Life's a beach

The beach is divine this time of year. Today it remind me of Ontario. There was a haziness about the day, much like the smog we used to get, so it felt different. Quieter somehow. The water was cool, but so clear. We chose the largest tiki, set up our camp and spent the day like beach bums. I needed the down time.

Life has been odd lately. I took on full time work in July, picking up extra to make up for the fact I'll work as little as I can this fall. Dave was home most of the month, so we needed little in way of childcare. In the midst of this, Dave's Dad died. It was a long time coming, 11 years in all he was ill off and on. Dave has been back and forth a bit to see him, but frankly, the kids and I have had little connection to him. They rarely visited, never made much attempt to develop a connection with the kids. What can i say about it? It was nothing like when my Dad died. The funeral was a gong show we did not attend. $28,000. Really. I was appalled. Dad's cost a fraction of that, and we held it exactly how he wanted. There is no way Carlos would have wanted that kind of money spent-he spent his whole life obsessing about money. Yet, his other sons had no qualms spending it on the funeral. Ironic. We are pre-deployment preparing. I am not upset, at this point it seems unreal. Not happening to me, just around me. The kids are vaguely anxious. The feeling in the air is one of urgency. Get this or that done before he goes. I feel like I am on a deadline. I am efficient when on a deadline. Focused, distractions are brief but welcome.

So here I come back to this late Sept. We have had Elsa and Genesis visit, it was a gong show(note: word of the day). Elsa was very odd, behaviors amplified. She and Dave got into a fight about money, her completely denying everything she had said two days earlier. She threatened not to visit anymore. Dave was livid, how could she do that to the kids. I have never seen him so upset. Somehow after a day of pouting, she turned around. We chalked it up to the grieving process, but it was classic behavior, amplified. The thing is, I enjoy Elsa when Dave is not around, she is great. However when he is there she is almost child-like and it annoys me to no end. This written candor is not like me, but perhaps I need to be more like my Mom and speak my piece instead of being so easygoing. The thing is, like my Dad it takes a lot to get me going, but when I am mad, I have damn good reason. We have been through a lot in the past year, thus I feel I am entitled.

Genesis, 21 yrs old, is an absolute sweetheart. Genuine, warm, beautiful, naive but intelligent, and very kind. the kids adored her, and miss her so much. She is trained as some sort of pharmaceutical assistant in Chile, however they function more like a physician consultant regarding all prescriptions, it is rather interesting. Basically, they tell the doc what they should prescribe for said diagnosis.
We fast-forwarded time while they visited, and had my birthday dinner as a Halloween/thanksgiving all wrapped in one. I roasted a turkey when it was 30 degrees out, we sent a hallow's eve table and wore costumes. The kids made my cake. It was a bit flat, but it tasted good! We had a blast, best birthday I can recall since my 9th. I felt very loved.

Halloween brilliance in August! I am, in my glory.

We went to the spa for our anniversary. Twelve years married-I can't believe it. I swear we were at a country bar  just last year scouting the door through heavy crowds for guys that caught our attention. This man makes me crazy at times, and I am still crazy about him. I am blessed, our children are so glad to have him. Here we are, at the Kingfisher after dinner. Frankly, I make better dinners, but it was a nice night away. 

Tom and time

Well I have a tendency to not blog when life gets away from me for a bit. It has, and I am flying along like always. Dave was gone, came back, gone, then back again. He has a wicked schedule with his workup training right now, so I am doing so much running around on my own. As well, it is party season, so we have social invitations to this, that, and everything right now. Baby showers, birthday parties, going away parties, you name it. They have all been a blast, but I get worked up preparing dishes to take, always trying to bring something new or different at least. I created one winner, we named it mardi gras shrimp, based on its lovely colors and the occasion I was making it for was a mardi gras theme party. Basically it is small shrimp, diced avocados, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, lime zest and juice, cilantro, red onions, smoked paprika, chipotle pepper, cajun spices, garlic. This is served in mini tortilla bowls. Easy, delicious, goes down so well with a margarita, beer, you name it. At another potluck I made a watermelon, mint, and feta salad, the dressing was lime juice and zest, honey, pepper. Simple, refreshing. I am sure I could create a good cocktail for this, but mojitos go nicely. I have a crapload of mint this year, so I need more creative uses other than drying it for tea.

I baked a girly cake for a friends birthday. The classic blue ribbon cake I have been baking since I was a kid, and Mom baked for us. It is a very old recipe, very odd too. You cut butter into the dry ingredients then beat in milk, then beat in egg whites. It is very fluffy. Mom always used almond extract in this, and I still prefer it that way. I recall the year she baked me one with pale green frosting. It had pink and silver ballerinas on top. I thought it was the most beautiful cake in the world. I filled my cake with raspberry pastry cream, using raspberry coulis I made. The frosting was the classic whipped egg whites with hot syrup drizzled in while beating.
And here I am, almost two weeks later, attempting to finish this. I am working full time, temporarily I might add, so I have little time for such a self indulgent activity. Last weekend we had both girls birthday parties. Lauryn's was to be this nice bash at the beach, with all things ocean, surf, and sun involved. However, we had to cancel the pavilion due to a conflict of times with half the invited guests. So we moved it to our house and had 8 little girls for a beach party on the patio. Inflatable fish and umbrellas hanging from the pergola, a limbo contest, a treasure hunt, fish and flower necklaces. My favorite part was her watermelon cake I made. Not a scrap remained.
Later that day Amelia had a couple of friends over for a sleepover. We took the girls to the aquatic centre to swim in the wave pool and have some diving contests. I swam some laps and they just had fun. Dave, Josh and Charlie went to a friend's cabin on the beach for a visit. We came back and had pizza and the kids held a wedding between two stuffed dogs. It was quite the production. Did I mention Charlie? The shitzu-maltese we have adopted. He is a charming little dog, intelligent and cheery, full of energy just like the kids.
Wow. I come back to this, 2 months later and find I can't meaningfully finish this. I went to Tom Petty in Vancouver, we had super floor seats, it was a phenomenal show, we stayed in a very mod hotel and had large cajun blackened burgers and margaritas. It was bliss....I felt like a teenager at the concert. I crept up past the idiot bouncer, right by the stage for pics. I sang every song, word for word and throughly enjoyed the moment where he thanked the crowd for being so welcoming of his new song off his new album, He really sounded like he did not believe he could have made something successful. It was surreal.

A ghost of a post

Josh and Lauryn, Seal Bay

We have had a very quiet weekend. I finished my research project, and submitted it for review. Yay. Wish I was more excited about that one, but in the end the topic deterred from something which I had any passion about. Such is life. The project did alright in the end, just not an area I had any zeal for, so the work lacked the associated luster. 

What did I cook this weekend? Something always something. I am feeling too melancholy right now to think back, perhaps it was the brown sugar pie? It was just as it sounded, cream, butter, sugar. A poor man's dish from Quebec. It reminded me of shoofly pie I made years ago, it had molasses as well. The kids loved it, I remember the girls were small then, back in Kingston. Amelia had just gotten over some poison ivy. I miss the uncomplicated days of the kids being so little, having so few demands on my time. I enjoy the rapid pace at times, I feel a bit manic when I am really in the midst of intense busy-ness. However, like all highs, you have to come down sooner or later, and then I get into a low. Exhausted, over-extended. Then my energy rises and it is all good again. I just wish I could ease up in one area-any area, but I just am not sure where.

 This was a wedding cake for the kids stuffs...apparently they got married!

brown sugar pie