Yesterday it was pure luck that I showed a visitor the baby robins that are nesting on the ladder. One had fallen out of the nest onto the aluminum step. The mother bird was in a nearby tree scolding as we used burdock leaves to hide our scent as we replaced him in the nest. I try to stay away from the nest as much as possible so it really was fortuitous that I saw the problem before it became impossible to solve. God, baby birds are ugly at this stage ... all beak with almost naked bodies. The few straggly down hairs just make them look less warm blooded. Only a mother bird could find them beautiful, I think. I don't like watching hearts beat under such a fragile covering.
It was also pure luck that allowed us to discover the tick on Kenya before the necessary 2-3 days had elapsed which could have allowed the tick to pass on Lyme disease. The vet dealt with it by saturating it with tick and flea poison, allowing a few minutes for it to die and then using tweezers to remove the entire tick intact. He didn't charge me, likely because Kenya's meds this year did nothing for ticks. Instead he told me to bring back the remaining meds and exchange them for meds that would work well. I say it was luck because long haired dogs are harder to examine and this tick was near her mouth where the hair is short. When I returned to pick up the Advantix, I learned that we have a real tick infestation up here in these hills. I had to wait to get the medication because so many dogs had been brought in with ticks in the past two or three days. The vet told me he'd had to remove one from his wife's leg the day before! That tick had been sent to a lab for testing for Lyme disease.
I had my chimney swept for the first time ... and it wasn't even dirty!
Another friend is visiting this weekend ... we haven't gotten together for ages ... and I am looking forward to spending time with her. I hadn't seen nearly enough of Tamarack either and it was good to at least go shopping at Ikea with her and Carlos on Tuesday.
And that brings me full circle from luck to wisdom. I am reading The Wisdom of Tuscany just now. Nothing is new really, but he reminds me of the wisdom of living in a close community ... the kind that is easy to find in Tuscany's towns, at least in those that have not be changed by the influx of tourists with too much money.
I think one of the reasons I love the lake even though I don't always agree with everyone's thinking, is that it is, for all its faults, my community. A Harvard medical school study has documented the influence of people on happiness. Happy people and happy relationships help us be happier. A live-in partner can increase our happiness by 8%; siblings who live close by by 14%; neighbours by 34%. The only relationship that made a bigger difference was having a good friend living nearby.
He spends a good bit of time musing about our very strange propensity for living in cities or soulless suburbs where our only connection with our neighbours is that we all park our cars on the same street ... especially since people dream of quite different things than the anonymity of these places. Most Americans wish for lives where they are known, where they make a difference, where their children can grow up safe and cared about by a whole community ... for small town lives ... but the small towns continue to disappear and be replaced by bedroom communities and sprawling urban centres.
I remember talking to an Ethiopian taxi driver in Ottawa who was returning to Ethiopia as soon as his youngest now a teenager had completed his education ... why? ... so that he could go home to life in a community where he mattered ... where people would check on him ... bring him coffee and news ... a place where he was known. And then he told me of someone living in a Canadian highrise who was dead for a few days before anyone noticed. He did not want that to happen to him.
Wakefield is not an African village, nor a Tuscan small town with a piazza, but it is the closest thing to them I've found so far ... I feel lucky to have laid down some roots here all those years ago.
Showing posts with label life up here in these hills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life up here in these hills. Show all posts
Friday, 17 June 2011
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Adjustment Time
Nothing is easy these days. I feel as if my whole world has been turned upside down. A good friend suggested I start walking on my hands ... but since that is not likely to happen, I guess I will just have to adjust bit by bit.
My new vehicle scares me ... steep learning curve My new camera needs to be studied. My new computer screen doesn't look the way it used to. I have a couple of new teaching gigs starting next week so I have to prepare in a vacuum. And there is someone new in my life ... and that requires an adjustment. All of this is good ... but I am feeling a little overwhelmed just now.
So ... if you don't hear from me except sporadically ... it's just the adjustment phase ... I am climbing several steep learning curves just now ... eventually I will feel comfortable in my new skin.
On a very practical level, I pick up Remi on Thursday and he joins the family for about 10 days.
A good friend is going to be performing here in Wakefield the end of the month ... and the Ottawa Area Guild of Potters are having their annual show this weekend as well ... and it is my baby's fortieth birthday so I will be touching base with him as well. So April is going out in a burst of flame. maybe it will melt the last of the snow here.
My new vehicle scares me ... steep learning curve My new camera needs to be studied. My new computer screen doesn't look the way it used to. I have a couple of new teaching gigs starting next week so I have to prepare in a vacuum. And there is someone new in my life ... and that requires an adjustment. All of this is good ... but I am feeling a little overwhelmed just now.
So ... if you don't hear from me except sporadically ... it's just the adjustment phase ... I am climbing several steep learning curves just now ... eventually I will feel comfortable in my new skin.
On a very practical level, I pick up Remi on Thursday and he joins the family for about 10 days.
A good friend is going to be performing here in Wakefield the end of the month ... and the Ottawa Area Guild of Potters are having their annual show this weekend as well ... and it is my baby's fortieth birthday so I will be touching base with him as well. So April is going out in a burst of flame. maybe it will melt the last of the snow here.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Let's all live, love and laugh
My week started well ... more staircase painting ... baby hugs from Lily ... Tammy's birthday celebration ... a good night's sleep in town ... back to staircase painting on Tuesday ... and today is a prep for class and teaching day while Peter continues to paint the staircase.
The staircase is beginning to take form and I can see the possibilities for design emerging.
Lily is now 6 months and a honey. Her mom just got a wonderful tattoo ... tasteful ... and in a place that is unlikely to droop or get flabby , leaving her at 70 with a skewed tattoo. Black lettering curves discreetly along her instep ... a permanent reminder to live, laugh and love ... and to raise Lily within that philosophy, a philosophy that will become stronger and more necessary, rather than fading and become irrelevant as she ages.
Lily's grandmother sent me a cute reminder to do the same myself (live the philosophy ... not get a tattoo):. a set of drink napkins decorated with the reasons women drink ... a list of annoying men (men who ...) and then ... the words: "no men". I laughed. Also reminded me that life itself operates imperfectly ... with no easy choices.
Enjoy the rest of your week. I intend to live, laugh ... and who knows? ... maybe even love a little!
The staircase is beginning to take form and I can see the possibilities for design emerging.
Lily is now 6 months and a honey. Her mom just got a wonderful tattoo ... tasteful ... and in a place that is unlikely to droop or get flabby , leaving her at 70 with a skewed tattoo. Black lettering curves discreetly along her instep ... a permanent reminder to live, laugh and love ... and to raise Lily within that philosophy, a philosophy that will become stronger and more necessary, rather than fading and become irrelevant as she ages.
Lily's grandmother sent me a cute reminder to do the same myself (live the philosophy ... not get a tattoo):. a set of drink napkins decorated with the reasons women drink ... a list of annoying men (men who ...) and then ... the words: "no men". I laughed. Also reminded me that life itself operates imperfectly ... with no easy choices.
Enjoy the rest of your week. I intend to live, laugh ... and who knows? ... maybe even love a little!
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Wondering Where the Wild Things Are?
They are here at Pike Lake.
Moles are scurrying about under the snow and Kenya is very interested. She goes out on her lead and just spends her time following her nose. Such a delicacate quivering goes on ... no rowdy excitement ... just intense curiosity ... and I haven't seen her salivate yet.
The bird feder is active ... on around and below ... the red squirrel was there yesterday. Someone was out shooting squirrels the other day ... I guess he figured it was easier than closing in the holes in his house. Honestly!
A deer was killed a few days ago ... either hit by a car or fell off a cliff ... all their trails have been disrupted over there ... anyway, her body was a Kenya magnet and I was forced to hold onto Kenya by the tail ... and exert my dominance ... in order to keep her away from it. She managed one little sniff and a lick of innards ... and then vomited all night ... and that is why she is tied outside these days.
The other three lake does are everywhere ... and can almost not be designated wild any more.
I haven't seen them but apparently there are twenty-some wild turkeys up in the fields of the nearest farmer.
In other news my poor little car may need a major suspension job ... will have to contemplate whether to spend large amounts of money on a car that will be fourteen in the fall ... how much is that in people years? I canceled my snow tire change because we still have lots of snow up here ... and there would be no point in getting the tires changed if I am going to trade in my car soon. I will get the oil changed. I don't want her to suffer in her old age.
Today is teaching day ... so must run ... I have figured out that I clear $5 per hour for teaching ... $6 per hour for catering ... and $8 per hour for dog sitting! Shows clearly what is valued in our society, doesn't it?
Moles are scurrying about under the snow and Kenya is very interested. She goes out on her lead and just spends her time following her nose. Such a delicacate quivering goes on ... no rowdy excitement ... just intense curiosity ... and I haven't seen her salivate yet.
The bird feder is active ... on around and below ... the red squirrel was there yesterday. Someone was out shooting squirrels the other day ... I guess he figured it was easier than closing in the holes in his house. Honestly!
