A month ago we were returning from the west coast, after helping our son Harrison move into his new place. Harrison is starting his fifth year living in Victoria, the capital city of our Province. He’s been enrolled in the University of Victoria’s Gustavson business school. This is a coop program, where you study academically at the University, but then have the opportunity to work for several companies throughout the program to enhance your education. This fall, Harrison secured a wonderful opportunity to work for a large investment company, located in Toronto (he’s working in Victoria, on line due to the pandemic) and next Spring, if all goes well, he will complete his degree.
He’s been doing exceptionally well and has even garnered some scholarship money. The only downside to attending the University of Victoria has been the housing situation. It’s never been great for students, as the University only has enough housing for first year students and this year the demand was so great that they couldn’t even accommodate those request. It’s not like we were ignorant of this fact, since our older children, Alyssa and Mitchell both completed their degrees at U Vic, but you know, you always hope that something will be found.
The first year Harrison lived on campus but by the second year, since U Vic doesn’t have adequate housing, he had to secure something off campus. Fortunately, Harrison made some great friends and he and three other guys rented a house together, where they lived for year two and three. Then in year four, wanting a change, he and his two other roommates, rented a trendy 3 bedroom apartment in the Uptown area of Victoria. That worked well last year but his roommates, both business students, are spending their last year of school learning abroad, so Harrison had to find something else. By this time however, he was really ready to find his own place. Easier said than done, since demand was out weighing inventory and this blew the roof off rental prices. Well, all real estate for that matter!
Victoria is one of the nicest places to live in Canada….this is a picture of the inner harbour
It was literally down to the wire and we were telling Harrison that he could always come home for the fall, since he was working on line anyway, but then he found a place. A perfect place. The fact that the real estate agent hired to rent the suite, had also attended U Vic’s business school, might have swayed things his way as he secured it quickly. It’s always good to have mutual connections!
Harrison’s new, 400 something square foot, one bedroom condo suite is located in a styling building on the edge of downtown Victoria; walking distance to the famous inner harbour and has all the amenities that living in the city brings.
That cool urban lifestyle is attractive in so many ways.
Harrison’s new place to hang his hat, has a unique look
When we agreed to help Harrison move out of his apartment and into his new place, I thought it was going to be two busy days but Harrison had been busy selling unwanted items and decluttering with a vengeance. It’s not that he had tons of things. In fact the fact that he didn’t, made it a lot easier. as he could pick up each item, down to individual math books for instance and say, “do I need this? do I want it?” and then find a home for it. He had also rented a van and started packing some things in it before we arrived on August 30th.
Will, Kate, Tori and David….no whales on our trip over but it’s always fun going through the Active pass and looking at Ocean side cabinsThere is something so restorative about being on the ferry to Vancouver Island…always an adventure!
We arrived late afternoon on August 30th, and with the help of our three youngest kids, Will, Kate and Tori, we were able to move Harry out of his apartment and fully pack his van in a matter of hours. Easy, peasy! We were able to pick up dinner and have a lovely evening back in our hotel room. He was officially out of his apartment and everything he owned was in the van or in the back of our mini van. It was a breeze.
The next morning, August 31st, we were up early. Harrison and his Dad went off on several errands; Harrison had to meet with his previous landlord to hand over the keys and have the final walk through of his old place. He had to pick up the keys for his new condo’s elevator, so we could have it exclusively the next morning for his move. Later in the day, he finally got to see his new condo, while picking up the keys from the real estate agent. Up to that point, he had only seen pictures of his place but both he and his Dad were thrilled seeing it for the first time and they returned to the hotel later that day with many stories. The kids and I had stayed in our hotel for most of the day. I took them swimming in the poo,l which we had reserved for our own use, we had read, played games and snacked a bunch.
We had the pool all to ourselves while Harrison and David accomplished moving errands
When David and Harrison returned, we went to do some shopping, (new bedding etc) and to pick up dinner. We did get to bed early though, as we knew the next day would be busy.
We got up early the next morning and put on our running shoes, ready for the big move. Harrison had the elevator and parking spot reserved from 9 to 1 pm and I thought we would really have to hustle to get everything in during those hours. Between the five of us however, we were able to move him into his place in 45 minutes. I kid you not!!! We packed that elevator maybe three, at the outset, four times and were easily up and into his apartment with all of his belongings in NO TIME. The kids were a big help! Once everything was in the suite, David and Harrison put his bed together and the kids and I unpacked all the kitchen items, washed them, and placed them in the perfectly tiny and well appointed kitchen.
By noon, the kitchen was all set up. David and Harrison went out on a few errands; to return the elevator key, and the moving van, etc and the kids and I remained. The only hitch was that the new white sheet set we had bought from Homesense the day before, only had 1 flat sheet it it. Where was the fitted sheet and pillow cases that were supposedly inside? No problem though, as we had a number of things to still obtain and we would return it and find another set, garbage can and cutlery container, to name a few other helpful items to make things feel homier.
This picture is from the advertisement of the building and while it isn’t Harrison’s bathroom configuration….it has the same colours and finishes…small but chic! I loved the flooring which you can’t see here but it’s black and white.
While Harrison and David were gone, I made up his bed with the bedding we had, and the kids being so exhausted, actually all laid down in a row on his bed and fell asleep on the cozy duvet. I was shocked at how fast they all dropped into a deep slumber but the place was so restful that even I wanted to just lay down and dream. I didn’t though. I unpacked a few more boxes and moved the furniture around into a better configuration. Not that Harrison had much, but having less makes it more fun. (Harrison’s girlfriend Dani, had lent him a few pieces that fit in beautifully with the decor of the place…she has incredible taste) When David and Harrison returned a few hours later everything was in place. Other than a few Rubbermaid boxes, which I stacked in the hall, there really was nothing else to do. He could literally just start to live.
