100 posts!

I just saw that I've made 100 posts (-: Fancy that. Good for me (-:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday morning. Orange juice, green tea and french toast. Busy, then calm. Chatter, quiet, then birdsong. Tash is sleeping still.

I do not know what is on our agenda for today, but I do know I am grateful for the momentary peace of this bright morning as I sit at the ktchen table, breakfast finished, sunbeams streaming in and dancing about on the jolly spring-coloured tablecloth.

The past five days have been filled with activity. Much in the way of sightseeing. The first morning Tash awoke here, we caught a taxi to the labour and delivery area of the hospital, Me panicked at having had less movement from the baby since the day prior. Once I was hooked up to a fetal heart monitor he started bopping around and we knew all was fine. I, apparently, am more on edge than I thought in this pregnancy,, but it's good to know. Now I can work on letting go of some of my prior traumas. The doctor came in and did an ultrasound and baby one had his little fist up, poised in a 'thumbs up' and she was quick, She took the picture (-:
The rest of our day was spent zipping in and out of some lovely small shops and chatting, the way our visit was meant to be.

The next day we again did some shop perusing, stopping for lunch at a nearby cafe for salads and water,, then strolled up to Isabella's school for her hip hop presentation.

On Saturday Jason, Isabella and I took Tash to Napa Valley to do some wine tasting (no, I did not partake )-: )) and she loved it. We visited a bunch of different wineries and took some really beautiful pictures. Sunday was spent driving along route one until we found a great beach to set up for a picnic. The wind was unbelievable and so we sat in a small wind-free area at the base of the cliff and relaxed while Jason walked along the beach looking for treasures. We visited the pigeon point lighthouse next, and then one more beach where we hung out in a cave partially enclosed with large pieces of driftwood. Fun (-:
Monday, being a school holiday, was spent first at Muir woods, then at an absolutely breathtaking oceanside spot we found when we pulled off to take some pictures. Traveling down the narrow pathway, we discovered a perfect picnic area - soft grass - and we stayed there for a while, taking photos, munching bagettes with havarti cheese and being sun warmed and windblown..Pictures of all our travels are coming soon (-:

Now I find myself ready to hop in the shower and get ready for another day of fun sisterly adventures. I hope your day is filled with happiness and beauty as well..(-:

oop! an etsy front page ~

So, somehow I missed this etsy front page, which isn't hard to do, But good indeed that I came across it on flickr! This one was up on Feb.23rd, and my hand-drawn bunny girl was included! She has since gone out into the world, to a new home and life and I do hope she's happy (-:

Interestingly, what prompted me to do a search for past front pages where I may have been included is the fact that I went to etsy just a few moments ago and saw that one of my art prints was on the front page! That was a shocker (-: A good one, of course. With my preparations for my sister's visit, my pregnancy, life and all, I have been a bit lacking in the art department but I think the universe is giving me a bit of a nudge...I need such a thing sometimes (-:

Did I mention my sister is coming?? Of course I did,, because I am so very pleased! Tonight, arriving in San Fransisco, she will have been transported all the way across the continent! Yippee! Fun times ahead...

Mabel's flower wall (-:

A little while ago, I built Mabel a cardboard bunny~enclosure so that she could hop freely in and out of her cage without having full use of the entire family room. Initially, we allowed her to roam freely but on three occasions she let us know that she is much too territorial to have SO much freedom, (yes, she peed on the floor, naughty girl). I would way rather have her out all the time as the cats are, but with this particular lady, it just isn't to be. Her litter training is excellent, but when it comes to territorial marking (and who can blame her, with three cats, all larger than her, chasing her and getting in her poor little furry face?) this is to be the way of it. I had researched various pet gates but they are typically made of plastic or wire and pretty ugly and not exactly something I would wish to be in our living room... Not that a large wall of cardboard is any better, But we had a big piece and I'm a pretty big fan of making due with what you have on hand, doing it yourself and using your creativity, so I shaped and painted it. Just a simple design of various flowers with black ink, but it does look much better now.

"A bunny's a delightful habit;

No home's complete without a rabbit."

(from the sweet children's book 'Marshmallow')

28 weeks

Today I hit the '28 week' mark of my pregnancy, although I'm not particularly attached to time frames or dates or weeks or months.. In this pregnancy I am doing my best to just 'be' and carry on, listening to my body and its' messages to me so that I can be a most efficient vessel of the miraculous event that will culminate with the birth of my child. Nevertheless, I do have to attend certain prenatal appointments, which are for the most part quite pleasant and I do look forward to them,, But in my own world, in my own small space on the planet I am tracking instead the passing moons of my pregnancy and my strength and wisdom from within.
Technically, according to the medical standard of measuring a woman's pregnancy, I would be considered '27 weeks' pregnant, where the baby is actually '25 weeks' old, but I know on which very evening my sweet babe was conceived for I felt it with every part of me. It was magical and a very wild, connected sensation; That which occurred at the moment of conception ~ and I feel profoundly blessed that I was open and clear enough to understand what was happening (-:

28 weeks. Seven months. And here I am:

The Lady of Shalott

Painting by John William Waterhouse (1888)

'Tis morning, Not quite 9 am and I find myself with a few sacred minutes of silence. Jason is still sleeping and Isabella has not yet left the coziness of her own bedroom, probably deeply enthralled in her Harry Potter novel. I have showered, made myself a piece of toast with peanut butter and a chai tea latte and here I sit...

