My Daybook: 21st May, 2019

Outside my window…

it’s a dark night, all is still. The benefits of living in the country, no city lights nor noises

I am thankful…

for good health, for my own and a beloved family member. Mine was a scare, all good but concerning at the time. Our dear family member’s condition is still unknown but the worse case scenario has at least been ruled out. Good health is never something I take for granted, I grew up with an invalid parent and know first hand the far reaching implications for all involved, for the patient and their family

I am thinking…

about family. My youngest brother, his wife and two tiny girls; newborn and 18 months, are moving to our town! We’ve never had family live so close and are rather excited

Learning all the time…

we have formed a ‘Writing Club’ with children who are keen to write. Essentially we’ve created a space to encourage and inspire, a place to kindle and create a synergy of energy for our budding writers. It’s hugely satisfying to hear a child say, “I didn’t like to write before but now I do.” 🙂 This is a weekly meet up at our place with a few other families. As an exciting offshoot, a child of ours is finally motivated to focus on improving his reading and spelling skills and is putting in a mighty effort throughout each week, he was most excited to recently  finish another level of All About Spelling

Celebrating the liturgical year……

We are fast approaching the Feast of Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church. I really can’t believe another year has gone already, maybe this will be the year I’ll finally make a Liturgical Calendar wheel

From the kitchen…

a variety of soups. On Writing Club days each family contributes a pot of soup, it’s a weekly soup party 🙂 Breaking bread together is special, this week we had 18 people and as I look over two long tables of pre-teens and teens laughing and chatting together I know we’re creating memories

I am creating…

we finally finished the children’s Cubby House that was begun nine years ago! It ended up being completed as a family project and is rather large. I have a post in the makings to share the story and progress. The children’s creations presently revolve around Lego, hours and hours of Lego play, courtesy of the Lego Master’s

I am working on…

increasing fitness and losing weight. I’ve lost 6.5kg but it’s currently a slight up and down dance, I’m halfway to my target goal and have only weeks to achieve. I’m consciously watching what I eat in relation to calories and recording on My Fitness Pal app. Considering and tracking calories is a first for me and rather interesting, there is a clear connect between what is consumed and the figures on the scales each morning.  My fitness level is definitely improving, I’ve increased my runs up to 6-8km, and am running 2-3 times a week.  When we began running two years ago I couldn’t run past 100m before stopping, now I can run 5km with only a short walking break halfway. To have my body respond to do what I ask of it feels awesome! News on the running front, PC recently achieved his 100th Park Run 🙂

I am going…

more coming, we were completely surprised by a very special couple, our son and his bride to be who traveled over 600km home to surprise me for Mother’s Day. As a bonus it was our lad’s birthday the same day. A precious weekend with lots of treasured memories built and stored, their last home as an engaged couple

I am hoping…

to find time to delete the hundred odd books off the database that PC and I culled from our bookcases and donate them to our local Free Book Exchange. It’s a pleasure to see our bookcases looking neat and organised again. Talking books Anna Maria (25) found The Australia Book by Eve Pownell at a Church Bazaar sale on the weekend!! She paid less than 5c for it!!!

I am praying…

• for our son and his Fiancee, not long until their Wedding 🙂
• for PC’s brother and his wife who are expecting their first baby
• in Thanksgiving for the safe arrival of our new niece and for Mum’s health

I am pondering….

small children and their access to mobile phones. A friend’s 4 year old granddaughter recently watched p*rn on her uncle’s phone and is heavily disturbed as you’d imagine. To be clear uncle isn’t a p*rn watcher but those adds that can pop up, which he would avoid, well child picked up his phone and innocence is now gone. As a flow on consequence there is a crack down in our house, no more watching Frozen on phones, we just can’t be too careful

I am reading…

• • Second Suns – David Oliver , the incredible true story of two very different doctors, one from the Himalayas the other from Harvard; Dr. Sanduk Ruit and  Dr. Geoffrey Tabin whose mission is to rid the world of preventable blindness. They have pioneered a new surgical method that is astounding, frankly the whole story is awe inspiring. Dr Ruit was a contemporary of Australia’s Fred Hollows and I want to read more about his work now too.  A fascinating book, highly recommend

• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – William Kamkwamba, the astounding story of a 14 year old boy who created a windmill that powers lightbulbs and a radio in his home, in Malawi where only 2 per cent of the country has electricity. William was unable to attend highschool due to finances and thus educated himself, his initiative and tenacity is incredible. He created his windmill from savaged parts, today he builds windmills throughout his country. Lots of fascinating scientific explanations, highly recommend

I am watching……

we’ve been re-watching the Little House on the Prairie Seasons DVDs . They are highly enjoyable, and we’re always cheering on Mary and Laura and furious with Nellie. Some episodes have us jumping up and down with outrage, really, engaged at 13!!! To be clear we wouldn’t recommend all of the episodes, some are a little dark, or have issues we don’t wish to address yet, so we skip those

I am hearing…

children and PC in other parts of the house; the television is on, conversations are happening and there is movement about

I am struggling…

to be self disciplined regards blog writing. I’ve long been in hiatus as the inspiration just wasn’t happening, I now have an exciting and lengthy list of post ideas but my self discipline muscle is completely lax, no tone left at all. I need to dig deep, carve a writing time and commit, to be disciplined and consistent. Like the special project I mentioned last month, the one involving Australian books and history, I’m slowly creating as research and writing take discipline……

Clicking around…

I haven’t been at all, I’m only on the computer for quick snatches of time lately which is a positive, but part of why blog writing and research is slow

Around the house…

it’s all about shipping containers. Recently one of my brothers asked if we could host his shipping container on our place for 12 months or so, sure we responded, no worries. The next week another brother rang and asked if he could put two shipping containers on our place for about 6 months, of course we responded in the affirmative. So the first has arrived and the next two arrive in a couple of days. The intent is to place them 2.5 metres apart, then the brothers’ further gear, trailers etc can be stored under a temporary roof. Hopefully there may be room left to store our dune buggy and kayaks removing the children’s belongings from the shed and PC can reclaim the entire shed as his. I wonder if he will want help to re-organise his shed…. it will be my gift to him…;-)

One of my favorite things…

winter sunshine, I love sitting on our verandah overlooking the bush soaking up the winter sun

A few plans for this week…

well last few days have been….full. My brother and 18 month old niece came for a couple of days, then another brother and his partner arrived for an overnight visit shortly after. At the same time we had a homeschooling family from the Outback stay for a couple of days. The first shipping container arrived and the next two do in a couple of days.  We hosted Writing Club and in the afternoon our homeschool group also held Public Speaking and Drama classes. Tomorrow I host our weekly Nature Play on our property and around the margins of life we need to fit in learning. My plan for the upcoming week is we all recover from colds and manage a solid week of learning, oh yes one brother comes back again and …well I’m sure lots else is bound to happen

A little peek at my day…

we farewelled our visitors and then spent the afternoon quietly recovering from colds, this is our second bout of colds in a matter of weeks