Kittycats, teapots and play

Preparing for exploration: mom Aya puts on Emi's shoes at the back door. Photo by John.

We’re all back in Vancouver after various summer adventures, and on Saturday we got together at our place with my nephew Etienne, his wife Aya and their daughter Emi to catch up. It was a classically beautiful summer day, and I thought how blessed we are right now to have our health, our lovely city and each other. It’s especially fun to watch Emi, now nearly three, discover the world around her. This day, the highlights were our neighbour’s garden teapot display, a cat called Phantom and a play session at a nearby park. Here are some photos of our get-together, mostly from John.

Wooo! It's fun to run as fast as you want around the back yard.

But what's this? Emi doesn't quite believe me when I say it's a bathtub for birds.

Up the alley, in front of our neighbour's house, Emi meets Phantom, their cat. John and I were a bit worried because Phantom tends to be fierce, often fighting with our cat, Mr. Darcy. (Who vanished for the day, being shy of visitors.) Photo by John.

Emi and Phantom get along just fine, thank you. No hissing, biting or scratching. Photo by John.

The other attraction is our neighbour's famous teapot display, with all kinds of pots nestled among the flowers and greenery. 

One of the cutest teapots -- a little tea centre in itself.

Emi thinks this display is pretty wonderful.

And goes in to investigate. The pots are filled with water, probably to prevent them toppling in the wind.

Lifting the lids off the pots seems like the main attraction.

So here is an elaborate game called "Dessert." Emi assembles pebbles called strawberry, lemon or banana dessert. She asks what you want, and when you give your order (sorry, no lemon today), she gives you a handful of pebbles and a twig to eat it with. You must scoop up the pebbles -- all the pebbles! -- and the twig, take it to a nearby bench and pretend to eat it with appropriately grateful snacking sounds. Aya, who knows the rules well and can explain them, watches her daughter prepare her goodies. Photo by John.