A Pigeon In The Cupboard

Last night we had a visitor.

(Just on a side note, do the words, 'last night' always make you think of the opening lines to Rebecca? "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley")?

We'd had an early tea and with daylight-saving having started on the weekend the children, spotty as they are, were keen to get outside and play. We discovered a young pigeon on our deck. He was quite happy exploring and picking up the dead worms. Then he wandered out onto the lawn and in the rosebushes. He seemed quite tame as we could get up really close and take photos and he didn't rush away. I noticed he had two bands around his legs.

I phoned our neighbour who is a school principal but really should be a vet, he knows everything about animals. He said that the pigeon is probably tired and disoriented and will find a place to sleep and then fly home in the morning. We fed him some oats, soaked in water and then left him to it. Last we saw was him walking towards a neighbour's house.

A couple of hours later Teddy came to me in the living room.
"The pigeon in the sewing cupboard is so cute."

I told him not to be silly and to go back to bed.

"Did you put the pigeon in your sewing cupboard to sleep, Mummy?"
I really thought he was being silly and making up stories - it's not like he hasn't done it before!

Until he convinced me with his, "no, really, there is!" I thought I better take a look.

I was quite happy for him to stay there - aren't they funny the way they sleep on one foot!
But Rob assured me that I would regret it come morning, so we took him into the garage.

When Rob went to work this morning he was perched high up on top of the filing cabinets. When I left to take Teddy to the school bus, there was no sign of him, so he must have flown out and gone home. Hopefully.

But Teddy had some lovely news and a couple of photos hurriedly printed out to take to school today for his 'news day.'

The Best Book This Year

I know I said I was going to blog about the chicken pox, but I am sick of the chicken pox.  I'm into my 4th week of it and I will glad if I never hear the words 'chicken pox' ever again after this.

So I have decided to write about the best book I've read this year. I downloaded it from audible.com and it truly is the best way to read this book, in my opinion, as there are three narrators for the unabridged version, so you get a real feel for the characters and that delightful southern American accent.

What is the book? The one everyone is talking about.

The Help written by Kathryn Stockett

I am not going to write a summary of the book, as there are plenty of them out there in the internet world written far better than I ever could. Just know that it is one of the few books on my list that have the honour of being impossible to put down, and one you won't want to end.
Once you start reading, you won't be able to stop. These women become your friends.

My favourite characters are Miss Celia and her husband Johnny, and Aibilene and Minnie. Looking through the trailers on youtube for the movie I think the casting director has pretty much hit the characters spot on - Miss Celia is exactly as I pictured her in the book, as is Minnie, Skeeter and Aibilene. The only one I think they didn't get right was Skeeter's mother, but that is my own opinion.

This story will make you laugh and will make you cry. At times you'll be worried about what's coming next. This is not a time in history that America should be proud of, but it is a time in history that saw great changes, good changes.

I remember the first time when I was a child that I heard about slavery in America. I was at school and we were learning about it. I must have been about 9 or 10 years old at the time, I think. All I can remember is being horrified at the cruelty and the injustice, and just a little bit not willing to believe that such things could happen - feeling like a 3 year old and wanting to clap my hands over my ears. Living in a country where inter-racial marriages have been common right from the get-go (I am not a purebred English girl myself), it is like hearing about the Nazi holocaust for the first time - horrific, shameful.
My grandmother encouraged me to read Uncle Tom's Cabin after that. She gave me her own beautiful copy given to her by her mother and father in 1927. I remember being glued to that book too, and crying buckets of tears over it.

So it is fascinating to go back in time through this book, The Help, and get an insight into the daily dramas and the daily struggles of women who lived through this, and to see the little changes in society that were happening slowly during this time of liberation.

I hope that you will give the book a chance - it is a wonderful book, brilliantly written. Can you believe that the author was turned down by 60 publishers before it was accepted! Now that must surely be encouragement for any budding novelist. It does make me wonder about those 60 publishers though and what they were thinking when they rejected it. Madness!

Cheesemaking

We are big cheese eaters in our family. My husband's family have taught me that. Crackers and blue vein late afternoon on a summer's day at the beach is a ritual - a lovely, delicious family ritual that I embrace.

