Podding Peas... Finding Treasures....

This week gratitude started like the podding of peas.

One by one little blessings appearing beneath broken shells. Opened shells.

Bright green sweetness popping in little mouths.

And a mad scrambling under a tent, peas and all, when the sudden afternoon rain shower blew over!

Yesterday, thankfulness was a birthday cake for Daddy, that was meant to be blue but ended up green because you made the icing with yellow butter cream :) (It was even more delicious)

Then two hours alone with Tani on his birthday.

Talking, opening up, sharing, shedding shells, becoming real, vulnerable, making deeper connections, walking, laughing over silly jokes that make no sense to anyone else but us.

Remembering when we first met all those years ago!

How did all this happen four girls and this!

All within what seems to be a heartbeat of a time?

Slowly, steadily with His hand the opening of the protective shell we've built around our lives, our family, so to share more, give more, bring in more, abundantly, the seeds of His own harvest, not ours only.

Recognising deep within my soul that God brought me and him together from the very beginning.

How, really we are the missing pieces of each other.

Two halves of a pod around four little peas!

How I love him for his heart, his courage, his honor and honesty, his childlike spirit,
his creative mind, the sacrifices he makes for us, some little, some very big, all given as gifts, the love he has for us, the ways he shows it in small ways and big ways every day.

Then the unveiling of beauty.

 As summer fades seamlessly into the velvet hems of autumn.

That drape like an endless evening.

The golden, dappled light of late August. pools around and swells my heart with thankfulness.

If I could swim in the light of an autumn sunset!

Indigo blots on white linen, amethyst storm clouds set in platinum sunlight.

The flush of sudden rain. The sparkling emerald leaves, when the shower is over.

Little apples fresh picked from the branch, red as little sun blanched cheeks, bitter sweet delicious to taste.

Pots of jam, plum and damson berry. Shades of Autumn, bottled, fragrant, concentrated.
Perfect spread thickly on warm crusts.

Warm cups of tea beside a basket of knitting on a quiet evening of early bedtimes after a busy, blustery, outdoorsy day.

Trusting in God in the letting go.

As one season moves toward another.

...a few scraps of our home...

Says it all.

New projects!

Beatrix Potter,Still a children's favourite.

A pastel portrait of my irish paternal grandmother at 21. She lived to be 103.

Emmy's clay jug.

Kitchen windowsill. With a fircone found by Bujana on a trip to the park!

This blanket was crocheted by my Granny and has wrapped up 3 generations of babies!

Emmy's present for her littlest sister's first birthday!

Tilly and her apple!

All I can say is. There are alot of girls in this house!

And Girls = sparkly stuff!

Prayer beads for small hands

....and now some scraps from our garden...

Learning How to Learn.

A couple of days ago we went to a big park we often visit close to our home.
The girls ran in the grass, pretended to fish in the river, played pooh sticks on the bridge and climbed trees in the meadow.

Seraphina had a lot of fun balancing on a fallen log.

The girls decided to put the money they would have used for a train ride into the Instead of Box.

On the way back to the car the girls stopped at a huge tree stump. There were little green shoots growing out of the side of the stump.

It must have been around 1000 years old before it fell to the axe. Emmy tried to count the rings. The wide rings of wet years, the narrow rings of dry.

This tree could have told some stories. What souls may have taken shade under it's canopy of leaves in years gone by. What battles won and lost, loves found? How many children must have climbed it's once willowy branches?

Seraphina and Matilda became tigers immediately, digging and scratching in the dirt and grass. The families passing us by on the way to the adventure playground must have been bemused to see two little girls covered in dry dirt crawling on the ground and making a camp out of an old tree stump!

Emmy grabbed a stick and started to twist it on the log to make an indentation to make a fire with. The wood got really warm and smelled of damp charcoal after a little while.

The fascination and concentration with which the little ones played was wonderful. I felt bad dragging them away from their game.

I thought of how anxiously we tend to rush, at times, from activity to activity, sensual thrill to sensual thrill. We teach our children to follow a pattern, that leads from one organized activity to another. All the way from the playground to the theme park to the movie theatre.
We believe we are building our children's intelligence but we are force feeding a regime. One that they will be a slave to as an adult.
Pit stops of overstimulating pleasure that leave residues of discontent till the next thrill arrives to distract.

I remember seeing a little boy, the other day, trying to stop at a puddle, he kept letting his little hand slip from his father's grasp so that he could pick up a pebble and throw it in the water.
The father, intentions nothing but good, pulled his little son away. "come on we want to get to the swings don't we?"
The little boy just wanted a moment to fully engage with his environment, absorb it's limitations and explore it's possibilities.

So we drag the child through the puddle they want to paddle in and over the tree stump that tells stories, across the bridges and over the fences.

The truly important becomes nothing but a hurdle to overcome.

I looked at my girls digging in the dirt, counting tree rings, building pretend fires and laying down upon the stump of a near 10000 year old tree, cut down for the sake of making a quick route into the playground and picnic area and I found myself saying out loud.... "You know they are learning how to learn".

.... Some Info on caring for Baby Rabbits... nest making, feeding and handling

Baby rabbits are called kittens. They are born approx 6 weeks after conception. The male rabbit is called a buck and the female is called a doe.

A female rabbit's litter produces on average between 4 to 8 babies.

The "kittens" are born naked and their eyes are shut. Within a few days they grow a little fuzz though and after about 2 weeks their eyes open.

The female rabbit must be given a lot of nest material before she gives birth. The doe will often "practice" nest building a few days before she gives birth. These "practice" nests will not have fur in them.
When she builds the nest she will use she will line it with her own soft insulating fur.

After the babies are born it may seem like the doe is not feeding them too often. Don't panic or force the doe to feed, nature works best when left to it's own accord. Rest assured that she will be feeding her babies adequately. A doe often feeds her young when she knows that no one is around anyway, so give her a little space for the first couple of days. Also don't handle her too much unless she needs veterinary attention. She will be full of milk and will want to rest for long spells.
The only problem I have encountered during the first couple of weeks is that the stronger "kittens" tend not to let go of their latch and can be dragged into the main part of the hutch where they can become cold very quickly. Simply check every couple of hours to make sure this hasn't happened. If you find a cold kitten warm it in your hands at first, rub it's chest very lightly with your finger, when it starts to pick up it's movements place it back with it's brothers and sisters. Being close to it's siblings will revive it completely.

Help the doe build up her milk supply by feeding her cut milk thistle stalks, dandelion leaves and groundsel both during her pregnancy and post partum along with carrots, plenty of water and her usual dry, fortified mix.
These herbs can be found growing naturally in meadows, fields, pasture land, grassy verges and the more unkempt parts of your garden ;)



After about 3 to 4 weeks the babies can spend some short spells in a well insulated and hay filled run, (this obviously depends on the weather). They can also be handled and played with gently depending on how trusting and happy the doe is with them being held. You may find that your usually pleasant and placid little female rabbit suddenly takes on all the attributes of a defensive mother over the next few weeks. Worry not, she will be back to her old self soon, she is just being a good and protective mum.

Baby rabbits are so much fun for children. If you are not used to rabbits or have never had one before but are thinking to get one I recommend you begin with the dwarf breeds.
They are much easier to keep clean and are small enough for children to handle.

We have three dwarf lop rabbits.... Peter, Poppy and Cottontail, they are wonderful pets that the children love to play with and look after.