ever hopeful...

not much to ask for mother's day...

oh and a bit of sunshine won't go a miss...

she's wishing you a lovely weekend ~ Tif

the adventures of Tif and the rain forest...day five...

Tif had lost all hope of ever being mistaken for a bohemian hippy chick traveller, several things were not working in her favor. first it didn't help having four children with her, chances were high that someone would have something to complain about, children of a bohemian hippy chick woman do not complain, no they embrace their mother's lifestyle.

today the complaint was the lack of dry clothing and shoes, it was pointless hanging the damp clothes out over night, they appeared to be even wetter in the morning. added to that, all the shoes from yesterday's trek were like sponges.

she also noted that her minuscule wardrobe contained no clean clothing (apart from the little blue sundress and one pair of underpants that she was saving for the plane ride home).

everything had been used, sweated in and rained on...she had a feeling they were starting to 'hum', visions of 'pig pen' from Peanuts started to float around her head...

but apart from the knowledge that she would never look like those lovely women that seem to look naturally beautiful at all times whilst travelling she knew today would be a good day.

it started off with a 'lie in', total bliss compared to the last few days of early starts. breakfast was to be at eightish and then Suzanne their host, said to meet up on the beach, making sure their legs were covered. any shred of looking 'with it' was lost when that little bit of information was given, and so Tif returned to the cabin (don't ask why she sleeps in the bungalow and yet her clothes are in the cabin, it just happened that way and gave the kitchen staff something to laugh at every morning) to fetch her knee high socks...

they were heading once again into primary rain forest but this time on horseback...the whole family were excited, the sun was out, there were no 'waiver' forms to sign or helmets to wear, it was just a case of get on your horsey and hope for the best.

Tif's horse was called Coyote...they soon bonded even though they did not share a common language and Coyote felt Tif's attire rather dodgy. Tif knew Coyote dreamed of living in the olden days on the plains of the wild west. Coyote knew Tif shared that same dream only 'better dressed'.

and so it was that Tif and her children had the best day ever,

her man however was bringing up the rear laiden down with the back pack, a camera with no strap and a horse that did not share his dreams, whatever they were.

his horsey was slow, stubborn and cared not for being on this journey...they eventually made it to the highest point where the horses were left to rest while they scrambled down the hillside to a waterfall to cool off...

on the return part of the journey Suzanne felt them experienced enough to gallop, in hindsight Tif knew that was the point that made it impossible for her to sleep at night for the rest of the stay without a pillow wedged under her 'ailing' derriere...

she's off to paint the banister and spindles of mossy shed ~ Tif

well fancy that...

"do you like the color green?"

"excuse me?" said i

"do you like the color green?" the young shop assistant at Home Depot asked me again

"i'm not sure...why?" i asked (worrying if it was a trick question)

"well look, your shirt is green, your wallet is green, the packaging on the 'weather stripping' you are buying has green on it and if you look at the inside of the box containing the door handle you are also purchasing, that is green too" she said

pausing, as i finished paying whilst wondering if this conversation was for real

"well, i guess i do"...

"that's good" she said "because it suits you"

she's thinking you learn something new every day ~ Tif

a 'happy birthday' at the shed...

yesterday was a lovely day, everything went smoothly...it was our #2's fifteenth birthday, the sun came out to play, her mood (for want of a better word) stayed pleasant and i was spot on with the presies. (phew)

i had been to the mall on Friday, i managed several hours with my friend Annette and then i returned home with a few bags, several dollars lighter and rather pleased with myself. you see dear readers i can not be the only one who has trouble 'mall' shopping...i stumble around from department to department looking lost. the assistants look at me with that 'smile' of "what is she doing amongst these clothes, doesn't she know she is 'oh so wrong' and 'oh so old' for them"...

but i managed it (oh, the sacrifices we make for our children) and only came away with a mild allergic rash.

and so my little wheelie table came out to play again, we had cake in the sunshine...and i wished once again that i had whipped up something home made and picture perfect but alas it was a shop bought number in luminous green (very in, i am told) that our #2 choose herself. when we came to light it, i had forgotten the candles, not a candle to be found in the shed...after ten minutes of trying to find some i asked if she was willing to not have any candles, which of course did not go down well and so i sent our #1 out to buy some (she has become most handy since passing her driver's test )...

