Monday Live

1. Jay creates a card with a lovely red bow for her best friend Rebecca. I admire her persistence in copying all the letters to write the birthday wish inside the card. And I love how her letters flow up and down as if they were live and not following some invisible line like mine.

2. A lovely card in the mail. An illustration from the Russian folk tale »The Turnip«.

3. »Only 4 more days till Em’s back, right?« Jay sighs in the darkness a few minutes before falling asleep.

Sunday’s happy

1. When the series of Sunday morning cartoons on TV is over Jay gets a creative bug and starts looking trough the drawers for paper and glue. She creates a happy paper Sun with a glittery heart in the centre.

2. I leave muddy footprints on patches of snow.

3. They share tears and smiles knowing they won’t be seeing each other for 4 days. A bond between sisters I never knew.

Thursday's delights

1. The surroundings are dark and misty as I walk down the road but the moon lights behind the clouds.

2. Chocolate cake delights them both. What is it with chocolate & girls?

3. I close my eyes while listening to the story Boy and Magic shoes that Em has written for her school assignment. I feel her breath on my face.

Wednesday wonders

1. A lovely card with two birds and poppy flowers against the pink background in the mail.

2. Jay asks me to come listen to her short composition on the piano. It’s a variation to a melody her big sister has taught her and it is perfect.

3. At dusk I look through our living room window just in time to see two roe deer’s white patches disappear in the wood.

 

Great finds

1. While sorting paper clutter that has been piling up over the last few years I find an envelope with photos from Em’s 6th birthday party.

2. The little boy seems uncomfortable among strangers while waiting outside the doctor’s room for his daddy to reappear. I try destressing him by pointing at the calendar on the wall to show him how very near school holidays and Shrove Tuesday are. A smile lightens his face.

3. After some 50 pages I am ready to stop reading the novel any further… I give it another few pages. Good decision.

My Valentines

1. An unexpected gift for Valentines.

2. Jay returns to the bathroom wearing Em's pyjamas laughing and singing: "I'm St. Nicolaus!"

3. We read a story at bedtime about a game a little girl and her daddy play "if I were you...". We turn-off the light and I turn to Jay: "Would you want to be me? I would love to be you....!" "No!" she says. Then I hear Em's voice coming from her room: "You know who I'd want to be? Me. I like who I am, what I do and how I do it. And if I do something wrong, I know I can change that."

Wednesday's goodies

1. My colleague approaches to tell me how wonderful the book I have lent her is and as I check out what page she is on I know she hasn't even come to the best part of the story yet.

2. Jay recites a new Neza Maurer's poem that she has learnt, and Em goes through her opening lines to the inteview she is having with the very same poet tomorrow. I couldn't be more proud of my girls.

3. I walk down to the store and back. It's cold and I am carrying two bags, no mobile phone to call for a lift, but that is what I had planned and made sure I didn't have any excuses to not have some excercise even if it is below zero degrees. Then just as I approach our house I see a car pull out of the garage and I know my husband thought of driving down the road to meet me part-way, and I think that's nice.