this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

joining in with SouleMama

"there are plenty of sticks in the sea"

unseasonably warm temperatures and the satisfying weight of my toasted egg sandwich and coffee in my tummy, led me to the magnanimous decision early this morning, that it should be a day of Going Out. what that entailed exactly wasn't entirely clear, but Savannah helpfully suggested a walk down to the stream.

first, of course, we had to walk the dogs -- not so much for the exercise as for the bribery factor ie. "please don't pee on the rug (emma) or chew up the crayons (tyler) or raid the halloween stash (oscar) in spite while we go somewhere without you."

i could tell by halfway through the dog walk that Sebastian was not in a good fettle. i kept my maternal Knowings to myself however, so that i wouldn't come off like the Harbinger of Doom to Savannah who by now was rather excited about our upcoming adventure.

after our lengthy doggy hike (we did the entire bike path for extra insurance against canine retaliation) we stopped at the house long enough to drop them off (with further bribes of peanut-butter-smeared dog biscuits) and for me to pack our backpack with a few essentials...our blanket for sitting on, drinks and snacks and my journal - both written and art - should it turn into a long-job. at this point, Sebastian was quite keen.

it was a lovely leafy walk down past the cemetery...there was much jumping and cavorting about the leaf piles and i happily thought i'd been premature in my assessment of Bashy's mood. (now would be a good time to draw your attention to the fabulous stick specimen that he had first picked up on our dog walk - it's a 'doubler' and just the right height for pointing while he walks).

so all was well...i wandered around snapping idle photos and the kids busied themselves throwing stones and poking around in the leaf piles.  if not for the hum of the highway across the hill, we could have imagined ourselves somewhere less.....highway-ish.

now, i could just end here....i could do the 'buffed and glossed' version of our day -- as i'm usually tempted to do. my new blogging policy, however, involves full disclosure. you see, i've found that the blogs i like to read the most, are the ones that don't necessarily buff and polish -- they have that refreshing breath of reality...so here's what else happened:

~ i stepped in dog poo
~ a daddy-long-legs was fatally wounded between the pages of my journal
~Savannah got her treasured sneakers covered in stream-slime
~ she also felt something prickling her, looked at her sweater only to discover she was covered in...(and i quote)  "earwig butts" -- cue histrionics.  they were actually burr-type things that really did resemble, in the quiet aftermath of their removal, the pincer-end of an ear-wig
~ Sebastian had had enough long before his sister did and an exasperating battle of wills took place before she eventually conceded that she was cold and her feet were slightly wet and she didn't want Sebastian to have to stay any longer (he had already agreed to two extensions).

and then...


we left without his stick.

but he didn't realize that until we were three-quarters of the way home.

at which point he came to a halt.  now anyone who truly knows Sebastian knows these silent protests for what they are -- he's genuinely troubled and doesn't really know how to proceed.  he's not having a tantrum and he's not being belligerent. he's just not sure.

most of the time, this centers around transitioning from one thing/place to another. when he was younger, it often included crying and a tantrum.

on this occasion however, i imagine he was torn between wanting his stick and wanting to go home.

and so we walked on.

and on.

we were hoping our disappearing into the distance would prompt him into moving. (he's not inclined to budge if you stand there waiting for him - a fact which proves problematic in crowded, public places --- he needs the time and that's that.)

but then his sister, his beloved sister - walked back down the path to try and convince him to join us....

she told him..."there are plenty of other sticks in the sea"

of course, this would be a delightfully dramatic and poignant way to end the story -- and i did briefly consider it. (see aforementioned policy). although i have  left out the silent and sometimes-not-so-silent stream of profanity i unloaded on myself for not remembering to pick up his stick before we left.








in the end we hid behind a tree until he wondered where we'd gone and ambushed him when he went past. at which point we each took an arm and escorted him home.

that, dear reader, is exactly what Going Out looked like around here today.

true story.

so what's the point?

so many half-formed thoughts on things i'd like to write about.....this week has seen waves of synchronicity buffeting me about.