…except we needed food.
I couldn’t resist putting baby bear in the middle of the pillows when I found him in one of Harrison’s boxes. He’s had him for 22 years now!
With the thought of food, the little kids woke up and we took off again. We had lunch in the van as we drove to Costco, and then we had a delightful time shopping for food to fill Harrison’s fridge. After living with roommates for several years this was the nicest part for Harrison, as the whole fridge and freezer would be his alone and he could fill it with all the food he wanted. It made me so happy too! In the picture below, his fridge is behind the wall to Harrison’s right and the stacking washing machine and dryer are in the cabinet to his left.
Harrison and David on move in day…..almost everything is unpacked! The ceilings are super high and the feel is an urban loft with exposed pipes etc….the hall wall is concrete. The floors are a dark distressed wood….easy to clean!Harrison’s first moment to sit in his new digsThe moving crew
Once we returned and filled his fridge and freezer, we took off again for a delightful walk to Victoria’s historic inner harbour. We soaked up the downtown life; watching people, window shopping, and taking in all the sights of Harrison’s new neighbourhood. As the day’s curtain slowly closed, the evening breeze gently flowed in from the ocean. We ended our walk at one of our favourite places to eat in Victoria, “Tacofino.” We ordered up our chosen taco’s and ate them right on the street. On our walk back to Harry’s place I was thinking, “what a cool, hip place to live.” It suits Harrison perfectly.
Will, David, Tori and Kate in front of the infamous Empress Hotel in Victoria’s inner harbour The sun set as we were down at the inner harbour on this Sept 1st, 2021….it was an exciting and fun day
Returning to Harrison’s building, we all hugged and took a few more pictures, then it was time for us to say goodbye and return to our hotel for our final night’s stay in Victoria. It was the easiest and most fun move I’ve ever experienced. Since then, we have spoken to Harrison many times and each time he marvels over the joy he feels in his new place. While it’s nice to live with other people, there is something to be said for having a place all your own. It’s a place where you can really relax and be at peace.
Harrison has found that in his tiny place.
Well dear blogging friends, family and blog readers, I will close for now as I’m off to bed. It’s late here and as per usual, the only time I feel like I can write is when the house is quiet. I hope this post was somewhat coherent as a result, ha! I’m glad to have shared Harrison’s move with you. While we may not have a small footprint of our own, we can always carefully edit our belongings and surround ourselves with only things we love and use. We can all have a place of peace to call our own.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Welcome friends, family and blog readers. With National Truth and Reconciliation day happening tomorrow, I thought I would write a piece for my blog. At Hope’s homestead I’m not just wanting to chat about the environment and becoming more sustainable, or even sharing one of our family’s latest recipes, lately I’m finding this blog is evolving beyond just those topics.
Today I wanted to share a piece of my heart and something my family is feeling strongly about in the event of the discovery of the 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School last May. Since then, there have been even more at other schools across Canada. I hope you are feeling as outraged as I am and my story resonates with you. Come walk the path with me towards Truth and Reconciliation
~Blessings from Lee~aka Hope
The Path
Even though it was just after nine in the morning and our campsite was surrounded by the cooling forest, I knew the day was going to be another scorcher. On our first day at the Mabel Lake Provincial campground, after setting up our tents, we jumped in the frigid mountain lake and were refreshingly restored. In all the years we’ve been coming here, never have we swam in this lake so early in the season. Then half way through the week, another first, a campfire ban was declared. Temperatures were racing well over 35 Celsius. making the threat of forest fires imminent.
On this July 1st, 2021, I was stirring the bubbling oatmeal over the cook stove when my twelve year old son William opened the tent flap and emerged with porcupine like hair and a pillow creased face. He plunked down into one of the black, folding chairs, circling the empty firepit and asked, “what’s for breakfast?”
“How about some cinnamon spiced oatmeal?” I asked and then added, “or can you make some toast with jam and peanut butter.” “I’ll start with the oatmeal,” replied Will, as he dug around in our camp kitchen box, looking for his turquoise bowl and spoon.
As Will hungrily ate his oatmeal I pulled out our large Canada flag and some rope. I strung it from one fir tree to another at the back of our campsite. “I thought you weren’t going to put up the flag this year mom,” he said. I stood back appreciating the placement of the flag, admiring the bright red maple leaf amongst the deep green of the trees. I remembered the conversation we had had after the 215 unmarked graves had been discovered at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School a month back. I had been so sad and then so flipping angry that I went on a bit of a rampage in our kitchen, the day we heard the news. The day I questioned the country I called home.
That day a discussion ensued around our kitchen table. Our ten year old twin daughters were sitting on the window seat and Will and his older sister Grace were in their respective seats. My husband David came quietly into the kitchen, his eyes opening wide as he questioned what I was so upset about. As we started to eat I shared the story I had just heard on the National News and everyone listened intently.
Kamloops Indian Residential School where the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves in May 2021
We had home-schooled the kids for the first year of the pandemic and I had encouraged them to learn the history of Canada’s indigenous people. It worked into the curriculum beautifully as we were studying the European explorers who had come to Canada. To get to the truth of the matter though we had to dig deep and reflect on that time in history to discover the ugly fact that settlers invaded this Country and basically took the land from the Aboriginal people. Will was learning about the various levels of Government and how Canada was established. Our Indigenous people’s history was woven throughout these stories but we were always questioning the truth and trying to understand the climate at various times throughout history.
When the news of the discovered unmarked graves in Kamloops was broadcast, it was one more story layered over what my children were learning. At the dinner table that evening, our daughter Grace shared her remembered experience while touring that school, a few years earlier. She said it felt like a tragically sad place that was deeply haunted. It was a field trip that taught her more than any reading on the subject could do, since she was there feeling the heavy energy at the site. Why hadn’t I been taught this 40 years before when I was in school? I knew why, because I was living in the thick of society’s darkest secrets and our Country wanted to bury the truth so they didn’t have to be accountable. Even my own family was burying something.
