Saturday, October 31, 2009

juicy butternut squash

It's amazing the amount of water in vegetables. This is what you do when you are thirsty but aren't big enough to reach the tap.





Try some?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

my wife The Man

Well, we've been here on the Island for, what?, two months and change now? Things are just starting to settle down a bit. When I was younger, childless and relatively man-less, two months in a new place would be about the time that the whole town would start to get a bit boring and I'd have a map out looking for somewhere new. Two months now, with family includings cats and sewing machines, I'm still trying to get a grip of where the light switch is in the hallway.

I'm still disorientated.

The kids are just calming down. If you think that children are resilent in the face of change and their spirited little minds naturally look forward to novelty and brand new adventures than you out of your mind. Children handle change like snowballs handle hell. They melt. They fry. They lose all shape and intergrity and turn into frothing puddles of unreasonableness.

At least that is what mine do.

Thank goodness there is someone else here with me, someone familar, weathering the child storms, and equally flummoxed by the strange, unintuitive position of the hall switch. A little normalacy is a good thing.



Oh, did I mention that in addition being the company to my misery, he also cooks most of the meals (all of the ones that don't involve peanut butter or jam), cleans up the abode, makes most of the household acquistions (except linens... I guess that is still my area), and takes more than his share of the childcare.

He's the guy telling the stories, playing cars on the carpet, pretending to be a malfunctioning robot and doing the crafts with the kids lately. He's the one with the imagination and stamina to keep up with the girl.



And the patience and mindfullness to be with the boy.



And he's doing fine, fine work.

Thanks handsome :)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

wild sunday afternooon

We went to see Where the Wild Things Are today. Great show, really well done, and totally not okay for the kids. Here is why living not watching television sometimes bites us in the butt. We get most of our new movie informaton from print sources, which doesn't give you much of an idea about shows, considering that they considered periphery supports to video promotions. Okay, yes, we could of watched the trailer online, but we thought it was a bit of a no-brainer. Great children's book film adaptation = take children.

No, don't take children. Or, don't take my children. Birdie Boy slept through most of it, which is the way I like to watch shows with him anyway. He's much less distracting when he's unconscious. On the other hand, Smootch is great to watch movies with - if they are animated. She does not like live action. She'll say, "I don't like live action." And that's it. So, don't show her a live action if you want her to sit through a whole movie. We really thought Where the Wild Things was animated. Not so, as we were to learn.

But, there we were, in the theatre, with suddenly with a live action film on our hands, which was shaping up to be a thoughful, psychological journey into the mind of a lonely and emotionally distrubed boy, accompanied with a non-character singing/dancing soundtrack. Neat. For me. Because Smootch's response was, "When's the cartoon going to begin?"

She watched though. Quietly. Hmmmm. New problem: child is not bored with movie about lonely and distrubed boy because she's identifying.

One of the reasons why Sendak's book is considered a classic is because children (and parents) relate to it. It speaks to what is felt but difficult to articulate. Combine this with this particularly gripping movie adaptation, add in dramatic visuals, kickin' music, and lots of emotive facial expressions and you've got a little girl who got lost in the pervasive sadness and feelings of inadequacy.

Heart wrenching tears and clinging.

We were really not prepared for this.

Still, great film. I was pleased to not have to sit through another Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, which was funny, true, but fart jokes rarely move me. Okay, I was crying when I left that movie too, I am Smootch's mother after all, but I'm sure I will be thinking about Wild Things for awhile. As will Smootch.

From now on, we watch Scooby Doo on rainy afternoons.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

my move. again.

We've just put down a deposit on an acreage in Errington. We'll be in on the 15th of november. To keep things interesting, we are going to be using professional movers to shift our meager possessions a mere 30 kilos, after the 1200 km wth only a car and roof bubble. We actually have more furniture now than we ever had in our beautful blue.

Inn other news, both kids have post nasal drips and occasionly throw up tubs of flem. Pulp mill air is not helping. I'm not sure what to do about it since there are no doctors takng new patients here. Wait until it's bad enough to haul them into emergency? Feed them echinacea tea? I only know that tonight, if we are lucky, Birdie Boy will sleep okay in his car seat - the only way we have to keep his head elevated short of holding him upright all night (I've done that too. It's not pretty.) Wish me luck and the kidlets optimal breathing.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

once again

Some photos of one last visit to Butterfly World before they shut down for the season.

(This is Birdie Boy's 'smile' when asked to do so for the camera.)

(And this is Smootch's 'smile'.)

(Thank goodness they both have brains to fall back upon.)

Sunday, October 4, 2009

another ho hum day

Alright I just wrote a whole post talking about how much better life is here than back home. And then I realized I was talking about 'back home' and the homesickness kicked in. So I erased it and only now want to say that I miss you all.

And, still, life is good here.

Nah, nah.



Yesterday, a hike in the woods. Trees too big to wrap my arms around. Ferns and wildflowers. Waterfalls. Thousands of salmon fighting their way upstream to spawn. (Squint at the pic, there are a few to be seen.)

Watching overfed, lazy black bears fish in the river. I feel like I'm living in a nature documentary.
The only solution, as far as I can see, to the homesickness is for you to come visit. We'll be waiting for you :)