Cottage Life

The kids and I spent a couple of days last weekend with my aunt, uncle and cousin at a cottage that they rented in the Eastern Townships (about nintety minutes from Montreal).  It was a lovely place with all the modern amenities you could want but still only accessed by dirt road and within sight of a lake.  I was so lazy that I barely took any pictures but I did get a few.

Much fishing and crawfish hunting was done by my Drama Queen and cousin (almost 16)

Also much lounging with books and newspapers

There was even a bonfire with s'mores.....mmmmmm

There was plenty of bickering between Scout Boy and Drama Queen - sorry no pics of that; not a pretty thing - and three lost passports for my family who were flying out to Trinidad for their next posting this weekend.  Guess what they had to run around doing this week? 

It was a beautiful, if hot, weekend and certainly a nice break from the ordinary

Kat

Haiku

Between the heat/humidity we've been having and how insanely busy I've been with work, my brain has been in constant melt-down lately.  Because of the gooey state of my brain, I haven't been spending a lot of time online and (as you know) no time on my blog. 

I did discover something recently, though, that has caught my attention.  I was reading a book recently and the subject of haiku came up.  I Googled it and learned that haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that has some reference to one of the four seasons and seventeen syllables (three lines - 5, 7, 5).  When it is done in English, it tends to be far more flexible as far as content and can be humourous, sad, thoughtful, etc.

I've been doing a bit of experementing with it.  Okay, I'm a total amateur so please don't be too harsh.

First, with a season, just to be traditional:

Grass so green and long;
  Your scent surrounds my senses
like a summer dream.

I was watching a program about sharks on National Geographic channel when this one came along (I'll take inspiration whereever I can get it!!)

Oh mighty sun shark,
  with teeth so sharp and fatal;
King of his domain.

Both of the following are quite true depending on my mood.

Facebook and Twitter,
   always hungry and greedy;
suck away my time.

Facebook and Twitter,
   fascinating and social;
I give you my time.

My cousin's cat is staying with us for a while and my cat is definitely NOT appreciating this intruder.  I think that story will definitely be another blog post.

Two cats in my home
   circle each other, unsure.
Who is this stranger?

I continued that theme when I met someone online recently.

Who is this stranger?
    I know him only slightly;
will there be a spark?

We seem to have attracted some fruit flies here that have been making me bonkers! (another post?)

Fruit flies so tiny,
   buzzing around my poor head;
such a busy bug!

Okay ladies and gentlemen, if you think I'm lame try not to hurt my feelings.  If you think that this could be fun, show me what you've got.......haiku-wise, of course.  Anything else would be kind of wierd, you know.

Kat

Yes, I'm still alive!

Yeah, I know, I've been absent from the blog for a little while - okay over a month - but life has been getting in the way.  I have been incredibly busy at work and coming home exhausted.  Just the thought of spending time on the computer or even thinking has been too much for me.  I've even had to bring work home the last few weekends which so totally sucks! 

Luckily my kids are old enough to help out around here; not that they like to but.....well......too bad. 

The great news on the work-front is that we are moving in two weeks - yay!  My boss was fed up with paying other people's bills and has taken the leap to buying a space; the first floor of a condo building.  We'll have lots of storage space, ten indoor parking spots and full access to the small gym, swimming pool and hot tub.  The accounting section even has its own little kitchenette!  Woo hoo!!

Aside from work, this is, of course, the time of year where the winter activites wrap up for the year and the summer ones start to crank up.  Two weeks ago, we had the Scouting year-end BBQ/fishing night down by the lake.  The kids had a blast while their parents, exhausted from a long day at work, sat at picnic tables freezing their buns off in the cold wind off the lake.  Brrr!

This week it was the Girl Guide/Brownies/Sparks year-end dinner.  It was BBQ hot dogs and hamburgers but at least the dinner itself took place inside the community centre.  The girls sang cute songs, some awards were handed out, yada yada.  You know the story, these dinners are the same whereever you go.  Like at the Scout dinner, though, the girls had fun so it's all good.

At the same time, soccer season is starting this week and there is some big news there.  Stinky (my ex) is coaching our daughter's team!!  He substituted once for her coach last year and got the "bug".  The girls had a lot of fun with him; probably because he's not much more than a big kid himself.  This should be an interesting summer!

My one piece of sad news is that I have finally made the decision to scrap my car.  I love that old girl (13 years old) but just can't justify the investment that she needs to keep going.  This car has chauffeured my kids everywhere, carried hundreds of loads of groceries, soccer stuff, camp gear; you name it, this car has carried it.  When I took this last picture, it was early morning and the rising sun actually made her look good, hiding the rust and scratches pretty well.  Good-bye my beautiful old Buick, I'll miss you.

Kat

Snakes and Boys

I was reading a new post by Wendy at Are You Breathing (http://www.areyoubreathing.com/2011/04/carmel-valley-california.html) about a visit to a friend of theirs who is a vet with quite a collection of reptiles.  The pictures of her boys' fascination with the snakes reminded me of a story of my own.

Yes, I am occasionally inspired by other blogs that I read.  After all, aren't we all here to connect with and inspire each other?

When Scout Boy was five he went to the birthday party of one of his kindergarten classmates.  This was one of his first parties so he was still at the stage where he wanted me to stay.  There were several other parents that stayed too so that was fine.

(Now, at twelve, he would die a million deaths if I ever stayed at a party.....sigh)

This party took place at their house with video games, a movie, plenty of goodies......you know, the usual.  The unusual part is that they had this huge snake that might as well have been twenty feet long for the chills that it sent up my spine but, in reality, was probably only about two or three feet long.  (Un)Fortunately, the birthday party happened to fall on the day that the snake was due for a feeding so this became a party activity.

The mom took a frozen mouse out and warmed it in the microwave.  Thank goodness it wasn't alive or I might have puked on my shoes!  Once it was ready, she put the snake in an aquarium on the coffee table and called the boys up from the basement.  She told them what she was doing, arranged them on the floor in a circle around the table and put the mouse in the tank.

You have never seen a dozen five/six year old boys THAT quiet for THAT long....... EVER!  They kneeled in around that tank with open-mouthed, wide-eyed fascination for the entire time that it took for the snake to take in that mouse.  Most of us parents sat far back, watching from a distance.  Our stomachs are obviously far more delicate than our offsprings'.

When it was done, my beautiful boy, grinning from ear to ear, eyes shining, came running over to me and said "Mommy, Mommy, it ate the BUM last"  followed by a fit of giggles

((SHUDDER))

Kat