Left Coast Mama

Just Write (4) Classic Popcorn Technology

Gwen — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 04:43:44 +0000

It is Friday afternoon and I should know better than to go to the grocery store hungry. Both boys are happy but a little antsy as they are wont to be in the grocery store just after school.

We need milk and yogurt like always, but I am really after snacks to go with the movie we will watch when we get home. When we get to the snack aisle I decide we should get popcorn for the air-popper instead of microwave bags. I am not sure why, maybe a feeling of nostalgia or of a remembered better taste, but I buy the kernels.

The boys excited to see the air-popper in action and they ask me to make popcorn as soon as we get home. Aidan is particularly excited to see this “new popcorn technology.” I laugh and point out that it is old popcorn technology, not new.

We add popcorn into the air-popper and it has been so long since I last used the machine that I no longer remember how much popcorn to put in the popper. The kernels are in the machine and a bowl is under the spout as I plug the air-popper in. The kernels swirl around and a few minutes later they start popping.

Quinlan and Aidan have huge smiles on their faces as they watch the popcorn fly out of the spout and pile up in the stainless steel bowl. They stare at the air-popper and gasp excitedly and their smiles get bigger as the last pieces fly out at great speed.

I unplug the air-popper remembering that it was a wedding presently nearly thirteen years ago. I smile to myself as I get the bowl of popcorn ready for the boys. As I bring the bowl to the living room Aidan gives me a hug and says to me “Thank you so much for showing us this classic popcorn technology Mommy.”

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This is another installment of Just Write inspired by Heather of the EO. If you would like to join in, just click on over and just write.

Just Write (3) The Aidan Company

Gwen — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:16:47 +0000

I don’t remember when you started The Aidan Company. I don’t remember a time when you didn’t have The Aidan Company for all the millions of ideas that go through your head. It encompasses everything from policing, toys, medical equipment, city planning, the country you are going to run and hundreds of other things that pop into your head at any given time.

I sometimes wonder at all that is going on in there. How do you keep up with all the mundane tasks like getting dressed or brushing your teeth and eating and the like. In fact it explains a lot about how you operate through the day and why it sometimes takes me so long to get your attention. It sometimes drives me crazy and I worry about how other people see my boy with all the ideas.

I am trying very hard to take the time to listen to all you ideas and I know that there are so many. I want you to start writing them down because maybe one day these ideas will save the world or make you someone who works on something that makes him really happy.

The other day when you were telling me about the Aidan Company police vehicles and the gadgets they would have to catch criminals made me worry about how black and white you see the world. I know that this is developmentally appropriate but sometimes I forget and I treat you like you have an adult sensibility and this isn’t fair. You are supposed to think like a little boy too. You are such a sensitive soul that when you talk about the bad guys and the over reaching powers your police will have I sometimes forget that most kids still see things as good and bad and that bad needs to be punished. You are a boy who needs superheros that don’t have consequences. You need to see the criminals punished.

I am sorry that I made you feel bad about what you planned for the Aidan Company. I felt bad that I made you cry and I do not want you to give up on your ideas. You will figure out soon enough that there are powers your Aidan Company will never have. You need your imagination and maybe this imagination will lead to something beautiful. I feel bad that I can’t see in my head the inventions you talk about. I need to get you some drawing lessons so that you find a way to communicate your ideas more effectively. I want you to show the world how much you have to offer. I want to find a way to make all you dreams come true.

I worry that I am holding you back somehow. That I am not a good enough mother to find a way to help you make your dreams come true. That I find only ways to squash your dreams with my negativity. I do not want to be that mother. I want to be able to help you find ways to make things happen. I want you to know that dreams are attainable. I want you to know that I wish you could make a machine that takes away pain. I want to find a way to help you make that dream a reality. I want to be the mother that doesn’t get frustrated when you talk about transit and the improvements you would make to the system.

Maybe that is the take away from this writing. I need to take a deep breath and take the time to listen and help you write down your ideas. Instead of making us both frustrated, take a deep breath and just start. The Aidan Company Blog, here we come.

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I am once again joining Heather of the EO and taking the time to Just Write. If you would like to join in head on over and link up.

Mosty 365: One Photo, Many Edits

Gwen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:31:15 +0000

In my #mostly365 project I am taking pictures everyday and I need to find the beauty in my everyday life. Sometimes I look at what I am posting on my Instagram and Facebook and I see the beauty in the boys, but I wonder if I should be including me, and if I need to start to move out of my comfort zone and move venues more often. I think that by curating what I am putting on the blog, and more often, I am seeing things in our everyday lives that are beautiful. I love the changes that come in the different seasons on the tree lined street. I love that I am starting to play with colour and filters more often again. Why shouldn’t I see art in our everyday lives?

