farmer's market

i love that i can walk 4 blocks through my busy bustling neighbourhood & end up on the farm. saturday mornings the westend transforms - our farmers market is only a city block long - but is it full to overflowing with wonderful tree ripe fruit & veg, handmade soap, fresh picked lavender & flowers, organic breads...

bb boy & i & hunter went yesterday (we haven't been for weeks) - it was ridiculously hot - but we cruised the stalls, listened to buskers, talked to people who walked by, giggled @ other kids, met two sweet pug puppies & dipped into the shade every time we could.

i don't know what possessed me (as the are at the bottom of my fruit pick list) but we bought a bunch of apricots (with what turned out to be our last two twoonies). we mosied over to a tree - sat down in the shade & WOW gobbled them up (not all of them - that would have been sick) but a few. gorgeous, tree ripe, juicy - bb boy's first fresh apricot & for me a new awakening (& alteration of my fruit pick list).

scent of a turtle pool

wow - have you ever pulled a turtle pool out of a box only to get sucked into a cheap plastic vortex? it really is a great feeling. today, i pulled bb boy's first ever simming pool out of it's box (yep it is 35c out) - it is a green inflatible turtle & the scent took me instantly back to my past...

it smelled like childhood summers; air mattresses floating on blue water swimming pools (fingers dragging making the tiniest gentle wakes), inner tubes on the river (toe rudders easily spinning us), inflatible rings on the lake (summers so hot that my grandfather sought shade under a big tree on the edge of the beach - i can still see him on his lounge chair reading the paper in the cool - while we raced over sand too hot to touch to launch our bodies into the water landing & launching bright coloured plastic rings).

a beige rug

i am a fan of whites (you will only know this from previous posts, because in real life - tomboy that i am - i have never been able to keep anything clean). we have been searching for a livingroom area carpet for about a year - something fresh - something beige to go with the beige sofa & offset the whitey beige cabinets & the beigey latte walls... you'd think it would be simple (whatever). regardless, i think i have found it.

it matches the sofa

it matches the walls

it matches the cats

it matches the general sense of well being in our living room

i won't let anyone walk on it or touch it or eat anywhere near it - i won't even let anyone talk about it ('cept me & i'm only writing about it). it's beige; the dog is black (& has irritible bowels); the cats shed (& have dirty feet); bb baby has grimy knees (from the hardwood floors); bb daddy wears his outside shoes inside (nag); i - tomboy that i am - can't keep anything clean.

sigh

ooh la la lifestyle with beige carpet, white pants, cat butt, cat who lounges, backwards sofa cushion & nursing pillow...

how can people live like this (the lovely anthony todd):

imagine you are somewhere nice

like a beach.. the words of my dentist as he leans toward me with a syringe in his hand. i close my eyes quickly to block out the rest of the needle & i immediately start trying to conjure a beach! to my great dismay & consternation (i discover quite quickly) i have no imagination!

this concerns me. as a creative person - i've always believed i have a healthy imagination (these two things seem to go hand in hand). though i do remember my dad once told me that i had an incredible imagination as a child (drawing fantastic inventions & the like) but the school system squashed that imagination out of me in grade one!

i spent the whole time in the dentist's chair thinking about why i could not conjure up a beach (in the end, that fixation and obsession that may have been just as effective as the thought of bright sand and margaritas...) when he asked me @ the end of our session - "do you have any concerns?" my only response was "i'm worried that my imagination could not get me out of this chair" - he says "ìt hardly ever does". this experience has left me feeling deficient (& a little numb - at least on the left side of my face)...

