17/52

Maggie: We headed out this morning for a quick play in the leaves falling off the apricot tree. The girls had another exciting week, we visited a local wildlife park. Maggie was particularly excited until she got cornered by an overly friendly kangaroo. Yesterday we also went to their first movie. Shaun the Sheep. They surprised us by sitting through the full 85 minutes with only a few exclamations of the character's names, (which they know quite well as they love watching the shorts on the iPad).
Elisabeth: Their curls still make me smile when they loosen their way out of their pony tails and frame their faces. Elisabeth's latest phrase is "for ever and ever" this is used in regards to staying in the bath, in her favourite pjs or at the wildlife park!

Joining in with Jodi at Practising Simplicity.

quinces

As I mentioned yesterday in my 52 portrait post, a basket of quinces has made me aware of the change in the seasons.

The days are shorter. The evenings and mornings cooler. The light is golden. I have mentioned before our love of this season. In our family it is a time of birthdays, including Rob's. Our wedding anniversary is coming up; three years have flown by. It is also now the time of year we will remember bringing home two tiny wee babies to care for. Thursday marks the twins first year at the hut.

Half of the quinces are in the process of becoming quince jelly. The girls seem fascinated with the remaining fruit in the basket, their downy skin, their heady smell, their strange taste - yes they nibbled them raw. I love to watch their fascination with new foods.

I have a quiet day at the hut with the girls and then tomorrow I return to work after a break. Not sure I'm looking forward to it!

Friday Flowers

Despite being neglected our flower garden is still producing blooms. The local fruit and veg shop always sells potted Chrysanthemums around Mother's Day each year. We bought a few last year then planted them out in the garden.
So we have been rewarded with flowers to bring in this year for vases.
Rob ducked out yesterday and picked up another 8 plants.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions about privacy and blogging. It feels right at the moment to bring back my regular food and gardening posts and I'll throw in a few baby posts in between. Might even join in Jodi's 52 portrait series. The thing is, I really value my online community of friends, and some of you have helped me in ways you might not have imagined by sharing your lives and experiences. I think it is important to not just take from friendships, be them real or virtual, but to give back as well. Which forms part of my desire to keep blogging.
The girls had their 4 month vaccinations on Tuesday and are not quite themselves yet. I'm hoping to get a few power naps in this afternoon, so best go.

Today, I know...

Baby snuggles are the best type of snuggle.

I can sleep through the girls crying, lights on and Rob poking me!

Mastitis is horrid. Truly. I haven't felt so sick or such pain in a long time. Labor, amniotic fluid needle drains and caesarian recovery included.

Sun, fresh air and daylight are lovely things.

Babies can poo and vomit all over the place. Although they seem to save it up for Papa.

I know I was adamant about no pink. But I have to admit, it suits our baby girls very well.

Even doing one trivial house chore a day, like dusting, makes me feel like I've achieved so much.

Rob and I are a good team. Yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary, we celebrated by visiting my GP for a flu vaccination. French cheese for lunch. An afternoon snooze. Rob made us mini roast lambs (he used shanks) in quince jelly with potato stacks and peas. Then more sleep.

German Shepherds are very tolerant dogs. Both Nigella and Claudia have accepted the girls into their pack. They don't always approve of their crying though.

That for tiny babies, Maggie and Elisabeth are full of character! Today they are 18 weeks old (4 weeks corrected). I got my first pre-feed, eyes open smile from Maggie today.

My blogging may be less regular, although looking back on last year, I don't want to stop. If I have time I might even bring back Monday Menu, even if only for our interest. I don't know about you, but I'm finding blogger a very tiresome program to comment on your blog posts, especially on my phone. I find Instagram or even Facebook so much easier for interactions. But I am still reading your posts. I find blogging a slightly selfish hobby at the moment, but I do want to record this very special year in our lives.
I've been thinking too about our privacy, and what to share. Do any of you have thoughts/concerns/opinions about that?

