I'm back

It's been about four months since I posted on here. I have a dozen reasons but I needn't go into them. We're coming out of a cold polar blast of snow (snow! I can't believe it), sleet, hail, wind, blizzards. Spots of sunshine in small pockets too. How bizarre! Wellington hasn't had snow like this in 40 years, and no snow at all since 1995.

I lost my camera a while ago (one of the reasons for the break in posting) so have had to make do with cell phone pictures.

On crafting news, I have completed so many projects but haven't been able to photograph them. Except this ballet cardigan for Georgia. She's been enjoying the warmth and softness of pure alpaca all term in the cold ballet hall. Ah bliss.

I find the crafting and cooking quite comforting while I nurse myself back to 100% and keep my mind from wandering into fits of worry and anxiety. Domesticity grounds me. I feel the warmth of generations of women homemakers who have also practised these simple (and some not so simple) skills for their families and themselves. I cherish quiet times when I can pick up my knitting and sink into a safe cocoon of my small world at home, a complete world, timeless and perfect as the children grow a little each day and we adults replenish our energy for the day ahead.  I am trying hard not to get overly excited or overwhelmed by anything. It's difficult having to slow down, but there are benefits for the whole family.
And so much wonder in the nature that surrounds us, we needn't go far to find it.

Containers of vegetable seeds grow beside our fireplace, reminding us of the season just around the corner. Spring is coming soon and I hope we have a full vegetable garden this year.

brick support

These are shallots grown in our garden over spring and summer. We harvested them, dried them for two weeks outside, then plaited the leaves into this handy storage string.

This photo makes me feel uneasy today, because yesterday Christchurch suffered a massive earthquake sending many old brick structures to the ground (and some newer ones of other materials). The impact has been massive and many lives lost.

Our house has a brick facade (meaning it's structural core is wooden) and there are cracks in quite a few places. The most worrying part is our brick chimney which we think could fall into the living room during a large quake if it happened here. So we made some plans last night as to what we'd do and need in a major earthquake. My main job after the shaking has stopped is to turn off the gas mains outside and check the neighbouring properties' gas mains (and take care of the kids and check on neighbours!)

Perhaps this is a timely reminder for all of us to make preparations for such disasters. We never know when they will strike. Here is a useful source of information from Civil Defense.

My thoughts are with the poor people of Christchurch. Luckily my family there escaped unharmed (apart from one with minor injuries). We all want to know what we can do to help support Christchurch. 

baby bmx-ing

This was so much fun. She's done it twice now and considers herself an expert at all the turns and humps. I was never so brave as a child.

The bike is a balance bike, made from plywood by a NZ company. This one is a Runna bike.

Now, you couldn't do that with training wheels...

Blogging sluggishly

I have to admit I'm finding it hard to find the time to blog on a daily (or even regular) basis. I don't know how others do it!
Every evening, once the kids are in bed, and I've caught up on the day's events with my husband, I just can't bring myself back to the computer.
Perhaps I need to do this in the mornings, as I am trying now?
Not to mention the poor quality of my writing, I barely even read it through before hitting 'publish'. And my mind isn't really focused, it's distracted by at least a dozen things every minute.
I have a heap of blog posts to catch up on. So, pretty much everything is in retrospect by a few days to weeks (even months). I apologise, but not for putting my family first! haha
Anyway, to make up for the backward looking crafting, here is a present photo, how we enjoyed the weather yesterday and made the most of the outdoors. Yeah! (and still, I'm a day behind, aren't I?)

the beach

A week ago we took a break at 'the beach'. This spot, Riversdale beach, is on the coast of the Wairarapa. My grandparents bought the section 29 years ago (so I've been going there all my life). For 20 years it was just a couple of caravans. In the 2000s they started building a little village comprising of a bigger sleep-out and a wendy house and a couple of sheds and what not.
Goodbye long-drop (yes!) and hello mod-cons. But not too modern - my family are habitual collectors of old things and cannot, no cannot, throw anything away. So it goes to the beach.
Occasionally someone will splurge and buy something new for 'the beach', and that's nice, but actually I relish in the hodge podge of stuff still to be found there, from 1970s swimwear and shoes and sunhats, to vintage tennis rackets and badminton shuttle cocks, to a 1990s kitchen of hideous colours, and an old formica table and chairs and a pull-out couch with musty old mattress and squeaky springs and beds pushed together that don't match up - that sort of thing. It feels like me, it feels like a permanent memory. Quite simply, it is my favourite place in the world. (Not that I've travelled!)

