woolgathering

and hands in his pockets

2012-01-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

I'm sure it won't be long before he's putting frogs in there, too.

big eyes

2012-01-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

Loaded and ready for action

2011-11-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Deep

2011-11-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Tiny T was The Deep for Halloween. He wasn't too keen on me attaching his fish to his coat, to start, and wanted me to take it off. But once he got used the idea, he thought it was cool that his animals were on his shoulders, with him at every step. He was into the candy, too, but the first door we approached was opened by a dad wearing a gorilla mask, which freaked out our intrepid ocean explorer. He recovered, and tried his best to keep up with Miya in her blue butterfly costume. Miya's 3, though, so he spent a lot of the evening saying "Catch Miya!" and running as fast as he could.
At the end of the night, we drove through downtown on our way home, just to see what was up. There were hordes of people, a parade with a band and lanterns, and fireworks on the Coast Guard dock. We happened to be near a parking spot with a good view when the fireworks started, so we watched. Tiny T kept saying "Firework! Push button. Firework! Push button." Maybe he thought someone was setting them off one by one, pushing a button each time.
A good time was had by all, and his 3 candies will last him for weeks.

And thanks, Mom, for knitting the awesome creatures!!

Crumbs!!

2011-10-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

This is my best crumb yet - irregular holes, light and fluffy but still chewy bread. I'm over the moon. I've been reading a bread blog, and followed the double-flour incorporation technique. It worked like a charm. Trust an organic chemist to come up with great new bread-baking methods!

Airplanes!

2011-10-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

Word Web

2011-09-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

We have all been very busy here (and remiss with posting!). Mr. T has also been busy expanding his vocabulary. I wrote down this snapshot the day before yesterday. It's now obsolete, of course - he's added at least a dozen new words since I made the list. But here it is - just shy of 19 months, and talking up a storm!

my hero

2011-06-20T22:16:00.001-07:00

Life the past 2 months has been completely crazy. Let's just say the involved moving, painting an entire house, commuting across a major body of water, Douglas being away for a solid month, and a freelance writing class. There hasn't been much sleep.

What there *has* been is a lot of fun - sunshiney days on the boat, hummingbirds buzzing past our heads, eagles soaring past the kitchen window, and beach after beach after beach. Douglas and I have been discussing how it feels like life has been on pause for the past few years, and someone just hit the cosmic 'play' button.

Somehow, this sums it up for me:

http://sailingknitter.blogspot.com/2011/04/diving-andknitting.html

I feel like we've been living a crazy life - and being richly rewarded for it.

Little T is growing huge - saying 'light', 'rock', 'boot', 'boat', 'car', 'cracker', and my favourite: 'hug' (followed by an actual tiny T hug). He's got molars, is running, stomping, wearing my shoes around the house, climbing stairs, and fetching things when I ask him to (if he feels like it!).

tickled

2011-05-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

running

2011-05-18T21:19:00.001-07:00

wanna play ball?

2011-05-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

15 months

2011-05-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

so, how does this thing work?

2011-05-03T22:50:00.000-07:00

Shades of the teenager he will become...

2011-05-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

Duck Pond Day

2011-04-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

blast from the past

2011-03-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

back when little t was little (O, am I getting nostalgic already??):

making some calls

2011-03-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

little t often sees us on the phone, and has started making some calls of his own. When he can get his hands on one, he uses an actual phone. If there's no phone handy, he uses a measuring cup, a stuffed toy, or just his hand. It all seems to work for him. This one is a business call, I think, because his "hi" is pretty subdued and serious. Sometimes, when he calls his friends, his "hi" is high-pitched and boisterous, and accompanied by wild waving of his eyebrows.

walking!

2011-03-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

The little man has decided that there might be a better way of getting around than crawling. He's walking well while we hold his hand, and starting to step out on his own:

He's so pleased with himself! and he should be. 8)

spoonfuls

2011-02-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

Eating with a spoon! All by himself! This will revolutionize mealtime...

Of course, he doesn't eat like that all the time. Sometimes he eats like this:

There are lots of photos that I need to post - of his birthday, especially. Hopefully soon....

refinished

2011-02-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Douglas had this table when I met him. It was covered in a thick layer of white enamel paint, which is how it was when he got it. I remember looking at it and thinking - hm, I like its lines. I wonder if there's nice wood under there. I'll bet there is....

