Bibliomama

Before I had kids, I went to Bluesfest regularly, usually with a friend (my husband isn't really into live music. It's okay, he has a lot of other good qualities). It was downtown so I would bus nearby or to my friend's place and we would walk over. I saw John Hiatt, Buddy Guy and Saffire and the Uppity Blues Women (they were great musicians and hilarious - one of their songs was called Silver Beaver, and it's about pretty much what you'd guess from the title - and while I was looking them up to embed the link I read that one of them died and now I'm sad) and The Blind Boys of Alabama and a bunch of bands I didn't even know or can't remember now. We moved to even more of a suburb. We had a couple of kids. Bluesfest moved somewhere a little less accessible and I stopped taking public transit and got less comfortable with it. Bluesfest got much less Blues-packed, but that wasn't really a factor for me - I like the blues, but I understand that the f

Okay, I'm just going to start small or I'll never start at all (great, now I'm BLOGGING in Air Supply lyrics ). I love when Zarah visits because most of our conversations go like this: "Want to go for a walk?" "Yes"; "There's a really good bagel place on the way home, should we-" "-Yes"; "There's a new ice cream place by the-" "-Yes". "Are we letting the kids stay up late to watch another-" "Yes". Eve was in a basketball camp at Carleton University last week with two of her friends, one of whom plays competitive and is crazy good but also amazing at encouraging people who aren't as good. The first couple of days she came home happy but flat-out exhausted and a bit worried that the counselors would assume she could do things she couldn't actually do, like dribble between her legs and behind her back. But they got lunch in the cafeteria and swimming in the afternoon, so it was

I'm not sure where this overpowering disinclination to write anything springs from. I'm not that sad anymore. I'm not that busy anymore. Eve is in basketball camp this week and I keep meaning to upload pictures and write posts around them, and thinking of things that I want to write about, and then I just feel very tired. But I want to tell you all about the Little Free Libraries, and Doing Bluesfest With Anxiety, and how Zarah got me and Eve hooked on Call the Midwife. And I want to wax ragefully eloquent on People Being Stupid and Mean About How Women Dress, and People Not Baking Cakes for Gay Weddings. But my fingers are slow and my head aches. Maybe tomorrow.

I slid rather precipitously into the Slough of Despond when Zarah left, so pretend I'm posting this last Monday, okay? The bad thing about having Zarah and the kids come for their weekly summer visit right after school ends is that we're all kind of exhausted. The good thing is that we already feel like we've done a bunch of fun summer stuff when July's barely started. Like trying on floppy hats in the market. Learning about gladiators (this picture is misleading; apparently gladiators were fed well because they needed muscular strength but also a generous layer of fat.) Trying on gladiator armour and realizing it would be really freaking hard to just walk wearing this stuff, never mind fight and look like Russell Crowe.  I don't remember this outfit from Spartacus , do you? I did take a picture without the neon green shoes, but I prefer the one with it.  Sophie helped me make biscuits. I taught her about the Ugly Biscui