time to play

It's school holidays and we've got time....lots of time.
No rushed mornings.....no short winter afternoons...just long and languishing ones that start right at lunch time.

There are small spaces to ponder and backyards to rediscover.

There is art to create...

and life to hold in our hands.

There are campfires to make on the lawn....purely for marshmallows of course...

and some new babies to care for and snuggle. (Yes, these two little men chose to live with us for Mia's birthday. The little rex has been christened *Radish* and the ginger and white fluffball *Carrot-y*..... great 5 year old names I think for much much loved little *pigs*).

And then there is that light....the sun I seem to have been chasing all winter. It's still there, marking the passing of our time in it's subtle way.

Our time to play.

seeking the sun

I found the sun today...
Just for a little while as it moved brightly between the shadows across the floor.
It was beautiful.
A welcome and warming reprieve.
An amnesty at the centre of cold air, chilled bones, grey skies and the drizzle of late.
It seems a lot of us passing the winter solstice have been gathering, somewhat dormant and dreaming, in the bellies of our homes and ourselves...
Seeking the sun.

five

A magical age...

Life is simple.
Easy wishes, effortless to grant.... make the world just perfect.

A picnic lunch...
And a pretty cake...

A Birthday crown....worn all day.....

Enchantment sought in the rainforest...
the best wish of all...

Then climbing to the top of the world...

Just because you are brave, adventurous,

oh so full of spirit....

and...

five.
Just because you are five.


Happy Birthday Mia... Mama loves you.

happy harvest

Recently we plucked our modest and somewhat experimental corn harvest.
Thinking corn a *hungry* crop I had only ever dabbled in it's growing in the past with really not much result....
I just threw this bunch of seedlings into one bed rich with manure a couple of months ago and let it do it's own thing.... with gardening being such a teacher sometimes I find I learn best if I just stand back and watch quietly.....

So we were more than adequately rewarded (and educated) when we were able to enjoy our speckled homegrown treats for a hot lunch on a cold day the other week....

with their many small golden pods of sunshine, bursting sweet juiciness into our mouths and onto our cheeks and noses.

And what to do with all those husks torn off with both satisfaction and excitement at the feast about to unfold?

Make Happy Harvest Dolls of course!

I'm not sure I'm sold on growing corn regularly in my patch yet. It seems a little space stealing and maybe a little time consuming providing only one crop.....I'm a little hooked on my pick as you go and multiple harvest food plants you know.....but I do concede that that yellow sure makes you smile and the dolls are earthy and lovable....and it indeed provides nevertheless, along with everything we nurture with our own hearts and hands, a happy harvest!

walking a different path

Somehow we have found winter this week..... and together with that recently I have found myself walking down a new path.
I wonder have you felt my absence? I have, I'm sorry.
I've been a little lost in my wilderness....

This new place feels barren, yet also strangely overgrown.... it is very unfamiliar.

Though I may be walking alone and though I feel uncertain I also feel sure that with each step I take, my foot will still land on the supportive earth that makes up this new path and that all I have to do for now is raise the other foot next....and keep walking until I find my way home.