One of my little mat leave projects was to refinish this. I scraped the paint off with a scraper, chip by chip. I sanded. I sanded more. A few days ago, we glued the table top pieces back together, then put the whole thing together and oiled it. And I love it. The wood has amazing depth, and glows a beautiful honey color.

OK, it's not quite finished - the pieces of the top aren't all level, and need to be sanded, then re-oiled. But that's probably not going to happen for a bit. so here it is, so far.

And this is my last week of mat leave. I can't believe it. Tomorrow Theo goes for his first day of gradual entry at the daycare. He and I will be there together, playing, for about 2 hours. The next day I'll leave him there by himself for about 30 minutes. And on Friday, I'll take him there, hang out for a few minutes, then go for a walk for an hour or so. I'm not looking forward to it at all. I think he'll have fun - he's such a social critter that I bet he will have a great time playing with the other kids. And I think it'll be good for him. And good for me to have a little break and some time to think workish thoughts.

But I'm still not looking forward to it!

wee walker

2011-02-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

my boys

2011-02-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

mmmmarmalade

2011-02-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Does it mean something that wee mr. t was born in marmalade season? Will he have a special affinity for Paddington Bear? Or a penchant for marmalade words? I just heard this expression, meaning fancy, multisyllabic words, and love it.

My little bookhound

2011-02-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

First Christmas

2011-01-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

I've been slow to post lately, but I'm catching up tonight. Here are some from Theo's first Christmas here:

I have more photos from xmas, but they're on another computer that's difficult to access tonight, so they'll have to get posted later. All for now!!

new duds

2011-01-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

mr. t has been in need of some walking shoes. He has socks, and bootees, but the first aren't super-warm, and the second don't grip the floor well. I've been wanting to get him something warm that he can walk in. You can buy little soft-soled shoes, but they're kind of expensive for something he'll only wear for a short while, and somehow they're difficult to find used. So I looked around on the internet, and guess what, I'm not the first mom to encounter this problem. Several creative folks have posted patterns for making soft-soled shoes. There's a nice summary here:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2041350_softsole-leather-baby-shoes.html and I ultimately used this pattern: http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/blog/cloth_shoe.pdf and just enlarged it.

So I found myself some leather, pulled out our industrial sewing machine (handy for so many things other than sailmaking!), and started experimenting.

It took about a week of playing around with patterns, sizes, fabrics, and thread tensions to come up with something that worked, but I'm finally happy with the results. They fit, they seem comfortable, and most importantly, they stay on. And now that I've figured out what to make and how to make them, they're very simple. Three pieces, 6 seams, 7 if you count sewing the elastic into a circle. And voila, the little man is shod.

I made two pairs, and will probably make a few more in the next little while. These were just using fabric scraps and sailmaking thread. I plan to make some cuter ones. They only take about an hour.

I also made him a little hat. I thought he would look dapper in a black bowler.

He doesn't seem to agree:

Something with strings will undoubtedly be next.

whoa, what's in here??

2011-01-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

The little man is fascinated by the fridge, and tries to climb in every chance he gets. He's like our very own energy-efficiency monitor - he helps us remember to close the fridge door the second we are done in there!!

giant head

2011-01-24T22:52:00.000-08:00

and tiny foot

Packed

2011-01-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

Maybe Padre will take wee mr. t to work with him today...

10 days apart

2011-01-24T22:49:00.000-08:00

The wee ones are just 10 days apart. We know her parents through our old neighbours. When we announced we were pregnant, they replied, "so are we!". We've been visiting with them and comparing number of teeth, how many hours they sleep, etc. I think Theo is starting to recognize little Simona. He still tries to poke her in the eye, though.

helping

2011-01-24T22:45:00.000-08:00

birthday approaching

2011-01-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

At mama's knee

2010-12-14T19:43:00.001-08:00

Ten months old

2010-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

and already driving a car!

Snow!

2010-12-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

I bundled the wee man into his snowsuit and took him out for a bit of frolicking. He didn't want to frolic, though. He just wanted to sit and watch the flakes come down around him.

Movember!

2010-11-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

I've always kind of envied guys' ability to totally change their appearance in just a few days by growing facial hair. Not that I'd want to have to shave every day. But it would be cool to be able to look like someone else at the drop of a hat.