we also started work on the tree house, it is an elaborate plan, made all the more so by me and my 'creativity' which apparently is getting in the way of what boys want from a tree house. "you know Tif," my man told me "boys do not require curtains, furniture or pretty colors in a tree house despite what your magazines show you. no, they require a pulley rope and bucket, a sleeping bag and a lantern...and no, not fairy lights before you ask".

and so there it is dear readers, 'duck egg blue' has been banned from within several yards of any wood and i have also been informed that 'bunting' will not cut it either. but do not despair for me, i have mentioned the need for a 'british flag' and that was met with noises of approval, plus the color of 'sagey' green has been given the go ahead.

i have saved the bit about a few hanging baskets until further down the road...

in the meantime i have been told to "back off" with my 'doilified' ideas and tend to Gladys who has been neglected due to my need to paint another fourteen doors in the shed...

she's hoping the sun came out for you or if not, it will do soon ~ Tif

paint, paint and more paint...

there has been a lot of paint brush wielding going on at the shed, spurred on by the results of our #3's bedroom we have moved onto the bathroom...the space was very dark so we put in a sun tunnel, i can't tell you just how amazing these little solar tubes are. the space was also very dated which is being kind...i don't think it had seen a lick of paint since the shed had been built...

i put on my natty painting number and got to work brightening up the 'knock down' with several coats of white.

my man and our #3 took out the old tiles and sink that had seen much better days (actually that is not true, i do not believe the day they were put in, nearly thirty years a go was a 'better' day, it was never a good choice).

so we replaced the sink and i painted the dark wood out with a rather lovely vintage greeny blue.

i am so happy with the results that i am now fretting for my little cupboard until the paint has properly cured, i do not believe my children realize that it took their mother three coats of paint and an awful lot of 'strange positioning' to achieve these results and so i have resorted to this...in the meantime i must make the shower curtain and lay the floor but am pleased to see that at least India Rose approves of it all...

my door from the kitchen to the garage via the laundry room has received the paint brush also...and it hasn't stopped there dear readers, oh no, i ventured into the laundry room and painted out the 80's formica sink unit and tried to give it a 'little charm'...

but i think the best thing i have to share with you today is the fact that last saturday the sun shone and so i pulled back the 'tarp' covering my still unpainted french doors and wheeled (yes WHEELED!) out my kitchen table to the "ooohs" and "aaahs" of my family (that's what i like to think the noises were).

once the table was outside it became glaringly obvious that gloss white paint in the sun is quite blinding...none of us could look at it directly...not to worry, it just gave me the excuse to fetch one of my beloved tablecloths...and so it was my boys played 'al fresco' and then we ate lunch 'al fresco' and at the end of the day my little wheelie table came back inside my kitchen to wait patiently for the next sunny day to once again take a spin outside...

i have Lynn to thank for the locking casters, i had some great suggestions from one or two of you but alas they did not fit my skinny legged table, but Lynn tracked the perfect casters down and they fitted a treat. i have to tell you if ever one is in a dilemma of where to find something, Lynn is the girl to go to...she leaves not a stone unturned and always comes up triumphant, i believe it is the influence of all the 'crime solving' programmes she watches...

dear readers, i thank you for staying with me whilst i am blogging so little, you are not the only ones to feel neglected, our #1 commented yesterday as i was finishing up a six panelled door (arrggh) "i see where your priorities lie mother, it is with a paint brush and sadly not me"

at the moment she is thinking that never a truer word has been spoken ~ Tif

footnote: i know what you are thinking...you are thinking, "has Tif lost her tiny mind, what twit puts white towels in a bathroom for a family of six?" but do not fear for my white towels, for i have instructed my children that to avoid traces of mascara and other such undesirables upon the 'whiteness', they are to find the 'old' towels lurking in the cupboard if needed...

the adventures of Tif's man and the rainforest...day four...

why Tif had insisted on setting the alarm for 4:55am was beyond him, she had said that if they needed to be sun screened and bug sprayed at the breakfast table by 5:30am then her and the girls required 35 minutes at the very least...

he was now sharing his cabin with three children as his youngest no longer felt 'safe' with his mother, sister and the beetle. he had spent most of the night being kicked in the back or elbowed in the head...why was it the smallest of children still manage to take over most of the bed and end up sleeping diagonally across it, leaving very little room for anyone else...

the door to the cabin opened and in walked his 'ever-so-young' wife (what a lucky man he thought)...her hair looking strangely like she had put her fingers in a plug socket for rather too long...then again he thought to himself, if i screw my eyes up she could pass for when we first met all those heady years ago, end of the 'eighties' in her white stilettos and amazing big frizzy hair do...

the boat arrived to pick them up at 6am...this was the day he had been waiting for, the reason for dragging his family along to this part of Costa Rica...he had listened to the grumbles and the groans of

"so why didn't you think to pack the camera strap?"...

