Here's to new beginnings

I'm not going to work today. Hanno and I are totally exhausted. With the help of the removalists, a few volunteers and various spouses, we moved. On the penultimate load I thought we might not get everything into the house but when we starting moving a few things to their permanent places, some chairs were rolled to other rooms and boxes stacked, slowly space opened up and when the last truck load arrived, it did fit in the house. Phew! I got cold drinks for everyone, we sat outside in the garden, and I realised we had done it.

We had moved!

I wasn't sure I'd be writing those words today because it rained constantly the night before. When we woke, however, the rain had clear to a sunny day. Not too hot, not cold, just right for moving. We woke everyone in the neighbourhood by cutting off the avocado branch with a chainsaw at 6am. Not a great start to the day but necessary if we were to get the large truck in. The removalists arrived at 7 and it was all systems go. We finished at 2pm.

There will be four people at the Centre today so I've decided to stay home and go in tomorrow. There are things to be done here, and I'm tired. I need to regain my strength and get back into it tomorrow. Hopefully most of the unpacking will be done today and I can set up the computers tomorrow. The phones will be connected then so I think I'll spend a bit of time answering messages left on our message bank, the rest of the time I can fiddle around moving this and that and making the house as warm and inviting as it can be for our people.

There is plenty to be done here today. I checked my precious Brandywine tomato seeds yesterday afternoon and they were underwater! I planted one seed in each tall seeding pot and placed them all on a layer of gravel in an old plastic container, so they didn't fall over. I didn't expect the entire container to fill with water overnight and submerge the six inch tall seedling pots. When I saw them yesterday my heart sank. These were the last of the seeds from the best tomatoes, I have no others. I started picking the pots up and draining them and noticed a tiny shoot, then another. The seeds had floated to the top of the soil and germinated there! So I drained the water out, sprinkled over some new seedling mix to cover the seeds and Bob's your uncle. They're still growing.

A small miracle.

I'll check the rest of the seedlings today. I also have washing to do, bread to bake and some quick sewing that Bernadette needs done. Hanno is going to look at this car for Shane. Some of you will remember that Kerry rolled the 4x4 that belonged to the resort, now there is no car for Shane to get to the resort from the fairly isolated house he's living in 12 kms (7 miles) away. They told him he needs a car, so Hanno and I will buy him this one and he will pay us back. He has always refused to buy a car (for environmental reasons), using instead a push bike to get around. With this ute, he'll be able to keep his bike in the back for riding around the bush, but still be able to get to the resort, to town and, most importantly, to home. ; - )

Ulterior motives.

I have another sad update for you all. Our chook Sarah, the one I photographed on the nest the other day, died. She was about four years old and not ill so we're guessing she was bitten by something. Hanno found her lying on the floor of the chook coop when he went in to feed them. We're having a really bad time with our critters lately and it makes me very sad when any one of them dies.

One of the ladies who reads this blog bought our aquaponics system so that will be gone soon. I accept that death is part of life and that all living things will die, but I hope we have the death part of it behind us for a while. I want to settle back into our steady routines of growing food and enjoying the time we spend with our animals and chooks. All we want is to live a quiet and productive life here at our home. This past month has been one when disappointment, grief, hard work and change mixed in with the joy we find in living this way. I hope our new beginning at the Neighbourhood Centre is also a new beginning here - for us and our backyard friends.