Clark took this picture on the frigidly cold Friday we had last week. It is a beautiful phenomenon that happens when the air very suddenly and drastically drops in temperature, and is coupled with strong gusts of wind. When you add a big body of water into this equation, the cold air literally pulls the warmth from the ocean surface, giving the impression of smoke hovering and dancing right above the water. It continued like this all day long. Here's a little video, too:
This past week felt... epic. And a bit bizarre. There were snow storms, rain storms, school cancellations, sickness, gift making, gift receiving and a whole boatload of activities. It must be the week before Christmas (and solstice), I suppose!
A proper snow fall
The week began with a kick in the pants -- for us anyway. On Monday, the school board decided to send kids to school in the morning, but then called it quits at 11:30am (giving some parents a whole 3 minutes warning before they shut down). Seeing as we didn't yet have winter tires on the car (and also that a friend of the kids would be coming here to spend the afternoon), I instructed the school to send all three of them home on the bus. And, despite the fact that it was a cold, raging blizzard (and I was still hacking away with lungs full of bronchitis), I dutifully went to stand at the bus stop at around the time I assumed they'd be pulling up. (To be truthful, this wasn't just me being altruistic - there is a policy that they will not let a primary-aged student off the bus unless there is someone there waiting, so I HAD to be there).
Linden got a REAL shovelling opportunity, and devised a trademark "two shovel" method
45 minutes later, I was quite cold, VERY snowy, and more than a little worried. I also discovered that my phone does not respond well to being in the elements for that length of time, and that it would only stay on for 30 seconds, then completely shut down. 1.5 hours later, I was feeling desperate (and frozen, and hungry), but completely stuck. I could get ahold of no one, no one could ahold of me, and I didn't dare leave the bus stop in case they pulled up. TWO HOURS later, the bus finally, FINALLY arrived, and the three kids piled off, chattering excitedly about the accident they'd been in: how two ambulances and two police cars arrived, and they had to be checked out by paramedics, and how Juniper's glasses had smushed painfully against her face, and how Linden had cried, because he was upset that I'd be waiting for them, and worried, and not knowing what had happened. No one was hurt, thank goodness. But it was one completely disorienting and strange start to the week.
Linden's gift from the solstice fairies: a Superman shirt! (clearly, that is his Superman pose)
Juniper's new outfit. She has worn that velour cape (though she calls it a shawl) every single day since getting it.
The rest of the week was much less eventful, though still all over the place. When the weekend hit, however, we just... pummelled it. We went into holiday over-drive. Saturday, for instance, was the day we got our Christmas tree. In years past, we were compelled to wait until the very last minute to get a tree, which has both pros and cons. Pros: you are able to snag a straggly little Charlie Brown tree for 5$. Cons: you are forced to roam the recesses of various Home Depots and Superstores until you can find said straggly tree, all the while living in mortal fear that this will be the year you waited too long.
So THIS year, with no reasons to wait to get the tree, I expressed my extreme desire to go to an actual Christmas tree farm, and cut down our own. Clark was super Scrooge-like about the whole idea, whining about the cold and the long drive, and this and that. So I agreed to just head to our local Superstore (or what-have-you), but threw in the kids' snow pants, JUST in case. And then I ended up driving. And then, somehow, we found ourselves at this tucked away little place past Enfield, and it was great fun, if I do say so myself! And who was the first person we saw? Our friend Tawnya, who just also happened to be there with her husband and step-son! It was clearly meant to be:
Tawnya and Austin, just back from getting their tree, and me and kids about to head out to get ours
Not only did we roam and get to choose/saw our own tree, we also got to warm up in a little cabin with hot apple cider and candy canes, and then go for a snowy horse-drawn wagon ride. I mean - really. Why WOULDN'T you choose such an awesome adventure?
Same shot, as a family (that's a tree-measuring pole)
Action shot, cutting down the tree
Success!
The lovely, hard-working horses
Linden was ridiculously excited for this ride, and then did his best to ruin the picture.
