Saturday was “Family Fun Day” for real
Last Saturday was only the second day since returning from our Christmas holiday that Stephen and I have had a day off work together. He, of course, works Monday through Friday and I work, well, sporadically, but it just happened that I had to work Saturday and Sunday of the previous three weekends, leaving little to no family fun time. So, needless to say, having Saturday off together for a much needed “family fun day” was much anticipated. We had everything planned out so that we wouldn’t waste a minute of the day:
Bright and early–well Eleanor generally sleeps in until about 9, so it wasn’t that early–we set out for a great little place called The Little Nest. It’s a funky and very family-friendly little cafe on the Drive that features yummy, healthy food for adults and kids alike, using sustainable and organic ingredients! They open at 9 and we got there around 9:30 so as not to be the first but early enough to get one the primo tables right beside the kids’ play area. The food was great, the coffee was great, the wait was great! It’s the only place I know of where you can go with a small child and just let them run around and play while you have a leisurely adult conversation over coffee. And, the price is extremely reasonable for what you get, including a little peace. This was the second time we’d gone to The Little Nest with Eleanor (I don’t think anyone goes there without kids, it’s so crazy) and the first time, it was so packed it was only by dint of a miracle of timing that we ended up with a table beside the play area. We will definitely be going back there, but early.
So, then we took a stroll up Commercial Drive. We stopped in a pet store because I can’t go by a pet store without looking at the fish. I think this stems from rainy days with my grandmother–she would take me and my brother and cousins to the mall to “hang out” and one of the places we always went in the mall was the pet store where there was a darkened nook lined with aquariums, the only light being the bluish glow from the water. Anyway, this store just happened to be running a sale–45% off!–on the very water test kits I’ve been in need of. It was truly a lucky day!
So, then, we headed off to Science World! For Christmas, my mother was kind enough to give us a gift certificate for a one-year family membership and we thought we were going to hold off until somebody’s upcoming 2nd birthday, but we couldn’t resist. It was, after all, “family fun day.” At first it seemed that it was going to be a little over Eleanor’s head, despite what I’d heard from other tot-gym moms, because there were tables with brainy puzzles and games that even Stephen and I couldn’t figure out (luckily, they have staff wondering around offering clues). Then, we wandered into a room with some turtles, snakes, and bugs on display (in cages, of course) and Eleanor thought crawling through the fake beaver dam was way cool, especially because it had a stuffed beaver she could pet. She wasn’t scared of it, which is surprising because she was scared of the plastic blue heron in the pet store. Then, in the next room, we really had some fun…
That last picture is of Eleanor looking amazed at the ball she just threw into a current of water. I’m not really sure of the scientific principle on display here, but this particular exhibit had all the toddlers in histerics. The cool thing about Science World is that, for kids this age, it doesn’t even have to be sciencey, it’s just plain fun! And, now that we have a membership and it won’t cost us an arm and a leg to get in, we can go back whenever we want. It’ll be a great way for us to entertain Eleanor when it’s too cold and wet to go outside. Yay! Thanks, mom!
So, Science World really wore Eleanor out and it was nap time as soon as we got home, which Stephen and I always use to relax:) After nap time, we went to the park and played for about 10 seconds on each piece of equipment (does ADD set in so soon?) and when Eleanor got cold, which was inevitable as it was nearly freezing outside, we went to a coffee house close to home to warm up. Stephen and I relaxed, yet again, with a nice warm cuppa joe and Eleanor had the perfect child’s hot chocolate–not too hot and not too strong. With the help of a play tool set and work bench to occupy her, Stephen and I were able to relax and read the paper for nearly an hour before we had to get Eleanor home for dinner. We fed her, bathed her, read to her, and put her to bed, all with no fuss. Ahhh… And, then we ordered sushi from our favorite, Zipang… the perfect end to the perfect day!
Getting Back Into the Swing of Things
Well, I know I had kind of neglected my blog, before Christmas. I was just so busy–the time got away from me. And, then there was the necessary and anticipated absence of Christmas vacation when Stephen and I took little Eleanor down to Atlanta and Charlotte to show her off to all her family. And, now that we’ve been back in Vancouver for two whole weeks, I have not taken the time to catch my readers up. What a bad blogger I am!
