A few not-so-sunny days later...

This week has given us proper March weather: cold and rainy, windy and wild. So out came the paint and paper, and our two painters set to work, properly outfitted in Imma-supplied paintshirts.

Serious business for these two painters, no matter how much fun - they refilled the gallery with all new paintings! About an hour's worth of painting. They only stopped when they ran out of paint.And the next hour they spent in the kitchen sink "washing dishes" - but more accurately getting painty water all over themselves and the counter, and the floor... We had it tidy before Abba and Imma got home though :o)

One fine Spring day last week...
minds and hearts were in a snarl

shrieks and tears, whine and sneak
Time to get OUT!

Find Mommy's stroller when she was a little girl
Put spring coats to use againMustn't forget our new sunglasses from Imma
and a crust of bread

Down to the river under bright blue sky
snarly hearts ease
frowny faces smooth
Chatter play replaces whine
Call the ducks, where are they?
Patience, here they come!
Crumbs fly
Ducks squabble

Hopeful gulls
hover nonchalantly
land to wait
with an air of "we don't care"


Crust is gone, wind has come
icy hands find
warmth in mittens
Let's go home!

Gulls come gliding
nosing for leftovers
finding none,taking flight
One fine Spring day last week.

More on New Brunswick

I realized that I didn't really say anything about the girls... they did go with us! They were fantastic: a 5 hour car ride there, a quick lunch, and then an hour or so church meeting in which they had to amuse themselves quietly! They did a wonderful job. So afterwards, Mommy took them to the park. Right on the St John river, in a beautifully sunny, warm Spring afternoon, we had good fun - with no coats needed even!

Balancer pro!

the slide that had mom on the run until she saw how slowly they slid!

round and round and round and round..."we're flying!" they exclaimed lifting one leg
Waiting for our car to be fixed, Mommy found a sheep similar to the one we forgot in Newfoundland. "Grandpa lamb" was a great playmate.
We also got to meet pet rabbit. Grace got to try hold him, but he was too nervous to sit still. He was left to roam the house, but he hid behind the toilet and the girls soon lost interest.

We just got back from New Brunswick yesterday. It was supposed to be Thursday night, but... let's start at the beginning...

This was the trip that got postponed because of the whopping snow fall we had in February. A quick trip up to Meductic with stops in Fredericton and Sussex on the way home. A full two days, but doable. All went well until we left Fredericton on our way to Sussex. The battery warning light came on. I asked Michael to look it up - should we stop and get it checked in Fredericton? The handbook so helpfully said "stop and check." Just as we were deciding to stop, the light went out, so we continued. Half way to Sussex it returned, and stayed on, but by that time we had no choice but to continue. No problems for a good long while until just as I was telling Michael about an on-again-off-again symptom in acceleration, we lost the ability to accelerate all together.

Back road New Brunswick is not a good place to break down. On the other hand, it does have some advantages, like hills. And small gas stations with friendly people. We were able to coast and nurse the car to an Irving that "just happened" to be at the bottom of the hill we were on. And there "just happened" to be a small garage affiliated with the Irving just around the corner. We were given an immediate diagnosis of alternator malfunction, a boost, and an escort to the garage. A short wait revealed that the alternator was indeed dead and that there wasn't a replacement available anywhere nearby. But the mechanic "just happened" to know a few places that might be able to fix it. So he gave us a ride into Sussex to meet our friends there (we "just happened" to be not that far out of town), and set to fixing our car, hoping to have it fixed and ready for us in the morning.

So we enjoyed a slightly extended visit with our friends in Sussex. The estimate of a morning fix turned into nearly 2:30 pm, but it "just happened" to be the right time to get us home in time for a Skype meeting Michael had.

AND, just before we left, the mechanic "just happened" to test our oil level and discovered it dangerously low - as in, no oil showing on the dipstick at all!! That, to me, seems to be the crowning "just happened" of the whole experience: without that breakdown, we likely would have been out a whole engine (and therefore a whole car) rather than just an alternator! What else can we say other than all those "just happened"s are God's workings in our lives?

A few days ago they girls watched a Peep video about collecting shapes. So we began an expedition of our own to collect circles. Imma provided a nice round basket to put things in.

Grace and Jasmin soon ran into the problem of round things that couldn't be put into their basket. So, after a small collection accumulated in the basket,
they traded it it for the camera... and practiced aiming the camera as well as finding circles...







After a while the exercise degenerated into taking pictures of just about anything, but it was a success while it lasted!

Keep all those teddies for the grandchildren...Mommy was tidying up, but it didn't get very close to tidy in the end... we had too much fun getting covered with teddies! The girls thought it was hilarious, and it made Mommy laugh too, to hear a container full of teddies laughing hysterically!

...and then to cover Mommy up, well, that was a wonderful bonus to the game!
I think Imma has plenty of teddies for all to play! They sure keep our two busy with pretend birthday parties, hospitals, schools, cooking times, even interesting tidy-up times...

On our last day in Yarmouth area, we had a wonderfully warm spring day. Daddy went to a Pastor's meeting with our host, and Mommy and the girls went to the beach again, and then stayed outside to greet the dogs and explore spring in the sheltered back yard.
It was almost warm enough for no coats! Mommy let Grace and Jasmin play with the camera, hunting signs of spring. this was their best find:


Of course, both Grace and Jasmin were quite pleased when the neighbour's dogs came for a visit:
The dogs were very patient with the two loud, fumbling photographers!

We couldn't stay away from the ocean shore, even with the wind still rather nippy. This was our first visit to the shore in a more-or-less sheltered area. The girls were all excited about going to find shells, but all they did was throw them in the water along with the rocks!


No matter how long we live away from this ocean, it is still home to be back beside it! Deep blue water with rocky shores and burnt orange grasses will always be a favorite view for me, I think. I was happy to give my girls a taste of it.

We went back to visit the animals, and this time Mommy took the camera...

We are enjoying wonderfully mild sunny weather in Yarmouth area. Grace and Jasmin are enjoying visiting all Mommy's friends... mostly because every household has at least a cat! This afternoon they got to feed chickens, a duck, a rabbit hound, and a bunny. Other than the dog, the animals were a bit reluctant to show themselves, but the girls were pretty good at being quiet, and saw enough to be content.

Fun snippets:
People have been telling Grace that she was a little baby when they saw her last. She has taken to replying something like this: "Yeah, and I was very quiet then too!"

We were waiting for Daddy to come out of church last night to go home, and we were looking at the stars. (Can see so many more here!) Grace was asking whys about them and then... "Can we make a rocket ship?" "We can make one with paper tomorrow like at school..." "No! A real one. To go visit the stars and see them big."

Some of Grace'smost recent stumper why questions:
Why does everyone have to have a Mommy?
Why does bread make Jasmin sick?
Why does water get slippy when it freezes?
Why can't I hold God's hand?

Do you have good answers?

After a wonderful week in St John's, still we were more than ready to get back to Halifax and our girls. Skype and webcams only fill a little of the hole of missing them. But yesterday rain began and by this morning the fog was thick and hanging low. Hoping against hope that our flight would still be flying, we went to the airport. But, 20 min before we were supposed to fly, we are told the plane in has been diverted to Deer Lake and the flight out is canceled. Disappointment reigns. I can only imagine what it is like at the other end. Home tomorrow? I hope so!