Flip Side

I guess I should mention the flip side of breast feeding.  The yin to the idyllic, peaceful by-the-lake yang moments.  Because the "my boob is leaking" situations occur just as frequently as waterfront meditations.

On that note, let us remember that friends don't let friends carry on conversations with parsley stuck in their teeth.  So if you happen to notice a wet bull's eye around my mammaries, you have my express permission (and request!) to speak up.  Something along the lines of "Psst...your boobs are leaking."

Photos not included.

A New Favourite

My new favourite past-time: nursing by the lake.

Often in the overstuffed floral armchair that was booted out of the house (thank you Louise Brown) and has made its comfy home on our sauna deck.

Cause if you've gotta be on your butt ___ times a day, it helps to switch up the location and the intention.  Yes, sometimes I can just stare away at Miss Evelyn Ann, other times I have my eyes closed as I mimic what I once knew as "sleep" (oh sleep, how I loved thee), and other times I have one of my many library books propped up on a pillow in front of my baby.  But at least once a day, I hie me to the lake.  Just like my Hugo Bay "morning meditations", but now slightly altered.  Shared with another person, just a little more quiet, more still, more in the present.

Amen.

ps.  Once again, photo credits going out to Jenny Keller.  Who makes an art out of her past-time.

one week (+...) since you looked at me...

Miss Evelyn Ann Parks came tumbling into our lives on Wednesday, July 27th, 2011.  She bumped along the construction-riddled road from The Pas to Flin Flon in the back of an ambulance, secure in mom's tummy (who was fully secured to a stretcher).  She then performed her next trick, presenting her derriere instead of her tête to the nurses.  Feet tucked up by her face, she planned to plummet to earth bum-first.  Maybe ungraceful, but certainly a joyful dive.  After an emergency C-section, she came out arms-waving to her adoring crowd.

We didn't even know you, but already loved you.

So, we've spent the past week and a half being fascinated by the little details.  Fragile toes and fingers, screwed-up old man faces, gas-induced smiles that give us hints of the happy faces to come.  We are spell-bound, helpless but to watch her every (helpless) move.

I can't imagine life without her.  We are blessed.

Form Follows Function

And ornament is crime?  Design principles.  Hmph.

In this case, let me argue that the ornamentation speaks to the identity and values of the creator.  Nature, simplicity, yet something a little outside of the box.  There were too many baby blankets and quilts out there with "themes" that screamed "Not me!"  I didn't want any of it.

So to Mitchell's Fabrics I went.  Mitchell's is a hallowed-place of a fabric store.  Huge tables, wide wooden floors, staircases and beams straight out of the 1920s on Main Street in Winnipeg.  Not to mention a killer bargain and vintage section downstairs.

I didn't intend to buy these "baby fabrics" when I was there, but some things just buy themselves.  And now I have two functional quilts ready for a crib.  Today, I added the leafy window-frame to one of them.  Don't look too closely at the binding or check too carefully for the straightness of the quilting.  Better just to admire the fabric (blue-grey herringbone and a solid cream) and rub your cheek against its soft flannelette.  And dream...of a baby.

Strawberry Summer

Doesn't this just scream elfish-forest garden?  

I swear, little people could live beneath that greenery.

Strawberry tops for hats.

This is the first year that I've had a strawberry crop from my lakeside garden!  Even the garlic that I planted behind them came back (I had taken them for dead).  3 cups worth of tiny strawberries and there's more to come (I should check that out today).  We had them with a lemon-zest shortcake and whipped cream, courtesy of Ricardo (I love his Québecois culinary genius-ness).

That's the thing about gardening...there's lots of surprises.  Like the 4-petaled velvety purple flower on a long, spindly stem that popped up in my purple (and red and pink) fireweed and wild-rose garden.  I don't remember planting it, but there it is, right next to the rubble from our newly dug-out foundation.  Hence the importance and fun of maps.  Draw out your gardens, adapt the drawings as you add to and rearrange your plantings.  Oh, the excitement never ends...

Reno, Demo, Addition Update

It may comfort you to know that we keep some livable (and CLEAN!) spaces (bedroom 1 and 2, stove, counter, fridge, bathroom) in the midst of all of this chaos.

 Rooow. Baby.  You can clean my anytime.

Living room to be. 

Current kitchen. 

Used-to-be-kitchen. 

Master bedroom. 

Godzilla meets Clearwater. 

Bringing the outdoors indoors.  Or open concept.  Take your pick, they're only words.

Fleeting Moments

"I like my body

when it is with your body.

It is so

quite a new thing.

Muscles better 

and nerves more."

- e.e. cummings

I wanted to share these photos that Jenny Keller, photographer and editor extraordinaire, took last month when we were out at their cabin at Rocky Lake.  Enjoy!