Woke first thing in the morning...which is 10:30 by the way...to call my friend and arrange on a meeting place for lunch. As we talked I heard her 5 month old daughter screeching in the background. Just blood curdling sounds. At such an un-godly hour. Hanging up I realized sadly, that I'm not fit for motherhood.

Then I went back to sleep.

Once I was washed, clothed and ready for real life and interaction I met up with my friend and her two daughters. The screeching turned out to be a sound that her daughter Emy makes when she's perfectly happy. Dimples and all. And admittedly, once you see the smiles and dimples, the sounds are rather charming.

And the other daughter Neshie, at the young age of 4, was flooring me with her bright snappy spirit. Clear and straight forward, no hesitations in asking for what she wants or needs, even from complete strangers, and the ability to know what she needs at a given time. She put my communication skills to shame. Seriously, this 4 year old running around naked could be an influential life coach for my whole family.

We all had a lovely day of chit-chatting, lunch and jewellery shopping.

Highlights included:

Emy's delighted face as she tried butternut squash for the first time

Realizing Neshie and I shared the same taste in music (let's hear it for Annie and The Little Mermaid!!)

Picking out 'eyeshadow' for Neshie at a children's store and watching her pay for it with 'found' money from her little purse

Having her ever so gently apply said eyeshadow to me, then exclaiming that I "looked perfect!"

All this and of course the nice adult conversation I had with their Mom.

Thank you all for showing me how giving and fun families can be. Motherhood seems less daunting indeed. Rather it seems adventurous and exciting. Just not before mummy's awake.

This is my new bracelet...Pretty huh? It's made up of many orange gemstones of some sort.

So this is the story...

My sister and I made plans for dinner with one of our very awesome cousins (she married into the family obviously). She arrived before us and was reading one of my favorite books (luulabies for little criminals) and wearing this bracelet. Jordana, my sister, made a comment that I would probably love her bracleet, which I did and said so.

I love things orange and green and brown (like the 70's) and Jordana loves things pink and purple and turquoise (like an eight year olds drawing of a princess), so it was typical of me to like the beads and typical of Jordana to notice.

Our sweet cousin Maria immediately reacted to my compliment by offering me the bracelet. Even though I politely declined, she continued to insist, explaining that she had just bought it in Banff but had forgotten that she bought one almost identical, previously in Arizona. After some persusion I accepted. I put it on, showed off to Jordana about my good luck, and she whispered back, "I can't believe someone bought that thing twice".

Well, I like it.

So, camping season...time to pull out the ol' tent.

Or not...why not sleep outside. Really, didn't we once sleep outside, us humans. Now we lucky folks are attached to our cozy duvets and air conditioning, we would have a hard time settling into a night in the open.

For me personally, even sleeping in a tent with no fly is an exciting event. Smell the air, see the trees above, perhaps even the moon...

Keep your eyes open and absorb it all.

In Australia while traveling, I went on a tour through the Kimberly's in the North West and while most of the group slept in tents, I chose to sleep outside in a swag next to the fire and the two guides. I was terrified of snakes and spiders and dingos and plenty of other things that could kill me, but I was too excited by the idea of sleeping right under the blanket of stars right next to the campfire, and knew that an opportunity again like this would be far away. The kind of swag they let me borrow had a slightly padded bottom and a heavy canvas covering and my sleeping bag fit right in it. Aside from rolling out the swag, and crawling in, there was nothing else to it. There I was saying 'goodnight moon' and looking right at her. Fall asleep with a soft fresh breeze on your face, your last sight the sky filled with stars. Wake to a huge sprawling burst of red, orange and pink hues of the sunrise overhead. Remember that life really is magic.

another reason to love leaves

At dinner tonight, after a glass of wine, a friend told me about an intriguing thing. She explained there is a device she has, that can determine where a woman is, in her monthly cycle. All you need to do is spit on this device, and a beautiful fern leaf pattern will appear if you are ovulating. Spit, fern leaf, time to get preggers. It seemed like the kind of thing where a day later I would call my friend and tell her, 'ya, I had this crazy dream where you told me about this thing...you had to spit on it, and then your saliva would turn into a fern leaf and that's how you would know you were ovulating...I know, crazy dream...', but NO, not a dream, not crazy. All real. Ah-may-zing.

