Brief and lovely family reunion

After a long drive from Ottawa yesterday, we’re home.  Seeing the kids was incredible and I’m happy to report that despite the constantly psychotic sunny/rainy/windy/cloudy weather extravaganza they are also experiencing 9 hours away, they have been having a great summer. And, they’ve grown in the three weeks it had been since they’d stood next [...]

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Going North to see my babies

Nope, they’re not babies, but I need to squish them. Nibble a little. Get regaled with camp stories, eye rolls, pleas for protein that is NOT chicken, and other good food. Let them shower in actual consistently hot water and sleep in a real bed with no mosquito netting.
We spoke to the girls last night [...]

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Ten Things Tuesday

1. My daughterless house is very quiet. I KNOW my kids aren’t asleep upstairs, or reading on the couch or hanging out outside or at their friend’s houses, but I still THINK they are somewhere I can go and see them. This will fade in a few days, I also know.
For now, Bob and I [...]

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Ready, set, off to camp

It’s that time of year again.
My living room is currently the home to overstuffed dufflebags, sleeping bags and bulging backpacks.  The sky overhead is black and stormy and while I pack the back of the car, I am hopeful the storms hold off.
Being the wonderful mother that I am, I took Boo and 4 of [...]

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Evolutionary Steps

At 14 and 11.8, my kids are experiencing the rapid growth and physical and social leaps that so define adolescence.
The other day, Monkey reached nearly 4″9,  and also lost a tooth, a bookending of realities that seems so bizarre, but really, fits perfectly into this accelerated growth stage of nearly 12.
On the same day, Boo [...]

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Of Hospital Tents, Molton Lip Balm and Effusive Teachers

Yesterday was the much-anticipated living history day at the middle school, for which we were provided (undoubtedly with a smirk) weather straight of out what I am told it was like at the battle of Gettysburg: 92 degrees under blazing sun.
I have known this bunch of 8th graders for years and really love to take [...]

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Happy 14th, My Boo!

You came into this world at 8.7 pounds as of 5:32 left coast time 14 years ago. It is difficult to grasp that once upon a time, we lived in a small apartment in Seattle, where life meant bananas, baths, naps, and mucho cuddling. Sure, sleep was scarce, but you were entirely worth it.

Then [...]

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Ten Things Tuesday- Time to Pahtay

Tomorrow, Boo turns 14.
Gone are the days when a party happened at the local Y with swimming, or at the bowling alley, or even at the pottery-painting place.  Ths year, as we have done for several years, Boo is having a joint party with Anna, who is not only in Boo’s gang of friends, but [...]

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Ten Things Tuesday – (Mostly) Intangible Favorites

Last week I listed some actual, tactile objects that are among my favorite things; some, like my jewelry box,  give me pleasure for that they are, while others exist on levels far beyond their physical manifestations. My wedding band -  so much more than the weight on my hand and the gold in its composition [...]

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Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Montreal

Moneyface on a quest to get a maple syrup tart to savor.

Bonjour to the Boulangerie of Delights at Montreal’s Atwater Market.  My mother took home a row of those mousse squares at the bottom of the photo. I was very tempted by the chocolate mousse sea urchins…

Check out the organic (Bio in French, short for [...]

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