All these things poured, like a raging river over my mind’s jagged thoughts. Scant memories about my great grandmother, Mary Caroline Ling, also flooded in. She had been my maternal Grandfather’s mom; a First Nations woman. Our family’s skeleton in the closet if you will. An ancestor that was not talked about. I knew so little about her, except she was the second wife to Charles Herrling, and they had had two children together; August (my grandfather) and his brother, Joseph. Charles Herrling had emigrated from Austria and settled on the Island near Hope, which today carries his name, and is called, “Herrling’s Island.” I don’t recall any stories of Mary Caroline, but the impression my mom gave me of her dad, was that he was a man of few words. A picture I have of him shows a man with glistening dark hair and shining eyes. But what of his mother, Mary Caroline? I may never know, as my family seemed to gladly bury her memory.
August Victor Herrling (January 10, 1882- August 1946)` My maternal Grandfather (He died after being kicked by a horse but my older sister B says that it wasn’t an immediate death but he apparently lingered for a bit but finally succumbed to his injuries…probably brain injury)
I was thinking about all these things when Will asked me why I was hanging up the flag. I sat with a sigh on one of the folding chairs and looked at Will. “You know I have mixed emotions about Canada day this year. It’s not a simple thing. I love our country. I used to be proud to be Canadian but it’s hard to be proud of a country formed on stolen land and I can’t imagine how I would feel if society said I wasn’t fit to raise my children, and took you all away from me. What if I never saw you again?”
Will had stuck some bread to his marshmallow roasting stick and was toasting it over the propane stove while solemnly listening to my thoughts. Then he said, “I want to camp every July 1st ‘cause being in the forest and at the lake is the best. I like paddling in my kayak. I like learning to fish, even if I never catch anything. Even making toast on a stick makes me happy. “
Above…Will (12 years old)on his kayak, learning to fish. July 2021
Victoria and Kathryn in Mable Lake during our camping week…notice the Canada Flag floatie that Will received for his birthday in JuneVictoria, Will and Kate on their bikes during our camping week at Mable Lake, the first week of July 2021
“Yeah,” I said, and smiled at how the simplest things make us happy and wondered why we always want more. It was time to give back the land and long past time to apologize for missing children, lives destroyed, lost languages and culture.
But what could I do?
Just then we heard a siren and with that piercing sound my twin daughters excitedly popped out from their tent. We all ran to stand at the entrance to our campsite and looked up and down the road, trying to see where the noise was coming from. Around the bend in the road we spied the Green Fish and Game truck coming towards us at a snail’s pace. It’s lights were flashing and it’s siren was blaring. What the heck I thought! Then as it got closer it dawned on me that we were about to see a parade.
Here we were far from the city and people still came together to remember this Canada day. Riding behind the truck, were kids of all ages on their bikes or scooters decorated with red and white balloons. Canada flag stickers were pressed on their sweaty cheeks, people with dogs, bouncing along on leashes bedecked with red and white ribbons, smiled and waved their tiny Canada flags. Parents pulled little kids in decorated wagons or pushed them in strollers. Everyone was singing our country’s National anthem. “Oh Canada,” At the end of the parade was the camp attendant’s golf cart. On the back of the cart was a large sheet cake and the attendants were busy cutting and passing out cake to the campers along the parade route. My kids were were jumping up and down once they saw the cake.
Moments later, we all sat around our fireless pit, eating the yummy cake. All was quiet once again, only the crows were cawing as they looked down at my kids’ faces, smeared with white icing. I was thinking, “that was nice.” Maybe being part of a larger community of people who are working together to make Canada a good place for everyone to live is the beginning towards Truth and Reconciliation.
Any path with cake is a good place to start.
The End
Thank you for reading the above story which I wrote in honour of our first National Truth and Reconciliation day tomorrow. As I was writing, I was wondering what I could do next and I found this helpful link. If you want to join me on the path where we can make a difference, click on the link below to learn more.
Come out of the cold and sit by the fire. I’ll pour us a cup of tea. It’s been awhile since I’ve been here too, but as the year draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the past and to tell a story. The story I want to tell is about connecting to those we love, even though they may not be physically present. I hope it warms your heart. If you make it to the end, there is a musical treat for you, provided by my three youngest children.
Are you ready? Okay, sit back and here’s my 2020 holiday story.
Snow Mom
“My mom loved Christmas. She grew up during the depression years with four brothers and a little sister. In those days, getting a few nuts and maybe an orange in your Christmas stocking was a luxury. That time of scarcity left a deep impression on her and her relationship with earthly stuff. I was a young child in the 60’s and early 70’s, a time of endless possibilities; with moon landings, civil rights and women’s lib making great strides through our society, and yet it was a time of lack for my family.
My father drove an Esso oil truck for a living and struggled to provide for our family of six. When it came to Christmas, my parents had to get creative. My mom would save pennies throughout the year and fill our stocking with a few inexpensive toys and candy she had purchased from Woolworth’s, $1.49 day sales. Also, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, long after we were tucked into bed, her sewing machine rattled away, turning old clothes into something new again. One Christmas, she made my sisters and I red, felt skirts, which made us feel so festive and bright and certainly not the poor relations to our richer cousins, whom we met later on Christmas day.
Mom and Dad all dressed up at Christmas timeNot the greatest pictures..above…but this was me in front of our little organ at Christmas time
After my dad died in a truck accident in 1965, even though I was only five at the time, I understood we were in a precarious situation money wise. Still, I do remember mom trying to make Christmas special for us in small ways and holiday music always filled our home, making it feel less quiet and sad.
