Out Of The Swing Again

So, we've moved again, and once again this has thrown off our groove in a major way. It's not that we're not still happy about the move, far from it. Being without furniture is no big deal, nor is pulling clothes out of a suitcase to get dressed. In fact there's no one big thing that you can point to and say “There! That's what's throwing off our groove!”

It's just a combination of a load of work, a number of little problems, and general exhaustion. When you couple that with a limited menu of short rations what you have is “Not feeling so hot.” Most of us are tired, some of us are grouchy, and everyone is ready for our trip to town to get additional supplies.

Last night, in my imagination, I got up feeling great, explored all the property, and foraged up a few interesting things to eat. Real life, however, turned out very different. I got up late (8AM) after a night of being awoken again and again by Isaac (who had gotten up as we went to bed) and later Elizabeth (who woke me up not once, but twice, this morning asking me questions that could have easily waited). Still, all things considered I was still in high spirits when I got up.

I had good reason to be. The Internet was up and running. I was actually cold when I stepped out the shower last night and I don't think I've broken a sweat in the last two days. There's plenty for the kids to enjoy here. We have room to plant food and the climate is perfect for growing. This is going to be a great place for us.

Almost as soon as I came down stairs Gabriel and I headed out for a forage. I wish I knew more about the wildlife. We managed to find one of the local bush teas yesterday. This morning we tracked down some raspberries (Freddy's friend collected some yesterday, but I wasn't sure from where). We continued searching down along the stream. I caught a crab in just a few minutes and things were looking bright.


However, shortly after that things began to turn around, lol. We went back to the stream to try to catch a few more crabs. Alec came along with us. We failed to get any more, but we did manage to drop Alec's camera into the stream. It was my fault. I didn't even consider the danger of having the camera down near the river. Gabriel had put it in his pocket to keep it safe just moments before slipping into one of the deepest parts of the stream. It was only waste deep, but that was deep enough. Gabriel was fine, the camera was soaking wet.

Lord willing, the camera will be fine in the long run. Our camera is down as well, it also having gotten wet somehow... Still, once we get some rice I'm going to pack both cameras in it and see what happens. I actually have high hopes.

However, all this put a dent in my picture taking and my enthusiasm. I came back from the stream a little crest fallen. Gabriel's camera takes batteries (and we have no spares) and Rachel's phone has a dead battery. We're charging it now, but for the moment we're going basically photo-less.

.Anyways, as the day moved along I got the washing machine hooked up and Rachel got the clothes line in place. It turned out the cupboard wasn't as empty as we thought. Rachel had bought a bag of oatmeal at some point. She cooked it up with powdered milk, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt. It turned out great and I ate about a bowl and a half :)


The rest of the day so far I've spent doing as little as possible. That will probably be the plan for tomorrow as well. We are all burned down and need a chance to lay around for a while. I hope to take more pictures with the phone tomorrow. Lord willing it will be charged up by then. For some reason it takes a good while, lol.

I'm exhausted and have to get some rest. So, goodnight from Dominica!