Douglas is taking advantage of that ability this month, and all for a good cause. Check him out at:

http://theworldlikeadog.blogspot.com/2010/11/movember.html

snowfall

2010-11-21T21:33:00.000-08:00

La Nina is here, with her fluffy white blanket. I think we may be in for a record snowfall this season. Which is funny after last year, when the Olympic Committee had to truck snow in from other towns to cover our poor, bare ski hills.

We are already out, romping in the drifts. I wouldn't say Theo knows what to make of snow quite yet, but he will soon....

the red heart of memory

2010-11-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

I knitted a little lacy cap for Shelley's wee bairn-to-be. She had her baby shower today, so I can now post pictures without worrying about giving anything away. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The yarn is a luscious red, and very soft. If only I could remember what type it is.... I'm so bad about keeping ball bands. I know I bought it in SLO - Celine, maybe you can help me out??

The shower was lovely. There were no games involving diapers and crushed Mars bars, just good food and conversation. Shelley and I have known each other since we were about 13. We and 3 other women have been good friends since high school, and 3 of the 5 of us are having babies within a year of each other. It's amazing to be able to compare experiences with friends who share so much history. We can remember sitting in the high school hallway giggling about boys, and passing notes in Physics class. And now here we are, having children.

papa and his boy

2010-11-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

This shot was taken at the end of a long-seeming but actually very short trip to Saltspring to check on the boat. Theo fell asleep in my arms on the busride from Ganges to Fulford. When I couldn't hold him anymore, we made the delicate transfer from my arms to Douglas', and the wee man remained bonelessly asleep.

I think Dreamland must be larger than Earth. It has stronger gravity - I swear he's heavier when he's asleep.

Commando

2010-11-15T11:29:00.001-08:00

Theo crawls without picking up his belly, as if he's approaching a ridge and worried that a sniper will get him. He's pretty fast, in spite of how he drags his round belly along the ground.

This video is about a month old. We found it in the giant archive of Theo footage last night, and I thought it was too cute not to post.

These were early days when it looked like it took every ounce of concentration to move forward!

the wee swabbie

2010-11-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

just like Nancy Drew

2010-11-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

When Theo's really pleased with himself, he kicks his feet and waves his arms so he rocks and bounces in his chair, thump, thump, thump. He squinches up his face and snorts with laughter. I'm doing my own version of that right now.

Yesterday I learned how to do something I've been wanting to know how to do for over a decade. I've tried off and on, with very mixed results. I finally solved the puzzle, and I feel the most immense satisfaction. It's a feeling of profound completeness, like I got back a missing limb, or found the magical key in a fairy tale.

I made a really good loaf of bread.

I don't just mean edible. The crumb is silky, chewy, and light. The loaf has the perfect, proud roundness of a chickadee in a birdbath. And when it came out of the oven, the crust sang to me, a song about its golden, crisp perfection.

This is the bread I sometimes pay $6 a loaf for. I'd tried and tried to duplicate it, turning out crumbly tasteless brick after flat, doughy brick. I was beginning to suspect this bread was made by bakers with bionic arms, or was baked in commercial ovens hot as hellfire. Or maybe just straight-up summoned by the black arts.

But here it is! In my kitchen (and my belly). Made by me. I never have to buy bread again (well, I'm sure I will, but it'll be because I want to).

How did I do it? I read a book. This book:

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

It was laughably simple. There are only a few new tricks in their procedure, and I think the key is the cup of hot water poured into a roasting pan just as you put the bread in the oven. It gives the dough oven spring like I've never seen. It's a hockey puck when it goes in, and a balloon when it comes out. So much spring, in fact, that in spite of the two deep slices in the top, the bottom of the bread cracked, too. I suppose it was just busting with pride, like me.

Kind of ridiculous, I suppose. It's just bread. But it's BREAD.

Most importantly, I didn't just do it halfway, as I often do - tinker, get bored, move on. I got to the bottom of it, like Nancy Drew.

So I'm bouncing and snorting like Theo. He inspired me to it, in a way. Watching him learn a new skill every week - laughing, crawling, standing, surfing - made me think I could learn at least one new thing this year.

