Dying throes

Of winter that is. Today is the last day of winter 2009! Hurray, hurray, hurray! Yippee! This is a photo of my boys frolicking on the lawn yesterday to prove that the W's cant wait for summer.

Although it is Monday i feel infused with the energy of the new season.......

My gratitude's today:

• The fact that i have managed to stick to my diet for the last two weeks and have lost 4 kgs!
• sitting under the tree in my garden eating blood oranges with my children. I think that this tree is about to become my all favourite place during summer. It is cool and looks onto the pool. I can survey my kingdom from it. Also the previous owner planted some really funky grass underneath it that is super soft and green and grows well in the shade.... So no sandy spots that you often get under trees. My new bench set will go there.
• The creative time i was able to carve out for myself to do scrapping and my crochet. Heaven knows what i am going to do with my winter shawl that i am about to finish as Spring seems to have made an early and very warm arrival. I think it is going to be a hot, hot summer.
• The train trip that i am planning to the coast for the christmas holidays.
• The time that i was able to spend with family that are also friends.

On a more sober note, i am so glad that my cousin is recovering. He was admitted to hospital with swine flu. Cant believe that i know someone who has it. But he is doing well and he and his wife will be flying to London on Thursday for a holiday. I wish them a wonderful, safe, happy trip.

Al

Bliss

Bliss. What does that word mean to you? For me it means space to be me. Space to be peaceful. Space to create. Space to make memories. Space to watch my children grow, experience life and give me joy. And today was a blissful day. I had a rather heavy, self inflicted evening on Thursday night and an early night on Friday. I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and well. It is so much warmer, brighter, lighter here. I went outside with the kids this morning and the earth is alive. Every bush, tree, plant is covered in new buds. My rose bushes are red with new leaves. The Jasmine is blooming. My lemon tree is covered in new green waxy leaves.

My cousin then joined me and we went of shopping. It was so great catching up with her. Both of our lives have been crazy lately so we have not been able to get together. But i always have a great time with her and love the chats over coffee. I then spent my afternoon scrapbooking. I started two new albums, one for each children and did four pages. I have not scrapped for a couple of weeks and it was great. It is a good way to feel like you are achieving something quickly and i love the way it enables me to capture moments in time for my children. I know i photograph more. I know that it helps me to capture my feelings and share them in a space where my children will be able to access them forever. I love that it enables me to document my children's rite of passage. I know no great way to remind them of how meaninful they are then to capture their lives for their own reflection. I find it has changed the way i look at the world and experiences. I find myself noticing when a "moment" or memory is being made and reaching for the camera.

I know that i have been rather painful about winter.... Well once again i am so excited about spring and when i saw this I had to reach for my camera .... so...... Bliss is seeing the trees in your space, covered overnight with the softest white, white blossoms..


And finally bliss is capturing these tender moments between my children. This one is so warming to me because it was so unposed. You just cant fake the love and tenderness of those nestled heads. They love each other so much it brings a lump to my throat.... If i am ever to have a monument in my life to my values of family, interconnectedness, it will be my sons....



And a sibling kiss!!! Priceless...... Seth is wearing the cute little fisherman's hat that i crocheted for him.... ( It is 100% cotton and i ran it up in an evening....)


Little boys' pockets hold magical things
Earthworms, apple cores, a mess of strings,
but this treasure is nothing to the wealth one find's
in little boys' hearts and little boys' minds....

Hoping that you have some bliss in your life right now.....

Al

Life snapshot

This is one of those quick, I have no time to blog, but just want to catch up posts!

So my life snapshot right now:

• I am surrounded by the beginning and ending of life right now. So my heart is aching for my sister in law who lost her grandmother but i am excited for my friends who welcomed their darling baby girl Leah into the world. I am also excited to hear that one of my old friends is pregnant. She deserves it so very, very much!
• Spring is just a couple of days away and i feel so good. My boys need to take spring flowers to school for Tuesday to plant and i think that a great trip to the nursery to stock up on seedlings for the house and the school is on the cards!
• I have a busy work week and had a late dinner last night. It was a lovely cozy little Portuguese restuarant and I had a great time. But i missed the kids and will be glad to spend some time with them this weekend especially as Sethy is ill again! Oh dear, the germs love this kid!
• I managed to slip out of work to have a lovely cafe style lunch with my hubby, good coffee followed and a browse in a book shop. It was such an unexpected gift and allowed us time to catch up.
• I discovered this lovely quote from the wizard of Oz and i love it right now!: Dorothy: "Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home. Home! And this is my room, and you're all here. And I'm not gonna leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all, and - oh, Auntie Em - there's no place like home!"
  

Me in a nutshell!