Mom remarried when I was twelve, and for a bit over a decade, we created endearing memories with my step dad, Bud. Oh, those were precious, fun filled years. One Christmas, Bud told us about a lone fir tree out in the country that he drove past on his way to work every day. He said he felt sorry that it was all alone in a large clearing. One crisp night, when the sky was pitch black and the stars were twinkling, we gathered popcorn strings, nuts, and apples and drove out to decorate the sweet little tree. We laughed and giggled as we decorated, and the tree seemed to shimmer happily when Bud placed our homemade, tinfoil star on top.
We used to do spontaneous, goofy things like that all the time, but mom became a widow again in her late 50’s, when Bud had a sudden heart attack and died. When I grew up, I was doggedly determined to be independent. I fought to have control over my destiny and worked hard to provide for myself and also help mom in little ways.
Although I was only twenty five when Bud passed away, I dug in deep to build a safety net for myself and a place for mom to have a secure place in my life. At the time, my three older sisters all had families of their own and since it was just my husband David and I, we included mom in all our activities and holidays. We had movie and pizza nights, we took her for Sunday drives, stopping for ice cream and of course, she was mainly with us on Christmas day. We loved spoiling her with things she only dreamed of; leather handbags, new coats, and one year we gave her a VCR machine so she could watch movies at home. In the 80’s, that was quite a luxury. I’ll never forget the surprised expression of sheer shock and joy on her face as she opened that gift. “Oh Debbie, Oh David, ” she said over and over again, as she hugged the box to her chest, wonder and delight shining in her eyes.
Another Christmas, we gave her a Kodak, instant camera. She was like a little kid playing with her new toy, snapping pictures of Christmas moments; the turkey being carved, our family assembled around the dinner table and the grand kids standing in front of our sparking Christmas tree. We laughed and laughed as the pictures slowly came into focus and we marvelled over the miracle of technology.
My three sisters, two of my brother in laws and mom (oh David is peeking in there) this is Christmas in our house…wow…30 years ago!!!From left to right, my nephews Owen, Evan, my niece Tara and nephew Simon…where was Nomi… I have no idea?
This Christmas mom will have been gone for nine years. After she passed away in 2012, my three sisters and I went through her belongings, selecting what we wanted to keep and what we decided to donate. I had learned over the years to detach from things, since losing so many loved ones had taught me that stuff just wasn’t important. But when we came to her Christmas boxes, that was another matter. Each ornament, each decoration, held special memories of our Christmases together. I was fairly ruthless, however, as we had a house full of eight children at the time, and I didn’t want to store mom’s memories in our dusty, crawl space.
The tossing was going good, until I spied a little, two inch ornament I had given mom one Christmas. I think I had taped it to one of her presents. It was a small, glossy white snow lady, with a red and green hat and a matching scarf around her neck. Painted on her face were bright eyes and an enormous smile that reminded me of mom when she opened her Christmas gifts. The little snow lady sat on top of a red jingle bell, that looked like an old fashion skirt. Etched into the skirt was the single word,
“MOM.”
I snatched up Snow Mom and tightly held her to my chest as I sobbed and sobbed.
Every winter since then, I’ve carried snow mom in my pocket. Some of her paint has scratched off and her orange nose broke a number of years ago. As my boots crunch along in newly fallen snow, there is a little jingle coming from my pocket.
Jingle, Jingle, “I love you!”
Jingle, Jingle, “I’m so proud of you.”
Jingle, Jingle, “You can do this Debbie.”
Jingle, Jingle, “All is well.”
Mom may be gone physically, but she never truly left me.
This has been a tough year for many of us and I don’t think anyone on this earth has escape some sort of loss, or grief. Even if you have escaped becoming sick yourself, or losing someone you love, you may be, like me, feeling drained and tired of social distancing, mask wearing and the relentless worry that an invisible, dark presence will knock at your door.
When I was pulling out our Christmas decorations the other day and found Snow Mom, it was like a big aha moment for me. She came to remind me that yes, in life there are difficult, challenging times, but it’s up to each of us to help others and try to lighten their load. In that giving of ourselves we find the magic in living. Being alive is a gift and giving of ourselves is the blessing we can spread around the world.
And if the worst thing happens in our lives; we lose someone we love, I hope this story reminds you that we never truly lose people we love. They remain in our hearts forever and we are never without them.
During this holiday season, I hope you listen carefully for the sweet jingle in your pocket. Let it be a reminder that you are never alone and you are always loved!
The End
Thanks so much for coming to visit today. Before you leave, the kids want to play you a few songs. First Will, Kathryn and Victoria will play “Tobin’s Favourite,” an old Irish Folk song and then the girls will play “Ashgrove,” which is an old Welsh Folk song. Then if you watch to the end, you will see Victoria hit the snowman, playing the piano, that my mom gave me for Christmas one year. This was a totally impromptu performance after the girl’s piece was over and I’m so glad I kept videotaping. My mom would have LOVED Victoria’s spontaneous dance, and appreciate that her little snowman is still being enjoyed by her youngest grandchildren. This one is for you mom!
Remember Christmas letters? Those lovely catch up notes that people used to stuff into their Christmas cards. Maybe some people still do, but I think for the most part, this is a thing of the past, like Christmas cards themselves. The few cards that I receive each holiday season, usually only have the signature from the sender under the card’s sentiments. If I’m lucky, I receive a family picture. (Thank you T for that!)
As 2020 comes to a close, I was thinking that I wanted to write a newsy year end letter and while most people would not appreciate several pages of “me and us,” stuffed into a Christmas card, I thought I would publish it as a blog post. That way, those who ARE interested in the goings on in our household can have an update.
Also, since I haven’t posted much this year, it will act as a record for posterity sake; a snippet into our Covid 19 filled year. So if I were to write a Christmas letter this year, this is how it would go……..
