the cats may be smarter than the humans

 The other day I was watching my cats eat their evening meal. When Mama Luna was done she started scratching all around her food dish. Apparently this is an instinct. In the wild the cat would cover its food to hide it and save it for later. I thought, Oh silly cat, she is trying to hide her food, doesn't she know there will be more food later. I feed her twice a day!

Then I thought, hmmm maybe I am the silly one. She is showing her little kittens how to survive if they are ever left on their own. She is passing on ancient cat wisdom from the beginning of cat time!

We humans seem to be the one creature on this earth who doesn't learn from our ancestors! With every new generation we start over, thinking we know it all. I mean there are people today that think vegetables somehow magically appear in the supermarket. All washed and ready to eat even!

Then yesterday we noticed Mama Luna was hissing at the two remaining kittens. Whats that about?

Google to the rescue!

Mama cats will "encourage" their kittens to live their own life when they are old enough. She will do this by hissing and nipping and kicking of course. She is basically saying," Look here child, I have taught you all you need to know. It is time for Mama to be her own cat again and time for you to  go out into the big wide world and fend for yourself." She knows they are ready for it even if they dont.

Bet some parents wish they could do this with their kids!

Cloud and Townsend would be impressed with cat boundaries.

the travel bug

We have now been in one place for just over a year! If you don't count the 3 weeks flying visit to the states. On one hand I have been dreaming of bus travel and craving a bit of a change. On the other I am quite content at the moment with our little space in Woodville and our gardens that are growing everyday.
We put the bus in the shop last week to get the brakes fixed. We were "homeless" for a few days. It was great! We moved into the little flat next to where the bus is parked. Our "spare room." We slept on air mattresses and I set up a little makeshift kitchen. We ate our meals outside.It almost felt like I was in the woods again. It really felt like a little holiday. We even stayed an extra night in the flat when we got out bus back!

the spinach marathon

The Spinach was going to seed.
So thought to myself, I will pull it all out and use what little leaves are left to make some spinach dip.
Well, what "little" leaves that were left turned out to be quite a lot!
They overfilled my big pot.
So I made my spinach dip.
Then I used some in a stir fry last night.
I made an omelet with some this morning.
Nigel used some in his salad to take to work.
I still have a mountain of spinach in my fridge!

Sometimes things are not what they seem at first glance.

I have been thinking about this lately, Things not being what they seem, not spinach.

I am living in a small town at the moment. Everyone knows everyone and everyone knows everybodys business.

So when I meet someone new to me, I make my snap judgements, as you do. Well as I do.
That person is mean, or strange, or .....

Then I will inevitably hear something about their life. Not necessary gossip just a bit of history, since your history in this town is an open book.
 And I will think, oh that makes sense, guess I was a bit harsh. Maybe someday I will learn not to put people into boxes.

You never know from looking at someone where they have come from.

And you never know from looking at the spinach in your garden just how much will fit into a pot.

the pods

radish pods I mentioned earlier that we have been letting our radishes go to seed. It has been so interesting to me.
They are such little plants and yet they have shot up 4 times their original size. And they have these dainty little pink blossoms waving in the wind up the top. I have been watching them daily wondering what they will do next. There had been no sign of any seeds. I thought maybe they would show up somewhere when the flowers fell off.
silverbeets gone wild and lettuce blossoms Little did I know!
Pods!
The radishes are forming little pods. Inside which will be the seeds.
Of course! What was I thinking.
I guess we wait until they dry up and then crack em open.

Watching our plants go to seed is a bit of a journey for me.

It is a slow process in this fast paced life of ours. It would be much more "efficient" to just buy some new seeds from the shop and plant them than to wait the months for these plants to produce their own.

Now beside the fact that buying the seeds from the shop is not the best long term. Dont get me started on seed companies!

There is something about the letting the plants go through their natural process.

