August 14, 2006
I'm calling you from some upgraded hell
Good news: I've upgraded my Moveable Type. You won't see much of a change, but it looks great from this end.
Bad news: You no longer have the ability to post comments.
*commence freakout*
WHAT HAVE I DOOOOOOONE!!!!?@?@?
Edited to add: I've just made it worse. I didn't think it was possible.
Posted by andrea at 8:53 PM | Comments (0)
The festival of lights
Late Saturday night our two children collapsed into bed, totally exhausted, but happy. Sarah and Emma both announced that it had been The Best Day Ever. And for them, two kids who have a great day practically Every Day, that says a lot.
On Saturday night the four of us went to the Lumière Festival. It's a festival of lights (Lumière means light in French) and this was our first time attending.
Volunteers make hundreds of paper lanterns and set them up around a public park. Festivities begin around 6:00 pm, but it's best after dark when all the lanterns are lit.
It is a distinctly non-commerical affair. And for this I am grateful. There was music. There was wandering entertainment. There were puppets. There was a big snake of rope to climb. There were no carnies trying to bilk you out of money. There were no cheesy souvenirs. There was no commercial presence beyond a Bridgehead coffee stand. This was home-made to the core.
While there was still daylight the kids played in a maze of boxes. You know how kids like to play in cardboard boxes, big and small? Well imagine 50 of them duct taped together. This was Kid Heaven.
But for me it was the lanterns. Almost everyone was carrying their own personal little beacon: whether it was a painted jam jar with a tea light inside or a bamboo and tissue-paper contraption.
And no one ran around complaining about the fire hazard.
Participants were encouraged to come in costume. There were hundreds of little children dressed as fairies. Some adults dressed as witches and wizards. It was a sight to behold.
There was one small incident in which we almost lost our youngest daughter, otherwise they both walked around as if they were hypnotized. It all looked pretty amazing from my perspective. I can only imagine what it looked like at their level.
Imagine walking down a dark path illuminated by tealights in Chinese takeout boxes. Imagine a maze of glowing paper bags grounded with sand. Imagine Chinese lanterns hanging on branches of old trees, bobbing in the cool evening breeze.
We ran into many parent friends of ours. And rightly so. This is a kidfest. Some of the more sophisticated urban adults wouldn't find anything entertaining around here. And that's just as well.
We drove through downtown Ottawa on the way home. There were fireworks going off in Gatineau so we pulled over beside the Supreme Court building to watch them.
The girls were too tired, so we left after 10 minutes. As we pulled onto the road we drove up beside a horse-drawn carriage and stopped at a red light. I had my camera out. A man leaned over the side of the carriage and looked down at me in the passenger seat. He had a champagne flute in his hand. He was grinning. He raised the glass.
"She said YES!"
We applauded. (Or maybe it was just me?) I yelled out our congratulations. The light changed. The light had changed and we were moving. We pulled forward. I saw the girl. She was blonde. And laughing her head off. Her grin covered her face.
"When's the big day?" I shouted.
"I don't know!" he replied.
"Well that should have been your SECOND question!"
I love it when things like that happen, when strangers include me in their happiness. How wonderful is that?
Posted by andrea at 9:01 AM | Comments (3)
August 11, 2006
test
A song for your listening pleasure (You should see a little grey bar above. Press the triangle to play the mp3. Please let me know if this is working for ya'll.)
If this works there may be podcasts in my future. (!)
GAH! So far I've determined it doesn't work with Safari and Firefox. Okay. Back to the drawing board.
** This audio link might work for the Mac people.
Edited further to add:
Here are the proper lyrics:
"A," you're adorable, "B," you're so beautiful,
"C," you're a cutie full of charms.
"D," you're a darling and "E," you're exciting
And "F," you're a feather in my arms.
"G," you look good to me, "H," you're so heavenly,
"I," you're the one I idolize.
"J," we're like Jack and Jill, "K," you're so kissable,
"L," is the lovelight in your eyes.
"M," "N," "O," "P," I could go on all day.
"Q," "R," "S," "T," alphabetically speaking, you're OK.
U," made my life complete, "V," means you're very sweet,
Double-"U" "X" "Y" "Zee."
It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you
To tell you what you mean to me.
Posted by andrea at 10:59 PM | Comments (7)
doodling ...
... is sometimes a good way to light the fires again.
Here's a page from my sketchbook. Click to embiggen.
