Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Truth or Dare

A little girl with a boyish voice and a little boy with a girlish voice sit on a wooden ledge at our community park. They finish laughing and catch their breath. Two feet between them. And some rocks, and grass, and dirty hands and pants and shirts from rolling down the spring-fed hill.

She: Truth or Dare (looking straight at him)

He: Truth (giggle, giggle)

She: Whooo do yououou have a crush on at school.

Pause (for effect, I'm sure.)

He: YOU! (hee hee)

They pause again, then giggle some more.

No, this is not Paris I am talking about, but the wee one's new best girl friend. Oh boy... here we go.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Paris Made This

When I was in high school, I made an ugly black-and-grey tent dress made out of hot-and-heavy sweatpant material.

Paris made this electronic gum ball machine. I envy him.

Spring is here!

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

Margaret Atwood


Been a while, baby

Wow. It's been a while since I've been here and done anything. As most of you know, my life has been a bit focused on moving to Victoria and all the joys and pains that go with it.

Needless to say, I have been conserving my energy and boiling my activities down to the bare minimum - like cleaning the house before leaving for work , writing to-do lists that include getting a new phone number, a new school and a new life, and practising the ancient art of clearing the mind before trying to sleep. You know, simple stuff.

So it was Mother's Day a while back and to save my soul and energy I decided to ignore it. Thankfully my mom and step-mom had the same idea.

I woke up and made my son breakfast, cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, and then lost a mean game of Pokemon. My husband went for a dive, and yes I was just fine with his AWOL (want to come kayaking with me on Father's Day?) A typical Mother's Day, it was not.

And then I took the bus to a friend's place to take pictures of her new son. A five week old gem with teeny hands and toes and the palest red lips around.

For three hours I took pictures of him sleeping, yawning, crying, getting his diaper changed, feeding, crying, sleeping, being hugged and sleeping some more.

That was my gift to this new mom - documented memories of her first Mother's Day. In return, I was given the gift of seeing that new mom shine, glow and sparkle. A fair trade, I say.

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the day.