Community (or: what we are leaving behind)

How Linden interprets "please don't play with those boxes" (a few minutes later, he turned them into a slide)

As you might imagine, with one week left to go, things have gotten a little hectic and surreal around here.  While Clark and the kids have mostly spent their week with as much normalcy as possible (ie, going to work and school as per usual), my time has been absorbed in the strange world of sorting, culling, planning and packing.  As such, our once functional lives have slowly started to become a little more confused. With each passing day, there is simply less available - less space, fewer means of cooking and clothing ourselves, fewer toys to play with.  This is at once satisfying (boxes full of stuff is such a tangible measure of progress!) and HIGHLY annoying. It is difficult enough to successfully navigate your days as a young family... to live in such a liminal state increases the challenges considerably.

Juniper performing in her fiddle class's final concert

 In all of the physical and mental slogging (and accompanying exhaustion) involved in these final stages of the move (coupled with the excitement and promise of a new chapter in our lives), I have only just now begun to realize how easy it has been to gloss over what will actually be the most difficult part of this whole experience.  To uproot so drastically means, of course, that we must simultaneously leave a large part of ourselves behind.  Even though we knew from the very beginning that this was going to be a temporary move, and even though we were only here for two and half years, we have become incredibly invested in our lives on the Cape.   Of course, Woods Hole is a beautiful corner of the world, but the true reason for our happiness here was that we had the rare privileged of being a part of some pretty amazing communities, filled with truly wonderful people. This is what made our time here such a positive experience, and also what will be so extraordinarily difficult to leave. All of this suddenly became very clear this weekend, as were were given two different farewell parties - one with a group of our very closest Woods Hole families, and the other with Clark's WHOI colleagues.  Here are some photos from those two events:

At Valerie and Dan's:

The "nice" group shot (can you believe we managed to assemble everyone for this?!) ...

... and the requisite crazy one!

Extra big hugs from Tuli

At Fiamma and Rosalba's:

 "kid's only" supper on the deck with Kea

Snuggles with Ben and Liz

A final good-bye to Becca

(the next day): drawing with Sharpies on ben and Liz's kitchen floor

This coming week we will truly be saying our final goodbyes - apart from all the people we were lucky enough to spend this past weekend with, both kids will be leaving their respective schools behind, and I will be saying farewell to the clay studio, and the friends that I found there.  We will be leaving Woods Hole just as the spring sun is bringing light and warmth, and everyone (and everything) is beginning to emerge from a particularly deep winter hibernation.  It is perhaps the most heart-breaking time to leave, but also one that will stamp a lovely image in our memories.  And as I'm already getting teary, I will stop for now.

I will leave you with a little video footage from our very last Woods Hole folk dancing afternoon.  Because it was such a momentous occasion, Clark woke Linden up from his nap early to come join the festivities for the last couple of songs.  It was the first time he'd ever gone, and he LOVED it.  (Juniper was a stellar big sister, and completely took him under her wing).

ferries and bunnies

Holding hands by the private Edgartown wharves

With only two weeks left of our Cape Cod life, Clark and I decided it was time to shift things into high gear this weekend.  We realized recently that in our 2.5 years of living here, we had never been to Martha's Vineyard, and it dawned on us that this Saturday might be our very last opportunity to go. So,  Even though Sunday was already going to be chock full of Easter goodness; even though the day wasn't promising to be warm or calm; and even though it is most decidedly off season, we hopped a ferry bright and early Saturday morning, and headed off on an adventure.

first ferry ride! 

  The day was loosely planned at best - we knew full well that most things would be closed for another month or so.  We figured, however, that between getting to ride two huge ferry boats, and a bunch of busses, Linden's day would pretty much be made, anyway.  And Juniper is usually happy to just go with the flow and explore.

excited to be on the Vineyard

The ferry dropped us off at Vineyard Haven, where we wandered around exploring the town.  I would have been interested to pop into some of the cute little shops, but that is not an activity that is allowed with two kids in tow.  Consequently, it didn't take us long to hop a bus and continue on to Oak Bluffs.

