Category Archives: Taking Stock

Taking Stock

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Making :commitments to myself 

Cooking : wontons in bone broth

Drinking : nettle, sage and yarrow tea

Reading: knitting patterns and blogs about knitting, Kingdom of Kammebornia,  hello cool weather handcrafts

Wanting: to have as many arms as Durga so I can do all my tasks at once, and hug my family, garden and still knit…

Looking: at the tree line against the incredible blue sky, at what grows when you give

Playing: Harmonium, piano, accordian, Set, Chinese checkers

Wasting: energy worrying about all that I shall not accomplish today. I shall stop now.

Sewing: a quilt very slowly but I better hurry up for the birthday

Wishing: I had a few more me’s or a few less interests!

Enjoying: expanding  out into the world, being employed in an area I totally love and get to use and share skills my family don’t request from me. Knowing I’m going away to see my family really soon!

Waiting: for seeds to sprout, ideas to bloom, kettle to boil, to let go

Liking: that I am learning, yes I am, to go at my own pace a bit more!

Wondering: if I can just keep on nurturing that second of time before habitual response, that allows me to look below words to the unmet needs of another instead of taking things so personally

Loving: laying on the ground, half in the gentler sun of the season, feeling supported

Hoping:it will rain, my children will grow through to adulthood with good inner and outer health

Marvelling: at Cedar riding a bike so happily and strongly suddenly!

Wishing: for some tips on what I could do, see, eat and hear when I go to Melbourne solo soon!

Needing: continuity, rain, sea, to express myself, camping, fire, flowers

Smelling: geranium oil, sawdust, sunshine

Wearing: a gift from my mama

Following:  my nose to the blossoming tamarillo tree! Wow .

Noticing: the changing light, the cosy nights, a tall adolescent, 

Knowing: this too shall pass.

Thinking: I’m ready for all this change

Feeling: encouraged

Bookmarking: poetry by Timothy McLaughlin

Opening: my eyes before the sun

Giggling: with a beautiful bearded fellow

Feeling: grateful, anticipation, loss, tolerance


Thanks to Pip over at Meet me at Mike for the taking stock inspiration.

Taking Stock

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Returning home and taking stock. Thanks to Pip at Meet me at Mikes for the word list.

  Making :

time to stroll around outside before children wake up. counting leaves and flowers and feeling that everything is really happy I’m home

and fantasise about all the gardening I will do… I have some cheeky plants that went ballistic while I was away and still a few gaps to plant in….

Cooking : snow pea, red capsicum and pineapple sage flower salad with lemon and mandarin dressing, also young broad bean and leek sauted in lemon juice. Mmm

Drinking : mango smoothie, mangoes foraged by Jesse. What a man, he brought in about 300 mangoes last season! Now we enjoy the last frozen cheeks…

Reading: our ash grove blog, beautiful and creative and wondering how does life look homeschooling with 5 children?

Pondering: how to grow with the children and stop my default repeats.

Wanting: a massage, a shiatsu or a kahuna therapist to knock on my door right now…

  Looking: at cobwebs. Lots of cobwebs. Overflowing suitcases, washing and general debris of returning home. Flowers! Lots of flowers!  Also looking at some of my favourite things. Is this really my home?

Playing: a game where i am employed by this house for domestic duties and I get paid holidays and good hours… And other perks…

Wasting: time searching for cherry red flannel sheets on the internet. I know winters over right, but  maybe for next year… 

Sewing: lots in my imagination! Like a whole new rack of simple stylin lady fashion. 

Wishing: spring was 6 months of the year, I could teleport and whistle really genuine bird calls. Not at the same time.

  Enjoying: the reward of planting bulbs at Easter and seeing a bed full of freesias bursting with colour and fragrance in spring . No instant gratification involved. Patience. I think I’m growing up!

Waiting: to grow up and be more patient. To get a hold over this overactive mind. To visit  my newly moved mama and papa in Tasmania!

Liking: the morning sun as I meander the gardens and check on the fruit tree buds and seedlings and the caress of the cool breeze and bird song. Spring mornings in Bellingen are delightful. 

Delighting: in the wild creatures, on the night of our arrival home we are greeted by the first cicadas, the fire flies and a python on the verandah. Welcome home!

Wondering: if I will be able to do all I dream of in one day.

Loving: gathering my family for a home cooked garden dinner by candlelight, at home, at our own table for the first time in a long time. Sweet.

Hoping: the children will have a great swathe of warm memories from their time in our care.

Marvelling: that Cedar has just had his first doctor visit! I was a bit out of depth for this cut and am grateful for the medical help when needed and to Jane for holding my hand and standing up to the pushy Dr. And so grateful he has been a well boy thus far. I know dr help is a big part of some families reality and it’s fantastic when you need them and there they are! 

