Such a cold morning, and so, so beautiful, I snuck out to take some photos of the back yard.

So still.

Lichen.

Daisy.

Web.

Rosemary doesn’t mind the chill.

We are looking to find a new flat, with two kiddies more than when we moved in three years ago, and a letter to say the rent is going up in 60 days, the count down has begun.  With such a change a head, I find myself reflecting on the time I have had here.

The other day as I lay breastfeeding Blake to sleep in the afternoon, Luna was beside me in bed reading, or so I thought as I gazed out the open window at the silhouette of the plum tree against the cloudy sky.  I looked over as I was about to extract myself from Blake when I realised she had also been staring out the window.  Seems it’s a good view.  I have spent so many hours in this room, with this view, mostly breastfeeding, singing to, or cuddling either Luna or Blake off to sleep here and if there is some light I enjoy looking out the window.  The view is mostly of the sky behind the old plum tree and the pitasporum.  In winter the skinny bare branches scratch at the sky, and in summer the leaves make a crisp rustling noise, which I think captured Luna’s attention.  At this time of the year I can really feel the change as we move closer to Autumn, and I love it.

I will miss this view, and this has been an eventful home for us, I gave birth to both my babies here, and the profound experience of becoming a mother has been shaped to some extent by this house, making it easier for me to go with my instincts.  For one thing, the ‘second bedroom’ is not so much a ‘bedroom’ as a small room off the garage with manky carpet and a mouldy wall, it was not perfect when we moved in but we figured we could work with it.  We have, after all, lived in some odd places.  Luna taught me that all those ideas about what babies are like, all the ‘what to expect’s are absurd myths that everyone pretends are true.  For instance, the idea that you just put a baby to bed in a bassinet and they lay there and drift off to sleep all happy and content.  Or that babies ‘genrally breastfeed between 2-4 hours’ at first, so then you think, ok I can live with that.  Surely you just feed them, and then they’ll sleep/be happy/not need you long enough so you can shower, clean the house, organise a meal, right?

So we ended up just co-sleeping, having all the babies in with us, it’s lovely and a bit of a squeeze at times, especially when old Austin The Cat moves in on those cold old winter nights, or for afternoon naps.  But we are all ready for a change and some more space to stretch out.  I’m excited about what our next adventure will be and where it will take us, and the new things to learn as our children grow.

Early evening from our bedroom window.

This years garlic harvest was a bumper crop, we had made a few minor changes based  on last year.  We spaced the cloves out a little more – at least 15cms, and we actually did not feed the bed as much as the earlier plantings, and the cloves were already sprouting when we planted them.

Before braiding them this year, I also gave them longer to dry, a little too long as the leaves were quite crisp and brittle while I finished plaiting, but the garlic is just delicious.  We harvested them on the Summer Solstice, and although the heads were complete, they were rather small, I think if we left them a little longer in the ground, maybe another couple of weeks, or a month, they would have been much bigger. 

Just beautiful around here today, they garden is alive  with colour and the ground is warm, can’t wait for the garlic harvest.  Summer solstice is happening on the 21st of December, a day of pulling up the lovely fat bulbs, and of course a delicious lunch.

Last night I took these photos of the monarch butterfly eggs as some had turned quite dark.  Anticipating they may be nearly ready to hatch, we checked early this morning and we have some tiny caterpillars creeping around the leaves!  Very exciting, I just hope they don’t demolish the plant entirely.