Winter Sun

Baking and Sewing? Am I kidding?

And blogging? No, truth be told I'm burning, going back and forth to the sewing machine shop for the 'unlimited hours of help " that came with my new Janome. "Open that door Gwen I know you're in there! My problem is that when Daryl travels I tend to go overboard with activities to "busy" myself. Sorry, five kids not enough I hear you say? Well, I have some time alone when Hazel is at kinder so I set myself the task of making Ailee and Lucinda a quilt. Each. As you can see it all looks very industrious, and maybe a little staged, the reality is I'm getting nowhere and while I sit here typing the Anzac biscuits are turning to charcoal in the oven. How burnt is too burnt? Black teeth maybe? Sitting and knitting, that would have been a much better use of the little bit of time I had.

A blog I love to follow is Soulemama. One post ( or maybe two), were dedicated to the art of sitting and knitting ( the guilt free version). Sitting and knitting as the household whirls around you rather than my usual thing being the opposite, me whirling and never sitting. Busying myself on the periphery of my family is not very satisfying. Sitting and knitting, the girls coming over for a snuggle or to read to me, I know this lovely state of things never lasts very long, there is always something to get up and do but those moments are so lovely if I would just take more time for them.

Autumn afternoons

"Who's going to make the fish next year Hazel when you're not here?

"Don't worry Mum, I'll do it when I get home from school".

I'm going to miss these cosy Autumn days, Russell snoozing on the couch and me and Hazey doing our little jobs together. I'm really trying to make the most of it, it's my favorite time of year and there is nothing I enjoy more than taking some knitting to the park and watching Hazel play as Autumn leaves whoosh around us, wooly hats on little heads. I think nature feels so much more present as I get older, don't know why but I find myself stopping much more often to enjoy it than I used to.

Yes I do feel a slight dread as I anticipate my last little one going off to school. I will miss having her around, stories on the couch, pottering in the garden, Dora on the telly. She just called out to me to come and read her book.......it is going to be very quiet indeed, until 3.30 rolls around of course.

Easter at Walnut Hill

The farm is such a measure of time for me. Phemie was only six months old when we bought the property, maybe around one when we planted the first seeds. We certainly have been busy. Time rushes past so fast and yet at the farm it seems a little more still. I feel like I can breath there, take notice and wonder at all we have. And then I pile the girls into the car and we head home to such busy lives, but that place is always in the back of my mind, just a quite picture of somewhere I truly love to be.

Two and a half years later...finished.

Switching off the lights before bed, spot a little photo that makes me smile. Where have we been? I lost a cord, have found it, will load some photos and return, I miss my little post, my time for reflection on the good parts, plus we have Russell now and he is adorable!

Well it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......except that my dear friend Ange is a million miles away under a drift of snow I suspect, in Ottawa. It's just not the same this time of year without her. I miss her Christmas flurry, her endless lists that she ticks off with pride, the way she walks past the Myer windows with her eyes diverted until the night she officially goes to see them with her family . By now we would be planning our traditional Carols in the Women's Peace Garden ( I have sent out a lame email, I will plod on with that without her), she truly is so joyous this time of year, well actually, she is pretty upbeat most of the time truth be known, but Christmas sees her whipped into a festive frenzy which always rubs off on me. I need to stop moping and lift my game, it's Christmas after all and I do love Christmas, it's traditions, it's chaos, it's potential for warm family moments. We may be seasons away from each other this year, but I can picture you tapping away on your iphone, tick tick tick, a happy smile on your face. Merry Christmas my dear friend.