It’s not that I don’t make time to get online–I do!–but, to be honest, I found a new addiction right before Christmas. Mom, you may recall that one of the items on my Christmas wish list was a subscription to a magazine called Practical Fishkeeping. Well, it turns out, I don’t really need the magazine in print because, not only are all the articles available online, they have a very active forum that just keeps drawing me in. In a month of membership I’ve put up almost fifty posts! Granted, they’re not nearly as long as ranty as some I’ve written here, but still… 50! First thing every morning, I have to check my forum. Seven a.m. is still peace-and-quiet-coffee-break time (Eleanor doesn’t usually get up until until 8 or 9). And, at this time I have every intention of updating rainraingoaway (especially because we’re in the thick of the rainy season and the rain rain just will not go away), but because I’m 8 or 9 hours behind the majority of the members on the UK-based PFK forum, there are always multiple replies waiting for me, and of course I just have to reply to those and then I just have to check out all the new posts that magically appeared while I was sleeping. Is this crazy?! No, it’s just that fishkeeping is a darn addictive hobby. Ask anyone on the forum, having a single successful fish tank doesn’t last long–you want another one and then another… In fact, two is no longer enough for me. I added a pair of German Rams yesterday to my larger aquarium, bringing that one near completion as far as stocking goes, and already I’m planning on a third, much bigger one… and maybe a small brackish water tank–I’ve never kept a brackish tank before–and maybe also an extremely low-tech tank in which I follow all the “don’t’s” of the fishkeeping hobby (like don’t use soil for substrate and don’t use sun for light–sounds silly doesn’t it?) Well, there’s only one way to find out; I’ll just have to set up that tank…
Well, any plans for a much larger aquarium are on hold for now because we are waiting to hear back from a local housing co-op where we’ve applied for membership. If we get in, and I’m fairly confident we will–it’s just a matter of time–there may be a big move in store for us soon and I don’t want to have to move a really big fish tank in addition to everything else I own. If we can make this move, though, it’ll be good. We already know a couple people in the co-op because they have children the same age as Eleanor. There’s a daycare for 3-5 year-olds on site and a really good primary school right across the street. I’ve got my fingers crossed…
And, hey! if we get in–when we get in–maybe we’ll have a little more room to accommodate some of my “new” furniture! I’m the proud new owner of a worn-out, but still very classy Eames chair–the classic leather and bent-wood rocker. This Christmas was, in part, a sad one for me because I had to say goodbye to my childhood home. Plans have been made to store some of the more memorable pieces of furniture for me (and I am so grateful to those who made it possible to do so), but I will never go back to 1914 again.
One of the neatest things about an old house like that is the history that it comes with; unlike with new construction, an old house has a life of its own. That house was and always will be part of my life, but I was part of its life, too–and an old house always has a life beyond just “housing” its owners and their things. That house in particular had little pieces of history–little flourishes that were not built for me or for anyone else, but simply to give the house Quality–little things like the telephone shelf with a hide-away for the cords and phonebook. And, then, there are little touches that get added over the years that were never part of the builders plan but that, nevertheless, result in a certain irreplaceable Quality. (I’m capitalizing the word Quality here to emphasize that I do not just mean that it was quality; rather, I’m speaking in the vein of Robert Persig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.) The house at 1914 was literally a diary that spanned close to forty years. A previous owner’s daughter started writing on the basement wall in the early 70’s when her family moved into the house; her first entry read “Hello House!” She didn’t flesh out the details of her life by any means, but she dropped by every so often to record her height, the day she got her braces off, and, twenty years later, the day her parents moved out. Her last entry was “Goodbye House.” Realizing that this was something special, my family renovated the entire house and left this one wall alone. I added a few entries to the diary wall over the years that I lived there and this Christmas when I was “home” for the last time, I added my own goodbye to the wall. My hope is that future owners will have the good sense to leave the wall alone.
That being said, Christmas was good. The most exciting part, the part that I most looked forward to, was showing Eleanor off to all of her adoring family. I guess every parent feels this way, but I am so proud of her. I think the world of her and I was excited to have everyone else see the Eleanor that I see everyday. I think she more than impressed everyone! And, of course, we are so appreciative to have all the new clothes and toys for her. She has been so much better than before about entertaining herself with her toys (I think she had out-grown all her old toys). She especially loves her new Duplo blocks. Personality-wise, I think all the cousin-exposure (for those on my side of the family that may not know, she is one of 12 grand-children on Stephen’s side) was good for her; she really matured a lot. It’s like she’s a two-year-old now! When her birthday comes around–on Valentine’s Day!–we’ll be taking her to Science World for a fun treat (as if her scientist father and my aquariums aren’t already fostering a regard for science in her). In a similar vein, we took her to the new Georgia Aquarium while we were in Atlanta. It was amazing! It made me want to resum e my volunteer work at the Vancouver Aquarium, if only I had the free time…
Getting back into the swing of things work-wise and Ellie-wise has been quite an adjustment. No one really wants to return to work after a holiday, but we were so spoiled over Christmas having so many other people around that we didn’t have to entertain Eleanor every second of the day, that the real adjustment has been getting back to the daily grind of child care. I know it’s worth it, though. Speaking of, it sounds like my peace-and-quiet-coffee-break is over. Eleanor beckons.
