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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: Fascinated by water and drainage...

It had been raining and we were heading out for dinner with some friends and Jimmy could not resist watching the water running down the drain. He asked a question and Daddy was answering it and checking out the water too. I have fond memories of playing in the rain water at this very drain and it's something special to see Jimmy playing there too.

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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: Enjoying the view at Whites Hill Reserve...

We made a quick visit to Brisbane because my brother was coming up. He'd planned it a while ago, and then cancelled, but a few days out it turned out that he was actually visiting from Melbourne – yay! We had fun and it was lovely to hang out with him, even if only for a few hours.

Bicycle! Bicycle! The trailer edition!

So, with many thanks to my parents, we now have the means to go for family bicycle rides! And in case you were wondering, Jimmy loves going for rides in the trailer.

The trailer in question is a Torpedo 7 2in1 bicycle trailer, which is currently sold out (sadface?) but given that it's a nice, easy to assemble and use trailer, I'm thinking it will be back in stock soon or a newer (and nicer?) model will be available in the near future. As for my bicycle, I'm very happy to be riding my old 2012 Vivente again (I swear it didn't cost as much 4 years ago), which has lovely low gears that are perfect for pulling extra weight. 

From a user, not traveller, perspective, the trailer well constructed and reasonably lightweight, but it does add weight to the bicycle, which is fine. Jimmy is a few kilos shy of the upper weight limit for a single passenger, but he's far too young for most other alternatives and we're more comfortable with him in a trailer that doesn't tip over when our bicycles take a tumble - we have only had our bicycles fall over while stationary and are not interested in finding out what happens when we're moving, so we ride as carefully as we can.

The trailer has a double attachment to the bicycle pulling it - yay for double attachment points!! And the trailer came with two hitches, so Michael and I can take turns pulling the trailer (the hitch is that black thing (I know...) between the bicycle frame and silvery handle part of the rear quick release in the picture below. The pin that attaches the trailer to the bicycle was initially a little stiff but has loosened up enough for easy attachment and detachment of the trailer.

The reason the trailer doesn't fall over when our bicycles do is a really good spring (hidden by a black cord that links the hitch pin (not a technical term) and the main part of the trailer arm - yay for another double attachment point!). The spring the heavy duty and bends readily and looks like it will hold up really well.

Another thing about the trailer is that it's off-center so that the trailer sits a little to the left. For Australian roads this makes perfect sense to have more trailer between the bicycle and the curb, but even so it took a little getting used to the extra width I was pulling. Michael has had a similar learning curve and Jimmy has been very good about it all.

Speaking of Jimmy, he seems to really enjoy the rides we go on. He may not appreciate how much extra effort goes into pulling him along, but he's good company and he appreciates the fresh air and lovely scenery around the town. He's seated in a hammock type of seat with a five point harness, so he's secure and I think the hammock/sling seat might help with a comfortable enough ride. He doesn't really complain if the ride is a bit bumpy but we all acknowledge the bumps. And so far, he's not too cramped, but he could do with a different helmet, something with a flat back. Given Jimmy's age and height, we're probably only going to be able to use the trailer for a year, but we're think about that later.

Right now, if you're looking for us, we'll be out riding.

Spring in Pop's garden

Ok, so it's not just Pop's garden at the back of the house - there's also the back of a friends property (1/2 acre block or something). I should clarify that over the years my parents have contributed to both the garden in the front yard (now mostly "Granny's garden") and garden in the backyard (now mostly "Pop's garden") and, as a family, we all benefit from both gardens. The biggest thing this spring is that I have never seen so much produce coming from gardens in this area.

It could be the spring rains (or climate change?), because I do not remember spring being as wet and productive as this back when I was in high school. Granted, that was more than 15 years ago (and that makes me feel old!), so my memory of spring around here might be wrong.

But it's hard to shake the memory of years of drought, water restrictions, and vegetable gardens let go because of the dry conditions. I would never have guessed that there would be so much flat leaf parsley growing in our friends garden that we could have massive bowls of tabouli week after week after week.

And then there are the sugar snaps! With about 8-10 plants between the two gardens we're able to snack to our stomachs content AND bring home plenty for lunch or dinner. (Since writing this sentence, the sugar snaps in Pop's garden have been pulled up, because they producing fewer pea pods and were developing a white fungus-type thing on the older leaves. Their removal now makes way for something new.)

The weeds are pretty too... Abundant because of the rain and warm weather, and some cause problems for people prone to hay fever, but the purples and yellows, whites and blues... All with a rich green background... (these yellow ones (turnip weed) are all over the place and I really like them, even if they might be the worst offenders for allergy suffers.) So, yes, the weeds are doing well, but so are the sugar snaps, carrots, cabbages, spinach, and parsley.

Then there are Pop's chickens - he has three Australorps. Worthy of their own post, they are excited to see us every morning when we go down to let them out of their hutch and when we arrive in the evenings, they run towards us, half expecting a treat, which they often get before being safely locked up in their hutch. They are good egg layers, laying 2 or 3 eggs most days, which is perfect for us so long as we're not eating eggs every day. 

The eggs are pretty, with each chook laying a distinctive size and shape (that pale one was a one-off and before we were able to identify which chook laid which egg).  A little while ago, Pop, Daddy and Jimmy moved the chicken coop and as I may have mentioned, Jimmy really enjoyed helping with the move - he generally enjoys taking part in whatever activity is happening in the garden.