"well i'm okay, i've got my sunglasses...i didn't think you needed me to pack everything for you"...

"what do you mean we don't have a watch, surely out of six people one of us has a watch"...

"are you sure there won't be any need for a flat iron where we are going?" (oh yes dear readers, do you think he said "no" to the last one just for a laugh?)...

Tif's man knew it was all worth it for today was the day they would be venturing into primary rain forest. their guide was the same guide from yesterday's snorkeling adventure, obviously he had drawn the short straw again this morning...all things considered 'Felix the guide' seemed very chipper anyway...

the boat headed along the headland to the Corcovado National Park...and along with them came a whole ton of rain clouds. once on dry land (ha! not for long) they spent the first hour trekking through secondary forest and then reached the primary forest, not a lot of activity creature wise, most of the noises were coming from his four children...when a family has breakfasted at 5:30am it is quite standard for children to believe by 9am that they are going to collapse and faint at any given moment without nourishment...his wife was looking much better either.

Felix was a hardy guide, obviously use to travelling great distances with very little in his stomach, he understood English very well and was fully aware that food was in order for this 'non hardy' bunch. one minor detail, they didn't have any with them, it was all back at the little lodge on the beach...so the next few hours went by with children complaining, the animals and insects refusing to be seen and a party of six traipsing along the beach (short cut apparently) towards their lunch box...

and then the rains came..."not to worry" said Felix, "i am sure after lunch the rain will clear up and we will head to the waterfall and see many things"...sadly Felix was not right in his optimism and after one hour of taking shelter it was decided they would walk to the waterfall anyway...and so once again six 'pathetic' souls and one 'guide' went forth into the pouring rain.

after what seemed an age and a lot of "why are we here again, did you know there are very nice cruises apparently in the Caribbean?" they made it to a 'stream'...the word stream is used loosely here, with all the rain it was now a river, which according to their guide needed to be crossed...

"i'm not going across that" piped up #4 child,

"oh, it's fine you can hold on to my back and i'll swim across" Tif's man gallantly offered

"nope. no. not a chance"...

"i know", Felix suggests "why doesn't your dad show you how safe it is first"

do you think i am completely nuts, Tif's man thought to himself, but before he knew it he was up to his neck, fully clothed crossing the river whilst his family looked on "see it's quite safe, nothing to worry about, now i'm coming back and you can hop on my back"...

as he climbed out of the water, dripping from head to toe his youngest child stood there with big tears in his eyes and said "i can't do it, i just can't" and of course his mother's heart melted and she said "i don't think it's going to work dear, we'll just have to go back the way we came" at which all of his family made a hasty retreat back down the muddy path leaving him to empty his boots full of water and squeeze out his heavy cotton shorts "why did i put on my non cotton shorts today of all days" he muttered to himself along with several unprintable words...

back at the lodge they waited for their boat, the rains stopped and then waited some more...

he was a disappointed man, there were no two ways about it...back at the cabin later on in the afternoon, his children now happy on the beach he told Tif "i had so wanted to see some wildlife today, two monkeys and a spider just isn't enough"...

she replied all to swiftly he felt, "i know,i know, it's terribly sad but we have tomorrow, maybe it will be better...in the meantime get out of those wet things and go join the kids". he changed into his only other pair of shorts that had been drying on the balcony from the day before and headed out the door...his wife called after him "i'll catch up with you in a minute, i just have to try and fix my hair"...

two minutes later he rushed back into the cabin, tore of his shorts and started stamping madly on them..."what's got into you?" Tif called from the bathroom.

"only a load of bloody biting ants"...

she's a busy bee painting the bathroom ~ Tif

the adventures of Tif and the rainforest...day three...

it was nothing short of a small miracle Tif thought to herself the following morning,

to find herself, her man and their four children, dressed, sun screened and bug sprayed sitting eating breakfast at 6:30am, it had to be an all time record. little did she know at that point it was going to get earlier the next day...

the day started with the alarm going at 5:50am...leaping (okay, that bit is a little exaggerated) out of bed in the bungalow that she was sharing with her #2 and #4, she failed to check her appearance before taking the boardwalk to the cabin that contained her man along with her #1 and #3.