Needing: to practice to say what I think even if it might be uncomfortable. 

  Smelling: something delightful on the air, floral, springy, mystery blossom.

Wearing: daggy old clothes and feeling ok about that. 

Following: my own adventures on my own blog. Now that’s good for perspective!

Noticing: sometimes I write something I’m proud of. Sometimes I take a photograph I’m proud of! 

Knowing: I need to practice believing in my gifts and talents.

Thinking: about the simple gift of a safe home to go back to and all the people who don’t have one right now.

Feeling: a bit helpless to make a difference right now on a global scale and remembering to practice peace at home.

Bookmarking: hmm. Any suggestions?

Opening: an illustrated envelope, with a handwritten card containing old photos of myself and friends from another life, a gift from a dear friend today to make me smile!

Giggling: at the sweetness of being seventeen.

Feeling: incredulous that it’s only 6 years til I have my own sweet seventeen year old child! 

Quoting: family life is like music, some high notes, some low notes, but all together a sweet melody.

  
All photos from my springy garden! I didn’t shoot the crazy bits.

Taking stock.

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TAKING STOCK {making stock} May

inspired and borrowed from Pip over at Meet me at Mikes

a glance around my life presently. a record to reflect upon.

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Making : The choice to be grateful; Many times a day for many small momentous moments. Ziggy for Cedar. Dolls. Turn a square for Jesse. (shhh but it will be really cold in NZ in June…) lots of clothes for the children, a crafty mess!
Cooking : fish head soup! i know. weird and primitive. salsa verde, jaffles, 24 hour ferment sourdough bread, scones

Drinking : fermented grape juice. oops left the Black muscatel juice out of the fridge… tummy soother tea
Reading: The Endless Forest also Veggie Gardening magazines
Wanting: a field of carrots and potatoes to call my own, a third day off school for children
Looking: forward to playing with friends, singing, watering the garden in the early golden day
Playing: more games with Lily in the evening. Quirkle and Uno
Deciding: to write more, join a choir, be funnier
Wishing: i was a happy early riser
Enjoying: Autumn’s cool kiss, sleeping in the bus,
Waiting: to get hungry, to grow up, to see my mama
Liking: straight talking
Wondering: why i behave like a nuclear reactor some days
Loving: patience, forgiveness, repair
Pondering: the fact that i am buying cabbage seedlings. i must be settling in here!
Considering: the madness of leaving again in 8 no 7 weeks! {now it’s 4! eek}
Watching: small things grow bigger

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Hoping: my raw liver pills arrive tomorrow, i can learn the female vocals to Bob Marleys Hold onto this feeling
Marvelling: the magnificent jewel coloured gowns the deciduous trees are wearing these days, the good clever smart of solar powered lamps

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Needing: to run downhill and play like my children
Smelling: the first orange harvest, bread, Autumn winds
Wearing: brown velvet autumn leaves
Following: my instincts
Noticing: it makes me happier
Knowing: i need time to walk and breathe. alone.
Thinking: what will the next chapter be?
Feeling: amused by a playful fellow, the depth of love for my little people, excited about up coming photography work
Admiring: others photography, people who are storytellers, a meditating mama friend, honesty
Sorting: a tiny fridge after growers market abundance appears. wardrobes. my head.
Buying: woollen unders, Josephs coat yarns, a seatbelt
Getting: joy from laying on the ground and feeling
Bookmarking: willy wagtail woollens

Listening: Loren Kate  esp Deeper than the deep blue sea, The Neville brothers, Yungchen Lamo, Jesse 

Writing: seasonal poems, songs, poetree, silly words
Disliking: lack of fire place, self criticism, forgetting,
Opening: bags of fresh ground flour, pecans, hazelnuts, oranges, mama’s day gift, my heart

mama
Giggling: at farts, dancing, my little genie


Feeling: happiest outside, cosy under wool quilts, grateful for rain, incredulous at the rewards of gardening, different
Snacking: Jennifer apples, salsa verde, Lily biscuits

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Coveting: a fire box to warm my heart and tootsies
Wishing: to remain in the now or somewhere nearby it. i could knit faster.
Helping: little people learn little lifelong skills
Hearing: the big moons silvery shimmer, plants grow, farts, inner giggles

xx

ps this Taking stock was compiled in mid May and almost disappeared into the dusty archives of never published words to be nibbled on my cyber mice making nests, BUT luckily was joyfully retrieved and released { by a great librarian in diamente spectacles none the less}
to the world this good day in June. Hope you enjoy and had at least one giggle. Jesse this ones for you xx