So, my children are obsessed with Pokemon at the moment which seems to be an excuse to be rather violent towards one another, indoors on a rainy day (yes it's a horse race public holiday) and in an effort to stop this I bribed with a homemade icypole suggested that they might like to do a Yoga Bear DVD to help calm them.
Naturally the promise of any kind of food inner peace once they had completed the DVD compelled them to roll out the Yoga mats.
Here they are preparing to be walked through a slightly psychadelic yoga routine by an accomplished Yoga instructor who is wearing a fluffy blue bear suit (be warned the SITE IS BRIGHT). Yes Sir Chatsalot appears to be wearing a blue tie-dyed stocking on his head, no I don't know why, but it seems on theme.
Seconds after this picture was taken I heard wails from the living room
"Mummy he kicked me!"
"Yeah but they was only because he WASN'T DOING YOGA PROPERLY!!!!"
"Now precious pets, that's not really in the spirit of yoga is it?Now sit back down and breathe deep, or no icypoles".
45 blissful minutes without fighting or screaming later we hear "It's finished! Now we can have an icypole" from Sir Chatsalot to which his ever surprising 4 year old brother replies, "No, now I want a new car."
Yoga, upping the stakes AND bringing you peace.
I am standing up for the Middleclass today.
The middle classes are sneered at, patronised and ignored but I am here to sing the praises of those who see fit to grow their own food, shop local, make things by hand, feed their children organic foods, read to them, have reusable water bottles and drink good Fairtrade coffee.
Those who up-cycle and re-cycle and Free-cycle. those who set up schemes and playgroups and community gardens for the less fortunate, who fun run and shave heads for charity. Those who stand up for breast-feeder and against the mummy wars, those who won't tolerate racism, misogyny or homophobia. Sure there is often a lot of money spent and misdirected energy (on cupcakes and bunting.. maybe?) but good on those who have the time and money to spend being vocal and eco-friendly.
I see the rich get away with a lot and the other end of the scale excused from consequences due to real or imagined barriers, but from what I can see it's those being dismissed as mummy bloggers and tossers who are making the real grassroots changes.
They are the ones who drive the economy and the ones who care, they are the ones being vocal.
You keep doing your loca-vore organic up-cycled Fairtrade thing people.
Some people have Sundays as a day of worship, others a day of rest, for us it's a day of recovery and reflection. Also gratitude.
We aren't religious but it doesn't mean a lack of reverence or gratitude in our lives. If we can't find another (exhausting!) activity on a Sunday we head out of town and eat Gelato on the village green in Westbury.
It is amazing restorative being under giant trees in the cool shade, sitting on the grass and admiring the view. My eyes recover from screen time and whilst ever patient Husband and father eats Gelato with the boys, baby kicks on a blanket and coos at the trees.
I take this opportunity to kick my shoes off and walk barefoot across the green to the Whitehouse bakery to see what they have made today from local produce and baked in the 100 year old bread oven.
It is beautiful and calm in the bakery and the people who serve are amazingly soothing. It's like a mini retreat, with cake!
The boys (all sugared up) attack the play equipment with vigor and today we all went to explore the grounds of the church opposite the park.
A bonus is that the drive to Westbury is absolutely picture perfectly gorgeous. It is a good recharge and a good day for all of us.
Do you have a spot for reflecting, restoring and recharging your family?
Who would have thought that a side effect of having no cat by laws in a city would result in cats everywhere? I love cats but I am a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume that you find in Launceston. If you don't have a cat when you move here you will be issued with one. In any case you inherit them or they find you regardless of your cat based intentions. Hello crazy cat lady- have we got a city for you! They can be found in wood piles, on roof tops, in empty houses...We found some. Two to be precise.In our storage yard down the road. Two tiny kittens playing and romping for a couple of days. They are staying with us now, getting into everything, kittens in the tea, kittens in the bin, in the bath on your head. Everywhere you look now there are cats doing absurdly cute things. It's like the internet in here.
One mustn't forget Oliver. He looks like he is a possessed Zombie cat but really he's a Devon Rex. He's eleven or twelve so he's pretty sprightly considering. Possibly less amused by sudden kittens than the rest of us.
