135/365
the old making the bed parachute trick. haven't met a kid that doesn't love it.
134/365
a rainy day indoors
133/365
my little bird watcher , with breakfast on the windowsill, watching all the winter birds. eastern spine bills, silver-eyes, sparrows, white cheeked honeyeaters and wattlebirds
132/365
always reaching for something or other, things that are out of reach. our saftey margin on tabletops and benches is receding as niamh grows, stands on tiptoes, climbs. the back of the couch , our place to stash those few untouchables out of her reach, is no more.
last week disappered so quickly & before i knew it there were almost two weeks of 365 photos backlogged on my desktop. it was rainy& blustery, sunny & grey, foggy & cold, all sunshiny & warm. the last of the autumn weather. we spent a lot of time indoors, peering out. niamh comes to me with her wellies & a hat asking to go out. zahra is happy to stay in until the sun bursts through then she's gone , into the garden, to her fairy realm & chookie friends. i didn't do any gardening on account of the wet weather, but fed the girls with the glass-bead eyes, who didn't seem bothered by wet feet & feathers. i've been trying to get a good photo of them but they're shy & run under the big, old, apple tree when they see me coming. their eyes are big & black, shiny like onyx & they have petticoat upon petticoat of feathery pantaloons. we made rhubarb pie & walked through damp paddocks, where chimney smoke & setting sun mingled. there were perfect early morning spider webs & fresh greens to pick from our garden. the last of the roses are opening & soon it will be time to prune, set them to bed until spring. the greyness of winter is usually a welcome sight to me. it means cosying up, knitting, soups & hot chocolate, baking & snow. but for some reason this year i'm dreading the few short, sharp, months of winter & am eager for spring already. not sure what that's about. could be the indoor laundromat we've got going on or the lack of mud room & the bobillion pairs of muddy shoes & mud inside at the backdoor, right in the kitchen. i do know i need gumboots though. easy in & easy out, into the yard, the vegie garden, up to the compost heap, first thing in the morning to feed the girls. my last pair finally died, so gumbot shopping i must go. i did do some early christmas shopping, can you believe it, i'm feeling very organised. i ordered the miss juniper kitty for zahra and miss phyllis mouse for niamh & another ornament kit which i use as stocking stuffers. that alicia is so talented. the indoor time has been good for sitting down to some knitting. i'm trying out my first lace pattern. if anyone had asked me a few years back if i'd be knitting something fancy pants like this i would have laughed, because back then a rib stitch was challenging. but here i am, following a lace chart of all things & even though i frogged it a dozen times i really am enjoying it. it's challenging & new. who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. so this week i'll be thinking about mud room solutions, waiting for the postie, dodging hanging laundry, going about our general homeschooling rhythm, knitting, purling, passing slipped stitches over and going horseriding for the first time in five years. i can't telll you how excited and nervous my tummy feels. happy working week wherever you may be.
