thanksgiving

Thankful for the relaxing times

| poppypeach

What a lovely Thanksgiving break we had with a day out with friends in Oakland for a beautiful vegetarian feast of Quorn and all the trimmings with a yummy salad and vegan mango cheesecake I made for dessert. The cat stood in the pumpkin pie our friends made and they had mini pecan pies as well – we were well and truly stuffed by the time we left their house that evening.

The break began on Wednesday which made a total of 5 days of just chilling! I had to complete a paper for University on the Humanist perspective on behaviour in the classroom – whew! So that took up a lot of my time as I was exhausted from work. The bonus of Wednesday was that I chatted to our architect in Melbourne and viewed concepts of our house for the future – I was thrilled to see how beautiful it will be! Patience and we will get there, one step at a time…

Anyway back to relaxing! We booked a campsite from Friday through to Sunday for our time away at Samuel Taylor State Park. We arrived late on Friday with just enough light to find our little tent spot and heat up out leftover dinner of the Thanksgiving feast, so that was super easy. It did not take long to get into relaxing mode and realise this is it under the trees for a couple of days. The campsite was perfect for entertaining, and our friends were on the site right next door to us. The bonus was that the bathrooms were a quick walk down the hill, I would definitely book that site again in the future!

Saturday came, and we wondered what to do – the vote was to do something low key and relaxing. So we opted for a trip to the beach for the day. Our beach of choice was Limantour beach just a short drive away from Point Reyes Station. We had been to Point Reyes before, and we really loved our adventure there, but that was about 8 years ago when Missy was a baby, now look at her in the water enjoying the freezing cold Pacific Ocean. I wanted to feel the ocean on my toes, but I did not last long as it was ice cold! The waves were beautiful to see, and the kids enjoyed getting their pants all wet and playing hide and seek in the spiky grass.

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We packed up a picnic lunch of egg mayo sandwiches for me with some fruit and beers for the gang, and we just enjoyed listening to the sound of the waves and reading our books. Currently, I am reading Pie by Sarah Weeks, as my daughter recommended I read it! I have been really enjoying kids Graphic Novels and Young Adult books when I have the opportunity to read.

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My friend was reading this book called The Seed Collectors now if you look at the text of that book above I would say that is my family written in the book. When I looked at the family tree at the back of the book, my name would be Bryony in their family. This was really strange to see most of my family written about in a book, I will have to read it one day! Apparently, the kids have those names in the book as the names of the people in the family are named after trees and plants.

A highlight of the beach day out was seeing this guy with his rescue horses and riding them along the beach. One of the horses was just wandering around without a rope looking wild and beautiful! We patted the horses and chatted to the rider, and he said both of his horses were rescue horses. He told us briefly of the stories of the horse he was riding was super skinny when she was rescued. The red stallion was a rescue too, and he mentioned a tragic story about the horse’s parents (I would rather not hear if it is a sad story about animals). He gave me hope and faith in humanity that he rescues these amazing creatures and lets them run free to greet people with their incredible presence and energy.

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Here we are ready to leave the beach, it was such a relaxing day that we did not want to go but all good things come to an end, and we slept so well that night. The next morning we woke up to hear rain on the tent and feel a puddle forming beneath the tarp! We hightailed it out of there.

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The gang getting ready to leave the beach – boo hoo!

 

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Monkeys in a gingko tree
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Kids entertainment at the amphitheatre

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So Sunday morning we woke up to rain and plenty of it, so we packed up our gear and put all the wet stuff in the car and off we drove to the closest coffee shop before we headed home! It was such a beautiful time under the redwoods, and Samuel Taylor State Park is a super special park with hikes and beaches close by.

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Driving home on the I-280 seeing The Dish speaking to the Aliens

 

 

Mixing it up!

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It was a busy mixed up week last week with lots of prep for our Publishing Party and Savory Stories celebration on Friday which meant getting out the glitter and preparing the class for a Thanksgiving celebration. On top of all the celebrations, I was busy making tutorials for the Arts Focus class on Thursday where I volunteer to teach sewing. We had a new project we were bringing into the class – Felt Emoji Keyrings, which the children loved! It went well, and we know some tweaks we can work on for next time we run the lesson.

The 2nd-grade class where I work got busy collecting and decorating leaves for our publishing party which was Friday. The kids write a story on whatever they like in a class called Story Workshop and go through the process of inspiration (using manipulatives such as animals, logs, rocks, nature pieces etc), draft writing, editing, writing and publishing. The kids really enjoy the whole process and when tweaking the stories with the kids it is interesting to see what they create. The added bonus for the kids is that they get so excited to share their stories with their parents and their classmates.

