A $1 t-shirt sale
+
leftover embroidery thread
+
a week or so of snatched moments
=
a new shirt for Grace... next summer (it's a size 4)

Grace begged for school. So we sat at the table to practice writing. Mommy made a sentence for her to trace. "I can't do it, Mommy. You do it." She said after putting her pencil crayon to the paper. But with a bit of encouragement, she proceeded to do it perfectly and quickly. And then read it!Jasmin also wowed Mommy with her drawing. She drew animals: ovals with legs and arms. And told stories about them. But she wouldn't let me take a picture of it. Rather insisted that Mommy picture her hands...

Turned to Grace again, and saw this in progress:
"Grace and Jasmin are sisters. They are friends. They play together. They have long hair." She wanted help with the shirts, but even as Mommy held her hand, it was Grace moving the pencil.

AND today, Jasmin made it t0 the potty 3 times! Cooperating with Mommy!
Definitely a day of surprises!

When the week's plans go well...
Thursday is fantastic.
The house is left behind.
Tidy. Clean.
Ready for the next day.
Stroller loaded.
Where shall we go?
The flower fields?
The woods?
The river?
The park?
Old place or new?

Flowers?
Okay.
Uh Oh.
Not already!

No more flowers here for us.
But watch and learn.
Clanging, banging, beeping.
New hills and new holes.
I wonder if we'll get to explore them.
Use them for fun in winter's cold.
When yellow beasts are stilled by chill.
When ugly hills are made beautiful with white.

The woods, shall we try?
Access denied!
And sorrow and horror:
The wood is to be going as well?!!?
Hopefully only a trim....?

"The river!" they cry.
But 'tis too far on foot.
A new place perhaps?
Wander and whine.
Push and puff.
Is this good enough?

Jockvale Landing.
Not far from the road,
Whizzing with cars.
But peaceful green.
Reflected glory.
A picnicking place.
Peel that egg, Jasmin!
Tastes much better then.
Enjoy your food.
Wait!
I know you like to feed the duck,
but what about you?
Save some for yourself!
No, ducks won't eat egg.
Why? Because!

Too cold for paddling now, my loves.
This water, not healthy either, too bad.
Need a boat to enjoy it.
Here, let's fish.
Or monkey around.
In trees.
On the ground.
Loud laughter.
Bossy sister.
Happy afternoon.

On the way home now.
Shadows creeping longer.
Hoppers peeping.
Jasmin slipping,
Sliding into sleep.
But wait!
Our park!
Can't we stay longer?
Sandy alphabet.
Sailing through sky.
Watching friends.
Mommy in the sand.

When the week's plans go well...
Thursday is fantastic.

Jasmin has decided (again!) that she wants to potty train. She's been making it obvious that she's interested/ready off and on for ages, but as soon as Mommy begins focusing on it, she backs off stubbornly. So now, after weeks of puddles and the constant refrain, "you should pee on the potty", she's finally moving in that direction herself. This one is definitely a "Doit myself!" child! Unfortunately, now our schedule is such that we are heading out the door just about every other day, making it difficult to capitalize on her current phase of interest. Mommy is hoping we manage to be done with diapers before the colder weather appears... it could happen, even if we did need long sleeves, jackets, and socks today.

Our poor neglected garden didn't really produce what I expected: the corn was tiny (what was Mommy thinking, anyhow, to plant corn in such a small garden??), the turnip rotted, the carrots got pulled but inquisitive helpers and nibbled by neighbourhood rabbits, the cilantro we didn't harvest in time... but we have a very respectable harvest of corriander!
Grace and Jasmin got very absorbed in helping picking the seeds, not willing to wait until dry enough to shake off. We ended up with a grinder-full plus this dish-full.
Now to learn how to use it best in cooking!

Now the summer is coming to an end, our time in Ottawa seems suddenly so short. I bump up against reminders all the time now. Harvesting our tiny garden, my thoughts run to spring and what I'll do different next year to ensure better harvest - and realize there won't be a next year garden here, at least not planted my me. Watching Grace learn to peddle the tricycle, I plan for next summer when she can actually peddle to the park - and remember that we won't be anywhere near this park or her tricycle next summer. Time to think about packing away summer clothes, toys, accessories? Instead of thinking about where and how to store, I have to puzzle through what to bother keeping and how to pass on the rest.