A deer was killed a few days ago ... either hit by a car or fell off a cliff ... all their trails have been disrupted over there ... anyway, her body was a Kenya magnet and I was forced to hold onto Kenya by the tail ... and exert my dominance ... in order to keep her away from it. She managed one little sniff and a lick of innards ... and then vomited all night ... and that is why she is tied outside these days.
The other three lake does are everywhere ... and can almost not be designated wild any more.
I haven't seen them but apparently there are twenty-some wild turkeys up in the fields of the nearest farmer.
In other news my poor little car may need a major suspension job ... will have to contemplate whether to spend large amounts of money on a car that will be fourteen in the fall ... how much is that in people years? I canceled my snow tire change because we still have lots of snow up here ... and there would be no point in getting the tires changed if I am going to trade in my car soon. I will get the oil changed. I don't want her to suffer in her old age.
Today is teaching day ... so must run ... I have figured out that I clear $5 per hour for teaching ... $6 per hour for catering ... and $8 per hour for dog sitting! Shows clearly what is valued in our society, doesn't it?
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Monday's Blues followed by Tuesday's Sunshine, and Wednesday's Update
Yesterday was a strange day. I went in to pick up Shea who is our house guest this week and ran some errands in town before I collected him. All went well until I got home. Then everything seemed to go to hell in a hand basket.
1. My trunk wouldn't open, and that is where my groceries were.
2. I put such things as wine and boxes containing kitchen supplies and paint cans, which were packed in the car interior on the sled and tried to get down the hill. First one leg sank in up to the thigh and I fell into a most ungraceful sprawl in the snow. With difficulty I hauled that leg out and made my way down the hill sinking in to my knees with each step while preventing the sled from spinning out of control and making a much more rapid descent straight down the hill, over the retaining wall and into the building.
3. Peter was working on the staircase and he tried to help me by using graphite in the keyhole to open the trunk. We ascertained that the inside lever was doing something at the latch end because we could hear its mechanism. But it was all sound and fury. Nothing happened to open the trunk.
4. I made myself something to eat and headed off to visit Grant's Garage. $28 later the trunk was working and we had no idea why. I probably put something in the wrong place and it interfered with the latching mechanism. The Toyota seat does not come out easily and when Grant got it out, I discovered huge amounts of sand and dog hair under the seat. When I get the car properly cleaned this spring I will clean that area too.
5. I returned home and put away the groceries. That was not easy as the the staircase and kitchen/pantry area were swathed in plastic.
6. I let the dogs out with me while I unloaded the car and they stayed with me, so I let them out alone for a few minutes while I looked at Peter's handiwork. Big mistake when one is a husky mix. They disappeared.
7. I went out hunting and calling, took the car about 1 1/2 kilometres in either direction, asked neighbours if they'd seen them, and called some more.
8. When I got home, Kenya was under the dining room table but there was still no sign of Shea. I called Carlos. He said Shea would come back; he always did. He was right. About an hour later while Peter and I were drinking tea, Kenya announced Shea's arrival. An exhausted dog came in, had his cookie and curled up in a corner, and Peter headed home.
9. By now I was exhausted but I tried on the clothes I bought and discovered I wanted to return almost all of them. Problem was I couldn't find the bill. Found all the others, but no Costco bill. Damn again.
10. Despite the exhaustion I had one of my now normal non-sleeping nights. I have learned to survive the insomnia by bringing the radio into bed with me and turning it on when I awaken. You'd be surprised how many good programmes air between midnight and 5 a.m. and music sounds better in the silent darkness too.
11. Today has dawned bright and fairly mild and I am intending to take the dogs for a long walk as soon as Peter arrives and starts sanding. Maybe the physical exercise will make me healthily tired in a way that mental stress does not, and I'll have a sound sleep tonight.
And so the week begins!
Grey Wednesday Update:
I am tired of eating sawdust, listening to incessant noise, and dealing with crusty snow that the dogs and I don't do well in. The cake I made yesterday tastes fine but looks like a dog's regurgitated breakfast. I will ice it today and hide the mess as best I can. Yesterday I sent a a couple of bags of canned goods and other food a non-cook could cope with to a friend without a stove who is in a bind right now, but until the sawdust settles and can be cleaned up, it is awfully hard to find a clean pot or utensil let alone cook. I hate renovations, especially messy ones ... and Peter, who is doing the really filthy work, is getting fed up too, so his temper is at least as short as mine. I hope our friendship survives our renovation!
I will get out this afternoon when I have my first professional haircut in about two years, and go to my class. The dogs and Peter will remain stuck inside.
Hope your week is going better than mine is!
1. My trunk wouldn't open, and that is where my groceries were.
2. I put such things as wine and boxes containing kitchen supplies and paint cans, which were packed in the car interior on the sled and tried to get down the hill. First one leg sank in up to the thigh and I fell into a most ungraceful sprawl in the snow. With difficulty I hauled that leg out and made my way down the hill sinking in to my knees with each step while preventing the sled from spinning out of control and making a much more rapid descent straight down the hill, over the retaining wall and into the building.
3. Peter was working on the staircase and he tried to help me by using graphite in the keyhole to open the trunk. We ascertained that the inside lever was doing something at the latch end because we could hear its mechanism. But it was all sound and fury. Nothing happened to open the trunk.
4. I made myself something to eat and headed off to visit Grant's Garage. $28 later the trunk was working and we had no idea why. I probably put something in the wrong place and it interfered with the latching mechanism. The Toyota seat does not come out easily and when Grant got it out, I discovered huge amounts of sand and dog hair under the seat. When I get the car properly cleaned this spring I will clean that area too.
5. I returned home and put away the groceries. That was not easy as the the staircase and kitchen/pantry area were swathed in plastic.
6. I let the dogs out with me while I unloaded the car and they stayed with me, so I let them out alone for a few minutes while I looked at Peter's handiwork. Big mistake when one is a husky mix. They disappeared.
7. I went out hunting and calling, took the car about 1 1/2 kilometres in either direction, asked neighbours if they'd seen them, and called some more.
8. When I got home, Kenya was under the dining room table but there was still no sign of Shea. I called Carlos. He said Shea would come back; he always did. He was right. About an hour later while Peter and I were drinking tea, Kenya announced Shea's arrival. An exhausted dog came in, had his cookie and curled up in a corner, and Peter headed home.
9. By now I was exhausted but I tried on the clothes I bought and discovered I wanted to return almost all of them. Problem was I couldn't find the bill. Found all the others, but no Costco bill. Damn again.
10. Despite the exhaustion I had one of my now normal non-sleeping nights. I have learned to survive the insomnia by bringing the radio into bed with me and turning it on when I awaken. You'd be surprised how many good programmes air between midnight and 5 a.m. and music sounds better in the silent darkness too.
11. Today has dawned bright and fairly mild and I am intending to take the dogs for a long walk as soon as Peter arrives and starts sanding. Maybe the physical exercise will make me healthily tired in a way that mental stress does not, and I'll have a sound sleep tonight.
And so the week begins!
Grey Wednesday Update:
I am tired of eating sawdust, listening to incessant noise, and dealing with crusty snow that the dogs and I don't do well in. The cake I made yesterday tastes fine but looks like a dog's regurgitated breakfast. I will ice it today and hide the mess as best I can. Yesterday I sent a a couple of bags of canned goods and other food a non-cook could cope with to a friend without a stove who is in a bind right now, but until the sawdust settles and can be cleaned up, it is awfully hard to find a clean pot or utensil let alone cook. I hate renovations, especially messy ones ... and Peter, who is doing the really filthy work, is getting fed up too, so his temper is at least as short as mine. I hope our friendship survives our renovation!
I will get out this afternoon when I have my first professional haircut in about two years, and go to my class. The dogs and Peter will remain stuck inside.
Hope your week is going better than mine is!
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Snow Day
I spent my day shoveling ... one bout with the steps ... a second with the car ... and a third spreading salt.
That snow is sodden and heavy.
But Leonard got my road plowed out and sanded by late afternoon and the people came around 4:30 for their table and chair and were pleased ... which made me pleased too.
I also made a very good pasta sauce using local organic ground beef and stew beef ... roasted peppers, celery, onions, tomatoes and garlic and then browned the meat and mixed in the roasted veggies and tomatoes, juice, wine, and herbs and simmered everything away all afternoon.
Kenya and I went out after supper and visited with Peter and Leonard and then headed home.
I always feel good when I take a walk in the snow when the temperatures are reasonable .... as they were this evening.
Life is good!
That snow is sodden and heavy.
But Leonard got my road plowed out and sanded by late afternoon and the people came around 4:30 for their table and chair and were pleased ... which made me pleased too.
I also made a very good pasta sauce using local organic ground beef and stew beef ... roasted peppers, celery, onions, tomatoes and garlic and then browned the meat and mixed in the roasted veggies and tomatoes, juice, wine, and herbs and simmered everything away all afternoon.
Kenya and I went out after supper and visited with Peter and Leonard and then headed home.
I always feel good when I take a walk in the snow when the temperatures are reasonable .... as they were this evening.
Life is good!
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Another Wintery Post
Another Snowy Day
I am relishing the thought of a snowed-in weekend. Peter will pick up his food in his AWD vehicle and Leonard will dig me out on Sunday. I will put two more coats of polyurethane on the little table and chair set for Victor, and his parents will come and get it Sunday afternoon.