Lunch in Oak Bluffs: fastidiously cracking appetizer peanuts

Oak Bluffs is a community I had actually been told a few things about before going - mostly due to the crazy old carousel and the "gingerbread houses" that can be found there.  We assumed that the carousel would not open for at least a few more weeks, so after a (way too expensive) pub lunch, we made our way to the "Camp Meeting Association" at Wesleyan Grove: home to what I thought might be a fun little whimsical kid's attraction (what else would "gingerbread houses entail"?).  In truth, I had absolutely no idea what we heading off to see.

What this ended up being was a strange little community, originally founded as a methodist summer religious camp in the 1800s.  Apparently, people would arrive here seasonally for day long religious services, which took place in a gigantic outdoor tabernacle, which is still there.  What started out as tents, however, have grown into these funny little houses, packed side by side, and decorated with crazy ornate trim and bold colours, appropriately earning them the "gingerbread house" designation.

The Holy Methodist Tabernacle

Some of the many "gingerbread houses"

These days, there are a few year-long residents, but most people who own these houses only come back seasonally.  Therefore, it felt like a strange little cult-like ghost town as we wandered through.  It was super interesting, but also had a kind of "I feel like I might be on the set of the X-Files" vibe.

the beginning of the end for Linden (right around nap time)

 At this point, Linden was starting to enter the "oh my goodness, I'm not actually going to nap today" crash.  We decided to try getting him to rally by heading in the direction of the bus, en route to our next destination: Edgartown.  On our way there, however, we happened to pass by this funny looking building, which turned out to be the "Flying Horses" carousel, which had JUST opened for its very first day of the season!

The crazy vintage horses at the "Flying Horses" carousel

 Of course, we stopped by for a look and a ride. Not only is this carousel old (as in, well over a century old), it is actually the oldest operating platform carousel in all of America.  It also boasted a "ring game" - you grabbed at these rings as you went around, and if you happened to grab a brass one, you got a free ride.  I'd never seen such a thing!  It was pretty cool, and worked to rally Linden.

Clark and Linden coming around the turn

 Next stop was Edgartown.  By this point, we were all pretty wiped.  Linden, in fact, sat down on the sidewalk for awhile, and stated tearfully that he was no longer able to walk.  Juniper, however, took him by the hand (this is what was happening in the first shot on the blog), and we walked long enough that we stumbled upon a small, old public library. This was EXACTLY what we needed at that particular moment.  There were jelly beans, an Easter egg-decorating craft, Easter stories, a large collection of trucks... we could have happily spent the rest of the afternoon there.  Juniper, in fact, told me that night that the library was her favourite part of the whole adventure  :)

Crafts and stories at the Edgartown public library (and a close-up of the new 'do)

 We did, however, still have to make it back to Vineyard Haven, and then back on the ferry.  So we left the comfort of the library for one last bus ride.

Linden, relieved that his dad finally agreed to carry him 

Dennis the Menace hair, riding the bus (with seat belts!)

 It was an exhausting day for everyone involved (especially poor little Linden), with a whole lot of walking, some pretty cold, stiff winds, and only a few things open, but I think we were all glad we made the effort to go.  I can see the appeal of the Vineyard the summer - it really is a beautiful spot, and there are tourist attractions galore.  But I'm glad, in the end, that we saw it in the off-season... I think it would have been completely overwhelming in the summer.

Back at home.  Unable to handle life.

 And then, Sunday was Easter!  The morning started off as you'd expect - some easter egg hunting, easter basket-exploring, and excited kids.  Apart from some books and puzzles, Juniper got a fancy princess dress, and Linden added to his train tracks.  Both were ecstatic.

Easter morning spoils!

Then, at 9am, we headed of for an easter party:  a proper outdoor egg hunt at a friend's house.  It was actually completely lovely and invigorating to be outside in the fresh air and the morning sun, even if it was still pretty chilly.

A good old fashioned outdoor egg hunt at Elise's 

And that, they say, is that about that.  There is no video this week - JuniperAndLinden.org is treating their employees to a holiday break, apparently.  See you next week!

a new home: phase 2

Happy breakfaster; nice morning light

As March abruptly comes to an end, it finally feels as though things are starting to move forward in this seemingly never-ending pre-moving saga.  Most importantly, (in my mind, anyway), we signed a lease!  We now know for sure that we have a place to live, which makes all the rest really just details, right?