Northern Exposure

2010-11-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

Alaska is just a few hours' drive north of where we've been for the past 3 weeks. The snowline on the mountains almost reaches the edge of town, and we saw a moose on one of our weekend walks. Of course, we were only midway up BC - there are hundreds of miles stretching between Terrace and the Yukon. But we still felt pretty far north.

View Larger Map

Douglas was working on a month-long project in Terrace, and mr. t and I flew up to join him for 3 of those weeks. I had an added incentive to go: I grew up right near there. When my parents immigrated to Canada in the late 1970's, they moved from sub-Saharan Africa to Kitimat, and were greeted by 6 feet of snow. My mom says that as the plane circled the landing strip and she looked at the town below, buried in snow, all she could think was "What have we done...?!"

It all turned out pretty well, of course. And we really enjoyed our time in Terrace. People are friendly. I think I had more conversations in the course of a day there than I do at home, even though most of them are with strangers. The town is small enough that I could walk across it in less than half an hour, but big enough that in 3 weeks I felt I hadn't fully explored it. When Douglas left for work in the morning (a 4-minute drive), we joked about whether he'd hit traffic, and should take an alternate route. Coming from a town of 90-minute commutes, where you can easily be stuck in traffic for an hour, this seemed just a little too good to be true.

Instead of fighting traffic, I spent my time wandering around the town discovering its little quirks. Like the pet tarantula, Maxine, at the library. When I asked if I could take her photo, they pulled out her molt and a huge stuffed spider for added interest.

The wool shop has an amazing selection of Norwegian wool, pewter buttons embossed with tall ships, and a stern knitting grandma in the back who offered advice about wool. The baker grinds her own flour in-house, in an old-fashioned mill. And at the shoe shop, they have a weaving loom set up next to the all-weather boots, for when business is slow. Crafts, food, and weird pets - I was in heaven.

Of course, the town has its dark side. One afternoon at the library, a middle-aged First Nations man was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. I was reading magazines in a corner window while Theo surfed from chair to chair, and I heard someone whooping and hollering deeper in the stacks. I thought 'Hm, someone's having a good afternoon', and kept reading. But when I was checking out my books, I saw him go by, on the arm of a police officer. He was so drunk that the cop needed help to help him out of the library. Unemployment and addiction, the double whammy.

That wasn't the only police activity we saw, either. Driving back from a weekend in Smithers, we saw about 10 cop cars go screaming past us on the highway, heading in the opposite direction. We didn't think there were that many police in all of Terrace. We heard later that they had closed the highway just behind us. They let a few more drivers through, with instructions to drive straight on, and not stop for any reason at all. And then they closed the highway for 36 hours while they hunted for an armed man in the woods.

We spent the rest of the week happily exploring, remembering what it's like to live in a small town. Terrace is surrounded by mountains - snowy peaks in every cardinal direction, and more in between. It's not far from Prince Rupert, the rainiest city in Canada, and on grey days it can be pretty dismal. It feels a bit like you've been packed into a box full of cotton wool, and someone just put the lid on. Your feet get wet the first time you venture out, and they never dry. But on sunny days, shreds of cloud get stuck on the trees like cotton wool on velcro, and the snow glitters with possibility. It was a good month. Time away from the hurly burly of the city let us get centered. Re-energized.

All rugged up...

2010-11-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

...as my Kiwi friend Amy would say, and ready for anything.

Kicking up his heels

2010-11-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

While we were in Terrace, mr. t learned to pull himself up to standing. He's now confidently pulling himself up on all sorts of objects, and surfing along them. I think I'll be running after him before I can blink.

northern autumn

2010-11-08T16:13:00.000-08:00

The rivers in the north are gorgeous silver braids of water twisting through fields of smooth, round rocks.

dreadlocky

2010-11-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

The tiniest Who in Whoville at play.

Look Mama,

2010-10-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

I can feed my own self (and my shirt, and the table, and the floor). I can even put some in my ear to save for later. Handy.

little bird

2010-10-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

first blood

2010-10-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

Theo's first bloody nose, poor little guy. He was crawling around at my feet, and somehow bonked his nose on the chair. I'm still not sure how he managed it. Not the last time, I'm sure...

playdate

2010-10-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Gabi and Simona came over for a playdate, and for the first time, Theo was really interested in interacting with another baby. He thought it was fascinating that she was his size.

smooth...

