Sowing the seeds

So, we've put the path around the house. Now we've had some soil delivered, and Pete spreads it around the outside of the path to provide a nice sloping gradient. Then it's time to sow the grass seeds. Pete figures that the manly task is done, so he goes off to do other manly tasks - such as go for a bike ride; while Sabina and I are left to do the sowing.

We put the seeds in a bucket, and sow them one handful at a time, singing the song "Sowing the seeds of love" as we do so. Well, we don't actually know the entire song, so we just sing the two lines that we know. At one point I stop singing, and just listen to Sabina.

Her little voice is so sweet that if I was a seed of grass, I would definitely start growing!

Grand Final

It's AFL Grand Final day today. "Hmmm, how shall I celebrate?" I look around for a minute, then grab the tractor.

Half an hour later we have our very own, freshly mown, oval. Of course, it's much more the size of an equestrian arena. Mere details.

When the neighbours pop around to say hello, I suggest a game. It all ends in laughs.

The Soup

Inspired by the leek in my veggie delivery, I gaze into the cookbook. There it is - leek and potato soup. I am secretly hoping that this is something my family won't like, and I will have oodles of helpings all to myself.

I carefully cook up my inspiration, and call up the troops for lunch. I smile. "Who would like some leek and potato soup?" All hands go up. Hmmm, this wasn't part of the plan.

The soup is devoured, and I ask (foolishly) if anyone is up for seconds. All hands go up again. This is out of control! My husband hates soups, and my daughter dislikes potatoes. What's going on?

By the end of lunch a mere cupful or two of the soup remain. The troops are licking their lips and patting their tummies with satisfaction.

The Tooth Fairy

(This episode actually happened a while ago, like about a year ago, but I kept forgetting to write about it. So, here goes.)

Sabina's first tooth is moving. Oh my goodness. Already? When the tooth started moving a lot, we started discussing the tooth fairy.

"When the tooth falls out", says Sabina, "you leave it on a plate. Then, in the night", she starts whispering in a mysterious voice, "the tooth fairy comes and takes the tooth and the child with her."

The smiles immediately vanish from our parental faces, and we both exclaim a huge "What?!".

"Yes", Sabina continues, totally unphased by our huge surprise. "The fairy takes the child up into the sky. And the child puts the tooth in a special spot in the sky. Then the child comes back down."

"Phew! Thank goodness the child comes back", we both sigh with relief.

"And then", Sabina continues with mysterious voice, "the tooth becomes a star."

We gaze at each other with pride and disbelief. We both love this story, but where in the world did our daughter come up with it?

"All your baby teeth", continues Sabina, "are up there, shining down on you every night, and taking care of you."

Ok, now she's starting to become so gorgous we just want to hug her. But, wait, she's not finished yet.

"And then", she goes on, "when you die, all your stars drop out of the sky, and onto you."

And that's how you combine fantasy and imagination with science and logic. She's got it all in one - she's prevented overcrowding of stars in the sky, and she's taken care of shooting stars as well. That's our girl!

Only in Australia

Maintenance work is currently being carried out on the train line between Pakenham and Warragul, and so the train service has been replaced by buses.

Football (AFL) finals are here, and public transport is expecting a lot of traffic. Especially the Gippsland line. So they have suspended the train line work and the buses, and resumed the train service just for the footy traffic.

We saw the passenger train heading out to Warragul tonight ourselves.

God's Gift

Ever since the incident with Princess, I have been a true believer that somewhere out there, someone is trying to guide us to make the right choices. I have also believed that the someone or something, has great power to invtervene - or rather try and guide us if we are totally off our path in life. I have also believed, that the someone has a mind beyond our mind, and that we are often not meant to understand how and why things in our life unfold the way they do.

So ever since that incident, I have asked that someone for lots of things - to lose weight, to become a better horse trainer, to get clarity about where I should steer my career, to become a more involved mother, to have some time off. Oh, the list just goes on.

So I guess the burning question is ... did I get everything I asked for? Yes. You bet. Cancer gave me absolutely everything I asked for, and more.

At no point did I ever ask that someone for perfect health, vitality, positive energy and happiness.

Luckily for me, one of the things I asked for, was to further my spiritual training. This led me to realise the importance of blessing food. So now, every time we sit down to a meal together, we bless our food, and ask for health and happiness.

A sign from God

A couple of years ago I was leaning on the gate to the amphitheatre paddock and looking at the horses. Back then we still had Tosca and Princess as well as Crownie. I thought to myself "I know that I need to sell at least one of the horses, but I don't know which one". I sighed. "God, can you please give me a sign which horse to sell. But God, don't make it some subtle sign please, because I don't notice those. Can you please make it a really obvious, smack in your face kind of sign. Pretty please."

Then I turned away and went into the big shed. In the meantime, the horses ventured down the hill. Later on I came out of the big shed, with buckets of horse feed. I called the horses, and the herd came galloping up. All except for Princess. Princess was lagging behind, trotting, while a fountain of white liquid was pouring out of her nose. I stared at the horse, stupified. There was my most obvious sign from God. That's the horse I need to sell.

Fathers' Day, take two

It appears the drought is over. It's raining, raining, raining. The rivers are swelling, and paddlers of all ages and dimensions are dusting off their paddles, checking that they still fit their decks, and almost causing a network crash with their emails, messages and phone calls. Which river? What day? How many runs?

Pete has decided to do the King with his friends. A wonderful river, that at the promised level is well worth the drive. The aim was to do it today. On Fathers' Day. So of course we shifted Fathers' day and celebrated it yesterday. He got the works - lovely breakfast, present, cards, lunch at the cafe, great dinner, and of course his little girl showering him with love all day long. (Ok, maybe that wore thin eventually.)

Then, yesterday evening, he got a phone call. Trip is rained out. What do you mean rained out? Kayaking trips don't get rained out. The more water the better. Nah ... rained out. Can't get there - all the access roads to all the rivers are flooded! I have never ever heard of a paddling trip getting rained out. I mean, that's the whole idea. When the rest of your life gets rained out, that's when you go paddling. Up till now.

So this morning, Pete got up and we celebrated the whole Fathers' day all over again. Was he just lucky, or clever?

Eating and drinking

I have become an eating and drinking machine. And I am not talking about chocolates with port. I am talking veggies - especially the broccolis, caulieflowers and brussel sprouts - and meat. Some brown rice, and a bit of jelly for dessert. My drink of choice is water, water, water.

My surgery (to remove the breast cancer) was three weeks ago. It went really well. Even the surgeons (two of them) personally congratulated me on a very quick recovery. Admittedly, the four week recovery rule still applies. That is, I have another week before I can do, well, pretty much anything. Drive a car, ride a horse, do sit ups, yoga, running. My surgeon-in-charge said that I can hop on my bike today, if I am really desperate to do something. But the problem is, the only thing I am really desperate to do is eat, drink and rest. Like I said, I've become an eating machine.

I get up in the morning, I prepare my food and eat. Then I do my stretching exercises, and then before I know it's time to prepare lunch. I eat lunch. Then I need a rest. By the time I get up it's pretty much time to prepare dinner. After dinner ... more rest.

It's kind of blissful recovery time. The only problem is that I am really hanging out for a coffee. (Can't have one at the moment - doctor's orders).