Snow Day

I have been reduced to leaving scraps of my life in form of video clips. Suffice it to say that I am well enough and the snow here is deep and disruptive. Asher, on the other hand, thinks the weather is nothing short of heaven on earth!

I am Woman, Hear Me ... Bake Bread

Every once in a while I am overcome with a delightful sense of femininity. This happened to me over the last couple days. Carl is away working and I am home with Asher, getting her to school and activities. It has been a while since it's been just Asher and I. I am greatly aided by the fact that Asher LOVES going to school and is a much more gregarious child since she started kindergarten.

Asher and I have been baking up a storm, having lovely, quiet meals together and enjoying long visits with my mom. Today I even baked a loaf of bread (mostly because I am very literally broke and needed bread, come to think of it poverty really brings out the best in me) for the first time. While Asher and I sat together with some tea and fresh baked bread with jam I felt unbelievably proud. There really is nothing like creating and caring for your family at the same time. I think this feeling is what was sometimes referred to in older literature as a womans joy being in the home caring for the family. There is truth to that. I worked and schooled constantly for two and a half years and it felt empowering to support my family and build a career. However, it doesn't come close to what I feel when I make my own food, clothes and toys for Asher and I. I really dig that feeling that I've somehow beat commerce. Ha! No consuming goods for this Mama!

In addition to my Bread of Pride above, I've included below some pictures of the past few weeks including Ashers first day at school and her 5th birthday.

Asher on her first day. When we came to pick her up she didn't want to go!

After a grand party at the KidFest in Courtenay, we all headed to Nanaimo to have birthday dinner with Asher Grandparents.

We visited the park one day after Asher's Circus class. It just happened to be the last day the water park would run until next summer! How could we resist!

Introducing...

Introduding, the One the Only...
Asher

with special appearances by Teddy Bear and Daddy

Yoga, Dancing & Harbour Seals

I love Yoga! Yoga is awesome. It took me a long time to get over the stigma of yoga only being for hippies. Actually, I give Asher all the credit for my starting Yoga. After my C-section I was desperate to regain some connection with my body. For years I have been trying to convince Carl of the wonderfulness of yoga, to no gain. He's seen some more acrobatic or painful poses that I have tried and wants nothing to do with it.

Today I found this page through CBC and I'm tellin' all you geeks out there, man or woman, that yoga can help your poor geeked out bodies!

Check out Yoga for Geeks. This will save so many people from the pains of being hunched over computers for far too many hours.

On another note, Asher wowed us today at her Musical Theatre class, where she and her classmates performed a dance routine to 'Splish Splash'. Between falling off of her bucket (a prop) and lifting her dress over her head a few times she totally charmed her audience in a way only Asher can. When she fell off the bucket she looked the audience of family members, threw up her hands and said “what's happening with these buckets”? Hilarious to me, I guess.

Asher's Performance of 'Splish Splash' – the group had to restart due to technical difficulties in the beginning of the movie. Don't worry, they work it out!

After her class we walked in the park and a totally amazing scene unfolded. Our attention was draw by an eagle swooping down to the shore of Puntledge River and feasting on something the crows had found. Then another eagle arrived. All this unfolded about 100 feet from a bustling park and rec centre. Then, as we watched we noticed a harbour seal and her young one making they're way up the river. What a cool scene. This was my first time seeing a seal in the river.

Summer Comes to an End

What an interesting summer it has been.

At the beginning of this summer my family found itself in Cumberland. What a cool little community. So far, I think our favorite thing has been going for long walks to pick up dinner at the butcher, bread at the bakery, hit the waterpark and pick up a movie on the way home. All within several blocks! This definatley beats Nanaimo's rolling hills and heavy traffic.

We managed to house-sit instead of vacation. This worked out really well as we are totally broke! Besides, I have decided that housesitting is like vacationing at B&B's only smarter because it is free.

In Qualicum Beach we stayed a couple blocks from the beach. There were many gorgeous walks and new discoveries as Asher and I found out at low tide. Asher really loved the big blue chair off the kitchen where she enjoyed watching Treehouse (we don't have cable at home so she capitalizes on other's TV's).

From Qualicum Beach we headed to Nanaimo. The best parts of this trip were nostalgic. We took Asher to visit her friends at her old daycare and even got to attend a bowling birthday party! Asher rocks at bowling. It took her a few few tips from her dad however to learn that throwing the ball over her head is not the most effective method.

We took time to hit Asher's favorite playground - Altrusa (at Beban). Also, no trip to Nanaimo would be complete without a visit to the Shady Mile Farm Market. Both Asher and I are hooked on the place. Personally I just love the simplicity of being with all the animals. It helps that the staff there rock and let us hold and touch the animals. My experiences at Shady Mile have helped me decide that I must have a pet goat at some time in my life! Goats have an endless well of personality that they never hesitate to share. I guess I can relate to that!

We also made a trip to Chemainus to see a selection of Robert Munsch plays at the Chemainus Theatre. I think it was the best play I had ever seen. The actors were right into the material and engaged with their hyperactive audience. Nothing can be more inspiring than 70+ kids in one room laughing uncontrolably. Of course Asher really enjoyed this. She was literally on the edge of her seat the whole time. While in Chemainus Carl and I spotted our dream house!

Induction to Divulging

I want to start by providing some history. More for myself than anyone else.

This is my mom:

This is my mom shortly before she found out she had cancer. I really love this woman. I am sure that we have known each other in different times and places. Our relationship surpasses this life.

And so, I am shaken by this looming mortality. I am sick to my stomach with it!

I wanted to get that out of the way. Inevitably, it will impact every single perspective I share.

Since Mom started chemo we've all been walking on egg shells. I think the first one must've been the worst! Poor Mom, under the microscope. We all wondered what to expect. My worst fear, that she would wilt before my eyes. Like a perfect lily folding up on my kitchen table. Some mysterious force speeding her away from me. And, like that lily, I know I would have no right to keep her here. Because she is not exclusively mine. She belongs to the earth and the universe and it can claim her whenever it pleases.

I remember when Mom asked me if I was scared that she would die. And I really thought before I answered her. “No, I'm not worried that you will die. I've known that truth since I was a child and faced it already. No, I am afraid that you will suffer”. She laid my fears to rest, like only a mother could, when I woke, the day after her first chemo, to find her wandering about watering the garden.

I feel better now. I love that Mom does nothing lightly.