John Marsden And Some Snow

While still on the subject of catching up, I thought I'd share with you some favourite photos from the last six months.

I especially love this photo of Georgia with Australian author of "The Tomorrow series", John Marsden. What a wonderful, approachable, down to earth man he was (dressed in a lovely hand knitted jersey).  Georgia has read all his books and he is a particular favourite of hers, even before the movie came out and his name was bandied around more.  So imagine our good luck when John came to New Zealand especially to host some writing camps to support Christchurch high school students after the February earthquake. Luckily for us he held a public talk one evening in a still standing central city church, so Georgia and I were able to go listen to him. He talked about how he builds stories up from a basic few sentences, then adds in all the descriptive stuff.  I really enjoyed hearing him.  It definitely helped me understand more about creative writing and the things I needed to look out for when teaching writing to make it more interesting (especially not to over-describe and get carried away). Although he still writes, he is principal at a special character school.
"In 2006, he started an alternative school, Candlebark School in the Macedon Ranges, in which he is the school principal. Marsden has since reduced his writing to focus on teaching and running the school." WIKI
He signed one of Georgia's books with "Take care, take risks" which is his school motto.

Homeschool
During the winter months we skied with our homeschool group.  This year was our 1st time doing this.  Alex has skied in the past few years with Autism New Zealand during the July holidays, however Georgia was a first time skier.  I had last skied 20 years ago (blush).  Canterbury boasts quite a few ski fields within 1 or 2 hours drive from Christchurch.  Mt Hutt, near Methven, is only about an hours drive to the car park at the bottom of the mountain.  Then it's a slow crawl up an awful access road (and I mean awful, one of the worst roads in New Zealand), really slippery, really really icy with (in parts) shear walls down each side of the road. Even 4WD vehicles slide all over the place.  I can tell you, I was praying the whole way up that we would arrive in the car park safely, it was that bad.  One of the Dads was our van driver, who drove very very carefully up that road, and he was visibly relieved once at the car park.  It's just as scary going back down at the end of the day when the ice starts forming again. 

But apart from that, we had just 2 days skiing over the whole of winter.  Mainly due to no snow.  Hard to believe there was hardly any snow.  The winter had very few storms, just 2 main ones.  We skied after each snow dump because for the rest of the time there was very little base to ski on.  I was base camp mother for the 1st trip and was set up in the cafeteria (very nice) where I looked after bags and helped out anyone needing assistance.  I was able to watch Georgia learning to ski on the learners slope.  Alex was happily away and up the mountain where he took some photos for me.  I skied on the second trip.  This meant I could spend the whole day hanging out with Georgia on the learner's slope, and later in the day venturing up the next run.  Sadly the day was a whiteout from the word go, no sun, no photos and iced up goggles and little visibility.  But a great 2 days PE for school and wonderful memories.

Homeschooling allows us these wonderful opportunities, to be able to have may days like this, and base schoolwork around them.  We were able to pick and chose our days based on the weather conditions, whereas most public schools have just the one day and that's it.  Next year we hope to stay in an alpine village for several days and ski. 

   Traveling up the access road, doesn't look too bad in this photo

View from the top of the learners slope

Halfway up the mountain, a wonderful view of the Canterbury Plains below

The ski field relies heavily on the snow makers due to lack of real snow

View of Mt Hutt complex, normally that hillside is completely covered in snow

I had hopes of blogging some more storm photos, but have run out of room and time.  Must away to do chores, school and errands. As Scarlett O'Hara says "After all.....tomorrow is another day".

Quotable Quote

"What," said the young man, "Is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?"

"Well," came the reply from his elder.

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom, on the other hand, is knowing that you do not put it in a fruit salad!"

Frugal Vegetable Soup (bulk freezer recipe)

Around the home

It was Queens Birthday weekend and also a long weekend for New Zealanders.  The Queen's birthday is actually in April, however we celebrate it in June.  Haven't ever found out the reason for this, perhaps someone knows?

