Belly belly

It looks like the race is on between the two mad cows at Avalon . . . . Paddy is really ‘bagging up’ now and her udders are bigger than mine (close, but no cigar!).  It’s a close thing who waddles more and who eats more . . . we both have our noses in the trough 24/7!  Ged says now he knows how Daisy feels when paddy head butts her off her feed – I am scrapping for the biggest bowl and the leftovers now!! Maybe Paddy is waiting for me so Macca the midwife can deliver us both!

As for me, the baby is Head Down, Bum Up and engaged.  So pre-flight checks have been completed and he is ready for orbit.  I am keeping my legs firmly crossed until the house is finished, baby’s room ready and linen cupboard cleaned out and rearranged . . . . !
Monday morning saw me consorting on the phone with a couple of animal healers/clarivoyants for an article I am writing for the ongoing series in ‘Australian Performance Horse’ magazine about Complementary therapies for horses.  Tinkerbell and Ged’s mare, Mythri, were the subjects, and Tinkerbell told us that she had chosen to come into this life to be one child’s pony, for life, and I was carrying that child and this was her destiny.  So basically she is responsible for getting us all from the UK to Oz and then from KV to here and fixing me up with Ged and getting me up the duff etc . . . we always thought she was a spoilt, manipulative little tyke but now we know for sure!  The animal communicator confirmed that Mischa had been bitten by a snake, had gone very quickly (10 minutes) and so now we know . . .
The weeds inspector came on Thursday and was, as always, very helpful.  He told me that the ‘Travelling Stock Route’  on Crown Land across the river from us (where we have our river crossing entrance and Flying Fox parking etc) is available for rent.  So for $75.00 a year we get an additional 100 acres or so!  Can’t pass that up, so we have written the relevant letter.  It just means that if it ever came up for sale, we would have first option on it, and while we have a lease it can never be sold to anyone else, and we get to do as we will with it.
On Friday I took my big belly into Port Macquarie and signed up a new client – a lovely couple who import Natural Paint from Germany and her other business is importing organic baby stuff so we know how I will be getting paid!!  I swore no new clients this year so I could concentrate on the wedding and the baby and have taken on two newies in the last two months – great timing!!  Well they say there’s no rest for the wicked . . . .
I have been sanding and Tung oiling the laundry floor and glossing the laundry skirting boards this weekend as my new office ‘niche’ is above the washing machine so I can keep in touch during my maternity leave without having to trek up to the office.  Am aiming on getting Ged into the office next week.  Scottie came and did two days – one finishing the shed and making it watertight (just in time for the first deluges in months) and helping Ged dismantle the shed on his old place.  So we are very close to being ready . . . just not quite yet, little baby!
But the dynamic, over-achieving, whirlwind you know and love has disappeared and I am slow, sluggish and needing frequent ‘nanny naps’ these days.  The focal point of my day has always been my run, recently walk and now it is my siesta . . . who is this person?

Missing Mischa

We are very sad here at Avalon today.