As is often the case with me upon waking, my mind strays to the magical worlds; to the comfort of poetry and beauty, and on this particular morning I have the lovely rhythm of Alfred Lord Tenneson's 'The Lady of Shalott" dancing through my mindwaves. I will share the first part of it here. The entire poem is quite long, Too long for my blog post methinks...

The Lady of Shalott

On either side the river lie

Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky;

And through the field the road run by

To many-tower'd Camelot;

And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow

Round an island there below,

The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver

Through the wave that runs for ever

By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot.

Four grey walls, and four grey towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow veil'd,

Slide the heavy barges trail'd

By slow horses; and unhail'd

The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd

Skimming down to Camelot:

But who hath seen her wave her hand?

Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land,

The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early,

In among the bearded barley

Hear a song that echoes cheerly

From the river winding clearly;

Down to tower'd Camelot;

And by the moon the reaper weary,

Piling sheaves in uplands airy,

Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy

The Lady of Shalott."

There she weaves by night and day

A magic web with colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

read the entire poem here

I am now off to enjoy my lovely Sunday...Have a beautiful day (-:

A few new sketches (-:

I did these new quick sketches in my moleskin sketchbook...

The evening is quiet and calm and I am taking a moment to write a little something. Isabella and I spent the day together here at home while Jason went rockhounding. We had leisurely showers, ate oreo cookies and drank herbal tea, strung up scarves and saris to make a "secret corner" in Isabella's room for her Harry Potter magic studies, lounged in her bed with a hot water bottle reading books and writing letters, and talked and talked and talked. I do love my little girl. She is a wonderful child and a wonderful friend..

I can't wait to meet my second beautiful baby (-: Less than three months to go!

My sister is coming in just a matter of days now! Isabella and I are going to wash the windows tomorrow to honour her arrival (-: I am still in disbelief, which is so silly but must just be the way of my inner workings.

I have been experiencing some serious nesting instincts as of late... I understand that it is a completely natural behaviour had by pregnant ladies like myself and yet, it can make me slightly crazy if I am unaware of why I want to sweep the floor a hundred times a day or fix the rumpled couch cover every time I walk past it, or organize the baby clothes, bath supplies and blankets once every day. I find it helps to get out a lot. Many walks. Fresh air. And with my sister coming, that should be the perfect, healing diversion from my nesting instincts. Whew. I am taking a nice big, deep breath...

summer musings

Last summer, we spent over a month visiting my family in Ontario, Canada. I do miss them so much, But fortunately for me, My sister is flying here to visit in one week! I cannot say just how joyous I am,, But at the same time, such things seem surreal to me until they actually come about, so I am in a slight state of disbelief still (-: Nonetheless, I need to get this place all nice and ready to receive our wonderful guest! Yay!! My sis has never been to California, although we've lived here for 2 and a half years already. I hope she likes it..

I LOVE these pictures. They are taken of Isabella's creation, The lovely SquashPow, a Native Canadian woman squash who happens to be living on Grandma-Jude's kitchen shelf (if she hasn't rotted, goodness me!) We haven't seen SquashPow since the summer when we were there, but she seems very well and good..My sis took these sometime during the winter so they're still relatively new.

Growing up, creative expression of any kind was welcomed and encouraged, so we always had odd assortments of artistic creations (such as SquashPow here) sitting around our home.. I fondly recall and miss intensely the piles of magazines and library books on the kitchen table, stacks of white paper just waiting to be drawn, doodled or written on, sticks and rocks and twigs and chunks of moss hanging from the door handles, window frames and ceiling.. Visitors would be entranced looking around, taking in all the odd scenery of our home and I must say, I am much less creative here in my own place. Too neat I think. I need to summon up all that wild creativity and let it out to make a giant, lovely mess (-:

weekend musings

Yay! Good weekend (-: Isabella totally aced her report card - Of course she thought it was no big deal at all, but Jason and I thought it a great reason for an impromptu celebration, and so we went out for lunch at a fun cafe, went to the Lawrence Hall of Science for the afternoon, and then to the ice cream parlour.

These pictures were taken in the science hall, where Isabella got to hold this snake... Yes, she's very dramatic (-:

And then she held this sweet dove...

She petted a chinchilla as well, and then felt very brave and asked if she could wear this much larger snake around her neck (-: We were surprised that she wasn't afraid. Isabella is such a great girl.

This would be Bella's face and hands...

And Jason's face, accompanied by the hand of a little girl.

I love Tasha Tudor

I was just reading about Tasha Tudor, as I often do, and I found this wonderful quote:

"Einstein said that time is like a river, it flows in bends. If we could only step back around the turns, we could travel in either direction. I'm sure it's possible. When I die, I'm going right back to the 1830s. I'm not even afraid of dying. I think it must be quite exciting." ~ Tasha Tudor

(I'm sure she's enjoyong herself right this moment (-:)

Slightly sick

(Buddha-board picture; How I love to make these!)