"morning" she said to the kitchen staff as she past by...were they sniggering at her inability to speak spanish she wondered or maybe her interesting flannel pj's with the little birds on...it became quite apparent when entering the cabin and being greeted by "oh my lord, what has happened to your hair" that it was not her lack of spanish or delightful night attire but the fact that she was now sporting a hairstyle rarely seen since the invention of perming rods and the '80's look' that became so popular in her youth...being savvy about these things, Tif knew the 80's were almost vintage now and so she embraced her Leo Sayer look and went forth to breakfast...

the reason for their early rise was due to the fact everyone seemed to get up early in Pirate Cove, something to do with the heat of the day and setting of the sun.

all the tours started after breakfast and so it was at 7am, Tif and her little troop were on the beach waiting for their ride...

the boat pulled up and they were soon heading 12 kilometers out to a small island that for now has escaped her memory (ah, the signs of approaching 40)...they were destined to 'snorkel', a thing that Tif had never done before and after experiencing it probably will never again.

she was told afterwards that there had been all sorts to see under the water...several different types of fish, a large turtle and some sharks but all Tif was aware of at the time was a awful sense of 'panic'...she seemed unable to deal with being so out of her depth at sea, the need to breath through her mouth without swallowing half the sea and also the feeling of claustrophobia. after what seemed an age and the poor guide using all of his patience, Tif was deposited on the nearest beach to join her #4 child while the others all went off and had a 'much better' time without their rather 'crappy at snorkeling' mother...

that evening overcome by the exhaustion of trying to 'stay alive at sea' and eating delicious food prepared not by herself (bliss if ever it was) Tif retired to bed at 7:30pm...but not before insisting to her youngest child that the big gigantic flying beetle in the bathroom was quite happy to stay where he was sleeping and would never venture into their bit of tented bungalow...11:00pm a storm came crashing all around, the waves seemed to be within inches of the flimsy door and the rain was doing it's utmost to come inside to play...added to this was Tif's youngest with his flash light sending out an S.O.S. signal in the hope of being rescued...

"the beetle has disappeared, i think he is in my bed...we need dad, please,please go and get dad"

"you must be barking mad, i am not leaving the safety of this tent...goodness knows what is lurking outside making it's web to catch me in...it's pitch black, pouring with rain and you are just going to have to sleep with the beetle...think of him as a friend, just like Billy's beetle"

somehow she knew that wasn't going to do the job...

Tif spent the rest of the night in her little bed with both her #2 child and #4 child huddled up next to her wondering if it possible the beetle could get lost in her hair and never be seen again...

the flash light still flicking on and off beside her...

to her knowledge, her child had never learnt morse code so she could only presume that instead of asking to be rescued he was probably more likely saying "any insects, poisonous or hairy, who require shelter from the storm, come on in"...

she's going to try better with the blogging next week ~ Tif ("yeah, yeah, heard that one before")

dear 'guardian angel of doors'...

i am writing to kindly ask you a favor.

for sometime now, actually let's make it clear...for what seems like an 'age' but really is five days and four nights i have been 'holed' up in a space destined to be our #3's bedroom. dearest angel, let me tell you this isn't just any old bedroom but the first 'my very own' bedroom of my 'soon to be a teenager' child.

i, along with my man who kindly did the 'ceiling bit' due to my jippy back and neck, have rollered to within an inch of my life and brushed 'dark wood' until my little knees begged for mercy...

i allowed myself to vacate the room only for eating and sleeping purposes, by 'day three' i required a headscarf to cover the tell tale signs of unwashed hair...my 'household' has gone to pot and my little blog woefully neglected...

yet at last, you find me on a Tuesday morning with a completed bedroom.

"pray why do you need me?", i hear you ask...well it is quite simple, i have painted three coats on the door which has taught me a valuable lesson. i do not like six panelled doors in the least, they are fiddly, time consuming to paint and are enough to send even the 'sanest' painter round the bend...this is where you step in 'dearest guardian of freshly painted doors', i have calculated there are sixteen more of these dreaded six panelled doors calling for a paint brush. could you, would you, pretty please protect this door and keep it safe so that by the time i have completed all the other doors in the shed i will not have to start again...and if possible could you call on your friends 'guardian of window frames' and 'guardian of freshly painted walls' and put a good word in for me...i have no intention for the rest of my days of living at mossy shed to wield my paint brush in our #3's room again...however i will go in from time to time to gaze at the view from his window...

yours kindly and with high regard for your very important position in the 'guardianship' world, Tif