THIS AND THAT

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Been up to my ears in paper, glue, sewing materials, etc. of late, so no recent posts. I made 100 copies of these:





and another 8 of these:







Before that, there was George Bowering's wonderful reading at Touchstones in Nelson on the last day of Poetry Month.





And even before that, Ernest Hekkanen launched his 39th novel, Of a Fire Beyond the Hills, at Oxygen.



On the family front, Aunt Nancy turned 98, so we had a party for her.



And Kyran's been here for his regular Thursday night sleep-overs and adventures with Baba and Grandpa Ted. We just read Charlotte's Web, which he loved, even though he didn't quite get why I got all choked up at the end when Charlotte (DISCLAIMER if you haven't read it, and if not, why not?) dies. Or is about to die. I had forgotten what a beautifully written story it is, and the illustrations are gorgeous, too. I credit that book with my lack of arachnophobia. Around the time I first read it I remember sitting at one of the dining room windows in the old house at 6-Mile watching a spider spin a web on the other side of the glass. I was fascinated. If only someone had written a story about a lovable snake I might have avoided that particular phobia.




The way I got very upset with the foreshadowing part, not so much with the actual event in Charlotte's Web reminds me of what it was like when my cat, Scarlett, was 19 and obviously coming to the end of her time. Having spent almost 2 decades with her (got her when I was 30; she was older than my son), I couldn't imagine life without her and was quite distraught for the last six months or so before she finally expired. Scarlett taught me a lot about life, and even in death she had an important lesson for me. It is: If you're planning to bury your cat later in the day (ie. after the aforementioned son gets home from school and can wield the shovel), DO NOT lay the deceased out straight. Rather, curl him/her into a tight little ball. The ground into which Scarlett was going was very rocky and difficult to penetrate, and a smaller hole would have been a whole lot easier. Just ask my son, the shovel-wielder. I was able to immortalize her on the back of All Creatures Great and Small, as more than one of the stories within involved cats and kittens.



Oh, and yesterday was Ted's any my 11th anniversary. Yay!



We managed to find some time to gaze at the amazing cloud formations



and watch the traffic go by.



There was some Corona involvement (there would have been Nelson Brewing Company's Wild Honey or Liplock, had we not been out of same).

I must remember to move my chair.



Now I'm off to Victoria for a few days (Aunt Nancy is going to visit friends) and then it's Ireland for two weeks in June, so I can't promise much blogging over the next month or so, but I'll be back eventually, and hope you will, too.

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