Withywindle Wanderers

I'm homesick for Australia! It's coooooold here, and gray, and far away. These pics are Eowyn and Coco waving to Daddy across the Pacific Ocean, Seren relaxing in her lovely (old!) home, and Dad saying goodbye to Eowyn and Coco at Sydney Airport. We have a fabulous new book, with pictures of every country in the world, and acknowledgement of those groups of people who yearn to be considered a country, in some way. This makes me think of a part of the bible, which my sister Rachel, Poppy and Kate read in Vvoomba, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, overlooking Mozambique: "All of these died in faith witout having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better c...

This is a discussion from the wonderful Bens' blog which I thought I might just transplant over here... My good friend Kate said: "I am always interested when Americans say they are the most blessed nation on the earth. Certainly, they are the richest overall, but the most blessed? What is this sense of destiny as God's chosen people that so many Americans seem to share? And as an Aussie I tend to think I come from a pretty darn good country too: we call it "the lucky country" (sometimes with heavy irony). Isn't this interesting; the difference between luck and being blessed?" Kate, I'm with you in wondering about the way States-siders worship their country. A two-hour drive north from here to Canada brings us into a paradigm similar to Australia - so perhaps there's a clue in the historical events which separate the Europeans who happened to end up becoming "Canadian", and those who became "American". Interestingly, Latin Ame...

...is in the oven (Seren's yummy recipe) Bens and the girls are playing the phonics game, and so, for the first time in umpteen hours, I can sit down and relax! Mothering is much harder work than anything I've ever been paid for! Thank you all for your lovely, encouraging comments about my blog! Oh, Coco is yelling, SO enthusiastically, "THE FIRE'S ON!!" Our fire is somewhat moody. Sam and Becca, I am terribly disappointed you won't be visiting us in the summertime! Now, Sam, you and I are both in the situation (when Tom, Anita, Ed and Seb leave) of being the only Jones' in the country we're living in, and not having a clue when next we'll see the rest of the family. It's so much better when there's a ticket booked, or a roadtrip planned, or something exciting to anticipate! Makes the time we all had in Australia all the more significant, doesn't it!?! I MIGHT have enough frequent flyer points from Oz to get to Europe, or at least to M...

This is Jonathan, who has lived all his life in Kosovo. Eowyn & Coco loved his company. My ailment has now been with me for 3 weeks. I just watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihuv5z6nqWw and was much amused. I don't think anybody reads these blogs any more. The only people who comment on mine are Bens and me. Hello! Is there anybody out there? (or is it in there?) I have become comfortably numb... Bit depressed, methinks.

Does this mean Spring is on her way?!! Might Winter not reign for ever?

Bens, Eowyn and Coco are playing 'The Phonics Game'. He's a lovely Dad, and wonderful with the girls, but I am PEEVED by this ridiculous, insulting, Americo-centric game. The hideous woman on the tape successfully managed to insult the entire world, including the southern united states, in her lovely schpiel on accents and learning to speak clearly and properly. I AM FED UP WITH THE EGOCENTRIC OBLIVION TO ANY OTHER WAY OF SEEING characterising this country. Look! The bloomin' spell-check just affirmed my point by underlining characterising. It did it again! Blimmeee Charlie! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! AND it's day 18 of being sick. Bens is trying some herbal remedies he found on the internet, because in this LOOOOOVELY country, medical care is the privilege only of the wealthy, rather than the right of the masses, so we would have to pay ridiculously large sums of money to go to a doctor (and be told influenza is a virus and to rest and drink a lot of fluids...) IF ANYBO...