Babymoon

Autumn is our favourite time of year in Tasmania. Clear blue skies, the weather can still be warm and sunny, but the evenings are chilly enough for warm blankets, ugg boots and snuggling up in the hut. The light has a golden quality to it. We have planted a number of deciduous trees so we wait to see their leaves change. Our menu changes to our favourite comfort foods, curries, braises and roasts. Rob's favourite fruits are ripening: coxes orange pippin apples, quinces and Comice pears. It seems perfect that although the girls were born at the beginning of the hottest summer in over 100 years, we have brought them home as the seasons change over for our babymoon at the hut.
I remember reading about Jodi's, of Che & Fidel (sorry no link can't figure that out on the phone blogger app), babymoon after the birth of her daughter Poet. At the time I thought what a lovely idea, and parked the idea in the back of my mind. So here we are day 5 and despite living on maybe 6 very broken hours of sleep a night, Rob and I are smitten. So are Nigella & Claudia. I knew we were ready last Monday and am so glad I pushed for us to get roomed out and home. We are getting to know our girls little quirks, snuggling, napping, dealing with wet nappies and clothes, feeding them 3 different dietary supplements, and the associated spills. The girls, we think, are beautiful, we delight in their little smiles, their wide-eyed interest in their new home and fur-sisters.
I admit I still cry silent tears sometimes, thinking about how far away their homecoming seemed when the girls were born. How scared we both were that we may not bring both or any babies home. I am present and drinking it in, despite the brain fog that hangs over me. Rob is a dear, keeping me well fed, and letting me nap first in those few moments when the girls are both asleep. I woke up the other night at 11pm after crashing on the bed, and he was sitting next to the cot in our room, holding a dummy in each mouth while playing calming music on the iPad, apparently both Maggie & Elisabeth had been crying whilst a few metres away I slept soundly. I love watching him snuggle them, his broad hands hold them just right.
I best go, a wee babe needs feeding, and if I'm lucky I may get time for a shower afterwards!

Bits and bobs {autumn colour}

I'm joining in a new post theme with the lovely Sarah from Molly's Maison.

She posted a perfect collection of neon pink objects.

I'm adding a collection of leaves from the deciduous pears that line our driveway (they're only just changing colour now!)

The colours were amazing, from green, burgundy, bright red, orange, and yellow.

At the moment the trees are only about 2m high, but they are going to look pretty impressive when they reach their full height (11m).

Monday's Menu {Kinfolk inspired lunch}

We spent nearly the entire weekend at the hut, which in our opinion is just about the perfect weekend. We did slip out early Sunday morning to a local beach for a quick dog walk and to pick up some last minute items for our lunch.

Instead of Easter chocolate this year (because we get enough of that anyway) Rob got a nice bottle of Lemon Olive Oil and I got my first copy of the magazine Kinfolk. It is beautiful. Really it is a book, not a magazine, with lovely thick paper, gorgeous photos and essays. No advertisements, not even recipes, just well thought out words.
I can't describe it any more eloquently than their manifesto:

Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love. Every element of Kinfolk—the features, photography, and general aesthetics—are consistent with the way we feel entertaining should be: simple, uncomplicated, and less contrived. Kinfolk is the marriage of our appreciation for art and design and our love for spending time with family and friends.


Inspired by this lovely magazine, and by reading Stephanie Alexander's biography recently as well, we invited six of our friends over for Sunday lunch. Rob and I discussed the menu over the following three days, and changed it a few times but ended up with:

Oysters with Champagne

French onion soup with parmesan croutons

Roast rib of beef with potato gratin, stuffed tomatoes and a green salad.

Quince and pear Tarte Tatin

I admit that Rob did the cooking this time, whilst I cleaned the hut (no mean feat with two wet puppies coming in and out all morning), and set the table.
We got it all together just in time for our friends arrival. After a garden inspection we retreated indoors to enjoy our Autumnal menu and each others company until dark!


Pink Chrysanthemums for some colour, the table setting, discussing gardens I think, I smiled at the collection of Blundstones and Birkenstocks discarded in the breezeway.
Our menu for the rest of the week was a little less indulgent, but just as tasty. Pasta carbonara, vegetable soup, steak with broccoli and mushrooms, I made a large Spanakopita, and Rob made a nostalgic mince dish from his childhood. With the Anzac day holiday, we did some biscuit baking and on Saturday I was treated to marmalade and pecan muffins in bed.

Our weekend:

.....was taking delivery of 5.5 tonnes of dolerite gravel. It sounded more impressive than it looked! Nigella and Rob were keen to pose as kings of the castle.

.....visiting the local tip to find some timber to build the box around one of the drains in the garden. Then covering the ag pipe with the gravel. It was a perfect day, warm and sunny. This is the next stage of my garden, sadly all our hard work is about to be covered up as we build up my garden beds and paths.

....having a smooch with the puppy on top of the remaining gravel at the end of the day (sorry for the weasel words, at least I didn't add we'll draw a line in the gravel).

....taking a walk at the beach whilst Rob collected some plants for his prac class.

Hope your weekend was just as satisfying.