Tuesday, September 21, 2010


I like consulting my on line Real Academia Española dictionary because in short sentences the definitions therein seem to distill the meaning of a word to its essence. An example is the RAE’s definition for rutina:

rutina.
(Del fr. routine, de route, ruta).
1. f. Costumbre inveterada, hábito adquirido de hacer las cosas por mera práctica y sin razonarlas.


The Word comes from the French and its root is way or route. Rutina is an inveterate custom or habit that is acquired in doing things as mere practice and without reasoning them.

I like that “without reasoning”.



On a lark yesterday after our quick lunch of croissants with Black Forest ham and sliced Campari tomatoes I suggested to the girls that we go to VanDusen for a walk. I think that most would agree with me that a 13-year-old itching to Facebook and a 8-year old wanting to play with her dolls or with Rosemary’s cat Casa would not be too keen. But keen they were and we went for a beautiful fall walk in a garden that was mostly empty. I had taken my Mamiya with a couple of lenses , a tripod, so here and there where I noticed a low contrast situation I made the girls pose for me. I also took some iPhone pictures that you see here. I am particularly happy with the one that has the maze as a background.



In the past, in the many trips we have made to VanDusen (during most of the seasons) the girls have looked as the maze with excitement. But when Lauren was around 6 she suddenly disliked going in there. She was afraid of being lost. Rebecca and I were most unkind as we repeated, over and over of her fear to “to get lost in the maze”, “Lauren is a baby. Lauren is a baby.”



Yesterday with a big smile on her face, Lauren wanted to navigate the maze with me and she held her hand out to me. We went in and got ourselves lost, in some places, but we managed to get to the centre where a monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana) grows. Lauren was delighted. From there we managed to find our way out.

These pleasant Mondays were I pick up Lauren at her school and then we drive up Oak and wait for Rebecca to get off her trolley are days of delight which both Rosemary and I know will not go on forever. Before we know it, and even before Rebecca graduates from high school she will have some school function or sport to make her unwilling to spend Monday afternoons with us. But until that happens this pleasant rutina with the two of them, is a routine that I will savour. In the last picture, coincidentally (the name of the sculpture by Zimbabwean sculptor Dominic Benhura is "My New Dress") Lauren is wearing a new dress bought for her by her Nana (her other grandmother, Marjorie Stewart) at H&M with money that was sent to her by Lauren's Aunt Caroline who lives in Toronto.



Routine

Routine Redux

The Sequential Violinist