Simple Things: A Slow Weekend

We had the slowest of slow weekends. We stayed home, and only left the house to walk the dog and play on a swing. We didn't drive anywhere, we didn't buy anything, we used what we had at home and it was so, so good. We had millet porridge for breakfast, ate our banana and date loaf that we baked for morning and afternoon teas, had dinners of homemade soup and risotto with homemade stock. We harvested the first of the potatoes and a bunch of skinny capsicums. The kiddo did much play outside, and much play inside, and I did a heap of crochet work on the blanket I'm making for him. So much that I feel like I'm back in the swing of needing to keep my hands making little squares all the time. I sat outside with my crochet and a cup of rosehip tea, on the chairs I look at so longingly, yet so rarely actually sit in.

It was the best weekend. I needed it, my kiddo needed it, my bank account thanked me for it and my car has had three days of not being touched.

It really is when you stop running around, doing stuff that needs doing, that you realise how little actually needs to be done, and how truly wonderful it is to just be.

Finish Something Old

I started working again on a crochet blanket that I started almost a year ago now I suppose. With yarns that I had to rush out and buy, about a year before that. It's been a slow one, that's for sure. But it felt so good to pick it up again, work out where I had left off, realise a mistake in the last piece I had been working on (probably why I stopped), undo the mistake and start going again. And now it is going again, I want to keep up the momentum and bring this blanket to life.

We're currently under a retrograde Mercury, if you're into your astrology you'll know what I'm talking about. Every three or four months, Mercury does this funny thing where it appears to be going backwards (it's never really going backwards, but from our view, it looks that way). It lasts for about three weeks. And the effect on us here on Earth, can also leave us feeling like we're going backwards - or not necessarily backwards, but going back to something, redoing, revisiting, revising. All good and helpful things really.

Mercury retrograde gets a pretty bad reputation from most sources - don't make travel plans, don't sign a contract, don't start anything new... don't don't don't! Blah. It is what it is and we can choose to use the energies to help us or we can fall into the negativity trap about it. I used to do the latter but these days I'm doing the former. Life whizzes past in a blur and any chance to go back and catch up on the things missed on the first pass is a good thing. Personally, I like contracts with a little wiggle room (or a lot!), so I'm all for signing contracts under Mercury reverse.

So why not make the most of the current astrological weather, and finish something old? Have you got any old projects sitting around waiting for 'some day'? I have more than enough, but I'll focus on my blanket project for now. It's a good way also to value what we already have, going back and seeing what we have left unfinished, rather than always rushing on to the next new thing. Simple, mindful, wonderful.

This and That

Winter officially starts in a couple of days. We've had a couple of frosty mornings already, and the fog is starting to sit. Life in this little home is mostly delightful; mornings, our outside time, the lunch hour, the outside jobs and the dinner and bed routine - the rhythm of our days. I watch the interruptions to our rhythm, and try to minimise them. I watch as my little boy's own rhythms change, creating changes to our day.

I've picked up a crochet hook again, which I've not touched in months. A blanket for my little boy is slowly taking form. With the yarns that I rushed out to buy about a year ago, for this purpose. I guess there wasn't such a rush after all.

Managing the animals here continues to take up much of my time and head space, on top of parenting a wonderfully bright toddler. Flo and Harmony have completely opposite needs - I'm trying to keep the weight on Harmony, and with not much feed coming through in the paddock I'm relying on hay, mostly oaten hay as that is what I can get. And with Flo, well she founders at the sight of oaten hay, so I've got to keep her away from it. So we fenced in her spring paddock in the trees again, my little one and I, and she's going to stay there for a little while and eat lucerne in peace. Plus the two roosters, Edward and Edward. One of them can stay, the other has to go. Anyone looking for an Australorp rooster?

Apples. We have a lot of apples to eat. I'm thinking up all the things I want to bake with William, so we can eat them warm with melted ice cream. Apple pie, apple crumble, maybe some apple muffins or apple scrolls. I will make at least one of those happen!

All of the images in this post are cropped from my Instagram account. I'm over there much more than I am here, simply because it's more accessible, and I could probably talk about crystals all day. I'm spending more time away from the computer than I have in years actually, and it's a nice change.

In The Real World

Wow. I had no idea how much of my head space is devoted to blogging. I mean, I don't blog that much really, but when I wrote a post last week about easing off a bit, doing a bit less, well it's not a big change in blog output really, but it has been a HUGE change in my headspace. Like I said, I had no idea how much blogging had crept into my everything. And in it's [not quite] absence, things have been happening in the real world that I have been putting off for a long time. 

I've been learning new things. I finally decided it was time to learn how to make a granny square, a little late since I first picked up a crochet hook eight years ago. Over the Easter weekend I immersed myself in the 'Granny A Day' tutorial series by the lovely Pip over on Meet Me At Mikes. If you're interested to learn, I would recommend these as Pip has a great way with the videos. I normally avoid videos online. Anyway I'm super excited to be finally making a pretty granny square blanket. And there are so many ideas for new things to make, and the ever-growing stash of pretty yarns is calling my name. But one thing at a time.

I mentioned in some posts a few weeks back about a little weekend trip to Mt Buller, an alpine resort in Victoria. A mountain bike mecca during the summer months, and our trip up was part of an Instructor Retreat with the company I do skills instructing for. I was so anxious about the trip for so many reasons - how will we cope with a 5 hour drive and a 13 month old, how will I cope with being away from him on big trails that may take a while to get back from, how will I cope with Mt Buller when I'm so unfit - just a few of my concerns. But we went, we did it and it was so so good. I realised all over again how much I love mountain biking, and it was the best having my little family there with me.

I've been thinking for a long time about starting up a women's mountain bike monthly ride in my home town, but I've been putting it off and finding reasons to not do it. There are lots of reasons to not do it. When I was up at the retreat, the whole group was sharing where things are at in their local areas and I was lamenting my situation a little. To be surrounded by a room full of support to start a ride up was just wonderful. So I'm doing it, and if no-one shows up [my fear], then at least I get a ride in regardless. I started a similar thing going in Ballarat a few years ago under a club there and it is still going stronger than ever, so I know it can be done. At the same time, I feel a bit like 'can I really do it again?'. 

So that's me, trying to find a new balance between time online and time out in the real world. And I've got crocheting to do! 

How do you balance yourself between being online and real life stuff? Do you have balance?

Inspired to Create

Recently I was lucky enough to win a giveaway over on Be Creative Mommy, and lovely Joanna sent me these pretty crochet coasters, complete with little love hearts, for sharing tea with my love. Something we were lacking in this house too, so these have filled the hole very nicely.

Apart from being just lovely to have, I've also been inspired to pick up the crochet hook and yarn again myself. Years ago on a mountain biking trip around New Zealand, a friend taught me how to crochet a beanie. And then I made lots of beanies, and a blanket which still keeps me warm every night [although arguably now belongs to the cats].

But then more years passed, and I forgot how to work with the little hook. When I picked it up it felt foreign in my hands, and I thought the art was lost to me. Over the past week I tried again, and it took a few goes to get it right, and even then it only happened when I turned my brain off and let my fingers do their thing. But I remembered!

I'm so happy to be working the little hook again, and my head is so full of ideas of things I want to create. Thanks to Joanna, for the coasters and for the inspiration to have another go at my forgotten pastime.