we have been, rather ordinary

Doing perfectly ordinary summery things. The blessed ordinary. One doesn't need to be in a war zone or in mortal peril or the edge or an emotional precipice to feel that ordinary daily life is a blessing (although those things may help). If I bow my head and heart to anything it's the continuation and extraordinary wonderfulness of ordinary days. Long may they reign.





When we are too tired to go for a proper walk we wander here by our house. Last night it was just the girl and I, we looked at pine cones dangling from trees. Perfectly pretty, like a wind blowing through the body and sifting out the nonsense.
If I am scoured clean by being by the sea I am similarly soothed inland-green.

















We have many more chicks. And this is reason for celebration. Each of the four mothers have a chick or more each. They have swapped nests so often the original layers of each egg would be hard to match to hen. We have a white mother bringing up a golden chick and another white one with two of the most delicious black-yellow bumblebee of babies. It's all a big ethnic blend in our hen houses, sisters sharing babies. Very amusing. Each mother has her own 'ark' (er, my dh knocking up some pallets and crates into huts). I adore these homes. Each time a new one is erected (four so far) I want to (and have) crawled in just to *see*.





The combination of old wood, straw and damp earth, sheltered at one end with some old tarp is comforting and earthy and a deep draft of breathe brings in clouds of sweet summer rain.



Even though I have crumbed the grain the mothers still peck it into tiny bits and drop at their chick's feet, motioning to eat, clucking encouragingly, patiently repeating with hard boiled egg yolk over and over until the chick catches on. A clucking mother hen I have finally seen in action.

Mama and single babe one day



And the next, the brown egg became it's sister



See? Two chicks, then one ducks under a maternal wing



Now one again! (we watch this often and it still amuses)



The naming is out of hand and I have given in against the tide of swelling optimism that a) they are female and thus shall not end up in the pot which leads to b) that they shall bare the dignity (or burden I think considering the choices) of names. Polly Twinkle Eyes, Delia Yellow Butt, Daisy Baby and Rosie Flo are some.... Delia is the favourite, because she really does have a yellow butt.



I do hope the majority of these chicks end up not being cocks. I would like to keep them all, however have already enlisted the help of chicken killer friend to come over around Christmas time and show us the ropes of plucking and gutting. Another friend piped up upon overhearing that she too would very much like to come over and see how it's done. Perhaps we could extend invitations and turn it in to a chilly wintry feast day of sizzling outdoor chicken.

We have been swimming in the river. Me included. The current is deceptively fast flowing, when I strike out for the centre and upstream I cannot keep to a chosen point and despite my flailing I drift downriver. It's also much colder than it looks. But you can tell. I am sure. The Beauty skips along the water edge, throwing stones at unlucky passers by.

















I am liking this lovely voice. This is a drifting stream of a song, I had to play it thrice in a row when I first heard it.

We have been crafting and painting.







And making a fairy garden. It's Felix's. He loves it and really truly believes in fairies. And goblins and pixies and that a fat toad we saw nearby had lost it's 'Master', a fairy. We found a feather in there the following day and for sure a fairy swooped in aboard it's bird and left us feather-gift behind. I wanted to do the whole garden-centre-tiny-plants bit but choose the frugal garden scavenging option instead. Just as pleasing and cost nothing but time.









The wheat is in and weetabix-bales are out for us to play on. A lengthy game of hide and seek happened at 9pm last night. The cows were still out and so were we.