Getting back to Normal

As homeschoolers we tend to do a mixture of natural learning, unit studies and follow some curriculum for maths and english. As long as we get the basics done- maths and english and some of our unit studies on most days the boys can follow their own lead for the rest of the day.

Mr5 decided he wanted to learn how to weave today and collected a basket full of seed pods.


We strung up some cardboard and I showed him a couple of rows and he was away.


Of course Miss Em had to 'help'


He worked steadily for a while but needed to help his big brother taste some new cheeses, we will finish it off tomorrow. He is keen to make a woven hat.


Meanwhile Mr10 is fascinated by cheese and cheese making and developing his very own unit study. He is researching cheese history and how to make all sorts of cheeses and recipes to use them as well.

He has also emailed a few boutique cheesemakers and asked them some questions- he is learning so much about cheese making. We are planning on having a go at making some next week.

We are also buying a small pack of all sorts of new cheeses to sample when we go shopping, he started buying them himself with his pocket money, but I thought as it was an 'educational' expense I should cover it- lol

All that has inspired him today, to create a
spinach, cheese, bacon and egg pie


Using some of his favourite things all together-

ingredients:

4 rashers bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
250g frozen spinach
1/4 cup cream
100g fetta, diced small
4 eggs
parmesan cheese
1 sheet frozen puff pastry

method:

cook bacon on low heat till starting to crisp.
remove bacon and cook onion in same pan till soft
add spinach and cook till liquid has evaporated
stir in cream
line a pie plate with baking paper and then puff pastry
spread spinach and onion over base and mix in fetta
make 4 indents into the spinach mix and crack an egg into each
sprinkle over bacon and parmesan

bake about 35 mins or untill egg is cooked.


Our Mr10 is a bit of a cooking legend in our family and has been cooking since he was 5 or 6yo. His favourite dish to make was a beef madrass curry for a long while and he likes it hot and spicy. He has been busy doing other things for the last couple of years, but it looks like things might be swinging back again as he has been doing a bit of cooking lately.

He also made a lovely pot of vegie soup in the slow cooker for dinner- yum.


And here a couple of pics for you Nanny-
Mr5 wanted to say thankyou for his nice new fluffy sheets
and is snuggled up in them tonight for the first time.

Emerald looking for Flowers

With all the rain and mud here Miss Emerald has been cooped up inside so we took her out for some fresh air today.

Mr10 wanted some photos of her as inspiration for a couple of watercolour pictures he is going to paint..


And Miss Em, she just wanted some nice fresh flowers.

The Aftermath

We managed to get out for a look around today

The waters are receeding and leaving behind some amazing compost piles!



And a lot of it is the corn crop that was grown on the farm across the road!
Here is some hanging out of a tree.
Its quite funny driving around and seeing all the cows everywhere eating the corn-lol

Here is our marker tree, high and dry!

The view from our hill


Yay the bridge to the village is clear- just

This is looking from the village back towards our place,
you can see how high it came on the fence.

And here is our mighty river, slowly sinking back into its bed.

The Mighty Mighty Clarence River

Is Flooding the Clarence Valley-

These are the cows that live in the paddocks around us and everyone is pitching in to move them to higher ground
- by motor boat and row boat, walking and swimming through flooded paddocks, and the wonderfull horses and the horsemen who are riding them through flood waters, without saddles and in shorts. They are having to cut fences as the flood is rising so fast and flowing so strongly, the boats and animals were just swirling around in circles, so they need to follow the highest ground, not the roads and gates.




This is the view from the hill just near our house- and this is almost how high it got,
thankfully it peaked last night and is dropping .


It was down much more this morning -
much to the delight of my 2 little boys who have a bad case of cabin fever and are so glad to be able to get outside and run and jump in the breaks in the weather.


There are all sorts of things to explore and discover-


And this river red gum that grows beside the road is our unofficial flood level marker-
It is lovely to see it and to see more and more of it -

The poor chooks are not very happy with the weather, but the ducks are loving it-
The dogs are enjoying all the walks as we constantly go to look at 'where it is now'- they are wet and muddy and having a wonderful time.

Mr10 has been keeping the birdfeeder topped up for all the local wild birds and Emerald was out on the verandah in her cage having a bath when 4 wild lorikeets landed on top of her cage and had a visit with her for about 10 minutes- it was very special and the boys and I were having a lovely cuddle as we all watched- they flew away when the dogs came onto the verandah.
The photos through the screen door did not work out though.

The wild weather is not over yet but I am feeling much better.
We are amongst the lucky ones, we had a leaking roof and our vegie garden is badly eroded, but we are here at home and with power- we are warm and well fed and have everything we need.
I feel that we are blessed.
Many people are still evacuated, peoples homes, cars, caravans and sheds have been inundated, people have been hurt and rescued and some have died, animals as well, there have been mud slides, bridges washed away and even roads have collapsed, but we are safe. DH is safe as well and he is away in another flood affected area.
The wind is still gale force and more rain is still coming but I think the worst of it is over for us.
I hope all those people down river from us and people in other area's affected by this awesome weather are safe and OK.

More Photo's on the local ABC- images from all over the North Coast

If We Wont Go To The River-

The River will come to us-

This is Mr5 he is standing on the road into town- not much traffic today.



We are flooded in, again.

The trees in the paddock are getting a good big drink

This is the overflow from the dam in the paddock behind our home.
Releasing some of our rain from last night.
We are hoping all the turtles are OK

It is not too bad here, but friends of ours are being evacuated in Lismore, Ulmarra and Grafton.

The water level has come up so fast, we have had 230mm rain overnight, on top of 105mm yesterday and it is pouring rain again now, no one has ever seen it rise so fast before- the power suppy is a bit erratic as well so I will post more later.

In our garden today-

Some visitors in our garden today-


a double barred finch


and a busy little bee

and this evening-



2 'workers' shovelling corn


see the dust swirling around, and the hard hats-

Feet

Mr5s feet take him on lots and lots of adventures-

this is some of the places they took him today~

Alphabet Walk

On our walk today Mr5 wanted to find something that started with every letter of the alphabet-

and he wants to share them here-

A- Adaptation- this tree is growing such an Angle
because of the floods that regularly cover this area.


B- Boys- in the river on a Beautiful day.


C- Cliff- the towering cliffs that hide in the fog in the mornings.


D- Dogs- swimming in the river


E- Eucalyptus Tree


F- Flower- Thistle flowering, I love the colour


G- Grid- the cattle grid to stop the horses and cows from going onto the road


H-Horses


I- Island in the middle of the river,
where little boys love to explore and search for burried treasure.


J- Joy- the joy of boys in dirt!


Kaos- the Kaos of nature


L- Love and Loyalty 2 boys and 2 dogs totally devoted to each other


M- Mr5 found a Mussel (now known as Russel the Mussel)

N- Naturally naked- but you just have to imagine a little boy frolicking in the river here


O- Outside in the open air


P- Perserverance- there used to be a whole group of these callistemons, but each flood there are less and less- this one is all on its own now.


Q- Quiet, peaceful and calm


R- Ramp, for the boats to get into the River


S- Sugarcane


T- Tractor


U- Underwater rocks


V- Vines- creating perfect hide outs


W- Water


X- noXious fish sign

We were a bit stumped for the last 2,
untill our lovely Rockpool friend Sarah helped out with some suggestions- thankyou Sarah-

Y- Yahooing whilst Z- Zooming up the hill