowers.
There's nothing more charming than a meeting of the little seaside town's garden club. An elderly gentleman took the floor to talk about a trip to New Zealand's 'rho-DE-den-drons' -- his slides of the gardens there were breathtaking. Then tea and cake, followed by club business, and judging of the floral displays -- the week's theme was 'green', for St Patrick's Day, and my mother took first place with her arrangement.
And at the end, when the thank you's were done, a dapper chap in the back row stood up and asked for a round of applause for the "good little baby sitting in the corner there" -- and everyone clapped and smiled at us, while Adam chuckled and beamed and waved his fat little fists in the air.

Holding Hands

Somehow they always end up holding hands ...

These two adore eachother -- they have from the very first.

There's been nothing but love between them -- barely ever a moment of jealousy or unkindness. Of course, as Adam becomes more mobile and demanding, things might change. But for now I'm basking in the togetherness of our boys.

Leafy

Mmmmmmm

You could swear he was planning something ...

Kitchen Corner in the Early Morning

Baby & Me

Corn Cobs

Yesterday evening I picked the last cobs of corn from the cottage vegie patch, and within ten minutes they were cooked and on the dinner plate. Probably only a dozen ears in all, but sweet, tender and tasty when steamed in the skins.
I only put ten or so plants in this year, since Geoff had a stand growing in the back paddock -- but most of those failed due to the crazy, humid summer we've had. But next year we plan to plant a huge swathe down near the orchard, where there's more space for the air to blow through.
I've since cleared the stalks, and this week will prepare the garden for winter vegies.

Steaming Mulch

A huge load of free mulch from the council tree-loppers steams in the early-morning cool. Autumn is in the air.

Elina

Dragon Boat Racing

In a moment of wild enthusiasm, I volunteered Geoff as crew for a school fundraising dragon-boat race.
Which means Eric and I (along with almost 20 other kids) were the cheer squad.

And the free jumping castle meant the kids had another reason to cheer!

Golden Quinces

I've never cooked with quinces before, but our little tree is laden with green and golden yellow fruit, so now seems a good time to begin. These are miniature quinces -- I wonder if they'll have enough flesh on them to make it worth the peeling and coring?

Out to Dry

Fresh egg fettucini with salmon and homemade basil pesto tonight!

The Perfect Climbing Tree

Although there are hundreds of trees on our property -- at least two dozen of which are large enough to climb -- there's really only one that's just right.
With evenly spaced, sturdy branches just a short step apart, and not too many leaves in the middle, this spreading liquid amber is a perfect place for Eric to play -- while I concentrate on feeding and cleaning out the chicken coop just below!

Lovely Things (271-290)

#271 Pretty patterns all around us.

#272 A secret nook for tea, almost hidden by a curtain of Clematis.

#273 A charming 'cottage' corner of the manor.

#274 A huge bunch of basil -- picked early so it is bursting with pungent oil -- then four brimming bottles of fresh pesto made and stored to bring summer into the kitchen at anytime.

#275 A handy carrying place above the pram -- and a baby who rather enjoyed his first taste of fresh basil!

#276 Boys who make lego in bed until the last moment when I turn the light off.

#277 A Granny who notices that I'm feeling overwhelmed by my housework, and who rolls up her sleeves and spends hours energentically vacuuming, mopping and cleaning my house to give me a kick-start.
#278 A Granny who offers to look after a baby and little boy, so that a tired Mummy can sleep all afternoon long (since her littlest has spent the last few weeks waking up every two to three hours at night).

#279 Two kind men building my rose arbour, which leads into the vegetable patch. I've since planted two lovely David Austen climbing roses beside it -- one a pale pink blushing Pierre de Ronsard, and the other a creamy Pierre de Ronsard.

#280 A lovely afternoon at the Rose Society (just me!), surrounded by prize blooms and beautiful floral art, with a cup of tea in one hand and a slice of rich chocolate cake in another, while listening to experts discuss how to care for roses.

#281 Browsing through the Treloar's catalogue to order ten (!) new David Austen roses to form a floral hedge beside the arbour. Ordered through the Rose Society they'll arrive bare-rooted in July, and cost half of what they would at the nursery.

#282 Meeting friends at the seaside for an evening picnic (0n a school night!) and a dip in the beautiful tidal pool.

#283 Living close enough to the beach that we can go down just for the evening.

#284 Zucchini blossoms.

#285 Caramel bubble bliss bars -- with smarties on top!

#286 Bags and bags of horse manure, delivered free by a friend-of-a-friend whose daughter has a pony. Perfect fertiliser for the garden.

#287 A morning at the floral art club, with Mum and Grandma. We enjoyed the demonstration, then sat down to a pot-luck lunch feast and chatted about flowers. Afterwards we each did an arrangement of our own, and there was plenty of kind advice and hints on hand. Adam behaved beautifully and enjoyed lots of attention.

#288 Adam making first moves to crawl.

#289 A pink zinnia suspended in a glass vase.

#290 Love.

Little Nipper

If you believed the picture, you'd think that Eric takes his junior surf-lifesaving club seriously. But really it's just a morning out at the beach with friends, playing games in the sand and the sea. Plenty of fun -- and a chance to learn some important skills.