She has cooked,

and baked,

(she even arrived with a box of freshly picked  B.C cherries from their tree)

she has sewn matching princess dresses (with some help),

purchased a new addtion to our family (Bello, the fish),

and she’s gone and sewn me this completely amazing skirt (that I have been dreaming of sewing for soo long… but never had the time… or brain power to tackle, DW I still have your pattern btw, heh heh…) .

*The skirt is designed by Martha at UN , from the winter 2008 issue of Stitch. *

Everyone should have a mother-in-law like this.

I blew my budget at the Farmer’s market this week buying chanterelle mushrooms. Whenever I see chanterelles I think of my sister-in-law’s father. Every summer he would go into the woods to his top secret location (man, I wish I had found out where) to pick chantrelles to sell to restuarants.

Papa, as we called him, made us feel so welcome when we moved here. Sosi instantly feel in love with him and was quickly adopted in with his real grandchildren. He cooked dinner every Sunday and carted it all over to Nancy’s (2 blocks over) for us all to eat, bringing the whole family together.

He passed away 2 summers ago, and is sorely missed. Last summer I stopped in my tracks when I saw chanterelles at our local market, I knew I had to buy them… and our little tradition was born. I think Papa would approve.

These beautiful little mushrooms are insanely delicious. All I do is sauté them in some olive oil and garlic, add some heavy cream and parmesan then toss with pasta.

Having 3 generations together,

‘

a trip to one of my favourite places on the island for an afternoon tea.. just me and my mom,

barns right on main street,

strawberry tarts,

moments like these.

I was asked a few weeks ago to contribute some inspirational table setting pictures to the Cafe Mom site. This one was taken the day before the deadline with a babe in my arms and much surrounding craziness.  I need to get back to photographing meals, I love these photos.

Sosi is very attached to her  hair, it is long and on most days very tangled. I love it long, but hate the daily battles for combing, hair clips and washing. I’ve been trying to gently persuade her to get a little trim for ages, with no luck.

Then I had a lightbulb go off, why not make it an offer she can’t refuse? Double haircuts with her favourite little buddy by one of her favourites of all my friends (who is conveniently obsessed with hair… she used to come and wash and blow dry my hair when I broke my arm). Bingo … one very sucessful hair cut, and 2 very happy girls.

You know how even though you might love some guests, when they leave you feel kind of relieved to have your space back? Then there are others who when they leave, they leave behind a big empty space. That’s the kind of guest my dad is. He’s quiet and you hardly notice him when he’s here, but when he leaves we really miss him.

We don’t have long to be sad though, Nana arrives on Friday for a week! Busy times in these parts.

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Is there anything better than eating lunch is your swimsuit? I think not… especially that swimsuit.

Looks like summer is finally here!  Sosi’s all done with school for the year. We’re still ironing some things out  in order for me to find some time to work (time seems to evaporate when she’s around), but  life just feels so much better when we’re all together.

Hope you are all having a happy start to summer too.

Last week a very special pacakge arrived in the mail. My dear friend Mia’s mom kindly sent us some of Mia’s childhood hats. There were 2 tams that will fit Ila perfectly next winter and this beautiful Marimekko sunhat. I don’t know who is more in love with it, me or Sosi. I can’t thank June enough for sharing these with us.

As if the hats weren’t enough, she also snuck in this adorable picture of Mia wearing the hat. I can’t stop looking at it! The hat, the expression, the costumes… This might be the best picture ever.

Two of the things I miss most about Vancouver were in Charlottetown this weekend. Our dear friends Josué and Anastasia came for a quick visit. I was totally unprepared for the amount of happiness I would feel seeing them again… it was a great weekend.

There have been ups and downs, but I know deep (deep) down moving to Charlottetown was the right decision for us. When people ask if I miss Vancouver or wish to move back, I always answer that I just wish I could convince all my friends to just move out here. I’m not a person with lots of friends… but the ones I have I hold close to my heart. It’s hard to live far from so many people I’m so crazy about.

I don’t think I convinced these two to move here, but I think they will definitely be back for more visits and there was even talk of house swaps. So we might be able to actually work out a visit back to Vancouver soonish. (!!)

P.S We also got to meet up for coffee with Eric Dyck who was here visiting from Moncton… even got featured in his comic!