School holidays, as always, are rushing past.

I’m being very diligent and conscientious to take on board some advice from Elize Hattin to use my currency of time wisely.

“Time is coin that you can spend only once. Use it, invest it and make it count”

I’m loving that the earth’s rotation in relation to the sun means that we have extra light hours in the day … perfect for morning exercise.

The kids are waking earlier as well. Adelaide is sometimes choosing to join me on my morning exercise routine. So good on so many levels: the opportunity for one on one time, sharing our breathlessness and the way it makes us feel, the connectedness we feel with nature to name a few. Too funny when she burst out into dance when one of her favourite songs came round on my first real attempt at a playlist!

 

Speaking of nourishing, smoko is still a critical meal in our day.  Only one spare seat at the table now ….. that will filled when Tess arrives home for Christmas next week.

We’ve delivered some pigs to market and they should now be almost Christmas hams. Kids have been practicing their livestock handling skills as they walked the little herd of porkers to the cattle yards for sorting. Pig handling is really quite simple when you have the lure of a feed bucket in the lead.

 

Andrew has completed his first version of a chicken tractor, designed and manufactured all by himself. It comes complete with a laying box on the side. The girls were thrilled that the Sussex hens seemed comfortable in their new home, so comfortable that they layed 5 eggs (6 hens) the first day in their new residence.

Rob’s shed has been a hive of craft activity in the afternoons.

Ironbark offcuts have been remodelled, sanded and sealed to produce homemade Christmas gifts. This is definitely my preferred craft activity as it doesn’t involve glue, glitter or pain on the verandah and Rob is definitely the teacher in charge.

I’ve commandeered this heart like creation which looks great sitting on the table.

I’m also finding snippets of time to spend in the garden, mostly tending overgrown veggies and keeping the water up.

Just over 20mm of rain over the week-end has freshened up the lawn.

The paddocks have also turned a beautiful green. We’re at the right end of the year to receive those showers of rain a little more often. The country is definitely alive and waiting to respond.

In the meantime we will continue to make hay while the sun shines and make every moment count.

Any tips on how to slow down the holidays?!

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