Visitors!

My sweet niece (and her momma, my sweet sister-in-law) are visiting :) Pretty Maya, she's a brown-haired clone of my brother at that age. It's been wonderful having her here, but boy I'd forgotten how busy 2 year olds can be!

Gardening

Yet another step in my transformation to 'country girl', this year I'm seriously gardening, not just my little patch of strawberries and tomatoes, but a large 7.5 x 24 foot garden, filled with tomatoes, carrots, radishes, zucchini, cucumber, squash, radish, cauliflower and beans. It's a little daunting, it requires more upkeep than I imagined, the weeds grow faster than I thought possible, faster than the vegetables, and the soil is seemingly perpetually parched. But I love it. There is something humbling about coaxing an envelope of seeds and a chunk of dirt to produce food. Weeding it is hot and dirty, but with my ipod it's also so very meditative and very calming, and it's just what I need.

40 things at 40

Today is my 40th birthday. I know 40 is when people start panicking about all of the things they should have accomplished by this point in their lives but honestly I'm so involved in the day to day 'doing' that I haven't started to obsess about the lack of 'done'. Maybe it's denial? It doesn't help that in my head I'm still a wide-eyed child, trying to navigate this big world.

In honour of 40, I'm going to navel gaze and offer up 40 things about me at 40.

1. When my mother was my age she was already a grandmother. I don't even want to think about what that means.

2. I hate surprise parties, I think that each human should have no more than 1 in their lifetime. We have friends who throw each other surprise birthday parties every year. Now the surprise will be when they stop.

3. I'm the absolute definition of an introvert, when I get tired or stressed or overwhelmed I need to be alone. I can see that very same trait in two of my three kids.

4. I love Brussels sprouts, steamed with butter, yes please!

5. I am simultaneously smarter and more naive than you think.

6. I'm messy.

7. I am incredibly sarcastic. Age has taught me to be cautious because a whole lot of people don't understand sarcasm.

8. I think I'm funny. I've been blessed/cursed with a familial dry wit, which makes for hysterical family gatherings, but which is grossly under appreciated by the world at large....

9. Typos and spelling errors jump off the page at me. I try not to be a douche about it, but they drive me mental, especially when they are published by a 'reputable business' (Ottawa Sun I'm looking at you).

10. I hate wearing socks. Shoes are only moderately tolerable.

11. I have a ridiculous amount of my brain cells dedicated to song lyrics. I only have to hear a song once or twice to commit most or all of it to memory. There are thousands and thousands of songs floating around in there.

12. I consider myself both artsy and crafty. I don't see any reason why I can't enjoy both.

13. I love kitsch and tchotchkes. I fear that someday I'll be featured on an episode of Hoarders.

14. I’m hugely proud to be Canadian and unabashedly a monarchist.

15. I hate shopping for clothing and shoes, and have no interest in designer handbags.

16. I feel a deep pull to live near the ocean. I make do with rivers and lakes, but the ocean is always calling.

17. I've been hearing impaired since I was a young child. I'm reluctant to tell people because so often it changes the way they treat me. I don't need you to yell at me or over-enunciate your words. Just face me and don't cover your mouth with your hand. I'll do the rest.

18. I'm a Trekkie. I've even been to a convention.

19. In the 7th grade I had to present a song to my class - play a recording, hand out a lyric sheet and explain what it meant. I chose "Bohemian Rhapsody". I wonder what poor Mrs Stewart was thinking while I cheerfully dissected "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me"?

20. I swear like a sailor. In my defence, I come from a long line of prolific cussers.

21. I dislike television. I can't tolerate any show that subjects any of the characters (or contestants) to any amount of embarrassment or ridicule, no matter how seemingly minor. It is physically painful for me to watch. That means I'm pretty much limited to documentaries and live sports (and even that can be iffy).

22. I love hockey! I love the swish of the blades on the ice, the crash of bodies into the board, the earnest commentators and bizarre stats keeping. I love it live, I love it televised, I love it on static-y AM radio.

