Well hello again!

Greetings my gorgeous ones.

I find I have had an 18 month hiatus from the good ol’ blog, even though I really didn’t mean to.

So fingers crossed I can start a new streak with this one.

The problem when you’ve had such a long break is there is so much to catch up on. But I think we’ll just try to jump on in and summarise the most important changes.

The things that come to mind, are our kids’ study activities.

Last year Miles managed to complete a Diploma in Engineering at our local Tech Collage. So he now has a qualification under his belt. But he enjoyed himself so much and had so many questions they couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, he has now taken himself off to Uni to do a double degree Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics. Which means he no longer lives at home, and he has to do his own cooking and cleaning! He is mostly loving his new life.

This year Aiden has chosen to follow in Miles’ footsteps and is currently studying at our Tech College for a Cert 3 in Laboratory Skills. He has had some difficulties with being around others due to his OCD, but has persevered and passed all his subjects last semester. So now he only has Chemistry to go!

We are so pleased with our homeschooled boys. They are both resourceful and brave, and still love learning. They are finding a lot of their fellow students are more jaded, which we put down to homeschooling.

So never let people tell you you won’t get into University if you have to remove yourself from the school system for whatever reason. We are evidence that it is possible, even if you have to find creative ways to get there. 

This is how my gorgeous boys look now, and for those who have followed for a long time, we were at our property Heartwoods.

I will leave it there for now and let these couple of lines start me off again.

And ‘til next time,

Keep on creating!

Love,

Jazzy Jack

Update on our lives

Greetings all!

It’s been a long time since we caught up. I thought I would touch base about our lives and share a new writing series I am involved in.

We are currently ensconced in our beach cabin “Leeway” at Moruya Heads which you have heard about before if you follow my blog. It’s been quite a year all in all.

First we had the fires over Christmas and New Year where we couldn’t breathe due to the smoke. There were fires all around us although fortunately we were never in danger due to our urban environment. But there really was no direction the wind could blow which could give us relief except Westerly which then brought the blistering heat.

Our windows were shut 24/7 and our poor air conditioner and filter fan had a great workout.

Although sadly we did lose “Heartwoods” our bush block in the fire. Long time readers will know it.

Except for two miraculous saves. The two structures Miles built survived intact! 

During this time we were renovating our bathroom ourselves and packing up our house. As you can imagine that was a fun time! Oh and throw Christmas in there as well.

Still we survived it and managed to rent the house out to a lovely couple with a small child and two dogs.

I’m not sure I mentioned on the blog but the reason for all this unrest was due to the exciting advent of our new apartment we bought which was being built. It is a 13 storey building right on the shores of our local lake in the city centre. We will be on the 12th floor facing the lake all squashed into a two bedroom unit!

Some sad news, our cat Smart Blue decided he couldn’t make the trip and died on the last day in the house. Which just happened to be Cris’ 60th birthday. That was a day for sure!

So the kids and I came down to “Leeway” and Cris moved into our campervan “Brumhilda”. He camped during the week in a caravan park in Canberra and commuted to see us on the weekends. This went on for three weeks until he was told to work from home due to the current virus crisis. So he has moved down with us permanently. Which is a gain for us!

Now the apartment build is in its final stages and we have the certificate of occupancy already. Next week will see the bank valuations go ahead and after that is settlement. We have yet to see if we will be allowed to move in due to travel restrictions, but at this stage with the current rules it looks like we will.

Although it is idyllic being down here we are all eager for the completion of this long journey we have been on for more than a year as we watched it being built. Cris and Miles have had the privilege of actually visiting the apartment (which is yet to be named) and setting foot on its hallowed ground. They went to check it out for nicks and scratches which can occur during fit out. Aiden and I are yet to see it!

We are keeping to our social distancing down here and only exercising on the beach which is right behind us, or around the caravan park. At least we have a beautiful environment even if it is a bit boring sometimes. The kids are feeling their wings clipped a bit as they have to forgo some of their explorations and creations. Eg. visiting the airport to watch the planes arrive and depart, or driving long distances to ride on their skateboards. But we are doing OK. Enjoying having Dad around.

So that is our brief update.

We will hopefully bring you some images of the new place in time.

I hope you are all adapting to this new normal and trying, as I am, to see the positive.

My next posts will contain some poems I am writing for an A to Z writing challenge for April. I thought I might as well share them here too, as they contain a few stories of our current situation.

So until next time, keep on creating, and stay safe my dears.

Much love,

Jazzy Jack

BeautyScope 443: Seed grenade

we threw a ball

it returned

a grenade

of spiky seeds

BeautyScope 442: Lizard net

lizardy toes

climbing our net

undulating highway

Kids' Achievements - One Year Unschooling

Greetings everyone.

It's the last day of the school year here in Australia. Of course that doesn't affect us as we learn all the time! We joke to the kids that they have to stop learning things now. Just try it. It's not easy.

But one of the down sides of unschooling we've discovered, is that at this time of year they have no award ceremonies or reports from teachers to tell family and friends how amazing they are!

So I'm writing this bragging post to mark this graduation moment of one year unschooling.

Firstly Mr Actor - Aiden

His year has comprised many ups and downs in his physical health, but at this point of the year we can say he is having more ups than downs. Yay!

His biggest challenge and what we have focussed on mostly has been learning to come back into the world after his OCD had sidelined him. Here I would like to chronicle some of his achievements in this area. And although they may seem basic to some, they constituted much talking to himself and conquering of panic attacks etc. I am so proud.

