Lately

We've been living, and planting and enjoying the wonderfully warm spring so far, but we've also been fighting off colds, and not fighting them off, and teaching clay classes, and mowing grass and figuring out how to adjust to the spring weather, and coping with spring fever (as said by a certain five year old before she goes wild, screaming and running around).

Spring is a particularly fraught time around here for some reason, it's lovely and enjoyable but it also tends to bring out the sensitivity in my super sensitive spirited child, clothes itch, and labels annoy, sounds seem way too loud,( I think because we've lost the acoustic cushioning of the snow) and we have to deal with so many new shoes and coats and routines. It's all a little much- though I notice as she gets older how much easier it all is- how many coping mechanisms she has now, where she used to just scream. I used to think all kids were like that, because N is our first we just assumed they would all take 5 minutes to fix their socks so that the seam was just right flipping out about it until she was inconsolable, but then her tantrums went even crazier (in spring, I used to joke that we needed a poster that counted how many days since the last tantrum- except ours would be counted in minutes) and I read  this book- it's a game changer.

She still gets frustrated- but I can mostly talk her out of it, and she usually doesn't tantrum at all, this spring she's had probably two a week, but that's nothing comparatively. She also plays by herself, and is pretty much self contained doing crafts or playing games, or writing little books (her last one featured Rose, a girl who goes into the woods and gets chased by wolves, who she then teaches and in return the wolves teach her to howl at the moon.) She also staged a wedding for our two male cats- When I pointed out that they were both boys, she was like "but they love each other and they're best friends, and I remember you said that boys can marry each other if they love each other", So we showered them with flower petals and threw them a party, and made them say their vows, and I was so proud of my little open minded girl. She also knows that Nelson and Ferdinand (the cats) can't have kids naturally, but she's holding out hope that they'll choose to adopt a kitten.

I also got a new camera and it's really fantastic- I ended up with the nikon d3200, which came with a zoom lens- but I bought a 35 mm prime lens to go with it too- and I'm so glad I did- the photo quality is just awesome.  I haven't even gotten into the program that comes with it to adjust them after- all these photos are not edited at all (except for size), the light and colour quality straight out of the camera is amazing.

In the garden the rhubarb is growing already and the asparagus is up and Little A is eating all the rhubarb she get her hands on, all winter she was pining for the days that she could "walk out to the garden and eat rhubarb" and now those days are here. She was helping us plant potatoes and throwing them in the ground a little too hard so I said to her, put them in the ground gently like they're babies, she promptly cradled the wrinkled seed potato in her arms and said "awww he's so cute, I will take care of you and be there for you in the morning when you wake up" to every. potato. she put in the ground. Adorable, and time consuming. But mostly how great to be at an age when you think treating something like a baby means to whisper sweet things to it and cuddle it close to you, Precious.

A Photo A Day: December 28th

A Photo A Day: December 19th

A photo a Day: December 16th

A Photo a Day : December 10

A Photo a Day: December 5th

I'm sharing a photo a day for the month of December- some of my favorites from 2014- if you have a favorite photo you'd like to share please leave a link in the comments- I'd love to see your 2014 faves!

a photo a day: December 3rd

I'm sharing a photo a day for the month of December- some of my favorites from 2014- if you have a favorite photo you'd like to share please leave a link in the comments- I'd love to see your 2014 faves!

A Personal Photo Challenge: Trees

Well, no new photos of trees at the moment- but I saw the monthly prompt and knew at once which three photos I would choose- so I'm putting up these ones from my archives. The trees are in that slightly mangy stage here at the moment- their few hanging leaves make them look like scruffy dogs, shedding their coats. These photos however capture them at their most majestic, stark and skeletal and also lush with new growth.

The top one is my favorite tree in our yard- or two trees, sister Manitoba Maple trees- growing up together to form one magnificent canopy. So far they've been untouched by storms and I hold my breath each time the winds blow hard.  The hoar frost almost makes winter worth it. In the middle is an old scraggly maple, more as a backdrop to the lentil sprouts from last summer, and then the bottom, my big five year old when she was only 3, walking on top of the snow in march, with it's crazy tough top, and the trees ready for spring sheltering her.

These photos are not technical exceptional at all- except possibly accidentally- but I think the composition makes such a difference, I figured out while taking the ones with N that a lower horizon line makes the enormity of the trees clear. Before I figured that out I was never happy with my trees, they always looked too short, not leggy enough under their branches. I think also they're helped by having something small in them- (the lentil sprouts, and N) to help give a sense of scale.

When you're trying to make them seem big that is...

Joining in with a personal photo challenge again this month- I've been away from the blog- but I did miss it- so I'm back I think!

