February

Hello there,

What a month it has been. Daylight hours have noticeably started lessening. I see it every morning while I go about my chores before the rest of my tribe awakens. There Sun only starts peeking its face around 6ish every morning. With that so do the small children. I have always wanted a life where we rise with the sun and head on indoors when the darkness falls at the end of the day. Although my internal clock knows this will never happen for me, I can see this manifesting with Danika and Garren. Obviously things are a little different for Rob and Josh as they spend their days away from the home at work and school.

February also blesssed us with a visit from Tristan. Although a short stay - everyday was a blessing for me to have him home. It took Danika all of 5 minutes to remember him and then for the whole two weeks she would not leave his side. He makes his way back to his home in Jilin City this weekend and although we chat constantly (or rather when he can get a free moment from his busy schedule) he will be so sorely missed.

This month all five of us made our way to New Hanover to apply for our passports. That in itself took up much of our day. I dont want to say too many bad things about this experience as we in actual fact had an easier time applying than most other humans who are on this same path. Danika proved to show such patience (more than most adults in the queue) and so I most certainly counted my blessings in that regard.

Although the daylight hours are slowly darkening the heat has not let up. This week we hit highs of close to 40 degrees Celsius. So although Autumn is eminent the temps are still in Summer. I am not sure how I feel about saying goodbye to Summer, my feelings are rather mixed this year. I long for more cooler hours of finishing off knitted projects and casseroles with homemade bread yet I am still very much in Summer mode were gloriously fresh summer salads and sipping on ice teas are a joy.

I hope your month was blessed and that the new month will bring you all your hearts desires.

Love as always,
♥  Angela

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hello there,

I am in the kitchen again! (as always) and I thought since I haven't shared a recipe for a long while, this one was certainly one to get up on the blog for saving.

I am by no means a baker or chef but I am a mama who loves to dabble in all things homemade. Store bought bakes just dont make my heart sing. As the months have gone by I have been adding recipes to my small note book that are simple and quick to whip together and really dont ask for those ugly preservatives that get laden in store bought bakes. I hope to share them here soon! (and as I go along). I had such lovely feedback from you all a few posts back about sharing more here that I know it is really something I want to do more of. I really do read each and every comment and message sent privately. I love connecting with you all. Thank you.

I didn't get a chance to photograph more than what I have here - these delicious Chocolate Chip Muffins didn't really stand a chance as with most homemade bakes in our home. I hope you love them as much as my tribe do.

Now to go and make another batch to freeze for our weekend away.

Homemade Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe 

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 a teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup of soft butter
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1 box of chocolate chips (approximately 250grams) 

Sift the flour baking powder and salt together
Cream together butter sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy 
Whisk the egg and milk until combined
Fold in the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chips
Spoon the batter into a 12 cup muffin pan until 3/4 full 

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.

Enjoy!
♥ always - Angela

They're All Together Again

https://youtu.be/PLVwXrS2zQo

 

It's absolutely wonderful having all my children together all at once. 

It has been over a year since they last meandered and played and spent time together in our backyard.

Tristan is home for just a week to renew his visa and then he heads back to his home in Jilin City.

This right here, all rounded up are my Simple Pleasures.

Saying Farewell

I woke this morning to my usual chores of getting the laundry on the go and washing up of the last of the dinner dishes. There are always more to do even though most of them get done after dinner in the evening. I opened the kitchen curtains and my heart broke a little more. My morning view of our feathered egg laying friends that greet me daily had changed. Instead there was an empty coop. It had finally hit home that they had been re-homed. Our girls have been part of our family since 2014 and have delighted us in so many ways. But, with all things (that are happening in our lives at the moment) it was time to send them back to their original home "Bits n Pieces Farm.

It was a sad day. Saying goodbye brought back so many memories of their time with us. Our very first egg, our first hatching and the umpteen memories of cleaning and feeding and chit chatting away with them. I know that they will be much happier now. As soon as they are settled they will slowly be integrated with the others and will free range as we had always hoped they would. They will make new friends and be part of a community that will give them the life that we wanted to give them but could not because of our monkey neighbours and scary predatory bird life. 

They have been so very special and I hope that in our future we will once again share new memories with a new flock.