Something else.

It has been a while, & our Little Man has grown up so much, since I last babysat.  The Little Man has been visiting his grandma but last week we resumed our intermittent visiting & returned again to the big park which has been revamped over the past few months.

 Things like the net walk, climbing bars & big slide have been built for much bigger children.  I'd've been lucky to manage the net walk ~ no way with the Little Man in tow.  We did the slide ~ once. It is higher, steeper & faster than it was & understandably the Little Man was cautious.  Even so, he refused to sit in my lap to come down.  Equally, he didn't want another go.

 They have this Little House for the Littlies ~ but it is nowhere near as exciting & adventurous & after a cursory investigation the Little Man abandoned it for the peddle see~saw swing. *sigh*  I know why he likes it but as his feet can't reach the peddles & his arms can't reach the handrail I have to hold him on & run!

There was a family of wood ducks nearby.  I do love me some wood ducks & they always have lots & lots of little ducklings in tow @ this time of the year but I rather wished we hadn't gone to investigate as one little duckling had a damaged leg.  As I was carless & this is not my area there was nothing I could do.  I did manage to fob the poor thing off onto another unsuspecting admirer-er to drop @ the local vets on their way to the daughter's netball game, so all's well that ends well.

The Inbetweens.

 In a moment, a breath, winter passed.  The icy mornings turned balmy & the sun through the trees shed only gentle warmth.

I am a person of inbetweens.  It is the inbetween seasons I like, the half~light between dawn & day, dusk & night, the half seen, the half heard rustlings, the shadow play of light, the deep toll of peace where the spinning world rests.

We have been so fraught for so long juggling the needs of others with all the things that need doing till my peace was frayed.  I am best in oceans of deep quiet: the bird song, the wash of water, the wind whisper gently pottering between garden & animals, able to pause because this day there were wallabies  bouncing along our beach, zillions of birds skittering through the trees, the cats that come to greet me with tails raised high & the hens calling a greeting as I pass. 

There is a bible verse that talks about this: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. You miss it in the rush & bustle.  The cities drown it out.  Only here, inbetween the ocean & the land, in the unquiet stillness, you sense the first garden functioning as it was always meant to function with that deep sense of rightness, everything going about it's own business in peace & harmony.  Just now there is plenty for everyone .  No need to squabble.  No need to fight. You can feel the generous hand of God pressing down till the cup of His blessing overflows.

Some of this &...

The MOTH, who is an eminently practical man, informed me today that preaching for one hour was equal to an 8 hour work day.  I think he thought I would find this consoling.  I do not. I am so wiped it is not funny.

It has been one of those weeks though.  One day I may figure out why everything piles up @ once but so far I remain clueless while I struggle to balance dental visits with doctor's visits & trips to the back of for chooks.  Both doctor & dentist are ongoing.  The dr for skin cancers ~ which involves needles... & more needles... an activity I can in no way abide & which stresses me no end.  I prefer dealing with the cleaning & filling ~ though this too will end in needles as some teeth are beyond repair. *sigh*

My quiet hermetic life hates these disruptions to its peace but some things just have to be done & removing the cancers is one of them for I inherited, not a lovely preaches & cream complexion from my English ancestors but, a ruddy Scots one that does not tolerate our Aussie sun well.  The first 2 were right on the temple but cheeks, hands & arm all need to be checked so we are doing the cut & stitch for the next lot when I have the stitches for the last lot removed.  Such fun! Not.

I birthed 5 children sans pain relief  or epidurals ~ anything being more tolerable than a needle of any description ~ & it takes up such swags of time traipsing to & fro when I could be doing something terribly useful ~ like contemplating my navel.

One Egg, Two Eggs...

 I spent a good part of today sitting quietly watching my chickens ~ which seems an insane sort of a thing to do.  However I find chickens restful.  Their soft chucking & delighted cackles when they produce an egg are eminently serene, the essence of a world that is intrinsically right.

However, my Australorps are already laying while the Rocks are POL, so Kate warned me to keep an eye on the Aussies, who are bigger & heavier, because they might hog the food ~ which they did! *sigh* And I needed to be sure the bullying didn't get out of hand because, after all, all these hens are still babies.  They are still learning ~ so much so they didn't realise the hutch was for roosting in last night & knocked the perch down; it is now firmly glued in place! But all my ladies were upstairs waiting to be shut in tonight.  Some were even actually roosting!

However sitting idly, sipping coffee, & watching my chooks scrabble in the mulch meant I was there when Nugget marched up the planking in solitary splendour to scrabble & thump & rattle & roll in the nesting boxes to produce our very first egg!

We ended up with 2,  Namaste also doing the deed, considerably later in the day.  They are a good sized egg, & a pretty, pale buff pink.  Nugget looks like being top chook, which no doubt will please ODD.

A Little Chicken in My Day...

Today was the day.

I dropped the man @ his boat & joined the long queue of cars, trucks, mowers & cement mixers headed inter~island or all the way to the mainland.  It's an hour trip,  bearable if  you have sweeping views of the bay to gaze upon,  stifling if you get wedged between the loos & the bridge, as I was going over.

