Happy memories of a warm summer's day filled with the warmth of family
Well, I’d like to think that between the drama of 10 days ago, we’d have gotten back on track with the end of our summer. Sadly, that’s not the case, and while we sneaked in last swim or two in a somewhat deserted pool, most of our water action has involved dodging the rain drops and splashing through puddles unrelated to any hurricane precipitation. It’s been cool weather and drizzles, with more to come.
In theory, this situation coupled with the recent Labour Day long weekend should have given me the time to update my blog, posting the photographic evidence of the sunshine-y summer. (It’s highlighted on my To Do List.)
Instead, we spent much of our long weekend labouring to get our kindergarten school applications in… for September 2012. (Not a typo. We started this process more than 18 months ago and it’s going to continue until February next year, when we will be either rejected or accepted.) But we can at least share this lovely photo by photographer JE, from the August family reunion. We’ve used it as our family photo for the various school applications that invite you to share one.
Between puddle jumping, we’ve started C’s swimming lessons; been ordering new clothes for autumn as we’ve discovered he grew almost two inches over the summer (now a size 6!); and I’ve been getting lost down the Oriental Trading rabbit hole as thoughts turn to fall crafts and celebrations — bulk Halloween candy; robot beverage napkins 49c!; and finally a place to buy what you and I grew up identifying as pipe cleaners — today known as ‘chenille stems’ — no doubt to the steep decline of pipe smoking!
Our puppet theatre: model in front, versus reality in the background.
We’ve been making good progress on our latest project: building a puppet theatre from an old cardboard box. It’s necessitated multiple trips to the hardware shop, for paint, a dowel stick and various brushes. (Thank goodness we’re using water soluble paint!) Our next step is to reuse an old piece of richly hued red velvet that used to be our Christmas tree skirt and sew that into the curtains. A stepped front facade is also in the plan — C’s already chosen silver glitter paint to accent the curlicues on top of the red we plan to paint it.
You may recall that at the start of summer we had also been frequent hardware shoppers, buying saws, clamps and ordering wood in from a lumberyard. All this was to make a model pond skiff. But I’ve had to finally admit that trying to work on our dining or patio table with no real workshop is proving to be a hurdle too high for us to ovecome. Not to say we haven’t learned a lot, including the amazing amount of sawdust even a little hand sawing action can produce! (And no, our handheld dust buster has not appreciated doing double-duty as a shop vac.) So, as the window for ideal, boat pond action is upon us, we’re going to have to take a kit approach, and build one from pre-cut and -sanded pieces.
All this makes me feel quite exhausted, so it’s no wonder I’m looking forward to a long weekend in Toronto with EW this weekend! Bring it on!
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