Random Photos

I have a lot of random photos from June that I don’t know how to group together well, so I’ll just post them this way.

Mr. Imagination badly wanted to make a braided loaf, so one day when we made bread we allowed him to. This is the result.

We were given a whole sheep when we went to visit some friends—what a gift! The boys and Gayle got it cut up as soon as we arrived home, and we’ve been enjoying ribs, chops and roasts. Yum!

Mr. Sweetie took this picture so that he could paint a picture of the tree and the treehut for Grandma.

We spent one Friday morning making cards for Grandma’s birthday. They loved doing it!

Miss Joy was thrilled the day she figured out how to climb on the stool and stand up! She’s pretty daring.

She was also thrilled to be able to play in the toybox.

Daddy and his two little girls.

A new bridge is being built beside our village. We can see the cranes from our house; it’s only half a mile or less from us. One day, we saw a pilot vehicle stopping traffic on the highway in front of our house. Nothing came past, and when the pilot vehicle moved away, we looked out the window to the next street over, and saw this. It was an enormous pipe for the bridge. These are being pounded deep into the riverbed to fill with concrete to form the piles for the new bridge. It was as long as a long semi trailer.

A couple of days later, we saw this load: the reinforcing mesh to go inside the pipes! It’s always interesting to see what has changed when we go past the bridge site. The old bridge is a one-lane wooden bridge, built in the 1930s. There is asphalt over the wood, but it requires a lot of upkeep. The new bridge will be two lanes. It will likely feel safer—but I think I’ll miss the old one!

Esther took this picture from her bedroom window one evening. See how Simon’s red van is cocked up? He had just power-washed it inside and was letting it drain and dry.

Simon also spent a day power-washing the other vehicles. Here in our wet climate on the Coast, moss and lichens grow on vehicles, and they need a good cleaning every so often.

I’m not sure what these two pictures are all about! This is Mr. Diligence, followed by Mr. Imagination.

Someone was playing with candle wax!

One day, I made play dough. Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Imagination, and Little Miss spent a couple of afternoons playing with it. Mr. Imagination made this strawberry.

All three of them worked together on this sculpture. I had found a set of playdough cutters at a shop, and they had great fun with them.

Princess loves the fire!

Little Miss says that she was pretending that her bears had a broken leg, but they didn’t.

One afternoon when Miss Joy had been quiet for a good while, I found this. She had found that the lid on the white flour cannister isn’t tight! Such fun! She was puzzled when we all stood there laughing.

I read the book A Grain of Rice to Little Miss recently, and got out some rice to illustrate what was happening.

What a happy baby!

It’s fun having two little girls.

We’re able to make all the cheese we need. Each of these cheeses is made from about 20 L (five gallons) of milk, and weighs a little over 2 kg (5 pounds). We let it sit on the counter, turning it once a day, for a week or two. When it has a good rind on it, we label it with a pencil and put it in the fridge. I have a notebook in which I write down times and temperatures for each step of the process of making the cheese, so we can trouble-shoot if one isn’t good. We’ve been making Colby for the past six months, and it’s turning out the way we like it, every time.

As of three days ago, our entire nation is in lockdown for a month, to try to eliminate COVID-19. We’re still trying to adjust mentally to not being able to leave home without a very good reason, and not being able to order anything non-essential online. We can still buy groceries and animal feed and fuel for vehicles, and medicines, but that’s all. Gayle is off work for at least four weeks, although Simon, as a mechanic, has an essential job and is allowed to continue working. For the most part, our life hasn’t changed, other than Gayle being at home, since the children are at home every day, anyway.

Here are pictures of some of the things we did earlier in the month, before things suddenly shut down.  Simon got to help cut down this huge pine tree that was on the hill above the garage in which he works. The fear was that someday it would fall on the building, so a neighbor from the top of the hill helped cut it down. Esther took the younger children over to watch it fall.

The garage from above. This is where Simon spends his days!

One day, Mr. Imagination cut up a cardboard box to make himself a zoo.

The figure on the left is a horse with a carrot in its mouth; the one on the right is a donkey. The box is the feed trough, with vegetables in it.

This is a scarecrow, a cat and a mouse, with a fence in front of the cat.

These three boys took a tramp two weeks ago with three friends. They spent two nights in remote huts up in the mountains, and climbed to the top of a mountain on the day in between. Esther took these photos as they were leaving. They had the time of their lives! They came back very tired and needing showers, but they want to do it again!

Little Miss got to vacuum the living room. She wanted ear protection—and wore a crown!

This Land Rover pulled in at the neighbor’s one afternoon. We took a picture to show Simon. He said, “I’ve worked on that Land Rover!” He says he spent 4-5 days working on it.

Here are the last several photos we took in February. Enjoy!

Mr. Intellectual has continued his boat-building hobby. His latest creation is this flatboat, made of plywood. By now, he has finished painting it on the outside, but they haven’t tried it out in the water yet.

The outside of the strip canoe is finished. The yellow is kevlar, which is intended to protect from rocks, of which there are plenty in our shallow West Coast rivers!

For the first time, we can see the inside of the canoe!

Mr. Intellectual made this crossbow.

One afternoon when Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination both had a little schoolwork to finish, they set this up. They both worked diligently!

Esther had to stop in at the garage where Simon works, one afternoon, so I asked her to take some pictures of Simon at work. He’s been there for 2 1/2 years and I still didn’t have a picture of him doing what he does best!

Miss Joy enjoying and being enjoyed by her big brothers, Simon and Mr. Intellectual.

Miss Joy

I bought some new clothespins in town one day, and when we came home the little ones put them in the bucket for me. Then, Miss Joy discovered the joys of dumping them!

My girls!