Making my own cheese has always been something that I wanted to try, but the only place I could find locally to teach me cost over $300 for a two day course. I had neither the time or the funds for such a luxury, so imagine how thrilled I was when I heard about a cheese-making course only 10 minutes from my house and under $100 to learn how to make feta, camembert and slipcote (cream cheese).

Today was the day that my neighbour and I joined up with 4 other ladies at Sarah's beautiful self-sustaining rural villa and spent 4 hours immersed in cheese.

The cheeses we learned how to make today are made from goat's milk, so we all had a try at milking Mellow. I was thrilled to get several squirts of warm milk into the bucket, but my attempts looked pathetic when Sarah later emptied Mellow in a few seconds. Isnt she a beauty!

Sarah shows us all how its done . . .

I am once again looking into the benefits of drinking goat's milk. When Hugh was a baby he was plagued with eczema and we gave him goats milk instead of cows. I have also read a controversial book on the subject of cows milk contributing to breast cancer. And did you know that the  Bible even mentions drinking goats milk as beneficial.

"And [thou shalt have] goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and [for] the maintenance for thy maidens." Proverbs 27:27

Sarah had prepared a beautiful luncheon for us of homemade bread, Greek Salad with her own feta, and two cream cheeses to spread on the bread - garlic cream cheese and sweet chilli cream cheese. I won't even tell you about the divine chocolate gateau with pear we had for dessert!

And these are the cream cheeses that we spread onto our bread. MMMmmmmmm!!!!

The process of making cheese is so simple. Being at the class has taken the mystery away of how to do it. I bought home my feta and it is now hanging in the laundry to drain for a couple of days.

Cutting it before straining was fun.

Doesn't the feta look pretty in the little muslin cups? Some are plain feta, and some have cumin seeds in them.

Well worth the time and money. I want to try the cream cheese now - it was so delicious on fresh bread.

Next time I am blogging on the Spotty Wots - also known as 4 children with chicken pox!

I Like Your Hat

 

I spent yesterday not letting this hat beat me. I designed the pattern and had several failures before this one turned out perfectly. My winter hats for children on my felt shop are not selling so well at the moment - I suspect it's because the weather is warming up, so I needed a hat for summer. I have always loved the wide-brimmed floppy hats for myself, so I thought it would be nice to see it on a child, so here it is.

I made two yesterday for my daughters, and this week I'll make some up for my shop. 

  

What do you think?

I wish I could show you Alice in her hat, but she is not in a very cooperative mood for photoshoots today.

Thankful . . .

There's something about Spring that makes me glad to know the Creator, to be a daughter of a God so imaginative that He made a world where there are Springs.

I am feeling thankful today because the sun is shining and summer is coming.

I have a clothesline full of clean washing - the first day I've been able to hang it all out.

I'm also reflecting on how thankful I am that in less than 2 months I will be 40 years old. I am thankful that I have lived long enough to reach that age when so many don't.

 

I have also been reflecting on the last 40 years and how blessed my life has been so far.  A happy childood, an interesting and adventurous youth, for so many paths I could have gone down and didn't, and for finding someone who truly loves me, even when it is not easy.

I am thankful for my husand and his care of me, and love for me when I am filled with so many flaws.

I am thankful for 4 children and one waiting in Heaven.

I am thankful for my family, and for my in-law family who make me feel part of them.

I am thankful that I still have long dark hair, and that there is not too much gray in it yet.

Today I am thankful for a boy whose chickenpox spots have stopped itching, and for a sweet 2 year old, who is sometimes not sweet, but who is very loveable.

I'm thankful that I have good neighbours who are good friends.

And I am thankful for blossom on my plum tree.

Winter Ills

I've had Teddy home from school for three days. At first it was because of conjunctivitis. My worst nightmare (apart from vomitting bugs). Everytime I get conjunctivitis I have to go to my opthalmologist because I have a susceptability to corneal infections, which can be dangerous. So I have to basically turn the house into an isolation ward everytime anyone gets something like this, so lots of washing and lots of alcohol hand sanitizer.

