From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful spring/autumn weekend lovelies! Â Oh and check out a little giveaway I have going at the moment. Â Â Jacinta x
As promised in yesterdays post, I have a sweet little giveaway for you. The giveaway is for two wool felt flower clips and a sweet little mouse for that someone special. Â The mouse is small enough to fit in a pocket to tote around on grand adventures. The clips and mouse are made by me, with love.
If you have a pocket for me, how grand that would be. I'm a friend for life, just you and me. Love mousie xx
Entry is open to all. Â Just leave a comment. Â I will draw the giveaway next Monday 12th September (Australian time). Good luck! Â Jacinta x
..another day has passed and I haven’t had a chance to sit down and write a blog post, meaningful or not! Â It has been a rather crazy few days. Â We are preparing to get our kitchen renovation underway and of course lots of fiddly things are involved in that, yet I am so excited that my ‘kak’ coloured kitchen will be no longer in about 4 weeks.
We are literally tripping over stuff stored around the house.  Therefore, I have been listing stuff on ebay in a kind of selling frenzy.  There are a few people out there that have bought absolute bargains.  The hardest part is getting them to come quick enough to get the stuff out of the house.  I have a love/hate relationship with ebay to be honest.  Some people you deal with are great, others, well let’s just say, um, nothing about them.
On a lovely note, I looked after a good friend of mine’s children overnight and this morning myself and all 5 children headed off to the Rhododendron Gardens in Olinda for a frolic amongst the spring blossoms. Â It was a beautiful morning and I rather enjoyed playing mother duck attending all her charges. Â The kids were very sweet and literally stopped to smell all the blossoms.
It really is a beautiful time of year here. Â We are very lucky to live near such beautiful gardens. Â If you ever get up to the Dandenong Ranges, you must visit the Rhododendron gardens, I know you will love it. Â Blogged here also. Â It’s best to bring kids, because they will make you stop and look at everything and you know that is what life is about, slowing down and taking it all in. Â Yes, kids really do know the secret to happiness and I am so glad I got to spend the day with all 5 of them.
The view from down the back of the gardens looking across the valley
This Daphne was so divine! One of my favourite flower fragrances.
There is a avenue of Ornamental Cherry Trees which are just beautiful. Although I think they would have been even more amazing last week.
Of course, the wildlife was more than happy to pose!
And yet, another native happy for us to take her photo!
On another good note, I just recently realised that I have over 200 blog posts and I think I sense a giveaway coming on. Â If I get around to it, I will host a giveaway tomorrow. Â Stay tuned! Â Love y’all, Jacinta x
From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo, ok make it two, – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful weekend lovelies! Â Jacinta x
I love to spread the message about good customer service and/or businesses. Â I have to give a big thank you to Duckcloth. Â I ordered some fabric yesterday afternoon and it was in my mailbox this morning. Â Talk about efficient. Â How gorgeous is the unicorn fabric in the green colour way from Heather Ross. Â It’s for Scarlett, my horse/unicorn crazy girl. Â The squirrels are by Sproud Design. Â They are for Tenneille. Â After all, she does love her squirrels. Â Now the fun part, deciding what I am going to make. Â May be one of these skirts or pillow covers perhaps.
Now, if my Etsy goodies (not from Duckcloth) I ordered 1 month ago could turn up so I can get Tenneille’s bedroom finished, I’d be a happy woman.
Please feel free to share links to businesses that you love too. Â Jacinta x
(No kickbacks were received for this recommendation)
Joining in with Ginny from Small Things.
It seems knitting just isn’t happening for me at the moment. Â We are in the throws of getting ready to renovate our kitchen and all my spare time seems to have been taken up with plans and getting stuff for the new kitchen (definitely not complaining by the way!). Â It’s both exciting and daunting at the same time.
But alas, I have made the time to read, by going to bed early and snuggling up under my nice warm covers on these cold nights and reading my kindle books on my iphone.  I have churned through a few books since I last participated in a yarn along.  All of them, funnily enough, based on the Amish.  Following on from the last book I mentioned in my previous yarn along, The Ada’s House series, The Hope of Refuge, by Cindy Woodsmall, I bought the second book in the series called The Bridge of Peace.  It followed on nicely with a few more of the characters written about in more detail while building on the storyline from the first book.
Of course, once I get started reading books of a certain genre, I kind of get hooked, so it will come at no surprise that in between the second and third book in the series I read, A Midwife’s Story, by Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman.  This book has been on my to-read-list for a long time and when I came across it on kindle, well I just had to have it.  I loved it and the fact it is based on Penny’s own experiences made me love it all the more.  It was one of those books that made me laugh and cry.  I read it quickly, stealing many moments throughout the couple of days it took to read.  I didn’t want to put it down.  I love midwives and all that they do.  Having experienced two home births, I know how having that connection with a midwife makes the experience all the more wonderful.  It seems the Amish see the midwife as a pretty special person too.  Once you let a midwife into your home, they kind of become a piece of your family, Amish or not.  (Ok, I think I better stop there).  I highly recommend it.
