Today has been the best day of my break from school! I did everything I wanted to do.

I was up and outside by 6 a.m. and dug around in the dirt for several hours.  I've missed my garden.  And it's missed me! At least it certainly looks like it's missed my daily attention, but there's not much I can do about it this year.  A few hours into it, and I could hear the tinkling tones of a two-year old singing his A-B-C's in the yard behind us.

I adore all of our neighbours, but truly treasure their children.  This particular little boy has had a sudden growth spurt.  Earlier this spring, he was toddling in the driveway, with a head full of long, floppy soft brown curls.  Then one day, his misguided parents cut his hair, and he aged 20 years, even though he won't turn three until this autumn.  He always has a very serious look on his face, and speaks in very serious sentences.  He always looks like he's late for some very serious business, but if I catch his eye his face will split into a smile.  And he sings like a Las Vegas lounge act.

I leaned over the fence and had a very serious chat with G.  His sister was sitting on the porch eating her morning cereal, while he was in the garden with a spade and shovel, digging soil out from between his mum's petunias, and then moving it to another hole. Mum heard us through the kitchen window, and came out to say hello.

ME: We're going to be having a load of crushed stone brought in to top the driveway.  It looks like I could call on G. to give us a hand with the shovelling.

SHE: Oh yes!  That's for sure!  Youcan call on G. if you need any holes dug.

G: (interjecting, seriously) Her name is not Doug!

 

The neighbours next to that family have two children as well.  Whenever DH pulls into the driveway, the little boy (he'll be five this autumn) yells "Hi!" to him.  DH unlocked their gate, and invited the kids to come over for a popsicle when he came home from work this afternoon.  We love seeing the kids. 

Mum of these two kids recently invited DH  up to see her son's bedroom. It seems that he got up way too early one morning, and him mum sent him back to his room.  Instead of going back to bed, the little dickens got out his crayons and drew a portrait of his family on the wall!!!  Except instead of four stick figures, he had drawn FIVE!

DH: What have you done?

HE: I drew a picture.  This is daddy, this is mommy.  This is my sister.  This is me. and this is YOU!

 

I laughed and laughed when DH told me about it.  He's evidently a big part of this little boy's world.  But I laughed even harder when DH followed up the story with: "I was the only one in the picture with HAIR!!!"  He obviously does mean a lot to this little boy, because in REAL life, DH doesn't have hair, or at least, much hair.

Anyway....back to my day.

Have I mentioned how much I love my iPod?  Bless all of you who advised me to get one!  And a million thanks for linking me to LibriVox. 

Today, I downloaded the first seven chapters of "Anne of Green Gables".  I had noticed a poster in the post office the other day promoting the 100th Anniversary of Anne and commemorative stamps. 

I decided then and there that I could hardly consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool Canadian if I hadn't read Anne of Green Gables, and set about finding a copy of the book.  I picked up a paperback copy for a dime at the Salvation Army thrift store, and started reading page 1, but a horrid mildew-y smell overwhelmed me, so out the book went!  I thought I would find a better, less stinky copy someday. 

I was thrilled to find the audiobook on podcast, and it made me smile to imagine how Lucy Maud Montgomery would react.  I imagine her reaction would be one of shock, but with lots of adverbs, and fifty-cent words.  Certainly she never pictured a day would come when her work would be compressed into invisible digits, and transmitted through the air to be collected in a tiny machine half the size of a playing card, then spoken directly into my ears.  Even to me it's simply amazing!

So, I spent the afternoon sitting in the shade doing hand applique on some Dear Jane blocks and listening to my story.  It was simply wonderful.

I did a particularly challenging block today, at least I thought it was going to be a monster of a challenge.  I begged the Dear Jane group for advice on how to  proceed, and thankfully Elly, way over in Scotland sent me a photo tutorial.  And once I saw it broken down into easy steps, it was a snap!

C5 Eye of the Cyclone

• M1 Dogwood Days
• D8 Dee Dee's Delight
• D4 Crystal Star
• RS 2 Cherokee Lee