Here's some of what we did today.
This is Herbie, the new guy in the garden, completely legless......but still able to stand.


And some photos from our walk today......some bark


some more bark......love bark.


and the source of bark, a dignified tree in the burbs, holding up its arms as if to say 'I'M standing here..'


and small boy attempting to walk small dog and ride bike simultaneously.

Slow walk home! But good for the soul. I need to walk more. And do yoga, and swim, and meditate, and finish that painting......now where was that DVD I was about to.........

on missing

Verily enjoying the super close-up function on my camera. It sees details that my eye can't see.

As Hanna commented last post, missing can be nice. I completely agree. It's easy to take the one you see the most often for granted. And take for granted that they will always be there. I experienced all kinds of emotions as we were planning K's departure. There has been a huge letting go, and I found myself mourning our relationship in some way as if we were saying good bye for ever. Which on one hand sounds ridiculous given that we will only be a month apart, but makes sense in light of the unpredictable nature of life. We never know what will happen at any moment and so every moment is a letting go. And so we miss each other and the moment of return is all the more precious.

Beau of course doesn't have any concept of the time; that K is away for four weeks means little, and he expects him to be home at the end of each day even though he knows K is in India. He has been incredibly loving and helpful during our long days together. Beau seems to understand that we will be moving (back) to WA. He has begun asking on a daily basis "Can I bring ...... to Western Australia". Three moves in three years is probably a little confusing for him, and that we are 'at home' here but it's M's house...... I think at the least he will be able to withstand change without too much trauma in his life. We hope. We also hope there won't BE too many moves until we find our Home.

And to pass on a wonderful initiative that Esti posted on her blog...You Are Beautiful

Rhythm

Beau, Flash and I finding our rhythm together, walking, gardening, visiting friends, planning a little journey of our own, chatting with K via Skype a little each day....




K in Pondicherry now and can finally sleep. Has had ear pain from flight and drugs to alleviate have kept him awake for 72 hours. Now your adventure can truly begin my lovely!

garden variety

I absolutely HAVE to learn how to do this properly!! (not the gardening, the layout :D) Here are the last precious offerings from our heat battered garden. I love Kale. Steamed, souped, stir fried and even chopped up for pesto!

Accidental Art

We painted this fibro wall at the back of our garden with left over watery dregs from the roller tray having painted our east wall in lime wash. I love that despite how motley it is, is looks wonderful next to the rusty red iron. Just having that colour against the green veges....The garden is looking quite neglected at present and in dire need of mulching. The glorious rain did come and turn our back yard into a mud pit. Soon we will put gravel down for a pergola, and build a chook pen in the back corner (our garden converges into a point at the north east corner....love it) and lay sawdust paths around the vege circles and move the back fence and and and .....
Beau loves to be out in the garden looking for bugs under bricks and chasing the cat....I look forward to it being a space that we can spend endless hours in whatever the season.
We had a 'circle' on the weekend with two couples, great friends with whom we needed to discuss the whole biting issue. IT was a wonderful thing to do - meet without the kids and have a couple of hours for each of us to talk about how we feel and what we would like to do about it. It wasn't easy either. I have had a lot of fear of judgment and I felt very vulnerable and nervous as I spoke. But it was a supportive space and we all felt very fortunate to be able to do something like that with each other. I think I'll be more able to relax and not take other parents' reactions so personally if their children are bitten and I also got to ask for more support when we are socialising with our children/ having play dates. K and I have found it really inspiring and reassuring to find Louise Porter's advice on guiding children's behaviour without punishment and reward. She has written a book called 'Children are People Too'.

bedtime songs

After the 10th rendition of Beau's favourite bedtime song which absolutely must cover every being he has encountered in his 2 year old life to date ( therefore gets longer each evening ), I kissed him and said "I love you darling boy, I'm going outside and if you need me you just call me" and I left the room. For the first time ever he put himself to sleep! All those spectacular 'first times' to look forward to. Beau is my greatest teacher, my perfect mirror. I feel like he is here to show me how to know myself and that whatever I offer him in terms of guidance is a direct result of how much I notice the reflections. Today we had the most fantastic comedic chain of events whereby Beau had proudly shown me the poo he'd deposited in the garden, the phone then rang, I answered to my friend in Sydney who then also witnessed me telling Beau not to stand in the poo please and no don't poke it and no don't drive your truck through it either and then attempt diversion and a few minutes later extract said poo- covered truck from lounge room floor. Immediately after the phone call I went to remove said poo from garden and it had vanished. The dog. The dog had eaten it. So partner, K was informed by Beau on return form work "Flash poo eat all up later" Hereby executing his first 6 word sentence. You talk alot about poo when you have kids huh. I think that's why it's so vitally important to engage in activities outside the home when you're a parent, so that you have more than poo to discuss.
We would love to have another baby. Just so we can do the poo thing all over again. And that's my last mention of the p word.
When I find our camera I will start adding photos to my posts. Part of the reason for my debut into blogging is the hope that I may become more intimate with the camera. I'm quite hopeless when it comes to documenting life. I like to think I'm more into being in the moment than capturing it but I'm really just forgetful in that area. And I so very much enjoy seeing snippets of other people's lives and loves and works and homes (in particular Amanda from Soulemama) that I wish to share some of mine. In fact here is a photo of our garden which once was concrete and hills hoist but now is home to vegetables and chickens and insects for which Joe has developed a great passion, and for which there seems never enough time to all the things I would love to do out there. (Patience has never been my best quality but I have come a long long way ).