I seem to have slowed down a bit (thankfully) with my reading this week and I am now reading the third book in the Ada house series, The Harvest of Grace. Â I haven’t read much so far, but it’s flowing on nicely from the second book and again more characters have been written about in more detail, while still enriching story lines that have been building from the previous two books. Â I am looking forward to how the story lines turn out. Â Especially the ones between Ephraim and Cara and Gray and Lena.
As for my kiddos, I read a book tonight called Wombat Stew, by Marcia K Vaughan, to Tenneille and Jairah.  It has always been a favourite and thought it was worth mentioning.  The characters are all Australian native animals and the main character, Dingo, plans to make a meal of Wombat, but Wombat’s friends have other plans.  Very cute book.
Wombat Stew
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been reading and hopefully you have been more successful in your crafting than me! Â Jacinta x
We had a housewarming to go to on the weekend and I whipped up this to take along to share. Â It is really yummy and I am happy to report it was devoured quickly. Â The roasted pumpkin adds a lovely sweetness which compliments the saltiness of the fetta. Â I used sheep’s fetta, but you can use whatever fetta appeals to your taste.
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
400gm pumpkin, cubed (I used kent pumpkin)
90gm Sheep fetta
2tsp chicken stock powder (I prefer Massel’s)
1 small sprig of rosemary, stem removed
2 tbspn olive oil
3 cups water
sea salt
Method:
Pour 3 cups of water into a saucepan and add 1 cup quinoa and chicken stock powder. Â Simmer gently for approximately 15 minutes or until quinoa is just cooked through. Â Remove from heat.
Combine cubed pumpkin, olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and rosemary and place on a baking tray. Â Roast in a moderate oven until pumpkin is golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
Once quinoa and pumpkin are cooled, mix together in a bowl and add crumbled fetta. Â Stir through carefully to prevent everything mushing together. Â Garnish as desired. Place in fridge until ready to serve.
Enjoy! Â Jacinta
I don’t think a Sunday night dinner is complete without a little something special. Â This apple and rhubarb crumble is no exception. Â It’s so yummy, it’s hard not to go back for seconds, if only is wasn’t so filling. Â My kids love it too with a nice helping of cream.
Ingredients:
(This recipe makes enough for one large crumble or two smaller.)
1.5kg apple (I use a mix of apples for maximum flavour)
500gm rhubarb
1/3 cup honey or sugar (you can adjust this amount to suit your taste)
1 cup flour (I use wholemeal spelt, but use what you prefer)
80gm butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bi carb soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1 1/2 cup water
Method:
Peel, core and chop apples and place in pot along with chopped rhubarb. Â Place the apple skins and cores in a separate pot with 1 1/2 cups of water. Â Cover and place this pot on stove to simmer for about 10 mins. Â Remove from stove and strain the juice off into the other pot containing the chopped apples and rhubarb. Â This adds extra flavour.
Place the apple and rhubarb on the stove and simmer with the lid on until fruit has soften, stirring occasionally. Â Add desired amount of sugar or honey and stir through. Turn off heat and set aside.
Meanwhile sift flour, cream of tartar, bi carb and spice into a bowl. Â Add oats. Â Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Â Add in sugar and stir through.
Place desired amount of stewed apple and rhubarb, while still warm, into baking dish with high sides. Â Sprinkle a good amount of crumble on top. Â Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 30 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Â Serve with cream or ice cream if desired.
Apple and Rhubarb Crumble
Enjoy! Â Jacinta
From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful weekend lovelies! Â Jacinta x
Now you could be mistaken that this post was going to be about Jairah, but alas Tenneille had her first haircut the other day at 5 1/2 years old. Â Tenneille didn’t really start growing hair until she was around 2 and it was so fair and fine you could hardly see it. Â She was very excited about the prospect of a haircut after watching me trim Scarlett’s hair. Although I forgot to take before photos!
Of course this mama gets quite sentimental about first hair cuts (amongst many other things), but then again, I think I have gotten my sentiments worth out of Tenneille’s first curls, seems they were over 5 years in the making. Â I couldn’t help myself and felt a walk down memory lane was in order to see how this gorgeous girl of ours has changed along with her hair, over the last few years. Â So here goes…
Tenneille was born with a sprinkling of dark hair that fell out not long after. Â She is 4 weeks old in this photo.
It seems that she still had the same amount of hair (albiet, lighter) at 1 year old, as she did as a newborn. Â Photo taken on her first birthday.
Ok, so  I may have picked this photo because of those eyes! She is around 2 years, 8 months in age and finally has some hair to speak of.
I think Tenneille is about 3 1/2 here.
At 4, she finally had enough hair to tie back. Oh, and just so you know, the dinosaur posing with Tenneille is called Rainbow and is still a much loved favourite.
Tenneille at 5 1/2. Â The back after her haircut.
After her haircut. Â Terrible lighting but it was taken at night under halogen lights.
Do you get sentimental about things such as first hair cuts? Â Jacinta x