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Part of our glitter party was to make some table decorations, and this glitter filled wreath is ready to party! After our glitter explosion in class, we had such a fun time in Science building our props for the weather play the kids have conceived. I was helping with drilling holes for a rainstick, and other children were cutting out the mailvan that will be a full-size car for a child to wheel on stage. Such a fun day at school/work made me feel that I am finishing this degree as this is where I want to be in life! Glitter and power drills and creating with kids has won me over 😀

In the middle of the week, I gave the kids a tutorial on making pipe cleaner dolls for their project of creating supplies for community dramatic play at our school. Initially, they were not interested in making dolls, and once they started making them and realising they could customise them with personality it was “Can I make another one?” That has always been the response when we do them for the Arts Focus class at my daughter’s school, the kids love them! So many fun dolls were made, and I am looking forward to the response from the school kids when their dramatic play bits and pieces are ready.

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So Friday evening came around, and it was time for a well-earned rest after such a busy week. I think the rain on Thursday added craziness to the mix as it turns out being on the road in the rain is very scary as people around here have no idea on how to drive in normal conditions let alone in the rain! Still, I was happy to be home and in my room on the weekend safely writing a 1500 word essay for my University class Understanding and Supporting Behaviour, with all the experience I am getting from this long-term substitute teacher job I am gathering so much information for my studies and I have plenty to write about.

Feeling the love

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The week of thanksgiving just went by in at such a slow pace and it was so luxurious to stay up late and watch ‘Outlander’ and then sleep in on the rainy mornings – oh so divine! The week was full of essay writing for my first academic essay for my course and it was due on Monday plus I had a quiz for my other unit! It was great to hibernate and study which I am doing mostly these days – I don’t mind it at all. The Education course is fascinating and I am learning a lot each week, the content is so relevant to this day and age and I am quite excited about it all!

When we returned to school on Monday my daughter’s teacher had found a little baggie with this super cute stegosaurus button inside it (sewn on the coat above). It was distributed by the Humboldt Art Abandonment Project, such a treat to pass this onto my coat which needed a fun little button. It just had a note that said TAKE ME HOME PLEASE – YOU HAVE JUST BEEN BLESSED by Humboldt Art Abandonment Project. And yes I am so happy to join you in your quest to share art with the community, these peeps are speaking my language.

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As I was watching Outlander I have been inspired to knit again as there is plenty of knitwear to be worn in the Scottish Highlands! While I have been knitting I have been sharing the couch with my little Love cats!

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went hiking to Hidden Villa for #GreenFriday I would love #GreenEveryday! Still, it was an excellent opportunity to catch up with our friends and go for a low key wander in amongst the green. It was all wet from the rain and cool but still so lovely to be out and about at the farm enjoying the day. My friend and I are both studying Education at the moment so we shared our challenges and class experiences on our walk, it is a good thing to get together every so often and the kids loved checking out the creek.

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Which way to the chickens – there are plenty of chickens at Hidden Villa in Los Altos and running free everywhere, it was so good to be with them. So many breeds 🙂

 

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Here is the door to the villa – such a charming place to visit, it is open certain days of the week so you can check it out. The surrounding garden is just beautiful with lots of succulents – they are my favourite.

Thanksgiving we drove over to the East Bay to see our friends for the day it was a chilled out day with some delicious food. My friends hubby made the turkey with yummy vegetarian sides with a sweet potato recipe by his mum. The vegetarians, myself and my friend had all the sides with Quorn and mushroom gravy. I made this goat cheese butternut squash salad and vegan lime pies, a perfect addition to the table. The kids were announcing themselves as the United Kids of America with the sign they made as they heard the adults vent about the election results. As friends, it is important to share perspectives and we all feel the same so it was such a great feeling to talk about what the future holds. It looks like we will be having a lot of visitors back home in Australia in the future 🙂

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After our Thanksgiving feast and a few glasses of wine we went to check out the view from the top of the hill – here you can see the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate is way down the back. It was great exercise up and down the hill in the cold and we headed back had some dessert played Dragonwood (a kids card game) that went on forever and headed on back home in the dark. It was a peaceful week full of well-needed rest, aaaah!

Giving Thanks!

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In these times of despair, it may be hard to focus on the positive. This time of year with Thanksgiving it is a time of giving thanks to the many aspects of your life or even your year to propel you towards 2017 full of positive vibes. Seriously, we as a group of people who care need to stand together in spite of all the barriers that we see ahead and believe that we can do this. I have even made a calendar of positive affirmations for each month to get us through the coming year ahead and I believe that if you focus on the positive good things will happen.