So the whole weekend is one in which I am buffered by weather ... the only real demand on my time will be to shovel the steps by Sunday afternoon.
What will I do? Dunno ... but I have a bunch of movies, several books, a couple of new painting projects, and lots of food and firewood, so I have enough to keep me happily occupied.
I don't have any wine ... but that's not a real problem as I have been off wine this past while ... not totally off it ... but just not as interested in having a glass with dinner every day. It may have something to do with breaking my meal cooking and eating habits since I started preparing meals for Peter. If I am preparing meals at 9 a.m. there is a different atmosphere than there is at 5:30 or 6 ... it is part of my workday rather than the beginning of my recreational time. I also tend to eat strange meals at odd times. This morning, because I was putting the finishing touches on Peter's fare, I ended up eating tortellini with Bolognese sauce and a bit of spinach cooked with sweet onion. Yummy! But not really a breakfast.
This week, Peter's menu is:
* tortellini with sauce and salad
* gingerale pork chops with raclette potatoes and asparagus
* chicken stew with corn cobbler and brussel sprouts
* meat loaf with roasted medley potatoes and green beans
* Moroccan shrimp with spirited rice and spinach
Plus ... date bread, pumpkin cake and rhubarb stewed with other fruit and topped with yogurt, strawberries and maple syrup.
We are both eating well. The raclette potatoes are wonderful ... and fattening ... you pre-cook some potatoes, toss with olive oil and put them in a baking dish . Then you sprinkle on ham bits and cover with thick slices of mozzarella or raclette cheese and bake at 350 ish for about 20 minutes till cheese melts.
I am still reading about the plasticity of the brain ... and concurrently a memoir by Kurt Vonnegut's son who was/is a schizophrenic. The brain is an amazing thing ... powerful ... frightening and wondrous in turn.
I wanted to post a photo of Victor's little table and chair but my software won't cooperate. Will do so when I can ... I like it ... and I especially like the fact that it got me interested in painting again. It has been a while.
My class this week was fun. Pauline demonstrated how to make saffron rice and chicken with cheese and cream and then we studied about food while our dinner baked in the oven. When it was ready we stopped the lesson and went into the kitchen and ate a great meal ... complete with salad and wine ...a fun evening.
This coming week Azra is going to teach us a Yugoslavian craft. It is fun working with talented friendly women ... they tell me this is their only time in the week that is just for them ... unrelated to family or work ... just a relaxing leaning time with people they like. Sometimes groups just jell perfectly ... aren't we lucky when it happens?
Have a great snowy weekend ... and let's hope that this is our last burst of winter!
I am relishing the thought of a snowed-in weekend. Peter will pick up his food in his AWD vehicle and Leonard will dig me out on Sunday. I will put two more coats of polyurethane on the little table and chair set for Victor, and his parents will come and get it Sunday afternoon.
So the whole weekend is one in which I am buffered by weather ... the only real demand on my time will be to shovel the steps by Sunday afternoon.
What will I do? Dunno ... but I have a bunch of movies, several books, a couple of new painting projects, and lots of food and firewood, so I have enough to keep me happily occupied.
I don't have any wine ... but that's not a real problem as I have been off wine this past while ... not totally off it ... but just not as interested in having a glass with dinner every day. It may have something to do with breaking my meal cooking and eating habits since I started preparing meals for Peter. If I am preparing meals at 9 a.m. there is a different atmosphere than there is at 5:30 or 6 ... it is part of my workday rather than the beginning of my recreational time. I also tend to eat strange meals at odd times. This morning, because I was putting the finishing touches on Peter's fare, I ended up eating tortellini with Bolognese sauce and a bit of spinach cooked with sweet onion. Yummy! But not really a breakfast.
This week, Peter's menu is:
* tortellini with sauce and salad
* gingerale pork chops with raclette potatoes and asparagus
* chicken stew with corn cobbler and brussel sprouts
* meat loaf with roasted medley potatoes and green beans
* Moroccan shrimp with spirited rice and spinach
Plus ... date bread, pumpkin cake and rhubarb stewed with other fruit and topped with yogurt, strawberries and maple syrup.
We are both eating well. The raclette potatoes are wonderful ... and fattening ... you pre-cook some potatoes, toss with olive oil and put them in a baking dish . Then you sprinkle on ham bits and cover with thick slices of mozzarella or raclette cheese and bake at 350 ish for about 20 minutes till cheese melts.
I am still reading about the plasticity of the brain ... and concurrently a memoir by Kurt Vonnegut's son who was/is a schizophrenic. The brain is an amazing thing ... powerful ... frightening and wondrous in turn.
I wanted to post a photo of Victor's little table and chair but my software won't cooperate. Will do so when I can ... I like it ... and I especially like the fact that it got me interested in painting again. It has been a while.
My class this week was fun. Pauline demonstrated how to make saffron rice and chicken with cheese and cream and then we studied about food while our dinner baked in the oven. When it was ready we stopped the lesson and went into the kitchen and ate a great meal ... complete with salad and wine ...a fun evening.
This coming week Azra is going to teach us a Yugoslavian craft. It is fun working with talented friendly women ... they tell me this is their only time in the week that is just for them ... unrelated to family or work ... just a relaxing leaning time with people they like. Sometimes groups just jell perfectly ... aren't we lucky when it happens?
Have a great snowy weekend ... and let's hope that this is our last burst of winter!
Monday, 7 February 2011
Bereft ... well ... sort of ...
I can't find the recipe I used to make the meat loaf that Peter loves. It was soft and had bread, milk and egg in it ... but it was tomatoey sweet and spicy as well with a lovely glazey saucy topping.
I have hunted everywhere in my own cookbooks and have now gone on-line. There are lots of recipes but I can't be sure I have found the right one.
This is important because there is only one mini-loaf left in the freezer and when I ask Peter what he wants me to make, he says he likes everything but especially the meat loaf.
This is one that kids would love.
Do you have a favourite recipe that you always make ... or do you just play it by ear/eye/aroma & taste buds, putting everything but the kitchen sink in?
Since starting this cooking for Peter, I am cooking smarter than I used to. Some of my favourite tricks are ways to deal with fresh veggies. I buy peas and green beans in bulk at Costco, and blanch/freeze the ones I don't use immediately so that I can pull them out of the freezer on Saturday morning and quickly stir fry them with olive oil, butter, and garlic or shallots to add to the meals. With asparagus, I keep it as dry and cold as possible in an open plastic bag and when I am ready to cook it, I stir fry it quickly and dress it with grated orange peel or tarragon. As soon as tomatoes no longer tempt me to eat them raw, I oven roast them with garlic, onion, and olive oil, then buzz them in the blender and freeze them for sauces. I no longer have leftover veggies that rot in my fridge ... one of the dangers of living alone.
I am also losing weight. I am not sure whether it is because I am always surrounded by food or whether it is because I feel no compunction to eat up the left overs, or because I don't cook Peter's carbohydrates till Saturday morning so I am tending to eat lots of veggies with a little protein rather than a lot of rice or potato or pasta with veggies and protein. Maybe it has to do with when I eat ... earlier in the day. I hope it is not because the food is terrible!
Our LONG lesson on Saturday afternoon was fun. We had enchiladas, salad and wine and then went out snow shoeing. Diane took us up hill and down dale through the woods, and told us how to avoid problems with bears. On one of the particularly steep places I kept slipping. i finally got up with help. Diane pulled me up by my ski pole and Pauline pushed on my fanny! Afterwards we had cocoa with a ginger, lemon, oatmeal cake. Then we began our lesson. We were all so tired and full we decided against our original plan of having dinner in Wakefield. Six hours with three great women. Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
I have hunted everywhere in my own cookbooks and have now gone on-line. There are lots of recipes but I can't be sure I have found the right one.
This is important because there is only one mini-loaf left in the freezer and when I ask Peter what he wants me to make, he says he likes everything but especially the meat loaf.
This is one that kids would love.
Do you have a favourite recipe that you always make ... or do you just play it by ear/eye/aroma & taste buds, putting everything but the kitchen sink in?
Since starting this cooking for Peter, I am cooking smarter than I used to. Some of my favourite tricks are ways to deal with fresh veggies. I buy peas and green beans in bulk at Costco, and blanch/freeze the ones I don't use immediately so that I can pull them out of the freezer on Saturday morning and quickly stir fry them with olive oil, butter, and garlic or shallots to add to the meals. With asparagus, I keep it as dry and cold as possible in an open plastic bag and when I am ready to cook it, I stir fry it quickly and dress it with grated orange peel or tarragon. As soon as tomatoes no longer tempt me to eat them raw, I oven roast them with garlic, onion, and olive oil, then buzz them in the blender and freeze them for sauces. I no longer have leftover veggies that rot in my fridge ... one of the dangers of living alone.
I am also losing weight. I am not sure whether it is because I am always surrounded by food or whether it is because I feel no compunction to eat up the left overs, or because I don't cook Peter's carbohydrates till Saturday morning so I am tending to eat lots of veggies with a little protein rather than a lot of rice or potato or pasta with veggies and protein. Maybe it has to do with when I eat ... earlier in the day. I hope it is not because the food is terrible!