23. I listen to a LOT of radio.

24. I used to sing. I miss that part of my life, but I don't think I can get past the mental block that made me stop. Not yet anyway.

25. I wish I was a better mom.

26. I think my kids are the most amazing people on the planet.

27. I get carsick really easily.

28. I love Christmas. Easter, Hallowe'en, Valentine's day, I can take or leave any of those, but Christmas is special. If I had my way I'd put the tree up in October and not take it down until March. Fortunately the other people in my house are not on board with that idea.

29. I don't eat chocolate, but there isn't much that I wouldn't do for a potato chip.

30. I'm a night owl. 20 years of trying to train myself to be a morning person have been utterly unsuccessful.

31. When I was 10 years old my greatest wish was to perform on stage with Michael Jackson. Let that roll around in your head a moment. That's just scary on many levels.

32. I'm a complete sucker for sunsets.

33. I love photography. I've been enamoured with cameras and film (and later developing and photoshop) since I was 4 years old.

34. I spent part of many summers at a camp for the arts near Haliburton. I count those times among my fondest memories, surrounded by creative people who shared my passion.

35. I'm a doodler. I have a pen in my hand at every meeting and during every phone call. The margins of every notebook I own are filled with geometric shapes and tiny people.

36. I cry really easily. Movies. The theatre. Commercials. Remembering commercials. Blogging about remembering commercials.

37. I dream of climbing into the car, me, the man, the bits, and heading out on a real old fashioned road trip. I think what stops me is the knowledge that it wouldn't be anything like my dreams, that it would be filled with bickering kids, bad diner food and camping in the rain. But still, it's there, and some day I might be crazy enough to try it.

38. I'm painfully shy.

39. I spent half of grade school and all of high school in a class for gifted children. I know, I can only think that I made quite a few really lucky guesses on that IQ test.

40. I'm grateful to have won the birth lottery, to have been born into comfort (if not wealth), into a free and safe society, into a loving and crazy family, to be surrounded by friends, an amazing husband, wonderful children, to have a nice home and a good job, a full pantry, a full belly, a full heart.

A quiet evening at the fair

The Gloucester Fair came to town. I bought passes for the kids a month and a half ago (a group*n, buy one get one free). We didn't tell them, preferring to surprise them (which almost backfired, sigh, but in the end it was fine).

The day started in typical fashion, with Katie clamouring for the bit kid rides and Jonah happy on the little kids rides, but less than an hour into the trip Jonah began to hint that he might be willing to give a couple of the tamer big kid rides a try. And it was remarkable, each one he tried built his confidence more and he ended up riding all but three (the three that flip upside down, I can't say I blame him on that!)

This was Jonah's favourite ride at the Gloucester Fair. Before one ride, he was strapped in and waiting to start and I was standing on the other side of the fence and he said to me loudly (because Jonah only has one volume level) "Mama you should ride this, it makes you feel like you're hammered', and all of the blood drained from my face and I envisioned visits from CAS, then he continued "like when it spins and I hammer into the person next to me!". Shit my kid says...

For whatever reason, opening day was absolutely dead, the kids never once stood in line to get on the rides and more often than not they were the only people on the ride. For a crowd-hating person like me it was fantastic! It was sunny and warm but not too hot, the absolute perfect day for a spring fair, and yet no one showed up. I'm going to call that a little gift just for me :)

Tulips

Tulips in my garden.

Alone vs lonely

C and I were discussing the difference between alone and lonely. I was often alone as a child, but I never remember being lonely. Here in my cookie cutter cube, in a nondescript building in a dishwater dull complex of nondescript buildings occupied by tens of thousands of workers... Here I feel lonely.

Playing with a new kitchen toy!

Making our first batch of castoreum-free ice cream :)

More trophies for the shelf :)

My two little bits came home from today's bowling banquet with another armload of hardware :)

Princess' team was the bantam division champion. As well she won for girl's high double with a 308. Wookie won for boy's high double at 297, which is even more impressive when you take into consideration that he's one of the youngest bantams and is competing against kids 2+ years older. The both also received perfect attendance awards, which really should go to C and me for schlepping them there every weekend!

