Visit to the Island

We are missing our island home and it's environment, so we decided it was time for a paddle over and have a walk through the forest to the studio and then onto the beach and rocks all around the island.

Lief walked most of the ways and climbed the rock, discovered deer bones and walked on the dock at the other side of the island.

It was wonderful and made us appreciate the island surroundings even more. It stilled our longing, just for a little while...

Knitting in the sun

Oh this has been so wonderful! Today there were beautiful blue skies and we basked in the sun. The little sage was soaking it up, just like me! During the afternoon naps of my sons, I was able to get some knitting in and finish a little neckwrap, yeah... Here's my little stash of neckwraps and beanies so far:

Beach walk treasures

We seem to be finding some odd treasures along the beach these days. On our last beach walk we found this moss covered chair tucked away in the bushes and of course we had to inspect it closer: I'm enjoying the light on these walks, it's like it's autumn, low sun, warm colours, but also beautiful greys. Wish I could go to the studio to explore these with paint. Oh well, for now photography has to do the trick...

Party time

This morning was A`s birthday party, which was so much fun. A`s mom and dad had planned many fun games involving music and balloonsWhen it was time for the cake, L. thought nobody was looking and he could get first dips... Someone managed to stop him so that A. could blow out the candles on an untouched cake, while a very attentive audience was anticipating their first bite....

Happy third birthday, girl!

Sun and Ice

We've had some amazing weather these past days and enjoyed going for walks on the beach. When the tide withdrew, it left behind a layer of ice on the seaweed, rocks and mudflats, which is much fun to explore.

Little S. slept through it all: L. likes to grab a handful of ice:

And then explore it further in his mouth...:

Horse for St. George the knight

For Christmas I gave my son L. a knight, created by my friend Anna. We called him St. George, after the knight in the book 'The Reluctant Dragon'. Of course a knight needs to have a horse to fight dragons, so I pulled myself together and started working. As I still get up twice a night, sometimes even three times, to feed little S. it's hard to keep my eyes open at night, but with little bits here and there I managed to get the horse ready: It turned out a bit crooked, but it has character, and L. loves it and that's the main thing.

Snowy start of 2009

To our surprise we have had a very white holiday season. These are part of Canada, but because of their location in the ocean we usually don't have a very white winter, more a grey and wet winter. It was a treat to look out of the window and find this magical white wonderland had all of a sudden surrounded our house: L. explored the ice and snow, he jumped on little pools of ice when it first formed, he slid on the frozen lake, he tried out a tobaggan with a friend, made a snow angel but refused to make a snow man.

Wishing everyone a very happy, healthy and inspiring new year!