My name is Charlotte, sometimes known as Ms Lottie, occasionally as The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady. This is my blog, where you'll find me writing a lot about my quilting and textile arts and a little about my family's life in a small seaside town in New Zealand. Haere mai!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

We spent most of the day today down in our bush gully hiding from the howling gale that was trying to blow our house away.  It is so sheltered down there that when the sun was out, the kids were getting too hot for shirts.

Hubby went exploring last time he was down there and found a flattish spot near the boundary of our property.  It was were a slip came down a couple of years ago and has been colonised by Tobacco weed (don't know it's correct name, but it's horribly stinky - like diesel).  So we wanted to start clearing it off and we plan to use the spot for summer picnics.   A flat, grassy, sunny space, the rocky bottom stream just there, cool bush to retreat into if it gets too hot, and lots of trees to climb and nooks to explore for the kids.

After we had cut down a huge pile of weeds, we lit a little fire and cooked some fried toast for the kids.  And they loved it.  Nothing tastes as good as food cooked over an open fire - especially seasoned with hunger.

We found interesting fungi to look at and teach about poisonous things.  And we let a little jumping spider crawl over our hands.  The kids climbed and played and played and played.

Then they nicked off with the camera and took a hundred photos of interesting things; the sky, close-ups of hands and butts and pictures of the ground!

And we made nests and curled up for pretend naps. 

I'm hoping that days like these will form lasting memories for my kids. 

4 comments:

  1. Wow, that really looks like heaven, and I know they will remember it. Well, at least the overall impression of a childhood spent outdoors in the wild.

    I had two nudies on the beach today, they thought THEY were in heaven! Despite the temperature. Ever been splashing in the waves, naked except for your beanie/warm hat?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It doesn't take much effort to make memories for the little ones. Some of them will linger in their minds forever, and then some will not. There are so many things I have done with my 2 grandchildren. I wish they could remember them all, but they don't. I have the fond memories though, and like I've said before, not having natural kids of my own, it's great to have those memories of their baby years to draw upon when they get in trouble. How can you scold or punish that child,while remembering their sweetness as babies.I can't.I have to call on Pop at times like that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So thirty years from now, one of them will ask their sibling, "remember when we ate fried toast....", wonderful memories await them in the future. Your outlook on motherhood is so healthy and wonderful. I envy you, I really do. Big hugs, Elaine

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh what a wonderful family day, aren't these the best, and exactly what memories are made of. Thank you for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete

Hi, I love reading comments, so thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me a message :)
Due to a huge increase in spam, I've disabled anonymous comments. Apologies if this effects any real life readers!