Poor ol’ Scott broke his arm

The one good thing about Scotty breaking his arm is that he got to take Friday off and we went out for lunch. 

Yep, he fell off his bike again and broke his left arm this time. He’s not in too much pain but maybe that’s because of the codeine. Bit annoying that he can’t drive for 6 weeks but at least it wasn’t his right arm.

There have been numerous discussions about maybe getting him some training wheels for his bike, or maybe some cycling lessons... 😆

I thought I’d post the photo of this shirt again. Little bit amusing🤪

Well, it has been a while. I don’t seem to have the time or the drive to write on this blog much. Life is not quite back to normal yet... it is still Life in the time of COVID. So I feel that I should still make the effort to record it all. But then tonight I thought, why am I making myself do this? Is it really so important? Maybe we can just remember it in our heads..? I’m just being a bit lazy I guess. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say... there are so many thoughts flying around my brain and I really do want to write it down... how it’s been so strange going back to normal life, how quickly we adjust to new routines... and how the beginning of lockdown seems so long ago... how difficult it is to rush around after living slow for so long...

But during the day I am always too busy or the iPad is being used by someone else and then at night I am usually way too tired to write da words good. So doing the blog ends up feeling like a bit of a difficult chore. I know my mum and dad read it and enjoy seeing pictures of the kids. So maybe that is enough of a reason to push on... I think I will just try and update the blog every couple of weeks.

I still can’t work obviously (probably not for the rest of the year -the orchestra and Camerata will only be doing small works so not needing casuals) so doing lots in the garden. It’s pretty slow going but holes are being dug, trees are being planted, aphids are being made into fermented weed tea...

Emma decided to use my phone and take photos of “the beautiful garden”. (These are just a few of the 55 pictures she took)

(I took the photo of the little beans.)

And check out this worm!

Molly and Emma caught colds and had to stay home from kindy and school for a week or so (They don’t want sick kids coming in). They like to eat from their lunchboxes even when they’re at home.

Emma loves helping me bake cookies. These ones are Lilly pilly berry and choc chip.

And here is the perfect illustration of a Brisbane winter outfit: warm puffy coat and no shoes.

We took cupcakes to school yesterday (last day of term) for Molly’s birthday, which is always in the middle of the holidays.

Sillies

An early birthday present for Molly?

Glorious day

At the end of May it was my good friend Meg’s birthday so we took advantage of the restrictions starting to ease and went up to Mt Glorious to have a picnic and walk. So so so beautiful up there. And so so so much fun to hang out with people in a public place again. (Though we were still limited to 10 people; Meg had some other friends there in the morning and then us at lunch.)

Despite their age difference (a few years) Lucy and Una have always gotten along well. And now they even have matching hair.

Emma did pretty well with her strong little legs, shot off like crazy down the path to the waterfall but of course needed to be carried part of the way back up (thanks Scotty). She was so knackered she fell asleep on the drive home.

Sweeties and sweet potatoes

It finally rained. Real rain, not just a sprinkle. Well, it was only 17ml but after months of NOTHING the plants are all looking pretty delighted now.

My kitchen garden forest is slowly getting there. The possums haven’t figured out how to climb the fence, yet. Aphids are a bit of a problem so I have to go out every day, find them and wipe them off. Nature is pretty clever... apparently aphids can give birth to pregnant teenagers, just to make sure they can completely decimate a plant before I figure out what’s happening. Bastards.
Though I do find it quite meditative to wander through and spend time in there examining every leaf. The variety of different little bugs in there is pretty amazing (all about the diversity!)... so many bugs you’d never notice until you’re up close and perfectly still... and so many different types of bees...

And look at my lettuce!!! Yay for the vegepod.

Made my first wicking container. My Mother’s Day blueberry bush will live there and some other little things (Perpetual spinach, baby sunrose, alyssum) to make a teeny tiny mini food forest.

Emma is happy to be back at kindy, even though she usually has a bit of a tanty before we go. After we pick her up she just explodes with excitement about all the things she did at kindy and who she played with and what she ate... Such a sweetie, but also very headstrong and determined. And to be honest, a bit of a smart alec sometimes. The other day I said something to her like “ok, go wash your hands first.” And she just did a little swingy thing with her hips and said “too bad I don’t do what you say.”
I stood there open mouthed, not knowing whether to scold or laugh. Guffawing was what happened. Gee, what a character. Don’t worry, she was marched straight into the bathroom and those hands got scrubbed real well.

Below is the diagram she drew the other morning, to explain to Scott how she would like her hair to be done. (He gave her a ponytail... WRONG.)
(I have pencilled in her instructions so that I will remember this classic moment in the future.)

We keep finding sweet potatoes in the garden, in the lawn, in the rocks, under the hammock... love that this delicious food grows like a weed here. Because we know Dave’s dog Dash likes to dig them up, we made this birthday present for him out of dried sweet potato and rope.

Molly found one that looks like a mouse. Of course.

Neighbourhood birds

One thing I’m missing about life going back to normal is our afternoon family bike ride. I am still riding/walking up to school to get Molly from school or Emma from kindy, so Emma, Molly and I are still getting out and about the neighbourhood. And Lucy walks to and from the bus with her massively heavy school bag so I guess she’s getting some exercise. But Scott has given up all exercise in favour of earning overtime at the computer🤓💰💰😕.

Here is Emma waiting for the bell to ring and release Molly. As soon as Emma spots her sister, she races up to her to give her a big cuddle. Very sweet.

We pass a duck pond on the way home. There are some pretty cute ducklings at the moment. Well, they’re more like teenage ducks, but still cute.

 And in the next street we found an enormous kookaburra that someone has made for a festival.

Lion King Festival by Molly

Sometime last week a little seed of an idea sprouted... each day Molly was secretly planning her special surprise for us (she mentioned some of her ideas to me but then asked me to please forget everything💗).

And then on Sunday afternoon she invited us to her Lion King Festival. In case you didn’t know, Molly is completely obsessed with The Lion King. And dogs. And most other animals.

Upon entry to the festival Scott and I were shown to the activity table, where there were lots of hand drawn colouring in pages (Emma helped draw them) and a crossword and word search (Molly’s creative spelling raised the difficulty level of the last two activities somewhat).

Next was a lucky dip, and Pin the Tail on Simba, then a Treasure Hunt Word Unjumble around the house.

And the grand finale was the special performance of Simba’s Big Secret, by Molly and Emma on the stage/trampoline.

Pretty dang cute.