My Latest Gig

The last 2 days I have been hanging around with 13 old men.
Older men.
I got to be the sole "estrogen factor" at our friend Gord Askey's CD release parties in both Kimberley and Invermere. Last night Gord and his wife Lynn had set up their 5th wheel beside the concert hall in Invermere.

We spent the Saturday in Invermere before the concert with Steve, Leanne, Shawna, Meg and Jasmine at a condo unit in Radium that Gord had booked for us. We went swimming and hung out nibbling on appetizers and sipping Port. Finn had a hoot playing hide-and-seek with Meg and Jasmine: while Wrenny, still sick and snuffly had a 3 hour nap in one of the 3 bedrooms. Once the concert started rolling at 8pm, all went tickety boo. Finn and Wrenny stayed in the 5th wheel with Shawna's daughter Meg and Steve's daughter Jasmine during the concert. Except for my zany yet prevalent nervous Mama tendencies, all went very well. The scotch helped. I realized again last night, why it is I am not good at performing live music and being a breastfeeding mother. It is just damn stressful. I don't relax well and always feel torn.

After the concert, the band went from a bluegrass to an electric country swing set, and we danced a little later into the night. This morning we all had platefuls of pancakes, ham with mustard, eggbake and strong coffee cooked on a woodfire stove at Gord and Lynn's.
A lovely weekend indeed.


Steve, Gord, me, and John Cronin (played with Ian Tyson for 7 years!)

Myron (played with Ian Tyson for 10 years!), Fred Milette Gord, Kevin

Our Steve Jones inhis bluegrassin' element

Breakfast at the Askey's

A little rollerskating at home

Wrenny's big grin



Yesterday we discovered a bag from our Christmas in Lethbridge.
There were rollerskates from Skye in it.
They are a big hit..as seen above.

Home Again

The boys in row 12.


The girls in row 13

Suitcases are still sitting in the living room;open-unpacked..but we are home.
It was a long trip home-Wrenny was a little less tolerant this time around..crying off and on throughout the whole trip..but we are safe and sound and happy too. everyone happy to sleep in their own beds. What fun-five days we just had...I am soo very glad we got to go. I wish Colorado was not so stinking far away. bah.

Tomorrow night I start a course at the local Retreat Center on "Finding God in the everyday" run by some local Benedictine nuns. I am excited as a few other women (my friend Jen, my midwife Jane and 2 other moms I know only a little bit) will also be taking it with me. It has been a while since I enrolled in a course.

Well, Wrenny has wowed me today by rolling over for the first time! I wasn't even watching..just looked up and there she was-with a look as surprised as my own.
Next week-she'll be graduating from high school!
slow down, kiddo!

Last Day in Wellington

The unique eating combinations of my brother..pictured here: beer and cheerios
(he says they are all grains...)
Visiting the horses..Finn and Zach
Cousin sandwich (Zach, Finn and Evan)
Finn's new coat (a second hand find at the local thrift store in Ft Collins..$4!!)


Today included a lovely lunch at the "Chocolate Rose" in Wellington (pop. 3500) with my awesome sister-in-law! Christian and Mike took all the kids to a little farm and a walk as today was the first day in a long time where the temp was at alomost 0c for a time. It has been a while since the kids got a good romp outside.

Mike and I also got to go out for a dinner at the local Mexican restaurant tonight, while the kids stayed with Uncle and Auntie. So we are feeling pretty spoiled!! Another very cool event today was WRENNY LAUGHED for the first time! Really chuckled..over and over as Mike was tickling and kissing her. We were delighted! This coincided with Evan making his first real deposit in the toilet. A very eventful day indeed in the land of childrearing!!!!HA.

Finn has LOVED hanging out with his cousins and wakes up asking for the boys by name from his crib. He will be so sad to leave these buddies behind. He's not the only one!

Saturday's Adventures

Here is what we have been up to .....

Skating at ROLLERLAND!!

With Josh (7 years) during the limbo competition.

Evan (2 1/2 years) and Wrenny hanging out


Finn falls asleep in Mike's arms at the rink.


Pizza Night with all the little guys (Hubby's at a gig-Wren napping)

Please Come to Denver in the Winter...

Finn's lookout at the Spokane airport
Wrenny's sleeping quarters..
in the guest room closet in our roomy suitcase
(don't worry-the lid is tied up so it won't close on her!)


We have arrived safe and sound.
Happy even.
Kids travelled exceptionallly (with 3 'l's -for emphasis) well for the 12 hours we were enroute.
We were duly delighted! Today we relaxed -since 3 of the four of us are fighting colds..it was well needed and wanted. Its so good to be here in not-so-warm Colorado, with in the cozy walls of Family.

