The Davidsons: A Sea of Stories: September 2007

Daddy's Little Girl

Each morning when Sean leaves for work, Rosie goes to her room, gets her shoes, puts them on and then runs out onto our front porch to wave good-bye. She did try it once without the shoes but found the cement uncomfortably chilly.

It is truly precious. She yells, "Bye, Daddy!" at the top of her lungs and waves frantically until she can't see Sean's bike anymore. She loves him in a way she doesn't love anyone else. And she is the first one into his arms at the end of the day. ~Mandy

Bedtime for the "Buddies"

One of Brookie's favourite pastimes is playing with her ever-growing number of stuffies aka her "buddies". She will often begin her day by bringing them all out of her room onto the couch so they can enjoy Curious George together. Then soon after cartoons are over, it is time to put them to bed.

Here they are all cozy in our room. She uses her bed too and usually seconds after I have finished making it for the day. They each have a place and she makes sure they have their heads sticking out of the covers. Then she quietly tiptoes out of the room and shuts the door. What I just find amazing about this whole process is how kind she is to each and every last one of these stuffed friends and how much she sounds like me! She calls them "Sweetie" and whispers quietly to them as she settles them down - some of them get a bit roudy.

Brook has taken to trying this form of play out on Rosie too with Rosie taking the role of "Sweetheart" but she is much less compliant. The other day Brookie came to me complaining of the difficulties in getting Rosie to listen: "Mommy, she just won't do what I tell her." I replied, "I know exactly how you feel." ~Mandy

"I LOVE Sugar!"

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex. ~Oscar Wilde

The Return of Rosalina Ballerina

Rosie pulled this lovely ensemble together for the big performance. I love the polka dotted tights and the necklaces together with the more traditional ballet skirt. Her music of choice is the Annie Soundtrack (what else?) and I see a real "Miss Hanigan" look here.

There was a costume change during intermission while I was putting the finishing touches on dinner. Rosie is very pretty in pink and is really working the audience here with "It's a Hard Knock Life"

In true Rosie style, her attention is caught by Nemo and the performance comes to an abrupt hault. But it was good while it lasted! ~Mandy

Home

For those of you who have never driven down the Trans-Canada from Moose Jaw to Caronport, who haven't stood in the wheat fields and watched the wind create waves over the golden grass, who have never seen the curvature of the earth on the horizon, who haven't walked the grid roads in the evenings when the shadows are long and the bugs are thick, these pictures are for you.

It doesn't have the obvious draw of ocean, lake, forest, mountain or city. The Saskatchewan prairie has a beauty apparent only to those who can be comfortable in stillness and absence. This our home. ~Mandy

Ama's Visit

Ama came to mix things up in Late July. How wonderful to have her with us again. Brookie and Rosie fell quickly into the new routine of waiting for Ama at the top of the stairs in the morning so we could watch cartoons together and have our cereal. I just love how the girls fold others in so easily and completely. With Ama around, there are always things happening . . .

We had tea parties

played in the pool

had spontaneous picnics in the hallway

and read lots of stories.

I always enjoy watching Ama drink in every last sticky-faced kiss, wide-eyed question about life or umpteenth request for the same book. She is patience personified and her time with the girls is time I can have to catch my breath. But mostly, I love having my mom around to drink tea, discuss paint colours, wash dishes, and just be. ~Mandy

The Mortlach Sweet Shoppe

Summers in Caronport require a certain adventurous spirit (as you have seen in the previous post) and so we travelled to Mortlach, a small town just west of us, to see what they had to offer our hot, dust blown, prairie weary family. I wasn't expecting much, given the track record of attractions around here. But wasn't I surprised to find the Mortlach Sweet Shoppe, an adorable little store catering to those with a craving for anything sweet. When I first saw the red brick facade, I thought I was seeing a mirage. It was really hot out. But it was real! Our first visit was so wonderful and refreshing - I realized how much I had missed walking through all the cute little shops in Westdale, Dundas, or the Oakville lakeshore but the girls just liked the ice cream - that we have since visited our favourite little shop many times.