The Guelph Trio Come for Chinese ... Food and Hugs, that is

Maeve: "Hi, new Auntie from Guelph. Want to play with me?"
Carolyn: "Sure! Here, I'll put the green tumbler on top ..."


"And I'll levitate a blue one on top of the green one!"


"But knocking them off's the most fun, Auntie Carolyn."

"Don't expect to hold me unless you come bearing an entrancing necklace ... Why, Aunt Carolyn, you are the devious one!"


"Hmm, lemme see if I can divine its origin by touch ... Nah, but I may claim it for my own with a sudden wrenching motion."


"Hello cousin, want to see what I can do with this colourful tumbler tower?"

Maeve offers Connor a glimpse of the scope of her destructive powers.

Connor: "Shall I assist you in rebuilding it, oh Queen?"

Maeve: "Forsooth, cousin, surely your purpose in coming is to offer me your aid ... As you see, I've got both hands full and the mouth's currently scheduled for soother-duty."

Instead of aid, Cousin Connor impresses Queen Maeve with his trick of drinking The-Fluid-That-Cannot-Be-Seen.


Maeve: "I love this handsome young manserf ... Guess it's my turn to impress him, by revealing my true powers!"


Maeve uses the Force to rebuild the tumbler tower. Cousin Connor is duly impressed.


"Hey, it's one of those hardbound box things with pictures on the cover. Thanks, Aunt Carolyn!"


"You mean it can open up, like a book?"


"Auntie Carolyn hasn't noticed," Maeve snickers to herself, "but I'm using the Force to turn pages ..."

"The important philosophical question the text raises for me is ... Is it edible?"

Whoa, this dude's kinda scary!


You mean he's another of my Canadian relative-serfs?


Pete bows in obeisance to Queen Mabs. "I dub you Peter, King of the Guelphites and Uncle to my Royal Personage."

Maeve: "Okay, you're in, Unc!"

Bidding goodbye to her Majesty's emissaries from Guelph.

Three Wee Grandkids Get Together

So, the old Cheerios trick, eh Auntie Sheila?
Okay, I'll bite ...


Hey, didn't I just fall for this trick?


To Maeve, Miller is far more interesting than unwrapping a present.

Yikes, I think my cousin's a pirate!

Maeve models her new hat from Auntie Sheila!


Mama with three xiao bao baos ... Miller can't get enough of his new cousin.


Maeve: Nice hat Bram, worthy of a xiao emporer.

Miller, delighted by Maeve's demo of her foot dexterity.

Maeve and Bram share a private joke.

Hey, the hirsute chin's actually real ... and easily tuggable.

Miller: I'm going to miss you, so mind if I hug you?

Kissing cousins.


Bram decides he wants a kiss too.


But first, gotta remove that soo.

Bram, suddenly distracted: "Hey, what's downstairs?"

Maeve: "So where's my kiss?"

Auntie Sheila gives Maeve what she's looking for ...

Reaching for the Out of Reach

Pics to Follow

Five Become Three

Saying goodbye to Gung Gung and Poh Poh, who are returning to their home in Ottawa.


Maeve, sans soother: "I'm gonna miss you guys!"


A last hug for Gung Gung, in thanks for all his and Lucilla's invaluable help and love on the long expedition to Maeve!

To make up for allowing Maeve's two eldest and wisest servants to escape her sovereignty, we who remain try to give her breakfast ..."What on earth are you two fools attempting to feed me today?"


"What, you were serious about me eating that?"


"Gotta admit, I'll taste anything once..."

"Tart, but nonetheless crunchable!"

"Well if I must ... Sure. I'll munch another."

Like everything else in Maeve Lili's new Canadian life, trying new food is exhausting!

The Three Forde Granddaughters

Pic One: Examining Aunt Nancy's tag-covered cloth. "Hey, I'm CRAZY about tags. It's the first thing I play with on every toy!"


Two: So many tags to choose from, so little time.


Three: "What light through yonder window breaks?" For the first time, Maeve notices the dawn's arrival at Gatestone ...


Four: What she isn't aware of yet is just how cold a place we've brought her to from her sub-tropical Jiangxi birthplace. This icicle hangs just outside my office, was just beyond Maeve's view.


Five: Dressed for her first trip to our church---and also for the first day of her first Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Choi! ,,, Grandma Poh-Poh, happy to be holding Maeve, as always.

Six: After church, a brief farewell visit to Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa's sporting the PRC Army winter hat we picked up for him in Tiananmen Square; Baba's wearing his Soviet hammer-and-sickle cap (found in Notting Hill market, of all places); Maeve, well her passport is still PRC, it'll take a while before she becomes a Canadian Citizen.

So xiao communist she remains!

The only two other Forde granddaughters show up, bearing a beautiful gift bear they built themselves for Maeve ... As Kiera examines some of our souvenir postcards, Maeve casts a dubious eye on Dad's defunct Soviet Empire cap.

Proposition: The best way to sneak in an embrace of Maeve is to have someone else feed her bananas. Kiera tests out this theory ...

Three Forde Granddaughters, proud of their Irish, Scottish and Chinese descent---and banana spooning abilities!

Maeve: I can't get no satisfaction ... Ah, thanks Kiera!

Okay, for that, maybe you can hold me.

Whatcha mean, no more bananas? I'm unimpressed, Sarah ...

Just kidding. Go ahead, cuddle me!

Maeve's oldest cousin Christopher (who wrote the most wonderful reference letter for Maeve's parents) arrives to bear Grandma and Grandpa off to Pearson for their trip to Spain. He tries to introduce himself to Maeve.

But she knows a Cuban sympathizer when she sees one ... 'Che' means 'food' to Maeve, not Guevara!