Friday, June 29, 2012

Happy Canada Day Weekend

Canada Day weekend unofficially marks the beginning of summer (well that and Grand Prix weekend).

One of the things that officially makes it summer is lobster salad. Max has never been quite fond of live lobsters in the house (maybe something in a past life, I'm not sure), but he's always a little careful.



Either he's getting comfortable with them, or he kinda forgot they were there.


Good thing there is a band on his claw.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Happy First Day of Summer

Some scenes from my garden on this very hot (41C with humidity) first day of summer.





Monday, June 18, 2012

La Merceria

I'm trying to plan a little weekend trip to Toronto and someone recommended this Portuguese cafe, La Merceria, where they make their coffee with dulce de leche and hot chocolate with bars of chocolate.

I looked up their web site and they are so much more than just a cafe. Even their blog photographs are beautiful.





Sunday, June 17, 2012

Amazing

This is the beach dress I have been looking for, and surprise surprise they actually have a store in Montreal.



Friday, June 15, 2012

Happy Friday




It's a gorgeous day and will be a gorgeous weekend. Lots of gardening on the schedule.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

10 Things I want my 11-year old son to know


This originally appeared in the Huffington Post as 10 Things I Want my Daughter to Know Before She Turns 10. Reading it I thought with a little adaptation, it is equally pertinent for my 11 year old son. So here is my version. Enjoy!

Ten things I want my 11-year-old son to know:

1. It is not your job to keep the people you love happy.  Not me, not Daddy, not your friends.  I promise, it's not.  The hard truth is that you can't, anyway.

2. Your physical fearlessness is a strength. Please continue using your body in the world: run, jump, climb, throw.  I love watching you doing Kata in your karate class, or swinging proudly along a row of monkey bars, or climbing into the high branches of a tree.  There is both health and a sense of mastery in physical activity and challenges.

3. You should never be afraid to share your passions. You are sometimes embarrassed that you still like to play with toys, for example, and you worry that your friends will make fun of you.  Anyone who teases you for what you love to do is not a true friend.  This is hard to realize, but essential.

4. It is okay to disagree with me, and others. You are old enough to have a point of view, and I want to hear it.  So do those who love you.  Don't pick fights for the sake of it, of course, but when you really feel I'm wrong, please say so.  You have heard me say that you are right, and you've heard me apologize for my behavior or point of view when I realize they were wrong.  Your perspective is both valid and valuable.  Don't shy away from expressing it.

5. You are so very beautiful. Your face now holds the baby you were and the young man you are rapidly becoming.  I can see the clouds of society's beauty myth hovering, manifest in your own growing self-consciousness.  I beg of you not to lose sight with your own beauty, so much of which comes from the fact that your spirit runs so close to the surface.

6. Reading is essential.  It is the central leisure-time joy of my life, as you know.  I am immensely proud and pleased to see that you seem to share it.  That identification you feel with characters, that sense of slipping into another world, of getting lost there in the best possible way?  Those never go away.  Welcome.

7. You are not me. We are very alike, but you are your own person, entirely, completely, fully.  I know this, I promise, even when I lose sight of it.  I know that separation from me is one of the fundamental tasks of your adolescence, which I can see glinting over the horizon.  I dread it like ice in my stomach, that space, that distance, that essential cleaving, but I want you to know I know how vital it is.  I'm going to be here, no matter what.  The red string that ties us together will stretch.  I know it will.  And once the transition is accomplished there will be a new, even better closeness.  I know that too.

8. It is almost never about you. What I mean is that when people act in a way that hurts or makes you feel insecure, it is almost certainly about something happening inside of them, and not about you.  I struggle with this one mightily, and I have tried very, very hard never once to tell you you are being "too sensitive" or to "get over it" when you feel hurt.  Believe me, I know how feelings can slice your heart, even if your head knows otherwise.  But maybe, just maybe, it will help to remember that almost always other people are struggling with their own demons, even if they bump into you by accident.

9. There is no single person who can be your everything. Be very careful about bestowing this power on any one person.  I suspect you are trying to fill a gnawing loneliness, and if you are you inherited it from me.  That feeling, Woolf's "emptiness about the heart of life," is just part of the deal.  Trying to fill that ache with other people (or with anything else, like food, alcohol, numbing behaviors of a zillion sorts you don't even know of yet) is a lost cause, and nobody will be up to the task.  You will feel let down, and, worse, that loneliness will be there no matter what.  I'm learning to embrace it, to accept it as part of who I am.  I hope to help you do the same.

10. I am trying my best.  I know I'm not good enough and not the mother you deserve.  I am impatient and fallible and I raise my voice.  I am sorry.  I love you more than I love anyone else in the entire world and I always wish I could be better for you.  I'll admit I don't always love your behavior, and I'm quick to tell you that.  But every single day, I love you with every fiber of my being.  No matter what.


You can read the original post here.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Love these shoes

These shoes made me think of Cath and her love of Crocs. But these shoes by Native are way more comfortable, really rad, and made in Canada.