Off to Saskatchewan this week. The edge of the Canadian shield. To see the lines laid out where Jaimie and Al will build a house. To put my feet in cool lake water. To see what half a bison in a freezer looks like, finally.  

On Saturday, Ash felt his first kick, strong as a buffalo butting its head into a gate.   Thankfully, baby was not poisoned by all the sour milk we were drinking. An important lesson learned: switching brands does not mean milk should taste that funny. It’s like we don’t know what anything should taste like anymore…except for vegetables.  Crisp and clear in my mind have returned all those carrots, cucumbers and peas picked from my parent’s concrete backyard in East Vancouver. Now more than ever, those childhood memories returning, as if the best parts of me are being chosen and stitched into this life inside.      

Just over two weeks until our midway ultrasound. Are you a boy or a girl? I want to know but I love the mystery of you all at the same time.

J

Photo from Bliss.

I think Canada would be comfortable up there in parentheses, don’t you? Shielded on either side from the lunacy of American Politics, hob-nobbing with the French and such.

This photo with the baguette made me laugh in a really pleasant way. I found it here – and then followed the trail to a solemn New York Times piece here. The article outlined the advice of a popular French Philosopher to Obama. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say:

“I would beg [Obama] to speak directly, solemnly, to the women of this country, asking them if they are prepared to see themselves in this caricature of a free woman who plans to deny her peers one of their most cherished and hard-won rights, the right to an abortion. I would underline the cynicism, the absence of feeling one must have to exhibit in front of the world’s television cameras that which a mother should hold most dear, most private, and painfully precious: a child with Down syndrome. I would advise him to assign this task to Hillary. “

For all my fascination with US politics lately, I have to say, the Canadian Leaders debate hit me somewhere much closer to the gut. Ok, not Harper so much, but Layton, May, Dion and Duceppe, all of whom spoke “directly, solemnly, to the [people] of this country.”

Our issues are our issues and I wear the weight and joy of them proudly.  

Make a point to vote. And have yourself a warm and cozy weekend.