We wanted to stay in her old house, which is now passing on to my great uncle, but sadly, he is, to be frank, an ass, and came up with an excuse for us not being allowed to stay in the old house. I feel a bit of sadness at that, since there are many childhood memories from that old farmhouse (my sister and I loved the layout of that house, so different from modern ones, and we loved playing in it!). But my mother, who has so, so many more memories attached to it feels the loss of it more accutely.
What I want to do is hike on the land there, even if we can't go into the house. It's on a lot with acres upon acres of forest, stretching right up to the top of a mountain! There are deer and moose, and bear and wolves on that land.
We've been searching for hotels, trying to find ones that open early enough (it seems many of them open for the season a few days after we're due to arrive...), and just trying to figure all of the logistics out...
There's been a rather melancholy and stressed feeling in our house the last couple of days. We leave in a week from today. And I have this horrible feeling that this is the last time for a very long time that I'm going to be in Gaspé. I hope this feeling isn't accurate. Even though it's been so many years, I love that place, that land, deeply. I want to stay longer than just a few days when we head up there, even though we could only really extend things a couple more days anyway, since we have commitments back home.
I just keep thinking of the place, though. The sights, smells, sounds...
These photos were taken by my mother when she went to Gaspé with my grandmother in 2007. I wish I had any photos I've taken there, but at age 11, I wasn't into photography at all! The only images I have are the blurry ones in my head...
Despite the reason we're heading up there, I'm really looking foward to this trip. I hope we can stay as long as possible. I'll have my camera with me, and I'm greatly looking forward to having tons of photos of this beautiful place.
Now if we can only find a place to stay, and get through the funeral and memorial service, as well as whatever family drama often comes along with such things... *Sighs*
Yesterday, my mother and I went for a walk. I took my camera. It was a truly lovely day!
We saw new shoots emerging...
Leaves unfurling...
Plants growing everywhere...
The sun shining on old rosehips and new buds.
The sun made everything bright and hazy to my camera lense.
We wondered what was wrong with these berries, that the birds never ate them in the Fall!
It was a windy day, and the water was curling into small waves as it hit the shore.
I love the pattern of branches on sky.
New buds on windblown branches.
The moon in a bright blue sky.
This bird, a Mourning Dove, sits on the wire outside our house almost every day, singing her sweet, melancholy song...
When I don't spend time outside every day, I feel like I'm not living life properly. Yet at the same time, taking walks often saddens me. So much development, pavement, cars, and lonely patches of bedraggled woods. Things aren't the way they're supposed to be. But a sunny day is still beautiful...
So, on the night of the 15th, the night before my birthday, I was rather surprised to find that, as I curled up in bed, the thought drifted through my head that tomorrow was my Birthday, and all I felt was a faint glow of happiness.
On my birthday, the 16th of March, I woke up to a truly glorious day! Bright sunshine, and record breaking warm temperatures! How could I not be cheerful? I danced around the house with the sunlight streaming through the windows, and even when I woke my sister and we had a bit of a disagreement, it passed quickly and the day continued in it's joyous flow... Our cat Henry was being cute and playful, so I just had to pull out my camera to take pictures, and then Emi curled up with him for a little while on my bed...
My mother came back with food for the full breakfast I'd requested, and even though it was past 1:00 by then, and she couldn't find every ingredient on my list, it worked out wonderfully. I've found that when I let go of expectations of perfection, things often work out as well or better than I'd originally imagined! So we had a lovely late meal of vegetarian sausage with fried onions, spiced potatoes, scrambled eggs, good baguette, and sushi. My mother, sister, and I ate together in the light filled kitchen. 'Twas good.
Once we didn't feel quite as stuffed, Emi and I headed out for a rambling walk. There were birds singing, we saw a bluejay, and a bug of some sort flew over our heads. We also saw (and heard) a flock of geese coming back for the Summer as they flew by. The ground was even dry enough in a local park that we could sit comfortably under a couple of trees and just talk... I was thrilled that I was perfectly comfortable wearing just a light sweater! Really though, these words don't seem an accurate description of that sunny day. How do you put down on a page or screen the cry of a mourning dove as it sits on the wire in front of our house? Or the raggedy V of a flock of geese, the way their wings move? Or the precise way the light and shadows fall under three evergreen trees in an empty park? I wish I had pictures, to help, at least a bit, in showing the absolute beauty of the day, but my camera is so big and heavy, and I was feeling so light and unencumbered that I didn't want to drag it along.