Our LONG lesson on Saturday afternoon was fun. We had enchiladas, salad and wine and then went out snow shoeing. Diane took us up hill and down dale through the woods, and told us how to avoid problems with bears. On one of the particularly steep places I kept slipping. i finally got up with help. Diane pulled me up by my ski pole and Pauline pushed on my fanny! Afterwards we had cocoa with a ginger, lemon, oatmeal cake. Then we began our lesson. We were all so tired and full we decided against our original plan of having dinner in Wakefield. Six hours with three great women. Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
No News Sunday
My life has become so boring lately that I cannot find anything worth sharing with you.
Weekend ... tidied up porch
Monday ... iced in ... baked
Tuesday ... iced in lesson and food prep
Wednesday ...X-ray and teaching
Thursday ... Tired
Friday ... Felt as if I'd been run over by a truck so didn't go snow shoeing
Saturday ... Tammy and her gang came out and helped get the wood supply down the hill and into the porch
That was the best day ... Lily the wonder babe entertained us all and then nursed and fell asleep.
Apart from that ... I finished reading The Sentimentalists ... and felt relieved to be finished with it ... watched some good movies ... have started reading Vimy by Pierre Berton ... excellent ... but I really want to read a piece of fiction that gathers me up in its covers and transports me to a whole new world of the imagination. i have ordered a couple that I have hopes for ... Elegance of the Hedgehog and Cutting for Stone .
Next week does not appear to be terribly exciting ... I teach twice ... on Wednesday and then again on Saturday here at the lake. I will make a lunch, one of my students will take us out snowshoeing and give us an interpretive tour, and then we will complete the lesson. The rest of the week I expect to be cooking and painting that little table and chair.
Hope your days are more exciting than mine are!
Weekend ... tidied up porch
Monday ... iced in ... baked
Tuesday ... iced in lesson and food prep
Wednesday ...X-ray and teaching
Thursday ... Tired
Friday ... Felt as if I'd been run over by a truck so didn't go snow shoeing
Saturday ... Tammy and her gang came out and helped get the wood supply down the hill and into the porch
That was the best day ... Lily the wonder babe entertained us all and then nursed and fell asleep.
Apart from that ... I finished reading The Sentimentalists ... and felt relieved to be finished with it ... watched some good movies ... have started reading Vimy by Pierre Berton ... excellent ... but I really want to read a piece of fiction that gathers me up in its covers and transports me to a whole new world of the imagination. i have ordered a couple that I have hopes for ... Elegance of the Hedgehog and Cutting for Stone .
Next week does not appear to be terribly exciting ... I teach twice ... on Wednesday and then again on Saturday here at the lake. I will make a lunch, one of my students will take us out snowshoeing and give us an interpretive tour, and then we will complete the lesson. The rest of the week I expect to be cooking and painting that little table and chair.
Hope your days are more exciting than mine are!
Sunday, 23 January 2011
BRRR!
Sunday morning ... and a good day to hunker in by the fire, the computer and the DVD screen ... or maybe return to the down-filled nest with a book.
I am reading The Sentimentalists. I wish I were enjoying it more.
I just ordered Eat, Pray, Love (the book) because two people have told me that they felt the book was far richer than the movie. Me? .... I loved the movie ... so I am really looking forward to the original.
I also ordered a book about how the brain regenerates itself and changes its circuitry even after traumatic incidents. Who knows what my brain is doing there inside its cracked little egg?
And the third book I ordered was recommended by Mary Ito (sp?) who hosts Fresh Air on Sunday mornings. I love her choice of music and she invariably mentions movies and books that I too enjoy. This one is called Wait for Me ... by one of the six strange Mitford sisters ... Deborah the Duchess. I can't remember all their names but one was a fascist, another a communist, another a writer ... all seemed interesting ... and Mary characterized them with these single nouns. This book is autoiography and tells the story of the author and her sisters.
I also ordered Passchaendale but have to wait for that DVD ... as I have to wait for Barney's Version and The King''s Speech.
I do have to go out at least once today.. and who knows? ... maybe I will enjoy the day and stay out and play a bit. On Friday I went snowshoeing for about 1 1/2 hours in the woods and was perfectly comfortable exercising out of the wind. It's much more fun snowshoeing on bushwhacking trails than simply slogging along a road.
I have to take over the final part of Peter's order and, with it, the instructions for a couple of things but after that I think I will just stay close to the home fires.
Yesterday was an eating day ... in fact we (my guests and I) couldn't finish all the food. We started with a Lebanese tray of goodies with pita, went on to oven roasted veggie soup, and from there to beef wellington, mashed potatoes and stir-fried veggies, and then to apple cake with whipped cream. We did not have room for the salads.
The beef tasted fine but I would make radical changes to the recipe ... FAR too many peppercorns ... not NEARLY ENOUGH filo sheets ... so the beef ended up looking like a blob covered with the wine/mushroom/shallot/ duck liver sauce. Bits of dingy grey sogginess clung to it. The whole thing should have been encased in a puffy crust. The peppercorn cream sauce masked the final product that came to the table ... but I cook with everyone watching and helping so we all knew what was hiding under there!
Before my guests arrived, an entire family came to make decisions about which furniture they wanted me to paint for the newest little boy. Both little boys were there, the parents of one, the mother of the other and the grandmother of the family. They decided on a small table with a chair and want it done in gentle blues and greens with animals. I am looking forward to starting a new project.
Tomorrow I will get the x-ray done .... and next week the temperatures are supposed to moderate a little so I hope I can go out and play. I hope you are having a great weekend whether you are living in the icebox that is central Canada or some place where the temperatures are balmier.
I am reading The Sentimentalists. I wish I were enjoying it more.
I just ordered Eat, Pray, Love (the book) because two people have told me that they felt the book was far richer than the movie. Me? .... I loved the movie ... so I am really looking forward to the original.
I also ordered a book about how the brain regenerates itself and changes its circuitry even after traumatic incidents. Who knows what my brain is doing there inside its cracked little egg?
And the third book I ordered was recommended by Mary Ito (sp?) who hosts Fresh Air on Sunday mornings. I love her choice of music and she invariably mentions movies and books that I too enjoy. This one is called Wait for Me ... by one of the six strange Mitford sisters ... Deborah the Duchess. I can't remember all their names but one was a fascist, another a communist, another a writer ... all seemed interesting ... and Mary characterized them with these single nouns. This book is autoiography and tells the story of the author and her sisters.
I also ordered Passchaendale but have to wait for that DVD ... as I have to wait for Barney's Version and The King''s Speech.
I do have to go out at least once today.. and who knows? ... maybe I will enjoy the day and stay out and play a bit. On Friday I went snowshoeing for about 1 1/2 hours in the woods and was perfectly comfortable exercising out of the wind. It's much more fun snowshoeing on bushwhacking trails than simply slogging along a road.
I have to take over the final part of Peter's order and, with it, the instructions for a couple of things but after that I think I will just stay close to the home fires.
Yesterday was an eating day ... in fact we (my guests and I) couldn't finish all the food. We started with a Lebanese tray of goodies with pita, went on to oven roasted veggie soup, and from there to beef wellington, mashed potatoes and stir-fried veggies, and then to apple cake with whipped cream. We did not have room for the salads.
The beef tasted fine but I would make radical changes to the recipe ... FAR too many peppercorns ... not NEARLY ENOUGH filo sheets ... so the beef ended up looking like a blob covered with the wine/mushroom/shallot/ duck liver sauce. Bits of dingy grey sogginess clung to it. The whole thing should have been encased in a puffy crust. The peppercorn cream sauce masked the final product that came to the table ... but I cook with everyone watching and helping so we all knew what was hiding under there!
Before my guests arrived, an entire family came to make decisions about which furniture they wanted me to paint for the newest little boy. Both little boys were there, the parents of one, the mother of the other and the grandmother of the family. They decided on a small table with a chair and want it done in gentle blues and greens with animals. I am looking forward to starting a new project.
Tomorrow I will get the x-ray done .... and next week the temperatures are supposed to moderate a little so I hope I can go out and play. I hope you are having a great weekend whether you are living in the icebox that is central Canada or some place where the temperatures are balmier.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Why can't a man be more like a woman?
Yes, I know it sounds like an inversion of the famous "My Fair Lady/Pygmalion" complaint mouthed by Henry, the old curmudgeon and lover of language ... and that is a little scary since I may well fit that description myself.
But honestly.
I keep meeting really interesting women who would be lovely mates if only they were men!
I am not thinking of the stereotyped images of either sex, but fully fledged and interesting ... and fit ... in all ways ... mentally, physically, financially, morally, sexually ...
I have recently been meeting men who have some or even most of those attributes, but too often they are sadly deficient. But I meet women who seem whole all the time.
The woman I met most recently said things like: "Oh, I can't be bothered with men; they all seem to need mothers", "The ones I meet have no sense of adventures at all", "I met one who spent his entire year traveling from one of his offspring to another and wanted someone to share that life! Good grief!" and "All the men I have met on-line seem like dorks."