First Day

Oh Man- I can't believe it -N is at school. The weather played along beautifully giving us that first crisp morning- new backpack squeaking, and nerves fluttering away in your stomach. She of course did remarkably well, no tears, only a small anxiety, mostly excitement.   I'm hit by melancholy that is unexpected, huddling a cup of milky decaf with a few drops of rescue remedy lingering under my tongue, not a mess, but not quite hunky dory either.

I was not expecting myself to feel anything but relieved at having more free time, and I can use it, and there will be less of it than I think, the 2 yr old making sure of that- but I feel a sense of loss too, or not quite loss- but nerves, and nostalgia. These years do slip by, and my baby girl is not a baby anymore at all, I can't even hold on to a little bit of her baby ways- she even pronounces the R in her name now- though I know Kindergarten is a slow year, it's the beginning of quicker years, of school buses and field trips, and of her making connections I know nothing of, and of her growing up- which I heartily look forward to, but I think I must also mark it's passing.

And N, my sensitive spirited child- who is so attached to me that she's made special rituals up that she "can remember me by" when I leave, who kisses me goodnight in a special pattern, that MUST happen, is totally fine and at ease in her classroom. The only request she made was that I tell her before I leave the classroom- but really she was trying to say goodbye to Me and Baby A as soon as she got up this morning. When I did say goodbye- she gave me a big hug and quickly checked that the hair elastic was on her wrist (to remember me by- the equivalent of a string tied around a finger, I sometimes wonder if she stops when I'm not there, and fingers it- wondering- "who am I supposed to remember? Oh right, MOM!- like I'm some errand she could forget if she got distracted), then ran off to sit and listen to the story on the carpet, I'm sure she will excel in Kindergarten.

I'm sure too she's in the right place- people know her, she was greeted by her name in the classroom - stopped by another teacher in the hall and asked her name, and congratulated on her hello kitty backpack (it's all about the backpack). It's a small school, just the right size for her- and she will love it there, and be safe, and learn all sorts of lessons.

Five

Dressed up to go to Library, I don't even think the Librarian noticed her clip-on tie...

Oh my goodness, where does the time go? As the five year old herself would say "Wowzers", I'm not going to say that it seems like yesterday that we brought this tiny (or not so tiny Ten pounds! holy heck girl- I was HUGE!) bundle of baby home, or that it 'flew by'- because I remember how long these days sometimes feel, and just how much work it's takes to help a person along in these early years, so. much. work. But there's something magical happening these days as four turns into five...self reliance is blooming.

N is old enough to play outside on her own- reliably keeping out of trouble (mostly). She's got all sorts of skills, skills that I've (mostly) taught her, some days I just boggle that this person is about to go out in the world without me (kindergarten), and she'll be okay (mostly). I've done something right!- even if that thing is as small seeing her wash her hands without being prompted (mostly) after she uses the toilet.

But more than all that she is shaping up to be a wonderful person, kind and generous to her sister, hospitable and friendly to guests, thoughtful in a way that is so grown up I can barely believe it. She can wash dishes, vacuum with the swiffer, dust and set the table, she helps fold laundry, writes the entire alphabet, can spell her name, 'Mom', 'Love', and 'zoo'. She charms the cats of the house- even when she dresses them up, they let her get away with crap no one else would (though she's got a teeny tiny scar on her eyelid courtesy of Nelson- it adds character). She's smart, curious, unique, creative, wild, sweet, funny, and so precious, and precocious. She's a wild one in the best sense of the word.

I love...
... that she is so animated, that you can hardly get a photo of her with her face still.
...that she uses 'Romantic" as an adjective for everything good, as in "Don't you think that tastes romantical?"
...that she doesn't shy away from asking any questions, at all, anytime, and if I don't know the answer she thinks we need to 'ask the computer'.
...that she is honest with her emotions,and feels deeply, sometimes embarrassingly, loudly,over the top dramatically, deeply.
...that she has a creative soul, and a caring soul, and an exuberant soul.

I am so lucky to have this girl in my life, she teaches me all sorts of things, about myself and life and her too. Happy Birthday my girl, I hope you have some of things you wish for, and everything you need.

Lately

Sunlit Sunday: Inside/Outside

It's slowly warming up out there- but there is still enough snow for the girls to romp around on- a benefit to this weird freeze/thaw cycle is that the snow has this hard crust on it which will support the girls weight- so they can run around the yard on top of the snow (while I flail around trying to keep up with them. My favorite thing is when baby A runs toward a drift higher than she is tall, laughing gleefully as I yell at her to stop- and crash through the snow at the same time).

The other day we made it over to the 'greenhouse'  where we store a few things over winter- and it was nice to sit out there outside/inside for a while- discovering- and basking in the warmth.

Linking up at My Little Home and Garden's Sunlit Sunday- It's the last week this week- sadly- I've been really enjoying this link-up- head over there and check it out.