Loveheart Farm

We had some quiet days at home. Varsha went to Lake Eacham with Tekira.

The next day she spent a long time untangling embroidery thread. She embroidered a birthday present for Grandma and Grandpa.

Laxmi has been reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She wanted to make dinner from the garden so we dig up some sweet potatoes and picked some tomatoes and greens. We scrambled some of our chicken eggs and made a spinach and feta pastry with the greens.

Laxmi has been getting up early to feed the chickens. She and Kiko had a nap together in the middle of the day.

Laxmi made chocolate chip cookies for Grandma and Grandpa’s birthday.

Laxmi made breakfast with strawberries from the gardens she has been thinking a lot about what is healthy food after watching Back in time for dinner.

One day she measured heaps of things and we talked about millimeters and centimetres and metres.

Varsha played Geoguesser where she guessed the location of random street view images from google earth and then she made little watercolour landscapes.

Thiango organised a photo shoot in the burned landscape between Mareeba and Molloy. They all dressed in black. They were really tired when they got home.

Laxmi had a dentist appointment. Her teeth were pretty good. She and Varsha did a colouring in the waiting room.

We have decided to explore more Wes Anderson movies. We watched our third, The Royal Tenenbaums. The other movies we have seen by Wes Anderson were Hotel Grand Budapest and The Isle of Dogs. They are funny and poignant, surreal and they look fabulous.

Varsha made a teddy bear and a card for Tekira’s birthday. She had a 50s birthday party in Atherton.

Dakoda came over to play a few days. She and Laxmi started Monster High Doll makeovers. They cut off the hair and took their heads off after warming them in hot water. They pulled the hair roots out from the inside with pliers and put new woollen hair in. Painting the faces was a bit harder than they expected and they washed a most of the paint off. Varsha gave a few tips and did some drawings.

Things have been much quieter this week. Even the markets were quiet. It was drizzly early in the morning and we weren’t sure if we would go at all. The sun came out and we had a lovely time. We came home with lots of flowers and produce. Laxmi got a really hard puzzle from Cat’s stall.

Varsha had her last Young Creatives session for the year at the Cairns Art Gallery.

Mount Molloy P&C organised trick or treat and a Halloween disco on Saturday night. The Homeschoolers joined in and had a great time.

We have really been enjoying watching the series Back in Time for Dinner on ABC iView. It shows how food and kitchens and culture have changed in Australia each decade. It shows the influence of technology and current affairs.

Laxmi has started swimming classes at the Julatten pool. Laxmi also finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She watched the movie a couple of times and has started reading the next book already. She has also been watching quizzes and commentary of Harry Potter on you tube,

Bila invited Varsha and Thiango to come to Rocky Horror Movie at the outdoor cinema in the botanical gardens in Cairns for her birthday. Varsha made her a card and we all dressed up. There was a best dressed competition and lots of people brought things like water pistols to spray in the air when it was raining in the movie. Varsha was pretty impressed by their dedication to a movie that came out in 1975.

Varsha is officially the 2nd tallest person in the family!

It’s strawberry season and Laxmi wore her strawberry hat to Anise’s forest themed birthday party. She loved playing with Anise’s dog Trixie. Varsha did face paint for both of them and she had green hair!

Varsha has been doing more sewing and embroidery.

We all went to the opening night of The 12th Night. Laxmi and Varsha both really enjoyed it. It was really interesting to watch the Auslan Interpreters too.

We had dinner by the esplanade before swing dancing. The full moon rise looked amazing.

Work on 12th night went into full swing. We made nine 6metre backdrops.

We went to Quinola Lakesfor a swim and a play with the Homeschoolers.

Varsha and Thiango came to Cairns and helped painting the set and props. They helped with the makeup and the costumes too. We stayed overnight at Zelda’s place and they had a lovely time in the pool with Zelda’s dog, Maxie.

We had dinner on the way home at our favourite Thai restaurant.,

Laxmi went to Ziggy’s birthday party the day after we got back from Wallaby Creek. There was a fabulous pass the parcel and Laxmi got some paint and a canvas that she started using immediately. Laxmi said she was tired for a whole week after we got back from Wallaby Creek.

Varsha and Lara started doing daily drawings for Inktober. They went to Kellie’s house too. Lara had an acupuncture treatment and they went to Cairns with her for swing dancing. They came home with Zeph and Luca. Zeph and Luca have moved into a house across our street.

The photos came out from the photo booth at the swing dancing festival. There are some lovely ones of Varsha and Luca and Thiango.

Cat and I were busy working on the set and costumes for the 12th Night and I did a mosaic workshop for the school holidays in Dimbulah.

Tim and Carly and Louie came to stay overnight and we had a big dinner with them and Cat and Will and Cosi and Thiango and George and Lara. Varsha and Thiango and Lara made chocolate brownie. Tim and Carly brought beautiful Lilies.

It’s been a busy month since Varsha’s birthday at the end of September.

We rehearsed and made costumes and props for 10 Nights of Dreams. We performed with the Masaki family and Chiko from Indonesia and Zelda and Darren and the Kerrima mob. Marc and Tomomi took photos.

It was lovely to have Lara there again. She and nature played the crying bride. The off road wheelchair Peter loaned us was great.

Varsha said this 14th birthday was the best birthday yet. It was the first night of the festival with the Sassy Cats and the fire twirling. There was a chocolate cake and presents in the evening.

The creek was beautiful to swim in. We danced to the Secret Tuesdays and Faux Mo. on the last day there was a YAK rove. The theme was bleaching of the coral reef so the kids all painted their white costumes fluorescent coral colours and put in fluorescent face paint.

Laxmi got up early for the Poet’s Breakfast. She really enjoyed it and wants to read more poems. We started reading When we were very young.

It was a big day when we packed up and headed to Wallaby Creek. The kids all fell asleep in the car on the way.

Wallaby Creek was lovely as always. It rained a little bit the first two nights. We camped with lots of lovely friends and started rehearsing 10 Nights.

Everyone helped making costumes and props. Varsha and Lara And Thiango made a big horse and girl for the show.

Chiko and Nancy came. It was the first time they had been camping. They made delicious Indonesian food. Varsha rehearsed her scene with Chiko.

John made rainbow pancakes for Varsha’s birthday breakfast.