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 (-: