Unusual Koalas

23/4/22 Saturday
Coffee and stretches start this day, then I go off to work and Mr readies himself to meet Contractor Thomas on the land, to talk tracks and flat areas for camping pitches. (This meeting has taken around 5 months to arrive, and that’s how it goes with land plans, folks.)
Hydrotherapy sessions have restarted, so to keep our care client entertained but not tired prior to this we have set up disco lights to play over her mat where she sits with her toys. It’s a cool clouded day and we are all disco-dappled and listening to birdsong on YouTube.

24/4/22 Sunday
Rain, moderate, mostly over Bodmin Moor.
Our care client is tired from her hydrotherapy yesterday, she plays on her mat in between snoozes. We have lakeside and beach scenes courtesy of YouTube; she loves the sounds of nature, I love pretending to be on a writing retreat.

Get writing done in short bursts. It is not easy to world build in break times like this, but we edge through it. I type ‘we’ here because Care Client feels like part of the process now, and it’s strange to write without her when I’m at home. 

25/4/22 Monday
Early start to babysit grandchildren 6&7. We went to the park to play, and to wait for Grandad, who had to drop the van in for a service. Unexpectedly sunny. We ditched jumpers, little ones also dumped their welly boots. Played on everything but what really sticks in my mind is pushing G7 on the swing and him shouting to the entire park ‘Granma is getting me HIGH!!!’
At work: I have eaten a stomach stretching pile of vegetables, so now is a good time to sit down and write.

26/4/22 Tuesday

Another early start for babysitting the little ones, and their bigger sister.
Grandchild 6: (in the back of the car, to her brother) I saw a butt-tree
(much laughter)
Grandchild 7: I saw a poo tree
(hooting laughter- this exchange goes on a while)
G6: I saw a unicorn tree
G7- laughs
G6- No, brother, a unicorn tree
G7- No!
(they seem to be asphyxiating with laughter)
We drove to the land, so I could help Mr unload the rotavator. The rotavator is heavy and hard work but he pushes on to make a swathe for wildflowers: food for pollinators, happiness for us. Work was halted for a picnic. Children decide to roll down the hill. Grandchild 2 finds this is not great after eating, but is not sick in the car. 

27/4/22 Wednesday

Another early start, this time to get Care Client to her horse riding session, always lovely to witness. I take a walk to town, it’s warm with a fresh wind. Bought some tomatoes and garlic in a greengrocer’s shop, which are roasting in the oven for my tea. 

28/4/22 Thursday
No alarms set, just woke up.

Mr made coffee.

We wandered to the land, under a clear sky. Sun beamed, a cold wind blew. We added layers that soon were hanging on fences because work warmed us up. Mr was rotavating another spot, I was raking grass and topsoil. We took a picnic break, sat on the grass in the van’s shadow. All across the field bright yellow dandelions and buttercups bob in the breeze, all along the hedges bluebells pool in the shadows. The horse chestnut planted in the hedge to replace the felled ash tree is in leaf, it seems happy. Dog was sneaking closer and closer to our hard-boiled eggs, nearly got lucky when one rolled under the van. After lunch, we opened packets of seeds, wildflower mixes and cover crops, and poured them into two containers, one each to scatter in the rotavated, raked soil. The seeds were trodden in, the grass was raked back over - now we wait, to see if this work will bloom. No word yet from Thomas on prices, but we have our first insurance quote which is exciting to us. Plans are big, progress is slow, but it is real and it is happening.

29/4/22 Friday
At the land we get on with tidying up the felled ash, making size graded piles of firewood. Blackthorn branches are placed over the wildflower patches, to deter dogs and children from digging around. I had my straw hat on, no need for jumpers or coats today.
As we were packing up a lovely parcel of family arrived, with an air rifle. Youngest Son set up targets so we all leaned in between the twin ash trees in the middle hedge, struggling with the scope which is loose but doesn't stop it from being fun. The little ones found gun-shaped sticks to use instead, before absconding to the felled ash trunk where they turned into gun-toting koalas, one of whom claimed to have laid an egg.