learning to live
The A kids (that’s us) built a mud hut this last summer.
The hut is now finished and we have fun playing in it.
We have built a roof so that when it rains we race to the mud hut.
There is an oven, a play one not a real one!
We have green potatoes and bran (out of the compost), leaves and bad tomatoes from the real garden.
We make bread, salads and mashed potato.
We have a marmite container that we pretend is soy sauce.
There is also a letter box and a garden.
a *message sender* linking the boys’ room and the girls’ room heralds the beginning of summer games….the tree branch tent frame confirms suspicions that long hours of imaginative play will resume in the fresh air
We’ve been having all kinds of adventures.
ER(14mo) has learnt to really walk….and run. She can even turn around in circles and not fall over.
In spite of the almost-constant rain, we’ve been building huts out in the back garden…unfortunately our latest spot has been added to the Forbidden List so we have a dismantling project ahead. And we have to be very careful not to tread on the ferns.
On Sunday we went up the Sky Tower. WOW. What a view.
We were so fortunate that it was clear when we arrived…..after an hour or so a black cloud swept across from the West. It was amazing to watch it coming towards the tower and then swirl around and pass by. We took some fun photos, which we’ll share when Dadda fixes whatever has gone wrong with the computer/camera.
Last week we listened to a series of CDs about the History of Classical Music. Excerpts of music accompanied an overview of composers’ lives and a bit of “what was happening in the world at that time” too. While we were listening we folded washing and worked on a variety of handwork projects. A bit like this.
We’ve been adventuring in literary lands too. There’s nothing like snuggling up under a favourite quilt and reading ALL afternoon.
By J12
(posing in the first photo, taken at Karekare earlier this week)
Wanting to attract some different kinds of birds to our garden, I decided to make a bird feeder. Before Dadda would let me use his tools, he required a plan! I provided him with a very detailed one. It was so good I had unlimited access to his saw, drill and screwdrivers.
Here’s what I made
(with a little assistance from an interested J11):
The little piece of dowel held up by two small branches can be removed and have a piece of apple or something stuck on it, but we didn’t have any spare. Water goes in the yellow container (Dadda said I should hollow out a piece of wood instead to make it look really natural – I just might yet), and seeds go on the other little platform. Any bird who happens to use the swing too energetically might knock itself out on the upright stick – that’s a wee design fault, which could be fixed in the Second Edition!
Garden Day.
The rain had abated, but the wind had not.
That was no excuse to not work!
We spent the entire afternoon pulling weeds, moving plants around and spreading out bark.
It’s so much fun having Dadda home for a week.
The neighbours decided they wanted some privacy screens up between our living area and their kids’ bedrooms. So our adventures in that part of the bush have come to an end – we never realised how much we played on *their* land! Hope they didn’t mind!!!
But the adventure wasn’t entirely over – the screens still needed to be built:
And right now we’re staining the posts black while Mama types this for us.
We love soup…..any sort of soup….but our absolute favourite is pumpkin…..yes we all share the same favourite (well we don’t know about ER, but she sure liked this one).
Yesterday we picked our first pumpkin and Mama made Dadda’s favourite chewy crusty bread and we had a scrummy dinner.
Here’s the soup recipe:
2 onions, carefully chopped
as much garlic as you can manage, chopped as well as a 6 year old can
a good shake of cumin (2 teaspoons perhaps)
a little bit less coriander
about the same of turmeric
a pinch of ginger
a pinch of nutmeg
a few cracks of black pepper
as many mustard seeds as you feel like
fry together in a little olive oil and butter until nice-n-smelly
6 parsnips, chopped up
3/4 large pumpkin just picked from the garden(that’s all that would fit in the pot)
this one actually
a few cups of chicken stock left over from the other night
add and bring to the boil, boil for five minutes or so transfer the pot to the cooking bag and leave a few hours
a can of coconut cream
just before serving stir in and sprinkle fresh coriander on top – oh yeah, you need to whizz it up so it’s nice and smooth like this:
serve with Jim Lahey’s New York Times No Knead Bread
Yesterday we drove out to an avocado orchard near the airport. You’re only supposed to pick five per person……so we weren’t supposed to bring home more than fifty!!!!! Unfortunately there were only two ripe ones. But we had a lot of fun running amongst the trees and climbing them – avocado trees are so big. Well, not big like a kauri, but certainly bigger than our mandarins or plum trees! And it was interesting to see just how many avocados grow on one tree – they hang there like decorations on a Christmas tree!
ER(9mo) particularly liked the wind – she was snuggled up with Mama in her wrap and she kept opening her mouth and trying to catch the wind on her tongue!!!!
A light drizzle moistened our picnic lunch…..but we didn’t mind a bit. It was just great to be out with Dadda, coz he’s been working really hard and having lots of meetings.
We stopped at the vege shop on the way home…..we think it was funny that Mama bought 5 avocados for $1.50.
inventions & adventures 