Today my kids are having fun playing carefully with my old doll house furniture from Holland. Their Calico Critters have never had it so good! Here are some pictures of their adventures…
Calico’s Get Fancy
Category: Photos
Earthbound
Tonight my Dad and I were having
one of those great philosophical conversations
over dinner, salad dressing with fresh garlic
and ideas full of flavour
We talked about Pope Francis’ words
about the earth our sister, our mother, our home
Dad remembered the story of the first astronaut
who spent 4 hours out in space
two circles around the earth
and came home sick and depressed
away from the earth’s heartbeat
the electromagnetic pulse all we require to stay alive
Now spacesuits have this little beat built in
the heart of our home
pulsing close to her children in space
As for me, I have no desire to see
the outside of my mother’s womb
the shining blue roundness of the earth
gleaming against the blackness of space
I am happy to be a child of the earth
bare feet on the dirt
toes in the grass
A humble creature made of dust
and living among the flowers
I know, without seeing the stars up close
that I’ve got a spark of that eternal fire within me
My soul travels to realms afar
within the confines of this blue egg
this delicate haven of life
in the blackness
I have no desire to leave my mother’s house
until I travel to see my Father
A journey without fear
a coming home from home
a further blossoming
into Life.
Boys are like puppies…
Puppies need lots and lots of affection.
Puppies love to nap. 
Puppies like to play with other animals.
Puppies love treats and getting messy.
Puppies enjoy being taken for walks.
Puppies like to play on the floor.
Puppies delight in popping out of funny places like boxes. 
Puppies love big sticks.
If any of you are puppy owners, you’ll surely agree they are sweet, loyal and a little sticky, and make you feel very, very loved!
We woke up on Mars…
This summer morning we woke to the strangest golden light emanating through the blinds…thick light and far brighter than it should have been for 8 am, but not in a usually perky morning sunshine kind of way…but heavy and strange.
We went outside to take a look. The clouds were oddly dark for the brightness of the air, and looked almost dirty, like a white blanket a kid had spilled juice on and then dragged through the sandbox. But the strangest of all was the sun. It was a perfectly round pink ball, and we could look right at it without hurting our eyes. My iPad couldn’t capture the huge, glowing pink eye in the sky…an apparition form Mordor!
“Maybe the moon stole all the light from the sun,” suggested my 5 year old. But when I looked up solar and lunar exclipses, nothing was reported. Maybe forest fires? Or maybe we really just woke up on Mars…and have become aliens in our sleep!
a little brush with beauty
In the rose petals
curled about the flower’s center
like hands cupped about a mystery
enclosing an invisible prayer
I find You, Lord
Whisper to me
and blow me a kiss
a little brush with with beauty
as I walk by
Sleepyhead
Nothing like an afternoon nap on a hot day…sleeping is the way to travel! 😉
It’s been a day for pink lemonade and ice cream, and painting pictures inside in our cool ground level suite, rather than in the blaring sun.
Hope you all sleep well this warm evening! We had a pre-bedtime splash in the kiddie pool and have the fans going….
…This brief weather-coping update is for the sake of aunties, grandmas and other relatives worried about their little peanuts roasting in the heat! 🙂
A Father’s Gentle Strength
Being a father is being strong enough
to sacrifice everything for those you love…
constantly giving your all for your family,
bearing your little ones up with the gentleness
of someone powerful enough
to put others before himself.
Having a father is knowing you are never alone—
that there is always someone to hold your hand
and walk with you through the paths of this life
and into eternity.
How blessed are my children to have a father like this!
Thank you God for creating men who know how to love like you.
Help me always remember why I fell in love with the man
who is the father of my children,
whose love for me has become flesh
and walks among us.
Light and Shadows
Warm sunlight sets this calla lily aglow amid the surrounding shadows…
…and in it’s simple beauty it reflects the strength of the sun, reaching into dark corners and gently illuminating them.
Eternal Echo
Look up into the sky
with its whispy clouds
caught in still life ballet
Let the vast expanse of its azure stage
enter your soul through your eyes
Don’t you find
an inexpressible longing within
an echo of the eternal?
Can you tell me
with conviction
that you weren’t meant for Heaven?
If you do, my brother, my sister
I won’t believe you,
because I see mirrored in your eyes
pieces of my own heart.
Trumpet Lilies Rejoice
Welcome summer! Beautiful, wonderful, summer… nothing like sunshine beaming through green leaves and white flower petals.
There is amazing strength and resilience in flowers…no matter what goes on around them, what hatred or anger floats about the air, they continue to be themselves. Delicate and beautiful.
They don’t grow spikes unless they are meant to or turn black when those around them are harsh…but continue to be ever the same…vulnerable perhaps but strong in their vulnerability, because they won’t be put off course. They follow the plan inscribed in their tiny cells, and become the gorgeous things they were meant to.
May we all learn from this to be ourselves, our best selves, no matter what happens around us to pull us down.
Just East Of Crazy Land 