Really.

We drove out to the cottage on Saturday. It was a glorious day. We passed a popular hiking trail and I saw a sight that brought a wry smile to my face. It was a red pick-up with a teen age girl and boy in the back. They were obviously not siblings, if you get my drift. The warm sun beat down on their entwined bodies and rapt faces. They were in love, and there was this clear circle around them and their red pick-up.
The wry smile had to do with what I saw when I brought my gaze back inside the mini van. At my feet laid a dog who had under gone a mastectomy the week before. Yes, Winnie-the-Pooch has breast cancer. One breast has been removed, but apparently she has seven more to go.
Immediately to my left was my husband. Sweet, loving man who recently told me I was whining. Which was not true. I was stating facts, simply stating facts. Some facts can not be stated with a smile. Fact.
Behind and between us was a Persian cat in labor. Yes, that too, you read correctly. On Thursday we had a Traumatic Delivery of the Himalayan cat during Spanish class. The story is long and involved and ate my entire day and ended, by the grace of God, in the delivery of one dead kitten and four live ones.

See.

We mated Guinevere with an orange and white cat. Hmmm.....

Anyway, Jane, the Persian, decided I didn't have enough stress the day before and went into labor on Friday afternoon. She delivered a deformed kitten (for the record it was also black and white). She continued in labor for so long that we decided not to waste our lives sitting and staring at her cervix, but to just pack her up and take her up to the cottage with us.

Hence, the Persian in labor.

On top of the menagerie, there were four children in different stages of consciousness, some drooling others merely jerking.

Perceive the motivation for the wry smile yet?

As I looked around, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Having a family is so much fun. Really. Nothing you could offer could entice me to go back to red pick-up days. Really.

At the cottage this week, this was confirmed. My eldest daughter, turned 12.



We forgot to pack candles and made do with sticking matches in the cake.

She and her friends had a lovely day of wading in the brook and running through the orchard and playing dolls. They are beautiful, healthy, loving girls.

Jane gave Avonlea a birthday present and delivered the rest of her kittens in the doll house room.

The rest of the week we just enjoyed the beauty around us. We worked hard stacking wood and clearing trails. We found nature full of surprises.



The new wheel barrow was a big hit.

Weapons are always entertaining.



So I laugh to think Dave and I were once a red pick-up pair. We've morphed into a minivan stuffed with animals and kids and drool and laughter. And I'm so glad.

Really.

Having a family is so much fun.