A strong earthquake measuring 5.5 jolted us all yesterday morning at 9.09am.  We have had a real seismic couple of days.  I will need to straighten my bookcases again, as the books all slid sideways.  Last evening, I had just finished giving Alex the earthquake drill before leaving to pick Georgia up from her friends house, when another one hit.  It pays to just remind the children when they are being left at home for a short time, what to do if one strikes and Mum and Dad have popped out.  I admit to feeling uneasy leaving him on a day with so many aftershocks.  Turned out there were no more while I was out.  Just one when I got home instead.

Georgia has been away all weekend, staying with a horsey friend and being groom at a 2 day horse competition.  I have to admit to missing her.  We share such a close relationship, so I missed her chatter and excitement around the house.  Alf and Alex had Air soft on Saturday and worked together yesterday and Sunday.  So I've actually had some quiet time to myself.  This is most unusual and almost never happens.  So what did I do with my time? I finished a (non homeschooling) book I was reading, spent some time reading blogs, got up to date with the accounts for our business, and pottered around the house.  Not terribly exciting at all.  However, I feel refreshed with just having had a break from other people.

In the last week, we have adopted Isaac, the country dog.  This came about because his family had moved to Australia for work about 6 months ago.  Since then he has missed having children and people around him.  Isaac is a 12 year old Black Lab/huntaway cross, with the most gentle personality and only one eye.  He is very good around the cats and doesn't even bark at the chickens (he is very good at rounding them up when they get out).  He will invariably retire with us and is no problem at all.  Hopefully he will be a good teacher for young Moose when he gets here. Which won't be long now, as they are running around outside now.  So our pet population has suddenly doubled almost overnight!

In the Kitchen
I make this soup almost weekly over the winter months.  Very cheap to make and is delicious.  You can even watch it on YouTube.

Pumpkin & Vegetable Soup

5 litres water in a large pot
Bring to boil and add the following:- pumpkin, celery, carrots, silverbeet, 4T chicken stock and minced garlic
Boil soup for 20 minutes
Add 2 cups red lentils
Boil another 20 minutes
Puree soup

 

My blog has finally gone to the dogs

Around the Home
It's doesn't feel like that long ago that I began blogging about our daily and weekly lives.  Eight months has now passed...where has that time gone? One thing I do remember with great joy, was the encouragement I received from experienced bloggers here in New Zealand, like Leanne @ Cottagetails. I suddenly felt part of a huge community of like minded women, with lives fairly similar to mine.  My lovely cousin Ruth, who lives in Queensland, Australia, is just starting out in the blogging world as well.  If you have a moment, pop across to her new blog creations by Ruth.  If you are into crafts and quilting, Ruth is a gifted quilter who even runs her own patchwork and quilting business.

More Dog Stories
It seems these days that this place has really gone to the dogs.  Banshee, the puppies mum, is now feeding a 6 day old cocker spaniel pup.  The puppy is from a litter of 9, and the mum has become seriously ill with peritonitis and endometriosis.  The 8 other pups are being fed successfully by bottle, but the one we are looking after is refusing to feed.  So Georgia has taken over the role of midwife again and going over and putting this wee fella on.  The puppy then has his own wee box to live in.  He makes the 3 other puppies look enormous.

In the garden
This past Sunday was a perfect day to spend in the garden.  Alf and I had kept the day free of errands and other jobs, we even stayed home from church.  Sunday for us was a much anticipated day and the winter weather was gloriously clear, with a crisp frost to start the day.  Two big jobs were on our "to-do" list and were scheduled to be done. Firstly the silver birch tree that we stood under in the midst of summer, was finally cut down to make way for a new big garden.  Alf had a wonderful homeschool moment where he taught Alex chainsaw safety and how to cut up small branches.  Baby steps first thankfully, before any actual tree cutting down gets done.

 Alf sawing down the tree & Alex sawing off small branches

A homeschooling lesson for the farm loving boy and his dad.

Secondly, we are putting in a new path from our "garden gate" through the garden.  Instead of having 3ish smaller gardens, I will have 1 large long garden and a shorter one next to the chicken coop.

The new path heads towards the tree that Alf is trimming, turns right past the compost, then to the plastic house.

Mmmmm....clearly some tidying up to be done here

Who needs to hire a compactor, when you can just grab the nearest teenage boy

Georgia picking off the summer's dried beans for storage

Happiness is.......sunning yourself in the winter sun