See the one with the rectangle drawn around it? That's where I'm heading.
Posted by andrea at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)
August 10, 2006
Extra extra
Posted by andrea at 10:09 AM | Comments (9)
August 5, 2006
Remembering a special weekend
This weekend Mark and I are celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary.
Other than the birth of our daughters, August 7 1998 was the happiest day of my life.
It was a Friday. The day was overcast and mildly rainy. The wedding and reception was at a place called Hartin House, a restaurant and romantic heritage home in Stittsville: lots of stone, lovely green gardens, flickering candles, it felt like some happy ghosts followed me around there that day.
I wore a poofy dress - the kind I said I would never wear – and I loved it.
My closest friends came from far and wide to wish us well. This meant a lot to me…more than I can say. For me, my friends are family, because my own family consists only of my mother and I. Mark's clan attended in greater numbers, and welcomed me with open arms. For this I was (and still am) very grateful.
Our wedding was small. My best girlfriend, Jane (who now lives on a pretty island in BC and has a bambino of her own), was my maid-of-honour. Mark's best man was his friend Jeff. They both cut a dashing figure in their tuxedos. There were 48 people in attendance. Total. It was perfect.
We chose to have a non-religious ceremony. We wrote our own vows. Exchanged simple gold bands. This was not a fussy production. We could not have it any other way. We are not fussy people.
I remember a conversation I had with a co-worker who was getting married around the same time. Organizing her grand affair was such a headache. The stress and the pressure were too much. She told me how she'd looked everywhere for a wedding pen, and after much searching finally found one at such and such store. Perhaps my mind has altered the memory somewhat, but I remember her descriptions of panic re: wedding prep and this wedding pen.
Wedding pen? What? it took me a second to figure out what she was talking about. A wedding pen is That Very Special Pen for guests to use when signing the guest book. I've seen them with a marble stand and a big fake white plume spilling out the end of the pen part.
We had a guest book. Sure. It was a pretty handmade-looking spiral bound book, with a simple white cover with an abstract gold star on it and blank pages inside. I bought it at Pier One Imports during a Christmas clearance sale. I guess it was intended to be used as a scrapbook. The pen was ordinary and cost no more than $5 at Grand & Toy. It was a normal pen, not overly fancy, and there was no feather.
I once read that the best guest book is one with unlined pages – and it's true. Our guests wrote with abandon – all over the pages, and not necessarily in straight lines, but it was wonderful. Perhaps their loops and swirls were fueled by wine, but I like to think that it was inspired by shared happiness and that other kind of good spirit.
I carried daisies and ivy down the aisle. There was a white rose in Mark's lapel. I wore white leather Keds under my wedding dress. (I wore them happily for many years afterwards!)
Every table was given some Scrabble tiles, and if they were able to make a word we kissed. Geeky, I know, but I have fond memories of tables "secretly" swapping letters so they could make a word. It was so much fun.
What a great party that was. I would do it every year if I could. Our wedding day ended much too quickly. Mark and I drove a rented car to the Westin hotel downtown. I remember waiting in the lobby. Was Mark parking the car? I don't remember. I wish I had a photo of myself at that moment. I was positively bursting with happiness. I grinned madly at passing strangers and they grinned right back at me. It was the dress. I felt like Wonder Woman enveloped in those miles of raw silk. I felt like a bubble that could never burst.
(I have never quite understood why some brides change out of their wedding dress during the reception. The way I saw it, I had this awesome dress that I was only going to wear once - and wine and grass stains bedammed - I was going to wear it until the end!)
There was champagne waiting for us in the room. It was about 3 a.m. and we were too almost too tired to drink it. I removed about 150 hairpins from my heavily shellaced updo and was chagrined to discover my hair stayed vertical even without them.
The next morning we watched the ceremonial changing of the guard from our hotel room window. The next day (or was it the day after?) we flew to Calgary. Upon arrival we stayed at the Calgary Airport Hotel. Someone we all now know as Emma was made that day. And thus, with new cells dividing, we began our honeymoon trip to Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper.
Mark and I don't exchange gifts for our anniversary. We go out for a special dinner, but that's about it. But, looking ahead, I would really like to celebrate our tenth by adding two stones my engagement ring. The solitaire hasn't been solitary in a long time. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Here's a special glimpse of that very special day. :)
Posted by andrea at 11:06 AM | Comments (17)