Winter holidays

I asked the kids to make a wish list for the holidays, for our staycation.
They decided on:
- BMX-track
- Cinema (Despicable Me 3)
- Library (on the last count we had over 60 library book in rotation)
- Play overs and sleepovers with his mates (Tim).
- A new playground to visit
- Tramping through the waterholes
And I’m happy to say we manage to tick them all off!
Some were even crazy brave enough to go swimming.

Another Full Moon party,
which coincided with Davids 3rd birthday.
A rather cold night, perfect fresh bread and pea & ham soup

Definitely not a baby anymore

With a temper that comes with the age (and being the youngest), it’s going to be a long year...

Lots of baking, Turkish breads have been very popular.

Laura, only 2 years old. She’s so very much like David, so clever and strong, but oh so stubborn. She’s starting to fill out a bit more, we’re getting ready for the next step in her training: lunging.

I used to train horses, lots of horses when I was a teenager. Those crazy horses no-one could ride, or had never been ridden before, they were my forte. Training was something I didn’t thought about much, it was done on an intuitive base, because they were all so different.  Topped up with a sense of feeling infallible, so common in teenagers. But it changes, hard, when you become a mum and little ones depend on you.
To be honest I was about to throw in the towel last week. Thoughts of “If something happens to me, we’re screwed” and “I haven’t ridden for so long, do I still have the touch?”
I’ve become so cautious, her getting exited I think of the damage she could do to the kids, every time I see her buck, I think “ouch”. I’m not a worrier, but I’ve found that with every child, the thoughts going around in my head have increased. There is always so much to organise, plan and do.
Horses are so sensitive, they pick up so many feelings. Me going in tired and overwhelmed, it gets picked up and mirrored back.
Being conscious of that, I want to try to use that, to learn from that. To empty my head and work in little baby steps. It doesn’t matter how long this might take. She’ll make a wonderful horse, she’s solid, surefooted and has an exuberant energy that can take her places.
I want to give it a couple more months, trusting myself. If it doesn’t come back to me, I’m sure we can find her an owner who can take her to the next level.

Tomatoes, so many tomatoes in so many different varieties. From tiny cherry tomatoes, to yellow ones, mini roma, large roma, to the huge tennis ball sized whoppers and everything in between.
Some of them are planted, most of them are making the most of these wet months Having come up from seeds and kitchen scraps from the 6 years I’ve been planting this garden.
It’s one big tangled mess of plants, growing in, up and over everything else. It’s like an Easter hunt finding them all. The upside is that the king parrots find it very hard to find them too...

Teamed up with basil some make it to our elderly neighbours, by courier.

My sister (left) winning at again at Henley, this time the Princess Grace Challenge Cup. We’re all so very proud of our aunty Lisa.

Proper single size beds for the youngest 3, who were still in small beds. 

Such a beautiful bed, only to found her napping here...
Or behind the cupboard/drawer block, where she’s made a cubby.

Alex is still telling everyone he sees that he now has a bunk bed,
there was never a question where he would sleep...

Marzipan filled speculaas (Gevulde speculaas).
Some special baking for a gathering of Dutch families living in the Northern Rivers area.

Working bee at playgroup

Looking back at our wedding 11 years ago.

 Lemons

Jonquils are starting to pop up throughout the border, such a happy, quirky sight.

Seeing how much more grows through the winter, if you water it a bit more...

has been enough incentive to improve the irrigation system for the garden. 

With a separate system for the border, giving the perennials and fruit trees a boost in their development and fruiting.