Joining SouleMama today for this moment.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

Here we are approaching another fabulous Wednesday and I fear I don’t have so much to report.

If you missed this post, I’ll give you a quick update: the jays are on vacation for a week in the mountains, 10 minutes from an awesome ski resort and about 30 seconds (walking that is) from the indoor pool in the complex where we’re staying.

Thanks to sunny days on the ski hill, the proximity of the aforementioned pool and little children who want to play outside for ten-minute intervals every thirty minutes (requiring lots of wardrobe changes), it hasn’t been quite the knitting and reading dream vacation I’d imagined. Not to say we aren’t having a blast!

At least I can knit during the evenings without thoughts of clutter, laundry and school plans, right? Uh, that was the idea until I fell yesterday on the ski hill and (I’m guessing) sprained my thumb – more on that in another post. And reading, well, that was out of the question as my eyes stayed open for about five minutes last night without something busying my hands.

I did have some stolen chances to work on my  Fisherman’s Pullover earlier this week. It’s been a frustrating process with four do overs but thanks to kind suggestions from many of you here last week and some sweet help from Kristi at Three Little Knitted Frogs (my new knitting guru and inspiration) I think I have conquered the short rows (for this pattern at least) and I’ve moved on. Phew.

Now I’m onto the raglan increases and so looking forward to long boring body work after the frustrations of the yoke shaping.

As I already mentioned reading has not been very successful this week although we did listen to a fair number of Magic Treehouse books on the way out here. I did want to share the book my sister is reading now, The Birth House. I read it myself a few years ago on a friend’s suggestion and thought it was a great read, although there were a few bits I didn’t love as much (not that I can remember what they were after all this time).

No, I couldn’t resist this spectacular backdrop.

It follows young Dora Rare who becomes apprentice to an Acadian midwife at the beginning of the First World War. In the face of a growing opposition to natural birthing and folk remedies in their small Nova Scotian village, Dora fights to protect the traditions and wisdom that have been passed down to her. Midwives, natural birthing and Nova Scotia (where I grew up) – all dear to my heart. Read more about it here.

I hope I’ll be getting back to my sweater and knitting aspirations very soon but in the meantime I’m going to soak up all the lovely moments that this escape to the mountain offers.

To see what others are bringing to this week’s yarn along visit Ginny at Small Things.

Yesterday Dan and my sister took the three older children for their first visit to the ski hill. They did very well and were very fortunate to have not one but two instructors to themselves for the 90 minute class. They are rather timid and generally cautious little people so these new experiences, while thrilling for them, can be rather anxious times for them. They persisted through tumbles, runaway skis (and skiers) and tow-rope frustrations, coming back to me full of the day’s excitement and ready to hit the slopes again.

While they were off adventuring I had a quiet afternoon with the two smallest jays. Simon had his nap while Sarah and I sat out on the deck in the cool, sunny air. She chattered, sang and involved me in one of her great imaginative games while I took pictures (mostly of her sweetness) and tackled a few minutes with my knitting.

We had a lovely visit together.

Enjoying this view.

And this view.

With so many people in this dear family these quiet times are treasured and while I was eagerly awaiting news from the ski hill, it was nice to dream, imagine and play with this sweet little gift.

This weekend we wandered away from our city and into the mountains. The light was getting scarce as we drove deeper in to their fold but they were no less striking in the dwindling light.

The ocean is always calling me home and sometimes with that yearning I forget the daring beauty of the landscape that lies so near to our west. We see the Rockies marking the horizon from our home but driving into them gives us a truer picture of their grandeur.

Everyone was quite peaceful during the drive, enjoying audio stories, music and buns still warm from the oven. I used the time to knit my short rows…and then tear them out again. I just got myself back to where I had made my mistakes when the light was gone. Accustomed to the longer, summertime road trips we take, the kids thought it was time to tuck in and sleep even though it was only 7 o’clock. We encouraged them to stay awake just a little longer so settling in to sleep in our new rooms would be a little easier.

Once we arrived in our home for the week, they were all full of energy again as they tore around exploring every nook and cranny and launching right into a noisy game of hide and seek.

Today has been a quiet day of getting settled in, splashing in the pool and exploring our new surroundings.

And such beautiful surroundings they are.

We are blessed.

*And lest I make our trip sound too idyllic I should say that it was made so much better by the presence of my lovely sister. She sat in our last available seat passing buns, taking music requests and smoothing out squabbles. If that were not enough, she came to our rescue and indebted herself even further into our affections by catching the, um, result of a poor, sweet carsick boy in his sweatshirt. She’s a keeper.