I hope to keep you all updated more regularly from now on. I’m not making any resolutions about it, but here’s hoping!
Flea Market Find
This is an original woodblock print by a west coast beat artist named McGregor Hone. I spotted it peeking out from behind some rather eclectic paintings and posters in a corner stall at the flea market. We talked to the rather eclectic oddities vendor, who gave us some background info on the print, and we told him we’d “have to think about it” because, to be honest, we didn’t come to the flea market expecting to spend that much! Not that it was expensive for an original piece of artwork… And, who knows, it may appreciate with the recent death of its creator.
Well, we didn’t actually buy it Saturday when we first went to the flea market, mainly because Eleanor turned out to be a brat that day and we just wanted to get out of there. But, we just couldn’t stop thinking about it and talking about how we needed something beautiful to brighten up our quarters, so we returned Sunday to purchase it, our first piece of real art (no offense to Marshall’s They Might Be Giant Bone Formations).
Everyday I love it more and more. The colors are so vibrant. We’re actually thinking now of painting the room to compliment this piece–maybe pick up the dark blue that adorns the thorn on the left. By the way, it’s called Thorn Fruit. Stephen really likes that it has a simple, almost Japanese look about it. It needs a new frame because the one it came in is kind of ratty, but that can be done in time… We intend to keep this baby around for a long time.
Thanksgiving Number Two
One of the cool things about being an American in Canada is that you get to celebrate two Thanksgivings. Actually, I didn’t realize there was a separate Canadian Thanksgiving until I moved here. The food is the same: turkey, stuffing, typical autumn harvest fare. But, Canadians only get one day off work instead of two and their Thanksgiving takes place in early October so it doesn’t have that same kicking-off-the-Holiday-season feeling as American Thanksgiving. Historically, though, the Thanksgiving celebrated by Canadians was the first ceremony to give thanks in the New World. It took place in 1578 in the colony of Newfoundland and Labrador, whereas the thanks-giving feast honored in the US first took place in the Virginia colony in 1621.
Lucky for us, Eleanor’s passport arrived just days before our slated trip to Seattle where, every year since we moved out here, we have been graciously invited to join Stephen’s aunts and uncles for Thanksgiving dinner. We’re officially an international family now with Eleanor traveling on Canadian documents. (A child’s passport in Canada was just so much easier and cheaper than jumping through the hoops we would have had to jump through to get her an American passport.) I don’t want to name the border crossing that we use, lest it not be so easy-breezy getting through next time, but we go an alternate route bereft of tourists and security threats and sail through every time. Even on Thanksgiving Day, when you’d think there might be a handful of other Americans out there trying to make it down to the homeland for turkey, there was not a single car in line. Now, coming home was a different story. We sailed through going north, but even at our little out-of-the-way border crossing that nobody knows about, there was a line-up half a mile long of Canadians heading south to spend their Big Dollars (that was for you, Dad) on cheap American goods. I wondered what they were going to do–camp out in mall parking lots to be the first in the doors when the stores open at 5am?
Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, thanks to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Wes. They do a great job every year. This year, with little Eleanor about, Sandy got to practice being a grandma and boy will she be a good one one day! She’s the chocolate and ice cream lady, the band-aid-bearing boo-boo fixer. And, she’s got drums and doesn’t care how much noise you make! Eleanor liked banging on the drum set and even made a little music on the piano. By the end of the night, Eleanor was really fond of Sandy. She wanted to be held by her and gave her a hug when we left. She was a perfect little angel.
Uncle Ralph and Aunt Ruth came over from Vashon Island. Ralph presented Eleanor with a beautiful stool that he had made years ago and left to collect dust on a shelf in his shop because he wasn’t pleased with it. He fully disclosed all of its minor imperfections, but I thought it was beautiful and it will get a lot of use by a little girl too short to reach the sink but too fastidious not to wash her hands thoroughly and frequently. (She actually requests to wash them sometimes.)
All in all, it was a really nice gathering. I only wish we could get out of the city for longer than a day at a time. But, alas, Stephen had to get back for the final presentation of his Master’s Thesis the very next day. That was yesterday, so he’s done with phase I of his graduate studies! Now on to the PhD.
And, we didn’t arrange it like this on purpose, but we actually have a two-day weekend together, so we’re going to check out the Vancouver Flea Market and a winter-harvest farmer’s market that we just heard about. Just counting down the days now until our next big adventure: Christmas in Atlanta with all the Ingrams and a chance to see my own family for a too-brief get-together!
