Summer 2012: Pirate Invasion!

This is my sister-in-law Cheri.

These are the types of cakes Cheri dreams up and creates.

A pirate ship arriving from a water land of cupcakes to a desert land of 'sand' cupcakes on which the pirates will fight with the skeleton crew who have a treasure.  Yep.  She makes the fabulous creations and then we, her grateful family-in-law, have the audacity to eat them.  Truly they should be encased on glass and put on display in a museum.  Instead, we eat them.  We (un)grateful lot.

The pirate ship is made from rice-crispie treats wrapped in moulded tootsie roll.  The masts are cookies.  

The water and sand are cupcakes with delicious icing and candies on them.  The desert has icing which is them dipped on pulverized graham crackers.  So yummy!

In addition to the cake she made cross-bone cookies...because they are so simple to create (?).

The skeletons guarding their treasure

'Come get us and our treasure pirates!'

The pirates descend in a ship to advance towards the booty.

Prepared to fight!

Who will win?!?

This summer I confessed to Cheri that I have a fantastic business idea.  She is going to make cakes like these and I am going to sell them.  Thusly she and my brother must stay together always, and she needs to make cakes faster...or we can hire minions to create the cakes while she dreams them up.  Either way my plan will take some convincing and she just laughed every time I mentioned our new joint venture.  There is some work and convincing yet to be done.  Wish us luck with our booty!

Summer 2012: Mermaid Camp

As some of you may know, I have 12 (going on 13) nieces and nephews.  They are a constant source of entertainment, joy and hilarity for their aunts and uncles.  One of my sisters, Marcia, was talking with her two boys at the beginning of this summer about camps they may want to join.  Their younger sister, a three year old, was listening in and piped up, "I want to go to Mermaid Camp".  Uh?  My sister did not know what to do as she had never heard of such a thing.  Upon telling us the story, we family members joked that we could tie the kids legs together and throw them in Shuswap Lake, in amongst other sassy comments.

As we gathered at Shuswap for a family gathering, Marcia decided she was going to give her daughter a Mermaid Camp.  She went to the dollar store to make a few purchased, we gathered our make-up, nail polish and other assorted elements that could be included in our first ever, Mermaid Camp.

Marcia gathered the nieces and made fin-like invitations to distribute to the family.  We were all invited to Mermaid Camp at 2:30 PM on the porch.  Be prepared to be done up!

The adults began to put make-up on the girls, paint nails, coif hair and have an all round good time.  Sadly I could not find any ocean, sear or Little Mermaid music for the event but as you can see, we were having a great time.

Audra, the little girl who started Mermaid Camp,
having her nails done by Aunt Lurene.
(One of the best pics I took.)

Not aware her hair is on end.

Strike a pose!

We kept decorating each other.  Laughing at the feather eyelashes, the sparkled rings, and the fun colours of make-up.

Audra, in the rapture of Mermaid Camp

Our neighbour, Autumn, came to join us. 

Finishing touches

A late-comer just getting started.

Three little mermaids from school are we....

...even the adults got into it...

Well hello Cheri!

Adult nail time, care of Sabrina

Funny thing happened on the way to Mermaid Camp, the nephews showed up.  With trepidation, at first, they began putting on rings....

....then they let the Aunts start doing their hair.....they did not realize that this was only the beginning....

Stunning smile

With a lovely red flower 

With lovely red lips

....next came those crazy feather eyelashes....

Then the Aunts went wild with a no-holds-bar approach to Mermaid Camp.  Anyone on the deck was either getting done-up, was doing the work of decorating another person, taking pictures (like moi), or posing for a picture. 

Work is kids!

Work it Andrew!
(One of the best pictures from Mermaid Camp.)

....then Ozzy Osbourne Mermaid Camp started....

Group shots were next on the list of things to do at Mermaid Camp.

Love the smiles and other assorted facial expressions.

Pose it children!

Then it was treat time: banana vanilla ice cream milk shakes in fancy glasses.  

Thank you to all who made the delish milkshakes!

We had a great time and it was really fun seeing my nieces and nephews participate in some gender bending and enjoying every minute of it.  I was even more impressed by my siblings who just watched it happen, provided the space for their girls and boys enjoy doing something new for fun, for family bonding and for a great time.  