I took him to the doctor yesterday and it turns out he has a nasty ear infection as well, so we're now calling him the 'medicine man'. Two medicines for his epilepsy, antibiotics for his ears, eyedrops for his eyes and Pamol to help the healing process.

But he is loving his days at home. Simply because a wonderful work colleague of Rob's loaned us the Wii. I had his older brother try and muster up an illness this morning so he could stay home from school too - and I know why! Do these kids think I don't know what they're getting up to - they are old tricks - have been tried and tested by me when I was their age - only it wasn't to play the Wii back then, it was to read my new Nancy Drew book.

Does this boy look sick to you?

 

On a really positive note though, I had a call from the school yesterday where we have applied for our children to attend when my oldest son hits highschool. They were just ringing to say they were processing the applications, but I had the loveliest chat with the administrator - and what is the best thing is that the head of the junior highschool is my old teacher from Blenheim - the best teacher I ever had. I would so love my kids to be under him at school. What a blessing!

I'm Turning Into A Hermit - for a little while

This school term, for me, has been a wonderful one. It's the first time since I gave up homeshooling that I've been truly able to enjoy full days at home, without the responsibility of my children's education.
It's the first time in 10 years that I've not had more than one child at home with me during the day - not dashing off here to art classes, or there to French or music or sports.
I pretty much did away with all that, except for afterschool music lessons and sports - one sport per child.
Last term I had the school community newsletter to compile, but we are not doing another one until just before Christmas, so this term has been left free.

I gave up coffee group with the school mums and Playcentre for Alice (for various reasons) and decided to just relax and enjoy 10 weeks of focusing on my family, my home and pursuing arts that I have always wanted to try.

I've signed up for a two day machine-quilting class, a one day cheese making class - learning how to make camembert, cream cheese and feta - three of my favourites.

A couple of weekend's ago, Rob was digging around in the attic and found a bag full of patchwork squres. They were the squares that my family and friends made for me just before I got married. They embroidered their names on the squares and presented them to me at my bridal shower. But I've never had the skill or the time since then to put it all together. I needed to make two more squares to even it up, and somehow I just never did.

But when I saw the precious pieces of fabric in that bag, that dear friends and family had worked on, I knew that I had to get it finished before I let another year go by. There's a square in there that my Nana made for me, and she died 6 years ago, so it's priceless now.

So I've had a lot of fun designing the two squres and now I'm embroidering them.

And I've been working on getting the house in order (as I blogged last time about my bedroom), adding things to make the house more homely, like these pictures frames of our summer holiday at our family beach house.

And I've been knitting up a beanie for a birthday present for our neighbour who loves to wear them. The first one didn't turn out very well, so I pulled it out and have started a new one. It's a belated birthday present now, but he knows it's coming and his partner and I are teasing him about getting a homemade, handcrafted present. I think it scares him! LOL!  'Cause he's going to have to wear it!

And I've been thinking about new designs to put in my shop for the summer, and getting ready to sew them up and trial them to see how they go.

There are so many things that I could be doing other than this right now. Just last week the school asked for volunteers for some fundraising thing they're doing, and I did feel the slightest twinge of guilt in not jumping up to offer my help. But it didn't last long - I'm so enjoying just being a keeper at home at the moment. It's recharging my batteries, making me feel that life is slowing down a little. I know that it's going to speed  up again very soon, but for now I'm really enjoying it - living in the moment and taking this time to enjoy the little things of life.

One Year

Today is just like it was this same day last year.
Same day. Same place. Same people. Same weather.
Not the same event.

Beautiful, bright, sunny day. Warm. The weekend.

Only this time we weren't jolted awake in the middle of the night.

Although we were two nights ago, and it was an almost dejavu moment.

One year on from the 30 seconds that changed our lives. One year of living with earthquakes.
One year of sending your family out in the world everyday and making sure that cellphones are fully charged.
Being sure that before that door closes behind them, you've told them you love them.
Being sure that before you hang up the phone on them you tell them you love them.

Just in case the worst happens.
It's our new reality.

Earthquakes have taught us . . .

. . .  not to take life, or each other for granted.

