Yesterday my family had a “cabin” day. Usually we are out of the house by 7:15 Sunday morning, but not yesterday. We let the girls sleep in and I made some “from scratch” gluten-free pancakes for everyone. The whole day was one relaxed hour after another. I was able to take a walk, sit in the backyard sunshine, watch chickens and even cook a few “real meals” for my family in a relaxed, unrushed atmosphere. Ahhhhh! So nice!
We had no agenda or pre-set schedule, this whole relaxed rhythm worked upon each one of us. Daddy sat on the porch reading. MG played some computer games. PX was feeling a little low, so she laid in bed all morning reviewing videos some friends had made for her in Taiwan. And me? I had time to sit, to think, to listen, to putter in the kitchen. (I guess I do like to cook, since I spent my restful day cooking – at least part of the day.) My husband cut a set of checkers for the girls in his woodshop in the morning. And I made roast chicken and yams for lunch. My husband read outloud to us as we ate. (He is so patient with all the interruptions at the table!) After lunch we all retired to our respective corners of the house for a time of rest and reading. What kind of reading? These were our choices: a Nancy Drew mystery, The Chronicles of Narnia (in Chinese), the biography of C.S. Lewis, and I grabbed the “N-O” volume of our encyclopedia and browsed it until I dozed for a short nap.

The rest of the afternoon was spent drifting from one activity to another. The girls worked on a video/photo shoot and composed a skit which they acted out on video. There were a few games of checkers played and Daddy taught PX how to play chess. And there was more reading. But the high point of the afternoon was the “popping chickens”.

Our backyard is divided into three major sections. The front section, closest to the house, is a space where we hope a lawn will regrow after the rainy season. It has been denuded by our chickens, but since we have denied the chickens free access to this space, it is beginning to “green up”. Unfortunately, it is mostly a varied assortment of weeds. We are hoping to add blocks of vegetables in this front section.

The next section back from the house, is the covered chicken run/yard which opens off the shed; the chicken coop sits inside the shed. The run has nothing growing in it. The far side of the chicken run is a wooden fence and gate which opens into the third and furthest section from the house.

The main feature of this section is a large fig tree; it’s a nice shady place to play. We have attached two rope swings from it’s branches and it’s also a good climbing tree (but a little sticky). We have a compost pile back there, and orange tree and three garden plots ready for planting; they are under a hay mulch right now.

The incidence of the “popping chickens” happened in the back section of our yard under the fig tree. We let the chickens out of the yard to wander the back section. And my daughter, MG, prepared a snack for the chickens and entered the yard with two metal bowls in her hands: one with chopped apples, the other with chopped cucumbers. She came out, seated herself on one of the swings – and then the fun began.

She decided to feed the chickens by holding a piece of apple over their heads. They most obligingly jumped straight up to snap that morsel of food out from her fingers. This was incredibly funny to watch as they “popped up” again and again. As they were mid-air, their little chicken feet would dangle limply, then splay at awkward angles to help them balance in the air and snag that apple. They used their wings hardly at all – all the work of the jump was done by their legs. Again and again and again…their popping delighted us immensely. Too funny!

We ended our day with a meal of homemade chinese fried rice, we shared a few chores together then ended the evening with a few more games and some more reading.