So I find myself already thinking and planning about our coming departure: shelving books according to what I think we'll keep, jotting down a growing list of what needs to be done to the house before we leave, preparing mental lists of things to give away and to whom, trying to slowly sift through and reduce accumulated clutter, cleaning a little more thoroughly in anticipation of moving out, and mulling over the never ending dilemma of stuff: store and hope its on the right side of the world when you need it or give away/sell and buy again when you need it.
Will I ever settle this dilemma for my family? Things we have stored have yet to be in the right place at the right time, and I hate the thought of useful stuff sitting around waiting for my maybe return. Yet, things we have sold/given away and needed again, I've felt slightly not-right about the "waste" of having bought and re-bought the same item over and over! And then there is the whole world of memories and "old friend"-ness of keeping items given by friends and family or ones used for years... A balance of the two? Sounds good, but then you have the unravelable quandary of what to store and what to pass on!
Here I am, at it again! Perhaps a bit too early (we've at least 4 months left); my excuse is if Christmas is to be near the end of our stay here, I want to be on top of sorting/packing/etc. enough to enjoy Christmas!

Last week was a heavy work week for Daddy, but we managed a few Daddy times none the less... an evening river walk with Daddy:

Who knew a stroller could be a thrill ride?


Walking and counting the blocks of the retaining wall (125).

Earlier that day we had dug through stored winter clothes for a few light long sleeves for fall. Jasmin gave a happy cry of delight when she saw her "letter jacket"! She insisted Mommy help her put it on and wore it all the rest of the day even though it is really too hot for a fleece jacket! (Mommy hid it away again as soon as she fell asleep.)

Grace spent a quiet afternoon stringing foam beads while Jasmin napped. She then insisted Daddy wear it for a necklace. She even took this picture all by herself. Now every time she sees Daddy, she insists he wear it. Thankfully he could persuade her that wearing it to church was not a good idea as he might lose it :0)

Grace begged for a walk by the river again today. Since Mommy's back is still protesting the drive to Toronto and back, she abandoned housework and took them to the river. And delighted in the wonderful smells, sights, sounds of late summer!
Or is it Fall already??!! A whole tree blazing red! Grace was so excited: she's been asking for snow and we've been explaining to her that she has to wait for the trees to turn colors and the leaves to fall off...

We found wild grapes! A clean-feeling tartness with the taste of warm sun mixed in... absolutely delicious - mostly because they were found and picked and eaten in the wild :o) Jasmin loved them and would have eaten herself sick, but Grace puckered up at the sourness and wouldn't eat. Didn't help that she thought they were blueberries!


My girls enjoying what mommy couldn't today...

We had to go to Toronto for some meetings Thursday-Friday last week. Michael fulfilled a childhood desire when we stopped for lunch at "the big apple" - the girls were pretty excited about it too :o) They enjoyed climbing up inside the apple to look around, and asking a million questions (Grace). The apple - almond cheesecake there is probably the best I've ever tasted (and likely all the apple products!) but the rest of the food there isn't that great.

We also spent time with family - around a table of food, of course! Jasmin the last one eating...! We've paid for the weekend of "loose" eating though, she's been really difficult to handle the last few days while the residue of gluten works it's way out of her system. Proving that "a little bit won't matter" is not true - at least over a few days.

Last week mommy was making chocolate crispies (stove top cookies), and Jasmin climbed up on a chair to watch - and hoping for an early taste. Taking the pot off the stove ring, Mommy cautioned Jasmin, "Don't touch! Be careful, It's hot!" Jasmin looked back steadily then reached out and put her hand flat on the ring, bam! The rest of the day wasn't so fun... except she got lots of horsie band-aids. A hardy girl, didn't take her long to be refusing wrappings and using her hand normally again. She had two rings of big blisters across her palm and fingers; now they are almost healed, less that a week later! Thankfully they didn't burst.