A lovely bunch of coconuts

(Thank you to Joanna for the honor of being the first guest-blogger on Yogafrogspeaks. My posts will focus on the ongoing adventure that is our family)

      I live with 3 of the strangest, comical and most creative people you will ever meet, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are so many little things they do that make me laugh, or swell my heart with joy and pride. It’s not the big gestures of love that get me (although they do), it’s the little moments of pure psychedelic pandemonium that happen out of the blue that impact me the most.

An example:

      We were driving home the other day from meeting my newborn niece, Kaden decides we need to have a family game show in the car. He takes on the role of host, asks the questions and says “the first person to say ‘slap’, gets to answer”, he begins with simple math questions and moves to general movie knowledge. Joanna and I find ourselves screaming “SLAP” at the top of our lungs as we compete to win the game, we constantly accuse each other of cheating and force Kaden to make the judgment as to who looses and wins the point. How impassioned we become about this game is a little frightening…. SLAP…… Brody, not to be outdone by the older people, starts interjecting with stories about when he was a baby...

Some exposition:

      Brody has decided that when he was a baby, he went on many adventures and did many things that the rest of us were apparently oblivious to. Some of the things Brody has done when he was a baby include: going to Toronto, living in California, riding with Terry Fox who is really Santa Claus and landing on the roof of our house and his leg turning into a deer… the adventures go on and on.

Back to our story:

      Quickly, our car-trivia game turns into “Question: When did Brody….(insert question) SLAP… Answer: When he was a baby(the answer, every time)….” By the time we pulled into the driveway my stomach hurt from laughing so hard and everyone had smiles from ear to ear. Those are the moments that connect me with my family, those are the moments you can’t plan for, but they are the ones I live for. That night as I checked on the kids before I went to bed, I sat on the edge of Brody’s bed and cried for a good five minutes. I see so much of myself in his love of fantasy and storytelling, I want to hold onto those elusive moments forever but I know I can’t and I just have to savor them as they come.

A lovely bunch of coconuts indeed,
Bryn

Just be Courteous

     This morning I set out for my run, the conditions were perfect, both kids are in school and the weather is beautiful today!  The sun is shining, it's going to be a warm day and I was able to wear shorts and a tank and got a good dose of Vitamin D.  Yay!  Where I go running there are lots of other people there too, other runners, walkers and strollers and some faces I see regularly.  There are also lots of people that walk their dogs there, I don't blame them it's a great place but it's not a dog park.   Deer Lake Park is a small lake in the middle of an urban setting but it's not safe for swimming.  It attracts a lot of wildlife observers and bird watchers and you can rent canoes or bring your own and enjoy a paddle on the lake.  Anyway back to my run, I enjoy running the trails in and around Deer Lake and love running up the 300 stairs that begin just south of the lookout tower and go all the way up to Oakland & Royal Oak but what really pisses me off is how many dog owners don't clean up after their dog!  It's diffucilt to enjoy my run because I have to keep my eyes on the ground for fear of stepping in dog shit.  Can't you just be courteous and do the right thing?  I realize that there are wild animals that live there too that probably drop a load or 2 on the trails but you can tell the wild animal poo from dog shit.  I mean you are there to walk your dog, it's not like you're caught off guard, you should come prepared and have bags with you and it's not like your dog can shit without you noticing, you have to stop and wait for them -or you're supposed to (btw dogs are supposed to be on a leash at all times but if we can make a deal on the shit I'll let the leash thing slide)!  At the very least get a stick and move it off the trail!  As I stated earlier it's not a dog park and I don't want to run through your dog's litter box, please and thank you, if you could just be courteous and pick up after your dog.  I'm not a dog owner so I'm not going to pretend to be understanding, it's your responsibility and the parks are for EVERYONE, not just you and your dog shit disposal!

Tomorrow my son's school (about 1200 elementary school students) will be heading down to Deer Lake for their annual Terry Fox Run I bet most of them will trample in dog shit.  What would Terry Fox say?

Disclaimer: I have nothing against dogs and no dogs were hurt in the process of this post.  I understand that not all dog owners are irresponsible and you know who you are because you always choose to do the right thing for the greater good of parks and humanity.  Peace Out.

Guest Blogger

I have invited a guest blogger to write on my blog.  So stay tuned to find out more about who it is and what they'll be blogging about. 
I know I can't wait :)

The Most Fab & Elite Book Club

     There are 4 of us in The Most Fab & Elite Book Club.  It's not that we're elitists but we like things the way we like them and in order to do that we decided to keep our club small and the rules loose and relaxed.  We started our little book club maybe 2.5-3 years ago as a way to get together with friends and stay connected and the books were a good reason to do it.  We are very relaxed about the rules as I said above and if one of us doesn't finish reading their book we're ok with it.  At meetings we sometimes don't even discuss the books!  Which means it's probably a good idea that we don't have other people in our book club because they'd quickly get frustrated and I'm guessing want to kick us out of our own club.  So why do we have a book club?  Well, it's been 2 years since our last meeting (I know: shocking!).  I thought it was about time we got together.  I got the ball rolling, sent messages to everyone via facebook and we set up a meeting for tonight, we're going out for dinner to The Cactus Club.  We all got busy going in our own direction with our lives and families, life just has a way of working out that way.  The original intention of the book club was as an outlet for us to get together and hangout, it was more important to meet then it was to discuss the books so that why we were so relaxed on the rules, we didn't want any pressure.  I am so grateful to have these ladies in my life and can't wait to hang with them whether these books get discussed or not. 

Sunday Beans

     Today seems to have turned into a kitchen day.  You know, one of those days you spend cooking and whipping up some elaborate dishes.  Well I don't know how elaborate my cooking is today but as soon as I came downstairs I started cooking.  Maybe it all started last night right before bed because I had to soak my beans.  I soaked one cup of chickpeas and 2 cups of black beans with the intent to make hummus and black bean soup.  Bryn's brother and his wife just had a baby last week and I promised that I would stop by on my way home from work on Tues to drop some food off for them, ya I'm that nice.  So more then half of the soup will go to their house and I doubt there will be enough hummus left to take by Tues.  I hope they like beans because I'm planning to make a batch of baked beans tomorrow too.
     I'm really excited about the hummus because I haven't had any in a long time.  I bought these delicious wheat free, gluten free crackers made from rice and seeds and I think they'll taste great with the hummus. They're called Mary's Gone Crackers herb flavour.  I was never a fan of hummus until I started making it myself, I think my hummus is the best if I do say so myself.  Here's my version...

Joanna's Hummus
I really love the lemony flavour and always get rave reviews from family and friends.  This recipe halves perfectly when you only need a small portion.

4C canned (drained) or cooked drained chickpeas
2 lemons, zested and juiced
4 tbsp tahini
1/4 -1/2 C olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp cumin
salt & fr gr pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in the food processor, just use 1/4 C olive oil at first you can add more as your mixing it, and give it a whiz until desired consistency adding more oil if needed.