This weekend things have opened out, and we made the most of it. With our town’s vaccination rate at over 90% for two doses and 95% for one, we are allowed to be outside without masks, and shops are open again.
At the Farmers’ Market, the girls had all of their favourite things: pancakes with sprinkles, a milkshake, macaroons, and biscuits. I bumped in to my good friend and we talked about whether we might meet up at the coast next weekend, and then a friend of hers saw us and we chatted about our childrens’ experiences in lockdown. I bought some of the things I like to eat: pastries; rhubarb; strawberries; corn flowers and kangaroo paws; and six small packets of nut and pulse nibbles which cost a total of $10 – always good to get a bargain. I also bought some grevillias and a prostanthera on the way out, locally grown.
Next stop was the nursery. Last weekend I bought four lavender bushes and a magnolia at our local nursery, as well as delphiniums and a lovely mixed bunch of cottage-style flowers that lasted the week in vases. I planted the lavender and magnolia and we had our tall hedges professionally trimmed during the week, so the garden looks almost as well manicured as it ever has. I found the blue hydrangeas at the larger nursery we all visited today that will complete our pebble side garden, and Steve found a white azalea to replace the one that died in summer in our absence last year. Lara chose a blueberry plant and I found the last watermelon seedling that she wanted to add to her garden. Before we had a nice lunch at the café across the garden, Rhea chose a hybrid between a strawberry and raspberry bush – it will be interesting to see how it goes.
We shared stories over lunch: of the memorable curry chicken that was too spicy for all but two children in the Year Five camp last year, reminding me of the experiences I remembered from our Outward Bound survival camp in Year Nine, including the food tasting of petrol but we had to eat it, and my friend’s jeans freezing flat like cardboard when she left them outside our tent (which was actually a large, strong piece of plastic that we rigged up with sticks and rope) in the freezing conditions overnight.
After that, we walked to a jetty along the lake and the girls amused themselves competing to flip their 250ml juice bottles to a standing position the most times in a minute. We continued up to the playground and were persuaded to play some rounds of tips, and on the walk back through the fields, Rhea and Lara threw handfuls of plane tree seeds to the wind which I tried to do justice to in a through photo; Lara climbed a huge tree whose branch reached along the ground; and we investigated a crevice in another tree with a stick.
In the late afternoon, I got in a run around our local reserve and some piano practice, and Lara joined me to do hers. Both girls had some sprinkler and trampoline time with the neighbours over the back fence. Close to an idyllic day, hardly any conflict.
Today was one of the girls’ favourite days of the year: Trick or Treating, wearing costumes that they ordered last week that arrived in good time. But first Lara and I planted all these latest new plants; the girls and I dropped in on Mum and Dad and the girls played with their neighbour’s happy, friendly little terrier; then we went to play mini golf. It helped them to try not to think about the first day back to face-to-face learning in seven weeks. They are not looking forward to it. Lara said ‘Í hate school. You have to wear shoes all day’; and ‘we’ve had the longest holidays – 7 weeks, we only had to do a bit of work in the mornings.’
At least they’ll have a stash of lollies to help get them through.
