Catching Up

Please come in. How are you? Let me pour you a cup of tea and we can sit and chat for a little while. It's been so long since we've spoken. A typical summer, so much has been happening with little time left to catch my breath, let alone sit at the computer and type.

In a nutshell, much abbreviated, this is what my family and I have been up to over the summer holidays:

At the beginning of my holidays I took Daniel up to Grandma & Grandpa J's log house in the woods. It is such a magical place. Daniel is so fortunate to have such a great place to visit with and get to know his grandparents. That same week we spent some time with one of my best friends and her two little ones picking berries at one of the local berry farms.

The following week Daryle, Daniel and I went camping in a rented motorhome. It was so nice to get away together and relax. We stayed at the following campgrounds: Skihist, Lac le Jeune and Knutsford. Also, Chris welcomed us to join him and his family at his cabin on the Shuswap. Of course we had a great time and Daniel made friends with little Ava, Chris' grandaughter. We spent time out on the lake, swimming and boating, and Daniel and Ava caught little minnows and played in the water near the dock. They were like two little bush babies - so cute (dirty and dishevelled, but cute nonetheless).

The week following our camping trip was pleasantly busy. On Monday we again joined T and her kiddos for some berry picking. On Tuesday Grandma and Grandpa N, Daryle's parents, came over for lunch and a visit. On Wednesday they watched Daniel while I attended my doctor's appointment and had my 3 hour gestational diabetes lab test done. On Thursday morning Daniel and I packed up and headed over to another dear friend's house to spend the night with her and her family.

On Sunday, August 1st, the three of us caught the ferry and had a fleeting visit with Mom & Dad J. for Mom's 65th birthday. We caught the first ferry up and the last ferry back. Thank goodness it was a long weekend, so the ferry lineups weren't terrible.

On August 3rd I returned to work after a whirlwind three weeks off. Yikes, what a long time it took me to catch up! Just when I caught up I took half a day off to catch the ferry back up to Mom & Dad J's for the Writers' Fest weekend. Daniel came with me so that Daryle could get in lots of time working on his bedroom.

What a fabulous weekend. We attended Ian Brown (wow, what a speaker) and Nino Ricci's lectures on Friday evening, Louise Penny's on Saturday morning and the most powerful speaker was Denise Chong. To my utter embarassment, I broke down in tears both during her lecture and afterwards while waiting in line with Dad to have his book signed.

Daniel stayed behind with my parents after I headed home on Sunday. I'm sure the three of them have been having a blast. For myself though, I've been on autopilot. I actually drove almost the entire way to the daycare lady's house before realizing what I was doing and on Monday I asked Daryle if he was going to pick Daniel up from daycare. Yikes, my brain is such mush these days.

So, I hope you enjoyed your cup of tea. Can I pour you another one? I haven't yet heard about what you've been up to over the summer...

Not Our Usual Neck of the Woods

The three of us watch in awe as the yearling bear in front of us munches on clumps of clover and dandelions along the edge of the road. He knows we're there, barely lifting his great head in acknowledgement, but is quite content to keep eating. A couple of cars pull in ahead of us to watch as well. Cameras are raised as the vehicle occupants try to catch a decent shot of the bear. Thank goodness nobody gets out of their vehicles.

Daniel comments on how soft the bear's fur looks. Okay, kiddo, rule #1: don't get out of the van. He looks fluffy and cute, but he's a wild animal and we're here to observe what he's doing with minimal impact on him. If it looks like we're disturbing him, we'll drive away and leave him to his own devices.

Yikes! A motorcycle has pulled in ahead of the group of cars. Bear apparently doesn't like motorcycles: His eyes focus on the rider, he no longer looks like a peaceful, relaxed animal. It looks more like he's gearing up to charge. The rider quickly gets the picture and leaves. Instantly, the bear resumes his browsing. Definitely a wild animal - no cute fuzzies any longer.

We've been travelling along the Duffy Lake Road on a brief escape from our usual weekend lives. This morning after breakfast I noticed that the eczema on my fingers was flaring up again. I don't know what I'm stressed about, but the eczema along with little episodes of my heart racing and being very short-tempered suggest that a wee break would be a good idea. So I suggested to Daryle that we go on a little circle trip. After a bit of convincing he agreed. A few minutes later we were packed and ready to go!

As we pulled out of the driveway we decided to make our way along the Sea-to-Sky Highway and then take the Duffy Lake Road to Lillooet where we'll spend the night. Tomorrow we'll drive down the Fraser Canyon and head back home. We haven't done this trip since before Daniel was born and it's one that I'm particularly fond of; drastic changes in temperature, scenery, wildlife, plant life and so on.

Although we didn't turn on the radio or put a CD on, the van was far from quiet. While Daryle and I talked about everything under the sun, Daniel pointed out crows, cows, cars and waterfalls.

I couldn't believe my eyes when we drove through Squamish in search of lunch. There's actually a restaurant that serves only grilled cheese sandwiches, aptly called "Grilled Frommage". The food was great: I had the Whoa Nellie (roast beef, swiss cheese and horseradish on sourdough), while Daryle and Daniel both had the Missionary (cheese slices on white). Mmmmm... yummy.

