(the) Magic (of) Mushrooms

We went for a walk. We hardly go for walks, which is a crying shame because we live in the perfect area for walks. But it's so cold, and dark so early, and blah blah blah, there are lots of excuses. But one day, we went for a walk. Just me and the two biggies, Daddy was home sick so we left bubs with him.

We put raincoats and gumboots on. 

I'm always aware that we are very lucky to have the money to buy clothes for our children. And although it makes me sad mad and bad that I don't have the money to buy all handmade or local/ethically made children's clothes*, I have to remember - at least I can keep my kids warm! 

(* and before you tell me that if I saved up all the money I usually spend on cheap clothes from Kmart then I could buy something well made that would last longer etc etc, it's all very well but when your children don't have warm clothes and it's cold RIGHT NOW you just have to buy their clothes RIGHT NOW with what you can afford. Trust me, I'll devote a whole NOTHER(not an actual word I'm aware) post to that topic...)

I'm super happy and grateful looking at these photos and remembering how nice it was to have a raincoat and gumboots for each of them, and how smug I feel at having got both the raincoats second-hand on Trademe. 

Our walk was not just a casual stroll; we had a clear mission: To see up close, and photograph, the mushroom forest that we had seen from the car multiple times...

There were thousands of them! They are in a pile of woodchips left over from when The Tornado whipped through our little locale, and the giant beautiful trees started toppling. It was so sad at the time to see all the destruction, not only that of the houses and buildings, but the trees that have stood for so long, ancient pines on the ridge top... all crushed and ripped up. But of course nature doesn't let things go to waste, and here is the living proof. A glorious, orange mushroom forest. I have restrained myself from looking up what type of mushroom these are, saving that one for the kiddies internet research skills... 

And then we walked home in the clouded, damp dusk.

Have I mentioned how grateful I am for the time we've had living here? We won't be here for much longer(our kick-out date is the 1st of December but hopefully we'll be moving sooner than that), but we are so lucky and blessed to have had this almost-two year period in Hobsonville Point. We agreed right at the beginning, when it was possible that we would only be here for a year, that instead of feeling gloomy about the short-term-ness of it, we would view it as a 'gap' year. A break from the monotony of the city and suburbia. As if we were house-sitting for an absent professor. And we were so lucky to have an extra year. It is the biggest house we have ever lived in, and probably will ever live in, in the foreseeable future... and at a price so far below the current rental market... So instead of feeling mounting doom, fear at the looming move, overwhelmed by all I have to do and sort through and throw away(and all while my baby naps - oh wait - she doesn't!), I am trying to live each moment in the present, with my feet firmly planted on the polished kauri floorboards, looking out at the ancient pohutakawa, feeling the history of Hobsonville seeping through.....

And going for lots of walks.