Imagination is more important than knowledge... Albert Einstein

summer

i have had the shutter sisters one word project on my mind since the annoucement of july's word: "summer" (maybe i just have summer on my mind because i finally get one). perhaps as a theme it is a bit too obvious - but it's gotten me thinking about what summer means (past & present).

i feel a richness of history having lived in the city & the country & briefly on a farm... thinking about summer makes me slightly nostalgic for days as a child; i can still smell the sweet scent of fresh mown hay & can feel the chill of the water as we floated down the river. we camped (in a tent, then a tent trailer, then a caravan), we went to camp (sang our little hearts out & swung on the biggest tarzan swing), we took family holidays that always included cousins & lakes & fresh fruit (weeping willows are still my favorite tree because of kelowna & still remember the feeling of riding in the back of auntie bobbie`s station wagon with a pile of kids eating cherries). we rode our bikes to the garden (we never wanted to weed it but we always loved to harvest) & stopped along the road to pick wild berries (why can`t i just make a pincherry pie, or can a saskatoon berry now).

those summers are still so much a part of me - i am that kid jokingly paddling a canoe the wrong way & that teenager in the too short cut-offs (why was i ever let outside in those). i am in awe of summer & i am soaking it up - it is the first time since i was 21 that i had the whole sum sum summertime off.

fly baby

we have been watching the nest for ages (wondered at first if there were going to be chicks this year); then we saw their little heads popping up (the nest is easily 5 feet across so they really do have to pop up); then we saw them flapping their gangly wings (the pair of them testing the edge & testing their parents).

today we saw them fly! i was so excited & proud - it felt almost as if we had had some part in helping these eaglets fledge when really we have done nothing but park under the tree several times a week & watch the nest in awe. we think they are one male & one female (just by the size difference) & they are big birds eventhough they are really just chicks & still have tufts of down poking out between their new feathers. there was quite a comotion as the parents called & cajoled & directed each eaglet out of the nest, down to the coast guard station & back again (bigger brother did it a few times little sis only once). the adults were chased by gulls and crows each time they left he nest - thankfully the chicks were never bothered.... amazing (my bb boy is fledging at the same time)

flickr friday

oh happy day...

1. Nature story part 1 - Life, 2. evening light, 3. candle in the rain..., 4. Bestill, 5. Nature story part 1 - Happiness, 6. A trail of breadcrumbs, 7. *Necessaries of Life, 8. Away for a while......, 9. that look you give that guy, 10. summer lovin', 11. second blooming~, 12. {summer legs}, 13. still with cherries, 14. Siebe, 15. 20090705_2, 16. 7.05.09, 17. ding ding, 18. apartment of my friend Claudia, 19. Bench Monday, 20. We shot...., 21. bench monday (rainy evening edition), 22. Soul, 23. in square, 24. I love walking in the rain, 25. 6.12.09, 26. dude, 27. Untitled, 28. the four!, 29. the elegant eggplant, 30. beet love, 31. Reflejo medieval, 32. saturday morning in the kitchen, 33. 2 days in toronto, 34. Bath time ..., 35. All go, and take al walk, 36. urban jungle

he cracks me up

the world is a pretty serious place (don't even get me started on recessions, depression, or old what's his name jackson). but my world is pretty damn funny thanks to my bb daddy... he cracks me up fairly regularly (he wears goofy hats, he can turn a clever phrase, he makes funny noises for our bb, he understands irony)... today he saw the sign & said "slow - we don't need no stinking slow" (i put that in quotes even though that wasn't really what he said!)

his idea - his implementation - my finger on the shutter:

happy birthday sweetheart

it takes a community...

they say it takes a village to raise a child - it then must take a community to raise a really good garden...

there are 5 community gardens within 4 blocks of my home: some are brand new, some have been growing & transforming over the last several years. they are city projects, private endeavours and one is just locals grabbing a piece of ground & making something out of it...

i have been planning to do this story for ages (last week i managed to leave home without an card in my camera) - but we went today (the only rainy day in the last two months!) the first garden is a land grab - neighbours who have collected bricks & rocks & soil & have planted both fruits & veg as well as decorative plants under the burrard street bridge. they are tenacious - as are their plants.

