Beanie-op-olous

I had a sisterly treat this week. Bethany and I have been talking about her coming to visit me and on Wednesday morning she called to say that she could come that day. I met her and Ben in Kamloops (after some typically Clarke anxious moments...). So she arrived Wednesday evening and was here until Friday early afternoon. But we did at least a weeks worth of stuff in that time.
My favourite thing was her sitting down to the kitchen table shortly after she got here and saying, "so, what shall we make?" We tried a new recipe out of the Simply In Season cookbook I perpetually have out of the library - delicious sweet potato quesadillas and some samosoa quesadillas. It was very fun to cook together, I have to say!

The next day we spent the day visiting, reading and knitting up at the ski hill and didn't get home until dinner time, our day was far from over. We rented "PS I Love You" - a very satisfying chick flick (everyone around here is much too cool to watch one of those kinds of movies with me - one needs a sister for these things!). And while we watched, we made a simple baby quilt. Bethany luckily found fabric that she liked in my stash. We started and finished the entire thing that evening! This is how my 'studio' came to look like this. Bethany will want me to say that she did not make this mess personally but I will add, that somehow it happened while she was here... And she will also want me to say that before she left, it was restored to its former level of tidiness. Here is the proud Bean with her first baby blanket.

We took a break mid blanket to make a dessert that Beth had seen on a cooking show. It involved tortillas and the apple pie filling that I made from my own apples in the fall and some sweetened condensed milk that had been boiled for 2 hours in the can. They were absolutely delicious! So good that Dean and Rhiannon made more for breakfast the next day.

Early on Friday morning she made me this springy new skin which I love.

In the midst of all that crafty and cooking goodness there was some piano music. Some was solo Bean music and then there were duets and improvising with a certain young niece. I will leave you with a sample of their music.

Sweetness

Sweet. That is how I would describe the 10 day visit of my youngest sister. The days were sweet and easy and the time with her was sweet and that is how I would describe her - very sweet.

It is strange to have a sister 21 years younger. Six months older than my own daughter. Funny, that! My daughter who thinks I am unbearably strange and weird (although I think there is some strange pride as she delights in telling all her friends how weird I am) but makes a point in NOT being interested in my life; and then my sister of the same age who is so interested! We have never lived in the same house. And due to a few reasons which I won't go into here, she grew up without knowing me. And I missed out on her growing up. What a gift she gave me with this 10 day visit.

It was really so easy to have her here. We are interested in so many of the same things. We had great philosophical discussions and the sharing of good books read, long bike rides and lots of lake time. Rhiannon was especially in heaven. Here is an aunt who is totally on the same page - loves to read, draw, make music and swim! I must admit, the house seems particularly quiet without her beautiful, emotional piano playing. We all loved hearing her play. She seemed happy to spend hours teaching and playing her adoring niece different duets.

Here are some photographic highlights:

A bonus of having her here is that she drew her twin down for an action packed day. See proof - both 'fubs checking out my sheep! And at Jade Bay taking in some rays and spending some mermaid time. And I swear, Ben is the only person I know who can create a wake on a floaty!





We did lots with the three of us (actually 5 if you count Zeus and Jodi). Here we are for a picnic supper down at Cosen's Bay. Too cold for me to go in but nothing kept these two mermaids out!











Here we are on Friday night for a picnic supper of samosas from the farmer's market at Ellison Beach on Okanagan Lake. Too bad it was so windy! But we still had fun. We had an adventure of a rolling water bottle that took half an hour to find!







And here we are at the bay at Ellison, trying to get a group shot. Amy has a theory that some pictures are so bad, it is just wrong to delete them. Our attempts at a group shot were rather comical. The first time, we tried to run on the rocky beach without any kind of footwear and didn't make it in time for the picture. Next I accidentally set it on 2 seconds instead of 2 pictures so we have the big butt/little butt pic. We almost got it the second time and finally we did get it the way we wanted to. Rhiannon wanted us to put our arms up.






























Here is a photo just before our last long bike ride.

I miss her. Its hard to think that after such a sweet visit, she is moving so very far away:( to Nova Scotia. But I have always wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean...

Thanks Amy for so kindly sharing yourself with me and my family!

Why I Do It

Well, after starting our window washing business in March of 2005 as a way of funding our 'creative' lifestyle, we now have almost 500 customers. I got almost all of those customers by going door to door with my little yellow cards that I give to those who answer the door and leave in the door of those who don't. There are thousands of them out in Vernon, Coldstream and Lavington. This last year, I didn't have to canvas much - our regular customers kept us busy enough. They kept us going full blast right into the first week of December. But now, to keep the home fires burning, I need to brave the cold and get out there and canvas.

