Tree gum
Frost and Wren are very excited by the hardened gum oozing from a tree on the road up. When I called it 'gum' Wren wanted to eat it so then I called it resin. Frost tried to smash some off the tree with a piece of sandstone but the sandstone broke. I managed to twist a few pieces off. Frost wanted them too so Wren wanted them even more. He carried them home and hid them in a copper urn near the front door. Frost is going to write about the resin in his journal.
Roy Chasing Seedpods downhillYou walk uphill to the gate and downhill back. On the return trip Mervyn and Mum roll big gumnuts downhill for Roy to chase. He scuttles down after them as they bounce and roll. HEre are Frost and Wren running downhill with Roy. Wren wants to be first to catch the gum nut so he can throw it. Frost wants to catch and throw it too.
The Dump-day Go-KartAustralia has a fabulous tradition of an annual large household garbage collection. People throw out all kinds of things over the weekend - stoves through kids toys - and leave them on the curb for collection on Monday. Mum noticed an old wooden go-kart and brought it home for Frost. He rolls down the last part of the road very slowly. It steers well but there are no brakes.
Bees and Stinging Things
There is a beehive about half way up the hill in a crevasse. If you look closely you can see the honeycomb and the bees on it. Frost was interested and slightly concerned. He wondered if the honey tasted good. Unfortunately, there are also a large number of Europeon Wasps in the area and these bother us when we eat outside. Mum and Mervyn have a wasp trap loaded with meat to lure them but this evening there were 4 wasps indoors. Frost also found a scorpion in the bathroom so he has become very wary of stinging things like wasps, bees, flies (buzzing noise) and scorpions. He asked me to come into the bathroom with him in case there was another scorpion.
When we return from morning walk it is time for breakfast! This morning I went for a run with Wren - about 4km - so I needed a few extra breakfasts to restore my energy.
4 comments:
Are you sure you're going to go back to Seattle after this?! Maybe the stinging gogos will be enough to convince Frost to go, but other than that... sounds like a fabulous setup.
I meant goggas - excuse the spelling :-)
Of course, very few readers would know what goggas are either. I try and retain some South African vocabulary for my kids but its hard. I introduced the word noonoos (sp?) nunu? to Wren one day when we were in the garden looking at snails and bugs. Wren believed I meant snails. Now he calls snails nunus but nothing else. If I say "look at that nunu" for something grublike he searches for a snail.
Mum was far better with us - I have a few swahili words in my vocabulary. I recall being amused when I moved to the US and listened to Don Gonyea who is the Washington Correspondent. His name sounds very like dungunya (sp) - a swahili word for a con or swiz.
For a refresher on other SA vocabulary, see http://www.warthog.co.za/dedt/tourism/durban/thumbnail/lingo.htm. I came across it looking for the spelling of noonoos/nunus/noenoes (their preference). It's a slightly odd presentation of words/phrases, but mostly very familiar, and amusing.
So that's how Don Gonyea spells his name!
Unajua kusema kiSwahili? I don't, but I remember little bits and pieces from a few months in Kenya and Tanzania in 1992. That's where my username came from ("tamu sana" = "very sweet" in Swahili).
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