I found some of the mentioned awesome ovulation testers on the Internet and I'm not trying to get pregnant but here are the reasons I'm aching badly for one:
I like trees and leaves.
I can feel myself ovulate. Or so I think and would like to know for sure.
I have my 'monthly moons' within a day of the full moon. This last point can count more for pride than reason.

Well, my friend had barely any use for her tester as all she had to do was the basic necessary deed to become even a bit pregnant...twice...so she has offered me hers. After telling me this I wanted to blurt, "OF COURSE I WANT IT", but I also felt as if it's like sharing a toothbrush or diva cup. Still though, the urge to see my saliva form into a beautiful fern is too overpowering.

gold leaves

I have a pair of beautiful gold leaf earrings that I was given as a gift by my lovely friend Sarah. She knew I was obsessively looking everywhere for leaf earrings and she found these in New York by a local artist and bought them for me. They are so perfect I cried in a good way when I opened my gift.

I usually wear them as a fancy occasion accessory. Here's what they look like on me...

And this is a video where I explain them at a craft show...

Years ago I went on an awesome camping trip with some friends. This wasn't a pull in and park kind of trip. We took a canoe across the lake that included a portage. Any canoe trip brings the possibility of tipping, so to avoid massive problems we went to great lengths...like putting ALL our belongings in special waterproof bags, and then tying ALL these bags together, and then tying all that to the actual canoes. Needless to say, it took a while to get on the lake. And of course we had the portage, so we had to untie everything, drag it across the land to the other part of the lake, re-tie everything and continue.

Once on our own awesome island, we still couldn't relax. Tents, tarps, cooking and cleaning. Never mind at the end of the night, before bed, tie all our food in a bag and swing over a tree to hang OR put all food in canoe and anchor out in the lake to avoid bears coming for our food. BEARS?? That's right...bears. As it turns out, if you really want to get away from the city, you need to travel far enough that you end up where Bears live.

Not only did we need to put our food in the middle of the lake, but we needed to include anything with fragrance, like deodorant or fruity lip balm. Don't keep that in your tent, that'll only attract a bear, or worse yet, a cub.

Since this was a real hardcore camping trip, we just didn't have room for comforts like air mattresses, and late night while I was feeling rather like the princess and the pea, I heard some noise. My head shot up, ears alert to what the sounds could be. After listening carefully and ruling out friends-going-to-pee and anything else remotely logical, I began to panic. Utterly convinced there was a bear just inches aways, with nothing but a flimsy tent in the way, I was imagining the simple swap of a paw that would rip away the tent and half my face to get to the nom-noms he smelled inside. What was it...did I forget a candy inside my purse...my shampoo?? This was the Worse-Case-Scenario about to unfold.

I was stone still, barely breathing and frightened for my life. Very slowly and quietly, I reached over and nudged my boyfriend awake. Not wanting to make any noise, I took his hand and placed it on my heart which was pounding out of my chest from fear. He got the message, all right. We both lay there, frozen and terrified until we didn't hear any more sounds.

And that's it. That's my story of how I was almost attacked by a bear. Knowing me, and knowing the chances and from what my friends said the next day, it is very likely that what I heard was perhaps a squirrel...maybe a chipmunk. But what do they know.

This video gives me hope for next time. And makes me laugh.

This magnificent willow tree had me stopped in my tracks, stunned. These photos do no justice at all to the actual beauty I saw. This tree is a baby sister to where the elves live in middle earth. It was the inspiration to the tree of souls for the na'vi. This willow tree seemed so huge and majestic, standing there stoic and lit by the setting sun. All the nooks along the trunk were emphasized. It made me fantasize that I was a wood nymph on the way home from skipping and frolicking all day to drink fermented syrup and sing spirited songs. Oh the good life.

Also look at these beauts...