Sheep'n'goop'n'home's'cool

It's been beautifully sunny again today - the weather varies from cloudy and chilly to hot and sunny. My feet were cold this morning and took until about 2 pm to warm up, when the sun finally started having an effect on the general weather. I was feeling a bit low this morning, just struggling a bit with the livingoutofasuitcase thing (no, we're not literally living out of suitcases - our clothes are in wardrobes!) - it's been well over 2 months since we've had our own home - so when Bronwyn texted to ask if I was free this afternoon to go out somewhere, I was more than happy to accept. Well, I would have been thrilled anyway but this really cheered me up. The plan otherwise would have been to drag the boys to the Warehouse to buy duvet inners or some other useful and necessary household item. Yesterday I bought a microwave. This morning I also had my periodic "I can't do homeschooling" meltdown, so I should be good for another two or three months now. Nick was, as usual, the voice of reason and sympathy, assuring me that he didn't understand linking verbs and action verbs the first time he heard them either. I guess I just panic a bit as a teacher that the boys are not 'getting it', or that they're not getting enough education generally. But moving on. Bronwyn came to fetch me and the boys at 12.45 and drove us the 15+ minutes out of Timaru to Shearer's Quarters, a farm setting housing a restaurant and gift shop which are actually located in an old reservoir and shearing place. The gift shop was beautiful and Bronwyn and I both oohed and aahed over the lovely antiquey and quirky goodies. We sat down for a drink after wandering around, and the boys had a giant game of chess and looked at the animals. Alas I was much too involved in our conversation to be a photographer, so all that follow were taken just before we left. My voice is now usable for general conversation with just the odd squeaks and croaks here and there. After tea I made a batch of goop for the boys; Caleb and Peter refused to touch it with their fingers but Aaron and Harry were fairly covered in it.
Oh, and I shoe-shopped, with Nick's blessing...yeah...