Since coming back from Borneo, things have settled into a kind of routine, me doing my jobs and Heather hers. Coming together at the end of the week, spending a little time together on weekends. It works in a way. I am always behind in things to do for the kids (make a dress up box for us all, do more bike riding with Uma, more swimming, teach Noah to drive), but i get enough done, before falling asleep bone tired most nights. Heather does her jobs, does most of the cooking, keeps my Dad fed, mostly keeps the house. More separate than it should be, but that’s how we roll. And somehow we have 3 happy kids.

We have lived here nearly 3 years, and the garden we have created is flourishing with an exuberant display of blossom and fruit. Cumquats, passionflowers and fruit, zucchinis which we forget to harvest till they turn to marrows, rosemary and thyme and bay and mint, crepe myrtle blossoms, native bushes and grasses. In the front are the red flashes of a dublin bay rose, a meadow of california poppies, and, just now, the reblooming of our bromeliads, spectacular pink with mini blue buds for contrast. Also more native bushes patiently waiting their turn.

Uma loves the garden, looking for mini beasts, jumping on the logs, harvesting out the back and finding new blooms out the front. From her top floor window, she spies ringtail possums on the telegraph wire some nights, or the silhouette of a fruit bat. The cats bask in the sun or hide in the shade. And Jai would be happy to play all day with the pebbles and dust. Our tiny retreat.