Dear family and friends,
I hope this holiday letter finds you and yours well. What a weird year hey? Although we have been living under this Covid 19 cloud for nine months now, it still feels surreal. Thankfully, our family has adjusted well under the circumstances and we all remain healthy. How has your family handled this unusual year? Do you have any insights as to how you think this experience may change us as we move forward? If you have a bit of time, grab a cup of tea, coffee,or some eggnog and join me for a visit.
You may not know this, but in September 2019 David and his partner Eric, bought Westwood Engineering. Yes, I know, kind of huge hey, especially since David worked for the company for over 30 years? Anyway, to keep overhead down and for practical reasons they started working at home, along with their two junior engineers. We felt fortunate that everything had fallen into place so smoothly and thankfully, they were in the swing of working from their home offices when the Covid 19 pandemic hit. David thought things might slow down for the company but actually the wood products industry, in which they primarily work, has been strong and therefore their first year ended on a nice high. Thanks in part to those people who are doing DIY’S, using wood products, and of course to a lesser degree, those who are hoarding toilet paper.
Where on earth are people putting this stuff?
David runs Westwood Engineering from our Den, and for part of the year, in his shorts!
Then another big change for our family occurred regarding our three youngest children’s education. Since our 11 year old son, Will and our 9 year old twin daughter’s, Kathryn and Victoria all thrived learning from home last spring, when school resumed in the fall, we kept them at home. We tried to work with the school district for awhile but there wasn’t great structure and little support. In fairness, the V Learn system had gone from 60 students the year before to 300 students this fall in our school district. The teachers were clearly overwhelmed. Because of this, at term break in November we pulled them right out of any registered school setting and jumped into the deep, scary abyss of homeschooling.
Will adjusted easily to learning from home, although he says that we do WAY more math at home. Kathryn and Victoria during our early learning at home days. We aren’t as rigid with the schedule these days but we still plan as a team what we’re wanting to accomplish.
Although there have been challenging days for sure and tears. (me, not them! ha) it’s working well. Lately, one of the homeschooling perks is being able to work hard in the morning (David too) so we can all go downhill skiing as a family in the afternoons. I love the freedom and flexibility homeschooling offers, as the kids can extend their learning by following their passions beyond the basic curriculum. I think if you were to ask them what their favourite time of day is, they would tell you that they love our walks in nature before lunch. We often head up the mountain to a wild life and bird sanctuary just over the hill from our house, and then after lunch the kids all grab a blanket and curl up by the fire to quietly read together. I love it too!
The books and the peace.
The kids love our pre lunch hike to visit a protected nature area in our neighbourhood.One of the benefits of learning from home is the flexibility it brings. Recently when it snowed the kids went out to play on what would have been a school day. Every day is a learning day and enjoying fresh air and building a snowman is all part of the fun.Our cat Ryuuki has never had so much attention and he’s been lapping it up!
One of the down sides this year was that Grace’s Spring Break, school trip to the U.K. was cancelled. They were scheduled to leave only two days after our Provincial health officer recommended people not travel out of the country. It was such an anxious week for our family. Things were getting worse and worse in Europe and we didn’t know what would happen, but the School District finally cancelled the trip. We still don’t know if she will get any of her money back. The airlines are just wanting to give out vouchers but what good is that if there is no travel allowed. She had worked so hard at the water slides the previous summer to pay for the bulk of this trip, so it was a huge disappointment to say the least. We have consoled ourselves with the thought that at least everyone stayed healthy and she did get a really nice hoodie that said, “U.K. 2020,” which is a real keeper.
One of the biggest benefits of having to stay home, was that David and I finally had time to finish our mammoth rock wall project in our backyard. I call it David’s opus! This project took three years to complete. First we had to cut down and then dig up all the roots from the old plants in the terraced beds. Thankfully, our older boys were home for that summer to help as some of those twenty year old, pine mugho roots were huge!. Then slowly, we took down the two, fifty foot wide landscape tie, retaining walls, which were rotting. We took piece by piece up to the dump in our work horse, Honda Odyssey van. Then the work really began as we went up the mountains to collect the large, river rocks for our wall. I can proudly say that every single rock in our new retaining wall was hauled in and carried by us to our backyard. Okay, maybe our older boys helped here and there, but for the bulk of the job it was David and I.
Another project David accomplished was building a set up steps down the middle of the two terraced retaining walls that leads to the pool….my idea! All through the project David kept saying, “quit adding wagons,” but those wagons made the whole project a custom job in the end. Harrison and Clark spent a summer working as Landscapers and helped us remove some of our large mugho roots. Above is an example of just one plant’s roots! Thanks guys!
I lost track of the dozens of trips we took up to the mountains, but over the last two years we collected enough rocks for David to build two terraced walls, each fifty feet wide by three feet high. In August he placed the last rock and we sang,” Hallelujah!” I then had the immense pleasure of selecting and planting herbs and perennials in all the beds. We even have a water feature, landscape lights and a convenient, extra set of steps that takes us down to our pool now. I have to tell you that the bees were in heaven last summer buzzing around the Lavender, Bee Balm and Yarrow. Also a side benefit is that we didn’t have to go to the gym to stay in shape. Who knew that you just have to build a rock wall to get toned and muscled. A side note for those of you who are interested; the suspension in our Honda van is still great! Go Honda!
Well, that’s it for the family at home but as you know, our family has two strings. A term our basketball playing son Harrison gave our family a few years ago and it’s stuck. Our older four kids and our younger four kids being the two strings. I prefer to think of it in musical terms since our four older kids played the piano, violin and cello together, and our younger ones also play the same instruments. In fact our three youngest kids call their trio, “The Second String.” Anyway, I transgress and have to tell you that the first string, our oldest, are all doing well.