Have a good midweek day!
Al

Coming alive

I have always known that i am a summer kind of gal. I dont like the cold and winter is just a period to endure. Perhaps its because here in South Africa we dont really have pretty winters. I mean it does snow, no icicles, no Christmas blah, blah... Our winters are cold, dry and brown. Man I hate brown. Having looked at brown leaves and grass for the pass couple of months i have no idea why anyone would want to paint anything in their home brown. Down with brown!

But i really had no idea how affected i was by the bad weather until the sun arrived this weekend. And it was a glorious weekend. Friday night i had a gala dinner which turned out really well. I ended up drinking red wine and dancing with my staff. Saturday my best friend came to my house with her kids. We went to the nursery with all of the tots so that they could play and we could drink coffee and inhale cake. Then back to my place where i pulled out my very comfy garden chairs and we reclined under the tree on my lawn. The kids played, I crocheted, the sun shone.... it was blissful. Sunday was just as good. The weather just inspired me. I woke up late, looked at the shining sun and thought "I just cant waste this weather.". We were outside for most of the morning. Beyond the joy of being outside, i just felt alive. I sorted out all the lovely furniture that came from my kind mother in law. I crocheted a large section of my midnight blue shawl. I cooked without any stress.

Perhaps it was my approach to food that was most telling. I am not a great winter cook although i appreciate soups, stews etc. But summer...... when its warm and produce seems to be soaked in sunshine and goodness. At every supper i did fruit platters that we could just nibble on, chilled in the fridge. Even jugs of sparkling water with fruit and ice in, takes a whole new meaning in the heat of the sun. It helps me to eat better and then i feel healthier and better about myself...

So here are some of my summer dreams right now.....

• My veggie garden. It is still producing from my winter crop and we had cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce out of it this weekend. But i cant wait to start planning my summer veggies, with LOTS of tomatoes, as usual....
• My garden generally. I am delighted that the garden has survived the winter well. Most of what i put in last year is still there and everything is covered in new green buds. I need to plant my annuals...
• Braai's and eating outside. When i was at the nursery this weekend i priced a lovely table and bench set. I want to put it outside under the tree to encourage us to eat outside more. We have a large patio at the back of the house with table and chairs but it gets too hot for us to really sit on.
• Tea parties. I have decided i am going to throw a cool girly tea party for all my girl friends. One of the gifts from my mother in law is a beautiful china display cabinet that my father in law made when he was a boy. I want to collect antique china to fill it up. What a chore....... ( She says in jest while rubbing her hands in glee!)

I love to pop into the Soule mama blog and recently she has focused on following the season. I have struggled a bit with this as we are in the midst of winter and i just want to run the other way........ but i am determined to take her advice this spring and summer. To all my northern hemisphere visitors i wish you some good last summer days......

Al

Sweet baby seth

I know, i know, two posts in one day is overdoing it. BUT i found these cute pictures of little baby Seth when he was six weeks old and he was just SO cute that i had to share them. He is such a big, bouncy two going on three year old now. I cant believe that he was so little. Just as i struggle to remember Gabby when he was Seth's age. Stop growing, wont you!!!!

Soft, sweet, precious baby boy, I love you more and more each day. You are such a happy child of sunshine, laughter and joy. You teach me every day not to take life too seriously, with your quick hugs and volunteered kisses. You are boyhood personified but are still so kind, caring, compassionate. You are the first to throw your arms around any of us if you sense any pain or unhappiness. As little as you are, you will defend your older brother passionately, if you feel anyone is messing with him. Your momma sure loves you, sweet thing!!!

Things i am loving right now.....

• The pile of new books that i picked up at the second hand shop for a song yesterday.
• The beyond cute little chinese suits that i bought for my boys. Both are made of silk, Gabriel's is black with red dragons and Seth's is royal blue with gold dragons. I will post pics soon.
• The fact that the spring promise is revitalising me and i managed to take about 200 pictures on the weekend. YES, i did! I also popped into the scrapbooking shop and they were having a huge sale. I stocked up and i am planning to scrap this weekend. I find that all my craft trends come and go, in about an 8 week cycle. I will crochet madly and neglect my stitching. Then move to scrapbooking.
• The fact that we are all well again. It is so good to have no germs around.
• My garden is coming alive again. Everything is just springing green.
• Our new trend is eating fruit and veggies again. I find it is a real spring, summer trend.

What are you loving right now?
Al

Special ordinary moments

Sometimes special moments are ordinary and ordinary moments are special:

• Waking up to the sound of birds.
  
• The joy of laughing with some female friend - colleagues until your tummy hurts.
• Coming home and finding that your hubby has come home early and that you are able to cook supper together and eat leisurely at the table...
• Having your cousin stop in for a quick cup of coffee.
• Buying some nice new body butter that smells of summer and putting it liberally all over you after a hot shower, while your hubby baths the littlies....
• The kids playing peacefully while you get to blog.
• Seeing the promise of spring in the early blooms at your door.

I had a very special, ordinary day.......