After getting home from that adventure, we fancied ourselves up, then turned around and headed out to two (pretty huge) back-to-back parties. First we celebrated adorable 2-year-old Aggie's birthday with a house full of good people (and yummy food), then we hopped on over to an open house at one of Clark's workmate's. Highlights included a visit from Santa, the discovery of old-school Nintendo (for Linden, who ended up being completely transfixed by the Mario Brothers), and a secret room full of Barbies (for Juniper). And for the adults? Kids-free conversations. It was pretty amazing, actually. The kids crawled into bed close to 9:00pm, which is a good hour later than usual. Everyone was completely and utterly exhausted
"It wasn't the REAL Santa", Linden announced, "But I still loved getting a present".
THEN, on Sunday, we invited Alana and Ian over for some lunch, some carolling, some tree decorating, and some gingerbread village-making. We don't fool around when we invite you over the weekend before Christmas:
A table full of food!
The decorated tree. Small but lovely!
Some finishing touches on the gingerbread
The final product
And there you have it, folks. Who knows what this week will bring? Christmas, to be sure. So I will definitely have some pictures to share, and maybe some stories as well. I hope some magic finds everyone wherever you are! And for Linden's sake, hopefully it will snow again. He was pretty devastated by yesterday's balmy (12 degree) temperatures, and pouring rain:
When Friday hit this past week, it became clear that this was going to be (by design, and by necessity) a "quiet" weekend. This particular month is, of course, ridiculous at the best of times, but - I don't know. We were all drained. Me especially. My burning-lung cough was back in full force, and I unexpectedly had to have a tooth pulled earlier in the week, so.... my adventure-capacity was... low.
Plus, rather than getting an "early Christmas vacation", the kids ended up going to school for most of the week, which no one had anticipated. As it turned out, after an "unexpected outcry" about shutting kids out on Monday, the provincial government deemed that, magically, the schools were safe to attend the next day. The teachers are still carrying out work to rule, but otherwise it is business as usual.
I found Linden "studying' in his room: reproducing pictures from a natural history encyclopaedia (and then adding ghosts).
So... a quiet weekend. In many respects, we accomplished just that. Juniper got to obsessively read to her heart's content. Linden came up with his own projects, and happily did some solo playing in the scant blanket of snow outside (taking it upon himself to shovel the driveway and clear off the car, which was pretty freaking adorable):
Shovelling the driveway
Quick break to lie in the snow (and surreptitiously shove some in his mouth when he thought no one was looking)
A 5-year-old's work is never done
We also got the last of the decorations up inside the house:
Juniper untangles the Christmas card cord (in her fanciest attire, of course)
Seems pretty idyllic, right? It was... when it was working. Like most things in life, however, nothing ever truly pans out the way you envision. Clark and I have reluctantly come to realize that "quiet weekends" can only be partially quiet to function properly. There is a dangerous reality called "stir craziness" that, once reached, will make all quiet, idyllic scenarios explode in your face. The kids will go from playing happily to screaming at each other. I will end up (ironically, I know) giving a wild-eyed and slightly demonic-voiced lecture about being kind, rational human beings (and catch myself just short of threatening to cancel Christmas).
This is why (for my own future sanity, among other things), that I must both admit and remember that it is pretty much always necessary to plan an outside activity of some sort, even on the most deliberate of quiet days. A walk in the woods (or even around the block). A trip to the library. A quick playdate. Anything, really - as long as it is a planned diversion. Perhaps with this newly remembered bit of wisdom, the rest of December will run along VERY smoothly. Hahahaha! See you next week!
I was, initially, excited to finally have this year's school photos to post this week. Look at those kids! Linden's ridiculous "smile". Juniper's "fancy" velour dress. The hard-won backgrounds (both kids had petitioned for the "Peggy's Cove" background, which would have featured a lighthouse sprouting out of their shoulders).
