The Slug Stroll

Photo Credit: Xavier Brooks

Shaena Jakob's Midnight Slug Collection

Today Leo left for Lethbridge with his precious cargo of teens: Xavier, Naomi, Shaena Jakob, Mikaela and Cyra.

I love to hear what kids have enjoyed most as they leave the property.

Naomi said that laying in one of the floating tube on the water was pretty high on her list, as were the hammocks, though not the three-sided hammock.

She finds the regular hammocks easier to hang out in and easier to slip out of.

Shaena Jakob is Xavier’s friend who flew to Lethbridge from Ottawa this summer. She is the woman who collected slugs one midnight, slug by slug. First one, then another. Soon she had 17 in her hand, charmed that they would take to her, as she did to them.

“Wasn’t it hard getting all of the slug slime off?” That is the question most of midnight-travelling friends asked as well.

I was more interested in why she collected them. She said slugs are just so interesting.  I thought to myself, while in the past, others may have collected slugs to pour salt on them (a past practise I remember of others, not me), she carefully studied them, and then let them go.

“How long did it take for them to leave?” I asked.

 “About an hour, maybe 45 minutes. Forty-five minutes for the fast ones. I just said, ‘Ya! You go. And then I watched them travel away,” she said.

The above experience was report to me by Shaena, not experienced by me.

Arta

Spring is late, oh so late

From Mary Johnson

You’ve probably heard about the terrible flooding happening in Gatineau/Ottawa.

On top of that, spring weather is late arriving here in the National Capital Region.

By this time we usually have beds of tulips blossoming all over the city and the trees are in full bloom providing fantastic photo backdrops.

But right now, the crocuses are barely up, and I have only one daffodil in my front yard that has opened.

These photos are from an impromptu shoot with Rhiannon and Xavier in Spring of 2018.

We had just been to the Doctor’s for routine check-ups and decided we had to pull over when we saw these trees.

They smelled delicious.

Can’t wait for spring 2019 to really take off here so that another impromptu photo shoot can happen.

These photos were taken exactly one year ago. I had to go back and look at them to remind myself that spring will arrive soon.

Mary

Winding Hair

... front half of hair tied back ...

There isn’t much that is more beautiful than curly burnish red hair that tumbles past the shoulders of Xavier Brooks and of Catherine Jarvis.


Xavier wears his hair long when he goes to work and to school.


He doesn’t have any interest in taking a few minutes to tie it back.


I asked him if he would mind sitting still and letting me so what I could do: braid his hair or just roll it around the back of his head.

So here are the results of my experiment.


 I did go to Ardene’s to find clips that I though would hold his hair in place.


In general, the clips aren’t strong enough for the amount of hair he has.


But I had a wonderful time choosing them.



We were chatting in the kitchen and Naomi said she would like her hair French braided in two pig tales.



Then Rebecca wanted her hair held back with a fish tail weave.


Soon Hebe was asking for a Dutch braid. And that is where most of Mary’s morning went.

... our model sits still while Mary tries a French roll ...

... bronzed clip at the bottom of a braid ...

 ... French roll around the bottom of the neck ...

Brooks Kids -- Photos for Pheobe

My very good friend Anne-Marie Bouchard is a professional photographer -- AMBphoto.  I adore both her and her photos.  I have had the very good fortune of getting to have her take photos of my kids on several occasions.

This past weekend she did a fundraiser for a girl in Ottawa who has a rare form of cancer.  My kids participated and here is the result.

Don't I have gorgeous kids?

Cousin Fun at LaRonde.

Riding the Goliath