Marching on

Fabric delights and garden highlights. March has been an unusually warm yet wonderful autumn month. Our pool is still very pleasant for swimming. The garden is filled with colours of many flowers, butterflies, birds, bees and caterpillars - a delight indeed.

Cricket season has finished on a high with two grand final wins and an unexpected double/split sportsmanship award - photographed with the wonderful couple who lovingly support and serve our cricket club. Hockey is now underway.

Our local homeschool families have recently enjoyed a series of science workshops with over 40 students participating, split into two age groups. Last week's activities for the younger children focussed on magnets.

I'm thoroughly enjoying working with Sarah Watson's Biology fabric collection, while Geninne's Moody Blues are enticing me too. Both are organic fabric collections from Cloud 9, and two of my very best favourite collections ever! I want to rush in and create whilst also desiring to savour their beauty. Time restraints mean more savouring than creating at this point, however with a two week school break about to begin I'm hoping find the perfect mix of both.


Sharing at WIP Wednesday.

BORN FOR MORE.

Today was the day, our pastor and his wife baptised their beautiful daughter, making this Palm Sunday extra special. 

David Schaeffer happened to be passing through town and shared a brief encouragement before our pastor's message this morning. David explained that we are each really two people. We are who we've become, and we are who we are 'becoming'. Who we have become can be somewhat boring to live within. We need to live out of the excitement of who we are becoming, to be fresh with excitement, to impact the world with positive footprints - you deserve to be excited!

David's words were a great reminder and inspiration for me to focus on. They also seemed to be a fitting prelude for this afternoon's baptism in our pool. I love the Tshirt E chose to wear - we truly are Born for More!

Change of Season

Second Grade prelim. final last weekend - Miss N batting

Second Grade Grand Final - Master J hitting big, batting with Miss N

Hot autumn days with occasional thunderstorms have left everything green and vibrant while winter vegetable plantings begin to sprout. After our recent homeschool visit to a local organic farm I have a renewed interest in bringing the best from our small backyard. I paid a visit to our local farmer's market this week, the first time in a couple of years. The market is very small but I was pleased with my purchases and hope to return soon. A few more organic products found their way into my regular shopping this week too.

The summer cricket season has just come to an end this afternoon (Sunday). Miss N captains a local Under 16's side - they won their two-day grand final on Friday afternoon at a beautiful nearby village ground. Miss N bowled brilliantly, wicket kept when not bowling and captained the side under great pressure to a very close and exciting win. She gave a gracious impromptu speech after their victory. 

The very next day (yesterday) she was playing again in the seniors Second Grade Grand Final. Above she is batting with older brother Master J who batted brilliantly as an opener. Their team have just won the game, with the rest of today's play being washed out by more thunderstorms. Miss G has also played well in both these teams, enjoying both wins equally as much.

Next weekend brings our first hockey games of the season....

On a personal note, we continue to hope for improvement in my husband's health as we try and piece together various conditions and medical results. Challenging, but it's through challenges that we grow - and nothing surprises God, He knows and cares and gives us a future and a hope. And now I think I'll head off and reacquaint myself with my sewing machine.....   :)



Sharing at Skywatch Friday.

Fig Tree Organic Farm

I had never seen a dung beetle but soon learnt much about them and many other aspects of land care during our local homeschooling group's visit to a Fig Tree Organic Farm yesterday. Again I think it was the parents who took more from the day than the children. Late yesterday I sourced some organic kale at the supermarket for last night's salad and bought some organic sugarcane mulch and added it to our meagre vegetable garden. Both are things I've done before but am even more conscious of their importance now.

* It appears that most dung beetle species in Australia have been relatively recently introduced by a carefully monitored project, including strict quarantine measures. You can read more about it here.

Perfect Imperfections

 It's quite fun to take a photo on my phone, edit/filter and post with a brief comment - Instagram is wonderful. Even more so I'm enjoying the quick and easy ways of connecting by following and exploring 'linked' images via #s. Love it! I'm learning to live with the imperfections of my quick phone photos....

Here are a a few of my photos on Instagram this week (the sunset one above was uploaded to my phone, taken with my usual compact camera) plus some extras from the garden this afternoon. There's always something happening in the garden even if it's not quite what I had wanted....

1 & 2 an early morning walk
3 Flowers for Eleni - send Rachel Flowers.
4 Sunset over the river
5 Firming up plans for my next quilt, featuring Sarah Watson's Biology fabrics.
6 Parcel of 4 x 1/4 m pieces of fabric from Clair's Fabrics - organic and conventional cottons.
7 Miss E loves superheroes - appreciating the perfect imperfections of her work, one of the joys of homeschool.
8, 9, 10 Puffball fungi, stink/citrus bug and huge caterpillar in the garden this afternoon.


Sharing at SkyWatch Friday, Weekly Top Shot.

Golden

15 years ago this month we moved into our home and not once have we seen a golden spider lily flower in the backyard. Yes, we have a few of these lilies in the front yard but it was a wonderful surprise to see this one flower below the frangipani by the back steps.

Other golden spots this week - watching and listening to the birds, including this little honeyeater; kangaroos seeking shade at church; enjoying several different butterflies including Blue Triangle and Oleander; noticing colours and textures on a nearby pecan nut tree.
Just yesterday I opened an account on Instagram  - so quick and easy to use and a fun way to keep up with many others and happenings. So much yet to explore.

Traversing Antarctica

Emperor Penguins and chicks, Weddell Seal, Cape Petrel - there was so much more to see than I had imagined. Our local art gallery is hosting the amazing, interactive exhibition 'Traversing Antarctica'. 

Yesterday our homeschool group visited the exhibition and were treated to a fascinating talk and question and answer time with Graham Cook, a local who has spent around six years in total in Antarctica as a station leader.

Antarctica is over twice as large as Australia and around one and a half times the size of the USA. Australia has three permanently manned stations/bases there where much scientific research is carried out. It is home to 100,000s of Emperor Penguins, the largest penguin in the world, standing around 120cm/4 feet tall. Husky dogs have been banned from Antarctic since 1991 along with all introduced species (other than people). We learnt many, many interesting facts about this vast frozen continent but this was literally just the tip of the iceberg!

Having looked at the internet and some library books, Miss E, Miss V and I returned for a leisurely look at the exhibition this afternoon - and had the entire art gallery to ourselves. Miss E tried her 'How to Train a Dragon' pose before insisting on having her turn behind the camera.

Somehow I think I gained even more from this exhibition than the children.


Sharing at Weekly Top Shot.