As of this weekend, however, to have these photos front and centre is actually more of an exercise in irony than a celebration. For those of you not following Nova Scotia politics, the provincial government announced on Saturday (as in, with less than 48 hours for frantic parents to make arrangements) that they would be locking the kids out of school starting today. That's right, the KIDS.
I will not get into the nitty gritty details of the politics behind this bizarre (and in my opinion, unconscionable) decision, but the basics are as follows:
1. The McNeil government tells teachers that they will be offering them a new, crap contract.
2. The teachers vote almost unanimously to strike. They will not be fully striking, however - they will be imposing a "work to rule" scenario, whereby they essentially fulfill only what is in their current contracts, but nothing extra. (No after school activities, no Christmas concerts, no working or monitoring of students prior to 20 minutes before the start of school or 20 minutes after the end of class etc etc). Paid before-and-after-school programs will go on as usual. The school board gives parents a week's notice of this decision, which is to begin on Dec. 5th (today).
3. On SATURDAY, the government announces that they believe this decision is "unsafe" for the students (ie, that teachers actually fulfilling their contract to the letter is not enough to keep our kids safe), and that kids will not be allowed to go to school on Monday. The teachers are required to go to school, but the kids must not. Meanwhile, they have called a legislation meeting for this morning.
So. Who knows what the government is actually trying to accomplish? Bullying the teachers into accepting the contract, no doubt, but this whole scenario is just... weird. They can't legislate the teachers back to work, as they are currently working (only... with no students to teach). Perhaps they are just trying to make parents mad and pressure the teachers. But unless you are completely daft, your anger and confusion will surely be levelled at Stephen McNeil, rather than the teachers - so, that will no doubt backfire as well. I really don't understand.
For now, it is, I suppose, a very early Christmas vacation. This is not a huge deal for us, as I am not currently needing to be at a job, and therefore we are not in a childcare panic. But I am also still (STILL) sick (I think the amoxicillin did not quite wipe out this bronchitis), and the kids are both coughing and sniffling, so it should be a... trying week. Or month, Or however long this lasts.
Decorating the first gingerbread cookies of the season
Finished products!
In the meantime, however, we are trying as hard as we can to still do fun holiday stuff (the Solstice Fairies and Starlight, our "gnome in the home", have been out in full force since Dec. 1st), and to sneak in some of our own educational activities in the meantime. For instance, check out this battery-powered lego car that Linden and Clark constructed over the weekend (with some arduinos and coding and whatnot). Pretty cool!
The beginning stages
Constructing the vehicle (Linden's particular specialty)
Hooking up the wires
The finished product
As it turns out, while it worked, the car and battery were too heavy for the little motor, meaning it became more of a drive assist than a fully functioning autonombile. But it was a pretty successful first attempt! And of course, Linden produced a JuniperandLinden.org video about the whole process. Enjoy!
This weekend marked two grand events: our first ever attempt at a full-family sleepover chez the Koller/Martin household, and our very first snowfall of the season.
Hanging with a stoic, yellow fisherman
The sleepover was, in some ways, a test -- is it possible to successfully have a fun family day with everyone, followed by a just-adults hang-out in the evening, capped off by everyone actually sleeping, and then also being functional the next morning? A tricky feat, indeed! We chose a particularly fun day for this experiment: the Lunenburg Christmas parade/tree lighting. The parade not only featured all the floats and marching bands that you would expect, but also a rather ridiculous amount of swag: firefighter hats, clown noses, and, I swear, more candy than they got on Hallowe'en.
So how did it all turn out, you ask? Definitely a partial success. The day and the evening were super fun, of course. It was a real treat to have a whole evening of laughter and board games and chilling just like we would have done - oh, 15 years ago, when we were all living together in a dingy little apartment with very few cares in the world. And besides a few hiccoughs (for instance, Juniper apparently "slept-walked" from the top bunk to the bottom, meaning all three girls were sardine-packed in for the night, and Linden was up at 5:30 am), a mostly-acceptable sleep was had by all. Not me. But that was not for lack of comfort or having to tend to anything - that is just my own weirdness in such situations. I have confidence, however, that I can push past that if we just do it a few more times!
