Winter Solstice PJ Party

This weekend gone, marked the passing of the Winter Solstice.  Now slowly the days will become longer however not necessarily warmer. Generally the coldest winter days occur after the solstice.

Usually Sundays are family fun days and getting into the garden days or numerous outside project days – but not this Sunday.  Instead we celebrated the winter solstice in our PJ’s watching cartoons.  Everyone in the family had a winter illness and of course being in your PJ’s always makes things better.

Thankyou to my husband who snuck this photograph – a candid Sunday family portrait in my two different PJ’s.  Did you notice that?

In times like these I prefer to focus on what I am grateful for.  What One has, is more powerful than what One doesn’t have.

Bye Bye Mum

Today with a heavy heart, we say goodbye to my Mum who has been staying with us for six weeks.

She heads home to sunny, warm Queensland  (escaping our winter).

My love of gardening and cooking was inherited from my Mum.  Some of my happiest childhood memories was spent in the garden with my family and eating my Mother’s home cooked food.

Love you Mum. Safe travels. See you soon. xox

Mother’s Day Reflections

With the help of Daddy, our Little One gave me a very cute black board for our kitchen – my pressie for Mother’s day.

Now hanging near the drying herbs and garlic braid, I have written some fun ‘rules’ for our family upon the board:

Laugh often
Dance & have fun
Enjoy the moment
Be kind to others & yourself
Make a positive difference
Dream big & believe

I plan to redo our rules to also include ‘gratefulness is king’, which is a good note to conclude on.  Thankyou to all the good Mother’s of the world – especially mine.

P.S. Our Little One also gave me a gift voucher for Diggers.  Soon I will be buying more heirloom seeds and some fruit trees too.  Giddy up!!!!

Photograph Sunday – Happy Mother’s Day

My Mum and our Little One share a snuggle. Happy Mother's day everyone!!

Today is Mother’s day in Australia  (and probably New Zealand too).

If where you live it is not Mother’s day, pick up the phone and call your Mum (Mom) anyway.  If that is not possible, do something nice for a Mother who deserves a kind gesture.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

The Dangers of Eating Sultanas

The game started with me laughing.  At two years of age, our Little One finds ‘slap stick’ humourous.

While chatting on the phone, I was trying not to laugh (not to encourage) as our Little One put sultanas up her nose – so they dangled out. She found this hilarious.

However all laughing stopped when one sultana disappeared from view.  Long story short, we again found ourselves sitting in a medical waiting room.

With what felt like ‘half our town’ also at the medical center, we were in for a big wait. The positive side, was that we were able to chat with a friend who was also waiting – and take this photo (thankyou Ingrida).

Just have to ask “why do these emergencies happen when you are wearing your daggy home renovating clothes?”  Covered in paint because I was again ‘sock painting’ our fence.

This post has nothing to do with sustainability – just a funny little story about family life and raising children.

On a side note, I texted my Mum after we saw the doctor to say all had ended well – our Little One was okay. However the simple act of texting was another reminder of how strange modern family life can be.

My phone has a terrible case of preemptive text syndrome.  Instead of saying that the sultana was up our Little One’s nose, my phone changed the text to ‘santana’. Therefore another text was needed to explain that a musician was not the obstacle stuck in our Little One’s nose.

You got to laugh.  🙂

Peculiarities of a Modern World

The photograph is of my Grandmother when she was a child and her brothers and parents – my Great Grandparents.

My Grandmother died when I was in my late 20’s so I knew her well. My Great Grandmother lived into her 90’s so I was very fortunate to also know her.

My mother tells me stories of how my Great Grandfather (George) loved green tree frogs and to garden.

I wonder what simple living knowledge they had, that I don’t know.

I wonder what they would think of the world today?

A world where:

*  People drive to the gym only to get on a treadmill.

* People work long hours for years to progress their career, sacrificing their health only to spend a fortune in later years trying to regain their health.

* People in the West throw out 30 to 50% of the food purchased, when millions of people go hungry every day.

* People can be fearful of saying hello to a stranger in the street but will converse happily online with others they don’t know.

* People can pay more per litre for water than petrol.

* People not only expect appliances to have a short life but prefer buying new to replace them rather than fixing.

* People have become wealthier but not happier.

I bet you can think of other unsustainable peculiarities of modern living.