This may become a tradition.

A decorated child

Phew!  Mermaid Camp is exhausting!

Ochre

While visiting with family in Calgary I began playing a game with my nephew.  There is always a Canadian dictionary at hand as one of my sisters enjoys reading them and learning new words.  In order to avoid playing yet another video game, which is often torturous for me, I grabbed the dictionary, flipped through it and began calling out words, asking my eight year old nephew what the word meant.  Refuse, meditate, spar, pronounce, all words we defined and talked about.  Then I spied the word 'ochre'.  I asked him what the word 'ochre' meant and he shared his response with me in about 15 seconds:

"Oh, that's the sound that Darth Vader makes when he is breathing in and out.  

Ohhh-ker.  Ohhh-ker.  Ohhh-ker!"

Just hilarious!  Amazing connection and of course, we imitated Darth Vader and his breathing for about five minutes in between bouts of laughter.  In the end I did share the actual dictionary definition of the word ochre, but that word, for me, will never be the same.

Ohhhhh-Ker!!!

Picture copied from http://www.google.ca/search?q=picture+of+darth+vader&hl=

en&client=safari&pwst=1&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ

&sa=X&ei=8NXWT7XzC8iQ2AWrr_mxDw&ved=0CHIQsAQ&biw=1056&bih=600

Perhaps It's Just Me...

....but I find my family hilarious.  From our past family stories frolicking about the globe as a mass of personalities, to the small stories from nieces and nephews that cause me to guffaw, to the little email exchanges we send back and forth.  Here is one of those.  Red Bull and Leonidas anyone?

This set of emails is great because we lived in Brussels for four years from 1982-1986.  We have all returned at least once to reminisce, see old haunts, and walk around in awe.  Three must eats are Leonidas chocolates, une gauffre (a real Belgian waffle), and un cornet des frites avec une brochette (a cone of French fries with meat on a stick).  When my mother and I returned to Brussels two years ago for our first return visit, we ate chocolates, waffles and frites for four days, then I turned to her and asked if we could perhaps find a vegetable or a piece of fruit.  So hard to say no to Belgian delights!

Here are the emails:

______________________________

We are in the hotel in Brussels. One can get free internet in the lobby or pay 11.90 E in the room. So I just messed around in the room and found a free internet somewhere on this computer. I hope it lasts while we are here. We have the room until Sunday at 5 pm and the train leaves at 7 pm back to London.

I got a weekend special so breakfasts are free and everything in the bar fridge is free. The bar fridge stuff adds up to 25.50 E. So this may be the first time I drink Red Bull and I am just not sure about the 2 cans of Stella Artois. Wish one of the drinkers were here.

Somehow I forgot to pack any outside clothes. I have the pants I am wearing plus one extra top. I do have underclothes. How did I miss packing clothes and we have two suitcases with us.

The room here is lovely and large and Blvd Anspatch. It is the NH Atlanta. I stayed here with Arta and Zoe once. We are near the Bourse and very close to the Grand Place. I will look for the hole where there is a missing cobblestone that you snitched from the Grand Place Teague. You snitched it and then lost it somewhere.

Glen and Janet plus others who have stayed in Paris in the Edgar Quinet...the room has two large open doors onto the street which is 5 floors down. And we have lots of room to party. Next time we all come to Brussels, this is where we will stay. Leonidas is just down the block. Right now Greg and I are off the Chez Antoine's for frites and fried meat, no green stuff.

Wish you were here!

Love,
Wyona (my mother)

______________________________

Don't drink red bull! Too much caffeine. Have le fun!

- Lurene (my sister, who has the best family stories, including dancing for muny (money) in Brussels on the fence pedastal at our house)

______________________________

I'm so sad I lost that cobblestone. And Marcia's clarinet. Sad sad sad.

- Teague (my brother)

______________________________

Chez Brussels!

A grad student was headed there for a conference and I gave her a list of things to do including eat many Leonidas.

Consider this my request for a box of delicious Leonidas! Rub the good luck statue just off the Grand Place for me too.

I agree with leaving the Red Bull alone. Not a good drink choice. 