SNOW!
The next day, we didn't tarry long, as Zsofi and Will and family had another party to go to in the late morning (and we'd all been up for quite some time at that point, anyway). As we drove back, it started to SNOW! I know this is old news for most of the rest of the country, but this was our very first snowfall of the season. It was large, very wet flakes: the kind you know will not last long, but are fun to watch come down. Linden could not wait to get home: he practically bounded out of the car and into his snowsuit the minute we pulled into the driveway, and proceeded to happily spend the next couple of hours (often all by himself), playing and doing all the snow-related things he could think of. The end result was one very wet child, and one super-funky snowman.
Check him out! 100% hand-crafted by Linden
Seeing as everyone was plum-tuckered out (especially me - my head was literally swimming), the afternoon involved Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (still good after all these years!), followed by ordering out for pizza. A pretty decadent but satisfying way to end an epic weekend, I'd say. This week, of course, marks the beginning of December (and all the ridiculousness that has come to entail - especially in this household), so my guess is that things will only get more epic from this point forward. I'll keep you updated!
I'm not sure why I entitled this post "quiet". It is certainly quiet at this very moment, as it always is after the flurry of getting everyone packed and out the door. It is also something I have been longing for lately, perhaps as a temporary antidote to the ridiculousness of the last few months. I'm sure it is what my body needs (along with fluids and puffers and antibiotics), to finally rid itself of what turned out to be a good healthy dose of bronchitis.
Linden's go-to activity when he wants a little peace and quiet
And believe it or not, the kids (yes, even Linden!) will often seek out quiet time in the hustle and bustle of the everyday. In between rolling around in the dirt (the only explanation for what they do when they are outside, based on the state of their clothes), climbing the walls (I literally caught Linden doing this yesterday - he made it half way to the top), and dancing like crazy people, I will sometimes find them silently absorbed in their own world. For Juniper this almost always involves her nose in a book. For Linden, it is drawing. For instance, when I unceremoniously threw him into his room the other day for one transgression or another, he emerged about 20 minutes later, calm and quiet, having produced a book about his "feelings". How cool is that?
Building a new, bigger home for Linden's pets (vermicompost from his aunt Theresa)
Even this past weekend, which included a visit from my parents, was relatively quiet. Play-dough, board games, piano practice, popcorn and movies: a nice blend of exciting and chill. It is a good balance to aim for. Perhaps we can all just take the next few months to hunker down, rejuvenate and breathe for a bit. Quietly. Unlikely, I realize. But with a little solid intent - who knows?
This has been a tough week, for reasons that I'm sure no one particularly needs me to explain or expound upon. The world lost one of its greatest poet/musicians, and gained a living embodiment of hate, fear, ignorance, and intolerance. It is difficult to figure out how to process this sort of week -- how to push past it all with positivity. We decided the best way to accomplish this was to just be outside as much as possible - exploring trails, planting bulbs, and taking advantage of some pretty glorious mid-November weather. I might have also made and then consumed quite a few cookies. And listened to our extensive Leonard Cohen library on repeat. And made some art. I hope you all found your own soul balm as well. Big breaths, friends, and love from our little family to yours.
Linden plants his birthday garlic from his aunt Theresa
Juniper waters her newly sown tulip, daffodil and iris bulbs
golden sun through the trees along Frog Pond
Luckily no tree inhabitants objected to Linden's exploration
More gorgeous light over the boulders and trunks
Linden watches the ducks
Close-up examination of dark, slimy slug
A rather glorious fungus (which looked, at first glance, to be devouring a bird. Not so, I promise)
Bring only the essentials for woods exploration (especially of the truck variety)
Pausing in Shubie Park
We can appreciate and get along with squirrels and chipmunks in their natural habitat!