We have been away.  We left on Thursday just after lunch having filled up all Mischa’s bowls with mountains of her favourite dried food and left a light on for the stay-at-home child and then Ged, Phee and myself drove away, leaving her leaping around the garden and stalking the ducks.  I dropped Ged in Sydney at the motel near the airport at around 7ish and got down to the Grippers in Kangaroo Valley about 9.30.  Ged flew to Perth on Friday morning for his Reiki course with my old teacher, and employer, Barbara McGregor (sounds like she hasn’t changed in the intervening years!) while I caught up with some much loved and much missed Valley friends over coffee, tea and a lovely dinner at Cafe Bella as well as having lots of snuggles in bed with the gripper children in the mornings.  Angus made me tea and then we all snuggled up to feel the baby move and listen to him swimming in his watery environment.  Good times.
I left the Valley at 10.30 yesterday morning and drove straight up to the airport to pick up my husband with the newly acquired Reiki hands (Benjamin is very happy!) and then I had a meeting at Girraween with CRT to get this year’s orders for Think Fly and Feed Bowls (luvverly jubbly!) and we went to check out pre-fab Cedar sheds and guest accommodation before heading home via Steve and Cherie’s so they could also check out the bump and make plans for a visit after it has landed.  Then it was the long road home in the dark.
We got home about 11.30 and were surprised to see no Miaowing Mischa leaping off the verandah and celebrating our return.  But then she loves curling up on top of the mattress or sofa in the shed surveying the mice population so we figured she was there.  We called and called but no sign and her bowls looked untouched, the house tidy and no little muddy paw prints leaving a trail to where she was hiding or where she had been.  I climbed in the bath to elevate my swollen legs and then Ged came in in tears.  ‘She’s dead’.  He found the little angel long gone in a crawling position near the shed she loved to lord it in so much.  She must have left us that first night but we have no clues as to what or why.  She was in fine feline fettle when we left, full of bounce and curiousity.  The only  odd thing was that Pheonix had been trying to shag her for three days so I wonder if there was something going on with her that we didn’t know about.  But she was eating and drinking and acting totally normally.  And for her to have gone so quickly surely it can only have been a snake bite or poison?  It’s just a complete mystery.
She was only with us for such a short time.  She was so lovely and full of character and mischief and Phee loved her as did all the animals and she was such an integral part of our life here.  Raiding the pantry to get her claws into her bag of adored cat biscuits (even though her bowl was full!), stretched out, belly up, on the sofa next to the fire; making herself at home on each and every chair and sofa and claiming them all as her own; climbing up on the rim of the bath to play with the bubbles and then drink the water; treating Phee like her Mummy, suckling and kneading his chest for her morning cuddles; climbing under the covers between Ged and I to stay warm on the coldest of nights; clawing my furniture til we all yelled out ‘MISCHA!’; curling up on the baby belly for a cuddle; supervising activities in the shed from the top of a stored on its end mattress; playing with the feathers around Tinkerbell’s feet; chasing macadamia nuts around the wooden floor; sitting watching ‘The West Wing’ with us with as much avid attention as we give it; generally getting the best of Phee in their mock fights;  and always, always, curling up on her beloved Daddy who rescued her from a life of poverty and neglect in Comboyne and brought her home to where she revelled in the warmth and comfort and always knew that she had died and gone to heaven when she came here.  Well, now she has.  And I only hope she is as loved and looked after there as she was here.  We miss her very much.  She was here for so little time, but she brought us so much joy and laughter.  And she was definitely ‘Daddy’s little Princess’ so say a prayer for him because he is so sad.  Rest In Peace, little Mischa, we loved you so very much.

New Feline Family Member

Just when things were getting back to normal, Ged went up the road to look at some wiring and came back with a new member of the Love family!

She is young, calm, easy going and cuddly and to ease her into Phoenix’s existence, we are only having her during the day at the office so we can gauge his reactions and tolerance levels.  He hasn’t been either excited by her or antagonistic but since his stress levels are still pretty high after the comings and goings around the wedding and the trauma of 12 days in doggy prison, best to go slow and tread carefully.
I wasn’t particularly enamoured of her at first, although Ged seems to have fallen very hard.  But she’s growing on me, and wheedling her way into my affections, so I know resistance is futile!
But let’s face it, I loved Tom so much and while I have desperately wanted another cat, I am loathe to let anyone take his place in my affections.  I feel disloyal to his memory if I fall for this little Tiger.  But a house always feels so much more like a home when there’s a cat waiting there for you.
She hasn’t taken long to make friends of us all and sure enough she came home before the weekend . . . she’s pretty content with her new-found family and warm, cosy home.
The deluge has begun again.  Everyone keeps commenting that March was, indeed, a miracle!  We lay the credit at ‘the power of positive thinking’ – we were determined that it wouldn’t rain in March, we kept saying so, we decided to believe so, and our thought shaped our reality.  We also said we didn’t care what it did in April . . . now that was foolish!  My sunny resolve and relaxed mindset is giving way to Eeyore-like gloom as we face day after day after relentless day of torrential rain.
Of course, the other problem is that I haven’t got anything to WEAR!  I grew out of jeans and their ilk weeks ago, and my elasticated waisted summer pants are way too cold for the Comboyne climate so I am in mini-skirts, tights and boots (they must be the mini skirts from my fat days!) and I can’t see me squeezing into those for much more than a month!  I have taken to riffling through my wardrobe every morning and trying to put together creative, comfortable clothing solutions that don’t make me look like a fat frump!  I have been fashioning fashion from things that haven’t seen the light of day for 15 years!
It was much easier in Fiji where a sarong or sulu hid all lumps, bumps and burgeoning belly!  Oh well, as soon as we have made some moolah again I guess I can go shopping!
Mischa, making herself very much at home . . . .