Godmother Cathy

Andrew's Christening Day

The most wonderful thing a child can have in addition to their blood-relatives are those special people who gently get  inserted into your life and who, over time, become as important and wonderful as any in your immediate family. Andrew's God-mother is a friend from years back who has stayed by my side through the good and the bad. One of my best life decisions was to ask her to be Andrew's God-mother. While this title has remained, she has gained a dual role into into a very special aunt as well. As a make-up artist she has created some incredibly authentic looks for Halloween and she has included my son into her family until he has gotten a status of his own, a "cousin" to her precious nephews and neice. They seem to look forward to spending time with "big" Andrew as much as he does with them.  Andrew has visited her extended family so often that  Cathy's mother has his room ready for him when he visits each summer. This past week God-mother Cathy did one of her favourite traditions which involves a shopping trip with Andrew for his birthday. She added on a special treat with a trip to Upper Clements Park for Andrew and her nephews. They had a day of roller coasters and log rides and waterslides....so much fun for all. Hallelujah for God-mothers and for all they do.

His make-up looked so authentic
 that folks thought he was
 really wounded.

Fun at Upper Clements

Week One....

This is what I came out to find one summer day in 2005
when Andrew was playing with a friend...the
look on their faces says it all...

Week one of camp is finished in approximately 3 hours. It will be interesting to see just how muddy the clothes are that come home to be washed as the weather here in the Halifax area this past week was not exactly pristine and of course, my son did not take anything remotely water-proof to wear. I have learned  that to a kid, playing in the mud makes life more fun. The more dirt the bigger the smile. At Bayside Camp, they even have a mud pit the kids love to use. I am ever so thankful for the huge lake that is less than 100 metres away.  For one week, reality is suspended; being surrounded by both old and new friends, swimming, canoeing, playing games, staying up late by camp-fires all make for magical memories. Being picked up at the end of the week must feel like the world is ending. I am expecting a quiet drive home tonight. I am happy that this is not the end of camp for the summer - two more weeks of fun and mud are still to come!

My tangled hand...

During the end of the school year I asked my grade 7 art class to trace their hand and then express what comes out of their hands without using symbols. In general, the students struggled with this exercise as they wanted to draw hearts, flowers and other symbols rather than abstract lines and designs. I told the class that I would do the assignment to help me understand the challenges they had. Well....this opened up a whole new world of expression - as I filled my page with design I realized how visually limited I was when it came to showing what came out of my hands. I began researching design and came across an amazing art form called ZENTANGLE. It involves mindful drawing of design that looks very complicated, yet, when broken down can be done by anyone. It took me hours and hours to finish my hand drawing but it was worth it - I have now embarked on a new and exciting journey, one which will stretch my mind yet hopefully help to focus it. Here is my finished hand; I can see tons of room for improvement but part of the process of ZENTANGLE means appreciating what I have done rather than judging it.