and a warm sunny day

yesterday was sunny with a warm southerly wind. keith and my son took another day-long hike so lucy and i had the day to ourselves. a long walk around the pond. watched shirley temple's "the little princess" as we ate our lunch. and in the afternoon dyed some fleece and did a little gardening. this morning lucy is painting some pictures to take home to her friends. this afternoon we're going to the insectarium in deer lake before dropping my son off at the airport to fly back to montreal (i'll be visiting him again in a months time so it isn't too sad). and then tomorrow we drive lucy back to st. john's.

a cold rainy day with a 5 year old

yesterday was cold and rainy. my house isn't set up for children (not many toys) but we managed to pass the day with lots of activity and fun. we cleared out the linen closet above the basement stairs to get at my daughter's old dolls and doll clothes. lucy invited maida (marilee's grand daughter) over for a tea party (star-shaped sandwiches and cupcakes and mint tea) and they dressed the dolls and stuffed animals to join in and after watched "lady and the tramp". in the late afternoon while my son was reading to lucy i snuck off for a nap (over 4 weeks with little children is beginning to tire me out...) and slept deeply for 1 1/2 hrs! lucy discovered the crawl-space linen cupboard and made a nest in it where she insisted on having her dinner (we all wished we could join her up there). and i finished her hat.

fun with lucy

this is lucy's first time alone with us in corner brook. eamon began his summertime visits with us at the age of 4 but last year lucy said she wasn't ready. this year she was. lucy has always known what she wants. she's very sensible, so when she says no, it's important to listen to her. we're having alot of fun. yesterday morning she helped me with the carding and spinning (i have a big craft council order i'd like to deliver when we go into st. john's this weekend, so i'm trying to get on with that). she also chose colours for the hat i'm knitting for her and helped me card and spin it (she sits on my knees and holds my hands). in the afternoon keith took her to the park and to the caves and then bike riding (we picked up a 2 wheeler with training wheels for $5.00 at the sally anne). and in the evening we went to jungle jim`s with keith`s parents and my son for a surprisingly good meal. this is a short visit for lucy of only a week so we`re trying to fit as much into it as we can.

a large day down the bay

some days seem to hold more hours than others. this past saturday was such a day. keith and my son and son-in-law left early and went for a big hike in the blomidon mountains. my daughter and i stayed behind with the children - went to the farmers market and chatted all morning in the kitchen while we cooked up a picnic dinner for down at the cabin. mid-afternoon we headed down and met the fellows at blomidon brook for a fresh water swim and then to the cabin for beach play and dinner and ocean swimming until sunset. it was one of those days. everyone happy. grouping and regrouping.
this morning eamon left (with his parents and finn). sad to see him go after a 3 week stay. but they left us lucy for her first stay on her own.

a full house

metamorphosis

i love to see what my yarn is being knit up into. yesterday maggie sent me this photo of the baby hat she knit from my "st. john's row houses" yarn that she bought at "a good yarn" in st. john's.

warp and weft

this summer is busy. a constant flow of family visits and activities and travel and of course work. my job is to keep it all from getting tangled. so that at the end of the summer there is a beautiful pattern of memories.
my son and grandson are with us now. they haven't been together for 3 years so are getting re-aquainted. tomorrow my daughter and son-in-law and the 2 younger grandchildren arrive for the weekend. yesterday we pulled out the wading pool for finn and filled it so that the water will be warm for him on friday. we all enjoyed soaking our feet in the frigid water.

disco ball

so with all this wonderful new angelina i was inspired by the shiniest thing i knew.

and what i brought home

although my trip to nyc was child oriented, i managed to come home with lots of inspiration to work from. robyn "forced" me into the brooklyn general yarn store where i discovered the most amazing colours of angelina glitter to add to my spun fibre. and i came home with over 200 photos that i'll pour over for colours and themes for my yarn. here are a couple i've already done - "grand central station" and "american graffiti".

and what we came home to

the plants in the greenhouse almost doubled in size. fresh strawberries from our neighbour's yard. a swim in blomidon brook yesterday - the hottest day of the summer. and my son arrived from montreal for a 10 day visit. pretty darn good...

