blog break

I know I just had a vacation but I think I need to take a little blog break.

Went to see Eat, Pray, Love and wasn't totally annoyed by it, yet it made me want to read the book again to hear Elizabeth Gilbert's voice and not Julia Roberts'. Now I feel the need to do a little more inward looking and a little less outward looking.

I'll be back next week, but can you believe that the tiny little puffs of sygnet from the spring are now almost as big as their mama?

from Berkeley with love

There was a lot of love on this trip.

My sweet friends certainly brought me here with love and then let me loose to truly indulge in my love of ...

FLOWERS!! Jas likes them too.

And I had both Ritzi guard-dog love,

and my friend the buddah watching over me in the garden.

And even Swanee turned up to remind me there was love waiting for me at home.

It's nice to go away, but it's even nicer to come home.

flower gateway to ...

It was extremely lovely to have even just two days with my sister.

A couple of times a year just isn't enough,

even if she does always borrow my clothes.

It's nice to be with someone who loves all the same things,

and was even more excited than me when we spotted this wall of pink flowering amazingness right next to this,

gateway to fairyland?

dogs are funny

They do things that cats would never do.

Jasmine spotted this apple left by some lazy squirrel in the front yard.

And she wanted to eat that apple, yes oh yes.

Even though there are dozens on the ground.

And so she tried to get up there onto that branch in that tree.

A cat could get up there no problem.

But a cat wouldn't be interested in someone's leftover apple.

sister by my side

My sister has come up for a visit from LA!!

I'm not really that short - she's wearing very tall shoes!

And this is the first sunny day of the trip. It's nice not to need a sweater.

Oh happy day!

dogs at my feet

Here are my hosts:

That's Ritzi and Jas. Ritzi is very smart and Jas is very silly.

I helped pick out the new rug today with those people in the background there.

The dogs agree that they are wonderful folks to spend time with. I'm so glad they invited me out here to enjoy the company of all these lovely creatures!

Here's Ritzi being smart:

kitten at my door

I'm really having some serious down time here in lush and beautiful Berkeley, California.

Mini the cat is helping me to lie in the sun.

And I just don't have words for how beautiful this tree is ...

and I have no idea what it's called ...

but I love it!

figs outside my window

OK, so I haven't slept for a week but I did awaken to a marvel this morning ...

figs - yes figs!! outside my window!!

And giant palms outside my front door ...

because I have been transported to a magical wonderland also known as ...

my very own guest house in Berkeley - yes, in California!

I'm here for a week.

I'm gonna sleep for a week

My-girl-T has gone back to Winnipeg with the little miss and the little fella.

But she gets it now. She has support here, we're all here for her. She feels loved again. And she sees that when she comes back, life will be better.

The little miss said "I'm sorry to be going now". T and I tried not to cry and I blew lots of kisses as they pulled away.  

And having this time with the kids has been exhausting, but we needed it to remind ourselves that we are family, and what's a little lost sleep to make that happen?

backyard birthdays are the best

The little miss is officially 4 years old.

Thank heavens for the backyard.

It made having all these people,

and all these kids so easy.

She's a diva in training.

By the time she turns 5 we're all gonna be in big trouble.

Of course, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves!

more mini-me: flowers

Since I adore flowers and I love to make my own arrangements I thought it would be fun for the little miss to do the same for a birthday treat.

And you know how much Marcel loves flowers too.

So I went to the flower shops at Ave & Dav and bought a whole lot of pink and purple loveliness for the little miss' birthday bouquets.

I just took direction. She told me which things to cut shorter and which vases to fill up. She seems to favour like with like.

And then she ran all over the house placing them just so ...

and then changed her mind and ran around moving them from room to room.

I think it's safe to say this was a sucessfull activity.