Another started her last email with the salutation "Men, shmen" and proceeded to write in a most interesting, independent fashion.
Still another sighed and stated with finality, "They are all boring, you know, even the good ones."
A very old friend decided several years ago that men were fine as friends but she was quite quite finished with the idea of a relationship with one. She much prefers the company of the women she knows.
Anyway, so far, the men I have met whom I had some hopes for have proven to be mentally ill, physically decrepit, poverty stricken, virtually homeless, lacking friends, without much of a life and/or boring.
The woman I just met the other day may have the answer. She says she is going to start looking for Latin men. At least life would be interesting with them!
I dunno about that as a solution but I am going skiing with her on Tuesday. Maybe I will learn more. She seems to have thought things through pretty carefully, and, like me, she's still hopeful.
But honestly.
I keep meeting really interesting women who would be lovely mates if only they were men!
I am not thinking of the stereotyped images of either sex, but fully fledged and interesting ... and fit ... in all ways ... mentally, physically, financially, morally, sexually ...
I have recently been meeting men who have some or even most of those attributes, but too often they are sadly deficient. But I meet women who seem whole all the time.
The woman I met most recently said things like: "Oh, I can't be bothered with men; they all seem to need mothers", "The ones I meet have no sense of adventures at all", "I met one who spent his entire year traveling from one of his offspring to another and wanted someone to share that life! Good grief!" and "All the men I have met on-line seem like dorks."
Another started her last email with the salutation "Men, shmen" and proceeded to write in a most interesting, independent fashion.
Still another sighed and stated with finality, "They are all boring, you know, even the good ones."
A very old friend decided several years ago that men were fine as friends but she was quite quite finished with the idea of a relationship with one. She much prefers the company of the women she knows.
Anyway, so far, the men I have met whom I had some hopes for have proven to be mentally ill, physically decrepit, poverty stricken, virtually homeless, lacking friends, without much of a life and/or boring.
The woman I just met the other day may have the answer. She says she is going to start looking for Latin men. At least life would be interesting with them!
I dunno about that as a solution but I am going skiing with her on Tuesday. Maybe I will learn more. She seems to have thought things through pretty carefully, and, like me, she's still hopeful.
Thursday, 30 December 2010
80 Before 80
I succumbed to the temptation and started a new list ... 80 Things to Do Before I Turn 80 ... I have written down 48 so far (6 years worth if I am counting that way ... which I am not.) It is akin to a bucket list, I guess, but I don't want to do crazy over-the-top things like sky diving or climbing Everest. Maybe I will be so tired of the trite that I will start throwing in things like that, though.
So far, though, I have included things that are on-going like nurturing existing friendships with people I love, taking regular artist's dates away from the lake, and getting back to cross country skiing regularly. I have also mentioned a few once-in-a-life-time things, but really not many. They seem to be falling into categories that have always sustained me rather than exciting things I haven't yet done.
And there are almost no want-to-buy things at all ... just the occasional one that needs to be bought or done anyway... like replacing my ugly, rusting, energy gobbling fridge. Things that I will do one of these days ... not splurges.
I don't know whether this means I am utterly lacking in imagination or simply contented.
Anyway ... I have run out of steam and ideas ... can you help?
What would you put on your bucket list ... forgetting completely whether or not it is possible?
Have fun with this!
Today I am going snowshoeing with a couple of friends and then having them for dinner later. Duck tonight. This is a test of endurance for me (not the duck - the snowshoeing ) because I have lost so much stamina since my fall. If you don't use it, you lose it ... and I can't afford to be a weakling living up here.
Have a great day.
So far, though, I have included things that are on-going like nurturing existing friendships with people I love, taking regular artist's dates away from the lake, and getting back to cross country skiing regularly. I have also mentioned a few once-in-a-life-time things, but really not many. They seem to be falling into categories that have always sustained me rather than exciting things I haven't yet done.
And there are almost no want-to-buy things at all ... just the occasional one that needs to be bought or done anyway... like replacing my ugly, rusting, energy gobbling fridge. Things that I will do one of these days ... not splurges.
I don't know whether this means I am utterly lacking in imagination or simply contented.
Anyway ... I have run out of steam and ideas ... can you help?
What would you put on your bucket list ... forgetting completely whether or not it is possible?
Have fun with this!
Today I am going snowshoeing with a couple of friends and then having them for dinner later. Duck tonight. This is a test of endurance for me (not the duck - the snowshoeing ) because I have lost so much stamina since my fall. If you don't use it, you lose it ... and I can't afford to be a weakling living up here.
Have a great day.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Privileged
About a million years ago I was told by a psychic that I would only be happy living within the sound, sight and smell of water. Shortly after that reading my partner and I began spending our winters on the island of Eleuthera within sight and sound of the Atlantic waves crashing on one shoreline and a short bike ride to the Caribbean's more placid shore. I was happy there. The psychic had been right.
But I already knew it was true because I've always sought water as a place to write or study or think.
As a child, I found that peace living on Lake Promenade in Long Branch, right across the road from Lake Ontario, our summer playground. A few years later, I would skip school in order to sit by the North West Arm in Halifax. Later still, it was Lake St. Louis, part of the St. Laurence River system, that drew me to it. Since the late seventies, Pike Lake has been my watery source of sanity and grace.
Today the rains that are flooding our area have transformed my chortling little run-off stream into a torrential rushing river that storms down from the mountain enroute to the lake. It is so noisy that I have had to close the window in order to think, so right now it sounds more like background white noise. But really ... I love the sound of tumbling water. I will take Kenya out soon so that we can visit all the little waterways that feed Pike Lake.
We will likely take the same route we took on Monday when a friend came out to walk Kenya with me. We went up to the Five Lakes Fishing Club, an elite club with restricted membership ... you know ... the kind that can blackball potential members if they don't meet their rigorous class-based expectations.
My friend said, "One day this will all be only for the privileged few."
I replied that it already was.
But he wasn't talking about Five Lakes; he meant everything up here in these hills ... Pike Lake ... his own place with its magnificent view over the Gatineau River ... the Park trails where we have access to nature (as long as we don't have our dogs with us :-)
He meant that in twenty years only the very wealthy will be able to have a stream rushing past their home, or a lakefront property that provides them with peace, or acreage so big that you cannot see your neighbour's house. We are the last generation to be able to live this way without great wealth.
And yes ... I know what a privilege that is.
But I already knew it was true because I've always sought water as a place to write or study or think.
As a child, I found that peace living on Lake Promenade in Long Branch, right across the road from Lake Ontario, our summer playground. A few years later, I would skip school in order to sit by the North West Arm in Halifax. Later still, it was Lake St. Louis, part of the St. Laurence River system, that drew me to it. Since the late seventies, Pike Lake has been my watery source of sanity and grace.
Today the rains that are flooding our area have transformed my chortling little run-off stream into a torrential rushing river that storms down from the mountain enroute to the lake. It is so noisy that I have had to close the window in order to think, so right now it sounds more like background white noise. But really ... I love the sound of tumbling water. I will take Kenya out soon so that we can visit all the little waterways that feed Pike Lake.
We will likely take the same route we took on Monday when a friend came out to walk Kenya with me. We went up to the Five Lakes Fishing Club, an elite club with restricted membership ... you know ... the kind that can blackball potential members if they don't meet their rigorous class-based expectations.
My friend said, "One day this will all be only for the privileged few."
I replied that it already was.
But he wasn't talking about Five Lakes; he meant everything up here in these hills ... Pike Lake ... his own place with its magnificent view over the Gatineau River ... the Park trails where we have access to nature (as long as we don't have our dogs with us :-)
He meant that in twenty years only the very wealthy will be able to have a stream rushing past their home, or a lakefront property that provides them with peace, or acreage so big that you cannot see your neighbour's house. We are the last generation to be able to live this way without great wealth.
And yes ... I know what a privilege that is.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Doggone it!
Well ... I am just back from the shortest hike in history and heading out for a playdate with Jack, the Golden Lab youngster visiting the lake. More details to follow.
It is noon and I am home again ... this time from a romping walk with Kenya and Sadie. Jack and his human did not turn up today.
I was supposed to go for a 2 hour hike with the Wakefield Winter Walkers. Kenya and I followed Tom over to Carmen Road where we met about 30 hardy souls and one free range Border Collie who immediately told Kenya she was not welcome. I calmed Kenya and reassured her that she was a good girl and two women told her that they were very glad she was there.
Less than five minutes later our welcome was revoked.
A man in his early sixties, an acquaintance, and someone I had had nothing but pleasant dealings with, arrived and barked, "No dogs in the park."
I probably looked a little stunned because I had asked one of the organizers about bringing Kenya. "She's on-leash," I stammered.
He continued in the same rough voice, the same angry fragments of speech, "The 15th . Narrow icy paths. "
I said, "But I was told it would be all right to bring her on this trail; that it was mainly on a wide road."
"Who told you that?" The gruffness had now escalated and hardened into a confrontational tone.
I told him, and his response was, "He didn't check with me. I'm responsible for one of the trails."
