Springtime in the air...

Whenever the fog gives us a break, we get a splendid sun which gives us a false sense of Spring arrival. Probably a short-lived feeling, but it's enough to take the bicycle trailer out and go get primulas and pansies to the nursery. And when we get back, we can play "flower shop".

Asian print

In the kimono style, here's the latest one, cut in a cute knit I found on an internet shop based in Hong Kong. Feel like making the same for myself.

And for the story, a few of my kimonos are now for sale at a shop in Orangeville, and some at my little shop. But the one on the picture is for Anastasia, of course.

"I had a dream..."

Yesterday was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Day. In Kyan's class, they learned a bit more about him and his dream for the world. Afterward, the kids got to share their own dream. Here are a few of the answers.

“My dream is to help pick up all the trash.”. “I have a dream that all the animals will be safe.”. “I have a dream to give love to the world.”. “I dream that everyone gets to sleep on a bed.”. “My dream is for people to keep the oceans clean by cleaning it.”. “I have a dream not to waste food.”. And for Kyan, it was:“My dream is for goats to be my favorite animals. I just like goats.”.

I'm a bit baffled, albeit no less proud, by his answer. I'm torn between three explanations: 1. Kyan didn't really understand the question... 2. We must have missed a chapter on "How to raise perfect little citizens"... 3. It's the answer of a 4 year old with the concerns of a ... 4 year old...

Tiny waves...

Lovely morning at the museum with Chloe, a good friend of Kyan. Despite the chilly weather, the kids wanted to play with plastic starfish in the little stream instead of staying in the warm cabins...

Happy Kings Day...

Officially, Kings Day is on January 6th, but the french tradition says that you can eat galette all month long. I tried to explain Kyan what Kings Day meant, but it's still quite nebulous. He asked me several times during the day when we would go see the Kings. After another attempt to tell him the story, he thought that the Kings were coming over to eat the galette with us, and was expecting them at the door any minute. I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to have the whole idea straight.

And my galette is squared, instead of a nice round shape. It's hard to find the special dough here, and I didn't feel like making it from scratch. The only one I can find comes in delicately folded little squares, hence the somewhat medieval look, but it's still excellent to eat... And Kyan got the charm...

And for those who don't know the tradition, Kings Day is when the three wise men (Gaspar, Balthazar and Melchior), following the Shepard's star, arrived in Bethleem to visit the baby Jesus, bringing gold, incense and mhyr. The tradition is to share a cake or a galette in which a charm is hidden. The person who finds the charm in his/her share of the cake is the king/queen for the day and gets to wear a nifty paper crown.

Ice skating... No, Ice chairing...

We went to the ice skatin ring in Santa Rosa, Snoopy's Home Ice (yes, Snoopy and his gang are from the area). First attempt on skates for Kyan and Anastasia, who ended up not being very brave. We took advantage of the family hours, when we can go on the ice with chairs to hold on to (it's all true, and lucky for me as I'm terrible on any kind of skates; it's hard enough for me to stand up somewhat gracefully, so imagine with a wiggly kid...). After a couple of falls, Kyan firmly sat ON the chair and refused to get down. But we still all had a great time...

Between two showers

It rained quite a bit during the short holiday week between Christmas and New Year. It didn't stop us from going out for a few walks by the water, with or without rain, but always with plenty of puddles. And sometime with an extremely docile horse to ride under the shy sun rays.