Some would think this could be demoralizing and shameful for me to do. But the truth is, I don't mind going door to door. I'm the daughter of a top salesman, after all. I enjoy the walk and being outside and I am not doing a 'hard sell'. Either you are interested in having your windows washed or you are not. And the no's don't bother me. My spiel takes less than 30 seconds. I am usually in a pretty good mood while I am out there doing it.

Yesterday I was reminded of exactly why I do it. I was walking down East Hill heading from violin lessons to the homeschooler's skate at the rec centre. In front of my was my 14 year old son, handsome and tall, who had just picked up my backpack and shouldered it himself without me suggesting. Beside him was my 7 year old daughter, happy and excited to go skating, running ahead of me to keep up with her brother. They come to a street to cross. They don't wait for me, (I am now more than half a block behind). She just reaches up and takes his hand and they cross together.

This is why I do it. So that they can have this moment together and so I can be hear to see it. It's all worth it and I am filled with gratitude at this great blessing - for my whole life - my wonderful friends, my children, my husband, our home and lifestyle and how it all comes together. For this I would canvas every single night... luckily I don't have to.

Holidays

Rather unusual for us, we had company for 16 days straight. So it feels rather like we have been on holidays for 2 weeks.

First Martha came, my sweet, beautiful, little sister. It was so nice having her here - great talks, walks to Friesens for treats, laughing and beaching. She was here for 10 days - left the day after my birthday. She got to meet my closest friends here in Vernon and come out for my awesome birthday dinner. It was just so good to be near her, to hug her and to spend time with her.


Then, the day after she left, Ronni and Megan arrived from Calgary. The Okanagan put on its finest hot days. I have been so blessed with great friends. Just to hang with Ronni puts my life in a certain perspective. She has known me since Kaetlyn was 4 months old. We met at church serving in Young Women's. It was a funny beginning. There were 3 of us and our other friend, was always worried that we didn't like each other and so we each thought that we the other didn't like the other (if that makes sense). Finally one day as we were running errands together (picking up field hockey equipment for some activity, if I recall correctly), I got up the courage to ask her why she didn't like me. And we have been fast friends ever since. She moved away from Winnipeg and introduced me to e-mail in its very early days. We wrote long e-mails to each other. I saw her through a bad relationship and she saw me through the end of my marriage. She knows about everything there is to know about me.... and she even loves me anyways! She has been such a gift to me. I love the continuity of our friendship and how we are embedded in each other's lives.

And so we holidayed together - it's become our tradition the last couple of years. She comes here at the beginning of the summer and we go there at the end. So this last week we went almost every day to the beach, we went to the water slides, ate ice cream at the Garden Parlour, went out to Alexander's and talked and talked and talked, took the girls out to BP in their fancy dresses and talked and talked and talked.

I miss her....

A Treat!

Well, I had such a treat this week! On Monday I got a call from Jordan asking if he could come that night and stay at my house as he had some work to do in Kelowna and Vernon and bring Sarah and Adriel, too! Well, of course I said YES! And so they blew into town and into our home. It was just so nice having them here and getting to see Adriel. I don't know if I ever met such a happy baby!? He never cried not even once, the whole time he was here. He is so smiley and talkative! Thank you so much, Sarah, for bringing him to see me!

For me, my siblings are divided in half. There is the first half that goes down to Laura. With them I had normal sibling relationships - we fought and we played and they bugged me and I bossed them and we got on each other's nerves. Then, after a 3 year break, came Jordan just before I turned 12. And it was different. He was just so sweet and cute and he never bugged me or got on my nerves. I can remember holding his little hand in mine as we went for walks. I thought he was the cutest, sweetest boy ever and it is true that I was not all that keen on Martha's arrival as how could anyone possibly beat the sweet cuteness of Jordan? But of course, Martha was sweet and cute and I loved her and then there was Evan who I adored like my own child. I used to send them little presents of balloons and pencils from BYU when I went and I missed them terribly. And then when I lived in Richmond, I used to have them over for sleep overs. And they were just so much fun. Really I have never minded being the biggest sister to so many siblings. They are each so lovable in their own way, I truly wouldn't trade any of them in for any other experience.

So it was so fun to have Sarah and Jordan here - having a sleep over after soooo many years. All grown up and handsome and beautiful. I dragged out old pictures they made me and the chunks of wood that Jordan nailed into a plane and gave to me and I am sure I bored them with all my reminiscing and talking about who looks like who. But they graciously indulged me.

What a treat!