Term Three: Week Three ~ Solo

This has been an interesting and different week. On the one hand, school and life routines continued as normal. On the other hand, the boys and I were flying solo for the week while hubby visited his mother. He surprised her for her birthday. I'm glad he has had this opportunity to spend one-on-one time with her AND I will be happy to have him home again. Life is just not normal or complete without him.

A selection of the beautiful flowers in our church garden to start off the week.

For the third year in a row this cactus is going to bloom. My dear friend Pastor A, gave me this years and years ago for Christmas. It would bloom occasionally, but not on any sort of schedule or in any sort of pattern. But two years ago, right near her death, it bloomed. Again last year at the one year anniversary. Now, as we creep towards the second anniversary of her death, it prepares to bloom again. It is a sweet reminder of her. If you look carefully you can just see the white bud below the biggest of the red "fruits".

Munchkin and I managed a short walk Sunday afternoon and explored a street we missed the previous week. We both commented on this beautiful shaded portion of the footpath due to the huge tree canopy. We are enjoying these "exploring walks" down streets we've never seen before and are planning more in the future.

Monday evening we had a glorious sunset complete with threatening storm clouds. Some areas definitely got rain (we could see it in the distance) and I saw one flash of lightning but otherwise we were spared. The colours in the clouds were just glorious.

We did LOTS of reading this week. First, we started our author study on Julia Donaldson. She is the wonderful author of the Gruffalo and the boys loved her books when they were younger. Munchkin had no memory of reading "The Gruffalo", so I knew she was the next author focus we had to have. The above collage is the first collection of books we read this week. There were five new books shown here that I had never read to the boys before. They are: "The Hospital Dog", "The Bowerbird", "The Go-Away Bird", "The Oak Tree" and "Paper Chase". I tried to theme each reading session this week. I'm not sure her remaining books will lend well to this plan. She has written lots of books so this author focus/study will take us awhile. If you have never read any Julia Donaldson books, do yourself a favour and grab a few. As this collection was mostly books we were familiar with they were all loved, but from the new ones I mentioned above, a favourite of mine would have to be "The Go-Away Bird"! Reading it prompted me to look up a video of the call it makes and it truly DOES sound like it is saying Go Away!!

I have a second reading collage this week for the other books we read. The three titles at the bottom were for Munchkin and had a science focus to them. It was interesting to learn more about these concepts, particularly where science and health is going with bionics. I also read "The Silk Roads" by Peter Frankopan aloud to Monkey as part of his Ancient History studies. Technically this book was junior non-fiction but at 128 pages long it was jam packed full of information. We both really enjoyed it and will follow it up in Term Four with an adult non-fiction book that follows along with new information regarding the silk roads.

Saturday afternoon Munchkin was enjoying some sunshine on the front veranda when he called me outside to "see something"! This little caterpillar was motoring his way along the pole. This photo intrigues me. The perspective and the focus are not something I planned as I just quickly snapped the photo and returned to my book. But when I looked at it on the computer screen I was pleasantly pleased. This is part of the fun of photography for me.

I got all sorts of achievements this week! I'm happy about all of them, but particularly thrilled to have beaten my previous streak (35 days) in Wordle. Now to see how long I can keep it going.

Three walks this week and none of them long. The one trip we took to the shopping centre for groceries, we rode the bus part of the way.

Really pleased with my Wordle work this week. Not JUST because I exceeded my previous streak FINALLY, but because I'm learning how to solve the puzzles better. It is good brain work each day and I enjoy the challenge it gives me.

Last, but not least, we watched these this week. One as part of school and the other just for fun. Both boys and I watched two episodes of "Life in the Freezer" one evening during the week. This particular documentary is part of Monkey's Antarctica unit study, but Munchkin enjoys watching with us. As Toy Story 5 has been released, and as we have a Disney+ subscription at the moment, Munchkin and I have decided to re-watch all the movies and finish with the newest one. We are enjoying these on Saturday nights.