We have all started to kick into "moving mode" in our own ways.  For me and Clark, it is the boring, annoying minutia that you might expect - making lists; cancelling services and setting up new ones; figuring out about school districts and programs; booking moving vehicles, firming up dates.  We've even started to wrap our heads around starting to pack.  First order of business: tackling the ever-expanding monster in the basement that I have affectionately dubbed "Mount Boxmore".  This involves making sure no unwanted guests have moved in, and seeing how much bigger the pile must become in order to fit all of our worldly possessions.

Mount Boxmore, which has been slowly growing in the basement

Bonus basement shot, since I was down there anyway: our alarming basement cobwebs.  This is clearly one of the things I'll miss most dearly when we leave.  Laundry just won't be the same  in Kanata. Who doesn't love a tangle of cobwebs in his or her face every single day?

As you might imagine, the kids have also started to prepare.  Or, more accurately, Juniper has started to prepare, and Linden follows her lead whenever he feels like it.  One of the highlights of this past weekend, for instance, was a trip to IKEA, where we found these two, small, very orange little suitcases.  Juniper has been obsessing (like, seriously obsessing), about having a "small car rolling suitcase" for the epic road trip.  She was envisioning something that was convertible both as a rolling suitcase and a backpack, but immediately saw the potential in these little ones.  She and Linden happily brought them home, got out the trusty cloth markers, and proceed to add the essential personal embellishments:

Linden, mid-design process

Juniper, proudly displaying the (for now) finished product

Close-up

Juniper has also been making lists of her own, one of which came home with her school work earlier in the week, detailing what she feels to be the essentials. It was too cute not to share.  For those needing translation for the list itself, it reads: moving, packed, suitcase, house, room, driveway, bathroom, kitchen, water, food, fridge, freezer.

Juniper's "moving to Ottawa" list

The essentials.  Thankfully, they are mostly all checked off.

As we wind up to move, we're simultaneously winding down our lives on the Cape. For instance, I have now thrown my last piece of pottery at the Falmouth Art Centre pottery studio.  I'll be doing some final glazing this coming week, but my oh-so-amazing creative/mental health outlet is mostly now gone.  I am also left wondering how in the world I'm going to get all those pieces I've made over the past year to Ottawa! 

One of the many piles of pottery crammed into the various corners of our house.

This past week also marked the very last time we will be doing parent helping at the Woods Hole Child Centre.  In order to celebrate, we all went along - Clark took the morning off work, and Juniper skipped school.  Seeing as it was music month, we brought in a bevy of instruments, and proceeded to play musical games, give demos, and perform a little family concert.  It was a hoot!

mid-concert

Juniper spearheads a violin workshop

Linden, in charge of the calendar for one last time

Some serious block-building

Other than all the moving details ruling our lives right now, things have been mostly rolling along as usual.  We managed to get the bikes out this week, much to the delight of everyone involved.  This is, in fact, the topic of a short little segment on Juniper and Linden's newscast - check it out here. The Easter Bunny also just realized that Easter is just around the corner, and has been trying to organize things for the big day.  Consequently, a huge bag of mini eggs has come into the house, and then quickly disappeared.  This happens Every Single Year.  Those stupid mini eggs.  And with that, I think I need to go replace that bag.  Have a great week!

liminal limbo

One of our many daily post-nap selfies that we like to text to Clark to liven up his afternoon 

I wish I could entitle this post "a new home: phase two", but I don't feel that enough has been accomplished since last week to warrant such a designation.  We are slowly getting closer to signing a lease, but this hasn't happened yet (we have not yet been sent a lease to sign), and therefore everything is kind of hanging in limbo.  If we do indeed get this place, then we have, at the very least, hatched a plan for the move itself. It involves my mom flying down and driving to Ottawa with me and the kids, and Clark's dad driving down to help with the final packing and cleaning once the kids are out of here.  Clark's mom and stepdad might also come down beforehand to help keep kids occupied while we do some pre-packing.  We're lucky to have such amazing parents!  I'll have to remember this when our turn comes around in about 20 years time.