I was so jealous of that cobblestone! Taking one was such a good idea. Too bad it was lost along with a clarinet and the two seater bike and several wallets. :)

Hi ho, hi ho, its back to work I go...

- Tonia (me)

______________________________

... because it would have collected dust.

I took Charise's clarinet a few years ago, and it collected dust. Now Gabe is playing it in Gypsy. 5 lessons from his mother and he can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star just long enough for the "Clarence the Clarinet Player" character.

Don't be sad. I have the piano. Everyone should be sad about that, except me.

I am tired. I need some red bull.

- Marcia (my sister, mother of three young children)

______________________________

...can't eat, can't sleep, can't even wash my feet. Won't someone please bring my hootoofootoo cobblestone ba-a-ack.

Can't wait to see the video you took of Gabe [while he was performing in Gypsy]. You snuck a camera in, right? The secret is to cover the red light.

Are the non-Bates sure they still want to be part of this heading?

- Teague (my brother who loses many things)

______________________________

It's in your bureau drawer, right by your favorite tooth.

And yes, on my cell phone there is a short 2 minute clip, please don't report me.

- Marcia

Why I Adore Wyona

In my family we do not celebrate Mother's Day, we celebrate Wyona's Day.  As my mother, Wyona has always said that we should not revere, praise, adore, and enjoy our mother's only one day a year but every day of the year.  With this instilled in us as teenagers, we continue to celebrate our altered version of this yearly holiday as a family.

This year my mother was on a cruise in some remote sea or ocean and unreachable.  Family members did send emails with funny stories, witty responses, best memories, and the like.  Wyona thanked us and we each took time to think about the amazing woman that raised seven children while moving all over the world, country to country.  She has survived by pure will as we are all different, unique and challenging (yet so entertaining) as children and now as adults.

As an homage to Wyona I rented a movie last week that reminded me of her.  You see, she is addicted to old time movies.  1940's musicals, dance films of the 1950's, and black and white, silver screen movies of the early 1900's.  When she has time, is sewing or completing small jobs we all have to do to keep life going, she is watching Turner Classic Movies (TCM).  When I am in town I plop on the couch, chat, watch, listen, chat more, watch again.  These movies always have and always will remind me of my amazing mother.

The other day at the library I realized I can rent videos for $1.20 so I grabbed a few.  When I saw, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), I missed my mum and had to watch it.  From the film education I received from her, I know there are few musical and dance combinations in the world of film like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  It was the perfect choice.

The dance scene of the two of them, he in a tux, she is a flowing white dress, I watched three times.  The plot presents them as a somewhat agreeable married couple known for there stage talent, have split up because Ginger's character wants to try dramatic stage acting rather than the comedy they have repeatedly performed.  They split up as a couple and he woes her back with this Gershwin song and dance number (with a little help from the friend that introduces the scene.)  Such talent, poise, feet movement and ability.  I am grateful to have a mother that has taught me many things, one of which is an appreciation of older entertainment that remains relevant and enjoyable to watch.

I suggest you watch it once and keep your eyes on Fred Astaire, then watch it again and keep your eyes on Ginger Rogers.  He is so smooth, and she appears as delicate as a flower and knows when to grab her skirt and give it a flip to get it moving.  Love this musical!  Love these types of movies!

Enjoy the wee scene snippet from the movie!
Love your mum!
Enjoy her every day!

 

Falling Backwards

Falling Backwards by Jann Arden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So far Jann is providing the reader with very detailed accounts of her childhood.  I am not sure she is going to make it into the singing career part of her life at this rate as I keep looking at the thickness of the book.  I shall keep you updated.


I have been a fan of Jann Arden's music since the release of her first CD in the early 1990's.  Her music has always helped me process life experiences, realize that life is complicated, and that we all hope to have relationships with people we can rely on.  After receiving this book for Christmas, I devoured it.  As stated above, most of the stories in her book range from childhood to the beginning of her music career and do not extend beyond.  While Jann is open about many funny, personal, serious, hard, interesting and joyful experiences, it appears she still retains private information about other aspects of her life.  It was a great read and would recommend it to fans and strangers alike.


View all my reviews

Jann's Website:  http://jannarden.com/