{Virtual Coffee}

Oh hi. Glad you could stop by for a cup. I am a bit on the fly today. So very, very much to do it seems. I usually keep to a pretty strict routine and when the routine gets shuffled, I find myself scrambling to "get it all done". If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you I have almost recovered from the sleepover on Saturday night I went to with the Beavers and Cub scouts at our Ecomuseum. I have written about the Ecomuseum before, oh how I love that place. Briefly, it is a "zoo" of sorts that has indigenous animals that have been injured, orphaned or raised in captivity and thus are unable to be returned to the wild. The staff learns from these animals then teaches what they learn to us, the general public. I have signed Riley up for an entire week of summer camp there at the end of July and he'll be learning plenty and teaching me some too. I have pretty much given up on getting a decent photo of the bears but isn't the wolf a beauty?

And even though they smell pretty raucous, the porcupines were very funny and very curious about us.

This caribou reminded me of my old English Setter - the extra long nose, flappy jowls and sleepy smile. See the resemblance?

And why just one eagle when you can have both a bald and a royal?

But I think the otters win for being the most entertaining.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would have to tell you about something magical that happened to me this week. For the last year and a half I have been leaving The Rock Fairy's rocks around town. I do leave them far and wide but mostly I have a few favourite spots down by the water where I walk the dog. On two separate occasions, Riley and I have "found" hearts on our walking path, once stamped in the snow very early (I mean VERY early) one morning just before the sun rose

and on another occasion in May made from tulip petals.

Anyway, this weekend, in the same nook of a tree where I often leave my rocks I found this:

I would swear up and down the flagpole that it is one I left behind at some point. I scanned through my library of photos looking for it but to no avail. I feel as if there is a kindred spirit in my neighbourhood, someone who thinks similar to me. It may or may not be someone I know since the rock project is kind of quietly kept between Riley and me. It feels good and a little creepy at the same time.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that yesterday was the first day this year I went all day without gloves. Then I would ask you if you think those firming body lotions actually work because I am starting to see those same puckers on the inside of my elbows that my grandmother used to have. I haven't grown her arm flaps yet but I'm sure they are next.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you about this huge tsunami made up of parents from Riley's class reacting to the cancellation of the reading project I mentioned last week. I am so proud of and moved by these people getting together and trying to DO SOMETHING about this and at the same time I am so grateful that I can ride along on the wave and not have to lead it. There is a regularly scheduled parents committee meeting tonight at school and we are going to be there in droves. This principal is in for a big surprise. I'll have to tell you how it all turns out next week.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you I have been shopping for a new bike for Riley as he has outgrown the one he's been on for the last two years. While looking on craigs list, I found one for me (isn't that always what happens?) - it's a vintage one with a basket and streamers and I can't wait to go and see it. This is a horrible photo and I'm hoping that fact is keeping any other potential buyers away. Apparently the streamers are removable but why would I want to? This is exactly the kind of bike I imagined myself riding around town when I turned 50. When I turn 60 I am going back to a three wheeler with an enormous basket in between the two enormous rear wheels.

OK, then let's head off to Amy's Lucky Number 13 as Riley will be home from school soon and all I have been doing is yammering on here. I hear her magnolia's are in bloom!