Alyssa turned thirty last spring and is still living in her quaint, little place near the ocean in Victoria. As an introvert, she has been thriving during this past year of social distancing and working from home. She was freelancing as a web designer and spiritual coach, but when the pandemic hit and children were suddenly being educated from home, her previous boss at Sylvan called her up and asked if she would consider coming back as their lead English teacher for their two Victoria locations. This worked out really well as she prefers to tutor one on one or in small groups, rather than in a traditional classroom setting. Also, like us, I think more and more parents will be rethinking the way they educate their children. Teaching is bound to transition to more on line tutoring as a result of this demand. We believe that the old brick and mortar school will be obsolete one day.
Recently, one of Alyssa’s bucket list goals was met, when she published her first book. It’s called, “Invocations to Horizons: Poems of Nature, Magic and Myth.” If you’re interested, you can find this book at Amazon.ca. My Dad would have been so proud of his granddaughter, as his passion was writing too. Also, after years of living in big cities and relying on the bus service to get around, she decided that it was time to buy her first car. With the help of her Auntie B and Uncle J in Victoria, she finally found a cute little Honda Fit to call her own. She says she now feels like a real grown up!
Alyssa, this fall with new little Honda Fit (Thanks Auntie B and Uncle J!!!)Alyssa’s recently published book of poetry
And now a bit about our oldest son Clark. He’s turning twenty eight later this week and is happily looking forward to graduating from the U of A law school next spring. Quick, knock on wood, since he is currently in the midst of writing five intense exams this week. Good thing he likes to read, since each course has pages and pages of notes to review and tomes of precedent setting cases to understand and quote. He remained in Edmonton this year, partly because his summer job was with Alberta’s, Worker’s Compensation Board, but also because he says that living with three other law students has helped him feel less isolated this year. We are incredibly thankful that he has secured a position with, “Dolden, Wallace, Folick,” and will be working out of their Kelowna branch starting sometime next Spring. His beautiful girlfriend, Jessica, is also thrilled that he will return to the Okanagan as her career and family is also here.
Clark and Jess. This picture was taken SUPER early on the day that Clark was returning to Edmonton after his visit home this past summer. It’s not always easy keeping a long distance relationship going but Jess has gone above and beyond. During this trip, Jess went to Edmonton and brought Clark home and was driving him back again. Jess you are amazing and we love you!
Mitchell, our second oldest son, turns twenty five next month and is in Melbourne, Australia. He just finished up a gig working for the Bad Shepherd Brew company whose motto is, “let us lead you into temptation.” Despite that city’s drastic lock down during the pandemic, Mitchell held onto his job as beer is a necessity in Australia! It’s now summer there and he’s working for his roommate, who owns a window washing company named, “Squishies.” He told us during our last visit that they are booked solid, he enjoys the work and apparently it pays really well. He was gearing up to return to Canada in March, since his visa will expire then, but there is a possibility that he will be sponsored either by the Bad Shepherd or his roommate Adam, who is hoping to franchise his company. (I guess they like clean windows in Australia!) Also, while both jobs won’t use his Science degree, it’s handy that he has post secondary education in order to be sponsored. Of course, we miss him dearly, but he lives with a great “mate,” and he has a lovely girlfriend, Niamh, who is simply radiant. So life is groovin’ for him and he’s happy. Isn’t that what we want for our children?
Mitchell and Niamh in Melbourne, Australia
Now you may be wondering what our soon to be, twenty two year old son Harrison is up to. “Not much good,” would be the teasing words from his Dad, but seriously he’s blowing us away with his focus and accomplishments. Who knew that this guy, who I lectured on the way to school each day, about rising to be your best self, would actually take my advice. He’s on the downward slope to completing his Commerce degree from U of Vic’s business school. He just completed a four month Co-op with BCI, out of Victoria and will start his last Co-op in January with a large, international company out of Vancouver. Thankfully, he can work from his home in Victoria. Also, this year he was chosen to be one of only a handful of students to form a team to manage the University’s investments, which is a prestigious opportunity and looks incredible on his resume. I’ll never forget how skilled he was at selling our junk, I mean, ahem, our treasures, during our family garage sales over the years. He was born for business! Who knew I could have saved my breath on all those trips driving him to school.
Harrison with his girlfriend Danielle. This picture was taken at Mystic Beach on Vancouver Island. It’s a bit of a hike to say the least to get to this magical beach. Dani had broken her toe the week before however she somehow made the trek there and back with a smile on her face and with brilliant good nature. Talk about pushing through things when life is tough! We love you Dani!!!
Are you wishing we had only four kids by now? Ha! Our number five, Grace Elizabeth, turned eighteen a few weeks ago and she will graduate from high school next June. It always surprises me how fast our children grow up but yep, she’s turning into a young lady who is busy applying to Universities and planning her life after high school. I think she wants to follow in Clark’s footsteps and attend UBC-Okanagan. It has a good Science program, which is the direction she is moving towards but it turns out she’s a pretty awesome writer as well. Last spring, she aced her AP English exam and has now bagged her first University credit.
We always thought she was destined for medicine, as she loves to diagnose illnesses and this Covid 19 pandemic has heightened her interest in infectious diseases. Lately, she is showing a strong interest in Psychology; mental health specifically. Mitchell caught that same bug in grade 12, as there is an excellent Psych 12 teacher in their high school. Who knows where this interest will take her, but she’s kept many doors open which gives her options. She’s been ruminating about law as well and it may be a good fit for her down the road. She has strong critical thinking skills and boy, I have to tell you she is REALLY good at arguing her case!
Grace turned 18 on December 5th, 2020
What I’ve learned while raising kids is that we can provide all sorts of opportunities for them in order to stimulate their interests and develop certain skills and talents, but in the end it is often fate that intervenes and shapes their future. For us parents, it’s all about letting go and trusting. Anyway, for now, we are just trying to get through these challenging times and hoping Grace can find a nice prom dress.