Term Three: Week Two ~ New Hobbies

 

A good place to start with my blog reporting this week is with the reading we did. As we slowly get back into the routine of the school term, we were able to finish two books this week. The last of the books about body systems that I was reading primarily to Munchkin, and an adult non-fiction book about cells, ("The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life" by Jack Challoner). This book was a re-read for me as I read it aloud to Monster about four years ago. Since then I have discovered the wonderful books of Siddhartha Mukherjee and learned that there are better ways to write about such academic (and seemingly dry) subjects as cells. So this book was a bit of a disappointment to Monkey and he only scored it three stars. The bonus of this book is that it includes fascinating photographs of a variety of different cells and the boys did enjoy that aspect of the reading the most.

Another fun photography session in the garden after church Sunday morning.

Sunday late afternoon Munchkin and I took a quick walk around the block - managing two laps before it started to get too dark. We spotted a couple of gorgeous Rainbow Lorikeets in a tree who were kind enough to allow me a couple of photos. The sky was just gorgeous as we headed home after our second lap.

Munchkin has decided to learn how to crochet. I only knit these days, but still own a couple of hooks, so I loaned him one, along with a skein of white yarn, and with the help of YouTube tutorials he was off and running. The top two photos were his first attempts on Monday and he improved very quickly through the day. I put some books on reserve at the library, and during a shopping trip mid week he purchased some little kits that interested him. Stay tuned for progress reports as his learning continues.

Friday was a solo trip to the library for me as we are still unsure what the boys are doing about youth group this term. The family that normally hosts them for dinner and transports them to and from group have some scheduling issues so while we work out the best solution for everyone involved, the boys have spent Friday afternoon and evening at home. This is the book haul photo once I got home. I had a bunch of errands to run besides the library so took NO photos while I was out. Munchkin's crochet books are here, plus a pile of picture books for another author study, and some independent reading selections for Munchkin perched on top.

The happy library bookshelf!

School books... stay tuned for the author study in upcoming blog posts.

My independent reading selections. I borrowed NO new books for myself this week as I still have all these to work through. Several of them MUST be returned to the library by 4th September so I have some work to do.

Garden photos! One of our succulents is blooming (left) and hubby was gifted a second chilli plant (there are actually three separate plants in this pot) and you can just see a tiny cream coloured flower on the right side - so we SHOULD have our first chilli soon.

Saturday afternoon Munchkin and I headed out for another walk. He walks independently during the week, but on the weekends I like to join him if my schedule allows. Originally we were just going to do a couple of laps around the block but then we decided on an "exploring" walk. We roamed around a bunch of side streets we don't normally explore and just made decisions as to which way to go on the spur of the moment. I enjoyed snapping interesting photos along the way. These two were of least interest to Munchkin as he finds bare trees in winter boring - but I find them beautiful, even on a mostly cloudy day.

More beautiful grevillea (this time a bright yellow) and these tiny little pink flowers growing in amongst another plant.

We visited two of the four Little Free Libraries that are within easy walking distance of our house. I may be returning to the one on the left to grab those Ken Follett books but need to check if my libraries still have copies first.

Munchkin was thrilled to find an old wooden "fence" to walk along. He much prefers them to the newer ones they are replacing these with, as these old round ones are easier to balance on and walk along. We found a park we never knew existed, complete with playground equipment. Munchkin was thoroughly disappointed to discover he is really too big to properly play on the equipment these days, but he thought the climbing ropes were super cool.

The beautiful park we chanced upon...

We enjoy noticing different styles of houses and gardens when we are out walking. I LOVE Hibiscus and I'm so pleased with how this photo turned out. In order to take the photo I had to stand at a strange angle AND use the zoom on my phone camera which almost NEVER turns out this clear. We also found this Prickly Pear plant growing complete with a fruit. The plants are invasive and considered a pest in this country, but there are certain species you are allowed to grow. 

Three walks this week - NOT in the order they were taken - but this shows Sunday, then Saturday, then Wednesday for shopping.

Pleased with my Duolingo streak.

SUPER proud of my Wordle work this week. I currently have a 31 day streak and I feel like I'm finding my groove with solving the puzzles each day. I'm determined to beat my past streak of 35 days so stayed tuned next week for the report.