ODD had agreed to navigate  for me because one of the purchased chickens was to be hers & I get to look after it because, though ODD adores all animals, her lifestyle prohibits owning even a goldfish.

We had several choices of route but as it was peak hour we took the Gateway, then cut across north Brisbane, only slightly less hair~raising than being on my own as ODD talked non~stop, & completely forgot she needed to direct me!  Never~the~less she did indeed get me to our destination.

Now chooks are messy birds & their pens & coops can quickly get on the pongy side but one of the reasons we were travelling all the way out to Mt Samson was because it was highly recommended & Kate, @  Beautiful Chickens, was the only breeder to get back to me & was willing to chat. So worth the effort.  Everything was absolutely spotless & all her birds are in wonderful condition!  I was madly impressed.

We had lots of choices: Sussex,  Rhode Island Reds,  Rocks & Australorps... but in the end I stuck with the Rocks & Aussies.  The Sussex were magnificent birds, large, splendid, stupendous ~ but still growing!!! Actually, so are the Rocks but they won't get that big!

 And all my birds got squashed into just 2 cages despite my having 3 because Kate assured me they would be happier together.  As these aren't small birds I was more than a little dubious but they travelled ok with only the occasional churring from my black girls.  I also got  informed about feed so got a 20 kilo bag while I was @ it.  Why not.  I had the island car to save all that hefting on & off boats.

 The Australorps are gorgeous birds.  Their black is not only glossy but has a wonderful blue/green sheen so they seem to glow.  One of these is ODD's *Nugget*.  The other her choir Mistress wanted named *Namaste*.  These 2 luscious girls are already laying & I suspect *Nugget* will be Top Chook so my chances of eggs shortly is greatly increased.

The Rocks are @ point of lay.  They still have some growing up to do & were reluctant to leave their carrier when we finally arrived home; the Aussies are braver ~ but they all huddled in the western corner  of the coop until the Rocks decided standing in the water dish was the way to go.  So glad I weighted them down but naturally they are now full of mulch & I will need to clean them tomorrow ~ probably several times.

They gobbled down all the food: kitchen scraps; mash & laying pellets but were terribly confused about where to roost for the night.  I had to shove them bodily into the hutch & whether they found the roost or not remains to be seen but they are such calm, happy girls & were chucking away quite mateily  as they surveyed their new home with eager curiosity.

The cats, on the other hand, acted as if I'd brought two~headed grogons home & yowled miserably. *sigh*  This could get interesting.

Counting Down...

At present I have a number of different things sitting in my yard: a roll of small gauge wire; 3 carrier
cages; a treadle feeder; 2 water containers; a bale of mulch & another of hemp...because we are that much closer to these chickens actually arriving.  Tentatively next Friday..?

Tentatively next Friday I will pick up ODD & head north ~ tentatively because it all depends a bit on the money because money is what will make this all go round merrily but just as I had everything nicely on track the bills started coming in, as they do, derailing all my plans.  It is all a bit iffy. If Beautiful Chickens have the birds I want... If I don't completely lose my head & opt for a beautiful Campine Girl even though they are flighty fliers...If I have enough carriers [even though 3 is all I can fit on my back seat]...if  I can't afford the 5 I want can I manage the 3 Rocks I want & 2 cheaper breeds...If ODD doesn't beg for the one bird I just know will be all sorts of trouble... ☺ 

And it gives me something to obsess about just now because we have packed Chile Girl & her bags back to Santiago & saying goodbye just never gets any easier.  After nearly 8 years you'd think we would be used to it  but this is the side of missionary work no~one ever sees.  We are, for all intents & purposes, invisible.  We are not on the field.  We are not the sending church.  So often we find ourselves waaaay, way down the list, especially on short visits because there are so many calls on Chile Girl's time & her funding so much depends on keeping  people  in touch & up to speed on what is happening so it can feel a little as if we've not had any time with her @ all.  I run her to & from boats, put her washing through the machine & hug her goodbye on the jetty in front of strangers ~ which is so not good because I don't do goodbyes well...

Fifteen months then she is coming home indefinitely because her grandparents are rapidly getting older & she wants to invest the time while she still has them.  She will do some study, find some work & eventually, I expect, head back on the field but as yet only God knows where that might be & what will happen in the interim.

...to All who Sail in Her....

Saturday was the BIG DAY. 

 Their service was a lovely mix of traditional & modern, fun & serious & as neither party is very young they were calm & composed throughout ~ & very, very sure of each other.

However I love this bunch of lads more than words can say! They have known each other literally all their lives. They went to the island school together; played soccer & cricket together; & then, as they grew up they stood beside each other as Best Men & groomsmen. T1 was Best Man for OT as OT was for him & all the lads wore something from each of the other weddings where they were there for each other, which I though was super special, really thoughtful & a quiet nod to all the other marriages they represented.

Now we can all get on with the serious business of walking out this marriage before God.