10 Jul 2012

Things we're doing




My husband reads my blog. I know that, because the other day this arrived in the mail. Have I told you lately how much I love him?

If I'd known that I was really going to get one of these beautiful jigsaws I probably would have chosen one with a more defined picture and less pieces, but it has me hooked, and I have been spending far too much time at the games table this week.

Do you like jigsaws? We all do around here. A beautiful jigsaw is one of my traditional Christmas presents. It wouldn't be Christmas without a puzzle or two.



Because I have been spending too much time working on uniting the states of America I haven't been blogging. Naughty me. I have been doing a few things though:

1. Enjoying the scent of bunches of lovely early narcissi from our garden. The paler one is Erlicheer. Anybody know what the other more single one with the egg yolk yellow centre is? It was here when we bought the house. I think it is lovely.


2. I have the urge to do some more crochet, this time a quilt of squares for Jemimah's bed in bright tweeny colours - bright pink, purple, turquoise. I won't let myself start, though, until I finish up some of the projects that are patiently waiting attention. This one is a grannie stripe cushion cover. It really only needs a cushion insert so that I can check the size before joining it together, but I also need to stitch up Bennett Blanket, which Jemimah and I knitted last winter, and buy buttons for a couple of cushions. I also have a scarf on the go, but I think I will be knitting that forever, and so I will just keep plugging away. It is very pretty but oh so s.l.o.w.


3. I have had a pash on baking these pastry pie things with a variety of different toppings. This one is silverbeet and onion topped with thinly sliced potato and cheddar cheese, but pizza topping of tomato cooked with pinenuts, onion and garlic, pesto, goats cheese and fresh basil is probably our favourite to date.




4. We are still doing school even though it is the Victorian school holidays. We have been enjoying the slightly different routine, though, without all the regular sporting commitments in the afternoons. Jemimah is currently competing in a full day badminton tournament, which breaks up the week a little, as does her 'summer' photography camp which began yesterday. There are a few of you doing the course with us. I hope you're enjoying it!

You'll notice a little black furry Flossie head on Jemimah's knee while she does her maths. That's where you'll find her most days. She is really cute, even though she does cry loudly during the night, and you really shouldn't get me started on toilet training...

We have three more weeks to go until term two is finished. I can't believe how quickly the years pass.


5. None of us have been doing much reading. I don't know why that would be - it predates the jigsaw - but we read for pleasure not as a duty, so no doubt we will get into it again. I am reading How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer. It's an oldie but a goodie. I am enjoying it so much more having studied AO History with Jemimah, because it touches on so many people that we've been getting to know quite well. I am also reading Snow Country by Japanese Nobel Prize winner, Yasunari Kawabata. It is hauntingly beautiful, but I can hardly bear to keep reading as the characters and their relationships self destruct. It is so lonely.

You'll notice I gave up writing about my year's reading in about March. Slack, I know.I can't blame the jigsaw for that either. Oh well.

What have you been up to? Have you been cooking or gardening or reading? Are you on holidays? Have you, pehaps, been doing a jigsaw too? Do tell.

18 comments:

  1. Sigh...it is a long while since we have done a big jigsaw. Seasons, seasons, the littlies will be up and gone before we know it.
    I read the Crown and Covenant trilogy but reading, other than schooly based stuff isn't happening much here. Not even on the computer.

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  2. Did you read them to the boys, Ruby? We read them as a family read aloud a couple of years ago. We liked them a lot...and learned heaps!

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  3. Back to the grind but we have started with subjects I'm really enjoying ~ especially the practical prayer component! ☺ Then we have ministry movements I am not yet at liberty to discuss but it is all very exciting & a concert soon....

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  4. We are enjoying a holiday break at the moment. I do have a jigsaw out for Ess and I'd love to join her with it but it is a challenge with a 21m old. I need to remind myself to enjoy the toddler days and their busy happy exploration touching and almost destroying everything while I long for games and puzzles with my older girls.

    I've been doing lots of cooking - soups, cakes, profiteroles, guacamole and nachos, fish and chips, lots of chicken curries and lots of chick pea patties of various styles for lunch time.

    I love the look of your yarn and am keen to see your tweenies blanket for Jemimah - the colours sound lovely and would be well loved here too.

    Happy Day Jeanne

    Cee xxoo

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  5. Jeanne, I haven't read them to the boys. Not much good at accents plus even though I learned a lot and enjoyed putting a story to the history, the boys are not in the same orbit like that :-)

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  6. I love doing jigsaws, but haven't since we got Ruby (cat) as I know she will be very naughty and sit on it or eat the pieces. Perhaps when she is more mature!!

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  7. Jigsaws remind me of nights staying up late with Mum while Dad and my brothers went to the smash-up truck derby! Now they (jigsaws, not so much the smash ups) are something I enjoy with MY daughter :) Your new one looks delightful!

    Last weekend I baked an apple pie for my loved ones, the first time my pastry has worked out just right. It was sweet torture watching them enjoy it. Tomorrow I will attempt gluten-free ginger snap cookies. I'm inspired by your pastry thingy and feel some experiments coming on ...

    I'm getting better after a wonderful (family wise) and terrible (healthwise) few months, but still haven't written in my blog :( Hope to have time and freedom to write about LOTS of good things soon, having had plenty of time to think, read and observe. Hubby is a bit protective of me at present and doesn't want me to get eye strain or overtired.

    Hard to know where to pick it up. Perhaps with the Happy Birthday Peter Rabbit musical we hope to see this month. Tonight I excitedly bookmarked Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty (by the Imperial Russian Ballet) as wish-to-see performances this year.

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  8. What a lovely surprise for you!
    Those puzzle pieces are intriguing. I can understand that it would be enticing you away from other things. :)

    We've recently finished a jigsaw puzzle for Mariposa's room. It's another horse picture (mare and foal). She's now saving up for a basic frame to go around it.

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  9. Lovely jigsaw, flowers and that food looks yummy. We are on holidays back at home as much as we can with a B&B, but it is delightful to be so close to the ocean once again. I have printed out AO2 yesterday all ready to start next week and this morning I woke feeling quite anxious about my decision and worrying about my sons reading, writing and spelling skills. I know it's pathetic. xxx

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  10. Your pies look delish :) We're away for this out second week of holidays after a busy week with friends and family visiting last week. Lovely.

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  11. What a sweet husband. He is a keeper!

    DH bought me Murakami's 1Q84. I. Did. Not. Like. It. I just did not have the heart to tell him!

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  12. No, I didn't like it either. It is the worst Murakami I have read.

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  13. I have just finished the Schaeffer book too. I find most of the books produced by that family life-giving. Currently reading Elizabeth Gaskell's 'North and South'- a great favourite of mine

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  14. We've had ups and downs this past week, grieving, funeral and then a snow trip! Ron's off work which is lovely! and I've now been spending time reading all your blog posts I missed :)

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  15. Your days sound delightful and what a lovely thing for your beloved to do. I have How Should we Then Live on cps about 8hrs worth, so I think I'll give it a go and start it considering you've liked the book, just the encouragement (and reminding) I needed! Blessings

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  16. And I'll be giving that pastry idea a go for lunch tomorrow!

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  17. Lovely post! I have had that Scaeffer book on my to read list...I am reading Walking on Walking (among many other things) by L'Engle right now...

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  18. Ugh. ScHaeffer and Walking on WATER...LOL

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