What do you do .. ?

What do you do when you are eating a sandwich and a chicken gets a bit too close for comfort with it's eye on what you're eating .. ?

make sure your sandwich is as far away from the chooks beak as you can get it ..

.. and when that isn't enough and it comes back again .. ?

Do the same thing from a higher vantage point ..



Look at these little faces and the ones in the sideshow below ..



Just like me ...

So there we were this morning at the chicken coops.  Oliver, Frankie, Samson and I, when I knew I needed a toilet detour on our way back to the barn.

'I need to go to the toilet on the way back, would you all mind walking up there with me?' I asked.

'Why?' asked Oliver.

'I need to go to the toilet.' I replied.

'Why?' asked Oliver

'I need to wee.' I answered.

'Why?' asked Oliver.

' .. because if I don't I might wet my pants.' I answered.

Well Oliver laughed so hard at that he fell flat on his bottom in front of me.  Picking himself up while still laughing he came right up to me and looked into my face and said, 'danella, that's just like me!'

Oliver munching on a carrot we'd picked from the vege patch

Frankie came along today dressed from head to toe in pink ... and mighty proud or her satorial elegance.  At one point in the day I said, 'Your like a little chicken Frankie.' To which she replied without a seconds delay, 'No I'm not, I'm a pink sheep.'

Frankie milking Heather the cow

How's that for a spinach leaf to feed the chickens with?

Samson spent the whole day beaming love on us all, mostly quietly, he was  like little walking UV lamp.  Very happy and content, one look from him, little eyes twinkling, crinkly smile and you'd warm from head to toe.  At one point I said, 'Samson, your big blue eyes are so full of love.' He took a moment and said, 'They're not blue.'  I asked, 'What are they then?'  He took a moment and said, 'Well I don't know, they're just not blue.'

Our day continued ...

What do you do when you stumble across some work men, a pile of sand, a hose, a tumbler (cement mixer) on a sunny day?  Well throw down your picnic blanket and watch what they get up to of course ...

Oliver loves the windmill and today he stood on the shadow while he watched the mill turn, fascinated by the shadown turning as well.  Quite a magical little interaction and fascinating to witness.

The aim is to get up to the hill so you can enjoy the thrill of running down, both things in action here ...











Spider, spider ...

Stop Press !

So here we have some shots from recent days that didn't make it to press on time .. enjoy.

Frankie and Mika embracing

Cosmos in the garden picked up some grass and placed just so and said, 'Grass hair.'

Delight and joy abound with Milana

Dear Daisy

Is that mischief twinkling in those eyes? .. most likely!

It's written all over my face ..

Oliver and Frankie loved the guinea pig cuddles and loved chatting with each other as well ...

Frankie keeping everything quiet while Mika gets up close with Oompalah.

Tom .. gorgeous boy and we all loved the t-shirt

Now little Miss Daisy made cakes in the sand and got so immersed in what she was doing she ate one .. oh, Oh .. suddenly she realised what she' just done and she wasn't tasting cake, just sand ..

Play ...

Here some snippets on play from members of 'Touch The Future' and 'The National Institute for Play Science' ..

 .. Play is the courage to practice kindness and safety in all situations.

.. When a nurturing and loving parent is in a spontaneous encounter with their well-fed and safe infant child, they radiate contagious mutual joy.

This hard-wired contagious response is the cornerstone for the child's developing feelings of safety and intimacy. On close inspection - and scientific measurement - we see that this encounter indicates a state of play for child and parent.

Continuing to access this state, as it becomes more complex and culturally sculpted, is a pre-requisite for the capacity for intimacy throughout life.

 .. 5 elements of play ..

* In play there is no competition

* Play is manifested by a sequenced pattern of touch that begins with the extremities (hands and feet) and moves up and in on the body. The last place that touch occurs in play is the face and top of the head.

*Categories or labels (such as girl, boy, whale, dolphin, elderly and special needs) are irrelevant in play

*There are no revenge responses in play

*Play is about letting go of fear and learning to trust

 .. There is no safety in such a fearful, contest world that leaves little or no room for living the miracle of love. When we thrive we feel loved and are able to give love. Fear may impel us to survive, but it is love that propels us to feel alive, sustains our vitality, and restores our humanity. We are seeking the experience of being alive. The difficulty is that for us to find it, we must not be afraid of life.

 .. Play's love has everything to do with a willingness to be vulnerable in an unconditional and fierce commitment to another's thriving. In a very real and practical sense this means that as Urie Bronfenbrenner (psychologist who developed ecological systems theory) said, "for a child to develop normally, somebody has to be irrationally crazy about that kid."