This holiday we found the kids were a perfect age together. Our little Laidey slept or lay on the beds, the other two explored safely within the watch of two relaxing parents. Sometimes we played on the beach.
Sometimes we searched the property and found things like bird nests and pine cones. These we took home for the fireplace. They make excellent kindling!

We have a large patch of tussock grass on the way to the beach. This proved to be the best fun of all, Hugo and Georgia falling down into it for fun. I used to despise the grasses for prickling my feet and legs and harbouring katipo spiders (which I now know don't live this far down the North Island.

The kids topped and tailed in a bed. So much better without a cot!

These wild lupins were Chris' nemesis. As he hacked them down I rescued a bunch of flowers and took them home for Oma. 

Then he cut me a bunch of these geraniums, which also grow as weeds there.

We treasured each moment and felt so grateful to have this place to escape to.
It's lovely to think of Georgia gaining her first memories of the beach. I remember being her age and being afraid of sharks in the sea but going in all the same and getting dunked by the waves and walking the endless 1km to the shop for an ice-cream. Bliss.

bay hopping

You've heard of bar hopping, well today we went bay hopping. We got in the car, having had too much of the mundane at home, and headed north to the Kapiti Coast. Sure enough, the sun was out and it felt like a different day. Our first stop was Plimmerton beach. We'd been to bad old KFC (I wish there were more healthy options at drive-thrus) and Georgia's box of chips had the seagulls circling, much to Hugo's delight. 

     
  In the background is Mana Island and Wellington Heads. Lurvely. A popular spot with windsurfers.
 Our next stop was Paekakariki and QE II Park. An old haunt of my childhood days, I rediscovered the hidden gems - the kids ran through the tangled paths and found the playground.  Georgia surprised me by using the see-saw independently by kicking with her foot. Lucky she and Hugo are nearly the same weight, it worked out really well.

Paekak (pronounced Pie-cock) beach was full of drift wood and pipi shells to add to Georgia's collections at home. More on that another time.

 And I couldn't stop looking over the ocean to Kapiti Island, the shore, the waves, the clouds and the sparkling sun and thinking to myself, 'we are so lucky to live here'. I haven't travelled much (Australia, do you count it?) so I take pleasure in exploring the places at my disposal. I'm probably guessing right that many people would pay good money to visit these places. We take them for granted.

Living in New Zealand is synonymous with beaches and wide open spaces. Yes, ok, farmland and greenery too. I love the romance of the seashore, its meeting with the sky, the way it sparkles, changes colour with the weather, offers escape from constriction of cities, helps you to breathe... and the smell makes you feel really alive.

The Land of the Long White Cloud (loose translation of the Maori name for NZ - Aotearoa). You beauty!

 Winding back toward home we stopped into another bay, Pukerua Bay. I am ashamed to say it is the first time I've ever visited this beautiful spot. You have to turn off the main road to get there and drive down a very steep hill. I think I've found a new picnic destination! Check out the beauty here!

      
Ok, this, not so beautiful, but kinda typical of some of the artsy types around these parts...

  And finally, this is how I know it's time to go home. Hugo's very good at communicating, even if he's not talking properly yet.

So I'm new to this blogging thing and have to carry a camera around with me everywhere now! Thank goodness for this goody hoodie with its huge front pocket. I'm not used to having practical pockets. Thanks Mum! I think I'll live in it now.  

    
Ice-blocks on the drive home. All are happy. We had a good day after all.