Another Day, Another bath

Wrenny in towel accesories. ..
after a rather invigorating bath with her big splashy brother.
Note the shell-shocked look in her eyes!

PHEW!

YIKES!!
We were a little worried over the last few weeks..and today eased our fears with a test.
Mike celebrated by doodling on this cup.
Note big "X" on belly!
11 months between kids would simply NOT be enough!!

A funny thing i found online today..

My Fortune Cookie told me: You are delicate as a tomato sandwich. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Damp-dry

We went for a walk around the block this afternoon. Finn on foot, wrenny in her carseat on a wooden toboggan. It took 25 minutes. One block. Not kidding. Finn found that he needed to do alot of snow sampling. When we got home, he was pretty much soaked. And although I was just going to change his clothes, he seemed to have another idea.
Clever little feller.

Early in the year

A few shots from the last days...

The day we returned from Lethbridge, we went to a potluck dinner at the houseof one of our musical friends:Beth. "Uncle Steve"-my bass player, did dinner duty, and held Wrenny while I scarfed down supper. we have a similar picture of him holding Finn..had to post this one!

NEw Year's eve we did a very brief version of a fondue. The night included one very spirited toddler, one tired baby, 2 befuzzled parents, a ceramic fondue pot cracking over the blue flame, tears, bad words, and one ceramic pot in the snow. We did manage to put the then-melted cheese into another fondue pot (the cheap thrift store variety) and enjoyed the night with wine and well, if nothing else..a memory of a bumbly, funny crazy year!


Wrenny is a girl transformed.
She is all about the jolly jumper-just as her big brother was. can't wait to string her jumper up in the trees, in the van, at the cabin etc. like we did with Finn. Where did 2 years just go? Actually-where did our newborn baby just go??

Girl Outing and kitchen table reform

Wrenny and I went on one of our very first "Just the girls" outings while Finn napped.

She in backpack and me in my Sorels, slogging throught the slushy snow.
Only to the post office.
She's so light I sometimes think I have forgotten her...kind of like a suspiciously light guitar case on the way to a gig. She so quiet...or maybe too-dressed is a better way of saying it. Couldn't hear her much through her scarf and snowsuit etc. even if I really tried.

Anyways, the sky is perfect.
Blue and freshly washed..after a good cry of rain and snow yesterday. Its starting up new: putting on a happy face and moving forward till the next clouds take its brilliance for a meloncholy twist. We breathed it all in really deeply. Fleetingly euphoric and glorious skies need to be celebrated. So we came back and had a big blue mug of hot green tea and 2 ginger cookies...me now, Wrenny will have them later.

And now, i have done some clearing up in the kitchen..gone through the "returning home from Christmas" clutter and am pleased with the results. Amazing what a sense of accomplishment a person can get from an emptied kitchen table! but hey, i'll take what I can get to feeling successful at the end of a day.

New year, new wine and other foresights and hindsights

Have a few minutes here before I fall asleep. I have been thinking about the january Movement..as one might call it. It seems that in this cold and slushy air there tingles a freshness: a desire for something New, yet undiscovered to happen. I have not made any "Resolutions" they are a little too grand for me. I am more of one to lurk in the shadow of these Resolutions, and put together instead a few wishes for this new year.
they are as follows:

• a good night's rest, for 3 days in a row (I know, I am aiming a bit high here)

• exploring new kinds of red wine (as heard on tuesday afternoons on CBC Radio's "All Points West" with award winning BC Wine book writer who's name I can't recall)

• at least one retreat at Marywood

• journalling regularily about the inner workings of my mind and spirit and body

• creative projects ongoing..even if they are only brewing in my mind for now..songs or lyric or paintings in the perculation phase

• knitting for my Finn and Wren

I am in the middle of a truly wonderful time in my life. Not without its weeks of fatigue and grieving of course...but it is truly the richest and most colorful my world has ever been.
I have found such incredible "lump-in-throat" moments due to these two little urchins with their rapid and inccesant growth, and in the also always-changing and crazy-flexing of my co-parent and true love, Mike.
And I keep thinking, this is it. This day will never come again.
I will never have another chance at today's rare beauty, and unique challanges.
So let me be gracious.
Let me be Kind. Genuine. Creative.
And heavy on the Mercy and the laughter.
I may be clutzy in this whole department of motherhood, wifehood, and friendship,
but dammit I sure do enjoy it.
It has been truly, a good year.