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

Jimmy: Blow dandelions!

Ok, so he's running through a field of them, but the joy is the same because the seeds fly away and it's wonderful. So is Michael's camera work.

Early spring!

Apparently it's not quite spring yet, but don't tell the plants that because I'm loving the flowers, blossoms, new leaves, greening grass, and the combination of warm and cool air. Also, bye-bye winter funk.

Speaking of the air, as soon as the night time temperatures stopped dropping below zero, there were all these smells in the air - it came as a bit of a shock after nearly 3 months of cold and woodfire smoke. I can't describe it, because it's not quite earthy and it's not yeasty but it's green leafy and wet old leaves decomposing and sweet all at the same time. It's mostly pleasant, but it's not a familiar smell to this Australia, even after two years in Manhattan, KS.

The light is changing, we're back on daylight savings, we're waking up to birds chirping away in the trees outside our bedroom window, the turkey vultures are back, and we only have a few more months in the apartment and Manhattan (we're only 100% sure about the apartment, but it looks like we're coming home in June/July). In light of our situation (coming home!), we're going to make the most of this spring because it really is quite different from spring in Australia.

Beautiful blossoms aside, I am looking forward to being in a home among the gum trees.

Over the weekend we...

Were joined a group of friends and went for an early morning walk around Konza Prairie Biological Station. Now, when I say "early", we started walking around 7:30am, and when I say "we", I mean the five or so of us who arrived a little later than the others, who were about 30 minutes ahead of us.

Why so early? Well, it's summer here and the days can be very hot, so the idea was to get a walk in before the day became too hot. And thanks to the cloud cover (and rain) the morning stayed a nice warm temperature. Yay!

It's been a while since Michael, Jimmy, and I had been in the area - and even then we didn't do any walks - so we were enjoying every little thing, including this tiny toad that was the same colour as the path.

I'm so happy Konza Prairie Biological Station exists, because I think it's very important to develop a really sound understanding of an area's ecosystems and ecology, and that is exactly what the Biological Station has been working out.

There are lots of photos to come, just press read more...

K State Gardens in summer!

These photos might be nearly a month old, but I've been wanting to share them since Jimmy and I walked around the K State Garden in June. So, here they are. K State Gardens in summer!

There's really not much to say about the Gardens that I haven't said before. There's also no need to point out that Jimmy likes water, and would have gone into the fountain if I'd let him.

Despite the dark clouds, we did not get caught in any rain, and the time we had in the garden was fun, until Jimmy fell into a strawberry patch... Ops! He went into the Manduca pretty quickly after that, and from memory he stayed awake the whole walk home.

There are more photos...

Five happy things for five days...

Jimmy smelling the roses, while they were still there to be enjoyed.

A month ago a friend invited me to take part in a "5 happy things for 5 days" challenge that was doing the rounds on Facebook. I gladly took part, especially as I was enjoying reading what my friends were putting up for their 5 happy things each day. How hard could it be, right?

Well, it wasn't always easy to find 5 things every day to be happy about. It might have just been that week, but for some reason I felt rather down, kinda flat really. Whether it was highlighting the good when we're so far from family and friends, hormonal shifts as Jimmy breastfeeds less and less, or that I'd abused my sourdough starter so much that it basically wasn't going anywhere, I don't know. It could have been all of those things.

During the following week my sourdough starter picked up again, thanks to some tender care and double feeding (more later?), and my mood improved too. A friend who was also doing her 5 happy things pointed out that now, this day and age, is actually a really good time to be a woman: we have so much more control over our lives, so much more say in what happens, so many more rights, so much more freedom, than any of our female ancestors (collectively, and yes, there are still improvements to be made in the general standing of women, but we have come along way and being reminded of that made me happy). And the weather improved.

I also made an effort to get out a little more with Jimmy, whether it was just the two of us or with friends, and that helped too. So did contacting friends back in Australia, some of whom I hadn't really spoken to in a few months. 

So, here are my 5 happy things for 5 days:

Day 1:

1. Having a little boy who was happy to play with boxes, laundry baskets, and a doona all day;
2. Michael. This guy rocks;
3. Not having to worry about how I'm going to get the nappies dry on a cold, wet day (yay for tumble driers!);
4. A special group of mummies for oversharing, venting, and support, even if we're separated by the Pacific Ocean;
5. Having friends in Manhattan who found today just as cold and dreary.

Day 2:

1. Seeing Jimmy interact with other small children at playgroup;
2. Turning lovely wool, from my lovely sister, into a (hopefully) lovely beanie;
3. Homemade sourdough bread, with blue vein cheese;
4. Watching Michael and Jimmy together. The joy is immense;
5. Ice cream at the end of what turned out to be a long day.

Day 3:

1. Baby hair;
2. Baby smell;
3. Knowing that baby smell and baby hair make Michael happy too;
4. Nursing my baby to sleep;
5. Being physically exhausted from babywearing, because my baby is growing big and strong.