The journey of planting a seed.
Watching it grow.
Enjoying the fruit from the plant.
Watching the plant grow some more.
Enjoying the beauty of the blossoms.
Watching the plant grow more.
Harvesting the seed.
Planting a new seed.
There is more sometimes in the slow journey.

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the change of plans

Sometimes plans change.

We arrived in New Zealand the beginning of December for a two month visit.
Three months later and we are still here.

Here's the story.

Christmas Eve I said a little prayer. "Lord if it is in your plans for us to stay in New Zealand and look after Nigels Gran then I am willing. Please just let Nigel know as well."

I am not sure exactly where this prayer came from. It is something that we talk about from time to time and we were going to see Gran the next day. It is just one of those things I prayed out without thinking too much about it!

The next day we had a lovely Christmas picnic on the beach with Gran and Mum. On the drive back Nigel says to me,"I would really like to move back here for a bit and take care of my Gran. What do you think?"

I replied out loud with, "Um I think you really need to be sure about it."
I replied in my head with. "WHAT! We are supposed to be going back to the states! We are commited to a LOT of things! Did i really just pray this yesterday?!"

So a month and a half later and we decide that yes this is where we are supposed to be at the moment.

We are currently in Woodville, Nigels hometown. And by town I do mean town. We are still in our big green bus and are working on getting a place ready for Gran to move into.

We are missing our friends and family back in the USA but we know that this is where we are supposed to be for the next season.

Sometimes plans change.

the garage

 When living in a bus you never know where you might end up.

For example a week trip to see Mum in Woodville can last for three months when the engine breaks down and a new one is put in.

A quick trip across Tennessee can turn into a week at a Walmart when there is a flood.

It is not at all uncommon to find us on the side of the road.
Nigel outside fixing whatever is broken.
Me inside making lunch or reading a book.
It is very nice to have our home with us when we break down.

This week we ended up spending the night at Otaki Diesel garage. 
We brought the bus in to get a wheel bearing fixed and the brakes done. They had to order the part and it wouldnt be there till the next day.
The wheel was already off so why not stay the night!

I woke up the the sounds of REM, Aerosmith, and Alanis Morisette on the radio.
The mechanics arrived early in the morning and got to work while we were still in bed!
By the time we were up and had breakfast they were done and we were on our way out the door!

the road trip

We left Minneapolis for a road trip extravaganza the day after my last post. One month and 11 days ago. This is my first day since then with ample computer time to be able to sit down and blog.

My brain is still processing the whole trip, so for now I will give you the basics....

We left Minneapolis in the Jesus Kitchen bus and drove to the YWAM base in Lakeside Montana. There were 15 people on board. We stayed one night at a walmart, most of us have likely blocked that from our minds, and one night camped by a railroad track. The train only came by every few hours and blew its whistle. Not bad.

From MT we went to the national rainbow gathering in Washington state. There was snow on the ground, it rained on the hike in, and our air mattress popped the first night! It was a very tiring gathering for us. We had a small team and a lot of work. The team was great and everyone gave all they had. We got to feed thousands. Our prayer before the gathering was "more of Him and less of us." That really came true this year. There wasnt much of us left after a day of hard work. But the Lord still moved in peoples lives.
After the gathering Nigel and I hopped in Ben and T's minivan along with our friend Angela and the cat and headed south.

We decided if we were coming all the way out to WA that we may as well enjoy the west coast. We have done a lot in a short time. We have caught up with long lost friends, soaked in hot springs, cried with the redwoods(ok I may have been the only one shedding a tear), picked blueberries, ate the yummiest strawberries ever, Nigel found a cup of coffee to his standard in Portland and one near his standard in Arcata, we walked on the Oregon coast, visited the Lords Land, went to Mt. Angel Abbey, saw the new Harry Potter movie, had a weaving lesson, played some Frisbee, viewed amazing flower fields(aka seed farms),sampled quite a bit of cheese and chocolate, and poked around tide pools.

Fun.
It has been a great journey and its not over yet....