As I wrote earlier, our three youngest are at home and keeping us busy. Will is in his sixth year of playing cello and the little girls are in their fourth year of playing violin. They both have wonderful teachers who keep things fun and are outstanding mentors. Last week, I video taped the kids playing some Christmas music, which we forwarded to our children’s music school, who will be compiling it and sending it off to ALL of the Extended Care homes in our area. Normally, the kids play in persons as the seniors love having young people around, but this year it will have to be a virtual concert.
If you want to hear a little of their music, scroll to the bottom, as I will link a few of their pieces. Also, this holiday season Grace (on piano) and William (on cello) have been playing a beautiful Christmas piece called, “O come, o come, Emmanuel.” I love it as it’s a piece we have sung during our Christmas Eve service in church. I hope to video them playing together and plan to add that to my YouTube, “Moments of Hope,” channel. SO STAY TUNED….no pun intended, ha.
As I mentioned earlier, our older children all played instruments, several actually since they were in the school band, jazz band and youth symphony. There were many times when it was difficult to keep them going because practising is hard. I’m glad that they persevered, as music is a wonderful teacher. Earlier this year, Alyssa found a piano in Victoria that needed a home and she has been working her way through all the classic pieces that she never had time for when she was consumed with obtaining a certain high level credential during University. Also, Clark took his violin to Edmonton and says that playing relaxes him, even though he’s working on parts of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He’s asked for violin strings for Christmas, which makes my heart sing!
Anyway, music is and always will be a strong way for our family to connect and don’t you think it’s the Universal language? I hope music fills your home this holiday season!
Victoria, Will and Kathryn play a virtual concert for Seniors
Well, I’m sure your coffee or tea is cold by now and if you added rum to your eggnog, any lovely relaxing effects have worn off. It’s getting late here and I’m up early with these little people, plus I have to drive Grace to school. We are counting down now to the last hours before the holiday break so I must close for now.
I hope that as this year comes to an end, you know that I think of you often and hope you are well, happy and peaceful. Most of all I hope you are healthy. In all ways. This has been such a difficult, challenging year for all of us. I believe when we eventually look back and remember this time, hindsight will show us that this was sadly what the earth needed.
We needed to slow down. We needed to come together and realize that we ARE all connected. We needed to start taking care of our planet. Most important of all, we needed to remember what is truly important and that is being kind and considerate of each other. The Christmas season is a good way to end this year, as it’s the season of perpetual hope and is the time for us to light up the world with love.
“Merry Christmas!” May the light of this season warm your heart and may the New Year be filled with joy, peace and good health for all.
Last winter, I felt like a dry piece of cold toast. that no amount of butter or jam could make taste better. Our days were spent whirling from one activity to another like robots on auto-pilot, until they all blurred together with me chanting, “something has to give.”
I knew what I wanted to drop from our schedule, I just needed to get to the end of the children’s school year to make those changes. Then the global pandemic happened and those changes were made for us. It was startling how quickly we went into lock down. Perhaps not fast enough in some parts of the world, but our Province’s health minister, Dr. Bonnie Henry, recognized the seriousness of the situation. At the beginning of our children’s school spring break in mid March, we were asked to stay home and shelter in place. My new mantra was, “this is so surreal.”
It’s been three months since our family went into social isolation. When school started up two weeks ago, we were one of the families who chose not to send their children back to school. We had found an exciting learning groove at home and our children were starting to laugh again. Really laugh! I thought they enjoyed attending school, going to swim club practices, violin, cello lessons and orchestra practices. I’m sure they did but until their world slammed to a stop, they didn’t understand the pace they were travelling. That pace was so fast. they had no time to enjoy moments that made them truly happy.
Those moments were found during the last three months. While our days are still full of at home learning, on line lessons, music practice, Skype visits with family and friends, a new rhythm is beating in our house. It’s a rhythm that makes our feet dance.
Kathryn painting a kindness rock, “Miracles Happen!”Victoria painting her rock, “Believe”
There is time to appreciate the brilliant, fuchsia blooms from our rhododendron, or stop to gently pet the stray cat, “Tabby,” who visits our doorstep each day for a bite to eat. We stop regularly to reconnect several times a day, but our favourite is 3 pm tea time, when we sit in a circle on our front lawn, sipping ice tea and savouring the latest offings from our kitchen’s oven, like warm chocolate chip cookies or cinnamon sprinkled cranberry/orange scones. We deeply inhale the moist air after a rain forest like down pour, or sit quietly at the end of a lovely spring day, watching the sun paint a myriad of gold and pink streaks in the western sky.
Victoria and Kathryn spend time petting and feeding the stray cat that comes daily to our doorstep…she adds to the beauty of our dayKindness rocks painted in moments of quiet…notice the gorgeous rodo blooms behind the rocks!Our kids took time to paint, “kindness rocks,” and then put them on paths around the neighbourhood
Who knew that beauty could be found during this deadly pandemic. That slowing down would be the conscious shift the world needs for real change. I don’t know about you or the rest of the world, but I’m not going back to the rat race when this pandemic ends and it will end, if history tells us anything.
Having less has never meant more to me and I’ve been on the minimalist, non consumer driven bandwagon for a few years now but it’s taken this global shut down for me to really ride it. The beauty in the world can’t be found anywhere, except in “this” moment and you can’t find that moment until you are still.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful….
Welcome to my blog and Hope’s Homestead. It’s nice to see you. If you are new here, yah! If you haven’t been here in a while, you’re not alone as neither have I. Ha! You’d think that with the current state of the world, (everyone isolating at home due to the COVID-19 global pandemic) I’d have nothing better to do than write on my blog, but if you know me at all, that’s not the case.
