GONE FISHING

 

 

 

Remember that time there was no surf, so you came home and went fishing with our son. Just after dusk the car pulls up down the driveway and a few minutes later he walks through the back door with two bream dangling from his little hands. Both of you beaming. Nana took me under the bougainvillea vine and through the secret gate which led us straight into her neighbours back yard. I stood by the piles of chopped wood as they made small talk as she picked at their herb garden. We walked back through the gate, her hands pouring with wild rosemary, corriander, parsley and some lemons bunched under my arms. That night we wrapped the fish in foil, but not before filling it with fresh herbs, butter and salt, we put the fish on the barbie and by the end of dinner we had sucked every last bit of flesh from the bones.

 
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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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WHEN WE HEAD NORTH

 

We often fantasize about our amazing Euro road trip. We are going have a car and start in France and then end up in Morroco. Matty has lived a life well travelled compared to me, he has been everywhere, he has lived countless summers in Portugal, frequented Japan, dotted across America and survived the misery of a cold winter in London. A well travelled person is so attractive and it was a small part of his story that really appealed to me when we first met. I have been to the Phillipines several times to visit my family and I lived in Japan for one very exciting year of my life, and what I have always wanted to do is to explore Europe. In the early years after having Paddy, I watched my some of my close friends travels unfold through Facebook, I was green with excitement as my friends mapped out the world; Europe, America, Indonesia, Canada and South America. It was a bit of a lonely time for me and I wondered if I would ever have the chance to travel like that. Matty squeezed my hands in his and said to me, "of course you will get to do that, except you will have a little team with you". I smiled. My mind has been fantasizing about our Euro road trip ever since.

So we are saving for our dream holiday and slowly we have funds trickling in after we take care of the mundane necessities like the mortgage, rates, car insurance, school fees etc. For the moment, we are enjoying our little road trips up and down the east coast of Australia and they seem to hit the spot when the urge to explore sneaks upon us.

Ten of my favourite things about road trips: 

1. Having all of my favourite people together 

2. The music and singing

3. Saying hello to the cows

4. Watching the world smudge by through the window

5. Road side fruit stalls, my heart just opens when I see the honesty boxes

6. Picnic blankets, soft grass and packed lunches

7. The way in which conversations seem to be more constructive inside of a car, e.g. When should we get married, how should we renovate the house, when should we welcome a dog into our family, will we have more kids? 

8. Uncontrolled moments of laughter 

9. Walk in to pay for petrol, walk out with ice-creams

10. Quick dips in the ocean.

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Photo's taken using an iphone5

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LIFE BEFORE SIBLINGS

All photographs taken using an iphone5.

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Earlier this year I was heavily pregnant with my second child. It was a hot Australian summer and I was slowly losing my mobility in the thickness of the heat. Puffy fingers, swollen ankles, you know the spiel. Paddy and I were enjoying our last moments together before the arrival of his sister and we enjoyed picnics at the beach, yum cha dates and hours at our local game centre. It sounds silly now, but at the time I was feeling guilty and anxious that I was responsible for changing this equilibrium of peace and contentment by bringing in another child into the family. When Matty and I decided to start renovating our house in the final weeks of my pregnancy, I took the opportunity to take Paddy away from the building site that we called home, and on a little holiday up to Nan and Pop’s place. Just me and him. It was kind of like a coming of age I guess, because he was also starting school in February and his sisters due date was burgeoning in the weeks after that. So I took this time together to be like a full stop to toddler-hood and life as an only child, and as a peaceful welcome to the new chapter in both of our lives.

Off we chugged up the coast on a Country Link train to enjoy a couple of long summery weeks with Nan and Pop. We shared salty days at the beach, cool dips in the surrounding rivers, coffee dates at sleepy cafes and the excitement of new holiday friendships for Paddy. Most mornings we were greeted by all sorts of native animals, usually poor little outcast Kangaroos, lone Butcher birds and at night we were graced by a single mum Possum with her babe curled up inside of her pouch. They made frequent returns to Nan and Pops garden, which is always in abundance with available shelter, food and water. Our afternoons were enjoyed with games, reading, yoga and home cooked suppers at the table together. We enjoyed revitalising early nights tucked up into bed with the sounds of nature coming out to soothe us to sleep. When we arrived home we were both a few shades darker, our hair a little drier and our hearts a little closer.

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THE CALM AFTER THE SCHOOL MORNING DROP OFF

The start of this year has been a big time for my family and I. Pat started school in February and only a few weeks after that, we welcomed his little sister Vinnie into our family. We had the school morning drop off running pretty smoothy prior to Vinnie's entry into the world and sometimes we were that organised that we had time to share a hot chocolate at one of our favourite cafes on the way.
Now that we have another little addition to our clan, we have had some pretty frazzled mornings. Sleep deprivation and breast feeding can really upset the normal school morning routine.

Below is how I have managed a smooth school morning drop off with the addition of a newborn.

1. Aim to be up at least thirty minutes prior to the time that you would usually wake up. For me, if Vinnie has a feed at 4:30am, I find it easier to put her back to sleep and to stay awake and have breaky with Matty. Most of my crazy hectic mornings have been when I have gone back to sleep after that early morning feed and then slept in. So rule of thumb, if I put Vinnie back to bed and it's closer to 5am I stay awake (as much as it pains me).

2. Write down the contents of the school lunchbag on a whiteboard or piece of paper and have it in the kitchen/food prep area. It sounds silly, but when you are half asleep and trying to function, having this check list can make life a little bit easier. I also get Pat to empty his lunch bag and containers as soon as we get home from school so that they are ready for the next day. His school has a 'no litter' policy, so that means no pre-packaged foods, so we use little lunch box containers to hold his biscuits, fruit and sandwiches, which we place into his lunch bag. After I have breakfast and lunch sorted out it's usually around 7am, I will wake Vinnie up and give her a top up feed and get her ready for the day.

