Autumn's Hope.

A few mornings ago I managed to wake up before the children stirred and slip out unnoticed. I love mornings...or I loved mornings until I had children who also loved mornings.
There is something magical about the stillness. While the sun rises blanketing the world with light all you can hear are the sighs and stretches of an otherwise bustling city.

I got in my car and drove to the end of the world. And while I so badly want you to know the beauty of such a place, to try and describe it would be an injustice: the way the trees create a portal to a place where time stands still. The cemetery: bright, half full but well worn like a antique farmhouse table. The smell of the forest floor mixed with the salty sea breeze. The silence. The solitude and the break where the sun pours though the trees until you emerge to a cliff's edge and look out at the end of the world.

I often find myself hesitant to visit because I know I will be alone but it is always worth the trip and for whatever brief moments I spend there I feel like myself.

And when you have spent 4 months in transition feeling anything but your optimistic, energetic self it is an invaluable experience. I long for peace, inside and out.

Five days.

Six days until I arrive in the place I will call home for the next chapter of our lives. The mornings are getting cooler and with the leaves turning creativity is starting to burn. I know it will take time to get settled, settled into school, into home, into friendships, into routine but I have hope that Autumn will bring new beginnings, contentment, refreshment and feeling a little more like myself.

If you think about please do keep Jakob in your prayers. He is the one I worry the most about. While he loved preschool he knows he does not want to go to school in Cambridge. He knows his school name, is trying to convince me that his teacher, Mrs. Holt is a boy and he is warming up to the idea of making new friends. It will be a major adjustment for him to go to a new school, in a new country, all day, with people who talk funny :). He has such a gentle and compassionate spirit and I know he will love it in no time but I don't want to hurt him, nor do I want him to get hurt or loose the innocence which makes him so special.

The Cambridge Diaries: The Cambridge Soundtrack.

What will the Cambridge soundtrack sound like? Will it be comprised of the Beatles,  Beethoven and Bach on shuffle? I thought of this as I was listening to Tonic on CBC radio 2 one evening and was lulled into a trance by the intoxicating voice of Billy Holiday. Jazz. It has been my soul language ever since I discovered it in high school and yet, if you think about it, is a completely American art form. It came out of the Blues and Gospels, Spirituals and the appropriation of white man's religion forced on an oppressed people. Miles, Coltrane, Dizzy…all American.

Folk musicians like Sarah Harmer, Emmy Lou Harris, even Great Big Sea have also been responsible for a number of tracks. But is what I know as folk the same as what the British know as folk?

And while the world is small and the music industry vast I couldn't help but wonder if the everydayness wouldn't be more different than the same? 

In 10 short days we will be boarding a plane for London, England with no intention of returning for the next four seasons. We have planned out every detail, crossed every "T" and dotted every "i". We have our passports, our visas, bags are packed and every item on my lengthy "to do" list is emphatically checked off: complete. 

And now I dwell….What will life be like?

Will I be in awe?

Will I be happy?

Will I heal?

Will I be lonely?

Will I want to come home?

Will I make friends?

Will Jakob like school?

Will I get tired of the rain?

Will I be homesick?

Will I be comfortable?

Will I regret?

Will it be what I expect?

Will I grow?

Will I change?

Robert Buckley Photography

The Great Summer Post

As I write, the sun is beginning to wrap the city of Seattle in light, over the Puget sound and into my window as I sip coffee in the silence.

August has been fast. And while not filled with the regular dailyness of motherhood, home and work it has been busy with experience, missed friends and family and the challenge of restoring balance. I have allowed my mind to wander as it pleases within the safety of what I know to be true, dreamt of what life might hold and enjoyed the now. Here is a glimpse of August.

Home. No matter how long I have been gone, be 3 years or a day, I come back to this view and marvel, "this is where I grew up".

and this is where I want my kids to grow up. To know the peace of God in His beautiful creation.

If I were to write my life story, a memoir per se, I would entitle it "My Town Called Surreal" because that is exactly what it was....surreal. A life many only dream of and I want to share the rich parts with my children...like ice cream at Steveston. 

Granville Island

and the Ladner Market.

We even made it out to Fort Langley where the kids and I shared a big piece of chocolate cake and wandered shops while Daddy had lunch with one of his professors from Trinity Western.

We celebrated Jakob's birthday, which you can read about here and meet some new friends.

I have also taken some time for myself to refresh my practice at my favourite little studio in Ladner.

We still have just over two weeks left to soak in the BC sun...and rain before we embark on our next adventure but it has been a blessing to take some time to just be. 

Be as a family...

And be with friends...

I know I have forgotten something but for now, Pike's Place Market is calling Audrey and I...oh, and Ben - there is chocolate croissant with my name on it. Have a great weekend!

Just one little publicity note: Many people ask us if Ben will have a website to share about his adventures in Cambridge. He is going to try....but do feel free to become a follower of this blog or subscribe by email to get the not so academic side or life abroad. :)

Sometimes I do crazy things....

Not because I am crazy....okay well, maybe a little.