Of course, I give thanks to the amazing family of mine that consist of our unit of four with the 2 cats. It is grounding in my life to know that whatever happens we have each other living in peace together. So much turmoil around in my circle of friends means that the relationships you do have that work give you focus on cherishing your own relationships. And in the analogy of tending to a garden – give it lots love and attention and your garden will blossom.

We have some good friends here who are like family to me and we are lucky to have each other and I am thankful that we have known each other for over 10 years and have grown with our children who still love to spend the time with each other. We enjoy camping adventures together and hiking and of course eating so we will be spending thanksgiving together relaxing, playing games and catching up.

So there are many things that I give thanks for this year? The community seems to be up there for me with having the support of a group makes a heck of a difference in your day to day life. The school my daughter attends are my people. We are all on the same page about the involvement of education for our children and the future they will have with the approach of hands-on learning. Everyone works together to make it work. And we are there for each other, from my experience living here with no family you create your family from your community around you.

This is why I choose to give back to the community at the local library and teach sewing skills to a group of people who have come to the classes since they began last year. I am so happy that the program at the library we started last August has become really successful with wait lists for the programs as they fill up fast. We had 9 people at the infinity scarf program last Tuesday – the bonus is that we have 8 sewing machines now so there is less waiting around. Next month the program is making holiday decor out of felt with lots of hand sewing and experimentation with fabric. I am loving this opportunity to inspire people in the community and those who want to try something new and instilling the confidence in that they can make something and be creative.

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The opportunity to go home over the summer and spend time with family and friends has been an incredible experience for me. In a sense, it has been a literal “homecoming” for my life and where I want to be in the future. I am thankful for the family I have in Australia and how loving, caring and genuine they are – being so far away AND for so long it was hard to grasp and remember the love. But going home to be with my family was the best thing I have done for myself, my family and the future. The knowing that we can go back every year now until we leave will be something that I look forward to every year. I truly miss my family and it is really hard to be so far away but thank goodness for FaceTime we are just a phone call away which makes it so much easier.

Seeing our friends when we went home was a homecoming in a similar way – again our friends we have known for years and will be friends for as long as we live. We have had many experiences in our past together before kids and now most of our friends have kids we are like one big family together again living away from our families whether they are in another country or another state in Australia – it is still not that far away for them. The time we spent together is something that I will remember – as having close friends means that even though we spend time together when we meet up it feels just like yesterday when we saw each other. Thankful for having friendships like these means a lot to me.

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One final thing I am thankful for this year is the opportunity to study – thanks to a good friend of mine who planted the seed in my mind I decided to attempt a degree in education. And now I am on my third week of the course and it is intense and very exciting at the same time. It is incredible how inspiring a degree can be especially if it is something you do at a semi-professional level. Learning the background and studying online is another experience in my life that I feel has aligned at the right time and even though this is challenging with everything else in my life I do find the time to study! It will be a long journey ahead but oh so worth it for the future – education is something that everyone needs and it should be a necessity of the population, not a commodity (I will not open this kettle of fish here now – this has to be a positive post!)

A piece a Week – A cozy hat and a camp trip to Napa in a Yurt in the Rain

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What a wonderful lazy week it was with having a Thanksgiving Break for the whole week. No school from Wednesday and hanging with the family and seeing Big Hero 6 – Amazing!!! Preparing for our Thanksgiving crab feast with a vegetarian main of Shepherds pie and desserts that included Cranberry Tart, Vegan Pumpkin Pie and Quince and Pear Crumble. We had a wonderful day with friends who came over from Oakland and we hung out and ate and relaxed and took the kiddos to the park to play after all the food we ate.

Cranberries waiting for their pastry bottom with some lemon zest

After the day was over we had to get ready for our weekend away to Bothe Napa State Park to stay in a yurt! Yes I was so excited to stay in a yurt again and I knew it was not going to be like the Mt Shasta fancy yurt experience which was 3 times the size of the yurt at Napa. On Thanksgiving Day my friends told us that it was going to rain on the weekend!! Oh that was not going to stop our weekend away…  What fun to camp in a yurt in the rain in California, a very novel idea indeed!!

Bunny sculpture in a winery

On our way to the state park we had some time to check out the mill and find out how flour is made. The Bale Grist Mill from 1846 still makes all types of flour and sells it for $5 a bag – my husband the bread baker was very excited! We took the tour of the mill and it was fascinating to see all the processes of the mill and chat to the docent who is a baker too. He had the tastiest cream puffs to sample left over from his Thanksgiving Feast.

