New Camera!

I have been hauling my new camera with me since I got it last week, and taking hundreds of images, including an eagle at the beach, Hannah's birthday celebration, the sky, flowers, the kids... It's a hot, happy time in my neck of the woods.

P.S. Thanks to Silverstar, who presented me my first blogging award, at right...

Kids- all sizes

Turns out, some things are, if not universal, then at least globally cross-cultural. Our Japanese 16 y.o. student, our 13 year old, the 13 year old from across the street, and his two 16 year old Japanese students, all male, were just gathered in our student’s mini-suite, watching Mr. Bean, and giggling. Five teenage boys, 3 of them brand-new in this country, giggling over Mr. Bean. Go figure....

Somehow, in spite of Rob’s and my intermittent weariness with parenting 4 children of our own, we seem to have become the neighbourhood’s kids’ hangout. It’s kind of cool. Mostly.

Sigh.

Grin.

Look what I found!

A friend, a dog, a geocache, some Thai food. Seattle has been a great place, not just for the convention, but for the extra-curriculars:

I had a super time with Silverstar tonight. She and Friday are both lovely, and Silverstar has a keen wit and insight. I suspect I'm on to a new hobby (geocaching), thanks to a demonstration and infectious enthusiasm about same.

A little poetry, a little miscellany

•Wrote this a few weeks back- I still get a kick out of it.

hollowed out shadow of invisible self
unseen, unseeable
the dog barks at the nothingness which is me
the cat stares into the corner
which is where i am
hovering
above the nothingness in the corner
if you look up, will you see me?
the cat can
and she's not too swift

•Five of us from work are heading to Seattle this weekend for a veterinary conference- looking forward to it. We're going to see Othello on Saurday night- I haven't seen it since Grade 8. I hope the weather improves- the trip across the Juan de Fuca Strait is gorgeous in the late afternoon sun.

•On Canada Day (July 1st), I turned my body into a Canadian Flag: red borders, white in the middle, with a maple leaf in the centre. I had fun in the sun, regardless of consequences.

•I'm lovin' on my house and kids. :) I think Rob and I must be nuts for thinking adding a student to the chaos in our home would be beneficial. That said, I'm looking forward to it.

•Summer really is a marvelous invention.

Faces

See those faces? Those faces are the reason I continue to draw breath.

Sometimes, they are the faces that make me want to hold my breath and count to ten; sometimes they are the faces that make my breath

blast forth with extreme force and volume.

Often, they are the faces that make me catch my breath and

drop a kiss on those downy-soft, sweet and sweaty heads.

My kids are sometimes my greatest trial.

Ultimately, they are my salvation; they make me want to be a better human.