The egg house

Ok here it is..... my first house designed and constructed by me - it may be a chook house, but it is a house providing shelter from the elements and most importantly from the cunning fox for my lovely hens and most handsome rooster.

The inner scavenger came out in me on this project as I went through the sheds on the farm that had been left full of building materials and tools. Oh the treasures I found...it was a recyclers dream.

From a very sketchy design that evolved as we went, the little hen house was completely constructed from recycled and scavenged materials from the farm, with my own hands. urghmmm..cough...urghmmm... I would love to say that I built it entirely myself, but I did need some instruction, technical advice and assistance from Dan's dad, who taught me how to use a nail gun and power saw, put on a roof, cut joints, skew a nail, and succeeded in not taking over to much (as dads can and usually cant help themselves from doing), but kept it rudimentary in construction, just as I wanted it. It even has a skillion roof so rain water can be collected, since water can be scarce round here.

I enjoyed building it so much and it was really rewarding - physically being able to do the work and more so seeing the process of something that began as a rough sketch in my mind form into something tangible. It has inspired me to learn more about building and particularly carpentry so I can get some of these ideas/dreams for furniture, garden sculptures, and cubby houses out of my head and into reality.

The kids had a lovely time helping me select a colour and eventually paint it a lovely shade of blue. The Chickie's seem to be enjoying their new house, providing us with a lovely supply of eggs and many chases around the farm catching escapee chicks. Yep, the next building project is to construct a more adequate fence to keep them in the yard during the day.

appreciating

We have been appreciating this beautiful watercolour painting a friend did for us taken from a photo I took of our Geese. Its perfect and captures the light of the area they reside perfectly. It will be something that our family will treasure forever.

What does one do with an entire afternoon when the other half takes the kids to the circus. I had so many things I wanted to do and there were so many things I needed to do. So with the washing pile spewing out the laundry door and looking like a monster that had climbed from the depths of our septic tank, I decided on the want list and began on the sewing projects that had been sitting waiting to be to be finished and those that hadn't began such as the pencil scrolls for the boys. I ended up finishing Fynn's and got a start on Myles'. Being a total inexperienced sewer I used corduroy and it was fraying so badly, that I ended up fraying all the edges and it ended up looking great. and then ended the evening as follows: Magazine, a glass of wine and swinging in the hammock in the quietness of the early evening.

The sun is out and its time to play - off to paint the hen house and look for a run away rooster.

True Blue

I have felt sadness, tears have flowed and I have been speechless over the past week about the tragedy of the bush fires in Victoria, the trauma and loss people have been through is unimaginable. But now I feel hope and inspiration with the overwhelming support and generosity of the people - its been extraordinary and magical. There is light in the darkness and may we all remember to tell our loved ones just how much we love them everyday, every night, every moment we can.

This new chapter

What a week it has been with Myles starting school. He has taken it all in his stride and is loving it, not a grumble, not a tear in sight.

However, for me, it's been tears and anxiety, and I think I have broken down all the feelings and thoughts racing around in my head to the one fact that 'I'm no longer in control and I can no longer protect him every hour of the day', I have worried about the choice of school as all parents do. But really what is there it protect him from that isn't going to make him stronger, that isn't going to make him more inquisitive, that isn't going to give him the insight into what the real world is like - he is in a loving environment, surrounded by loving teachers (2), a bunch of great kids and a beautiful environment with chooks running wild and a vege patch, a dedicated principle, and a community of parents wanting to support the school. I figure with his school environment and the choice we make to live our life...he is going to be fine and he is going to get the eduction, the creativity, the passion and zest for life, that we wish for him.

On the subject of changes, I have started wearing an apron (odd but very practical), have baked banana bread for him when he gets home from school, offered with a glass of Milo (just like I used to have) and have heard my mum in myself every afternoon, telling him to 'take his bag in his room, get his lunch box out and put it in the kitchen and get out of his uniform and out play clothes on'.....OH how it hurt to say those words...but yet so damn practical and how right she was ...and how it didn't really seem that long ago I heard her saying them.