And not because I need to save money on Shampoo...okay well, maybe a little.

But because neither my strength,

nor my beauty

is determined by the length of my hair

and there is a little girl out there who needs my hair more than me.

A brief interlude

I am taking a little break. But in the mean time you can always check out Jakob's Tall Tales.

Winnipeg: Part Two

Saturday morning we headed off to the lake. Manitoba is cottage country littered with lakes and trees. It's a tradition I have always wanted to experience and thanks to our wonderful friends, the Penner's, we were able to make some amazing memories.

The winds had picked up and the lake was quite choppy when we arrived but Jakob was eager to get into the water anyway, as were the dogs, which, by the way, is the whole reason for our trek out east. Soren will be spending the year in Winnipeg with Ben's longtime friend and his wife. We were so pleased to see that the dogs got along great, and Soren seemed at ease in the Penner house.

Saturday evening was filled with wonderful food, wine, friends and conversation: perfection.
Then Sunday morning, Mark took Ben and Jakob out in the boat for a little fishing excursion. As the story goes, they were all fishing, minding their own business when Jakob started reeling in the line. Now understand, Jakob has never been fishing before, I don't even know how he would figure out that there was a fish on the line, but he did and started to bring 'er in. He caught a small little pickerel all by himself. But more importantly, he had a great time and made some great memories.

We headed back Sunday night and I made them a true west coast meal to thank them for their hospitality.

With Monday being a holiday and the hottest day of our stay our attempts to shop in the Academy area fell short and the playground at The Forks ended up being under construction.
So we went for lunch at "Stella's" and headed home for some much needed rest and headed out after supper.

We said our good-byes to Soren which is always a little bitter sweet but we know he will have a great time with his new friend, Hunter and I for one, will enjoy a year of no dog hair.
It was an unexpectedly but wonderfully pleasant trip and it was all due to our great hosts. Thanks Mark and Tat!

Winnipeg: Part One

This past Wednesday, we packed up the rest of our belongings, sorting through what we could part with for a year and what would join us on our travels. We cleaned, we packed, we said good-bye...to some. Then we drove into the sunset....well actually, we drove away from the sunset and headed east to Manitoba, where Soren will be spending the next year of his life.

I had been dreading the drive across the prairies for sometime, so my husband was gracious enough to agree to drive through the night. A road trip just isn't a road trip anymore when you have small children. While Ben might disagree, I would say it was the right way to go as the kids slept the whole way and we arrived in Winnipeg around 8:30am, just in time for breakfast.
Winnipeg is truly a beautiful city in the summer. The temperatures have been up near thirty which means no bugs, with a cool breeze to keep us sane.
The city has a very unique milieu, one that I have not appreciated up until this trip.
The first fort was established by French settlers in 1738. They thought that Winnipeg would be the Chicago of the North and a major centre for trade because of it's central location. You can see the pride in the buildings and the major european influence. I am still baffled how people can live in it's winter climate of consistent sub-zero temperatures but as our friends tell us, it makes them appreciate the summer all the more.
I have heard before of the vibrant arts culture and it is evident in all areas of the city. After a day of recovery we went for ice cream at BDI and crossed the river and took a walk in the Kingston area.

I could have walked for hours just admiring the homes here. Most of them are Colonial or Georgian style but once and a while you will get something a little different. You almost forget that you are in Winnipeg...well, I suppose not, if you knew that this is what it was like. Obviously, the further out of the city centre you get the less heritage you see but that is even the same in a city like Cambridge.

The next day we took a drive down to The Exchange, which is a historically rich area of downtown filled with funky shops, restaurants and cafes.

Around the first corner we stumbled across an outdoor concert. People were gathered on the lawn as they ate their lunches and enjoyed a little break from their workday.

We hit up the Toad Hall Toy store and then the Red River Book Store:

The shelves...and floors were filled with used books on any subject imaginable. And after as much time perusing as the children would allow us we went across the street to "The Line Up" for lunch.

As we ate I was continually taken back by the preservation of history in this small city. While Vancouver has Gastown, it is out of the way and just one part in the midst of modern buildings. There is a distinct air, and I am not just talking about the occasional stench of sewer that makes downtown Winnipeg unlike anything I have seen in Canada.

I was especially taken back by the amount of advertisements painted on the side of the turn-of-the-twentieth century brick buildings. Around every corner, more than I have ever seen before, the signs are colourful and unique preserving the city's history.

After naps, we headed out again, but this time to the other south side of the city to Assiniboine Park. With picnic in hand we laid out our blanket amongst the large crowd gathered to see the Ballet in the Park. As a dancer, Winnipeg was known as a time of mecca for Ballet dancers. There was a girl in my class that had auditioned for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and let's just say it was a big deal and obviously something I have never forgotten.

I'd be lying if I said that I had never dreamed of seeing my little girl on stage in a tutu and delicate pink slippers. And while I haven't given up on the the hope, I know it probably just won't be as I had originally pictured.

On our way out of the park we hit up the children's garden. It was well equipped to get the wiggles out  and then we headed back to the house. All it all, a absolutely fabulous day!