oh my!

WHAT A DAY!!!!!

Yesterday rained- it was warm at 19C but WET WET WET.

Last night Matt and I went to a do at the local historical histericals- they had an exhibition of barn paintings. And while I SHOULD have done a submission for it, I didn't

(at the time I was more into mushies). But it was fun and since we got dressed up anyway, we decided to go out to dinner afterwards.

BUT, the thing I noticed most was how many gorgeous frames there were made from reclaimed, weathered timbers. So today was the day to pull apart the shed. The weather was SPECTACULAR!!! The perfect day.

In fact I went out this morning taking photos in the gorgeous sunshine (LOVING my camera-even though I'm limited to my 70-300mm zoom /macro lens.)

I had lots of fun with the reflections in the puddle on the turning circle from all the rain yesterday.

And a photo of the shed before we began taking it apart....in this photo you can't see the damage caused by the fallen tree...

Oh, and some photos of the pumpkins on the stairs all ready to be carved. The ones we did a few weeks ago for the cub scout pack meeting have gone really mouldy and rotten...

An here's the shed...Remi had to do an assignment today where he went without any "technology" for 4 hours (and journaled about it)...perfect for tearing down a shed with nothing other than a hammer and gardening gloves.

Ella and Kit helped too, but it was left up to me to pull out nails hour after hour. And I LOVED it. I loved seeing how this was made ??? years ago. The old iron nails and bolts (I've kept them all). This side with the wonderful hooks I've kept in tact-can you imagine that as a head board or as a "shelf"....both a mantle and hooks! I get so excited by these things...SURE it needs some cleaning up, but it has so much potential.

Look at all that gorgeous wood I've salvaged! I'll have to book in some time at the local wood working place to rip these boards down and make them into frames. I pulled A LOT of old nails out of these...

But all the kids wanted to do today was carve pumpkins....

Me in my daggy sunnies scooping out the middle...

Since it was the perfect weather for it, that's what we did...I only hope they last until next weekend..

While I kept all the old squarish nails from the shed, I gave Kit all the newer rusty nails...I thought he might enjoy making a Frankensteins monster kind of pumpkin...

Boy did I get that one right!

Meanwhile Matt was building a fire to have a BBQ to eat dinner outside- I can't even remember the last time we did that!

Kit, Oscar and Ella got right into the pumpkin carving (Rem didn't want to do one).

Oscar's "wild thing" on the back of his pumpkin...
Ella's cat pumpkin.
Kit's pumpkin that weighs a tonne!

I love the "destructive creativity" in this-it's SO Kit!

Oscar's pumpkin...

Kit's...

Ella's...

Spectacular! I love that they all did these without any help. Totally their personalities. fantastic.

And to top of such a perfect day we got to eat wonderful food cooked on the fire outside.

There may have been some shed in those flames...

And even though it got cold and dark early, it was really such a SPECIAL day!

My back up camera

Well, this camera will have to do for now...

Kit and Ella thoroughly enjoyed German waffles (Oscar and Remi stayed home to do homework).

They licked their plates clean (I've given up sugar and it's a rarity for them these days- they really make the most of it when they get it)

We had Bratwurst and Knockwurst and listened to the Oktoberfest band.

With Nanny...

...and her friend, Colleen, who's here for this week too.

Then we went for a stroll around the lovely lake.

The leaves are just starting to turn.

And then Mum took Kit and Ella out for a paddle boat ride while we watched.

And when we got home we had to hammer Captain Ugly into the garden. It was too wet yesterday, and I kept getting freaked out with him leaning up against the window-I kept thinking there was a man out there- a very ugly man.

We added the gloves today; I think it's a good touch.

she's like a rainbow!

Three posts in one day- WOW! Making up for last week. I just had to share this...

Ella Rainbow decided today that she was going to make a puppet and put on a puppet show. She made the stage...

Set up the chairs...

Made the tickets...

And the show began! It featured Hazelpaw, her puppet cat and mainly consisted of Hazelpaw eating other bird puppets and being visited by the "vulture" (really an eagle) dentist.

Honey was using her best crossed leg manners..

The boys all came and watched (there was intermission snack time)

Kit's sunburned as he, Matt and Remi were fishing off the wall up the end today. Caught a bunch of little blue fish that we're about to have in a fish dip for dinner.

There was some audience involvement...

And it didn't stay behind the theatre...

But the performance was received well...especially as it was a gorgeous day and we were happy to be sitting out enjoying the afternoon.*

And Ella Rainbow was a bit pleased with herself and her performance...

We love our creative little girl!

*NB the weather has been very autumnal for the last week- more like LATE September weather. This weekend marks the unofficial end of summer...so it's nice to be going out with a bit of a bang...