mrs. wilford lived across the street from my old house. we met when i was 6 and she was 70 and we were friends right away.

she shared a large pond with a couple of neighbours and all the best parts of it were hugged by the shape of the land in her back lot. she had a dog named lady that we'd walk back there and a swan named webber who called the pond his home.

on days that mom was working she'd meet me at the bus and i'd sit in the warmth of her side room, as the afternoon sun hit the windows face on. i'd write her stories and draw her pictures there. drinking milky sweet tea with cookies.

she had grown up in the house and raised her own family there and you could feel that in the air, that thick fog of memories. it sparkled the brass and shined the dark wood of the banisters.


in the evening the sun set over a field of corn, perfectly outside her dining room window. the glow spilling over the white of her table lace.

in my memory times with her were almost magical. as though we could meet in my dreams and take it from where we left off.

the drawings are pictures she sent me in a letter long after i'd moved away. the writing is hers from the back of the photos and in essence, has her in the cursive. a mark of her existence in my life and her own.


there's lots that makes camping cool but high on that list for me is the absence of artificial light. the dark night is total and the stars shine like a billion pin pricks through a navy quilt sky.

also cool - skipping stones.

me and jeremy think that moose have been pieced together with bits from other animals. like this is a donkey/camel. with a slight hint of giraffe.

i love this picture. michelle took it and put it on facebook and mel wrote under it 'what a good woman, holding her man's towel' and it made me feel proud.

thumbs up for camping! that's my favourite slogan second to 'i love trees'.

jeremy says this comic from white ninja is like me if he died - HA!

he's such a funny relayer of truths.

i love jeremy more than can be expressed in the 900 blog posts on the topic but when i go to bed, i roll over into a cocoon of myself and recharge. my mind slows down, my feet relax, i feel the perfect weight of the blanket holding me gently to the bed.

and even though i'll shrug him off to remain alone in my nest o' rest, there's something hugely comforting about knowing jeremy's there. that when i wake the face i'll see is his, as i toy with the idea of starting my day.

i can't believe this grew from the seed we planted in that wee bit of earth not two months ago.

there'll be just a bud in the morning and by dinner there'll be a brand new bloom, craning with its family to find the sun on the other side of the window.



mmmmmmm sun. i could slurp it through a straw like it was lemon flavoured.






i drew this for you.

i didn't know what it would be at first but i knew there'd be water and i knew there'd be waves.

then came the clouds outlined with blue and the sun to keep everything warm. to feed everything with its energy. to warm life's face, looking up.

and then came us. as birds. free save from the wind, whose direction would shape our lives.

i love the outdoors. which is one of those real obvious statements for me to make but i want to make it again. I LOVE THE OUTDOORS.

i feel like maybe i'm an alien like the ones in cocoon only it isn't the pool that charges me up but my connection to the ground. if i'm barefoot, if i feel the earth, if the wind is brushing at my cheek and knotting up my hair - i'm happy.

if jeremy's with me i'm happier still.

if there's a fresh pan of nachos and cold beers on hand i've most likely died and gone to heaven.



guys who can make things with wood are awesome. jeremy collected these sticks from fallen branches and fashioned them together in a trellis that for me, recalls the shape of an old church door. it will go in our garden as a climbing ladder for our moonflower vine.

this moonflower vine.


the centre is deeply scented like jasmine or the woods after a rain. jeremy said if we grow a million we can grind them up and make perfume. eau de forest at night time, that's what we'd call it.

it'd be a sure hit with elves and other woodland dwellers.

this is very tasty and very easy and those are two good very’s for a meal to be.

it’s not my recipe, it’s william’s. do you know william? william sonoma? he always wears decorative aprons with pockets to hold his decorative kitchen gadgets. one time my friend derek and i went to the william sonoma gadget section and made up new uses for all the cool things there. like that seagull does with forks and pipes in little mermaid.

A SNARFLAT! A DINGLEHOPPER!

this potato salad is made with red potatoes and green beans and chickpeas and dressed up with mustard and capers and other things i can't remember right now but they all go together so nicely in a springy potatoey medley.

i'm going to sing a potatoey medley right now.

potatoes are neat, potatoes are nice,
you can eat them just plain or you can eat them with spice.
they're good in the oven or mashed up with butter,
if you don't like them french fried you're probably a nutter.