And.....begin again...!

I feel like I could write exactly the same as I wrote this time last year! We got up, we got uniforms on, lunches made, bags packed and we were out the door in enough time to snap off a 'first day back at school photo'. Mind you, I looked down at L's feet as his name was being called for his new class and saw that he had his old school shoes on. The new ones are still packed in the box. I was also standing behind him and saw that that gorgeous spiked hair he'd spent so much time on held a glob of gel right at the back of his head...nice work L! What you don't notice won't hurt you!

Just peachy....

We are blessed to have the most amazing freestone peach tree in our backyard.
Blessed because it came up wild in our yard from a seed which I transplanted about 15 years ago. I also attempted to espalier it....but didn't know what I was doing at the time and cut off several important branches in attempt to shape it. WRONG as it turned out. So, having said all of that, it's lucky to be alive!
The tree receives a good watering during winter from a diverted down pipe which makes for wonderful blossom in spring and stunning peaches in summer. But it also produces a plethora of branches which stops our clothes line rotating for about 6 moths of the year!
There are members of this clan however, that are not big fans of the peach and I generally end up giving bags of them away when they are juicy ripe. It's such a shame to see them fall and get pecked by the birds (and other creatures!) and scoured by ants. And several times I've seen the neighbour duck in embarrassment as she leans in and over the fence to pluck a treat....and I've yelled, "take it, take another, help yourself....anytime!"
So this year, I thought I'd get in early, use up some fruit before it over-ripens and make some chutney. Peach chutney is a great solution as it works well with slightly under-ripe fruit.
So this morning I was up the ladder picking a bucket of night cooled fruit. Twice as much as I needed as it turned out, so after a quick trip back to the supermarket for some ingredients, I doubled the recipe. The recipe is Stephanie Alexander's Peach Chutney from 'The Cook's Companion' (AKA Bible!).
I have to say, I'm on leave at the moment so time wasn't an issue but it took me the best part of the day. I haven't made chutney for years and never peach....so the preparation took some time.
But look at this wonderful, colourful chopped bounty.Now bubbling in all it's syrupy, foaming gorgeousness.And finally....gifts from the backyard!It's pretty yummy too....not sure how many will last the month before it's really ready to eat!

Reindeer.....

As Adelaide approaches its hottest Christmas since 1987, we spent the night baking reindeer cookies. Baking on a hot night is always tricky when you've got the oven blasting out heat and the air conditioner battling against it. Oh the joy of summer!

A bit more of the festive season....

Tick off another Christmas ritual....the Santa visit.
Whilst R gave up wanting to tell all to the bearded man in red, L is absolutely committed. He left his list with the man himself who has promised pretty much everything......lucky he's a very good little boy.

Breaking records......

I live in a city famous for its Christmas Pageant, it's old fashioned fantasy and has an extensive history. More to the point, it marks the arrival of Santa. I never went as a child but I participated as a teenager through school. We used to watch it in black and white on TV. So for me, the first time I ever went, I was in it! However, having children ignited the passion for attendance. This year I was lucky enough to attend as part of a corporate facility.
It certainly made up for every year this past decade and a half that I've marked out the family territory at 6am, sitting in the freezing mornings with nothing more than a folding chair, picnic rug, thermos of tea and a newspaper under the shadow of the CBD only to end up sunburnt by the end of the parade. All worth it though to see the happiness as the children draw on the road in chalk and wave back at silly clowns and of course, the big man in red! (Equally special for us as this is the route to L's school, where we seek out the longevity of his artwork as he's convinced he can still see his name and drawings on the road.)
For a few years now the organisers have attempted to come up with promotional ideas to break a Guinness Book of Records record. (What? Being one of the best and most historic street parades in the world is not good enough for them? LOL!) For a couple of years they tried the longest mexican wave....to no avail. I think it was too hard to keep it moving and count the participants. However, this year the attempt was the biggest crowd wearing red noses for 10 minutes and with a theme of 'discover the clown within' there were red noses a-plenty. We had to beat a soccer match in Portugal of 15,000. Guess what? We did it....16920! Yey! I'm one, so is R, so is L, so is J, so is S, so is L, so is A, so is little L.....and about 16,912 other Adelaideans!

School camp....

L went on his very first school camp. He's in grade 3. It's the first time he's been completely away from us.

We didn't want to make a big deal....I think that provokes anxiety. Afterall, he was cool about the whole thing, he'd seen R come and go on school and girl guide camps tonnes of times and he was excited about going.

To be honest, I don't think he completely got it. L lives in the moment and his language disorder prevents him from seeing the big picture and understanding that there is an end and eventually you come home (it was only 2 nights).

I kept my mobile close....call it intuition. Tuesday afternoon an unknown number came up on my phone. It was Mr C, L's teacher. Instantly I asked if something was wrong. He was relaxed, "no nothing's wrong....but L misses you and just wants to talk to you. He knows there's one more sleep and he's OK with that, he just wants to say hello."

So L and I chatted. I couldn't really understand him....but didn't want to pressure him into explaining himself. We said goodbye, see you tomorrow, daddy will pick you up. All good.

Joe picked L up the next afternoon and was met by our beautiful smiling boy but berated with a "where have you been?".

When we opened the suitcase....so concerned about everything returning home (I spent hours stitching in labels!), I noticed that the socks were still zipped away in the bag.