nyc day 4 and 5

there are a few "must sees" with every trip to nyc. one is the metropolitan museum. on this trip there was a "greek heroes" theme that kept emerging (eamon had just seen "percy jackson and the lightning thief") so it was wonderful to show him classical greek sculpture. and there was more attention paid to weaponry than i would have chosen if i'd been on my own! another is the pearl river chinese department store - a wonderful place for inexpensive and unusual gifts (i got keith a little buddha bobble-head for the jeep to remind him to stay calm while he's driving!).
on our last morning robyn took us to the queens zoo. it's smaller than the bronx zoo and has only animals from the americas. but it was a perfect size to wander around in for a couple of hours. after a ride on an exquisite old carousel and a quick slice of italian new york pizza and one more italian ice and robyn delivered us to the airport.
much of the trip was a blur -seen through the heat, the rain, the eyes of a very excited 10 year old boy. over 200 photos will remind us of what we did, what we saw. and it will be part of our shared story.

nyc day3

while day 2 was about heat, day 3 was all about water. robyn wisely suggested a day in brooklyn. we spent the morning at the botanical gardens - i think the hightlight of my trip this time. the children managed to stay wet the whole time - either with the sprinklers or by embracing the frequent cloud bursts. we went to lunch at the fairway grocery store in red hook (actually an enormous deli) and sat outside where we had a view of the statue of liberty. in the afternoon we drove out to (i think) rockaway park beach. when we got there the beach was closed because of the threat of lightning strikes. but the children still managed to find water. what i saw on day 3 was not what tourists see. i began to see how people live in new york.

nyc day 1 and 2

on sunday afternoon our flight from newfoundland to montreal en route to new york was delayed so we missed our connecting flight and had to stay in montreal overnight.so day 1 flowed into day 2. this was exhausting (we got only 4 hours sleep) but not altogether bad because air canada footed the bill and put us up in a lovely hotel. eamon had never staed in a hotel so this was the beginning of the adventure. (during our trip we talked alot about what makes a good traveller. definitely rolling with the punches - which he did beautifully). so we arrived at robyn's in queens early monday morning instead of late sunday night. to the heat. the weather this trip was a huge factor. it was like another large person was coming along for the ride and deciding what we would do and when. mostly the heat (mid-30's) but also incredible cloud bursts that would send us running. or sometimes we would all just decide to get wet.
that first morning we took the subway (another much anticipated first for eamon) to the natural history museum and then had a picnic in central park where the children played (yes - in the heat) and sought out sources of water - fountains and sprinklers, and ate ice-cream. and then a quick trip to grand central station. and back home for incredible thai take-out (as always, this trip to nyc was about 50% about food). and then as dusk came on dan took us all out for italian lemon ice-cream and then back to the back-yard to watch the fireflies (another first for eamon). the combination was perfect.

i heart nyc

this afternoon eamon and i leave for nyc. this will be my 5th trip to my most favourite city.
trip #1 1965. i was 15 and my mother and i took the train from toronto. when we arrived she basically let me go. this trip opened up my eyes to a bigger world than i had imagined. and how i could fit into it.
trip#2 1995. 40 years later. i had returned to school to do my masters in painting. my marriage was coming to an end. this trip was all about art.
trip#3 2001. a reunion of 3 of my 4 siblings. a sight-seeing trip. first (and so far only) travel we had done together as adults. we returned home 2 days before 9/11.
trip#4 2007. i had always wanted to share nyc with my children. this trip, i took my daughter. she fell in love with the city too. this autumn she will take her husband for his first trip and share what she loves.
trip#5 2010 i'm taking my grandson. this will be a totally kid-oriented trip. eamon and robyn's children have planned it. robyn and i will tag along. because robyn lives in ny and we'll be staying with her, it will also be my first "insiders look" into the city. what a gift!

interwoven

my grandson eamon is 10 now. he's been with us for a week. since he was 4, he's been spending time alone with us each summer. at first it was 5 days, then a week, 2 weeks and now it's 3. every year is different although there are still little rituals he wants to repeat each year. this year he seems much older. our lives weave in and out of one another.