Riley County Fair 2015...

Given how much I was looking forward to taking Jimmy to the County Fair, you'd think I would have had the photos up the very next day...

Clearly not. Let's blame the heat, shall we?

It is nearly 3 months since the Country Fair and here they are, with a few words sprinkled in between. I find it strange to look at them now, Jimmy's hair damp with sweat because it was after 7 pm and still well over 35 C - although it's still not cold here yet, it is hard to remember how hot it was in July. Anyway... Photos!

Dinner... Our neighbours, the ones who took us to Wamego and who we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with, were heading to the Fair in the evening, aiming to meet up with some other friends, catch the barbeque dinner, and take in the Rodeo. We went along but were not committed to going to the Rodeo - we have a restless two year old...

After dinner (thanks to local pork producers) we found refuge from the heat (and it was hot...) in the air conditioning of Pottorf Hall, where we admired the displays, enjoyed feeling normal, and I struggled to get my camera settings right... Arg...

Oh, just, you know, the biggest kohl rabi ever! Well, at the 2015 Riley County Fair...

Jimmy perked up and found some energy... It was hot outside, even after 7 pm, even after 8 pm...

This cardigan and yarn caught my eye, but no one would need either of them for a few months.

Insect collections... I'm going to have to start one - if 4H members can do it, then so can I.

After looking at all the displays, and realising that we had to get Jimmy away from the cakes that he wasn't allowed to eat (they were entered into the cake decoration category and they were very good), we extracted ourselves from the aircon and made for the animals... It was worth it.

And then my camera battery died. I had thought it would happen, but hadn't acted on the thought to charge the battery, because it seems to last forever, until I'm somewhere were I really, really, want to take photos... Ah well...

So, with no camera, Michael was on camera duty, so this one (above) and the last one (below) were taken by him. The light was fading, the sun setting and we didn't go to the rodeo. We checked out the rides, but didn't go on any of them.

It was still hot.

Jimmy was ok, tired but ok. We thought about walking home because Jimmy was asking to go to home, but it was too hot... so we waited for our friends and neighbours to return from the Rodeo.

As the night wore on, Jimmy forgot his fatigue and decided that he'd investigate the 4H dance: he wandered away from where we were sitting and didn't look back until he was halfway between (and we played a cruel trick, and were hiding behind some trees, clearly watching him). We caught up with him before he reached the entrance and we returned to our little spot and watched the fireflies, while keeping hydrated. It was still hot.

Here are last year's photos.

And if you don't believe me when I say it was hot go here and skip to July 24, 2015: 39 C... hot.

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.

31/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

Jimmy: with his favourite toy, at the Parents as Teachers Riley County Playgroup.

Every time we're there and he sees it, that's it, it's his, for the next hour or so. He discovered it at the end of our first time there, and it broke his heart when we were there next and another child was playing with it, meaning Jimmy was going to have to wait until it was free. He'll sit there and roll it and roll it. It doesn't matter what the other children are doing, he'll just sit there, because he was occupying that space first. Sometimes he even pretends to vacuum the playhouse.

Every now and then, he'll be distracted by something else, but the vacuum cleaner is the clear favourite. I'm hoping he likes vacuuming with a real vacuum cleaner, because I'm not too fond of it especially as I either have to wear Jimmy, watch to see that he doesn't get near the power cord or ask Michael to do it. If Jimmy does the vacuum cleaning, that's one less things I have to do, right?

A glimpse of the Riley County Fair!

At playgroup on Friday, I was talking to another mum and she mentioned taking her children over to the County Fair in the morning to see the animals, and I thought it'd be fun to head over there too. Michael agreed. We headed out on Saturday morning, early enough to head to uni first and then go to the Fair and be home before the day reached its predicted high and before the predicted storm.