Officious little bureaucrat, I thought. But what I said was, "That's fine. I'll take her home."
I have no idea how many people were listening because he was facing the crowd behind me, but at that point he began to try to placate me, to smooth things over, to offer me an option. I could take Kenya on a different trail from the other hikers. An easier trail. Then another short angry burst. "Read the park rules."
"It's okay," I said. "I'll take her back to the lake where I can walk her off-leash with a dog she likes."
"You could take the easier trail," he repeated.
"No," I said. "Thanks. Better if I take her back home. I don't want to break any rules."
I was ticked off ... still am ... The only reason I wanted to go out with the Wednesday walking group was to try out different hiking terrain and meet like-minded people once a week. I get enough exercise walking Kenya daily. And she gets far better exercise when she is off leash and chasing sticks along Pike Lake Road, where she can dash off into the woods or take a drink from the streams or the lake, and where she has good buddies to race with. The winter group will also be skiing and snowshoeing and I do want to be involved in those walks even though it is difficult to schedule anything that does not include exercising Kenya in on Wednesdays just now because of teaching.
This was an attempt to fit everything in on a Wednesday hike when it would have been possible.
I will likely join them next week ... but I really wish my first experience with this new group had been a little less fraught with tension ... especially when Kenya's presence on the entire walk with the others would not have been a problem for anyone.
I had intended to leave her home when we were on skiis or snow shoes or when the walking trails were particularly narrow ... I am just sorry that this week we were sent home with our tails between our legs.
It is noon and I am home again ... this time from a romping walk with Kenya and Sadie. Jack and his human did not turn up today.
I was supposed to go for a 2 hour hike with the Wakefield Winter Walkers. Kenya and I followed Tom over to Carmen Road where we met about 30 hardy souls and one free range Border Collie who immediately told Kenya she was not welcome. I calmed Kenya and reassured her that she was a good girl and two women told her that they were very glad she was there.
Less than five minutes later our welcome was revoked.
A man in his early sixties, an acquaintance, and someone I had had nothing but pleasant dealings with, arrived and barked, "No dogs in the park."
I probably looked a little stunned because I had asked one of the organizers about bringing Kenya. "She's on-leash," I stammered.
He continued in the same rough voice, the same angry fragments of speech, "The 15th . Narrow icy paths. "
I said, "But I was told it would be all right to bring her on this trail; that it was mainly on a wide road."
"Who told you that?" The gruffness had now escalated and hardened into a confrontational tone.
I told him, and his response was, "He didn't check with me. I'm responsible for one of the trails."
Officious little bureaucrat, I thought. But what I said was, "That's fine. I'll take her home."
I have no idea how many people were listening because he was facing the crowd behind me, but at that point he began to try to placate me, to smooth things over, to offer me an option. I could take Kenya on a different trail from the other hikers. An easier trail. Then another short angry burst. "Read the park rules."
"It's okay," I said. "I'll take her back to the lake where I can walk her off-leash with a dog she likes."
"You could take the easier trail," he repeated.
"No," I said. "Thanks. Better if I take her back home. I don't want to break any rules."
I was ticked off ... still am ... The only reason I wanted to go out with the Wednesday walking group was to try out different hiking terrain and meet like-minded people once a week. I get enough exercise walking Kenya daily. And she gets far better exercise when she is off leash and chasing sticks along Pike Lake Road, where she can dash off into the woods or take a drink from the streams or the lake, and where she has good buddies to race with. The winter group will also be skiing and snowshoeing and I do want to be involved in those walks even though it is difficult to schedule anything that does not include exercising Kenya in on Wednesdays just now because of teaching.
This was an attempt to fit everything in on a Wednesday hike when it would have been possible.
I will likely join them next week ... but I really wish my first experience with this new group had been a little less fraught with tension ... especially when Kenya's presence on the entire walk with the others would not have been a problem for anyone.
I had intended to leave her home when we were on skiis or snow shoes or when the walking trails were particularly narrow ... I am just sorry that this week we were sent home with our tails between our legs.
Monday, 8 November 2010
Lazy Weekend
I have done everything possible to avoid writing this weekend. I hate my Nanowrimo novel attempt this year. I have decided to stop and simply write short travel pieces instead.
So, how did I manage to procrastinate this weekend?
I read a good bit of Great Maria by Cecilia Holland. It is an historical romance (all history should be written this way) about a woman who lived in France during the era of Christian knights fighting the Saracens. Maria is the focal point of the novel and is a fully realized character. We see the woman, the wife and the mother, but we also understand the time and place through her story. I found the juxtaposition of cruelty and kindness; of harshness and gentleness, of strength and weakness most striking. All the important characters are very believable partly because Holland shows how these extremes of human nature co-exist in them. The setting brings out the extremes more clearly than a modern day environment would, but of course people today are equally complex and contradictory, just more sophisticated, and therefore better able to mask their true natures.
On Saturday I had the underside of my car oiled. I was delighted to learn that despite the filthiness of the vehicle, the old girl is still pretty rust-free. Next summer Denis will do a thorough cleaning ... steam and shampoo ... before oiling.
I took Kenya for a long walk while the job was being done. Hadn't been to that area for a long time. Lots of memories of walking dogs and kids there.
Kenya and I walked here daily, but the walks have not been as energetic as they usually are, because I have been forced to keep her leashed. When hunting season ends next weekend, it will be a relief for all of us ... the dogs which must be restricted, the humans who don't dare walk in the woods, and the deer which are constantly being harried.
I unpacked the pieces of a Muskoka chair kit and then wondered whether I really wanted to attempt putting it together or whether I should paint it first. After checking with a friend who will likely do the actual construction for me, I decided to paint the pieces.. That is how I will avoid writing next week! It will be good to get back to painting furniture again.
And I watched three movies ...
On Friday it was Coming Home (the sexiest movie I have ever seen ... one steamy scene in the 2 hours and 19 minutes ... and that between Jon Voight, a man who returned from Vietnam dead from the waist down and the woman he loved played by Jane Fonda..) The other two hours were filled with compassion, empathy, love and laughter.
On Saturday, I watched The Young Victoria, a very different love story.
Tonight I watched The Queen, a portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II at the time of Diana's death. The contrast between Elizabeth and Victoria was remarkable. Elizabeth was about my age and had been reigning since she was not much older than the young Victoria.. Both women were vulnerable, but Victoria had yet to learn to hide her vulnerability beneath an iron exterior. Both were bound by the restrictions of rank. Both had prince consorts, but, oh how much more human and humane Albert was than Philip. Many of the differences between the two women were the result of the times and circumstances, I suppose, but also of the disparity in their ages. Elizabeth had carried her burden most of her life and her character had been fashioned by her responsibilities and disappointments, whereas Victoria had still to experience life and loss.
I also tidied up my catalogue of films and the actual shelves where they are kept.
And I played a bit with the format of this blog.
I moved the feeders around and established a little centre for the squirrels where I placed pecans. When I looked out later, the nuthatches, chickadees, and sparrows were darting from the woods to the line and the feeders. Two grey squirrels and a red squirrel were scrounging around on the ground cleaning up the mess left earlier. And the table was alive with blue jays. The nuts had disappeared.
A weekend filled to the brim with the mundane but at least I have extricated myself from a thirty day time waster which was giving me no pleasure or satisfaction at all.
So, how did I manage to procrastinate this weekend?
I read a good bit of Great Maria by Cecilia Holland. It is an historical romance (all history should be written this way) about a woman who lived in France during the era of Christian knights fighting the Saracens. Maria is the focal point of the novel and is a fully realized character. We see the woman, the wife and the mother, but we also understand the time and place through her story. I found the juxtaposition of cruelty and kindness; of harshness and gentleness, of strength and weakness most striking. All the important characters are very believable partly because Holland shows how these extremes of human nature co-exist in them. The setting brings out the extremes more clearly than a modern day environment would, but of course people today are equally complex and contradictory, just more sophisticated, and therefore better able to mask their true natures.
On Saturday I had the underside of my car oiled. I was delighted to learn that despite the filthiness of the vehicle, the old girl is still pretty rust-free. Next summer Denis will do a thorough cleaning ... steam and shampoo ... before oiling.
I took Kenya for a long walk while the job was being done. Hadn't been to that area for a long time. Lots of memories of walking dogs and kids there.
Kenya and I walked here daily, but the walks have not been as energetic as they usually are, because I have been forced to keep her leashed. When hunting season ends next weekend, it will be a relief for all of us ... the dogs which must be restricted, the humans who don't dare walk in the woods, and the deer which are constantly being harried.
I unpacked the pieces of a Muskoka chair kit and then wondered whether I really wanted to attempt putting it together or whether I should paint it first. After checking with a friend who will likely do the actual construction for me, I decided to paint the pieces.. That is how I will avoid writing next week! It will be good to get back to painting furniture again.
And I watched three movies ...
On Friday it was Coming Home (the sexiest movie I have ever seen ... one steamy scene in the 2 hours and 19 minutes ... and that between Jon Voight, a man who returned from Vietnam dead from the waist down and the woman he loved played by Jane Fonda..) The other two hours were filled with compassion, empathy, love and laughter.
