Blog
-
Hosting A Lending Library: Wattle Gum Library
I was recently interviewed on Plumfield and Paideia, as part of their ongoing series: Meet the Librarians. I’m chatting about my latest venture, owning and hosting a Lending Library; Wattle Gum Library.for my local homeschoolers. I’m truly loving operating a Lending Library, I’ve achieved so much already with a growing number of patrons, an online catalogue, a complete reorganisation of my library and more improvements every evolving. Head over for the full interview, but sharing some teasers here: What are your earliest memories of books and reading? Was there a particular book or event that really made you a reader? I don’t recall a time when I couldn’t read,…
-
My Daybook: 2nd May, 2022
Outside my window… It is totally dark, it’s a country night with no moon I am thankful… for our home, we are extremely grateful to have one, there are so many in our region who are now homeless since the floods. Two months ago nearby towns were decimated by ‘once in a lifetime’ floods, a month later the flood waters returned! Much of our region is classed as a natural disaster, in one city alone 34,000 people are now homeless, many living with friends and family I am thinking… about the upcoming Federal Elections at the end of May. This is an incredibly important election, I have so much to…
-
Australian Homeschool Summit 2022
It’s time for our annual Australian Homeschool Summit! Always a highlight and a fantastic way to kick off the learning year. Once again I will be presenting as I have for the past five years. What I’m Presenting This year I’m going to be sharing about Nurturing a Love of Literature. Nurturing my family in Literature is something I’m extremely passionate about and totally committed to. During the Australian Homeschool Summit I’ll be sharing about our family’s journey. I’ll be sharing why reading together as a family is so important, and how our family has read together for decades. I’ll be giving you tips on how and where to find quality books and…
-
Demolishing the Old Verandah
Once upon a time our home was little, before we added a huge home to it. Building our ‘new home’ has been our focus for the past decade and blending the old and new has never been fully completed. Demolishing the old verandah is part of the process to complete the blending of the ‘two houses’, then we can finish painting the ‘old house’. A couple of weekends ago, whilst the verandah was being completed out the back, the rest of the workforce was demolishing the old verandah out the front. First step was the removal of the posts. The roofing iron had been removed years back, so as we…
-
Completing the Verandah, We’re Thrilled
Completing the Verandah is so exciting! Finally a project begun years ago was taken back up and completed. We began the verandah in 2012. First cementing the piers, then bearers and joists, then laying the decking boards for the side and side and ‘front’ verandahs. Work then came to a halt as we pondered how to complete ‘section 3’ of our ‘front’ verandah. Life intervened, other building projects shifted our focus, in the meantime we made do with particleboard sheets on this last section. First tasks up was selecting, cutting and laying the joists. As the joists had been stored in the yard under sheets of roofing iron for nearly…
-
My Daybook: 22nd August, 2021
Outside my window… it’s another lovely, warm day. Winter officially ends in ten days, reality is Spring weather arrived weeks ago I am thankful… to live on our property in the Australian bush. I’m extremely cognisant that life with Covid restrictions is extremely tough for many of our fellow Australians, including many family members. Life for us, particularly our children, hasn’t been impacted as severely as our City dwellers I am thinking… about my two morning runs this week, 5km each. I’ve finally managed to run 5km without stopping again, mental breakthrough! It’s actually rather surprising how quickly I’ve regained lost ground Learning all the time… This Term, Term 3,…
-
Walk in Wardrobe in a Day!
Our latest building project has brought such a buzz! Our Walk in Wardrobe was built in a day! We’ve been at this owner builder gig for over a decade now. In all this time we’ve never had a project decided upon, executed and completed with such speed. I’m still marveling over it a month later. We’d long intended to custom outfit our Walk in Wardrobe, but meanwhile made do with two chest of drawers. Occasionally we’d chat about design and needs. A few months ago I sought quotes from a couple of companies. One measured but we never did get that quote despite numerous attempts. The other gave a rough…
-
He Popped The Question – She Said “Yes!!”
Late January our Einstein asked his girlfriend Sunflower to Marry him, and she said Yes!! We are delighted, Sunflower and Einstein suit each other so well. We are blessed to be gaining such a vibrant new daughter. Meeting just before Covid, when exercise was permitted and visiting was not, their earlier dating period consisted of hours of walking and talking. A time to really get to get to know one another well. They are getting married next year, so excitement is already building and planning is underway. It appears our family tradition of designing engagement rings continues to flourish! That darling ring on Sunflower’s finger, our romantic Einstein designed it…
-
My Daybook: 17th March, 2021
Outside my window… the bush appears soft in the post dawn light. There was more rain overnight and the lawn is lush and the paddocks green. So hard to believe only 12 months ago we were suffering through a drought and the after effects of bushfires that decimated 52% of our Valley I am thankful… to live in country NSW, we have been spared much of the Covid 19 restrictions of larger cities and in particular Victoria. I often wonder what our children will remember as adults. Our youngest processes changes through play, which includes enactments of border checkpoints and passes and talk of being one and a half metres…