Day 4:

1. A healthy child;
2. Having a doctor agree that Michael and I have a healthy child;
3. Vaccinations to help keep my child healthy;
4. Coffee and monkey bread to make up for an early start;
5. Living in a complex that hosts dinners for its (warm and friendly) residents (read: not having to cook dinner after a long day, and chatting with locals). 

Day 5:

1. My family and friends, here and around the globe;
2. Knowing how to knit and sew, because I learnt these skills from family members - thanks Mum (aka Granny)!
3. Eating waffles while playing Worms - thanks Michael!
4. Having friends around the world who care about our planet enough to spend their lives looking out for it, working to improve our environment through conservation or sustainable agriculture or education;
5. Reading what friends have said in their 5 for 5, especially when they remind me that now is a really good time to be alive, especially as a woman - thanks G!

Reading these happy things I can pick the days that weren't so great (Day 3 in particular), but I think Day 5 was pretty good. It was an interesting exercise, and enjoyable too. It also marks our halfway point - 6 months down, 6 months to go... We're over that hump, but our future is not clear and I may yet to another 5 happy things for 5 days, when I need to remember to enjoy the now and distract myself from uncertainty in the future.

Road trip: Part 4 - Lake of the Woods to Thunder Bay

Day 8: Lake of the Woods to Thunder Bay

We set alarms and were up before dawn so that we could see Uncle C. again before he left for Winnipeg and to thank him for having us. Once he was gone, we continued drinking our coffee and watched the sun rise over the Lake...

Photo: Michael

It was magical.

And then we packed up, locked up, and drove off. Not only did we have a 6 hour drive ahead of us but there was at least one more Geocache to find. 

But it wasn't found. Meanwhile, I managed to take a few pretty photos of mist and wild flowers, grasses, spruce, and birch. Jimmy and Pop got their groove on to the Wiggles, while staying nice and warm in the car.

As we drove towards Thunder Bay the landscape became rockier, with fewer lakes but more trees and grasses and wild flowers and road works. The race to finish everything before the ground froze was on. We were fortunate enough not to have to wait very long at any given point.

The day was uneventful otherwise, although we did feel pressed for time and by 4 pm, with 1.5 hours driving to go, we had to make a call: see Kakabeka Falls and have a really cranky Jimmy or just head to our accommodation. We skipped Kakabeka Falls. We were all close to being 'over' being in the car.

And we did manage to make it to KOA Thunder Bay without Jimmy getting too upset. Oh we were glad to be out of that car! We bought firewood and started looking forward to a hot dinner and cups of tea... only we were a few days too late for the dry wood... that all went over the Labor Day weekend, when they were very busy. Oh well... At least the swimming pool was open...

But we were all after refreshments first, but they were second to setting up our cabin. Except in Jimmy's case. He'd waited long enough.

Possibly one of my favourite photos, thanks Michael for taking it!

Jimmy, Michael, and I went for a swim. It was really refreshing, and not in a "the water was cold" way. Even Jimmy enjoyed the swim before he found the difference in water and air temperatures too much. Nothing a warm shower couldn't fix.

Our kettle.

And now for something completely different...

We were having lunch at uni with Michael, as we do, sitting outside, under some lovely big trees, watching squirrels and birds, while Jimmy mashed his cold pizza into our clothes, when I noticed that the leaves we were sitting amongst looked, well, odd and not like the round leaves on the trees above us. 

The leaves had a stem at their base and a stem that poked out, about halfway along the leaf. And then I looked closer and discovered that the second stem was actually connected to berries, and in some cases dried flowers, which meant that the leaves were not simply leaves at all! 

They protect the developing flowers in their sepals! I'll admit that I was, ok, I am still rather excited, but it's all a little confusing because Michael and I can't work out what to call these leaves... Are they sepals? Well, they house multiple flowers with their own sepals, so no. Are they leaves? Petioles? 

Oh it doesn't matter really, but the biologist in me is still interested in working it out. We'd never seen anything like it and were, still are, a little taken by it. 

The tree in question is an American Basswood (Tilia americana L.)  it's native to Kansas, and many other parts of the USA to the north, south, and east of us. 

Thanks go to a pizza smeared Michael for the lovely photos and for finding the links.

Spring!

Flowers at K-State.

Today is the last day of Spring, here in Manhattan, KS, and I thought it was time to share some of my photos from this season. We may have missed the first month of Spring, but from what we saw, and from what we were told, we didn't miss much expect the cold. The days and nights have gone from cold to warm, even hot, as the wind has changed from north to south. Summer might not start until tomorrow, but it is basically here, although I've been told July and August get really hot... At least the pool is open and we have central cooling if the weather becomes gross... So, here's to Spring, thanks for being cold enough for hot chocolates, yet warm enough to enjoy being outside, most of the time.

Yes, that is snow. And Michael had to walk to uni that morning...

A few days later, no trace of snow or of frost, but it was still cold.

Near our bus stop.

The day our internet was installed.

In town...

... with a close up of the flowers.

Pretties, also in town.

And now, the show is over for Spring.