captive....

for some reason, the sight of this poor tomato, imprisoned behind a wee plastic fence in my neighbour's front garden really tickled my funny bone.

then again, i've been accused of an odd sense of humour in the past....

retro fun

cooler temperatures = way more outdoor fun....

a visit to the park with friends...friends who will soon be leaving us to return to Pakistan...each moment holds more weight now..the fun just slightly more fierce. still, how nice to be able to run and jump and climb without collapsing from heat-stroke.

it took multiple attempts and a whole lot of laughing to try and capture them all running together...alas, the delay on the camera and the difference in speediness made it quite impossible...

traditionally done on ice-skates...this grassy version of the game was just as hilarious....it's all about the 'whipping' after all...

and of course a photo session isn't complete without the goofy face poses...

and yes - i'm very much addicted to this fake polaroid business....:)

the horrid humid weather is gone...replaced by rain, glorious rain...and cooling winds. there are subtle shadings of red on the outer-edges of the leaves of our maple tree....a sign of the changes to come.  

a noticeable change around these parts has been increasing  amounts of silence.  the kind of silence that comes with being engrossed in a good book.  Savannah's interest in reading took off at a gallop with the finding of an old copy of Black Beauty.  none of the easy-readers we have lying around seemed to tweak her interest - even the horsey ones.but now she's barreling her way through this door-step-sized tome, quite voluntarily. and lining up her to-read pile with great enthusiasm. which got me thinking about how we assume what kids should be capable of and then force them into self-fulfilling prophecy.  who says that because she's only 7 that she should only be reading books of a certain style, vocabulary and length?  pfffft. here's to strewing the path!

of course the silence rarely lasts....soon there was bickering and accusations flew of someone touching someone else's K'Nex creation and so we gathered the hounds and set off for a walk in the wild, wet weather. we came home to bread pudding....(i hate throwing out the crusts of bread that no-one will eat)...so i found a recipe and gave it a go....

alas.....nobody liked it except for me.  evidently it reminded Savannah too much of some kitchen experiment she'd conducted in the past.  i think it was the vanilla extract that did her in.  i would use less next time anyway.

so  now  we're settling in for an afternoon of tea, art projects and (very likely) a spot of reading. the rain is falling  in a steady drizzle and we are cozy and dry.

we are blessed.

* if you're diggin' the fake polaroids.....you can make your own here - Polaroin

the summer so far...

the usual state-of-being during our indoor hours -- chaos meets mayhem on the table

Savannah and Jesse....she started lessons this spring after waiting patiently all winter. her current fave pony is Java -- that's his butt on the left. she loves it. she's a natural. 'nuff said. we're in the business of dreams, you see.

where we've spent most of our time this summer. stinking bloody horrible hot weather has sucked the joy out of most outdoor activities. except for this one.

during a humidity-break....backyard science.

sunflower marvelousness in auntie's garden



~*~

such busy days we've led. it's been horribly hot all summer -- the sweat is trickling down my face as i type this (i have this high-minded eco-aversion to air-conditioning -- i may be reconsidering after the summer we've had) so we've been mostly at the pool and at the pool. 

we've found some fun new games to play online and Savannah's reading skills have sky-rocketed to the point where she's fairly self-sufficient with instructions and clues.  Sebastian continues his pursuit of all things dramatic and has expanded his dialogue repertoire to include entire scenes (with multiple parts) from his favourite movies.

i've found my way back to writing -- pen moving across the page for now -- and B is finally pursuing his dream of being his own boss. losing his job mid-summer prodded him firmly in that direction. so we're riding the wave of financial uncertainty but have faith that it'll all turn out in the end. the money trickles in just as we need it and we're rediscovering the things that truly hold value.

life, as they say, is good.

but bring on autumn. i'm DONE with this heat.