Luckybeans

Keeping Up with the Sickies

It is an interesting thing to be responsible for sick children in the midst of it all. The outside world doesn't grind to a halt just because someone else needs you right now. Papers must be written, analysis run, labs completed, books read, lectures attended. Floors must be swept, dishes cleaned, laundry washed, food prepared, seeds watered. Paperwork must be completed, bills paid, ballots signed and delivered, permission slips checked off, phone calls and emails returned. And on top of it all, Simon is on another coast (at least on the same continent, though) which means I must juggle it all on my lonesome.

I should be a jibbering wreck. I really should be.

Do you sense the "but" coming?

Here it comes:

I am not. It has been a blessing. No, not the vomit bowls and yucky tissues flung far and wide and the trips to the doctor who could not identify what the heck that rash was, no sirreee. Not those parts. The slowing down and taking time to be with people who need me because I love them and they are my people parts. 

I ate later breakfasts and turned in work that was less than perfect, but perfectly satisfactory. I read lots of Calvin and Hobbes and Asterix and Elsa Beskow. I watched someone play Oregon Trail and far too many episodes of Kipper and the Muppet Show.

I hung laundry out to dry with Bella, and sat on the grass beside her while she read.

I had Asher help water those seeds and we took the time to savor the garden.

I spent a long time watching him kick a soccer ball around, his stream of chatter completely uninterrupted the entire time (seriously-- look how often his mouth is open; it's because he is TALKING).

Tomorrow we are down to one (significantly less) sick boy at home and everyone else back at school. But come Friday, they will all have the day off, and i am looking forward to it. I refuse to be concerned by such trivialities as midterm exams and writing revisions. I have far more important things to attend to.

I also want to express my gratitude to everyone who left comments on this post. It is so encouraging and delightful to hear from you. I wish I had the time to send replies to each and every one of you as you surely deserve, but I just can't right now. So I simply say, thank you.

 

Sick Ones

Asher and Bella were both home sick today. My poor kidlets. They spent all day snuggled up in their pajamas, mostly in front of the fire. They read so much I had to do a library run this afternoon to keep them occupied tomorrow while Simon tries to work and I am in class. There is a lot of playing on the iPad, eating clementines, sipping tea and getting dosed with elderberry syrup (which i ought to have done earlier).

I always feel so conflicted when I have to go to class and they are home sick. I know they are perfectly content and cared for, but part of me still wants to be sitting on the end of a bed or couch with them, feeling foreheads and pushing liquids, and undoubtedly making a nuisance of myself in that comfrotable way mothers do.

It is just one day. And when I come blowing in at three tomorrow, they will look up at me blinking, wondering why I am spinning in so wildly from wherever it is I have gone, and why on earth I brought them a primrose plant.

A Birthday at the Coast

She wanted a tea party, but she also wanted to go to the Coast. This meant a picnic tea party, and the afternoon previous saw a mad whirl of prep work. Ana made a lemon-poppyseed cake, baked in tin cans to make three mini cakes of four layers each (12, you see). Asher helped carve radishes into toadstools. I flew around a bit like a chicken with my head cut off, as my grandmother would say. However, we got it done, and yesterday morning saw us on our way with Grandma. 

First stop was the Hatfield Marine Science Center (of course). The tides were not in our favour for actual tide pool exploration, so the touch tanks here are the next best thing.

After this, she really couldn't wait much longer for her tea. So we obliged. On the menu:

Ham and truffle cheese sandwiches with lettuce on white bread

Smoked salmon, cucumber and labneh sandwiches with dill on rye bread

Radish toadstools

Ginger beer

Mini eclairs

Lemon poppyseed cakes

Melon flowers and leaves

Earl grey tea (with a hint of lavender)

It takes a ridiculous amount of work to make all those fiddly wee tea things, but I believe she does truly appreciate it, so it is worth it.

With fuller bellies, and feeling a bit chilly, we went up to see the light house/ museum. Grandma had never been before.

And then we ran rampant on the dunes.

Asher proved himself the kitemaster! He flew his hundreds of feet up into the air so that it was barely visiblein the mist that blew in. When we (finally) reeled it in, it was soaking wet.

To finish the day, we went for a walk on the bayfront and went to Mo's for dinner.

I hope she had a good day. The rest of us certainly enjoyed it.

 

Twelve

This girl of ours. This girl who is not at all like anyone else. Who can be hard to understand and easy to misunderstand. With a heart as large and soft, as deep and sweet as any I have ever encountered; with a dark streak of stubborn temper to flash with her bright eyes and head of curls; with such a real sense of who she is and what is important; this girl who has always been nothing more or less than Herself. She amazes us. We are honoured to know her as well as we do-- it has been one of the greatest bounties in our lives.

