Home

We are trying to find the groove again back home. We're all mooning a bit now we've seen the alternative this weekend. The midget is making plans for having lots of cats when he is older. The eldest is deciding what breed of (guard) dog he will have when he has his farm (yes, the boy who was afraid of puppies now wants a guard dog). I am deciding whether to rip carpets out in my house because I really do think bare flooring is cleaner, and more aesthetically pleasing, or whether I just can't be bothered (I think 'not bothering' is going to win out). And we're all trying to get used to do-si-do-ing around each other again as we stub toes and and find room to balance things.

I'm trying to find my happy place, but the truth is I left it behind in the chicken run.

But. Onwards and upwards. We have good weather and a patch of grass. White grape juice and elderflower exist and we haven't even started on the PYO farms this year yet! Hmm.... the promise of strawberries and blueberries and some good old fashioned jam-making, trips to the beach, and possibly a visit to the Home Land might just keep us going....

No Body Here 'Cept Us Chickens ...

Things I have learned this long, hot weekend house-sitting with the boys ...

:: Some people are just kind for the sake of it

:: Trust is a weighty honour

:: Buff Orpingtons are very pretty

:: But also very stupid and very, very funny

:: I want chickens

:: Buff Orpingtons (naturally)

:: Given space we get along a lot better as a family

:: Given a big kitchen I think I would be a very happy cook

:: My children have a great capacity to learn new things and be very good at it

:: Dogophobia is curable. Indeed, it may even transmute into dogophilia

:: I think I just made those words up

:: I thought I wanted a farm, but I was wrong. I really, really, really, REALLY NEED a farm.

:: People dehumanise themselves when they live in towns. We were not meant to have TV, we were meant to work the land a feed chickens.

:: And play 'fetch'

:: Dogs eventually hide balls if they are all fetched out

:: Peace and quiet soothes my soul

:: My children believe me now when I moan about our teeny tiny house

:: They've realised what the Good Life is.

:: Toys are distractions for people with no space to roam around in or work to do

:: I want a walk-in pantry

:: In the farm of my dreams

:: I could happily spend an entire evening watering plants and fussing over seedlings

:: You should never forget to pack deodrant

:: You should never neglect to put sunblock on

:: You never know what's around the corner in life. Last weekend I was moaning about the none-stop rain in my ghetto mid-terrace, and this weekend I was sitting miles from anyone, with land to roam in a heatwave.

:: Tractors are the best type of traffic to have

:: If you sit underneath an apple tree as the sun sets and close your eyes you can hear an insect motorway.

:: You could take a picture every second of every sunset every day and it would still never get old



And now back to earth with a bump. Back home. Back to reality. It was good while it lasted.

Catching my wheezy breath...

It had to happen I suppose. It always does. After a heady week and a half of the return of summer, autumn returned and brought with it a dose of the sniffles.

We're all ill, bunged up, sore throated, shivering and hurting. Only rest brings ease. But as a consequence we had to miss the Autumn fair this year. I'm a bit bummed by that. But worse? The most terrible news of all?? My dream farm has been bought ... *sobs* ... illness I can handle, a break in tradition I can get over, but having my dreams broken??! Gah!

I'm only half joking. I suppose this is what happens when we fall in love with the World instead of what is Real. Silly me. Onwards and upwards.

So cheer me up - how was YOUR weekend? How are YOUR dreams coming along... I really would love to know...




*** *** ***

I'm not the only one Farm Dreamin'....

We're all dreaming about The Farm. You know those dreams you have :: big, silly, impossible dreams. Dreams that hurt when you realise how far flung from your reality they are?

Then you read something like this and you dust your dreams down, hold them close and take one step at a time, putting one foot in front of the other...

If a man is on the Right Path, all he has to do is to keep walking to reach his destination... a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Proverb

*** *** ***