July 3, 2007 by Barbara.

There is an advertising campaign for a distress line currently running on the buses here in Ottawa that says something to the effect, “Think of the most personal thing about yourself that you’ve never told to anyone. Now turn to the person next to you and tell them.” It’s an effective advertisement, I think, because it makes one think how hard it must be for people to seek help, even when they’re in a bad situation.Not to belittle the importance of the message but I had a little bare-all moment recently, too.

    When Reid and I were at the Toronto Zoo, we rode on a camel. The first time, we just climbed on, no questions asked. But when we went back the second day, the fellow at the camel asked what we each weighed in a booming voice that would have done a boxing announcer proud. I gave an awkward and truthful approximate response (as accurate as I could). He must have doubted me as he pulled out a scale and had us step on. We were within a couple of pounds of my guess, though a bit over the limit he mentioned. I offered to empty my pockets and try again but he decided it’d be okay. Shwew, I thought, since we’d already paid for our tickets.

Reid was much bolder the second day but was still far from agreeing to ride on her own and I had no desire to ride without Reid. In fact, her boldness explains why we were riding again. On Saturday, I’d had to cajole Reid into going with me. When she suggested going again, I wanted to reward her bravery.

A sign at the ticket fellow about the weight limit would be a good idea. I have yet another reason to lose weight, I guess. In fact, I should plan to lose a pound for every one Reid gains in the next year or so to allow us to continue to share the joys of riding camels or even an elephant if the opportunity presents itself. Soon Reid will be big enough to ride such creatures without me and then I’ll have no excuse. 

If you’ve never rode on a camel, I can report that you rock like you are in a small boat on a fairly rough lake, explainining the “ships of the dessert” moniker, I suppose. Also, they have very prominent spines that make sitting off to one side or the other a good idea. The ones we read didn’t have a particularly strong smell. I’d been expecting something vaguely horsey. They also were quiet creatures, walking the prescribed route without protest or comment. I asked about their “housing” and was told that they had a pasture that they went to at night and there were enough others that would have allowed an every other day sort of rotation.

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July 3, 2007 by Barbara.

Reid and I went to Petrie Island with Melissa and Sarah on Saturday. It really isn’t an island but the sand on the beach is lovely. We were test driving the basket of sand toys that I picked up at the end of last summer. I got them out on Friday morning when I thought we were going camping that night. Reid was excited to see them - she’d noticed them in the basement a few times over the winter and spring but I’d never let her take them from the furnace room. When camping didn’t happen, I decided a trip to the beach was in order and so there we were. Stephen was at a friend’s cottage and Ben had gone away with his grandparents and so it was just us girls. We spread out a couple of towels and Sarah and I began building a number of castles before settling on a compound and accompanying wall. Reid did some building, too, but she also continues to delight in destroying castles. She did respect the “no destroying” rule on the castle and keep, though, so that shows some maturity.

We ate a picnic lunch on our towels. I’d brought sandwiches for us - PB for Reid and PB&J for me -  but couldn’t bring for Melissa and Sarah since they’re white bread folks.  I also brought some peppers, cucumber and carrots and was reminded that Sarah eats only carrots. Remember when I talked about Reid not cleaning up her plate when we eat at Melissa’s? I should maybe have thought of how Melissa mostly cooks the meals that her kids eat while I just expect Reid to eat whatever she is offered. Or not. We also had fruit and Melissa brought cookies. I love her for many things but having a friend who almost always has homemade cookies is truly a joy.

After lunch, Sarah and Reid got water from the Ottawa River to help with their building (a mess, mostly) and to wash their feet. Reid happily trailed after Sarah for a long time. They tried to play with the collapsable flying disc - like a Frisbee (TM) but nylon and it goes into a little pocket, so not *really* all that like a Frisbee, I guess - but the wind was strong and they did more chasing than throwing it back and forth. Many giggles ensued and so it wasn’t a total loss, especially for Melissa and me since we needed only to sit on the towels and watch.

I wonder if we’ll swim in the river this summer. Reid hasn’t liked bodies of water with waves so far in her life and swimming at Petrie Island is often forbidden due to contamination. If we can have such a nice time without swimming as we did, though, there will be many trips to Petrie Island in our future.

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July 3, 2007 by Barbara.

Lately, things which happen in an unusual way or even just a different way than usual are “magic”. I don’t know who introduced the term “magic” or in what context but Reid has definitely latched onto it. When we dropped Ken at the airport on Thursday morning, Reid asked if I was going to drive the magic way to daycare. I know only one way to get from the airport to roads that will take us from daycare but since it was early, we had woken Reid to go and there seemed no down side, I said “yes”. That was the wrong answer, I soon learned. Now I had to react quickly. Did I mention it was early? I told her we would go the regular way instead and continued on our course. Just after an intersection with a road going who knows where, Reid asked if we were still going the magic way. I replied, “No, if we were going the magic way we would have turned back there.” Good answer, eh? Alas, no. Reid had changed her mind and wanted to go the magic way instead. Well, I had to come clean and confess I knew of only one way. I don’t think she heard me over her fussing but I learned an important lesson about telling people what (I think) they want to hear just to avoid conflict.

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