my blogging  history is somewhat dodgy at best...i went from daily diatribes to dwindling off to packing it in altogether. something about feeling *required* to post -- even though that was ludicrously self-imposed -- put me off. add to that, a general world-weariness with the 'mommy-blogger' set and i went off in a huff.

a view from my ride to work on Wednesday

and it didn't help that i'd divided myself into three parts - this unschooly-themed blog, my arty efforts blog and another, more navel-gazing one which no longer exists in the public realm. i suppose the effort (yes, enormous, it was) to keep them all going eroded my enthusiasm.

i have a love-hate thing with blogging. i've come dangerously close to hitting Ye Olde Delete button many a time - existential crisis mostly...or paranoia over who might be reading...or rebellion against all the Other Unschooling Mother's who appear to be doing a better job than i am.

which, of course, is bullshit.

so i've wended my way to something of a disgruntled delight in the act of blogging -- having completely reframed my perspective. it's disgruntled only because i was sure i was done with the whole thing and had just got comfortable with my righteous indignation. i'm sure the disgruntlement will wear off in time.

all set to go to The Royal Winter Fair 

so this will become more than 'just' our family unschooling blog.

i am more than the way i parent, and more than the devastating charm of my children -- although they are much to do with the space i occupy now. i'm not entirely sure how or in what ways, it will be more....but i know that i'm bored with posting pictures of what we do during a week....and occasionally frantic that the photographic lack will illustrate that we sometimes accomplish very little. (that can be documented by photos, of course)

i am content in the notion that the very few people who read regularly will perhaps become even fewer. but i am also quite content with the notion that whether or not anyone actually reads, i still have the odd interesting thing to say. that's a pretty huge revelation for me.

it's about fearlessness.

and being fearless has to start somewhere.

so....where've we been?

ah yes....too lazy to upload pictures again....but we've been sorta busy...

walking in the woods...

and we've been painting these really BIG paintings....

*scribble*...by Savannah

*flow*...by Savannah

because any kid with this much confidence in her individuality and personal style....

needs to learn that she deserves to hang onto it.

about a week ago....

we were at our favourite park......it was still nice and warm then (it's cold and rainy now)...and the Zamboni from the attached arena had gifted a large pile of not-quite-melted snow...

which makes lovely Snand-Goblins (that's a snow-sand combination...just FYI)

it's not often you get to run barefoot through the snow....in t-shirt...without sustaining frostbite.

me? i wandered aimlessly about taking pictures of skeletal leaves...

this is posted as a retrospect....because i was too lazy to upload them earlier. :)

through the key-hole #1 ~ sink view ~

Inspired by the lovely Mon over at Holistic Mama....this is the first in the 'through the key-hole' series. 

Not a terribly inspiring view in and of itself...my fave sink-view was my old house in Guelph where I could wash dishes and look out into the garden. Any future, permanent-type homestead will be judged very seriously on it's sink view, I can assure you.  Nonetheless, this one is made interesting by how it represents *us*....drying paintbrushes, a plastic scorpion, tea-balls and reusable bags; and, taking the hideous off the speckled backsplash, on the wall to meditate upon is a verse, a mantra for life and a beloved picture taken from my Nanna's house in England after she passed. 

Memories, philosophies for life and a love of art woven into the fabric of daily life.....magic in the mundane. Kind of inspiring after all.

Software meets Poolwear....

So......you show a girl where to find free photo-editing software (Thanks Cam!!) and turn her loose. They were pretty cool SOTC (they're my kids, how could they not be fab?) but it's heap loads of fun 'doctoring' them.


These are some lovelies from one of our afternoons at the pool - we're greedily grabbing every summery sort of day seeing as how we haven't had too many and it's already August!!

I had some tips from photo-guru Beth but in order to 'shoot up' I would have had to lie down on wet concrete....it seems I am not so dedicated to the photographic arts as she is.....









Ten gold stars to whoever spots the 'wardrobe malfunction'....twenty if you swear never to point it out to her when she's fifteen...*grin*