Hossacks Three

Blake goes up.

Grandma comes down.

Blake masters the sand digger.  He’s been working on it for years.

Dad looks on.

Scott, Grandma Pat, Gaye, Blake.

Some lovely friends in Shanghai thoughtfully arranged for a grandma tree for Blake in our yard. My friend Emmy wrote, “One of the very best things about our Shanghai Family is that our children get to know each other as their second family in the world.”  Scott, Blake and I are so, so, so, so fortunate.  We have our wonderful family in Canada and our wonderful “family’ overseas.   Throughout this whole awful time, there has been a constant stream of digital love flowing across the ocean from our friends.  Thanks guys.  We love you.

Blake hugs his new tree.

Happy birfday dear Grandpa.  Happy birfday to you!!!

There’s a  terrific screened in back porch at my parents house and it’s lovely to sit out back and not be irritated by any insects.  **Side note, Blake can’t say mosquitoes, he says mojitos, which makes those pesky bugs sound a lot more fun. **

The other night we went out back and heard a very loud buzzing noise.  Very loud.  We peeked out the screen door and saw a massive swarm of bees just a few meters from our porch door!  Hundreds and hundreds of those little suckers.  A few hours later the noise had subsided and most of the bees had moved on.  Pretty exciting.

The weather in Canada has been surprisingly warm for mid May.  We’ve spent a lot of time outside walking and playing with my dad.  The other day we tried mini putt for the first time.  Blake enjoyed it.  He raced through the course at record speed, barely allowing the ball to stop.  He also was the only on of the 5 of us who scored a hole in one!  It was met with much jumping and rejoicing.  His score card looked like this:  8, 9, 1, 7.  Kind of unpredictable.

Lining up shot #1.  Look at that putting technique!

A little support from his caddy.

This is the shot!  The hole in one!  Way to go big gunner.

Peg, Dad, Scott, Blake and myself took a trip to the Ontario Science Center to take our minds off things.  To say Blake LOVED it, is a huge understatement.  There was a construction site that you could work on that was pure heaven for this little builder.  Other highlights included an enormous marble run, maybe 4 meters across and 2 meters tall, a dark cave, a rainforest and ‘real’ supermarket.

We watched the electricity show and Blake volunteered to have his hair stand straight up.  Originally he and Scott planned to go on stage together, but at the last minute, Blake informed Scotty that he was going on his own.

At Blake’s school Kid’s Elements, they tackle some ambitious art projects.  Recently he made a tiger costume and it is cute!

Originally Kathy had some trouble attaching the tiger’s tail.  She had it turned around and it pointed forward between his legs.  Blake told her, “It’s a tiger tail, not a tiger penis, Kathy.”  We got it sorted out.  Phew.

The day we left Shanghai to come home to Canada was kind of crazy.  There were lots of friends coming and going and their were lots of things to do.  Not lots, really, because my work and mates really stepped up, but there were some things to think of and so Ling Ling played with Blake.  Once I looked out the window and saw this.

That’s Blake wearing soccer socks and shin guards.  He’s got a hockey stick in his hand, Ling Ling has a baseball bat in hers, and they are batting a tennis ball around.  4 sports in one game.  I like it.

My mother died five days ago.

If there was ever a mother that exemplified strength, humor, patience, and love – it was Pauline Mouncey.

And now she is gone, my amazing mother, Blake’s beautiful Nana, is gone.

I feel lost and devastated, my heart is heavy and sad.

I’ve lost my mom and I’ve lost my link to the past.  The woman who was supposed to be here forever is gone.

I feel dreadful that I was away when she needed me, but I also feel thankful that she always supported our decisions to live where we wanted and follow our own path, our own dreams.

I am so grateful for the people who have sent me messages, given hugs and especially for the people who shared a memory of my mother with me.

I miss her so much.

Here is her online obit.  She wrote it herself.  In classic mom style, she wrote it on the back of used envelopes.  Nothing was wasted in her house.

www.vaughanfoodbank.ca

We are just wrapping up a 4 day weekend.  It was absolutely brilliant.  Our biggest problem was finding enough awake time for baths at the end of long, wonderful days to wash the super thick layer of dirt off Blake.  Bike riding, scootering, bouncing on the tramp, swimming, digging in the sand, water sliding… the list of outdoor activities goes on and on and on.  The forecast was rubbish.  It was meant to rain every day.  It didn’t, it was glorious, but when planning for a wretched weekend I did some prep work.  I cut out the letters A, B, C, D  and gathered materials to make some letter crafts that I have seen all over the net.  I was thinking A on Saturday, B on Sunday, C on Monday, D on Tuesday IF he felt like it.  What I didn’t take into account was Blake’s love of letters, love of crafts, love of finishing things and LOVE of doing things in order.  On Saturday he polished off A, B, C, D and moved on to E and F.  More letters on Sunday and Monday and the very first thing he said on Tuesday morning was, “It’s time to finish the letters.”  So we plowed through the alphabet and ended up with this amazing alphabet on the wall.