Some of these steps have included:

Climbing the rock face across some slippery gravel and dealing with heights

Riding in the boat (this is still a work in progress)

Eating in a café (we celebrate the weight gain that has come with his health)

And covering himself with cicada shells whilst there (okay that bit surprisingly was fun for him

- despite the Mr Actor face)

Playing on a children's playground

 And climbing across a stream on a slippery log

(when there was a perfectly good bridge!)

Next we have Mr Artist - Miles
He at 14 has really started to hit his stride. Independence is busting out all over the place.
Miles has LOVED homeschooling this year, and the worst thing you can say to him is that he would have to go to school again. He is revelling in the relaxed pace, the late nights, doing his own thing, and studying his own passions. One of those has been to build an Anderson Shelter at Heartwoods. So earlier in the year he measured out and started digging. It was slightly delayed due to rain issues, but he kept it up digging solidly and not accepting help, until he finished the digging portion this last visit! I'm so proud. Now is the building part...

Miles also enjoyed climbing the rocks, although not sure it was such a stretch for his long legs.

And learning to drive our boat solo

accompanied occasionally by a surprise passenger Winter. A sea hound...or as a passing boater said - shark bait.

The final achievement Miles has unlocked in this last year has been to drive a car solo. We have been teaching them on our property, and he finally was able to help out when we needed to deliver our old Elsie to rest at Heartwoods. Bushy and he were alone, and so they each drove a car. It saved Bushy having to run up and down driving both up the hill. If you watch the video you will notice he is very slow. He discovered as he left the shot that he still had the handbrake on!

So, I've compiled this little pile of photos to help the kids mark a passage of time and some of their accomplishments. It'll be nice to look back on, and fun to share with all of you!

Thanks for reading and being interested.

And happy graduation kids! It's been a mad, scary, fun, calm, exhilarating, panicky, confusing, learning, proud, loving year. Bring on the next one!

Lots of love,

Jazzy Jack and The Bracks

BeautyScope 305: Orchid hands

orchid hands

reaching

watch out little bug

A couple of unschooling adventures

We have been enjoying some unschooling adventures lately.

Firstly we visited the train museum with our local homeschooling group.

Here is Mr Actor in front of the largest steam engine in the Southern Hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world from memory. He is always moving and balancing and parkouring when he is well!

This the interior of the diesel engine section. Very dark and claustrophobic but my brilliant camera managed wonderfully. This is a V12 engine with 2000horse power. Very impressive to my engine mad kids!

Mr Artist in his usual playful mood...grossing us all out!

The second adventure was a long weekend at Heartwoods our bush property.

It's always a special day when there is water in our leaky dam. Winter, our water dog, was in her element.

There was even water in the bath tub in the goat paddock (so called because it is a small fenced area...we don't have goats) which is unheard of.

Mr Artist has a passion for all things WW2 and has decided to build an Anderson Shelter at Heartwoods. He spent the entire weekend digging in the rain. He wouldn't accept any help. The wet conditions were ideal for digging.

And ideal for sinking as Mr Actor discovered!

Hope you enjoyed our wet winter adventures.

Til next time, keep on creating!

Love,

Jazzy Jack

 

BeautyScope 288: Cultural meetups

crunching crashing clashing

cultural tangles

textural meeting points

multiple high ways

many pathways to on high

 

Heartwoods living

Hello my wonderful friends!

I thought you might like to see how we survive

out in the wilds of our bush block "Heartwoods".

Here is our daggy shed complete with magical pot belly stove.

Winter is sitting in front of the hard working solar fridge...sooo much better than melting iceblocks!

We collect water in a tank which you can see

in the top left of this photo (NOT the bath tubs!)

We sieve the water due to a wriggler (baby mosquito) problem.

Then we filter it in this ceramic filter system...wonderful! The sink is a work cast off. Old lab sink. One day we will pipe water in from the tank!!

Cooking takes place on a gas burner and the pot belly

when it isn't taking place under the stars.

Our washing up system

The glamorous dunny/loo/outhouse!

Where Mr Artist sleeps, safely in a tent as befits an independent teen.

The reason we put up with it all! Our view.

Would you join us if you could? Do you like roughing it?

I hate roughing it but I love the peace of the bush, and it sure makes you appreciate your city house afterwards!

'Till next time, keep on creating,

Love,

Jazzy Jack

 

Why not leave a three word impression (poem) or a smiley if you enjoyed your visit? :-D

Heartwoods rewound

Last time we were at Heartwoods I took some shots and never shared them, so here we are!

The dam with no water except dried up mud...its most common state...it leaks!

The wombat home between two old bathtubs. If you look carefully you can see fresh cube shaped dung in front of the space.

The little tiny honey eaters love to swim in those same bath tubs, so we can't move them or clean them. This is the pool in the moss they love. Look carefully and you can see one in the centre of the left photo.

Birds above, wombats below!

This little fella you've seen before in my BeautyScope 227: Frog exposure

My niece says he looks dipped in silver, which I think is apt and beautiful!

Here are some more head torch photography experiments. I love how it isolates. You notice things you wouldn't in the day.

And just as a bonus because you made it this far, here is a photo of my reality. Sitting at the keyboard, in a renovated jumper, a gifted silk scarf and a handknit poncho, with my hat on my head from when I was digging in the garden, because I forgot I still had it on until I saw this shot! Hee!

Much love,

Jazzy Jack