"L, did you change your socks?"

"....umm.....I can't remember...."

I don't care!

A good day....

A good day was had by all. A public holiday, the last day of the ANZAC Day long weekend and this little family got stuck into things.

Me.

Clare made a comment the other day about the pile of quilts on the chair and their lack of growth. What she actually said was...."you haven't added to this pile lately". So even though I wasn't offended because I know I've been making quilts for others it must have sent a subliminal message because after I'd finished measuring some batting for a birthday quilt, and worked out what I had left, I got stuck into my 'Pyjama Party' quilt even though I had absoloutely no intention what-so-ever to do so when I woke up this morning! Spooky! And, naughty me...it's taken all day!

Joe.

Has spent all day on "St Andrews" his driving/practice swing range. He's cleared. He's levelled. He's even fixed that back fence (as best he can). (He must read this blog!) I think he needs a trompe l'oeil on that back wall.

R & L.

Did some cooking.
"No I think creme brulee is a little hard". "We don't have the ingredients for tira misu." "Spooky cupcakes would be great....let me light the oven...."


And we had bacon and eggs for brunch and roast lamb for dinner! Oh I love a busy long weekend.....don't you?

Did you hear the whip cracking?

The hallway is finally finished and sadly (because I've been banging on about it for so long!) too hard to take a good photo. After all the colour deliberation and problems we experienced along the way with show through of repair areas, and buying low sheen instead of satin, we're really happy with the outcome. I even stayed up late on Saturday night to put a coat of danish oil on the skirtings and architraves and they now look worthy of the spanking new wall finish!

Now it's onto the next project!

It's the second week of first term school holidays. I've taken the week off and Joe took a couple of days either side of the weekend. The sewing machine has been packed away....I know unbelievable.....and we've been working in the garden.

We used to have a lovely old plum tree that for years delivered an abundance of plums that allowed me to make Plum Rum and Raisin jam every Christmas. Over the years the tree slowly died much to the jam recipient's chagrin and mine because I've had to buy plums these past 2 years! Back in September Joe decided to chop it down and put the branches out for the hard rubbish pick up. He made it to the trunk then it got too hard. (Imagine 1.5m of tree stump.) I told him that he should have invited the lady who was stashing the off-cuts in her car boot as fast as he put them on the footpath to come round and finish off the job.....! (I have since learnt that plum wood makes an excellent, slow burning fire...and that 'help-yourself to our wood' woman must have seriously been dancing around her wood stove, chiminea or whatever she needed our wood for...!) So needless to say, the dead tree trunk has stood right at the end of the garden path mocking me every time I looked out the back door. I don't know what possessed him but on Monday Joe finished chopping the tree down. After much swearing, bow saw blade changing, huffing and puffing and a noon deadline he got the trunk out.

In its place will go a raised garden bed. We've recycled the frames from the 'no-dig' beds, stacking the two on top of each other. A bit of resizing, new screws and a paint job. New soil will be ordered on the weekend.
Actually, I confess. I do know the motivation for this flurry of activity. It's called a driving net that Joe's planning to build in the corner of the backyard behind the shed. It's a big project and will require a lot of clearing and construction. So given Joe's libran tendencies and the time it takes him to get anything done.....it may be some time before it materialises. I best not mention the fact that the back fence could do with replacing so I bought some pittosporums instead!

Who's a lucky girl then?

Me!Thank you family for my lovely, lovely birthday presents.

At least I got a look in....

We've been very lucky....if you can call it luck! R's fiberglass cast only needs to stay on for 10 days and is scheduled to come off this Thursday. I was very privileged and able to sign it tonight. I'm hoping the 'removalist' will be cutting through some of the pseudo celebrity signatures and keeping mine intact.

Green. Not good.

I'm superstitious. I can't help it, my Mum made me that way. She has a reason for things going bad all the time. (Gosh, just read my last post, it's full of superstitious 'reasons why'!)
So based on her theories, I shouldn't have sympathised with a work colleague who said she was having 'one of those days'.
My day had been going superbly.
Work was under control.
The day started out cloudy but fined up to the most sensational 27 C day. One of those days you wished you had every day.
I picked up L after school and we drove with the windows down in the car to watch R's basketball practice all the while with my mind drifting off as I worked out what shopping I was going to do straight after the game and what I was going to make for dinner.
And then the un-planned happened.
R clashed and tripped. She fell and she fell awkwardly.
We went straight to the 'Women's & Childrens' Hospital'.
Two hours later we have a green fracture (not good!!!) and lots of excuses to get out of sport and needless to say, I haven't done the shopping! I certainly didn't order any of that today.

Back to school....

It's happened! We did it! Back to school for 2010. The fully synchronised movement of a family that includes alarms going off, shower shuffling, lunches to be made, uniforms on and bags packed. Now it's wading through the plethora of notes, new diaries and making sure that kids get into bed early enough to do it all again tomorrow and the next day and the next day......

Outside

I tore myself away from handstitching two quilts worth of binding yesterday afternoon for a session in the garden with the kids and Joe. We've planted tomatoes, corn, spring onions, leeks and strawberries. This was our reward at the end of the day.....a steady sprinkling of rain to dampen everything down followed by a double rainbow. Glorious!