Sunday, April 1, 2012

Who's the Flow Man?

The four year old doesn't particularly like to conform to anyone else's schedule. However, he still wants to know what the plan is. Constantly. "Will that be in the morning?"  "When we get home, can I...?" "Are we going back to the house?" "Is Better Homes and Gardens on tonight?" (He has a real thing about Better Homes and Gardens.)

Andy tried "Just go with the flow, man."

Clem: "Who's the Flow Man?"

NevermindandcanIstrangleyounowformakinguslaughwhenyouwerejustbeingsofrustrating?

We were lucky enough to have the use of my lovely boss's beach house this weekend. Even though Clem was incapable of going with the flow man whenever we were in the car, on the beach he was pretty much the flow man himself.





little shoe fits in big shoe for safekeeping
Every time we get our kids on the beach we wonder why we don't do it more often. I'm not the world's most beachy person but I could watch my kids enjoying it forever. And give me a patch of sea-rounded pebbles or trillions of tiny shells to comb through and I'm happy.

We always come home from the beach with pockets and buckets of treasures. Recently we've figured out what to do with them. They've become a little layered, scattered nest of 'offerings' at the foot of a tree outside our front door.

It's a tree with special memories for us and the offerings help it continue to feel special. And I can throw out carefully scatter those treasures and when someone asks "where's my beautiful stick/stone/shell" I can point them in the right direction and they don't have to get too huffy at me because it's a special place, right?

Memories are precious things and it feels good to find the 'right' way to honour something. This week an old school friend lost her husband, in the blink of an eye. I can't imagine how you can begin to compile, condense and hold on to memories in such a situation. I felt so privileged to be spending the weekend with my whole family.
And I made sure I did not spend every moment behind the camera. (I swear, I knew the battery was going to run out and I decided not to pack the charger.)
Did you know that when it rains, dried up old pinecones close back up, and open again when they dry out?

- Jane x

13 comments:

  1. Gorgeous post Jane and I love the idea of the Flow Man. Gosh I love your photos.

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  2. In my head I imagined I was four years old and my parents had told me to just go with the Flow Man. If it was me at that age I would have been so scared that I was about to be sent off to live with the creepy old Flow Man, that I would decide to never go with the Flow Man. I was a worry wart with an overactive imagination (and not much has changed)

    Having said that, seeing the photos of Clem redefined my idea of who the Flow Man is, and, yes, Beach Clem = Flow Man.

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    1. Maybe we can start to use it as a threat... you'll have to go with the Flow Man... oooh :)

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  3. Aside from the fact that if ever there was a Flow Man, he'd have hair like Clem for sure, the other observation I'm making about your post is that he likes Better Homes and Gardens. Cool. I love kids like that. My 5yr old's favorite song is Bohemian Rhapsody. I think they'd get on well together. Just sayin'.

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  4. Beach weekend looks perfect. Unrelated, but curiously, both our kids love Better Homes & Gardens, too.

    I'm very sorry to hear about your friend. x

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  5. I love that Better Homes and Gardens brings out such responses in other families!
    And thanks for your thoughts.

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  6. Lovely post, Jane - the flow man is fab! Looks like a gorgeous weekend.
    My kids enjoy 'home' shows too - crazy little chickens
    Such sad news about your friend....

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  7. The beach looks so dreamy and lovely!

    I'm so very sorry to hear about your friend's husband! It's true - we have so much to be grateful for. Give that little flow man extra hugs.

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  8. I think my girls would get along so well with your boys - They also love Better Homes and Gardens (their favourite segments are Tara's and Rob's) and would happily sit and create anything all day long. - My thoughts go to your friend and her loss - It would be so hard:-(

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  9. I love the way little kids interpret things differently, we forget how much we 'just know' that they haven't learned yet!

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Hey, I would really love to know what you think. Go on!

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