Our Bella. I wish I had the words for the beauty that is you.

Blessings

Well. That little spot of sunshine did not last for long. We are back into days of snow and slush, sleet, hail, rain, mist, strong wind and all-around cold and grey. Dreary, dismal, dull. I think you understand. (Just to coincide with the Fast and finals, I am certain).

However, Simon gets home tonight for two whole days (we take what we can get). I am on my last two papers, two presentations and final exams. Seven more days of school, but who is counting?

This girl has been playing her heart out. She has gotten good. As in, it sounds like music now and is enjoyable. Especially when she tunes it beforehand. And yes, she does usually have a pencil in her hair and mud on her knees.

This girl has always had a love for bright colours on her person. Some things never change, and her latest finds do make me smile. I remember walking past piles of clothes in the sala ula markets in Zambia and Malawi and squinting. I would then bee-line for the brightest colours, just for her. It still works, except now we are Goodwill and find Mexican embroidered tops instead of oilily dresses. 

I suppose we are always surrounded by things that ought to remind us to be happy (raspberries in porridge are always good, no?). And I think I have been much more aware of that this week than I could have been. Although I will say that having my mother come down this past Saturday and whip both my house and my children into shape with her sunshine-self has serious repercussions. Good ones.

And although the Fast is always so hard, as we light a candle for each day before supper and say a prayer together, my heart feels full and I know we are all ok. We are more than ok. We are happy, we are good.

Blessings. 

And So It Goes

Not quite what was expected, but still, there it is.

A day spent entertaining a boy who is sick with not one, but two ear infections. 

I missed Spanish, but caught up on other, far more useful skills (bun-licking, tea-sipping, slap-jacking, board-gaming).

And the birds (chestnut backed chickadee, bushtits, lincoln's sparrow) .

Am also enjoying watching these two together. The dynamics among the three of them are forever changing and fluid. This, right now, is nice. 

One foot in front of the other, day by day.

I am off to a Linguistics exam. I am actually excited about it. There is no excuse for such abundance of dork, so I will not even try.

 

One for Hannah

Yes, she cut her hair. Here it is, before and after:

And yes, we still adore you. All of us. But especially her.

Step Back

It is common knowledge that Isabella adores history. Adores it. She has gained family fame for blissfully stating (at the age of seven or eight), "Waves of joy wash over me when I hear the words 'Ancient Greece'". Lately, I have been wondering what it would be like for her to live in Europe or China, where history is so accessible and real. A recent art trip had her come home, animatedly telling me the story of how the sketches on display had been saved during WW2 by hiding them in frames. Her classmates were bored to a stupor, but she came alive.

We do not have castles and old homes, fields full of remains and ancient battle scenes. Nothing like this.

But we take what we can get. Earlier in the summer, Ana and Asher and I visited Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and vowed to return with Bella. It is carefully presented as it would have been in the 1860's or so, and so cosy we all felt we could have moved right in.

We could almost hear the thudding of children's feet on the stairs, smell the smoke and bread from the old cookstove. Easy to imagine what it might have been like then, easy to see how Bella can slip so effortlessly into times past.

There are those of us who live with eyes set forward, the dreamers and the planners. Those with eyes wide open for today, the ones who take action and appreciate now. I think there are fewer of us who look backwards, but they are no less valuable. They remind us where we have been, and how we have become who we are. We are fortunate to have one of those around.

After spending time inside, we off course had to go back outside. We went to Agate Beach, where we ran around and poked at things.

We also made giant long lines of kelp tied together by perfecting our hitch knots. Who knew?

 

Well, friends. I am sorry to say that my camera has become the source of great frustration. It seems we are not on speaking terms, so the blog has gone under. 

We have been busy, and generally happy. Trips to Baha'i camp, Kootenay Lake with family, family visiting us here, a freezer full of berries and applesauce, a garden still in full swing.  But very few photos, and the ones I do manage then take an hour to upload. 

So. Silence in this part of the internet.

Bella turned eleven this month (she's the one on the right). That needs to be remarked upon, even in these circumstances. I can not imagine my life without this girl. She is quirky and loving and helpful and bossy and spunky. 

I can not say when I will be back here. A new camera and lens is an expensive undertaking, to say the least. But for now, I suppose I can view it as a vacation of sorts.

 

These Girls

 

Some days I simply watch them in wonder.