Archives for June 2013

June 20, 2013 By gwynyth

Strawberries

Yesterday found us at a local organic strawberry farm, and we couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was shinning while a cool breeze and good friends kept us company in the fields.

I love a big field for kid gatherings; they get plenty of open space to roam freely as a pack, and we get the peace of mind of no cars and having them in sight.

Well, there was this tractor that toddler was part terrified, part fascinated by. As well as a low voltage electric fence that had a similar affect on the older ones. Ahem.

Along with an abundance of perfectly ripe berries, there were many glimpses of country life that left me with pangs in my urban heart and the sweet scent of sun baked grass in my nose.

We found this nest hidden amongst the rows.

Once home, we whipped up a small batch of strawberry rhubarb preserves. One jar of which will be devoured on ice cream , and the rest, along with most of the other berries, we’ll freeze-such an easy, yet satisfying reminder later in the year, of the sweetness of a summer day.

Even if we can’t spend all our summer days in the country, there are some great country/farm/nature stories to take us there, perfect for lazy day summer reading-especially aloud together.

For the kids:

Thimble Summer-Elizabeth Enright

The Four Story Mistake-Elizabeth Enright

Burgess Bird Book for children-Thorton W. Burgess

The Borrowers-Mary Norton

Charlottes Web-E.B. White

Trumpet of the Swan-E.B. White

And I just finished ‘Prodigal Summer’ by Barbara Kingsolver which I really enjoyed. It explores themes of nature/environment, evolution, and our place and responsibility in it all, while weaving together the stories of three characters living in and around a struggling farm town in the Appalachia’s. While the message can be pushy at times, and may have bothered me if I didn’t share her viewpoint, I really enjoyed her lyrical prose, and think this is a great summer story to savour.

How about you? Any favourite summer reads to share?

June 17, 2013 By gwynyth

Weekend

The weekend began with dropping big kid off at his first overnight camp. Run by the trusted councillors/mentors of his weekly outdoors group, and attended by many a friend, I knew he was in good hands, and would have a great first experience. He was certainly ready for this, the goodbye was definitely harder for me. But you know, it was nice to miss him. His absence was palpable in the energy at home, which made the homecoming that much sweeter. After the drop off, we picked up Mr. Awesome at the airport, home from an adventure of his own.

With two parents and only two kids, anything seemed possible! So we hoped back in the car on Saturday morning and headed west to a Mennonite market. I brought along a little cross stitch to get in the mood.

It was a beautiful day of music, animal gazing, food gathering, steam train spotting, quilt drooling, and antique hunting.

It is truly inspiring to see people living such a simple self-sustaining life. The quilts lovingly hand stitched, the buggies drawn by horses containing their wares for market, it all reminds me of how little we need, and how much we take. And take for granted.

Speaking of simpler lives, my phone ran out of power before the quilt shops and antique market, otherwise this page would be flooded with pictures of awesome treasures. I personally love the shelves of old watches, frayed worn quilts, and old books. I came across a rack full of old Enid Blyton books which I love and recommend for adventure/mystery loving 6-10yr olds. We’re especially fond of The Secret Seven around here. It’s a miracle they didn’t all come home with me; they weren’t in great shape, and the print was too tiny for bedtime reading.

After just one more night without Big Kid, We picked him up happy and muddy. Camp was ‘EPIC’.

And because we’re crazy like that, after a quick clean-up we packed the fam up again and went out to celebrate Father’s Day with my in-laws at a proper restaurant. Lucky for us, it was our friend’s place, and very early, so our crew was tolerated with humour. How do we get through a meal with these monkeys? Delicious wine my friends.

We wrapped it all up with trip to castle playground to run off the crazies before falling into bed happy and exhausted.

A great Father’s Day weekend had by all. Hoping yours was full and fun as well!

June 11, 2013 By gwynyth

Life Lessons in Seam Ripping

I had one of those days recently. You know what I’m talking about; not enough sleep, distracted mind, short temper. The kind of day, when your own energy is in complete conflict with your child’s. They always seem to need you most on those days. Or maybe their needs just seem exaggerated to the cranky mama mind. After a less than patient day,in which I uh-huhed at epic stories told, and hurried them through convoluted explanations of lego creations, alien theories, and reasons for not wanting to do what was asked, I put them to bed early, with no extra chapters, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

With no mental capacity left for writing, I sat down to sew a new tote I’d been wanting to get to all day. As I cut, and pressed, and stitched, I felt the weight of the day pour out of me. I whipped through the pattern steps, feeling confident after making one of these already, letting my ego push aside doubt, and think I was rocking this; no need to double check my work. And then, as they do, the bubble burst. I turned over the strap and realized I’d sewn the wrong side of the fabric on the outside of the strap. Not a big deal, but frustrating. As I painstakingly Un-did every stitch, perspective flooded in. I had fobbed off my kids during the day while trying to steal moments of my own, and now, I had to rip this seam and start over, all because I had breezed over important details in my race to the finish line.

The work of repair doesn’t end with the Un-doing of stitches, or an early bedtime, because every stitch leaves a hole, and that perforated mark is left on the fabric of their hearts, and now the job becomes carefully stitching it all back together again. How much easier, pleasanter, it could have been, to do it well, with patience and attention, the first go around.

Maybe, just maybe, the neediness is their brilliant way of showing us the disconnect. All the whining and pulling on shirts is their way of trying to bring us out of our funk and back to them. To the important moment in front of us.