3. Upon waking, Pat has his morning jobs which we established from the first day of school, by using a 'tick chart' on a whiteboard in his bedroom. He has his kitchen jobs, which is to enjoy breakfast and clear up after himself. His bathroom jobs involve brushing teeth, washing face, moisturising and brushing hair. His bedroom jobs are making his bed and putting on his uniform. I help with his neck tie and shoelaces. If he gets all of his jobs done with time to spare, then he can watch television or play on the ipad. Otherwise, the T.V. and ipad are out of bounds.

4. It is approximately 10 meters from our house to our car, but for some reason it takes about ten minutes to get from the front door and into the car seats. We aim to leave by 7:50am, but I factor in another ten minutes to actually get to the car, so we start to leave the house at about 7:40am.This gets us ahead of the traffic and Pat gets to have a good play before school starts, which I think is very important for children.

That's it. Some mornings it goes awry, and it could be easier for Paddy  if I tried to do everything for him, but I have found it to be more stressful for both of us as I seem to be nagging him. Having the mornings set out like this allow for Paddy to develop his independence and work at his own pace, knowing the timeframe that it all needs to be done. And besides, no one really likes a nagged.

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Photograph taken using a Nikon D3100

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SUNDAY

Out of all of the days in the week, Sunday is my favourite. It’s the one day of the week that we are all definitely together. Matty usually works six days a week and Sunday is a nice reprieve to the daily grind for both of us. Early on this particular Sunday morning I curled back into our warm bed after feeding Vinnie and drifted back to sleep. It must have only been for ten or maybe fifteen minutes before she started to make some protesting cries from her bassinette. Sleep drowsy, I rolled around and took some deep breaths to re-energise myself before jumping back out of bed, but he beat me to her. With Vinnie in his arms, he leant down and planted a fuzzy warm kiss on my forehead and disappeared out of our room. I must have slept for an extra hour. In a foggy state I followed the smell of breakfast wafting in from outside. Matty was outside on our front deck cooking up our breakfast on the barbeque. I saw Vinnie playfully sitting in her bouncy chair snuggled up in a grey woollen blanket and there was Paddy crouching on the lounge and coiled up in a furry brown throw. He looked like a delicious cinnamon bun. 

The smell of breakfast materialised on a large white rectangular plate. Bacon, eggs, tomatoes, onions and grilled Turkish breads all lay out in the shadows of tall standing condiments; tomato sauce, barbeque sauce, Kewpie mayo and sweet chilli sauce. In our PJ’s we sat at the table and started the construction of our breakfast burgers. The boys like mayo and barbeque sauce splashed across their tower of bacon, eggs and cooked onion. I like plain old barbeque sauce, bacon and eggs with a sprinkling of tasty cheese.  Sometimes I add a squeeze of sweet chilli sauce, but not today.

Matty enjoys making his coffee at home and usually, we push the little black button on the yellow Bugatti to warm up while we tidy up after breakfast. At first, we disliked our coffee machine. It was the source of frustration and disappointment. Neither of us could get it right. We imagined dark brown honeycombed crema topped with silky milk, but our coffee always looked murky or the steamed milk was too bubbly and burnt. Since then, our skills have improved enough to enjoyably get us through the dark mid-week mornings. So when a dear friend of ours opened a café and creative space across the lake from us, our Bugatti was also given reprieve from the daily grind and lately we have been making our way over there to finish our Sunday breakfast and welcome in the new week with several of his amazing coffees.

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All photgraphs taken using a Nikon D3100.

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THEY WENT RIVER SWIMMING

On this day we drove for a long time along a single road which cornered and bent and went up hills and downhill. The inside of our car flickered with sunlight like a candle as we navigated our way around trees whose tops stood high into the sunshine. I turned around from my seat to check on the kids, they were sleeping. I held my twisted turn a little bit longer than expected, mesmerised by both the absence of cars behind us and the plume of dust trailing behind us.

The bumpy rocking of the car over a narrow bridge gently nursed my son to wake up. Outside, there was the peaceful being of a river streaming around the mountains edge which we had just traced. Out of the car, we all followed a damp dirt trail which slithered under fallen trees, rocks and down into a myriad of smooth and flat pebbles. These pebbles formed a satin bed for a crystal clear river which lazily streamed down from the surrounding mountains.

I balanced along a tree trunk and sat myself down on the thickest part. My feet dangling close to the glassy water. It was cool and fresh, but the heat of the day was not uncomfortable enough to make swimming an inviting option for me. Across the way, my son was already knee deep in the water and Matty was busy wetting his feet exploring further ahead and closer to the bridge. My daughter was sleeping peacefully in tune with the nature around us.

Matty and our son practised skimming flat bed rocks along the top of the smooth river top, they swam over to large boulders on the other side and he swimmingly cruised parallel to the river bank which was prettily fringed with dangly green leaves and dark brown tree roots. I sat and watched and I tried hard to tattoo all of this into my memory so that I could bank it for a time that I needed to smile.

Getting our son to come out of the river was a difficult task. Each time we sang out that it was time to go he would swim back to the boulders on the other side of the river and he would sweetly beg for more time. He was also trying to hang onto this day. We promised him that we would come back one day.

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 The Promised Land is located on Australia's East Coast.

All photographs were taken using an iphone 5.

Please email me if you would like to use my images.