On Saturday, I watched The Young Victoria, a very different love story.
Tonight I watched The Queen, a portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II at the time of Diana's death. The contrast between Elizabeth and Victoria was remarkable. Elizabeth was about my age and had been reigning since she was not much older than the young Victoria.. Both women were vulnerable, but Victoria had yet to learn to hide her vulnerability beneath an iron exterior. Both were bound by the restrictions of rank. Both had prince consorts, but, oh how much more human and humane Albert was than Philip. Many of the differences between the two women were the result of the times and circumstances, I suppose, but also of the disparity in their ages. Elizabeth had carried her burden most of her life and her character had been fashioned by her responsibilities and disappointments, whereas Victoria had still to experience life and loss.
I also tidied up my catalogue of films and the actual shelves where they are kept.
And I played a bit with the format of this blog.
I moved the feeders around and established a little centre for the squirrels where I placed pecans. When I looked out later, the nuthatches, chickadees, and sparrows were darting from the woods to the line and the feeders. Two grey squirrels and a red squirrel were scrounging around on the ground cleaning up the mess left earlier. And the table was alive with blue jays. The nuts had disappeared.
A weekend filled to the brim with the mundane but at least I have extricated myself from a thirty day time waster which was giving me no pleasure or satisfaction at all.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Waking up over tea and email on a Saturday morning ...
Coutresy of CBC News
Edmonton police guilty in 'sweatbox' case Two Edmonton police officers were found guilty Friday of insubordination and discreditable conduct in the so-called 'sweatbox' incident, where police rounded up homeless people in a police van to dump them on the other side of the city.
Flesh-eating disease alert for Calgary's homeless Calgary homeless shelters are being told to be on the lookout for anyone with symptoms of flesh-eating disease after two cases surfaced.
Sure wouldn't want to be poor in Alberta!
Kenya chases the squirrels as requested ... but now that I have foiled their attempts to get all the food, and, in the process, destroy the feeders as they leap onto them from chairs and tables, I am feeling sorry for them ... especially for the soft grey one that reminds me of Bambi, the only grey squirrel we fostered. He comes up and knocks on the window pane ... driving Kenya mad and touching my heart.
Do you get these spam emails with just a few words in the heading? I like finding them there, especially when my strange brain makes connections among the words. Today I wrote a silly poem using three that arrived in the night.
WORDS THAT COME IN THE NIGHT
a bunch of e's and an f
exuberant erected estranged
all arrived last night
I thought
what about ...
excited evaluated elusive
and later
empathetic enchanted engaged
but surely not ...
enigmatic evasive enslaved
or ...
edgy expendable ejected
maybe ...
enticing electric emotional
definitely don't want to be left ...
empty embittered exploited
or for you to be ...
extraneous extinguished ephermeral
just want us to find something ...
enduring eternal
and most of all ...
fun
And now I really have to get on with the serious business of living my life. There is tidying to be done, a Nanowrimo novel writing session to get through (god it is awful this year), and bird seed to be allocated ... and yes ... peanuts to be strewn.This afternoon I will get my car oiled for winter and then protest the possible loss of the Wakefield spring. In the middle of the night (I have insomnia) I brought in a Muskoka chair kit I bought three years ago ... it needs some loving paint strokes and then I will assemble it ... or maybe enlist the help of a friend.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
Edmonton police guilty in 'sweatbox' case Two Edmonton police officers were found guilty Friday of insubordination and discreditable conduct in the so-called 'sweatbox' incident, where police rounded up homeless people in a police van to dump them on the other side of the city.
Flesh-eating disease alert for Calgary's homeless Calgary homeless shelters are being told to be on the lookout for anyone with symptoms of flesh-eating disease after two cases surfaced.
Sure wouldn't want to be poor in Alberta!
Kenya chases the squirrels as requested ... but now that I have foiled their attempts to get all the food, and, in the process, destroy the feeders as they leap onto them from chairs and tables, I am feeling sorry for them ... especially for the soft grey one that reminds me of Bambi, the only grey squirrel we fostered. He comes up and knocks on the window pane ... driving Kenya mad and touching my heart.
Do you get these spam emails with just a few words in the heading? I like finding them there, especially when my strange brain makes connections among the words. Today I wrote a silly poem using three that arrived in the night.
WORDS THAT COME IN THE NIGHT
a bunch of e's and an f
exuberant erected estranged
all arrived last night
I thought
what about ...
excited evaluated elusive
and later
empathetic enchanted engaged
but surely not ...
enigmatic evasive enslaved
or ...
edgy expendable ejected
maybe ...
enticing electric emotional
definitely don't want to be left ...
empty embittered exploited
or for you to be ...
extraneous extinguished ephermeral
just want us to find something ...
enduring eternal
and most of all ...
fun
And now I really have to get on with the serious business of living my life. There is tidying to be done, a Nanowrimo novel writing session to get through (god it is awful this year), and bird seed to be allocated ... and yes ... peanuts to be strewn.This afternoon I will get my car oiled for winter and then protest the possible loss of the Wakefield spring. In the middle of the night (I have insomnia) I brought in a Muskoka chair kit I bought three years ago ... it needs some loving paint strokes and then I will assemble it ... or maybe enlist the help of a friend.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Nimble
Nimble: such an old fashioned word, but exactly right in certain contexts ...
In an interview with CBC this morning, a political scientist used the word nimble. It was in the context of the US constitution having been designed to create gridlock, a situation that forces hot headed political opponents to slow down, discuss, and reach compromises. He was saying that this might not be such a good thing in today's world of instant communication, a world in which swift decisions are being made by impatient up-and-coming nations like India, China and Brazil. Our world, the one that always waited for the US behemoth before acting, is changing. The US president and his Democrats, now that conservative forces have so successfully changed the political scene, may not be nimble enough to make decisions quickly.
In the seventies when I was in university I needed to see something from a personal point of view in order to understand the bigger picture. I needed to imagine how a law would affect me. I needed to empathize. It is hard to do that when you are talking about whole nations, about numbers. It is the reason that I made the decision to do my degree in English instead of political science, even though I loved both.
Now I find myself moving in the opposite direction: starting from the concept of a country and going from that to my own small reality. I too am often immobilized by gridlock. Sometimes I feel as if I no longer govern my life. Like the US constitution, my mind is no longer nimble enough to make snap decisions. And I too live in a world where things move far too quickly.
I don't like being battered by several demands for my attention.
When I write I do so in silence.
I find too many simultaneous images distracting. My limit is movie sub-titles and it is hard to knit even then. If I owned a television I would likely mask the bottom part of the screen so that I would not be distracted by those coloured headlines that scroll beneath the news reportage and film coverage.
I find many websites truly annoying because it is impossible to concentrate my attention.
I am saved from Facebook and Twitter by being forced geographically to endure a dial-up connection.
Our whole world seems to have speeded up and left me behind.
And you know what ... I don't think it is an improvement over the slower pace that used to prevail.
Is it really that important to hear something immediately?
Do we need instantaneous reactions or could we wait for thoughtful coverage of world events?
Do teenagers really need to be so connected that they cannot ignore a cell phone or a text message while driving?
I once saw a young Toronto woman answer her calls during a VSO interview day. Not only was it inconsiderate because VSO works with whole groups of candidates on these days, but it definitely worked against her. How could someone so dependent on instant communication manage two years of living and working in the low tech world inhabited by VSO volunteers?
And maybe that's part of my discomfort. Not only do I feel that we need time to reflect in order to make sound decisions and to be healthy human beings, but I think that many people who have no technical know-how at all, just plain, common sense, practical knowledge, are living fuller lives than those of us who are more connected. They don't spend a third of their lives in front of a small screen. They are the people who will survive in a disaster because they know how to live with very little. They are the people who can manage without electricity and computers. They can make fires, build shelters, grow and find food ... and write with pens to record the experiences.
They are the people who will create communities because they already know how to interact with real people in real time in real places.
And maybe all this is simply the foolish rambling of a seventy year old woman who has chosen a much slower life style and who complains but really prefers the speed of dial-up, the challenges of power outages and the enforced isolation of snow blocked roads. Maybe it is simply the squeaking of an old.country mouse who who lives more reflectively now that she is less nimble.
Jack, be nimble ... Jack, be quick. Jack, jump over the candle stick!
What is the effect on you when you recite this?
It makes me jumpy, unable to concentrate.
It makes me jumpy, unable to concentrate.
In an interview with CBC this morning, a political scientist used the word nimble. It was in the context of the US constitution having been designed to create gridlock, a situation that forces hot headed political opponents to slow down, discuss, and reach compromises. He was saying that this might not be such a good thing in today's world of instant communication, a world in which swift decisions are being made by impatient up-and-coming nations like India, China and Brazil. Our world, the one that always waited for the US behemoth before acting, is changing. The US president and his Democrats, now that conservative forces have so successfully changed the political scene, may not be nimble enough to make decisions quickly.
In the seventies when I was in university I needed to see something from a personal point of view in order to understand the bigger picture. I needed to imagine how a law would affect me. I needed to empathize. It is hard to do that when you are talking about whole nations, about numbers. It is the reason that I made the decision to do my degree in English instead of political science, even though I loved both.
