Note to the pic, this was the first stage for the hens, creating a pen. They do also have a lovely hen house made for us by a friend from off cuts at no charge..Yeah!! Just don't have a photo of that right now..
Life wise, I have to say the start of this year has been challenging and at times a little too demanding of me. Work life has been de-stabilised with possible loss of work for my husband, which we will know more by the end of this week so all prayers gratefully received, especially Thursday when the big meet occurs...that said it has caused us both to re-consider if now is the time that we get going with 'our business' venture..and so we are busy fleshing out ideas and ways to start up... will post more as the beast gets flesh and bones...feeling like it's very true, as one door closes, another door opens.
January also saw my good friend and fellow foraging mum move up to Brum...which to be honest has been really hard. Our tight little circle of three is now two and whilst my remaining forager friend is fabulous and just as inspiring, the removal of one of us seems to have left us both feeling a gaping whole. Partly because her presence has been such a stablising and encouraging one and partly because despite having a whirlwind of children, babies and dogs around her she manages to make it all seem just totally normal and no big deal, which in turn has encouraged me to be bolder and more prepared to take on the madness myself. For which I thank her from the bottom of my heart, more madness of the like please...double portions of forthwith.
Finally I'll leave this post talking about my youngest who turned one a few weeks ago, and on the day of his first birthday decided to crack the walking malarky. I have a wonderful mental image of him, watching him stand up against the kitchen table holding a wooden jigsaw puzzle piece in each hand and one in his mouth, turning and then quite simply walking out of the kitchen, and away from the small gathering, as if he'd been doing it for weeks.. which has now turned into charging full pelt down our hallways, sliding full speed down our three flights of stairs, and shouting extremely loudly when something isn't given to him fast enough or is taken off him without his agreement. Overnight my little baby has turned into a toddler with attitude and along with that a fantastic sense of humour. Two days ago we were cleaning our teeth together when he decided that my toothbrush was much more interesting than his own. I had been crouching down with him and was enthusiastically brushing my teeth to encourage his own efforts when he decided to grab my brush and pull..really really hard...in order to stop toothpaste and foam flying everywhere I clamped my teeth around the bristles, which in turn caused me to close my mouth and consequently breath through my mouth..all well and good you might be saying..and so it would have been had it not been for my charming little boy then leaning over and peering up at me with a very cheeky grin...whilst still pulling for England..and I suffering ever so slightly with a runny nose...I was undone...I just couldn't stop myself from laughing, resulting in bubbles of snot popping out from my nose, all of which he found extremely interesting, causing him to lean over even more and peer straight up my nose, resulting in me laughing even more strongly which caused even larger snot bubbles and so it continued for several moments, this odd tugg of war with my brush and oh so much laughter and snot...a fabulous moment of mess and chaos..even amongst some fairly major times of stress and change...a wonderful memory and one dedicated to V in Brum...thank you for the funniest chaos filled times we've had and for those we've not yet had...long may they continue.