I'd originally hoped to have homemade pizza for supper, and we'd originally wanted to get out early to pick a cake, since in our family, it's a tradition to get everyone a cake from this amazing bakery, Premiere Moisson, on their birthdays. Those cakes are not cheap, so we can't get them often, but everyone deserves one on their birthday!! Now, we never got the homemade pizza made, and we hadn't gotten the cake yet by the time my father arrived home, so my father, sister and I headed out to pick up both a cake and a pizza. We drove along, car windows open, laughing and talking. It was still gorgeously sunny, despite the fact the sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon...
At home we had supper, with much talking and laughing once again, and followed our supper with my birthday cake and a bottle of good dessert wine. Yummy.
Of course, by the time we were done our leisurely meal, it was dark out, and I was longing to head outside again. So Emi and I sat on the front steps, with a candle and a bit of sage to burn, and just soaked up the beauty of the nighttime... Throughout the Summer, I spend a lot of time outside after dark. It was such a joy that it was warm enough to do so on my birthday without freezing!!
We finally finished the day with playing some Kingdom Hearts (I should mention at this point that I NEVER play video games, usually, but that I decided, without any coercion, to play Kingdom Hearts with Emi, and that I've actually been enjoying it!), singing some songs from our favorite song book, talking for a bit in that stillness unique to past 1:00 at night, before finally going to sleep...
Despite all my stressing about turning 19, and I'm still not thrilled with the age, I had a good Birthday.
So, in case you couldn't guess, I'm home!! I had a really great week, spent time with many truly wonderful people, and took way too few pictures. But I'll do my best to tell the story with only a few shots...
Last Saturday, we headed off toward Pittsburgh, to stay with a family we met at last years UWWG. We were originally supposed to arrive much earlier, but by the time we actually got there it was midnight, and by the time we all stopped talking and hanging out in favour of bed, it was pat 3:00 am! Emi, mum and I were thrilled to find out that not only were Jody, Bethany, Timmy, & Sam awesome people, they were also just as much night owls as we are. *Grins* The time we spent with the Hagensen's was great, and involved lots of conversations around the table in the sunny kitchen, about a variety of topics. I love how with unschoolers, age matters so much less. Between our two families, there were ages 9, 15, 16, 18, 18, and parents (I don't think they'd be thrilled if I tried to add their ages as well... ;-)), and all of us would happily sit around talking to each other... That just makes me really happy. As do the Hagensen's.♥ I really hope I get to see all of them again soon!
Here are Sam, Emi, and Timmy playing Smash Bros on Nintendo...
Their adorable, fluffy, crazy, cat.
Isn't he cute?
On Monday, we headed to the Kalahari, for the third annual Unschoolers Winter Waterpark Gathering! We took Timmy along for the ride, since his family was leaving a bit later in the day, and he wanted to have as much time as possible there! On the way, we spotted the official Girls Gone Wild bus. Seriously. We found that hilarious!
Yeah, I know you can hardly see it. But trust me, that's what it was!
The first night there I was sooo tired I nearly fell asleep in John Taylor Gatto's keynote address! That first day though, it struck me how very different it was for me just a year from my first unschooling conference. I knew SO MANY PEOPLE! I could barely take two steps without running into someone to hug hello, chat with, or just enthusiastically wave hi to. I was even greeted by a lovely gift in one case. It was a truly great feeling. ♥
The next day, I attended John Taylor Gatto's workshop. I find what he has to say very interesting, though I don't agree with all of it. He's very Libertarian, and I'm definitely not, so I found myself feeling uncomfortable with some of the surrounding assumptions and beliefs in many of his statements. Regardless, I really enjoyed his talk, and found that he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Not arrogant at all, and very friendly.
It's blurry, but that's him!
The conference centre was filled with hoards of happy teenagers...
People with interesting clothing...
And cheerful goofing off.
I enjoyed myself, spending time in the waterpark and in the conference centre, with teens and with parents... Sadly, since I'm the photographer here, I have no pictures of me having fun! *Grins*
We also had the great pleasure of seeing the world premiere of the short documentary about Not Back To School Camp! This film is seriously, absolutely and completely, AMAZING. It captures so perfectly what NBTSC *is*. I love it. ♥ Both Emi and I can also be glimpsed in several scenes... I highly suggest you watch it now!!
On Wednesday there was a marketplace, complete with advertisers!
Emi was very happy with the stuff she sold, and felt she got a good idea of what sold well and what didn't, what price ranges worked, and similar useful info. She also met some very kind and helpful people, who shared their experiences with both selling handmade items and traveling.
A friend kept her company while she sold her Creations...
Emi introduced one of her favorite games, Werewolves, to her friends, and they played some pretty intense rounds, or at least so I've heard...
