Rest and recover

This is our local Sunday market.

We had a very busy week here. Sunday we drove to the Gold Coast to visit our family, stopping in at our local market on the way to buy fresh fruit and seedlings. Monday was Hanno's birthday, it was a quiet celebration this year, he had a doctor's appointment and we spent some time in the garden. On Tuesday, I went to the Centre for my craft group - Crafternoon. That is developing into a wonderful group of women who meet to talk and work on whatever craft project they have going at the time. One of the ladies, Bev, brought along some books with ideas for school fetes and suggested we do up some small projects like little dolls and mice, dishcloths and odds and ends to sell at our local kiosk to raise funds for the Centre. This is a great idea and something we'll start doing next week. Any chance of extra money coming in helps us keep going. We get no government funding and rely on donations and grants to continue opening the doors every day. I love meeting people, and there are some in every group, who are generous and supportive. Our Centre gives a lot to our community but without some form of local financial support, we can't pay the bills.

I was at the Centre again yesterday, this time for a work shop on green cleaning and making laundry liquid. I call these workshops "Kitchen Table Talks" because women used to sit together at kitchen tables and drink tea while they shared their recipes and talked about how they work. There were six of us there yesterday, sitting around a table covered with a table cloth, sharing tea and chocolate biscuits, and discussing various ways of cleaning without using harsh chemicals. It is always very reaffirming to connect with women who "get it", who understand that change will only happen if we change ourselves first. One of those ladies, Moira (affussa), came because she's been reading this blog for a long time, so it was good to meet her face to face.

When I came home, baby Jamie was just going back to sleep while Opa gave him a bottle of breast milk. Sunny and Kerry had arrived earlier in the afternoon and took the chance to have some time together while Opa took charge of the baby. Hanno is so good with him. Apparently Jamie had been asleep but the phone rang and he woke, Hanno had settled him down again, but then I came home and he woke up again and screamed. Nothing settled him until Hanno took him outside and walked around the garden with him, talking quietly in his ear about the chooks. After about 30 minutes he was tired again, so Opa fed him again, he went back to sleep and had just woken up when Sunny and Kerry came home. Then he was a very happy boy.

On the way home from the Centre, I picked up a parcel at the post office, which had come all the way from New Mexico. It was from Sharon who has sent some beautiful gifts for Jamie and Alexander. I gave it all to Sunny and she dressed Jamie in a few of the little jackets.  Here is a photo. Thank you Sharon and Claude!

I have a few things to do today, but I'm looking forward to breakfast with the family before they head back to the Gold Coast again. Hanno has another doctor's appointment, so late in the morning, when everyone's gone, I'll get through my work and hopefully I can relax and recover from this busy week. I used to be full of energy and could work long hours, now I  am worn out after a few hectic days. It's one of the very few drawbacks of ageing. So I'm looking forward to some slow days ahead when I'll do my housework and take a lot of time with knitting, gardening and relaxing. I hope you have a chance to rest and recharge too. What are you doing today?