Rear View

I love our backyard even though I sometimes wonder if I stand in the middle and reach out with my arms that I could touch both sides.  It is serene and virtually maintenance free.  We brought the little cafe table and chairs from our old house and although I am happy to have a place to sit and have my morning coffee, it has felt a little out of place in the modern space. 

I watered down some grey paint that I had on hand and gave the set a little makeover this week.

Such a little change makes such a big difference.  And it was accomplished with very little effort and no expense.

Just to keep it real, I will show you my husband's contribution to the backyard.  I really can't take credit for this.

What, you don't stack your beer bottles outside like you did when you were in Uni?

BBQ

We are still discovering what this city has to offer us and sometimes it is those places that you are just a little scared to venture into that turn out to be the best.  A BBQ place, replete with red checked covered tables,  was the perfect place to grab a quick bite and a cold drink.  Lucky for Charlotte and I, we made a smart decision to share the poutine.

the little things

The Beastly Book – 100 of the World’s Most Dangerous Creatures.  That is the name of the most recent book Court put on hold at the library.  Our local branch is small. Very, very small. So small that the book selection is somewhat limited, especially when you are looking for a stack of books on say, dinosaurs, or sharks.  So if we don’t find what we are looking for in-branch we go to the online directory and request it from the city’s vast collection.  These books are delivered to our branch and wrapped with our names and sit on a shelf waiting for us. You’ve got books!  So thrilling. Just today the Ed Sheehan CD I requested weeks ago was finally available and an email popped up in my inbox telling me so – I was delighted. It's the little things. Snuggling on the roof top at dusk.

After party naps. 

This dress.

I'll apologize now to all family and friends who will surely be sick of seeing me in it this summer. So comfortable and shaving your legs is optional.

a spring week

Thursday evening Kevin and I lay down in our room exhausted but happy from the day. It was Charlotte’s birthday and we had just said good bye to my parents. Charlotte skipped to the park to be with friends. We begged Court to just be still or leave but he flipped and flopped beside us in the bed claiming he needed the company. Through the open window we could hear football players in the park and I let my eyes close just for a little while.

Last Friday I hit the market for the first local strawberries and a bunch of rhubarb and a determination to make Erin’s cobbler. I intend to do the same this weekend for who knows how long the rhubarb will last and nothing could have been easier. Rhubarb = Spring. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to enjoy it sitting outside as opposed to in.

Nothing surprised me more this week than Charlotte’s excitement over a trip to the Laundromat. Her duvet needed cleaning and our washer wouldn’t do. While the duvet went swoosh, swoosh, we made a dash to our neighbourhood Starbucks for a treat and while she nibbled her apple fritter and I, my tea, we caught up.

morning...afternoon...evening

I can smell the rain through an open window in our bedroom. I imagine it to be the smell of English moors, of Wuthering Heights.  One can only take so many warm and sunshiny days and then you just want it a little nebulous.  I stayed up too late last night watching Melancholia and now I'm feeling a little "melancholia" - cue the rain.

The morning view from my bed below. I snapped this a couple of days ago when the sun still prevailed. I was hoping to capture the blue sky and cumulus clouds waiting outside those windows and the balcony door, but my photography skills are lacking and I most likely had to get myself to work and didn't have time to adjust settings. It is a beautiful view and it is almost impossible not to appreciate it each and every morning.

Monday afternoon and Charlotte and her guitar. Again the back light is pretty terrible but I just wanted to capture the moment.  We had arrived home at the same time. She, coming from a lesson, now old enough to walk herself, and I from work. She sits and plays and I start dinner and admire her and her new found independence.

The view from the stairs in the evening. At any given moment you are likely to find Kevin with his phone and Charlotte with a book and the radio on low.  Me, well I have abandoned that magazine and am walking Court upstairs to start the bedtime routine.  It now consists of us reading Harry Potter - he tackles one paragraph per page and then I read the rest aloud.