Apparently playing Werewolves is much more fun than dancing. ;-)
You know, I really don't have all that much to say. I hung out with awesome people, had lots of cool conversations, played in the waterpark, went to a couple of talks... Of course, that's a lot of stuff. But at the moment, I don't really feel equipped to elaborate on all of that! So I'll just say that I had a good time. Oh, I did also get to meet a few blogging and Twitter peeps whom I hadn't met before, which was cool, and got to know some people whom I'd only met briefly at earlier conferences and gatherings, which was also great!
On Friday, we left the Kalahari, with much sadness. After an unschooling gathering, home seems pretty lonely... I really want to make sure that I keep in touch with people this year!
But anyway, we left the Kalahari and headed to my grandfathers, whom I haven't seen in several years. I was a bit nervous about seeing my granddad and step-grandma, honestly. Having had only brief phone calls for the last few years, it felt a bit strange to be visiting. But I'm really, really glad we did! It was really great to see them, and I was a rather sad when it was time to leave the next day.
My step-grandmother and my grandfather, with their adorable but VERY yappy little doggy.
Me, my grandfather, and Emi.
Then, on Saturday, we came home. It's always surreal coming back home after being away. The tap works the same way, the dishes are all in the right spots, and the bed is in the same state of dissaray it was when I last saw it, yet it all seems different somehow...
I should mention that the Tuesday we were away, we got some bad news. My great-grandmother, Eileen Boyle Caputo, passed away at age 99 on the day we left, Saturday the 6th of February. I wasn't very close to her, having only known her in her later years, but my mom was, and it hit her hardest. I don't think any of us really thought she was going to die soon. She always seemed like the Energizer bunny: you just expected her to keep going forever!
So I will leave things at that for now... I hope everyone had a great week, and there are, as there often are, several post ideas bouncing around in my head, that will hopefully turn into actual posts soon!
Wow, it seems strange that Christmas is over already! So much preparation and excitement and stress, then the whole damn thing is over in a flash.
Before going into anything else, I should mention that we had a very cute and fluffy guest staying with us over the holidays. A friend of my moms was getting a puppy for Christmas (in case you were wondering, I'm not going to go into all the warning bells the whole *puppy for Christmas* thing rings in my head) , but needed someone to look after him on Christmas eve, and deliver him on Christmas day. I was very happy to volunteer!! He's a seven week old Labradoodle (Labrador Poodle cross), and let me tell you, this dog is sooooooo fricken' cute! He's sweet, friendly, intelligent, cuddly, mischievous, and a whole butt-load of trouble. No, I did not get attached to him AT ALL! *Shifty eyes* But seriously, having your head attacked and your ear chewed on first thing in the morning by an enthusiastic puppy, thrilled by the fact you've just woken up, is an experience that I think everyone should have! ;-) So, for your viewing pleasure, I give you a sampling of pictures (I took a bunch) of our adorable visitor.
See?? I said he's adorable!! But moving on.
On Christmas Eve, we spent time with my father's side of the family. I didn't take many pictures, I'm afraid... My dad did take this one, however: a mostly complete, if rather blurry, group picture. ;-)
I love how virtually no one is actually looking at the camera! The evening passed very fast, and I was quite happy to get a couple of lovely photography books, a huge vegan cookbook called the Veganomicon, and the Chumbawamba CD I've been wanting (I'm also quite happy to say that after hearing a few songs, Emi gave it her seal of approval, which means I can play it without having to get into an argument abut playing it first! Yay!! ;-P).
Christmas day, we woke up quite late, and procceeded, after many delays and much stumbling slowly around, to open our stockings and the rest of our gifts.
Then it was time to deliver the puppy (we called him Little Guy since he didn't have a name yet), and head to my grandmother's (on my moms side of the family) for Christmas dinner. In some ways, I was very sad to see Little Guy go. We bonded the most out of my family, he slept on my bed, slept in my lap, played with me, and chewed on my ear. But in other ways, I wasn't so sad. No more constantly following him around and prying inedible things out of his mouth; no more keeping him away from Winston, who did NOT like him; no more remembering to bring him outside every hour so he wouldn't pee on the floor; no more struggling to get his needle-sharp teeth out of my favourite knit sweater... You get the idea. ;-)
At my grandma's house, we had a lovely meal, then I took a few pictures.
I especially enjoyed taking pictures of the blooming tea we made:
...And now here I am today: tired, draggy, and with a small heap of presents.
In case you were wondering what happened to the zine, well, days ago an intelligent person on Twitter suggested I just wait until after Christmas. No, I protested, it's nearly done, I can do it! However, I discovered that that close to Christmas, I had to choose between working on the zine and spending time with friends and family, and, well, the latter won. So I'm left instead with a new self-imposed deadline: to get the zine out before the new year. I'm kind of upset I didn't get it out when I'd originally planned to, but, well, life happens!
I hope that everyone had a simply fantastic holiday!!
