Learning from our Children

Rabbit eating Bok Choy.

This week the garden became a temporary background for a photo shoot.  Emily’s been working on a few pieces for a plush show in the states and  photographed them before they were mailed.  Jesse got in on the act and helped her select photo backgrounds.  I still have bok choy growing in the vegetable garden and that’s what you see in this movie.  The leaves are rather bitter tasting at this point, but it still looks so pretty that I hate to pull them out.

Emily is very focused when she’s working on a project and was so even as a child. She’s spent at least 1/2 of her time here bent over her sketchbook and creating characters on the sewing machine. She’s also taken lots of photographs and I have learned to be more discerning from watching her tight photo compositions and her eye for the unusual in the usual.

All children have rich fantasy lives. This Christmas decoration became a summer crystal ball.

The kids have also gone to public skating in Digby where they discovered an almost empty arena.  It costs one dollar to get in and an extra five dollars to get your skates sharpened.  Larry was so inspired when he heard them talk about the skating and he went out and bought a pair for himself.  He and I have the same shoe size so I might practice with his skates on our pond if it freezes over although personally, I much prefer my icers.

Jesse is somewhat of a night owl, but then so am I. It’s past midnight and he’s taking a break from cooking up a storm in the kitchen. He’s composing a song on the guitar instead.

It is delightful to have them both here because they bring energy of youth, they are fun to be with, and they are inspiring.  They’ve also had very nice things to say to their father and I about growing up in a house where their creativity was valued and encouraged. And what could be more wonderful than to hear that?  It reminds me of a Mark Twain quote my mother used to tell me when I started to really appreciate her.

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

I have to go now. It’s 2 am and I have some spaghetti to taste before bedtime.

Putting the Garden to Bed and Visitors Arrive

October may be the most glorious time of year. The leaves are turning golden and orange; there is a crispness in the air and the season has definitely changed. It’s always tough to see fresh vegetables and beautiful flowers transform into black, dead plants.

The Maples have been ‘raining’ golden leaves this week.

There are still lots of jobs to do in the garden. It’s time to pull the remaining carrots. Last minute lilies, iris,  tall grasses and mint had to be planted. Today I pulled out the dahlias which have rewarded me with multiple bulbs. Each will grow into 3 ft high flower bush next year.

These Dahlia were red and prolific bloomers.

I planted a good crop of garlic last year and some of the bulbs that I harvested in July will grow new garlic for next season. It took me 2 long afternoons to clear the old tomato plants away, turn the soil, pick out more rocks, pull weeds. I finally planted the garlic cloves under drizzling rain conditions, while listening to my ipod reading of Guy Vanderhaeghe’s The Last Crossing. CBC’s show Between the Covers is podcast and there are readings of entire books available for download.

The soil looks so rich because it’s quite damp.

I’ve been in a bigger rush than usual to get the gardening priorities finished because we were expecting two important visitors. Our son and daughter have flown here from Toronto and LA for some family time and to help us with the finishing touches on the house.

Jesse arrived first and we’ve put him to work stacking MORE wood. The yard looks to me like we are going into the cordwood business.

Larry surveys Jesse’s woodpile stacking.

Emily is an anti-clutter expert and quite organized …way moreso than the rest of us put together. She has moved about 8 times in the last 3 years following the animation trail. She’s got great ideas and I sure don’t want to get in the way of sane living. She’s just got a few commissions to finish first which will give me a few days to redeem myself. It’s the same idea as cleaning up before the cleaning lady comes over.

She is precise and very focused.

Larry is still painting bedrooms, hanging tricky shower doors, sending back window screens for the 3rd time because the supplier custom-made the wrong sizes.

Yet another coat of paint in the dining room.

I’m cooking lots of home-made meals for the family, baking bread, pies and fussing over our gorgeous, creative kids. After all, it’s the first time they’ve slept in this house so it feels pretty important that they can be here with us.

The wood shapes and textures are inspiring.

I planted some more lilies and iris out at our pond too. The heavy rains this month are creating a steady supply of water to our home-made pond and she’s looking fantastic right now. I sat at the edge on an upturned pail for a while before I went in to make supper. (The final harvest stir-fried) I watched birds swoop by me. I found the colours, the smells and the reflection to be stunning. Once again, I could hardly believe what my eyes were seeing.

Cordelia, the willow tree is so far away, but still is reflected in the pond.

I wanted to go back in the house and bring Larry out here, when suddenly he appeared with a hot cup of specialty tea that our daughter had brought us from California. We both agreed that October is extra special not only because the colours are spectacular, but we also get to spend some quality time with our kids.

Larry points out the crossing to Jesse.

If you feel like taking in the sights, please drop by. You don’t even have to bring your own pail to sit on.

Family Mythology

Bay of Fundy.

I grew up an ocean away from my older sister. She moved with her mother to East End London just before our father and my mother welcomed me into the world. A few letters and photographs were exchanged over the years, but family communications were never my father’s strong suit so our contact was limited. Ellen and her friends backpacked around Europe and occasionally a postcard would appear in the mail from places like Constantinople or Paris.

She took on mythic proportions for me and when life wasn’t going smoothly at home I would fantasize that someday my older, adventurous sister would show up and take me away with her to far-off lands.

Annapolis Highland Vineyards on Clementsvale Road.

