Withywindle Wanderers

Mummy, Eowyn and Coco's "Australia" presentation at Eowyn's school, featuring 'The Frill Necked Lizard Dance', "Waltzing Matilda" (Which arrived from Grandma just in time! Thanks!), "Possum Magic", Mummy's Kangaroo story, Laughing like Kookaburras and learning that Koalas are NOT bears!! PS Eowyn knows all the words to "I Still Call Australia Home!" PPS See you on December 3rd, Australia!! PPPS I forgot to tell you about the vegemite adventure bites... Most children loved them, but one poor little lad cried and cried when he tasted vegemite... PPPPS We made them ANZAC bickies, but accidentally ate them all before school ... WOOPS!

Freedom! The warm, dry earth crumbles beneath my bare feet. Heaven's swirling, golden-orange underbelly dances, the last vestiges of sunshine igniting cumulus clouds near the long horizon. The sky here at Aberystwyth is so big. Underneath it, I feel safe. The sweet, familiar smell of dry grass and gum leaves makes breathing satisfying. My mind has wings of its own as I run, imagining I'm bounding through the magical amulet-arch from E. Nesbit's tale left open by the hearth inside. There are no boundaries to the stories to dream, the paddocks to roam, the plans to make at The Farm. I can climb high, up onto the tank-stand, towering eerily above the ground. I can dive low, deep into the cool water of the channel. I can run wide, far beyond the edges of our world. I can travel through time, indulging in the feast set before me at the overflowing banquet of books here. I can write stories and songs and plays, and direct them with my siblings and perform them for my parents. I c...

Blue Icecream! Eowyn's Quote of the Week: "When you get old, do you get younger and be a baby again?" We're still waiting for news about Mum...

March 7, 2002 Seattle, USA Thick snowflakes pour diagonally by the window. Bens and I howl like wolves to curb the pain at the contraction's peak. The baby who has been secretly growing inside me for forty-and-a-half weeks is preparing to make her entrance! I'm going to see her face at last, gaze into her eyes, feel her skin against mine, hold her tiny hand. Bens and I are small players on this giant stage of wonder, anticipation and delight. This is the most exciting chapter of my life! I call to tell Corrie, our midwife. She instructs me to rest until the contractions won't let me. I decide to walk in the snow at Gasworks Park and speed things up a little. Walking out the door, at last carrying the hospital bag which has been packed for months, I squeeze Bens hand and he squeezes mine back. I nip into the loo for one last wee. The toilet paper is bright red. Hooray! The bloody show! This is real labour! The second tissue is soaked with blood as well. And the third. My min...

We're scaredly awaiting news about whether Mum has breast cancer. I hate this waiting and so much wish for her to be OK. Reading Rachel's blog (see link!) today was comforting, in thinking about death and resurrection and hope. However I want my mother to live a very long time. Eowyn and Coco adore their Grandma, and Bens thinks he has the best mother-in-law in the world, and he's right. These pics of my beautiful girls were taken at 'our' brook. To get there, we cross the road, walk down the hill through the orchard, and voila! A family of new, fluffy, fuzzy little lovely ducklings live there. Beyond the brook is a huge, green common, which Coco is dancing on in her snow leopard coat, a FABULOUS playground, another stream and tennis courts where Bens and I played, Eowyn bicycled and Cosette tricycled this afternoon!

WHAT'S YOURS?

Cows are Eowyn, Coco and Megs' favourite animal! (Along with elephants, for Eowyn, she wants you to know!)

We ran out of petrol so we stayed in the Skagit Valley an extra long while...

Eowyn and Judah, both aged four, are playing on the trampoline. This is the conversation I just heard, verbatim! Eowyn: "We're grown up now. We have to get married!" Judah: "Married! I like married!!" Eowyn: "The girl gets to wear a dress and you get to wear a suit. I'll button you up. Button, button, button, button. Now we get to go to the beach." Judah: "The beach! The beach! I like the beach!" Eowyn: "I've got my beautiful dress on!" Judah: "I've got my beautiful dress on too!" Eowyn: "I walk along with my other bridesmaids and you wait with your suit on right here...No! Get back there!" Judah: "Why?" Eowyn: "It wasn't a very long way yet!!"

ACTION!! PS Check out my editorial review on amazon.com for Ariel Levy's 'Female Chauvinist Pigs'!!

Here are the Ady Ladies, the Drury Ladies and a lot of flowers!!!!