There was a rock aimed at me the other day when I was walking to work. At first I thought it may be a tenacious squirrel, but Pender Island doesn’t have squirrels. Then I thought perhaps a bird dropped it when it realized it was not a nut, but an unedible rock. My third thought was “Maybe a fairy is aiming at me!!”

Then I was immediately sad. There was a distant time in my life where my first thought would have leaned towards an angry fairy instead of my third thought! I am losing my imagination! The vitality of childhood escapes me one practical thought at a time!

When I was a child, I worried about getting a ride to Liquidation world so I could buy another oily sticker for my collection. Today I worry about the mounting piles of recycling that are blocking my doorway. All the while, I watch the cows in the field, chewing grass as if it’s their only thing to do that day. Or I watch the cats stretch out, just to re-position themselves into a deeper fold of their wool blanket. I am missing something, I think. I need more flouncing fairies in my life! I need more grass chewing, more stretching and a little more magic. Or perhaps I need a new set of eyes to see the wonder around me?

Well, it may be a weird way to announce it, but a new set of eyes is what I am getting very soon. No no, not laser surgery. But magic is definitely entering my life in a big way. And it is due to arrive at the end of November.

And this is the first thing I’ve knit for my bit of magic.

 And soon I’ll have my own wee fairy complete with happy dust! Yup, my baby is going to come with happy dust because already he/she has added a lot of joy to my joyful little life. I am very grateful.

There are other small furry things that bring me joy too.

Not sure if there are many things more comforting than a pair of spooning kittens.

I had the great honour of standing up with my sister-in-law on her wedding day this weekend. Marc’s sister has been talkign about her wedding day basically since I met her. And I’m not sure I met her until after I was already engaged to her brother. So, really, quite a long time. But the day came to fruition. And now she is hitched! Congrats Danielle! We love you muchly!

It was a beautiful and cold day in May. And between the laughing, the lounging, the flowers, the hair-dos, the I-do’s, we had a great time seeing the beginning of two souls knitting themselves together.

Now that the family weddings are done for the summer, it’s time to get serious about the tomatoes, the bees, the peas and the blueberries.

A garden update is coming shortly.

(Yes, I called you Shortly….)

I flipped through our photos lately and I’m surprised to see how busy we’ve been. Busy as a bee! Between writing poetry, playing the piano, reading and organizing my unread books, walking and learning a new craft, we’ve been quite busy for never leaving our small island.

Marc has begun fertilizing the blueberries. This involves pulling back the straw mulch, weeding them and then fertilizing with sulphur and an organic fertilizer. The sulphur acidifies the soil because the blueberries prefer more “vinegar” with their dirt-meal than… chalk. (or alkaline… Or maybe this is where my analogy of fish and chips for the blueberries falls apart. *sigh*)

Marc also purchased a scythe last year because we have a lot of areas on the farm with tall tall grass. He has been carving out his technique. I did not know that it was so complicated to swing a blade but he had this tool measured up specifically for him. He watched videos on youtube to learn the swing and the balance of the scythe. And he had to be very careful about how and when to sharpen the blade, as it has to be very sharp to work properly.

As you can see, we have some daffodils blooming in our front garden and our rosemary is really taking off. And we have a little black cat-shadow pretending to be a lion as she descends the high cliff to hunt.

We’ve been keeping up with our near-weekly tradition of pizza from all the left overs in the fridge. This is a great way to use up veggie bits from the fridge, and though we haven’t tried adding parsnips or beet greens to the pizza yet, I’m sure that will come.

Dear reader, do you have a favourite pizza crust recipe that you’d care to share? I keep it really simple. I was doing a crust that involved cornmeal and a few more ingredients. But now I keep it to a cup of warm water, 2 tsp of yeast, 1-2 tsp of salt and enough flour to make it the right texture to roll out. Usually 2-3 cups. It’s pretty straightforward, and we do not allow any time for a rise. I’ve found with this crust, I can roll it out really thin and it’ll get crispy or I can keep it quite thick and it puffs up a bit. But I’m always open for something new if you care to share.

Yesterday we got to go on a beach walk because the low tide was just right. Often if the tide is low early in the morning or later in the evening, this walk disappears under the water. It’s a beautiful walk that leads you along the shoulder of Pender, facing Mayne Island, where you can see snow-capped mountains in the far distance, and you can watch the currents rip through Navy Channel.

Hm, I love beach art.

Anyway, I’ve been saving the best for the last. I had another pottery class and this time I got to use the wheel. Oh yes, The Wheel! I was very excited about this because I’ve wanted to do this for so long. I don’t know if you’ve ever used a wheel to “throw pots” but I was told it was harder than it looked. I was told that rarely anyone really gets it the first time. Yeah, I am not one of the rare ones. But with lots of guidance and help, armed with my enthusiasm, I got to throw a couple bowls.

This is a kick-wheel. Meaning, you have to kick it to get it to spin. My teacher has a small motor he got at the Nu-To-U (our local thrift store) so he’s looking at hooking it up to the wheel but for now, I learn to kick and mold at the same time.

Behold, my first attempts!

Have you tried anything new lately?

When I begin the weekend, especially in the Spring, I have quite the “To-Do” list. I’m not sure if my husband dreads this list as he knows that there will be only guilty relaxing- as we have things to do Sir!

On my To-Do list this weekend included a few things we got done and a few we didn’t.

I got the buttons sewn on my tiny vest so that it’s ready to ship off for baby. This thing is just about the cutest thing ever!

The top buttons totally don’t match. Somehow I’m hoping that it just doesn’t matter to my friends. These are the friends, after all, who put up their bare Christmas Tree, named it Franken-Pine, and sat on the couch 5 feet away and threw the ornaments at the tree, hoping they’d stick. The tree was incredibly lop-sided and the first time the top star was adjusted, the tree fell on the unsuspecting victim. These are some of my favourite friends!

Another item on the to-do list was seedlings.

This is our potential tomato seedlings. Yup, pots of dirt. Trust me, it will get more exciting. Planting seeds is such an act of faith. It seems like the most unlikely thing to happen. Putting a grain into the dirt, pouring some water over it, and hoping. Somehow, the seeds wants to grow, it knows how to grow, and it grows. I love this small miracle.

After all our hard work, we decided a reward was in order. A picnic. And not just anywhere. Somewhere really special.

Hope your weekend was as productive as mine!

It is my illustrious husband’s birthday today. He is turning 28 on the 27th. Which means that last year was his golden year. I guess I’ll have to remember to ask him how his golden year last year was. I think it was a pretty good year in the fact that he got to learn how to earn the title Mister Mountain Man Supreme.

This morning, though I had to toddle off to work by 9, I woke up super early (like farm early…) and prepared a feast for him. Pancakes (referred to as “man-cakes” around these parts) whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and blackberries picked in the heat of August. My friend Dan told me of a fancy hotel he stayed in for his honeymoon where they actually brought a French Press of coffee to his table. He said it was oober classy. So I decided to add the classy back to our life. Yes, that’s right. We actually sat down at the table for a meal. (Usually we eat on our laps in the living room, fending off curious kittens.) and we brought the French Press of Pot of Gold coffee to the table and even ate with a knife and fork!

 It was a lot of meal before 8am!

 Another birthday to celebrate, though technically yesterday, was my friend Shawn’s first child’s first birthday ever. Brynna Isobelle was born yesterday in the evening. Just in time to fill out these newly-knitted booties which were posted today.

After grieving the passing of a friend, it is nice to celebrate some birth for a change. Congratulations Shawn and Emma! And Happy Birthday my love!

Do you have any special birthday memories that you care to share?