2010-10-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Theo's style with the ladies needs a little work. Here he is poking Simona in the eye. Lucikly she's tough.

crawler

2010-10-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

With a helmet, for safety. 8)

Thanksgiving

2010-10-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

We were so busy eating that we forgot to take many pictures. We only got this one of me and my dad carving the roast duck. Luckily, the baked yams with (homemade) marshmallows are in the foreground!

basil harvest

2010-10-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

I harvested the basil from one of my two gardens today, and I think I'll be spending the rest of the day ripping it up and turning it into pesto...!

rice crackers, hooray!

2010-10-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

The wee Mr. T has two teeth now, and he's using them on some baby rice crackers, an amazing food that he can feed to himself!

lifting the boat's skirts in Ladysmith

2010-10-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

We needed to re-stuff the stuffing box (it wraps around the prop shaft where it enters the boat hull, and the packing keeps the water out), so we put the boat on a tidal grid in Ladysmith. A tidal grid is basically a set of horizontal pilings near a dock. You sail on at high tide, tie the boat to the dock, and wait for the tide to go out. It's a bit trickier than that, but not much.

refinishing the wheel

2010-10-06T10:36:00.001-07:00

biting the boat

2010-10-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

piles of handknits

2010-10-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

The top two sweaters are for Theo, knit by my mom in the wink of an eye. The brown sweater on the bottom is the first (wearable) sweater I have ever knit - 3 years in the making, including a previous incarnation as an unwearable cardigan that got frogged. Douglas wore it to work today. I can't believe it's done. I have no idea what to knit next. Well, that's not true...

buh-bye

2010-10-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

visit with michelle

2010-10-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

sailing skills come in handy

2010-08-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

On a sailboat, you use pieces of cloth very much like this one to keep you in your bunk when seas are rough. They're called leecloths. Normally, mr. t sleeps between Douglas and I, so can't roll out of the bed and bonk his wee noggin on the floor. Douglas is in SF at a conference this week, though, and I had to improvise. So tonight the leecloth will keep him in.

jolly jumping

2010-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

He got the hang of this pretty quickly. Within 10 min he was timing his feet to amplify his jumps. It always makes him laugh like a maniac. 8)

buddies

2010-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

stuck in the tub

2010-08-31T11:17:00.001-07:00

mmm, yams

2010-08-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

standing!!

2010-08-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

big blue eyes

2010-08-17T22:32:00.001-07:00

curl

2010-08-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

high chair!

2010-08-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

first oatmeal

2010-08-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

sleeping in his crib

2010-08-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

garden goodness

2010-08-07T23:17:00.001-07:00

my wee plot

'maters

marigolds

garlic chives

kentucky wonder beans

papa goes to work

2010-08-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

family time

2010-08-07T23:15:00.000-07:00

the boat in its new home

2010-08-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

a mooring buoy on salt spring

memories of babyhood

2010-08-07T23:13:00.000-07:00

morning in Montague Harbour

2010-08-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

papa dinghies the bikes to the boat

2010-08-07T23:11:00.001-07:00

first bike trip

2010-08-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

waiting for the ferry to galiano

new bike helmet

2010-08-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

6 months!!

2010-08-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

From one day to the next...

2010-07-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

We go from supported sitting to

sitting up all by himself!

cozy

2010-07-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

ah, summer in Vancouver... 8)

Diaper Desperado

2010-07-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

When there are no dust masks in the house and balcony woodwork has to happen, you improvise

bigger than a breadloaf

2010-07-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

artisan bread courtesy of Baker Douglas (aka the Diaper Desperado - see next post)

Amy's visit

2010-07-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mom's birthday

2010-07-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

first swing ride - joy

2010-07-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

Five months!!

2010-07-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

bedtime stories

2010-07-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

Idaho!!

2010-07-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

buddies

2010-06-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Experimenting with a new anchor

2010-06-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

It turned out to be wayyyyy too big. Back it goes!

Tagged. Bah.

2010-06-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

Visiting Peter and Clara and Chloe and Emma and Abigayle

2010-06-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

snuggled in his sling

2010-06-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

touristing at St. Lawrence Market

2010-06-22T22:31:00.001-07:00

standing tall high above the big city

2010-06-22T22:31:00.000-07:00