the second is omni's land (developers) - they had planned to develop the land before the economic crisis hit (numerous real estate projects halted in vancouver). they have cleared & tilled the land & put in boxes & allowed the community to take over (as an aside, there is a mural painted all along one wall - part of the granville street bridge) so it makes for a bright spot!

the third on our tour is the city's endeavour (& the newest to the westend). a newly vacant lot has been transformed into a literal oasis. there are thousands of tomatoes alone - i have heard people wonder aloud 'why don't the homeless just take these?' - i believe, just given the community we live in & the idea this type of garden promotes - that the tomato owners would not mind if those who needed them most just helped themselves.

the fourth is a stunning centerpiece to one of the coolest co-op communities in the city. a collection of heritage houses has been transformed & the land that runs between & around them is garden - kitchen gardens, bee gardens, fruit trees etc. it is one of the best examples of 'community' i have seen. i love to walk through their back lane - sometimes sit on a bench & just listen to the kids & birds.

across from the mole hill co-op is nelson park - the city has recently redone the park (i'm not completely sure why) but the upshot is there is a new section (just half of the length of the park) that is run by the community. this is a truly lovely collection of gardens - very creative - bamboo & driftwood fences & stone walkways.

View westend community gardens in a larger map

50 days & counting

bb boy is 10 months old today! the last month has completely flown by (without, as predicted, bb boy taking more than two definitive steps on his own).

i know he is still just a baby - but he is starting to look more & more like a little boy (& now i finally see the resemblance to his dad - having not paid attention to the exclamations of every grocery store clerk, starbucks barrista & the guy who runs the local ferry - it wasn't totally clear until now). he is big for his age, but not huge (i can tell that he has grown though as he is now officially 1/2 the length of the sofa). he still sleeps in our bed (when we tried to leave him in his crib - his dad missed him too much - so bb daddy & i continue to cling precariously close to the edge).

work looms - things have changed there significantly in the past month - i hope it is still the place i love... because i cant imagine anything being better than spending each day with my bb boy.

their garden is their gallery

well, not really, these two are lucky enough to have a wonderful gallery & gardens! i have been meaning to find this garden for several yeas now - friends have come home from holidays with art work from their gallery & stories of the magical gardens. we finally made it (me, bb boy & mom & dad). oohs and ahhs at nearly every corner - a pot of succulents arranged in colourful rows, shells and glowing marbles in a garden path, buddhas peering serenely from behind brilliant day lilys, secret benches surrounded by chirping birds & mosaic saints. i'm sure it takes several visits to see it all (& even that wouldn't do as the plants change seasonally & the treasures are continually added to...)

the place is barton & leier gallery & gardens (nixie barton and grant leier are full time artists). their art work is fantastic - though very different in style & method - they clearly compliment each other. & bb grandpa bought one of their books for bb boy - roberston rat - looks like it will be a treasure for years (grant was nice enough to sign it for our little treasure).

took a walk with my dad today

my dad has been wanting to take photos of this lovely grove of arbutus for sometime. as we were driving past it this afternoon (& bb boy was napping) we decided to stop for a quick photo shoot. i think it was the first time ever we purposely set out to take photos together (oh no - except my cousin's wedding 10 years ago) but i have to say it is my dad i have to thank for my desire, ability & maybe even a little of my photog style... our family is used to stopping to wait while dad takes photos of flowers, rocks, moss, people etc... we have been subjected to (yes mostly happily) hours of slide shows over the years (it seems the digital age has only slightly changed his methods).

the grove was amazing - brunt moss crunched beneath our feet, grasses swishes and chattered in the breeze. the arbutus reached up majestically from the black soil, red arms, peeling and achy touched the blue blue sky.

while my dad took photos of the arbutus i took photos of almost everything else & together we took several minutes out to track down an adorable little quail! walking with my dad is like walking around with an encyclopedia or nature book - he knows pretty much everything (i might have learned a thing or two from him about this too). it was nice though brief walk (mom called to say bb boy woke up crying) i'm glad we took time to stop (instead of just talking about it)...