Most Saturday mornings, Rod does life-drawing.Usually, Jack and I hang around in our pajamas and waste half a day doing "not very much" until Rod gets home around 1 p.m. and then our day begins -- usually rushing off somewhere.
A couple of minutes, er months ago now, you know, when it was late summer, the friends of the library was having a special sale, and I wanted to pick up something at Michael's for my latest scrapbook page, so Jack and I decided that we get ready and we'd go with Rod, drop him off, and then run errands.
Rod made a lovely soaked porridge (he's been doing a LOT of that lately) and we ate breakfast together, and then we took turns showering and dressing. Jack asked "are you going to work?" because that's our week morning routine. He was delighted that I wasn't. Ahh, sweet children.
We all hopped in the car with all Jack's library books and off we went. We dropped Rod off at University, where the artists gather on Saturday morning.
Next, Jack and I went to Micheal's and bought some silk flowers (even at full price they are far cheaper than Prima flowers -- that week, they were 50% off. A real bargain! I got enough on two stems to last for a year or more!) Oddly, it wasn't hard to find what we wanted and move on. (I usually end up wandering endlessly at Micheal's, overwhelmed by all the choices.)
Next stop, the library, where we dropped off Jack's older library books and then we fought our way through the throngs to find a bag full of books, only to discover that the special price I read about was on *Sunday*. The prices were exactly the same as they are every day at the Friends of the Library book shop but the crowds were horrendous. Oh well -- that's still an amazing price, and as it turned out we coincidentally ended up getting roughly the same price as I expected. The crowds are far smaller at the everyday book shop, so I think we'll stick with that -- but we did find a few very nice books. Then, Jack wanted to get some more books to check out.
Once we had our books, we were hungry and thirsty, so we stopped by the food co-op to pick up snacks and drinks and we walked to a nearby park to munch and chat while waiting for time to pick Dad up. We ended up having a blast, watching people and critters, reading and talking and exploring.
Once we picked up Rod, we headed out to visit Mark for a while and then we ended up back at the park where we relaxed as a family, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Rod did some more sketching, Jack and I went noticing, and we all did a whole lot of nothing. It was bliss.
Sunday was just as good. We woke up late and prepared for ritual that afternoon. Sunday afternoon rituals don't seem to involve pot lucks in the way that Friday evening ones inevitably do, and that makes it a lot easier to get ready. We took our time and wandered off to the ritual, just on time.
Another weekend, we had to drop the car off to get repaired. Now that we're down to one car, that posed a puzzler. However, our mechanic is only a few miles down the road, so I suggested that we could go for a walk -- and we did. First thing Saturday morning, we all hopped in the car and drove over to the mechanic. Then we spent the remainder of the morning walking home by a meandering path.
It's amazing what you learn about an urban environment you think you know when you take the time to walk it. We found all kinds of treasures along the road, discovered a "hidey hole" that looked like a secret clubhouse (and probably was, and it's probably just as well it was uninhabited when we passed by, but nonetheless it was very intresting and appealing in daylight!) We noticed businesses and former businesses that we had never noticed before, and got a chnace to examine architecture and speculate about the history of the area. When we got home, we were all happily tired, so we sat down at our computers for a bit, and then we had a meal and headed off to get the car. We decided that two such walks in one day weren't necessary, so Rod checked the online schedule and then we walked out to the main road where the city bus makes it eastern most Region 2 stop, and got off the bus in a neighborhood a few blocks from the mechanic.
Last weekend was, perhaps, the most blissful of all. I never left the house at all -- unless you count a trip to the compost heap and a swing past the mail box. On Saturday, Jack threw an "I love my friends" party.
As regular readers know, for many reasons, we celebrate our birthdays together with a family adventure. Jack enjoys that, but after years of going to other people's birthday parties he had begun to get the idea that it being the host of a party would be a lot of fun.
So, we planned an "I love my friends" party for his "half-birthday"! We made personalized invitations to invited 12 of Jack's closest friends. I asked all the mommies to bring a (new or used, but cheap) kids book wrapped up as a present. We brought in a big dinosaur cake from the bakery and some of the largest helium ballons I have ever seen -- one for each kid! We carried in the cake and sang the friends song (Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold) and everyone, from the youngest up, chose a present to open. We had music and popcorn and cookies hot from the oven. We covered a long table with butcher paper and everyone coloured and drew on it, we had a Little People diorama on another long table across the room for lots more play. But mostly it was a play date with cake and balloons. The kids did what kids do -- and periodically all of them would barrel out into the yard to chase each other around, hollering for ten minutes and then come barrelling back in. It was a hoot! Perhaps because all the familiar party elements were there, but there was no stress, all of the the children were beautifull behaved the whole time. Then again, more likely, we were just lucky to have a great groups of kids.
OK, I have been trying to finish this post for a week. It's still not done, but I am way behind time to hop in the shower, so I am going to post it anyway. (Did I ever get around to maiking a point?)
I'll try to write again soo -- there is, needless to say, so much to tell...!
Sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI love walking discoveries.
I think that's the only way you can see the magic, isn't it? Slowly basking.