For water, we depend on rain to fill the tank. The toilet is a long-drop in the trees. Music comes from records played on a turntable. A shower is a gentle experience, with a gravity-fed showerhead down on the lower level. The garden must be hand-watered with buckets since there is no water pressure for a hose.
To sweep the gravel paths, I find that the best possible broom is a head of manuka twigs. This of course is how brooms were invented, and I think of my ancestors thousands of years ago picking up just such a bushy branch. This little broom lifts the leaves off the path and steps without taking the gravel with it: perfect.
Little Mira makes her own toys, playing with leaves, or riding in a cardboard box which is a boat one day, a train the next, and today, a fire truck. She has now made her own helicopter by pushing a match stick through a hole in a pohutukawa leaf.As soon as the sun goes down we close the windows and doors that don't have screens, in order to protect against the mosquitoes.
Such simplicity. And so the days pass by in that lazy rhythm which is summer's own.
3 comments:
So kiwi.. so summer.. so special. Dear little Mira entertaining herself and developing a wonderful imagination.
Love your manuka broom. I always have a bamboo besum, and they are the best outdoor sweepers. Did you know if you leave your besum upright -head up- by your door, visitors are welcome. Head down means don't bother me today.
Oh I love this glimpse of your holiday - holy day - and really they are blessed in their simplicity and beauty. As Joan says, so kiwi.
I had many holidays like this at Kawhia as a child and I can still recall this slow paced mode of life, the slowing and gentling and the heightened awareness of beauty that I experienced on those holidays.
Well, I never knew that about the besum by the door - thank you Joan for this tip. And Marilyn, how wonderful to have these childhood holiday memories. That's what I hope will build for little Mira as we do this year after year.
Post a Comment