i'm back...

i do apologize for my extended absence...we've been 'a little out of sorts' at the shed and before one knows it, several weeks have past by. i haven't been completely bogged down with painting, more a case of being bogged down with 'sick' and 'colds'...mother's day was rather lovely, the younger residents of mossy shed took notice of my sign and when i added "oh and no grumpy old sods either" i had it completely covered...

then our #4 came down with a 'sicky bug' which lasted for a while, until his 10th birthday where miracle of miracles he was well enough to do a bit of presie opening...he told me at the end of the day it was his best birthday ever and surprisingly when he went back to school i have to tell you i actually missed his company.

then yours truly and her man started to feel rather jippy...

amongst all of the "mum, i don't feel good", i have still achieved a few things, and even when i felt quite grotty i did not sit around looking at repeats of Little House on the Prairie. i am quite sure i might have been tempted but i haven't managed to find the channel since we moved and so my addiction to lunchtime viewing of 'olden times' has been broken...

the painting is coming along, i have finished the staircase with a little help and all but two doors are left untouched in the downstairs part of the shed...our tree house is growing, my man feels his plans were a little adventurous but as we are half way through there is no going back. the boys have been working on a fire pit and a staircase for their tree house (quite obviously designed to keep their mother out and her doilifying ways)....and little old me? well i have been busy working on a flower bed outside of Gladys, hauling rocks from the undergrowth and arranging them 'just so'...

and last but by no means least, we have the latest member to join our clan...

how could i resist this battered old truck parked on the side of the road with a sign that said 'PLEASE CAN I COME AND LIVE WITH YOU, TIF' (according to others at the time, it just said 'FOR SALE' but i know what i saw)...when my man returned that evening i asked him if he had seen Winston and 'the sign' on his way home...

"who's Winston?" he asked...

"the beautiful beat up truck at the side of the lake road who wishes to reside at mossy shed"...

to which he just groaned, hung his head and mumbled something about hoping i hadn't seen it...

and so dear readers, Winston (born in 1968, oh what a good year to be born) shall spend his twilight years in the company of Gladys at the bottom of the yard...

she's thinking your thinking she's quite batty ~ Tif

ever hopeful...

not much to ask for mother's day...

oh and a bit of sunshine won't go a miss...

she's wishing you a lovely weekend ~ Tif

the adventures of Tif and the rain forest...day five...

Tif had lost all hope of ever being mistaken for a bohemian hippy chick traveller, several things were not working in her favor. first it didn't help having four children with her, chances were high that someone would have something to complain about, children of a bohemian hippy chick woman do not complain, no they embrace their mother's lifestyle.

today the complaint was the lack of dry clothing and shoes, it was pointless hanging the damp clothes out over night, they appeared to be even wetter in the morning. added to that, all the shoes from yesterday's trek were like sponges.

she also noted that her minuscule wardrobe contained no clean clothing (apart from the little blue sundress and one pair of underpants that she was saving for the plane ride home).

everything had been used, sweated in and rained on...she had a feeling they were starting to 'hum', visions of 'pig pen' from Peanuts started to float around her head...

but apart from the knowledge that she would never look like those lovely women that seem to look naturally beautiful at all times whilst travelling she knew today would be a good day.

it started off with a 'lie in', total bliss compared to the last few days of early starts. breakfast was to be at eightish and then Suzanne their host, said to meet up on the beach, making sure their legs were covered. any shred of looking 'with it' was lost when that little bit of information was given, and so Tif returned to the cabin (don't ask why she sleeps in the bungalow and yet her clothes are in the cabin, it just happened that way and gave the kitchen staff something to laugh at every morning) to fetch her knee high socks...

they were heading once again into primary rain forest but this time on horseback...the whole family were excited, the sun was out, there were no 'waiver' forms to sign or helmets to wear, it was just a case of get on your horsey and hope for the best.

Tif's horse was called Coyote...they soon bonded even though they did not share a common language and Coyote felt Tif's attire rather dodgy. Tif knew Coyote dreamed of living in the olden days on the plains of the wild west. Coyote knew Tif shared that same dream only 'better dressed'.

and so it was that Tif and her children had the best day ever,

her man however was bringing up the rear laiden down with the back pack, a camera with no strap and a horse that did not share his dreams, whatever they were.

his horsey was slow, stubborn and cared not for being on this journey...they eventually made it to the highest point where the horses were left to rest while they scrambled down the hillside to a waterfall to cool off...

on the return part of the journey Suzanne felt them experienced enough to gallop, in hindsight Tif knew that was the point that made it impossible for her to sleep at night for the rest of the stay without a pillow wedged under her 'ailing' derriere...

she's off to paint the banister and spindles of mossy shed ~ Tif