My sweet Isabella was nice enough to give me her cold, which I promptly experienced all day yesterday and continue to sample at this moment...Mind you, I feel MUCH better than I did yesterday when I was so dilerious that I asked one of the cats to please get me some water, and for some reason I thought my request would be granted.

??

Yes, I am feeling much better. Wonderful Jason brought me a cupcake from his school, which I ate despite the body aches and misery. It helped some (-:

He also refilled the bird feeders last night and already the patio is a happy symphony of birdsong; My favourite sound.

^__^

goodbye bunny!

She is off to start a new life...How exciting (-:

~dried mango slices~

(that's what I'm eating today, yummy..)

This faerie lady makes me think of gardens and flowers and plants and spring! How I wish to amass our patio with a plethora of differently coloured flowers to cheer my heart (-: I have something of a push-pull going on inside of me these days, Knowing that our ultimate goal is to get back to Canada and live near my friends and family again,, But then, We ARE still here in California and will be for a bit at least...This is a lesson in living fully each moment, Not getting too far ahead of myself. Of truly being HERE because I am here. I will discuss the matter with Jason. I think I need some flowers (-:

This morning I no sooner kissed Isabella goodbye and sent her off to school than my Mom phoned; A welcome surprise (-: We chatted for a good two hours and it put me in good spirits indeed ^__^ I have a midwife appointment this afternoon and this also cheers me; It has been a month and a half since my last one and it will be nice to talk with her. I used to abhor my ob/gyn appointments but now that we have started with a new facility that has midwives, all that has changed. Thank goodness, because if not I'm not sure what I would do,, But it would probably be drastic..

My recent pregnancy craving has been.......cheerios! Not 'real' cheerios, but rather the Trader Joe's brand 'Honey Nut O's' which just really do it for me right now. Pregnancy is so silly! I have gone through a few cravings this time around although none of them have been so bizarre: watermelon juice, vegetarian sushi rolls, mochi for a short while, buttermilk biscuits, root beer, weetabix, and now the cheerios.

My belly is growing beautifully...I'm roughly 6 and a half months pregnant now and I look it, although, isn't it a funny thing ~ The mind.. I am still in some odd in-between state of consciousness concerning the birth of this child of mine; Disbelief and an inability to comprehend the vastness of the changes that are soon to come to me and my life. And this, coming from someone who has already carried, birthed and raised a child during the past eight years! I tend to think of it as being a gift, This feeling of innocence and the consequent ability to start fresh all over again.. (-: It will enable me to come from a place of naturalness and intuition like I did when raising Isabella, without any junk piled up in my thoughts from too much information and experience.

Isabella was a bit under the weather this week, so she stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday. The poor girl had a nasty cold and a bit of a fever so she camped out on the couch the first day, eating fruit and drinking water and watching Tom and Jerry cartoons on YouTube (you may recall that we don't own a tv and only use such forms of passive entertainment for rare occasions) and the next day she spent a great deal of time sitting on a huge pillow knitting while Mabel snuggled on her lap. So sweet (-: We also worked together putting compiling a birthday package for her Grandma Jude, whose birthday is coming this month, and she took a really really really lengthy bubble bath. Ahh, the life..

My artwork has been somewhat side-burnered although I do have a fabric art project on the go that I would like to finish. Two actually. I am eager to fill the blank white spaces above our couch and bed with something..and handmade homemade certainly carries the best energy (-: I love the thought of personally building your life, Putting your hands and heart into everything from childcare to bread to the art hanging on the walls, the toys your children play with and the dishes you eat off of.

(-: Have a beautiful day!

spring cleaning

This morning I spent some time out on the patio, sweeping, repotting, neatening and arranging the potted plants, rock collections and flowers. It was quite flooded from the many rains that have blessed us so I cleared away all the excess water as well. Much better. When I finished I felt lovely, cleansed, creative and refueled. Why do I always forget how much I love gardening?! I came inside to wash my hands and heard the beautiful sounds of doves' wings... My friends returned!

I suppose they were waiting for me to clean and prepare the place before they came for a visit. They settled right in as they have been doing the past two springs..

It warms me 'ole heart (-:

'Tis Sunday indeed

Here are some pictures I took on Friday, when Isabella was Frida Kahlo for her school's 'Living Museum' project.

We threw together a pretty great outfit from pieces we had at home, and I painted her eyebrows that morning. Isabella was pretty upset that two boys made fun of her unibrow and she wasn't able to fully embrace how cool she looked as Frida, but all the adults and teachers knew (-: The painted piece in back is actually a dress, painted by Isabella. I couldn't capture it in its entirety as it's quite tall, but it's actually an Isabella-sized Frida Kahlo freestanding paper doll. One of the teachers loved it and so it will be living in her classroom for years to come. I will have to take a picture of it at some point~!

Today is rainy. Isabella has been sewing a little felt bunny (-: She started on a pair of jeans for her doll Pipo yesterday, and she has planned to create a newspaper as well. She doesn't get down when the rain comes and we aren't able to venture outside, But then neither do I. I have always loved rainy days and found them to inspire great creativity (-: