5 September 2010

Another quiet Sunday

I am alone at the moment. It's 5.35am, Sunday. Hanno has gone to the farmers' market to buy a few seedlings and fruit, it's quiet. Outside, rain is falling. I have a cup of tea, there is washing in the machine and soon I'll watch Martin Clunes Horsepower that I recorded last night. It's such a fine program, I'm not sure how long it goes, but this is the second episode I've watched. I love horses and will watch any intelligent program about them. This examines the relationship between people and horses and how horses have shaped and supported our world.

8.00am I hung out two of the Centre's table cloths that I had soaking, then washed. The bad thing about white table cloths is that they show every stain. The good thing about white table cloths is that soaking in oxybleach removes every stain, even tea and coffee. I often buy plain white linens simply because they're so easy to care for. I have the bed linen in the washer now and Hanno's black alpaca jumper to wash by hand. I'll be back soon.

I must remember my hand cream.

8.32am I just took the photos of Hanno in the garden planting up the new seedlings. The air is heavy with the scent orange blossoms and once again, the orange tree has far too many flowers and is shedding them. It isn't big enough yet for too many oranges but I like its optimism, and its common sense. It will grow to be a fine tree. There is a white cloak of blossoms around the base of the tree, I'll pull more off in the coming weeks.

8.35am Quentin packs her bags and moves out. Our Light Sussex chook Quentin has been pecking our little Faverolles, Heather. Heather is pictured in the right side bar. She is the little whitish girl with feather pants. Quentin is twice Heather's size and is causing her a lot of distress. We asked Jens and Cathy if they wanted to add Quentin to their flock. They agreed, so Quentin will live with them now. Bye bye Quentin.

9.30am Cleaned the kitchen, washed up and swept the floor.

10am Morning tea, date scone and knitting.

10.10am Shane rang to say Happy Father's Day to Hanno but he's still out. I tell him to call back later and that I'll call Sarndra to have a chat this afternoon, he is off to work now.

10.15am Continue knitting. I'm knitting black mittens for a friend's birthday.

12.30pm Banana for lunch.

1.15pm Phoned Sarndra for a chat. I love my DIL dearly. She's smart and funny, creative and a hard worker. Most of all, she makes Shane very happy and that alone is worth its weight. ♥

2.05 pm I have just sorted through some notes for the new soap making workshop I'm putting together for the Centre. I need to do a touch more research and add some soap calculators and recipes. I wrap some of my soap for Hanno's sister and niece in Hamburg.

2.30pm Made the bed with clean sheets. Started to think about dinner. We're having soup again, the pea and ham soup I made last night. Hanno said it was too salty so I'm adding more water. If that doesn't fix it I'll add a couple of potatoes to soak up the salt. Dessert will be fresh strawberries.

It's still raining and overcast.

3pm Phone calls from Shane and to a friend and then I sit with my knitting listening to the rain fall. It is such a soothing sound, I know its doing the garden good and my thoughts start to focus on work this week. I'm starting to think very seriously about my Living Skills workshops. It's a series of classes I want to give on cooking, baking, soap making, gardening and making green cleaners, in addition to The Frugal Home workshop I've been running for over a year. I think it would be a very worthwhile exercise to get our community cooking from scratch, baking bread and growing their own food. I feel really good about being in a position to offer these workshops, to have a venue in which to do it and the support of a committee who think it's a great idea. Our clients are mainly low income people and I'd rather share some life skills with them than apply patch ups later on. I hope the classes turn out close to the vision I have in my head. If so, they'll be a real community builder.


Late in the afternoon, I heat the soup up and clean and cut the strawberries ready for eating. Dinner over, Hanno puts the chooks to bed, feeds Alice and Hettie and we both start winding down. Another quiet Sunday to prepare us for the coming week.

The last thing I hear as I drift into sleep is rain falling on the roof.

I hope you have a productive week and that the next seven days are kind to us all.



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14 comments

  1. Hi Rhonda,it was a lovely day you had,we had heavy winds but it caused an inside day for Fathers day and that was nice.Our daughter rang first for dad then our son,like Hanno Bob was out in the wind pulling down posters from our Big Boys Toy Day on the saturday so Michael called back later.My brother lives close by now and no family cares about him,he comes for lunch to our home every sunday but today we took him to lunch.Mum wanted to do that for the two men,it was very nice but secretly home is the best!not that I am an expert cook but there is nothing like a roast, you can lean back,take your shoes off etc.We dropped him off on the way home. I taught myslf to do a different crochet pattern so although it was fathers day I mastered the pattern so it felt like mothers day to me. Have a wondeful week .Carole.

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  2. I love horses too, horses are amazing creatures(So incredibly- gentle, intelligent and wise:)

    Warmest blessings and wishes to you and the family, Rhonda!

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  3. its been a few weeks since I have poppe dover here so it was lovely to sit back and read your lst few posts over a cuppa. I love your post about rasing children, it is also a passion dear to me. I especially lvoe the comment about coming together at the dinner table. We have had a hard transition the last year and this ritual got lost somewhere but the last week I have made the effort to enforce it and it has made the world of difference! Your veggie patch is gorgeous and I would love to spend a day wandering around picking, smelling and eating some of it :)

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  4. HI Rhonda...I really enjoyed today's post especially...well, I LOVE all of them...but this one really was so good...for many reasons..

    I had to laugh when I saw the sheer w hite table linen that you had hanging up to dry. I just purchased a beautiful cotton/lace table cloth at a yard sale yesterday for just $2 US...and it's exactly my style. I'm not sure what this type of lace is called. A friend said it looked like Battenburg lace...but I just like the laciness/sturdiness of it...plus it's just beautiful :) :) So I'll definitely be buying more of this type as I find it. However, it does have a couple of stains...so I wasn't sure what to purchase to clean it. Thanks for the tip about the OxyBleach...I can purchase that at my local grocery store :) :) :)

    Oh, the story about the chooks...Quentin and Heather..well, that just had me roaring with laughter..Poor Quentin, naughty chicken..my name is Heather...naturally this story was really funny :) :) :) Thank you..:) :)

    When you talked about your son calling Hanno to wish him a "Happy Father's Day"...is that celebrated in September in Australia? Here it's celebrated in June..I think!! It's really nice to hear that the Family Hetzel is doing well!!!

    Oh, the last thing that really caught my eye was the white foldable drying rack for clothes. I had one exactly like that when I lived in Germany...I gave it to a friend because it would've been expensive to ship home. Now I wish I had payed the postage and sent it by land/sea...because I've never been able to find any like it since...too bad, because the model you have in the photo is the BEST one I've ever used :) :) :) So now I"m going to try searching the internet...maybe eBAy...

    Well, Rhonda...I hope all goes well with your classes at the centre...It sounds really interesting. I'll be praying for wisdom to decide what to teach...although, honestly, I have no doubt you will do well, no matter what you decide to do :) :) :) You'll do a fine job!!!!

    Have a lovely week. Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather :)

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  5. We too have had rain here in SA, rather a lot, and in a short space of time, but we bought our 5th rain water tank last week, so it is a welcome sight and sound...
    I have had a chook turn nasty just lately too Rhonda, she is one of three girls my daughter raised from chicks,,its distressing as she now flys at us, and pecks the childrens hands and arms...I actually ran away from her this morning,now that was a sight!!!
    We think maybe Flo needs to go....
    Any thoughts as to why they do this?
    Suzanne...

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  6. What a wonderful day you both had. So relaxing and refreshing ready for the week ahead. Wish I could say the same but with 8 ten year old boys here for a birthday party on Sunday there was anything but peace and quiet..vbg. Despite the chaos my DH did enjoy his Father's Day and was made very aware of how much we do appreciate him and all he does for this family.

    Hope the soap making workshops go well - if I lived anywhere near you I would be there with bells on. I think it should be mandatory that all schools have "Life skills 101" classes for the students. How many young people get themselves into trouble because they aren't taught basic skills such as cooking, budgeting and making do? We were taught how to lay a table, cook a two course meal from scratch and how to balance a cheque book/bank account when I was in Secondary School. Skills I'm very proud to say I have passed on to my children - whether they wanted them or not...vbg.

    Keep up the wonderful work you do Rhonda - you are a shining light to us all. Happy Father's Day Hanno - I'm so glad you had a wonderful day too.

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  7. Hi Rhonda, it was sunny here in Lancashire uk. I had such a lazy day it was fantastic to just sit and sew, I am making Leanne's House blocks, I am a bit behind but hope to catch up this month lol;0) I have also watched the Marting Clunes Horsepower, if you have missed any you can watch it on www.bbciplayer.co.uk but it is only on for the last 7 days. I hope you have a very productive day it's 9.56am here and I have completed the block flour yeah go team me lol. take care love Nicole

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  8. That sounds like a lovely day. i'd love to sit down to knit but it's a bit difficult with a toddler!
    I wish we had rain. Where I live the first rain is usually the last week of October...

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  9. Bye Quentin. Too much animosity in the garden with you around.

    Good riddance,

    Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

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  10. Hi Rhonda!
    What a great idea that is, to offer simple, self-sufficient living classes to lower income members of your community. In the health fields, we often marvel at the facts that 1) most lower income people eat less healthily because they think that the only inexpensive food is fast food, 2) that cooking at home would actually be less expensive that that fast food, and 3) that cooking at home is often, with a little preparation, less of a hassle than buying food anyway (not to mention the psychological/health benefits, which go off the charts). My family was below the poverty level during my childhood, and one of my few happy memories revolves around the smell of freshly baking bread, and rising dough, as my father would bake in the winter. If more people just bake bread, perhaps that alone would change the world...

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  11. Very fun to read of your day. I love days that are calm and set at my pace, like this day sounds.

    Have a good week.

    -Brenda

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  12. Heather's Blog-o-rama

    You can get a clothes dryer like that at Ikea. I have one and love it.

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  13. Sounds like a lively day! I like the early morning too.

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  14. Hi Rhonda. Can I just say that I love these posts that involve both you and Hanno? There, I said it.

    I come from a long line of very unsuccessful marriages (even my great grandparents, believe it or not!), and I relish in the stories and the day-to-day's of people who have great marriages. So thank you, because even if you don't know it, seeing you wash tablecloths so you and Hanno can have nice meals and seeing Hanno dig in compost so that you and Hanno can eat the produce is an inspiration in watching a true partnership work.

    Thank you.

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