I ate a chocolate heart

The first lot of school holidays are here. The hot days are over. I am now waiting for the rain to heal the gaping cracks in my front lawn. The chooks are free ranging around the yard and I am waiting in anticipation for eggs, soon, very soon.
This Easter weekend I am busy, working four night in a row, three nights are usually my limit, but I have done a few shift swaps to have six days off next weekend. Zach and I are going camping in Echuca on the Murray river. I have bought new sleeping bags, that can handle -2 degrees. I tried them out yesterday after my night shift. Slept so well, they so toasty. So we will be right if it is cold next week. I love going to Anaconda when they have specials on, I love all the camping gear you can get. There is a few more things I want to get before our Nullarbour trip in September.
Zach has spent the last few days with his nana and pa in Gippsland. I rang before I started work, he told me all about the treasure egg hunt this morning and all the clues to find the chocolate eggs, he is having a marvellous time! I will pick him up Tuesday afternoon, do looking forward to seeing my boy!
Zach will be so chocolated out from Easter, I didn't buy myself any chocolate eggs this year, because I have given up sugar. So after my second night shift, when I got home, I had a chocolate craving like you wouldn't believe and I had no chocolate in the house, or so I thought. Rummaging through cupboards, I found super dark cooking chocolate that was to bitter for me and a milk chocolate heart. I haven't had chocolate for months and I devoured that chocolate heart in seconds. It was way too sweet.
Check out my latest knitting project, I hope I get it finished before we go camping. Beautiful pure wool, it will be very cosy. Of course after camping, we will have to go home via the Bendigo wool mills, not that I need more wool.
Hope you had a happy Easter xoxo

treasures!

Yesterday morning at school drop off, Zach had a mini meltdown as he was being coerced into the classroom. He calmed down as soon as I was gone. But I was stressed and needed a wee bit of retail therapy at the local opp shops. Oh, what treasures I did find!
I found some more apple plates, I collect this pattern, so pretty.

A few golf balls to put in the chook nesting boxes, they will be laying in a few weeks and I have to let them know where to lay, with fake eggs.
Some fabric with trains, some with hearts, I'll find a use.

Fourteen balls of pure knitting wool, Patons 12 ply Jet. So got lost on Ravelry last night, plan to make a poncho with this lot.
 
A gorgeous turquiose jug, I love retro glassware!

A. B. "Banjo" Paterson's Collected Verse.

Autumn

It is the first day of autumn. The last few days have felt like autumn, it has rained, what beautiful rain. In anticipation of the change of season, I bought wool, big thick chunky 16 ply bold red wool. The rain has brought out the urge to knit and collect more wool.
The dust on my car has been washed away, it will be back, I cannot keep my self from driving down dusty, hidden roads and seeing what's down there.
This chalk drawing from Zach has also been washed away, it was by the front door. So glad I took a photo

Time to get lost on ravelry. Good night ♥x♥x

Autistic people should enjoy life!

Autistic people should enjoy life, enjoy living, actually all people should. But not all people do.
Yesterday we went again to the city, rides on trams, burgers and chips, ice cream, a partial dip in a fountain, Mozart.

It was a hot day

We are enjoying life! x♥x♥

Comfort zone

School has been back for about three weeks now, we getting back into a routine. A bit hard when the weather is a bit extreme and you don't handle the heat very well and also nearly out of melatonin. Getting a new script tomorrow. Zach states he hates school and that he is allergic to it. But if you had seen him last year, you would think he was a different boy, we get to school, he carries his bag to class, walks in no worries and has even been sitting with the others on the floor at mat time. No tears or tantrums, such a relief.
Each weekend if I'm not working, we have gone out. Zach would like to stay at home and just play, but there is a whole big world out there. So out of the comfort zone we go.

We went to China town in the city, at Chinese new year. Waiting for the parade, with the crowds was pretty full on for Zach. When the lion dance started and all the fire crackers went off, he hid in one of the port-a-loos until the parade went further down the street. Then of course he had to show me how the port-a-loos flushed with a foot pedal, that was a highlight!
I was so proud of him, he did cope well, lunch time was so out of his comfort zone. We had a Thai rice noodle soup, the spouts and Thai basil and chili on the side. So impressed, we added all the condiments on the side to the soup and he ate, most of it.
We ended our afternoon at the national gallery, we had our hot chocolate and coffee in the members lounge.

A week later, I challenged him twice. We went to one of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra free summer concerts, to listen to some Beethoven, symphony  no.2. We had some friends unexpectedly join us. They noticed the benefit of us going gluten free, Zach was so animated and talkative and understandable.
Our discussion on the way to the bowl. "Beethoven is dead?" yes he is, he lived a long time ago" is he in heaven? I think he might be. "he makes music for God" Yes he does, the most beautiful music you will hear" Beethoven's symphony no. 9 Ode to Joy, my favourite! I truly love Ode to Joy and I've booked myself a ticket to hear it later this year.

I was given tickets from my lovely little reds friend to go see an exhibition, fashion meets fiction. Gorgeous vintage dresses.
Zach was suitably bored, he tolerated being there, but only just because he had possession of the iPhone. Can't win them all.

Summer, summer, summer

It has really felt like summer holidays! We have been enjoying them. Zach and I went camping at the start of jan with friends at Badger Creek. We love camping. It was so nice to get away. Zach and his friends walked up and down the creek, looking for the crays that lived there. We spent a lot of time in the pool, Zach's favourite thing to do was jump into the pool, make a big splash, get out and repeat.
We went to Healesville Sanctuary, we got up close to echidnas and got to feed them. They are really the cutest!










We went to the old railway station in Healesville and Zach was so excited to see that they had an old steamy there. In major need of restoration, Zach loved it!

No campfires because of fire restrictions, we even had to delay going home because there were grass fires less then five kilometres from home. Next school holidays we will go camping again, it will be a bit cooler and we can sit around the fire at night with hot chocolates for sure.
Because of the fire warnings, I have all our photo albums and documents all packed, ready for if we have to leave. Some days we left anyway, just to hot to stay. We went to the city with a friend from work and her little boy. We headed to Fed Square and checked out this amazing woven house! My weaving willow friend would love this!

We spent nearly two hours in the air conditioned bliss that is the National Gallery of Victoria, then another afternoon was spent at the swimming pool, Zach now wants me to dig a swimming pool in our yard.
We spent another day at the Melbourne Zoo with one of my friends.

Our second visit and we still haven't seen everything, I think we will be going every school holidays.

Yes, our summer holidays were fun! Xoxo

saying prayers for a chook

This was meant to be a really happy new year post, about how I'll be making olliebollan this afternoon, about my New Year's Eve. But it's not, sorry.
I was also going to write a post on the chicks that Zach and I got a few weeks ago and them growing up, but that won't be happening either.
I did work last night, I had a good shift. I got home at 3:30 slept until 7 this morning, let out the chooks went back inside, read all the 'happy new year stuff' on Facebook. About to back to sleep, big knock on my door. My neighbour 'A' was sobbing, I got so worried for her.

She was sobbing because her two dogs had got out and all my chooks were gone.
Disbelief, I went to the coop, I just saw all the still bodies. I could see two were still breathing, they went in our arms, I just couldn't do the neck wringing, so we just held them until they went.
I got a box, and A collected the others, one chicken was still alive.
She was alert and she might be ok, if she makes the next 24 hours, then I think she will be ok. She is in shock, she is drinking and being kept warm in the ensuite, I can hear her shuffling in her box.

I have a headache from crying and I am so tired.

I took this photo of some of my girls yesterday, they were seven weeks old. I loved that they would run out to see me.