Pool pix V

The 5th (and last) swimming lesson for me with Fiona. Tomorrow her Mom can take her on her day off and Thursday her Dad can go so I can head for the island tomorrow! I wanted 5 pool pix to remind me of basically why I was here so long in Seattle when I'm usually not. Last night and this morning there was heavy rain (again!) - sadly my rowing buddy and I canceled our anticipated row even, I was thinking of swimming in the rain, but, like yesterday, and like Fiona, the SUN came through amazingly midday - It's now late afternoon and I hear thunder, it's getting darker and starting to blow hard and rain like crazy. Glad I decided to wait til morning to drive to Canada! So, it gives me pleasure to post a blip with strong shadows and a happy little girl. She's been so fun to watch and be with, she laughs with delight over most anything,and has been no trouble going back to her school this week, to quietly lie on her mat for naptime. I'm not so sure about the swim lessons tho and what she's learned...she is the youngest in the class and it IS a bit of work for this Nanna to make it happen.:-)

I'm going to use this opportunity to write too much about this time here as when I get to the island, the computer time gets cut way back due to my unreliable slow and limited internet on our phone, so you might not want to read any further.... Actually it will be a pleasure - I've spent way too much time on the computer looking up stuff, printing endless photos for this and that, looking at blips, making blips, and trying to do something creative of my own. H and I were here for a week with catchup stuff, and then he went back to the island and I've had 12 days to see what I could accomplish without having to fix meals or talk to anyone in the house or go to bed at a reasonable time. I had visions of many projects, 2 artist books I was working on, cleaning up my studio, more reading, etc etc etc. . I had to get some exercise everyday, see a few friends and neighbors briefly, spend some time with the family/grandchildren, take Fiona to swimming, fix the things that broke in the house and yard, do all the errands to replenish supplies for the island, and best of all relax with a book or magazine and lunch or coffee and watch a movie with my dinner, going to bed late and not sleeping any later and getting very tired. And I'm missing sharing the quotidian with H. (Plus he's a big help.!.) But it all seemed surprisingly too much, and I ONLY got 1 wee book done!!!!!! (with a few parts for the second...) and then I read the 8 girls book about how these women had to struggle to do their photography,(see yesterday's blip for my take on the book...) saw the Woodmans documentary about their struggles with doing art, and today on the bike (instead of the boat) I watched a documentary about National Geographic photographers and got the same story from those families --- how hard it was to do the photography (=JOB!) and keep the family happy. (Actually none of it: the tedium of nature shots, discomfort in the field, time and also the editing process -appealed to me at all!) I've never been able to put art before family....but then I am only a little bit creative. I think I might just have to stop making any lists (but how will I remember anything??) and accept that stuff happens more slowly at this age,(one needs to be flexible), and enjoy all the things I can(there are LOTS) and not worry about accomplishing too much. I'll blip the wee (it's tiny) Elephant Greeting book when I can get some OK photos of it - maybe tomorrow or maybe in several days. I'm thinking about soaking up the sea and the forest and the quiet in the next few days.......

Sorry for too many words. Just trying to assess what just happened.......it wont happen now..