40 Years Together.

 We are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this week-end.  This occasion has given me reason to ponder.  How did we actually make it this long together? 

 When we got married in 1983, I was 21 and he was 24.  So young!!  We have 3 children, all grown now.  They were born when I was 22, 24 and 29.  In the gap were 2 losses. 

 We met in Victoria and married there but soon moved to the Kootenays.  I was raised in the Nelson area so it was already home to me.  We have lived at 49 Creek for most of our marriage.  Darrell built us a home on this property.  

I guess like many other families our lives have been full of raising children, figuring out where to live and work, paying bills and in between  all of that having some fun.  I feel like, in some ways, the first half of our marriage was so busy managing all of these things that we just got up each day, worked hard and did our best.  There were times when we didn't really see each other or understand one another's personal needs, and we had to take time to work through some difficulties that arose because of that.  We had to learn to communicate and be able to walk through the door of resolution.  That was especially hard for me.  In fact, I'm pretty sure Darrell has some PTSD from living with me as I  work through my early trauma and triggers and continue to do so.  There were days and months sometimes that were not easy by any means.  Loyalty is his middle name, however, and he has stuck by me, reassured me, loved me, comforted me and built me up continuously.  

Life is hard.  Life is hard together, life would be hard apart.  We picked our hard.  Together.  And so it has been, sometimes bumbling through and sometimes smooth sailing.  Always hard work.  Choosing to be kind, choosing to be respectful, learning to apologize, learning to say thank you and appreciate each other's efforts. Doing our best to lay down selfishness.  Choosing to see the best and forgive the faults.  Choosing to remember what we fell in love with at the beginning.  Laughing together.  And crying, yes, definitely tears.  Teamwork.  That word is important to us.

We have not done this alone.  Our other choice has been Jesus.  From the start, trusting His guidance and provision in our lives, asking Him for help always, doing our best to follow His way.  Praying everyday.  We do not always trust well.  We forget, and carry on in our own strength and have to be reminded over and over to hang on to God's hand.  To wake up and try again the next day.  Learning to take all our worries and cares to Him who loves us most. He has helped us, no doubt about it.  

So here we are, 40 years together despite everything.  Moving forward one day at a time, one step at a time.

I love you D.  Forever. Thank you for our life together.

 

  

An African Savannah - small world play

 I recently created a wet felted play mat inspired by an African province called Kwa-zulu Natal for a friend of mine and her two lovely boys.  When I looked up the area on the internet I saw a variety of beautiful images.  As the design of this play mat brewed in my mind, I was reminded of a favorite story from our toddler room called Lazy Lion by Mwenye Hadithi and Adrienne Kennaway.  This story sparked creative inspiration for me as I wanted the play mat to be interactive for a 3 and 5 year old.  I felt that having this story as a basis would begin the imaginative play and more play could arise from it.

As you can see from these pictures, the terrain is gold, green, brown, bronze, blue.  I also went with color from the story as I love the illustrations. 

I didn't want to make the water all brown as in the pic above but at the same time wanted to honor the fact that not all water is blue.  So I mixed colors depicted in the story and also from the images I saw on the internet.  I added in just a bit of blue so the water could be distinguished from the land.

Once I had designed the play mat, the wet felting begins.

One of my favorite parts is cutting the openings in the caves.  I have found this method of making caves very effective.  http://www.andthecarrotcameup.ca/2020/05/wet-felting-cave-creating-play-mat-6.html

I love using scarves and doilies to embellish the play scene.  You could also add in something behind the scene to create another dimension.  That could be a mirror, a picture or poster, or fabric.

I added in some flat stones and some unique stones I had in my collection (thank-you Ken) that I thought were a  perfect match for this African scene.

And welcome to the cast of characters.  First off, The King of the Beasts, the Lion.

Isn't this guy just awesome?  I found him in a thrift store, one of my favorite places to forage for play mat accessories.  He's definitely bigger than all of the other animals but he is the King afterall.

He orders the other animals to build him a house to shelter him from the the Big Rains.  They all do their best but nothing seems to work.

The White Ants.  Yes, painted on stone.  

Weaver Birds

 

I needle felted the thorn tree with an armature so that it could bend and so the children could move it around the scene. 

Aardvarks.  Aren't they funny creatures? Kind of like bunny pigs that like to live underground.

The Honey Badger

And the crocodile.

In the end, none of these houses will do and the Lion is left to wander the African plain no matter the weather and even in the Big Rains.

Add in more animals from your collection.  I even have some wooden African animal napkin rings that I would make available to the children.

And that is the end of this story.  If you don't know it, check it out, it's fun.  There are other titles in the same genre from this author.  

I hope you enjoyed this safari through Kwa-zulu Natal.  I wish the little boys who play with this mat, many hours of creative fun and also a chance to learn more about a land far away that is different than the land where we live.

 

Watching A Play.

I have had the privilege of having this sweet four year old little girl at my home a few times lately.  I  knew her really well when she was two and in my Infant and Toddler room.  We became friends.  Then she graduated into the 3-5 year old room and we adopted a secret wave and now and then we get to visit a little or have a chat over the fence.  Sometimes she joins me at the end of the day when I'm on late shift.  It's pretty special.

The second day when she came over to my place, we played in the garden for a long time and she wandered all about picking flowers that she knew her Mimi would like.  We walked to the mailbox and then on the way back we cut through the forest on our way to the treehouse.  She really loved the moss we found and she lay on it and brushed her hands over it.  

 

In the treehouse.

We read stories and ate snack and lunch.  I got a chuckle when she opened both my fridge doors and said, "I want to eat your food!"  So a few slices of honey toast were made and enjoyed.  During the day we had some pretend play with two dolls.  She named hers Hazel and mine was named Molly.  There were three other dolls that were integrated into play near the end of the day. 

Some of you may know that I have a little side gig, making children's play materials. It's my hope that these items can spark imaginative and creative play for young children.   At one point little girl said, "Let's go upstairs"  She knows my craft room is up there and my Carrot Came Up shop items are there.  She got busy and shopped!  I found it super interesting what she picked out.  A few of these and a few of those, sometimes chosen because of color. She just seemed so decisive and knew what she liked instantly.  I found that ability enviable! I got her a basket because she had too many things to carry and she had the idea to take these things to the patio.  The dolls came along too.  I wonder if an idea was brewing in her mind and even though I wasn't sure what her plan was, there did seem to be  a plan.

First of all, the five dolls were flung under the picnic table.  Then I realized the plan was unfolding so I retreated onto a chair over in the corner and watched.

She selected different items and set them up in various places on the patio.  Again, I was so intrigued with her selection and set ups.  It was so very artistic, I thought.

Oh, I heard her say to herself, "This is beautiful".  I thought how wonderful it was, that she was pleased with her work and didn't need any validation from me.

At one point I did ask her about the dolls under the table and she said, "Oh they are getting ready for school!"  That was when she invited me into her play to be the mom and bring the kids to school.  So all the kids went to school.  She found all of the dolls a station to play at.

After they played, they had snack of course.

And just like that we felt a few rain drops and her amazing play ended quickly as we gathered up all the items.  

This play was a privilege to witness.  Someone's incredible learning and narrative.  Play that comes so naturally to small children and is indeed their work.  Yeah! Inspiring imaginative and creative play evolved!