treasures

  this is Janu's first time sewing with a real needle. I held the wool and he did all the stiches. so proud - he kept looking back to see how many he'd done! he raced to fill it with his treasures: beeswax found in the bush, feathers, shiny lolly papers, an old steel button found in the dirt. we've since sewn some buttons on in odd places.  treasure in my pockets too: I emptied them to find: string, paper-daisy seeds wrapped in newspaper, buttons and an old sock for a sock puppet project and loo paper. treasure indeed.

pictures

just another day at almost-home...
fire on, dinner almost ready.  janu started drawing 'people' awhile back.  I love their long arms and legs, and how amazing it is that almost all kids have this view of what people look like.  stretching with Janu always makes me laugh - when i touch my toes, he touches his elbows - I touch out wide, he goes up up up: where the parts of his body are keep changing!

kanga

 

we spotted this poor roo limping, and were able to call the wildlife rescue. janu could watch it being shot with a sedative, and taken in for treatment. it had baling twine caught right around it's ankle.  wanting to visit it a week later, we were told that the kangaroo had been put down; the wound had been too deep. big reminder to always pick up the baling twine around hay or straw. 

melb

adrian likes the low slung melbourne shop fronts & trams. janu looks into how to make our camper a bit more like this one! 

perfect neice

perfect niece.  today we got blocks of ice and floated them in bowls.  one bowl had dishwashing bubbles in them. she is little research scientist, making hypothesis & testing them.  she may giggle a bit more than most scientists. 

sailing

 what was the world like before playgrounds? mum and dad came over from tassie for baby niamh's b'day, so Janu got to play with them some more...

she's one!

 wonderful niamh is one! a great party in all nation's park, melbourne.  catriona made her dress (the blue party one)!

it was dad's birthday too - they are 3 days and 65 years apart!

gravel

 I probably don't even need to tell you how fantastic this all is for Janu. A real, live, tipper truck just outside the door. machines, moving parts, wheels...  Don and Sue salvaged some 18th century steam timber bending machines, and here they are. boiler puffs smoke, wheels crank, and out comes an amazing curved pieces of wood.  window frames, old car parts, water skis, drum hoops, you name it. 

wool

 craft galore. a mini tipi made from sticks and bark.  using the soft alpaca wool stored in a wheelie bin, bales or wool given by the local mill.  so far we've used the wool for: a rag rug (cut into strips), a stuffed xmas tree, a heart for niamh for her b'day, strips for a fly screen, a blanket, pot holders, tipi covers for toys, beds for toys, wool angels...

sue&don

here are sue and don, who own the property. sometimes sitting round the lunch table with Don and Sue (and friends), Janu cuts into the conversation to tell a story of his own.  He has noticed the format: 'when I was doing ______, ______ and this happened...'.  So he says 'when I was 2 (such a long time ago), I pushed a shopping trolley right past the shops and into the lake!!', or any total nonsense (espcially if it's naughty, or involves swords or knives or blood...that's another story!) with huge giggles and cheeky grins.  I love that he wants to join in. 

He's also said twice, unprompted, that he wants to be a police man when he grows up. once it was a traffic policeman. we'll keep a watch on that one. 


and this is the poor man's version of the fire bath.

fire bath

who needs a spa when you can just light a fire under your bath? there are 3 tubs scattered around the property. I snatch handfuls of lavender on the way, dropping off clothes to sink in the creek water infusion.