Moving and Hatsuhinode

So we moved, just a few miles away. Moving is terrible, I always forget. We knew this move was on its way so I had been ferretting things into boxes for months. It didn't make much difference: it was painful. We couldn't have done it without all the help from our friends. And our shows.
Moving day extra-stellar parenting here:
In a fit of madness, Rosie and I tried on fancy trendy clothes at the quicksilver store. I tried on skinny jeans. Then I almost fainted from the laughing. So, I know I'm only 30 which is not so old that I should wear sweatshirts with sequined kittens, but ixnay on the inny-jeans-skay. We didn't get anything because I'm not 16 years old but isn't rosie cute?

I believe in recreating the ancestral environment in my child-rearing. My children have to compete for food with predators.

A nice thing about moving house: big areas of floor open up, and so do box-canvases.

And this is Maile on the day we moved. The mosquitos got her. People avoided us on the street. She looked terrible, but didn't scratch at them too much... I was glad to get out of there.

We have a family tradition of watching the first sunrise of the New Year: Hatsuhinode. We moved to our new place December 31 so our first morning up here we got to see this:

And here are our chickens, on their last day of life, before they were savagely eaten by a wild dog. I HATE having to buy eggs from the store, and even though they weren't our pets, I miss them.

So moving, readjusting to a new situation, it can seem grating. But kids on a farm? What could be better.

It was touch and go with the cats-- they both acted like death at the new house. But after four days of hiding motionless under the bed, they came back to us. Here they are sliding down the railing.

Kids and mud.

RJ and friend T

Brrr, it's so nice to be cold now and then.

MP is a climbin' fool. She loves to escape out the door and climb up and down the porch steps. She especially likes scraping over the rusty rebar.

And here's our Surinam Cherry hedge. Neat, huh?

 Some small water issues at first, but most everything is sorted out. As is, now we have water. Even hot!