We met for the first time when I was 17 and Ellen was 27. If I could find my boxes of photographs and postcards I would scan them and show you but you’ll have to just imagine me, the long-haired star-struck art student gazing at an older but sophisticated version of myself who is speaking with an English accent.

Ellen, Larry and Bob on a foggy beach.

Since then we’ve spent some time together in either Toronto or London and we try to telephone every Christmas, which is ironic considering we both grew up in atheist, communist households.

Bear River viewed from the Bear River Cafe.

A couple of months ago Ellen e-mailed that she and my brother-in-law Bob were coming to Canada to visit her Winnipeg relatives and wanted to drop in to Bear River to visit with us.

Bob and Larry watching the high tide in Bear River.

I was thrilled and terrified at the same time. The thrilling part was to spend some good quality time in this beautiful setting getting to know her and Bob some more. The terrifying part was worrying about the house being unfinished and whether the environs of Bear River would be interesting enough for my worldly sister.

The lily pond at the Annapolis Royal Historical Gardens.

A little diversion here… I belong to a weekly meditation group. We take turns reading pieces on inspiration, mindfulness, and creativity. Our discussions attempt to connect the reading back to ideas like living-in-the-moment, and acceptance-of-what-is and letting go of ego-driven attitudes that filter our experiences. An example of this is me wasting energy on worrying about what might be instead of just enjoying the moment.
I have spent a lifetime practicing “worry” to know that it doesn’t solve anything but it’s tough to give up!

Larry explains his lapidary and silver work.

At any rate the universe provided and the visit was wonderful. Although our house wasn’t finished and we couldn’t stay there, we were offered a gorgeous place to live where we could drink our morning coffee while watching and hearing the tide come in and out. (Thank you Brian and Gill)

The temporary home.

In Bear River we attended a live concert, went to an art opening, visited the Annapolis Highland Vineyards, and ate at both the restaurants.

Introducing friends and family at the Bear River Cafe art show.

In Annapolis Royal we enjoyed the Historic Gardens, learned the history of the settlement at the Fort, visited artists at the arts and farmers market, went to my two favorite craft stores in Annapolis Royal the Lucky Rabbit Pottery, and the Catfish Moon stores.

Buying organic tomatoes in Annapolis Royal.

We had long talks and ate too much. We talked about our families, our children, our parents and before you knew it five days had flown by and it was time for Ellen and Bob to continue their journey west.

Brothers-in-law resting at the Gardens.

After they left it occurred to me that the Shangri-La destination that I used to dream of my mythic sister taking me to bears a remarkable resemblance to Bear River, only in this new version, I bring her here.

Bear River by night on Brian and Gill's balcony.

Bear River by day on Brian and Gill's balcony.

Birthday on the Rocks

Our mantra about moving to Bear River reads something like this:  

We love living here and we feel thankful each and every day to have had landed here…except for one important aspect.

Our adult kids live thousands of miles away and inspite of Skype and email and the telephone, we miss spending ordinary (but really extraordinary)  time with them. You know what I mean. It is lovely to just sit in the same room together and talk about politics, the cat, working life, twitter vs facebook, American vs. Canadian belief systems, Battlestar Galactica, Naomi Klein, childhood memories, house renovations, artists, musicians and more.

Explanations are so much easier face-to-face

But it’s also nice to walk through a room and see Emily sketching the cat or Jesse strumming his guitar–both of them expressing their creativity. What a pleasure for a parent to see.

They have surprised us with a trip to Bear River and we’ve been having a great catching-up time with them. It is so nice to swap stories and it’s wonderful to cook for them AND to be able to sit down together and share a meal with them! Their lives are so fast paced and busy that they mostly eat take-out food, restaurant food so it’s a great opportunity for me to spoil them with home cooking.

Homemade bread and lasagna.

This visit coincides with my 58th birthday, with our daughter’s birthday and with Mother’s Day too! It’s quite amazing for me to share my birthday with them both. Last year’s birthday was pretty special too as we were gallery hopping with our daughter and son-in-law in Los Angeles on my birthday and I saw some amazing work by Matisse as well as German Expressionist painters too. We even got to see a bubbling tar pit in action.

This birthday we drove a short distance from Digby to Point Prim, a beautiful spot that we never tire of visiting and that we wanted so much to share with the kids.

Tidal pools form in the basins left behind by cooling lava.

Except for a couple of sites in Nova Scotia, like Peggy’s Cove, there are many, many beautiful, geological and geographical sites to see in this province that are not really promoted or known about except to the locals. Point Prim is one of those spots.

Our daughter took most of the photos in this post.

The geological formations are so varied and so interesting and tell an ancient tale about molten lava forming millions of years ago.

The body of water is part of the Bay of Fundy and the wind was still quite cold for a warm day in May. The water was a deep blue and it felt exhilarating to be there.

Just us and the ocean waves.

We stayed for an hour and only saw one other couple as we were leaving so we really had the whole ocean to ourselves. It’s hard to describe how wonderful it was to spend time together, on my birthday, in this magical place, with the people who mean the most to me in the world.

The textures in the rock formations make interesting patterns.

I watched our offspring climb over these rocks that will still be here in another million years. I thought about how fortunate we are to be right here, right now. If you are coming to Nova Scotia, anyone in Digby can tell you where Point Prim is.

Lunch in Digby.

The rocks are eternal and so is the interconnectedness and the love that so many parents and children and siblings share. What a perfect birthday!