Ah . . February. The dreariest month, yet so often a pretty fun and busy month for us.
We set up all our decorations for February on our nature table. There are lucky cats and origami for Chinese New Year, the snow drop fairy for winter's first flower and play dough hearts for Valentine's Day.
The first Tuesday of each month is admission by donation at the Art Gallery. They have a show of modern Japanese art on now that I’ve wanted to see, so we checked it out. It was really interesting, and the installations were all very different. We all enjoyed the Happo-En, the life-size tea house made out of styrofoam the artist collected here in Victoria. Leif remarked that some ink drawings reminded him of the work of Hayao Miyazaki, and when we read the artist’s bio, it said he was greatly influenced by the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Good eye. Hannah and I really enjoyed the installation that was cherished items entirely covered with clear glass marbles. A deer’s head, a toy tank, a fake peach. We all watched a video installation that we found fun to watch but did not fully understand the meaning behind it. Hannah was excited to find a life-size styrofoam deer outside when we were leaving. On our way out we noticed that they were setting up a different show, that involved Canadiana paintings framed with cut up hockey sticks. Leif was definitely interested in coming back to see it once it’s up. We’ll mark the calendar for the 1st Tuesday in March.
The sun came out this week so we headed out to the yard. This led us to see how messy and dreary it was, as we’ve been too busy to tidy up the dead plants and fallen leaves this year. Kit has been working away at the front patio, and that is where the sun was at that hour, so we hung around there. Leif set up his hockey net and practiced taking shots. Hannah pushed the broom around to move the sand into the spaces between the paving stones. I bailed out the rubber container that currently houses our 25 goldfish that are without a pond. The kids took turns catching the fish and transferring them to a clean container. Hannah remarked at how slippery they were, and Leif was very interested in the water treatment stuff I added to the clean water. As I fumbled trying to explain why we treat the water for the fish, yet we drink that same water straight from the tap (a really good question I think!) Hannah jumped in and talked to Leif about how we used to treat the hot tub water because our dirty bodies were in it all the time and so it needed help. That it was straight tap water too, but it couldn’t stay clean with us using it all the time. Smart kid that Hannah.
We moved the fish back into their clean Rubbermaid and proceeded to choose a special fish for each of us. Then we drew their pictures and gave them names. I really enjoyed seeing the kid’s art . It is rare that Leif and Hannah colour a picture. Usually they do more of a stick-figure scene style of drawing.
A neighbourhood friend went away last week and asked if we’d come by each day to feed their cat. We said of course. But Leif was not very interested in following up on this, so Hannah took the job on herself. She scootered over each day, found and petted the cat, and re-filled her food dish. This gave me the idea for Hannah to launch a little local business. Hannah’s Pet and Plant Care Services. To help neighbours out of they go away, or work long hours. She can water plants or let their dogs out for some fresh air in their yard. We printed up signs and she delivered them to all the houses she knows where the owners have pets. We also plan to put some signs up on the telephone poles around our block. I told Hannah that since her name is on those signs, people will be calling to talk to her, so she needs to be ready to handle a phone conversation. I also talked to her about how nothing may come of this right away, people may not be in need of her services yet, but it’s good to get the word out there. We’ll see.
Hannah had her third drum lesson this week, and Kit and I worried because we had still not gotten her drums set up for her to practice or fiddle around on. I worried that if she didn’t practice, she’d feel flustered at her lesson, and decide she didn’t want to continue. Any attempts to get her to practice made her push us away and resent her lessons. And she was still too shy to really speak to her teacher. But when we got there she showed him what she knew from last week, and through his useful questions, she opened up and chatted with him and told him whether things were hard or easy. Then she played most of a Micheal Jackson song, her current music choice, and they talked about what other music she liked that might have drum parts in it (K’NAAN). I just sat in the corner and knit my beloved hat and watched her in awe. Way to be bold daughter.
Leif had an important soccer game this week. It’s against another local team that they’ve played twice before, and have found them to be slightly under-handed and rough, and have lost to them each time. This game the boys were determined to do their best, and were so focused on passing and really holding their shape, and they won! Leif scored a beautiful goal, over the left shoulder of one player, the right shoulder of the next, and over the keeper’s shoulder, tucking it nicely into the corner of the net. It was awesome.
I noticed him incorporating his aikido skills into his soccer playing. When he was tripped or tackled, he’d roll and be right up again.
It feels like lots of talk about Hannah this week, but not much about Leif. She's just doing more different or new things, whereas Leif is enjoying the same things he has already been doing. He's becoming very familiar with navigating the internet to find hockey game highlights. And he asks me about the ads that he sees (you must watch an ad before you can view a highlight. Every time)which can bring on interesting discussions. He finds many ads do not make any sense. Yay!
The kids and I really enjoyed this TED talk about teaching crows to perform tasks. We've discussed it many times in the car since we watched it.
Ivy's newest favorite song by Veda hille, a lovely Canadian. She sings it often "luck, lucky, luck luck, lucky luck ".
Caelen
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