The Mill powered by a 36 foot water wheel 

A stone that makes the stone ground flour 

Vintage Flour Sifters

Scored some Whole Wheat Bread Flour ready for an artisan loaf of bread

Milling today – How lucky were we!! 

Check in was at 2pm so we headed on over to the yurt and it was nice and dry. As it is winter the light is limited so we were getting the fire started early and starting to cook dinner. Lucky for us as soon as we had heated up our Thanksgiving leftovers and were eating it started raining so dessert was in the yurt – which prompted a song by the kiddos… dessert in the yurt, dessert in the yurt!!

Cranberry tart travelled in a lunchbox in the cooler 

The yurt had a a queen size bed and 2 camp cots for the kiddos inside so we bought our sleeping bags, pillows and blankets to keep extra warm. It was very cold in the yurt but as there were 4 of us when the door was closed it warmed up fairly quickly. We made it for dessert and as it was raining there was no hanging out with the campfire so we opted to go to bed super early – as early as 8pm!! Sleeping listening to the rain on the yurt was so relaxing until it got super heavy and then blobs of water from the trees above woke us up from our slumber.

The yurt in the morning

The yurt freshly rained on!

We headed over to Calistoga the next day for brunch and to escape the rain. We enjoyed the farmers market and had a lovely brunch at Cafe Sarafonia I ordered the Spinach and Portobello Benedict and it was just the right size and oh so tasty with avocado. We really enjoyed Calistoga and next time we go for a mud bath or a spa! When we wandered around and went to the Sharpsteen museum for some California history, they have a diorama of the town which is meticulously crafted and well worth a visit.  After the museum visit we came out and the sun was shining and our window for hiking was upon us!

A break under the old oak trees

Climbing a manzanita tree

An enchanted moss covered forest

Beautiful Manzanita shows its colour in the rain

A fun guy on a tree

A world of fairies and tiny mushrooms

The camp hosts dream Airstream! 

Oh and in between eating and camping I started making this wonderful hat out of my favorite yarn Malabrigo worsted. This pattern is Anjas Newsboy Hat and is meant to have a brim, unfortunately I ran out of yarn. Still it is a warm hat to wear as it covers your ears and this is a teeny bit loose but the yarn was challenged while it was being knitted in the rain and by the campfire. Still it is a super easy pattern to follow and cannot wait to make another one soon – this time with a brim!

Pink  malabrigo hat for the winter

NaBloPoMo – Day 28 – Thanksgiving and a day to eat lots of good food!

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Today is a day to be thankful. I am thankful for many things though what stands out is the amazing friends I have made while living in this country for the last 7 years. Today we are visiting our close friends for Thanksgiving – our camping buddies in Oakland. We will be sharing a mostly vegetarian feast and the boys will be eating a Heritage Happy Turkey (fingers crossed!) I read Eating Animals recently and it is very shocking to read about the way these animals are treated and pumped with so much antibiotics and medications for this one day to feed the masses. I am happy that I have chosen the path not to eat animals and that is something that I will stick to now as I have seen many films and read many books about the mis-treatment of animals for food production. Watch the film Earthlings and that film had such an effect on me that I cannot eat animals again.

The Pear tart that we will be having for dessert today

NaBloPoMo – Day 26 – Car Shopping and time to Breathe

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Today was a day when my husband & I had time to be together with no kiddos, they were at school. So as a romantic adventure we decided we would go car shopping – yay! It is hard to get so excited about a new car and dropping a lot of money but still our little green car is 13 years old has been broken in twice. The reason to get some new wheels is to find a reliable car that we can take on our adventures, that can drive in snow (not too often) but something we can drive on a road trip out of California to see more of this country we now live in. Initially we looked at an Outback but it is big and had not much room in the boot for our camping gear so the next option was a sedan that is comfortable and has a decent size boot/trunk for all our camping gear. So it looks like the Legacy sedan may be the choice for us. We both like Subaru cars so fingers crossed all the time we spent at the car yard today goes well!

Well a very merry christmas with some new wheels!

 As for time to breathe it is such a great feeing that we have a whole 3 days off school this week! We plan to hang out with friends and catch up on some fun things like eating, drinking and playing. I need to make some desserts but that is all fun. The desserts are a vegan pumpkin pie, chocolate mousse made from tofu and a baked pear tart with a hazelnut crust – oh yum!

As the sun set today…

It is time for a holiday sale!

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a new apron for holiday cooking?

It’s that time of the year again – shopping for gifts for your family and friends. From now until the 30th November (a 10 day sale) I will be offering 20% off everything in the store. Yay so click on nerdwallet link on this page or my etsy page and enter this code HOLIDAZE2012.