And so another year of bowling comes to a close. Just in time for soccer to start Monday. The fun never ends :)

Sewist: The Next Generation

Camp blanket workshop with the Guides.

Beautiful

Princess - Easter morning. Using the lovely 50mm lens that I borrowed from Chris!

(Rolled the counter on my camera :) )

A little quilty for a princess to be

Flying westward to my cousin Samantha who is due any day now...

All stocked up

Though I'm not certain it'll last all year. For my American friends, 4 litres is a little over a US gallon. For my UK friends, 4 litres is a little less than an Imperial gallon.

Me and my guy

Ridiculously unseasonably warm weather... bring on the soft serve!

Finally: a finish long in the making...

Katie's quilt, finally finished! I bought this fabric (well, some of it), in January, 2009! I started piecing the blocks in May of 2009. That's an obscenely long time in the making, and an awfully long time for a little princess to wait for her mama-made bed quilt...

The front is a whirly-giggle pattern, pieced with a couple of kitty cat prints and coordinating prints and solids, all in light pink, fuchsia, aqua, turquoise, black and white. The background it a pale pink with a subtle darker pink pattern. A single border in some of the coordinating black with fuchsia dot fabric, and bound in turquoise (Kona cotton in lagoon actually).

I completely love the back too, more of the black and fuchsia dot fabric, some fuchsia solid and a pale pink strip featuring a few of the leftover blocks from the front (only the blue and black ones). As often happens, I might like the back even better than the front!

Hockey Day in Canada, eh

Hockey Day in Canada - celebrating with a little pond shinny, in Limoges.

Winterlude 2012

Me skating backwards, Dow's Lake, Winterlude 2012.

Our little idol

Katie performing in "Greely Idol", a little singing competition in a small village near our even smaller village :) She didn't win, but she was amazing and I was so very proud.

(She sang 'Hey Soul Sister', loud and strong and without a hint of stage fright)

Simple quilty Bee blocks

Bee blocks for the Flickr 3 x 6 Bee.

Je suis malade

Sucks.

Epiphany

Celebrating Epiphany at mass this morning. Our church is tiny, but has beautiful vaulted ceilings, painted in aqua and gold.

52 Fridays - unplugged (Jan 6, 2012)

I'm a scrapbooker and a story teller, but by always being behind the lens there is so much of the story that I'm not telling. So I've joined the one self portrait a week movement - to add some of myself into my albums and my family's story.

Aaaaand this first one is pretty raw. I have a new computer, and my photo editing software isn't installed yet. Where I would normally photoshop my ruddy complexion and get rid of the mole on my nose that makes me look like the wicked witch this one I'm forced to post unadulterated. Me, unplugged.

In the glow of endless brakelights

Freezing rain for our drive home tonight. Everyone was driving slowly and carefully, but oh so very very slowly, and it made the trip home exhausting.

Back to the grind...

Christmas holidays have officially ended for C and me (the kids still have one more week). Back to work we went, but the days are getting longer and the sun was rising during our drive in. (Blurry sunrise through my dirty car window)

So much for healthy eating...

Good thing it wasn't one of my New Years resolutions :) Out running errands, we stopped at McD's for lunch. Little J really wanted to try a Big Mac. We were surprised when he managed to finish all of it! (The fries, however, did not meet the same fate, but he's not the biggest fry fan anyway so I'm not too shocked that he didn't eat them)

Project 365, 2012

Yeah, I think I'll try this again :)

My darling C, cutting our yummy New Years ham with his new electric knife.

2011 Crafty Finishes

Quilty and crafty finishes for 2011. Not as much as I would have liked to accomplish.

Sunset

The view from my front window. Already I'm noticing that the days are longer, only a week past the solstice.

Merry Christmas to all

and to all a good night...