Last blog before holidays........

 

It's been hectic here, getting ready for holidays in Australia. So much to do before we leave, so many direction to leave Meei, James & Johnny. The garden being the number one priority. Of course it is full of tomatoes, capsicum and bok choy.

The new veggie beds have been built and the frames so the veggies can grow up has been made, my old SES training came in handy with lashing the sticks together. Photos to follow. Just waiting on composted soil from the famers. Once full Meei has the planting plan sorted, so on our return we should see some rockmelon, watermelon, corn, carrots, cucumber & tomatos.

 

 

 

Sam loves to get a masage from Meei, especially before he has an afternoon nap, usually he falls asleep on the floor!!!

 

 

 

 

 

This week I made loads of Sweet & Savory shortcrust pastry and so turned it into quiches to freeze and friut pies. Meei, her boys and my boys had a fabulous afternoon tea eating friut pies with ice-cream - yummo!!

 

 

 

 

Our Rooster was 'reclaimed' by it's former owner, probably because he has doubled insize living with us & getting a regular meal!! So they wanted him back for Cock-Fighting. which is rife in Tarawa. So the girls lost their boys so we went to Tanai to get a new one and this is 'Red Rooster', he is huge, 36 weeks, never been outside of a concrete run and very tame. The girls and the boys love him.

 

 

 

 Our colourful salad today, home grown tomatos, capsicum & cucumber. The only interloper was the spanish onion - yummo with a bit of Balsamic drizzled over the top!!

Meei, James & Johnny are goint to have a lovely month with LOADS of fresh veggies and eggs to take home

Well that is it for this year, I probably won't get a chance to blog on holidays, so enjoy the festive season and stay safe.

With all our love and best wishes for 2013

Jodie, JJ, Jack & Sam xoxoxoxox



More veggies!!!!!!!!!

...again, I seemed to have been ages between blogs but honestly there is a time monster sucking all the days away!!!!!

 

the days seem like 'ground hog' but in the best possible sense!!

 

 

 

Here is our Chummy dog all drowsy after his 'visit' to the vet!! He had a lovely sleep on the lead overnight and was a very good boy not touching his sutures! Phew!!

 

 

Jack found the ice-cream cones, but there was no ice-cream!! Until yesterday so ice-creams all round and Sam is hopeless at eating one!! Every drip has to be wiped up and he waits while you are doing it so the next drip happens and so on, it is time consuming and messy, methinks cups are better !!

 



 

 

on the other hand, Jack is a pro at consuming a cone....(yes I know he needs a haircut!!)

 

so Daniel, the gardening guru from the Thaiwanese Technical Mission called on Thursday to see how our garden was going. He was very impressed!! He advised me on the nematodes that are killing my cucumbers, tomatoes and capsicum. So off we went on Friday to Tamaku to visit Daniel's farm!! It is awesome, they stuff they are growing and how they are doing it!!

So after being sent home with watermelon, golden rockmelons, some other friut thing and a belly full of sampled fruit & veg and an organic fertiliser this was my response....to build more garden beds and make frames to grow things on, mulch and dig, everyones helping, Meei and Sam are raking, James and Jonny moving bricks and Jack keeping the chooks out of the way!! Me I get to supervise it all.

 

Today we picked and ate a cucumber, 15 odd tomatoes and a capsicum. Loads more are ripening as we speak and it is very exciting to eat your own produce!!!

I love my gardens and my chooks!!!

 

 

Here Chummy is being 'loved' by two little boys and soon to double his admirers to 4!! We are looking forward to our new family moving in, I get daily questions on what they will be like and what 'girls' like to do and will they play 'star wars' and other boy games!! My lot are certainly impatient!!

 



 

Well we are on 'sleep' countdown to seeing everyone in Oz, Jack is very excited and we are all looking forward to a break with a wide variety of food to choose from!!!

I'l try for one more blog before we leave.....10 sleeps :0)

Ti a bo

Jodie

Our New Chicks!!!

 

 

.....so continuing on from the saga of the little black hen, I was woken by the chick, 'cheep, cheeping' in our house so I kept then chooks in and kept an eye on them, still no black hen by midday so as I went down to try and catch them they appeared at our front door, so at the moment they are insitu in a cardboard box alternating between the laundry and verandah!!! Out of 9 chicks only 4 remain - dogs :0( Of couse the boys love them to bits, things might change as they lose the chicky fluff!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

the new chook house is finally ready to go, Darren has designed and built the most fantastic feeders and the girls will move in tonight to their new home affectionately know as the

 

"Cluckingham Palace"

Poor old Chummy is so good with putting up with the boys, just waiting for the vet to de-sex him for us, but today the luckiest dog on Taeawa got a bath & frontline!!!

 

Sam has decided he is the best one to water my bananas!!

 

Yes!!! THe 1st tomatoes, not long till they ripen, I can't wait!!!

 

The 1st Capsicums, maybe another few weeks till they are ready

 

Bok Choy, we are eating loads and it is yummo!!!

 

the 1st Cucumber - yummo

 

 

 

With 4 weeks tomorrow to go till we fly out I think that Meei and James will have a wonderful December with loads of veggies to take home, bugger we'll miss it but intend to do some planting late November so we aren't ar off more veg when we return!!

 

Time is Flying.....

I am still wondering where time goes, maybe here on Tarawa so close to the equator it gets sucked away!!! Goodness it is nearly November & not long til we depart for Oz!