Now I find myself moving in the opposite direction: starting from the concept of a country and going from that to my own small reality. I too am often immobilized by gridlock. Sometimes I feel as if I no longer govern my life. Like the US constitution, my mind is no longer nimble enough to make snap decisions. And I too live in a world where things move far too quickly.
I don't like being battered by several demands for my attention.
When I write I do so in silence.
I find too many simultaneous images distracting. My limit is movie sub-titles and it is hard to knit even then. If I owned a television I would likely mask the bottom part of the screen so that I would not be distracted by those coloured headlines that scroll beneath the news reportage and film coverage.
I find many websites truly annoying because it is impossible to concentrate my attention.
I am saved from Facebook and Twitter by being forced geographically to endure a dial-up connection.
Our whole world seems to have speeded up and left me behind.
And you know what ... I don't think it is an improvement over the slower pace that used to prevail.
Is it really that important to hear something immediately?
Do we need instantaneous reactions or could we wait for thoughtful coverage of world events?
Do teenagers really need to be so connected that they cannot ignore a cell phone or a text message while driving?
I once saw a young Toronto woman answer her calls during a VSO interview day. Not only was it inconsiderate because VSO works with whole groups of candidates on these days, but it definitely worked against her. How could someone so dependent on instant communication manage two years of living and working in the low tech world inhabited by VSO volunteers?
And maybe that's part of my discomfort. Not only do I feel that we need time to reflect in order to make sound decisions and to be healthy human beings, but I think that many people who have no technical know-how at all, just plain, common sense, practical knowledge, are living fuller lives than those of us who are more connected. They don't spend a third of their lives in front of a small screen. They are the people who will survive in a disaster because they know how to live with very little. They are the people who can manage without electricity and computers. They can make fires, build shelters, grow and find food ... and write with pens to record the experiences.
They are the people who will create communities because they already know how to interact with real people in real time in real places.
And maybe all this is simply the foolish rambling of a seventy year old woman who has chosen a much slower life style and who complains but really prefers the speed of dial-up, the challenges of power outages and the enforced isolation of snow blocked roads. Maybe it is simply the squeaking of an old.country mouse who who lives more reflectively now that she is less nimble.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
New Beginnings
I could also have called this post "Life After Teaching:".
In 1997 I discovered that there was a wonderful life awaiting me ... one that centred on enjoyment without deadlines, reports or marking loads ... I retired. Oh ... I kept on being active. In fact I kept on teaching ... but in places like Jordan, Mongolia and Kenya. It was also the era of discovering just how much enjoyment could be derived from things that cost little or nothing ... writing ... rollerblading ... kayaking.
Then came the big change ... an end to a life filled with travel and volunteering opportunities ... a beginning to a life with a puppy ... a life that occasioned the building of this house with all its related problems ... a life that demanded money, often more than I had.
This past June I re-entered the work force almost full time and discovered during those five months that I still loved teaching ... and this time really enjoyed the students ... all older international travelers who were interesting people. But I also realized again ... or was reminded of the fact ... that life in the work force robs you of time and energy ... and at 70 both of those are in short supply. Anything that is in short supply is far too valuable to be traded for money. And besides, my house is comfortable now and so I can live on what I have without having to make more.
I have decided to limit my teaching from now on ... Enough to give me the pleasure. Not enough to deprive me of my daily walks with Kenya, my leisurely mornings at the computer, my relatively clean house, my attempts at art and writing ... but most of all, I am reclaiming the freedom to get up in the morning with a blank calendar page to fill in all kinds of pleasurable ways.
I am rearranging my life starting today.
And the first things on my calendar are a dinner party at Erin's this evening, two weeks with a new friend to just have fun and get things done around here to prepare for winter , (we are planning to carve pumpkins) ....and a travel writing workshop with two friends and six other people.
And you never know what will emerge from an artist's date, time to develop a little boredom, days spent with new folks, or stirring up your intellectual curiosity, do you? Perhaps the next phase of my life will be very different from the last one. Or maybe it will simply be the last happy one spiced up a little ...
In 1997 I discovered that there was a wonderful life awaiting me ... one that centred on enjoyment without deadlines, reports or marking loads ... I retired. Oh ... I kept on being active. In fact I kept on teaching ... but in places like Jordan, Mongolia and Kenya. It was also the era of discovering just how much enjoyment could be derived from things that cost little or nothing ... writing ... rollerblading ... kayaking.
Then came the big change ... an end to a life filled with travel and volunteering opportunities ... a beginning to a life with a puppy ... a life that occasioned the building of this house with all its related problems ... a life that demanded money, often more than I had.
This past June I re-entered the work force almost full time and discovered during those five months that I still loved teaching ... and this time really enjoyed the students ... all older international travelers who were interesting people. But I also realized again ... or was reminded of the fact ... that life in the work force robs you of time and energy ... and at 70 both of those are in short supply. Anything that is in short supply is far too valuable to be traded for money. And besides, my house is comfortable now and so I can live on what I have without having to make more.
I have decided to limit my teaching from now on ... Enough to give me the pleasure. Not enough to deprive me of my daily walks with Kenya, my leisurely mornings at the computer, my relatively clean house, my attempts at art and writing ... but most of all, I am reclaiming the freedom to get up in the morning with a blank calendar page to fill in all kinds of pleasurable ways.
I am rearranging my life starting today.
And the first things on my calendar are a dinner party at Erin's this evening, two weeks with a new friend to just have fun and get things done around here to prepare for winter , (we are planning to carve pumpkins) ....and a travel writing workshop with two friends and six other people.
And you never know what will emerge from an artist's date, time to develop a little boredom, days spent with new folks, or stirring up your intellectual curiosity, do you? Perhaps the next phase of my life will be very different from the last one. Or maybe it will simply be the last happy one spiced up a little ...
Thursday, 7 October 2010
BJ, the Good News Bear
Yesterday I saw Lily's pre- and post- arrival photos ... sweet with a masses of hair ... exhausted happy mom, grandma and "auntie" ... delighted dad ... and smiling grandpa ... Lily has entered a loving family circle.
I stopped taking my Vitamin D and am beginning to regain my energy ... had the second test yesterday ... will get the results next week ... it seems you can't believe anything you read about how to keep healthy these days. I had read that 2000 units of Vitamin D was a healthy level to take daily ... everyone from the cancer society to the osteopaths were recommending it ... so I got my dosage up to 1800 ... and may have freaked out my calcium.
I really am beginning to think it is better to simply eat properly, exercise, keep your weight reasonable and keep dogs if you want to stay healthy. Then throw in a little human companionship, intellectual stimuli, and a garden ... and you have paradise. I hope that my doctor concurs when she gets the test results!
Olive and Chelsea arrived this morning and will be with us for five days. Olive is staying outside till she is sure of her new surroundings, person and dog. Chelsea is inside sharing an uneasy truce with Kenya. You may remember that Chelsea is the very old lumpy English Lab who is an incorrigible food thief and is on medication for tremors. They are both nice girls and in a few minutes I will speed up the adjustment process by taking them all for a long walk.
Then I will make a pot of chili con carne using local beef, my own tomato sauce and other stuff from the garden ... my own and that of local farmers.
I am going to take a break from teaching after Helmut and Ottilia leave, entertain a friend and fellow writer for a week or so, and take a travel writing course during that time. I plan to relax and live a healthy stress-free life for a while. I want get back in the habit of sleeping at night, playing during the day, and working when necessary. Maybe get some of the outstanding chores accomplished. Maybe start writing and painting again.
And now I am off to dress and walk puppies. Enjoy your day.
I stopped taking my Vitamin D and am beginning to regain my energy ... had the second test yesterday ... will get the results next week ... it seems you can't believe anything you read about how to keep healthy these days. I had read that 2000 units of Vitamin D was a healthy level to take daily ... everyone from the cancer society to the osteopaths were recommending it ... so I got my dosage up to 1800 ... and may have freaked out my calcium.
I really am beginning to think it is better to simply eat properly, exercise, keep your weight reasonable and keep dogs if you want to stay healthy. Then throw in a little human companionship, intellectual stimuli, and a garden ... and you have paradise. I hope that my doctor concurs when she gets the test results!
Olive and Chelsea arrived this morning and will be with us for five days. Olive is staying outside till she is sure of her new surroundings, person and dog. Chelsea is inside sharing an uneasy truce with Kenya. You may remember that Chelsea is the very old lumpy English Lab who is an incorrigible food thief and is on medication for tremors. They are both nice girls and in a few minutes I will speed up the adjustment process by taking them all for a long walk.
Then I will make a pot of chili con carne using local beef, my own tomato sauce and other stuff from the garden ... my own and that of local farmers.
I am going to take a break from teaching after Helmut and Ottilia leave, entertain a friend and fellow writer for a week or so, and take a travel writing course during that time. I plan to relax and live a healthy stress-free life for a while. I want get back in the habit of sleeping at night, playing during the day, and working when necessary. Maybe get some of the outstanding chores accomplished. Maybe start writing and painting again.
And now I am off to dress and walk puppies. Enjoy your day.
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