Luckybeans

Asher's Birthday Party

We had a party, oh yes we did. He invited a few friends, young and old to come and have a water party. They flung armfuls of bubbles and water balloons, swam in the pool and ran through the sprinklers.

And yes, there was cake.

Bella's Eyes

Bella has always had slightly odd eyes-- they remained that deep baby blue-grey until she was over a year old, and since then they have shifted between green and brown. Her left eye has always been greener, her right one browner, but usually I'm the only one who notices. Today at lunch, I started laughing they were so startling. It must have been the light today:

 

I wish I had a sister

I found this paper airplane covered in notes the girls had written to each other planning a meeting in the hide out when Ana's homework was finished. I wish I had a sister who would send me secret paper airplane notes from 12 meters over my head (just so you understand, there is a high stone wall at the back of our garden, with the hide out at the top part of it).

I played more dinosaurs and blocks with Asher. Not a bad consolation prize. I also met with his teachers yesterday to set targets and goals for him to achieve by January. Right now they are: learn to write the lowercase alphabet with correct formation and all letters facing the correct direction, learn twenty words by sight recognition, and strengthen his core muscles so his endurance can increase and he can make it through the day more easily. I am very grateful he has such wonderful teachers and support this year. I think he will do wonderfully. But maybe I am biased...

Busy People

So this weekend we hardly left the house, due to the afore-mentioned healing processes occurring. We did manage the following, however:

*invitations for one wee boy's splash and bounce sixth birthday party (handmade, quick and easy, using cardstock, a few round stickers, a few labels, and some glassine envelopes)

*three tadpoles collected for scrutiny

*swords drawn 

*jumping castles bounced on

*honeysuckle and queen of the night bouquets placed on the dining room table

*neglected quilt dug out and worked on. A bit.

*Asher completed his first comic book (Super Skinny and Fat T-Rex). I may have to scan that one in for posterity

*new petticoat for those slightly short but still favorite dresses

*Mary Poppins watched (not sure how they got this far without seeing it), with popcorn for supper

*lots and lots of dinosaur love. I picked up four unfinished wooden models from Michael's last time I was in Oregon for $1 each, and we painted those. They may not be as beautiful as the Holztiger ones, but we got to paint them our own colours, and they were a whole lot cheaper. Asher then had to carry on painting more dinosaurs on paper. And dressing up like one

*Ana walking around saying "Oh, flip!" nonstop. ? I don't know. I just observe

Healing

It has been a very busy weekend, and I will be back tomorrow with more on that, but for now the focus is on the most important thing we did: healing.

Asher finally rid himself of his fever, although a cough still lingers. And Bella has managed to rid herself of two styes. They started on Friday morning in one eye, and quickly spread to the other. She was miserable and feverish, and could hardly see. I was very hesitant to put her on antibiotics right away, so decided to see what we could do at home. And it worked beautifully. Today there is only minimal swelling in one eye, and no redness, pain or fever. For those of you who would like to know what we did (and also so I will remember this for next time) here was her regime:

1. Lots and lots of water.

2. Hot parsley compresses every two-three hours for fifteen minutes (a cloth dipped in parsley "tea" and kept warm).

3. Homeopathic remedy Hepar Sulph Calc (3 tablets at 30X, 4x/ day).

4. Rosehips and echinacea 2x/ day.

Styes, especially horrible angry ones like hers were, usually take a minimum of a week to clear, even with antibiotics. I don't know which part of our regime worked, or if it was a combination, but the healing was amazing. I wish I knew how to treat more things like this.

Keep well, and see you tomorrow.

Culture

I was thinking a lot about British culture this morning as my girls put their school bags in the boot, and commented on how it was almost cool enough for a jumper this morning. They speak "British English", go to school following the National Curriculum, and the majority of their teachers are direct imports.  Having lived in Canada for so many years, I am quite used to having the Queen on my postage stamps, her portrait up in the businesses, and can even sing "God Save the Queen" with the best of them. We watch the BBC for news and entertainment, drink tea and eat elevenses, and seem otherwise quite thoroughly indoctrinated. Which as all very odd as it is a country where we have never visited, let alone lived.

It all goes to show that none of us will ever have an easy time answering that "So where are you from?" question. And it does explain the funny accent which does not belong anywhere at all, but sounds Just Right in our living room.

Asher is slowly healing. We are going through the days at his pace-- wooden boats in the bath, coloring with Charlie and Lola, lemongrass tea, and plenty of snuggles...

Here we go again.

Asher has a virus which has left him moaning on the living room carpet for the past two days. He seems to be perking up this afternoon, though. Which is good. Because that boy can moan.

We just learned that Simon has to travel back to Oregon as part of the Homeland Security legislation regarding his Green Card for fingerprinting and iris scanning and other things which I swear they make up just to ensure that your life is as complicated as it possibly can be. Because you know, it is only a $2,000 trip around the globe. And hey, we are talking about a Highly Suspicious PhD-holding Canadian who is working on a Federally-funded project to educate African children. Married to an American with three American children. Who lived there for five years. Sure sets my alarm bells ringing.

Really, Feds? Really? 

I am not overly fond of Establishment and Bureaucracy. Case in point. 

Here's to the next week and a half of single parenting while I worry endlessly that he will be strung up somewhere in that bureaucratic web. He said he hopes the Portland jails serve salmon. Oh yeah.

Oh my.

We are home. It is hot and dry and dusty. The jacarandas are blooming, I am finding ants and spiders and poisonous centipedes in all the nooks and crannies of our house. The haze is so thick by mid-afternoon, we can not see the mountains. And slowly but surely, we are finding our routines again. The summer luxuries of late nights have given way to early bed times, the easy grocery shopping of North America is back to the endless market rounds... 

Ai Ana has started at the secondary school, and has found her place and friends. Bella has found Hannah, and they don't leave one another's side. Asher is still asking how many days he has been in year one for. He is struggling with his letters and numbers. He has a fantastic teacher, however, and will be getting lots of extra help to sort out exactly which way all of these characters should be facing.

So. Here we are. Enjoying puppet shows and mango popsicles on the veranda. Ready to go again.

Hello There

Sorry for the lack of posting. We are up on Vancouver Island with Simon's family and so many old friends. I would love to post BUT have recently changed computers and no longer have the editing software I need. So I am on complete holiday until I get back to Malawi in September. Hope you have as wonderful holiday as  I do. :)

Oregon Coast: Forest

It is a bit odd to go to the ocean and spend time in the forest. But not if you are from the Pacific Northwest. One of my very favourite things is the combined smell of salt spray and warm cedar. So of course we had to have a few little meanders among the trees when we could.

And before I forget (and I do want to remember), two rainbows we made from the tiny rocks that compose some stretches of beach. I found it amazing that so many colours can be found in this seemingly neutral sand.

A wonderful holiday, indeed. We were only away for a few days, but it certainly filled us up so well, we will keep going for a long while to come.