Downtown Vancouver, Original Photo, Camera+, iPhone 4, no edits.

Downtown Vancouver, Camera+, iPhone 4, Colour Filter through Pixlromatic

Downtown Vancouver, Camera+, iPhone 4, Colour Filter through Pixlromatic, Crossed Processed through Pixlromatic

Downtown Vancouver, Camera+, iPhone 4, Colour Filter through Pixlromatic, cross processed through Pixlromatic

Mostly365: Jump

Gwen — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:03:52 +0000

The other day when I had the big camera out I was able to take a set of pictures of Quinlan playing hopscotch. I love the way they turned out.

Mostly 365: Cute Factor

Gwen — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 05:15:29 +0000

I am lucky to have some very photogenic models to help me learn to be a better photographer. I decided to split up the pictures so you don’t die of the cute.

He is growing up so much.

I will just mention that the shirt and tie were entirely his idea.

Too bad I can’t find these in my size.

The smile and those eyes make him just a little bit lethal.

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Related: Aidan, Gwen, Mostly 365, My Boys, Photography, Pictures, Quinlan.

Just Write (2): Hands

Gwen — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:27:12 +0000

I see his small hand in mine and feel the warmth. Sometimes he grabs my hand, but now it is mostly me that is holding on for dear life. I hold on because he is my baby, the last of my babies. I hold on for fear, I hold on for warmth, I hold on because I can’t bear to let go.

I wonder how long I will be able to go on holding his hand. How long can I make sure that he holds my hand as we walk to school to get his brother? How long before I don’t hold his hand when crossing the street? Do I have to ever let go?

Right now I can still cover his whole hand with mine. I feel the warmth of the little fingers even as they are wiggling out of my grasp. I see the day in my head so clearly, a hand that I can no longer cover with my own. A hand so big that he warms my hand instead of me warming his. I see a time when he is embarrassed to be see holding his mother’s hand, and god forbid that you give him a hug in public.

Right now as I look at this picture of us holding hands on our walk to school I take hope that he will not tire of holding hands with me so soon. I feel the fingers grabbing my hand and dragging me where he wants me to come to see the new train track he build, or the drawing he made. I feel how small his hands still are, and the smoothness of the skin that hasn’t seen 39 1/2 years of life. I wonder how rough my hands must feel to his tiny smooth hands. It is a wonder he wants those hands near him. But hands speak to the life you have lived. My hands show the scars of life, the work I have done, the life I have lived. They still have lots of living left to do and so do his.

I will hold his hand as long as he will let me.

*****

This is the second time I am participating in Heather’s Just Write. If you also want to do some free writing of the extraordinary and ordinary moments in you life, my advice is do it! Head over to Heather’s blog and soak up the beauty of her words and link of the beauty of yours.

Mostly 365: Quinlan and Aidan

Gwen — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:58:50 +0000

After 2 days not posting my #mostly365 to the blog, but still posting to Instagram and Facebook, I decided to bring out the big camera again and try to get some good shots of the boys. I am really pleased with some of these pictures and I am hoping the edits to one or two make them what I envisioned when I was taking them. I think I will try to reenact a few and get the focal point in a different place to make them a better picture next time. I may also back date a couple of the previous pictures that I did indeed take, so that I keep a record of all the photographs. I hope that in a year, or even a few months there will be some improvements in my photography.

There is new infrastructure at Broadway and Spruce for a pedestrian controlled light. This has been ready for weeks and it is still not uncovered and working. We are still waiting and it would be lovely to be able to cross here to go to school.

Quinlan hamming it up for the camera.

Sometimes it is him dragging me and sometimes it is the other way round.

Is my head getting smaller Mommy?

Those eyes take my breath away sometimes.

Aidan is genuinely happy to see all of us after school. He takes off to play with his brother almost immediately.

I asked the boys to act like brothers so I could take a picture. This was the first one.

Brothers part deux

Brothers part trois

This was the beginning of picture tag.

This is the picture that I want to take again sometime. I just need to have Q be the focal point or maybe have a much higher F stop. I am still pondering because I like the composition if not the focus.

I couldn’t resist another shot of Quinlan and those eyes. It reminds me that I need to get Aidan some non-darkening glasses for cloudy day shots.

Mostly 365: Light and Shadow

Gwen — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 05:37:10 +0000

Light and Shadow

Mostly 365: Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds away

Gwen — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 05:16:16 +0000

Since today was sunny I decided to get out the big camera and go to Aidan’s school a little early so Quinlan could play and I could take some pictures. Quinlan was very cooperative and I think I got some beautiful pictures of him playing.

Vancouver is a beautiful city when the sun shines.

Mostly 365: It Looks Like a Shield Mommy

Gwen — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 04:27:46 +0000

Quinlan wanted me to take some pictures of this building at Broadway and Granville.