Friday, May 4, 2007 ;
6:41 AM
29 April
Sunday
7pm
Church usual monthly potluck
Think this is the first time that I remembered to snap a picture. This is the usual monthly potluck. I made tea leaf eggs this time.
Those who were adventurous and tried it said it was delicious, but some (from the look on their faces) did not dare to try it. :-) I guess it does seem strange, with the brown colour and the cracked shell patterns on the egg white. They're more used to egg salad or omelettes I guess. I noticed mainly the men were more adventurous and ate more of the eggs. :-)
I should've put a piece of paper stating what it was beside the dish, that it was boiled and simmered in tea leaves and some herbs that are health tonics.. :-)
We had a lot of fun though, and actually had a date set up with the family who sat next to us. They're going to be our neighbours in the summer cos they're moving into the church-owned big house beside ours.
You can see their oldest son, Tim, sitting beside ds1 in the pic below. ds1 loves to play with them.
So on Tuesday, the mummy came with her youngest son, Daniel, to pick me and kids up and we went in her van to a nearby MacDonalds. This Macs that she suggested had a huge play area with climbing equipment and tunnel slides.
So Daniel (1.5 yrs old) played with my kids and she and I could chat. We had a great time cos I haven't done this since Jan, when I arrived here. So glad she initiated it, cos I wouldn't be able to get to that Mac's without transport (no buses going there) and I wouldn't have dared to ask for a ride.
She has 4 kids, 3 of them sons, so it was interesting to listen to what she has to say too. Normal church days, we don't get the chance to talk much.
Have got another date set for Mothers' Day Sat too, with the Crills, who just had the baby girl I posted about sometime earlier? We're going to the zoo.. Yay.
Not much art/ craft or activities done this past week.. Cos of tons of hsework to catch up, cooking and also a shipment of books arrived from amazon and I was reading them myself. They are mostly field guides and national park books, due to our impending trips.
Wanted to get the most out of the trip, so had to get kids more familiar with the kinds of plants and animals we will encounter and also am teaching them some park etiquette, like not making too much noise if you want to spot animals, and not littering, or plucking flowers etc.
There is a very good kids book called "Who pooped in the park?" based on Yosemite National Park. In story form, it teaches kids not to be disappointed if they don't spot many wild animals during the day hikes and how to actually know the animals are there even when they don't see them.
So they have tracks, showing them how different an owl, bear etc tracks are like, and the scat (faeces) of different animals. Eg difference in shape between deer and rabbit scat.. and how to tell what the animal eats from examining the contents of the faeces. Sounds disgusting? ds1 loved the idea of it. I think for boys, the more disgusting something is, the happier and more excited they become.
When I am reading the field and trail guides, deciding which hikes to do, the kids have to entertain themselves... Feel a bit bad not doing anything with them this week, but I console myself that it is to make the trip more worthwhile... :-)
Below: the kids' current craze of placing the laundry baskets over their heads and walking ard or playing and doing normal things... refusing to take them off...
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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