right now~

:: its the very start of the school holidays- HOORAY!! We are all still in our pjs- HOORAY again.

:: yesterday ~ was brilliant sunshine - we sunbathed and relaxed on the deck; now its raining-boo.

:: listening to ~ Kimbra still, and Mudford & Sons - oh and Peppa Pig is on in the background.

::planning ~ on paper the summer vege garden looks amazing! In reality the ploughing of the paddock and     fertilizing is done, not much else

::caring for ~ our sweet lambs - one of who is very poorly; we are hopeful though; a pig, who is getting bigger daily, 14 lovely lady chickens, and a raft of wild pukeos - who parade themselves daily for us.

::dreaming of ~ long summer evenings, with a tinge of sunshine on our backs, and a happy tired feeling from working the vege garden - and report writing but a memory!

::reading ~ a selection of mild trash - yay me! Gardening journals, and lovely blogs.

::thinking ~ I should go get the kids dressed! and the day planned, and started - maybe not! It's holidays after all!

frosty mornings

 we have only had a couple of frosts here this winter so far....I so love the early morning light glittering on the ice crystals...

 he's not overally thrilled tho!

and crunching the grass underfoot when you go and collect the eggs and check the chickens is so satisfying...(or rather you send a kid, 'cos its cold!)

these poor giant pumpkins long to be carved and given a purpose...they told me so...until then they are enjoying the ice clinging to their shiny skins..perhaps this weekend will be a carving weekend?...

History at our place

we are fortunate to live in a wee town with lots of history and structures that have been left behind by miners and those that lived their lives here. Some would've experienced such hardships and cold...some sacrificed their limbs to thier livelihoods...some intentially cut off figers for insurance to feed their families or stake another turn on their claim. We are only scratching the surface with our meanderings...but here are a few pics of our recent 'finds'.

Some of the photos are from the Cornish Pump House and some are from the Old Battery

Nature Spot

we are doing a little nature tray for our windowsill....whenever the boys and I go out to the beach or for a walk, we find something special to pop in it; to remind us where we have been. Last week we went for a wee jaunt up to Whanga, and with 3 small boys in tow, we did some beach-combing (and catching of small boys as they tried to hurtle themsleves into the frigid water-ekk!).....heres what we found (and it sooo doesn't look like that now, Micah Jack has loved and re-loved the bits several times over and they are rather sad looking now!)

Foxgloves and bubbleblowing

well today was a busy one...we packed the girls off to school and then cleaned up round here a bit...went for a wander round our wee section, and was delighted once again to see our lovely apricot foxgloves, they are just so pretty so thought I'd share a bit of sweetness with you....while baby was napping we went on a worm hunt and found one dilegently burrowing away, so we gave him a pat (um a little to rough Jose!) and popped him back to burrow some more....bubbles occupied the wee lad for a bit more of the more till 'oh no...I spilled myself', floated in from the deck, and sure enough short of blowing on him to make the bubbles, it was the end of that game....sigh. Such a nice mild day though and when Micah woke up we went for a wee wander down the road and then was time to explore the grasss and to see what daisy's taste like...a quite day, which was lovely, as tomorrow will be 'all hands on deck'....oh finished a bag that i was making today and will pop a pic up tomorrow or so....