We stopped briefly in Whistler to stretch our legs and let Daniel romp on a playground. After a quick jaunt up the highway, our next stop was in Pemberton to purchase a snack and something to drink, then we hit the road again. Much to our surprise the road heading out of Pemberton was flooded in a couple of spots! At least the water wasn't terribly deep.

With each switchback we climbed it seemed that the plant life changed slightly, from moisture-loving to more drought-tolerant varieties. We kept our eyes peeled for wildlife, hoping to catch a glimpse of something big like a bear or mountain sheep. Boy, were we in luck! Daryle noticed the bear in the ditch at the side of the road, a bit of brown fuzz amidst the sea of green plants. After we turned the van around and pulled over, the bear climbed out of the ditch and grazed quite openly just yards from us, only the two lanes of roadway separated us.

As we pull away from the bear and leave it to its munching, I feel blessed. It has been such a treat to watch this beautiful animal. I wonder what interesting experiences the rest of our trip will bring?

My New Look

Well? What do you think? Not very inspiring is it? I didn't do myself any justice this morning when I got ready for work. I felt crummy about putting on runners for extra support. Ick. Not that I'm particularly vain about my footwear, but runners at work? It was downhill from there, actually it has been downhill for quite a while. I've stopped wearing my makeup and certainly haven't bothered fixing my hair in anything resembling a 'do'.

So, in preparation for my trip to the hairdresser tonight, I went online and did a quick virtual makeover using today's very plain, very dull look. Although the scowl is very off-putting and the picture is quite grainy, there's an marked improvement. I tried on various hairstyles: long and curly, very short, poufy, symmetrical, asymmetrical, and so on. This was the only one that really appealed to me. I 'applied' very minimal makeup so that I would still resemble myself.

Step #1: get hair cut fairly short - grow bangs out
Step #2: style hair nicely in the morning
Step #3: put on a bit of makeup in the morning
Step #4: actually choose something nice to wear - not just what happens to tumble out of the closet

I'm honestly surprised I didn't feel better about things this morning. I'm actually quite pleased with how life in general is going: I'm thrilled to be expecting child #2, my back and headache issues have been resolved, I have a doting husband and loving son, last night I enjoyed an aquacize class with a close friend, work is going well, and my garden looks quite nice. What more could I ask for? Supportive shoes that look cute and don't squeak.

Score!

Nope - I'm not referring to the FIFA World Cup. I scored, big time, at the fabric store on the weekend.

My sister accompanied me on my big excursion to the fabric store. I just had to make the most of their sale before it was over! She was soooo patient. She endured my indecisiveness and pickiness with a smile and cheerfully helped me dig through the piles of fabric bolts and manouever through the quagmire of zipper selection. I'm so new to this game, I felt rather lost and confused; thank goodness she was there to help me! At one point I had chosen some really beautiful fabric that was on sale as 'buy 1 meter for $24 and get 1 meter free'. Then we explored further into the back of the store and found bolts of last season's fabric made by the same manufacturer on sale for "buy 1 meter for $14 and get 3 meters free'. Well, I can't tell you how fast I dumped the $24/m fabric and hunted for something acceptable in last season's pile.

So, in an effort to bring our patio furniture back to life, I bought 12 meters (buy 1 meter and get 3 meters free) of last year's outdoor fabric (8 in a neutral light brown to cover seat cushions, 2 in a solid green for throw cushions and 2 more in a green/brown strip for more throw cushions). My other expenditures for the day were: a membership for the rest of the year, zippers for the cushions, inexpensive white fabric to hold the cushions together while the covers are in the wash. My bill came to just over $100 including taxes. Not bad considering that we picked up the love seat and two chairs at the curb for nothing!

I love a sale. Oh, and I've just heard that some of my favourite paper packs for scrapbooking are on sale for half price over the next week...

What an Excellent Dinner!

"If I don't have any timeouts today can we go out for dinner tonight?" Daniel asks, trying out his negotiating skills as we leave the house this morning.

"Sure, but if you have a timeout, you'll have to make dinner for me." What a mean mom I am. But I'm quite determined not to cook dinner now that he's put the idea into my head. Regardless of Daniel's behaviour during the day I won't be preparing a meal. Sweet. However, I'm optimistic that he'll do well as this is his own idea, his own bargaining.

Hours later when Daryle and Daniel arrive home; a crying Daniel climbs out of the truck. Daryle explains that Daniel's quite upset that he'd had TWO timeouts at daycare. Oh well, no dinner out tonight. We explain that he can try again tomorrow, but of course that's not what he wants to hear. Pouting and quite angry, he stomps down the hall to his bedroom. I can hardly keep from laughing. He's so cute when he's ticked off.

After he's calmed down, I remind him that he'll be making dinner for me. Soon I'm sitting down to eat the most delicious bowl of cereal I've ever had. What a great kid!