kisses

We took a risk and got my parents a new puppy. She covers my face with her kisses and I'm back to being 7 years old and in love.

Free

1. The little girl twirls around in the middle of the street and Car Free Day in Vancouver has a whole new meaning.
2. Bubbles float lazily down the street, landing with plops on my jacket.
3. I put the volunteer sash over my shirt and then see the girl across from me wrapping hers into a bow around her head. My sash becomes a tie.

return of the shaggy dog and the velveteen rabbit

1. The reincarnation of the dog in one of my favourite childhood movies presses his nose against the glass and stares longingly into the coffee shop.
2. At the bus stop stands a woman clutching an old fashioned Winnie the Pooh bear. His eyes and fur have been loved off and he looks very wise indeed.

beauty in books

Sometimes a passage in a book evokes such a clear image that it's like I'm seeing Clare's '3BTs' through someone else's eyes. Today:

Eddie Willers shifted his glance down to the street, to a vegetable pushcart at the stoop of a brownstone house. He saw a pile of bright gold carrots and the fresh green of onions. He saw a clean white curtain blowing at an open window. He saw a bus turning a corner, expertly steered." - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

make believe

A girl sits astride the giant eagle; its wings span the breadth of the entire gym wall. The story that Lynda and I make up about the mural includes talking buttercups and magic.

let me in

The playground across the street has been behind a high yellow fence for months. Today the fence is down and the swings are in action again.

come on in

The bright yellow doors on the new daycare building are just like walking into sunshine.

Thank you to the rain

Thank you, Mr. Torrential-down-pour-for-what -feels-like-forevert - there's nothing I like better than not having to shave my legs because I'm not wearing shorts.