Girlcook and I play Dressup

My daughter, Megan, is here visiting for a week before she heads out to Toronto to live with her boyfriend. She’s been away cooking at a heliskiing lodge over the winter, and we’ve missed her. If you’ve been reading this blog since last summer, you might remember the wild and crazy times we have when she’s around. This time, we’re harnessing some of the energy by getting her to paint our wee guest cottage. We try to show her a good time, though, besides putting her to work — Friday night, Paul and I took her to a wonderful house concert right here on the island where she could chat with neighbours she hasn’t seen for ages and marvel at how many new people there are here now AND, of course, where she could enjoy the wonderful music of John Mann, lead singer for Spirit of the West, folk-rock band well-known to Canadians, at least. Believe me, you could never get a better concert seat — in a livingroom with perhaps 40 guests, we sat in the front row to Mann’s side — well, not quite the front row, since organizers / homeowners Trish and Steve’s young sons sat on kiddie chairs in front of us (the oldest, Nile, played several fiddle solos for us at intermission!). The intimate acoustics meant we could catch all of Mann’s clever, often moving, often funny, lyrics and appreciate the simple interplay between voice, guitar, and harmonica — so often we get distracted or overwhelmed by over-production and a reliance on electronics. (And yes, he sang “Save this House” AND “Home for a Rest”)

But Megan still manages to get some craziness going on, besides making sure there’s always fabulous food around (she made the best, best meat loaf ever from what she found in the fridge). When she discovered my new camera, she hustled me into a photo-shoot, so I’m well prepared for many future “What I Wore” postings. I’ve deleted most of the funny-face, funny-pose shots, and the ones I’ve saved you’ll never see, but here’s a photo of what I wore yesterday — a skirt I haven’t worn for ages ’cause it’s a bit difficult to manage on the bike, but that Meg insisted I get back in circulation. I bought it in Montreal at Simon’s Dept. store four or five years ago — as you can see it’s cut on the bias so it’s full but not bulky and of course, if I twirl in it, I’ll get that fun circle effect (I try not to do that too much when I’m teaching . . .). It’s made of a great heavy cotton fabric, with various woven textures creating the stripes. The only improvement I’d ask for is pockets and some kind of magical bike chain avoiding ability — as is, I diaper it between my legs somehow, and it keeps slipping back down, and I keep trying to scrunch it back up and ride one-handed, which is tough on hills when I’m changing gears — not very elegant at all! Luckily, I only have a kilometre to bike each way to the ferry.Please excuse the messy bedroom — we have clothes and shoes everywhere as Meg and I play dressup. I should have shut the door!

Below, she pinned my hair up and got me to try wearing a big belt.
And while we were playing, Paul came up to say goodbye as he headed off for another workweek in Vanc’r.

With Meg’s inspiration, I did wear this ensemble to work yesterday (I wear flat boots for the biking and walking, then change to heels in my office), but I wore my black cashmere pullover over the Banana Republic t-shirt I’m wearing above.