Rainy weather

I tried to schedule this post, writing it at the beginning of the week.  With rain every day and night this week, I keep having to edit it to make sure that it's still true.  At one point I said that the rain did only good stuff for Edmonton.  With parts of the river valley underwater (including a few neighbourhoods), that isn't strictly true.  And with Yvon's office smelling of sewage and the drywall that may need replacing possibly containing asbestos, it's not true even in the north end of town, far from the river. 

This rainy weather has done a few good things for us.  That remains true. 


Here, it has swollen our river and overflowed it into a few neighbourhoods. 

Oh yeah.  The good stuff.  It has made our parkland lush and green.  It smells wonderful down in the river valley.

I have hardly had to think about whether or not the seeds would germinate.  God did the watering for me, and never too much.   (Although my carrots -- why, can't I grow carrots?  They are very sparse as usual. Next year I try the tip of covering the row with burlap during germination.)

Finding time between rain showers to weed is the tricky bit.  I spent hours on our sunny Saturday in the back yard.

And it has sprouted mushrooms.

These are growing where a boulevard tree once stood in our yard.  They popped up almost overnight.

Does anyone know if they are edible?  They are so big and meaty looking.  I'd love to throw some in soup or on a grill. 

And now the rain can stop, or just fall every few nights.  The chicken run needs time to dry out, I need to find some dry soil for them to dustbathe, the back yard smells like a farm, the weeds and grass are finding time to grow but not dry out long enough to cut them back, the grass clippings I spread as mulch smells of sewage and needs time to dry, blah blah blah whine whine whine (and yes, I'd love some cheese with my whine, thank you!).

And isn't it time to go camping?   Without fear of being rained out?  I think so.

The last day ever

Today Yvon and I walked to school.  A child got off her bike to give me a hug.  Who was she?  It doesn't really matter, I guess.  It felt good and she seemed to know me (maybe from a field trip?).  

This was the last day ever at this elementary school.  Will random little girls ever give me hugs at the K-9 school next year?  Unlikely, I think, and I'll miss it a lot.  We'll still see it daily through our kitchen window, and hear the kids playing in the field, but we won't be part of it anymore.  The end of an era.

Miss Alice walked away with the Academic Excellence Award, Excellent Effort Award, and the coveted Art Awart for her class. 

Alice is moving on the French Immersion school next year to join her big sisters.  What this also means is that Yvon and I will no longer be a part of their school council.  After 9 years, we are free to do something else on that Tuesday evening.  Maybe we'll go shopping at Chapters with our new gift certificates and spent some quiet evenings reading.

It's also the end of the year for Beth and Laura.  They celebrate the end of school differently, and with fewer fears and tears.  

It means burning your notes.

Much less emotional and it relieves the stress of finals.  And those French notes look so pretty as they burn.

Father's Day love

The girls put together a basket of gifts for Yvon.  Gluten free snacks, a t-shirt.  Alice still hasn't finished her art project at school.  The days are numbered for that now!

My favourites were these.

You'll notice that the girl has outgrown her father in this picture.  Not a reality at the moment, but it may very well be the case soon.

The week before Father's Day, Yvon had bought some interesting beers which ruined the girls' plan somewhat.  So Laura decorated some of his bottles and re-gifted them!

I love their creativity.

Back to Film

A couple of years ago, Beth and a friend found two old Polaroid cameras in the basement of a cottage they had purchased prefurnished.  They each brought one home because they were cool pieces of retro technology.  Art in itself. 

But look what we discovered.

It works!  It's functional, retro art!

Amazon sells one pack of 10 instant prints for $30.  $3/picture!  You can see why digital will not be replaced around here, but if you really buy into it, you can get 100 prints for $80.  I'd love to play with some black and white.

Cool, eh?

June in bullets

• Garden in.
• School almost done.
• Carrots reseeded.
• Gate ready to be installed.  Need new fence post.
• Bag of concrete solidified by rainfall.
• Lawn mower broken.
• Awards Night attended.  (French Language award!  Honours after only 2 years! Band Award! - my academic superstar)
• Final band concert attended.
• Choir alumni practiced and sang yesterday (45 member church choir singing only our own director's compositions - Awesome!!)
• Joined search committee for new choir director.
• Started next year's fundraising plan for Laura's Quebec trip.
• Said goodbye to elementary school parent council.
• Worked 20-30 hours per week.
• Painted the swing set.  Ready for bean pole strings.
• Piano recital attended.
• Father's Day celebrated.
• Quit community league executive.  
• Rode my bike to work and church - once.  :-(  Need to get back on that horse.
• Kept my family in food and clothing.
• Drove kids everywhere.  Glad to see the annual end to Guides, band, choir.
• Got the final tally for Quebec trip fundraising.  Only paid $80 out of $2100!!  Yay to the grocery card sales and everyone who bought the $35,000 of cards we sold!  Thank you!

It's all a blur and now it's back to work.  I'll be better about blogging and taking pictures in July.  I'm so ready for a summer holiday.