Constructing banana-peanut butter "sandwiches"

In the meantime, we've been going about life as usual, trying to muddle through despite the seemingly never-ending, varying incarnations of colds. No one has been as sick as we were during the February flumageddon, but no one has been entirely healthy since then, either.  It has been a ridiculous and frustrating ebb and flow of coughs and congestion and sore throats and headaches.  I kind of feel like we are all ready for a (very literal) new start at this point.  Let's just hope we don't collapse on the way there!

"Take a picture of me being funny!"

I will leave you with a little video of Juniper's first dance "recital" (the culmination of her 8 weeks of after-school hip-hop/ballet) - a gem that I can not seem to tire of, but which is likely a bit of a snooze-fest to most others :)  I do wish I had been filming on the other side of the stage, but you can still mostly see her.  She was quite literally the tiniest person there (almost a head shorter than the next biggest girl), and was clearly loving the limelight.  I think I can relate.  Also, don't forget to check out JuniperandLinden.org - this week, there is one instructional video on skiing.  Might as well take advantage of all that snow right?  See you next week!

a new home: phase one

Some at-home glazing

I am writing this a whole day later than usual, trying to prop my eyes open for just long enough to pound out a bit of an update. I owe this exhaustion not to the kids (well, not entirely to the kids - they always have at least something to do with exhaustion, if we're being honest), but rather to a very delayed flight that found me and Clark stumbling home at almost 2am. "A flight?", you ask?  It's true! Clark and I spent a ridiculous whirlwind of a weekend in Ottawa, looking at pretty much every viable rental house we could find in the Kanata area.  Our hope, of course, was to secure a place to live when we move next month.

Juniper reads to Grandma and Linden

But let's back up, shall we? How did Clark and I find ourselves in Ottawa sans kids, perusing Kanata townhouses?  It all began with an offer from Grandma and Grandpa (Clark's dad and stepmom), who heroically drove down to the Cape and took on the challenge that is Juniper and Linden.  Meanwhile, Clark was already in Ottawa, putting in a couple of days of work with RBR, so I showed Bill and Barb the ins and outs of how to manage things around here, then hopped a plane myself.  It felt like a kind of crazy idea at the time, and involved more planning and logistics and money than you might imagine. We packed almost 15 viewings into a day and a bit, and were, on top of being completely exhausted by the whole endeavour, a little disappointed with the offerings.  

I got to meet Ruth for the first time!! (and tried unsuccessfully to be included in the selfie) 

The very last house we saw, however, right before heading off to the airport, was pretty much exactly what we want. It met our criteria (bright, close to Clark's work, enough space, a place for people to stay when they visit, a good fenced backyard); Juniper's criteria (she gets a room to herself, and the stairs aren't creaky); and when I figure out Linden's criterion (a big hole), then perhaps we can accommodate him as well. We have not officially signed a lease yet, but we are almost there, and I am actually pretty excited with the prospect of setting up in this new home. It was also amazing to have the opportunity to hang out with some of our dearest friends, with whom we will very shortly be sharing a city! 

Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa handled the kids like the pros that they are.  They even took some photographic and video footage so that I could share a bit of their weekend here.  The highlight, it would seem, was a road trip that they took to Skaket beach, on Cape Cod Bay.  The draw to this particular location was the huge chunks of sea ice that had washed ashore - a pretty unique occurrence, by all accounts.  I must say I'm a little jealous! Here are some photos:

And finally, a little video of the creative sliding that took place in the driveway!  If you want more videos, please don't forget to check out JuniperAndLinden.org.  Linden has some pretty sage pieces of wisdom for you all. 

The last full month

Sitting on top of the couch (not allowed); Juniper reading Magic Puppy to Linden (too cute to shut down)

 A full week of March has now passed us by, which is relatively unbelievable.  This is, you see, the last full month that we will be living in this beautiful little corner of the world we've called home for the last two and a half years. Everything is moving forward, and it seems to be happening incredibly fast.  With that in mind, I'll pause here and paint a little picture of life as it is right at this very moment.

Linden is much more serious than you'd think when it comes to trying Juniper's violin

Linden:

Linden has been coming up with some hilarious expressions and words, as you might expect a feisty 3-year old to do.  Some of them, however, have such a nice ring to them that we have stopped trying to correct him, and sometimes find ourselves using them.  In particular, he has found an excellent way to mark time.  It used to be that everything that happened in the past was "yesterday", and anything in the future was "tomorrow".  He has swapped these terms with the highly adaptable phrase "a few whiles".  For instance:

"Linden - where did you get this bruise?"
"I fell".
"When did that happen?"
"Oh, a few whiles ago".

or:

"I'm going on the train to Boston"
"No - we're going to the grocery store"
"I know.  I'm going to go on the train in a few whiles".

Another turn of phrase that has persisted for many, many months now is Linden's habit of  replacing to "laugh" with with "to be funny".  This is often said indignantly: "stop being funny at me!", or "Juniper was being funny at me, and it made me sad!", but can also be used as a request: "I'm going to tell a joke, and then you need to be funny at me, OK?"

Bright yellow lemons in a hand-made wave bowl

As anyone who interacts with Linden can attest, he is a real charmer.  This is, I have come to realise, a particularly important personality trait for a child who also has an unparalleled knack for inciting frustration.  Sometimes, he'll come up to me, touch my face, and say "I like you, mama".
"I LOVE you", I'll respond, and Linden will reply, "I love you too, but I also really like you. You're my special mama, and you make me happy".  Who can resist that without your heart melting?

He is also unusually generous with compliments, often letting you know that he is fond of your outfit.  "I like your dress - you look very fancy", he'll proclaim.  Or "those are great shoes.  They are a very nice colour brown".   Last night, he looked up at me at the table, and said "thank you for making dinner, mama.  The basagna is delicious".  This morning, he climbed into bed for a snuggle, and remarked, "I like your nose.  It is a beautiful nose".

So very devilish, and yet so very charming.  And ridiculously cute. This will undoubtedly spell disaster in about 10 years time.

Kea and Juniper skip through the group at folk dancing

Juniper:

Juniper has been singularly obsessed with her upcoming 6th birthday.  And by "upcoming" I mean a good half a year away.  She has big plans.  HUGE plans.  She talks about them daily, and they change at an alarmingly fast rate.  She has been through any number of themes, including ones you might expect (a princess party; a costume party), and others that clearly came from some deeper, more creative space (a "rainbow" party, where everyone comes dressed as a colour of the rainbow; or a "bug" party - I'm fuzzy on the details of this one).

Currently, she has decided on a "shop" party.  The idea came from the shop party that WHOI throws every year, so called because it is held in a gigantic machine shop (I blogged about it last December).  Juniper first wanted to find such a machine shop in Ottawa, and hold her birthday there.  She quickly amended these plans, however, when she realized that her new friend Ruth (who she has, incidentally, not yet met), would only be about 9 months old at that point, and that it might not be safe for her. So now, "shop party" has morphed into an event to be held at our (as yet theoretical) new house.  It will involve Clark building a play house in the back yard, and Juniper setting up a store, with food and other items for sale.  Guests at the party will be invited to buy items from this shop, each of which will range in price from 0.01$ to 0.09$ (Canadian). If Linden plays his cards right, it looks like he might be invited to work the cash register with Juniper.  I'll be very interested to see how this epic shindig actually shapes up in the end!

And with that, I will sign off for now.  There is one video to check out on this week's Juniper and Linden newscast - you can find it here.

Emerging from the gloom

Someone FINALLY got to touch the fiddle and take it home with her

Well, folks, I basically do not have any photo documentation from the week.  No one likes to read about sickness ad nauseum, so I'll spare you all the gritty details.  Suffice it to say that my flu turned into a sinus infection, Clark and Linden's into a cold, and Juniper's into a brief but uncomfortable ear infection.  So. We were clearly all a bunch of happy adventurous people this week.  I'm still only barely dragging myself through the day.

But I did want to post at least that one photo of Juniper and her fiddle, as she is so very excited to actually have it at home with her.  She is taking after school fiddle lessons, but the weather somehow managed to cancel them for 4 straight weeks in a row.  So this week was the first time she was able to get her fiddle.  It is adorable.

Oh!  And here is a photo from the S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) event at Juniper's school, which was actually quite fun.

Juniper shows off her paper plate car, which Clark helped build.  It actually moved across the floor! 

I also have a couple of videos to share on JuniperAndLinden.org: some live fiddling, and a piece on maps.  Take a look at them here.

Hopefully I'll have more to share next week!