Margo à la Maude

One more day until Margo gets to see her Grandmaman. Good timing, 'ti Ma, because Margo just learned how to wave. She hasn't quite mastered it yet, watching her own hand move about as much as she looks at the other person waving. And she hasn't quite figured it out that smiling is sort of what you do when you wave (it's actually a little freaky to have someone wave at you and be stone-faced).

I've been trying to get Mom to come out to Ottawa in May for a while now, because of the Tulip Festival. As the story goes, then-Princess Juliana of the Netherlands took exile in Ottawa during World War II, where she gave birth to Princess Margriet. As a thank you for harbouring them, they sent tulip bulbs, which we planted and started the Ottawa connection to tulips. What is less known is that we only planted the second batch that the Dutch sent to us ; the first batch, we deep-fried and ate with cheese curds and gravy. We called it a Royaal van Pouteene.

The tulips are still around, having started to bloom about 3 weeks ago. Luckily, Margo, Donna and I got out to see them before the cold spell that we're in.



Look at it from a baby's perspective: going outside without having to put 3 extra layers of clothes on is a new experience. Crawling on grass is blowing your mind. And just when you think you've see it all, tens of thousands of really colourful things come out of the ground, perched on long, thin stems, just waiting to be plucked and, as with everything else -- EVERYTHING ELSE -- you touch, put into your mouth.

Oh, there was some tulip carnage, which we tried to limit to keep some tulips for others to see. It would seem that the tulip's only natural defence is that it stains your skin when you destroy it. Yeah, way to go, evolution.

Anway, Grandmaman will be here soon. The tulips are still around. Margo is waving, and life is good.

- Michel

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 9:53 p.m.. You can skip to the end and leave a response.