Jack and Hawk made pretzels the other day.  I love pretzels, but didn’t have them for years and years and years when I wasn’t eating gluten.  One of the wonderful things about eating gluten again is getting reaquainted with wheaty old loves.

Like fresh, warm, pretzels.

And being that Chef Baba can make absolutely anything from scratch far better than it comes at a restaurant or store, she set about … [Read More]

On one of our Monday dates, Hawk and I headed to Granville Island while Esmé was at the Lyceum.

My reason to go to Granville Island was to get three very specific shades of blue Prismacolor artists’ pencils.

Hawk’s reason was to ogle observe the cement plant on Johnson at Old Bridge Street.

I love pencils, paints, fine paper, oil pastels, markers.

Hawk loves big wheels, cement mixers, hard … [Read More]

At long last there was just one more sleep until the Vancouver Aquarium’s dissection class for homelearners.  Esmé was beyond stoked when she went to bed last night, and this morning it was the first thing she mentioned when she woke up.

“I get to dissect today!  Like a real scientist!”

Indeed.

I was not so stoked about accompanying her.  Science has never been my thing, and I was that … [Read More]

Monday mornings are Esmé’s least project-y time of the week, being that her class at the Lyceum is the one and only commitment we have outside of home.  We’re out all the time, don’t get me wrong, and most of that time can quickly shift into ‘project time’ for Esmé.  For example, when she’s at the park and someone asks her about her new hat and she tells them that … [Read More]

I’ve been sensing a shift in Esmé’s project focus lately.  It made sense to set aside her entomology work when the weather turned and it got colder and many of her  beloved bugs became harder to find, but there was more to it this year.  Instead of a sense of loss, which happened last fall, there were new interests percolating.

Remember the DED MAWS?  That sparked a new … [Read More]

We usually lay pretty low on Halloween day.  The evening festivities are exciting enough, and so keep the stimuli to a minumum until it gets dark enough to go trick-or-treating.  We generally skip any parties leading up to Halloween too, mostly because of the candy involved, and how most of it turns Esmé into something we’d all rather avoid, including her.  Plus, Halloween itself is Big Deal enough.

We had … [Read More]

On Mondays, Esmé has her class at the Lyceum, and while she’s doing that, Hawk and I wander around Kitsilano.  For a while we were going to the family drop-in over there, but to be honest, I do not like it one bit.  It’s crowded, and noisy and far too  people-ish for me.  Hawk liked it though, so when I decided I didn’t want to go anymore, I looked … [Read More]

It’s that time of year again!

Esme’s most favourite season, I think.  She looks forward to the next Halloween nearly before the last one is over.   She loves dressing up, and she loves tromping from house to house trick-or-treating in the dark.  We trade the candy for a few Esmé-friendly treats and a new treasure at Dilly Dally each year, so we don’t even have the endless sugar-high ruination … [Read More]

On Monday afternoon we picked up Jack after work and headed out of town while most everyone was wending home after the holiday long weekend, hence the traffic jam going the other way.

We met up with the lovely Pam & Robyn and had a Thanksgiving campfire supper, on the beach at Porteau Cove.  The same spot we had in the summer, as it happens.

It was, perhaps, the … [Read More]

You are funny.  And sweet.  And so smart.  So, very smart.

And strong.  You’re big too, and so people think you’re older than you are, and sometimesthat gets messy because they expect you to be three or four.  But you’re not.

You’re two, just.

When I call you my baby, sometimes you play along.  Mostly, though, you say, “No, Mama.  I no a baby.  I a big boy.”

And you’re not. … [Read More]