 

Not much has been occupying our time that isn't routine. The veggie garden, chooks and kids take up most of my day and a visit to the gym. I am how ever constantly saying to Meei, is it 4pm already????



 

 

Meei's daughter got married on the weekend and I did their cake as they are trying to save money. The only bakery on the island does pox cakes about $150 each so I volunteered!! So this is my version of a wedding cake. It says "Good luck on your wedding" Kotao & Janet!!!

 

 

 

Sam decided to get his brekky, crumble up his weetabix and prmptly spilt it all over the floor, her is my little mr independent cleaning up!! He gets so angry and frustrated when he can't get it done. Sam is toilet training at the moment and it is self lead. He is even taking himself off to the loo and we have to wait while he gets his stool, turns lights and fans on, pulls off his jocks, climbs laboriously up onto the set and sits, and sits and sits while rolling and unrolling the toilet roll.

Doesn't he get cross if we try to do something for him, pull up his jocks, peel his banana, it is so funny to watch him tell you off!!

 

 

Mummy and Jack reading in Jack's bed. Since aquiring "Reading Eggs" Jack's reading is going really well, he is sounding and identifying words. Here we are deep into a book about the environment that he chose himself at the library.

 

This hen lives next door but when the dogs chased her day old chicks into our yard she promptly flew over the fence and hearded them into our chook coop for the night, my girls were not impressed!! But the baby chicks are oh so very cute. She has 9 in total and we listen to them cheep, cheep, cheeping all day long as they live along our fence line - too cute. Jack would love to get his hands on them!!

The new chook house is a work in progress with a builder who takes "island time" very much to heart, so I don't bother hoping for a spedy build any more but have imformed him it must be up by mid november so I can get the girls settled in their new home well before we go away!! Photos to follow the moment it is up

ti a bo for now

xoxoxox

The veggie garden!!

So I am the veggie queen!!! Well I am feeling pretty smug, the bok choy or cabbage as the locals call it is ready for the table and it's yummo, even JJ was impressed and asked for more!! He who doesn't like veggies!! I have 3 teeny weeny tomatoes and everything has flowers, the capsicum, cucumber, eggplant, just the beans to go!

 

yummo, it has taken me ages to buy my own Yellow Fin Tuna, but as I am starting a detox with only whole food I need as much variety as possible, and believe me there ain't much on this island to chose from. My filleting skills are a little rusty, Chummy got a good feed of fish tonight!!

The veggie garden looking very green and edible!!!

Photos of our week

 

I'm not sure where the time is going but the day seems to rnd before I have got everything done!! It is only 7 weeks till we leave for our Christmas break!!!

 

 

 

Here Meei and Sam are off to collect the eggs and water the veggie garden while Jack and I do some school work. Sam and Jack both have their own egg collecting baskets, so they don't drop all the eggs!!!

Our new outdoor setting finally arrived, a 2 & 3 seater lounge, armchair and pouffe!! Also a 9 piece outdoor dining setting. I managed to get a brief relax with no children and a recent Woman's Day (curtesy of Mum!)

Hmmm, quiet comfy, I could stay here all day and look at the view. This piccy is for you Sonia!! The new play equipment will arrive soon and be put just to the left of our house down the front, so our balacony is the perfect place to relax and watch the kids play!!

Jack wanted to make a chocolate cake, how rude, he gets to like the bowls and spoons and I get the dirty dishes to wash up!!!

Jack and I did the icing and put the bowl in the sink for washing. The 'Icing Thief' found it and helped himself!! He loves icing, not so keen on the cake!!

Right the boys and I are off to the library to read, as I am filling in for a volunteer. Better get a crack on with brekky or we will be going up hungry, have a great day

xxx

A busy weekend

It was my turn to read at the library on Saturday.....I inherited the Saturday reading program from an outgoing volunteer. We spend and hour or so at the library reading to and then listening to the local kids read in English. Jack and Sam enjoy the interaction and visit. Meei brings her kids along too and watches Sam for me but this weekend she was away. I ask JJ to come along and to our delight he did, and thoroughly enjoyed it too. It is great to hear the kids reading, many read well, just don't have the comprehension skills.

 

Reading "Jollo Olly Octopus" to the 40 odd kids that turned up this weekend

 

 

 

Jack and Sam doing some drawings in the School Room with Nancy's new crayons!

 

 

 

The kiakia out the front has finally got a roof on. It is SO plesant sitting there having a wine at the end of a long day, watching the kids play with the dog and the chooks scratching about. The tide is high here, just the other side of the fence, with a gentle breeze it is bliss!!

 

Sunday was a busy day of cooking in preperation of our two guests. I cooked an orange cake, Sonia's slice, jamdrop bikkies, a raisin loaf and a quiche shell ready to be filled today. Meei and I had prepared the guest room with a single bed etc only to find out late last night that our secong guest is not arriving due to her plane not leaving Tonga, gotta love Air Pacific and their lax attitude to getting people around the Pacific!!!!

 

So JJ's collegue Birgetta arrives today until Thursday. Another busy week as JJ flies out next Monday for Tuvalu. He has organised a joint patrol with the Kiribati and Tuvalu Patrol Boats.

 

I can't belive that in 9 weeks we shall be leaving Tarawa for Melbourne and Christmas, my how this year has flown.........

 

si a bo for now