One thing Jimmy wants to help with, but has trouble doing so, is hanging out the washing. The hills hoist is just too high and handing out pegs loses its novelty pretty quickly. I don't mind. He has years of doing his own washing ahead of him, but he may not have a set of navel orange trees providing an intoxicating aromatic experience a few weeks a year. The smell of orange blossoms is part of my childhood and spring in Warwick, along with wisteria, jasmine, and honeysuckle. (Can you spot the cute little spider?)

Currently I am looking forward to the broad beans (they're just starting to produce pods and I'm hanging out for enough to make this for breakfast soon), tomatoes, zucchinis, and the coming crop of basil that will become (a year's worth of) pesto, while still enjoying carrots, parsley, and more lettuce and spinach than I have eaten in a very long time. I'll post some photos of Granny's garden some time soon.

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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: This is the best thing ever!

This is happening! I spent some time laying out the cut pieces of fabric, with a little help from Michael and Jimmy, and it's wonderful chaos and Jimmy loves it - as he said, it's the best thing ever, even in this unfinished form. Love that boy.

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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: Yeah... I think you do have the wrong lense on your camera, Daddy.

From the mouth of babes? Except that he's taken something Daddy said and turned it around correctly. Michael captured the moment beautifully (wrong lense and all), as we made our way up to the magical place to show it to Pop and enjoy the sunset. Oh and Jimmy spotted an echidna while riding Pop's shoulders.

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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: Helping to move the chickens.

We moved Pop's chicken's during the week and Jimmy helped as best he could. He has always loved being in the thick of whatever we're doing, and, if he can't be in the thick of it, he still wants to feel like he's helping out. He also had fun walking inside the chicken coop when it was on its side and we were removing the grass/wheat/sorghum roots and dirt from the base of the coop. The chicken coop was moved and the chickens were checking it out (to make sure that it was still their coop) and enjoying some chicken feed in their newly cleaned feeder, only to rush out again.

Also, his outfit reminds me of this one - he's still rocking prints-on-prints-on-prints.

A historic location and a magical place...

Last weekend we headed to Glengallan for the seasonal markets (and some Geocaching) because it was Father's Day and we wanted to get out of Warwick.

We checked out the markets and the grounds. The building has been worked on since I last visited over 15 years ago, which lovely to see.

The sky was being very impressive and the weather pleasant. The market stalls were full of locally made things from soap to wooden toys, knitwear to artwork.

These two. Always these two. Jimmy tired of looking at stalls pretty quickly, but was really good and only started running around towards the end of our time walking and looking.

Jimmy makes me think of Christopher Robin - a little boy enjoying his own little world, boldly heading out into the wild. Jimmy was pretty attached to that stick that day AND determined not to have his photo taken.

We stopped for coffees at the Glengallan cafe. It's completely run by volunteers and the coffees were good. So was Jimmy's strawberry milkshake. Refueled, we set off to start Geocaching.

The sky was still amazing while we were out getting our first Geocache. And while we were logging the cache, a man drove up, asked about what we were doing - this is country Queensland - and after we told him, he told us about a spot that might be suitable: the site of a new Landcare project that he is involved with. So, we thought we'd check it out once we'd done all our Geocaching. Keep reading to see the photos.

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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: I have some bones...

It was Father's Day, we were out with Granny and found a magical spot less than 30 minutes from Warwick, Daddy found some bones and Jimmy thought they were very cool and brought one home - holding on to it while he slept in the car. 

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a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2016

Jimmy: Stomping on shadows while not dropping the bread...

We were on our way to lunch with friends and Jimmy was running and stomping on shadows (Pop's I think), while Daddy was taking photos. Daddy was the "official photographer" of the event and didn't have to carry any lunch supplies - Jimmy was required to help, and help he did and he did not drop that plate. 

Thanks for the lovely photo Michael!

Catching up with my brother!

It was the day of the Federal Election, and my brother was visiting Brisbane for 24 hours. So naturally, we drove the 2 hours and hung out with him. Only my Mum (aka Granny) wasn't able to come - she was handing out how to vote cards for the Greens. So, these photos are for my Mum.

My brother, Arun (aka Dirt Hand), was up for a gig the night before (he lives in Melbourne), and we had a little fun (or trouble) with the whole picking him up thing, which is not surprising as none of us have lived in Brisbane in the last year or so.

Michael and I had hoped to eat at one of our old haunts, but it wasn't to be... It was now a hair salon. Another old haunt had moved, and as Arun thought his preferred lunch venue would be super busy, we sought out the old haunt that had moved. It turned out that these places were really close to each other, and we ended up eating where Arun had wanted to go anyway - stomachs and tastes buds were after something a little different.

Lunch at Shouk was excellent. So was the coffee. And the service. And the interactions between the staff and Jimmy. And with an hour or so between Arun's flight and the end of lunch, we went to an old favourite park, because we were all in need of some fresh air.

And surprise, surprise, the park had changed and the swings were no longer there. Boo. The lack of swings didn't stop us from having fun, and we found a more Jimmy friendly playground on the other side of the park. And then it was time to take Arun to the airport and drive back to Warwick.

Naturally, we'll have to organise a catch up with him again and arrange it so that Mum can be there and so that it's more than a few hours. We may, or may not, aim for it to be in Melbourne...