You can never appreciate that; never really know what that means until it is threatened.
 

I Love My Bedroom

Remember how I told you about that great book on marriage that I was reading a few weeks back?

Well, one of the chapters was dedicated to keeping your bedroom a sanctuary, making it a place where you can relax, a place to go for peace and quiet and rest, and a room that is just for you and your husband. Putting things in the room that you love; that make you feel secure and comfortable and have things that are meaningful to you and your marriage.

So I worked on it over a few days. Tried to get rid of the junk, and the clutter that builds up on the top of our 1840 English dresser. Then I added a candleabra that was given to us as a wedding gift by one of my husband's older brothers. And that's our wedding photo behind it.

Hang clothes up. On chilly nights it's so easy to just throw them onto a chair and jump under the covers where the electric blanket is on.

. . . . and put out the pillows and the ornaments and the pictures that I love.  Most of my pillows come from a little shop here in Christchurch, The Painted Room which used to be right on Colombo Street near the Square. It has relocated since the earthquakes, so I believe; although I haven't been to the new shop. I love the owner Brigid - she's very flamboyant, a character herself, and knows how to put fabrics together. It's cash-only, and no phone on; and she used to tell me how she loves that modern women are beginning to discover how comforting old, feminine things can be.

I love our bed with  Brigid's lovely, comforting pillows bringing colour to the white counterpane that was also a wedding present from old family friends. Underneath it is a big, fluffy feather duvet that we use in winter. It's one of my favourite things about winter.

When we built this house the interior decorator lady who was helping me talked me into painting the walls a very soft blue, and teaming it with a white and red curtain. I wasn't so sure about it then, but she assured me that I would come to love it, and I have. I love the freshness of it, and I love the red. Red is one colour that I must have in my home.

In thinking about the few ornaments and things that I wanted to have out (I am not a great lover of lots of ornaments), I remembered when I was living in the USA that one of the things I loved about American homes was how just about every home I went into always smelled so good. There always seemed to be a burner going or the linguring aroma of a burner, so I have been on the hunt for one that I liked to put into my bedroom, and I found one! I love the wax melts that I have to put in it - vanilla, hot cinnamon, apple spice, caramel, and a couple of others. It's fun to change them around and now the room always, always smells good.

On our bedside tables I decided to just have a little photo frame of me on my wedding day and a glass ornament that my husband bought for me recently. It feels so good to have gotten rid of all the extra unnecessary stuff that used to be there.

I am still to hunt out a nice mirror for one of our blank walls, and I have some wedding pictures that I want to hang as well, but I do have one large picture frame up. And it has my now very old bridal bouquet on display. It was dried back then, which was the only way it could have been done then, although now I think there are chemical ways of preserving bouquets, but that wasn't available when I got married 14 years ago. But anyway, I love it and I don't think I could part with it, even if it does look slightly Miss Haversham now.

I'm so glad that I read that book and it motivated me to do something nice in our room. It has made such a difference and I really love going down there now and knowing that this is a little private space for me and my husband. Oh sure the kids still come in during the night (usually when there are earthquakes or the strong, noisy nor'wester), and they still love to jump in bed with us on a Saturday morning, but otherwise it's just our room - a little haven of quiet and comfort.

Lemon Honey

We have been having a lemon honey craze lately. The children are enjoying it on their sandwiches for lunch everyday and sometimes for toast at breakfast.  I have the best recipe in the world, handed down from my grandmother and it never fails.

 

Nana Spencer's Lemon Honey

1 pound sugar (500gms)

1/2 pound butter (250gms)

4 or 5 eggs

4 or 5 lemons

Sterilize jars in the oven at about 100-120 degC for about 20 minutes. Take out of oven and cool a little before filling.

Grate two of the lemons lightly, just the yellow part. Squeeze juice.

In a bowl beat eggs, add sugar, butter chopped up into small pieces and lemon juice and rind. Put bowl over a pot of boiling water. Stir frequently until mixture thickens - about 20 minutes.

Pour into jars and allow it to cool a little before placing into the fridge. 

Note: the lemon honey continues to set when in the fridge overnight.