We are b*u*s*y around here doing things we love. Home is where it’s at people.
What do you think? How are you weathering these times?
At first, I felt rather guilty when the whole pandemic started; as if my wish had caused it. You see all winter the mantra flowing out of my being went something like this; “we need to slow down, something needs to let up, life is going too fast.” It’s the craziest thing to think that the whole world came to a screeching halt just for me, but those were my thoughts in mid March.
The only downside was that our seventeen year old daughter, Grace’s spring break, school trip to the U.K. was cancelled at the last minute. She had worked so hard last summer to earn the money for the trip. In addition, she was taking an English course that totally revolved around all the sights they were planning to see, and all the assignments were geared to the trip.
At this point, although the trip has been delayed until later this summer, we obviously don’t know if international travel will open up. Only time will tell how life will unfold in the coming months but any sadness we felt over the loss of that trip, or not being with our oldest daughter as she celebrated a milestone birthday at the end of March, have been quieted over the news of so many deaths reported around the world. It always surprises me how grief and lose reminds us of what’s truly important.
It was one big wake up call for the earth in my opinion.
I could have become a dweller of dark places in the last two months but thankfully, I remembered why I sign off as “Hope,” at the end of my blog. I remembered my true nature and quickly chose to move towards the light. My oldest sister B says, “there is a silver lining in all of this.” My oldest daughter Alyssa, an English major, teacher and writer says, “it’s like a Dystopia novel!”
Whatever it is….
The silver lining for us, is that in the last ten years our family has been moving in the direction of becoming more sustainable in our day to day life. Last night at dinner our ten year old son, William, observed, “we make just about everything from scratch, except ketchup.” (Watch out Will, if we have a good tomato crop this summer, ketchup’s on the bucket list) Having learned to reuse, make do, grow our own food, cook from the basics, and live more simply, has conditioned us to thrive in a time when so many people are falling apart.
It’s been two months now since the world stopped spinning so fast and our family has a lovely, at home learning groove happen’in, our back forty is newly planted, and it’s time for me to come back to my blog, share a story, a recipe and maybe a bit of hope. If that’s what you are seeking, let this be a place of refuge. Also, I have to share a secret for our contentment and what’s helping our family handle this social isolating gig so well.
The secret can be found in:
Books
We are surviving and I’d like to believe thriving too, because we all love to read.
Well, almost all of us. It’s a process.
Ironically, the month before the kids were out on spring break, their school had a book competition. It’s a yearly tradition at their school to encourage as many children to read as possible. When our older children went to school. they were involved in something called, “The Battle of the Books.” It was a school district affair, where each school prepared teams, representing the various grades. Throughout the spring, there would be zone competitions to see who knew their books the best. Finally, the teams winning at the zones, would move onto the final district competition, which was open to the public at our local performing arts centre. It was quite an affair and a prestigious event to win.
Our son Clark’s Battle of the Book’s Coldstream team (Clark is the one in blue on the left…wish it was a better picture)
Our older children were “Battle of the Books,” champs. Alyssa’s team won the district award two years in a row and Clark’s team won it one year. We were so proud of their accomplishments. In those days, their school, “Coldstream Elementary,” was considered the school to beat. Then a few parents started to make waves. Their children had competed to earn a spot on the team but didn’t qualify, and they were annoyed. We personally didn’t understand their reasoning, since our school also competes in athletics, such as track and field, and only the best move on to compete in the zones and districts in that area. It’s the same if you ask me but they didn’t view it that way, so our participation in the local Battle of the Books ended and our school started an in house competition. Originally, it was called, “Gypsy Breath and Longstocking,” but over time it has been shortened to be just, “Gypsy Breath.”
At first, when our school stopped competing at the Battle of the Books, I was angry, as that was a place where our children who were book savvy, could shine. I didn’t encourage our next in line children to join the competition, which was watered down in my opinion, but then our daughter Grace joined one year without any encouragement from me. I watched her happily fly through the book selections for that year. When she came home with the first place award, I realized it it wasn’t about competition at all.
It was about reading.
Now, I’m all over anything to get kids hooked on reading.
So when…..
Our younger kids came home from school one day to say that they were all going to be on the same Gypsy Breath team, I was thrilled. They called themselves, “The Survivors.” That’s the ironic part; I feel like we are surviving this social isolating pandemic, partly due to our love of literature. When you can enter a book and become lost in another world, you can escape anything. What a gift. Also, while our family has quite an extensive library, we are also living in a time when we have access to any book written on the planet, within a tap on our computers.
It’s mind blowing.
Our children read some pretty incredible books since Christmas in preparation for the Gypsy Breath competition. Kathryn read the most. She read all, but one of the grade 6/7 books (Refugee) and of course she didn’t read the two adult selections. Victoria wasn’t far behind her; reading all the grade 3, grade 4 and almost all the grade 5 books. She also read a couple of the grade 6/7 books.
I was most proud of William though, first to join the team, bringing two of his (non reading) friends along to experience the event, but mainly watching him methodically working through book after book, that I know he wouldn’t have touched otherwise. This for a boy who loves to be active; bouncing on the the trampoline, swimming in the pool, or even playing his cello. To watch him sit quietly in our big, comfy chair in the living room, turning page after page, was a sight to see.
There is hope!
I’m also proud to say that the kid’s “Survivor,” team tied for second place on the night of the competition, out of at least ten or twelve teams. I never counted but the gym was full of kids dressed up in wacky costumes, all joining together with their teachers, to answer the questions that were posed by the “Book Wizard.”
I know you are probably here for the fruit pizza recipe but I want to share the Gypsy Breath book selections with you first, as in addition to great food, it’s the books that are getting us through this difficult moment in time. A time when we are sheltered in place, in order to beat this virus. If you REALLY want the food, (like my son William, who is growing crazy, fast lately) scroll to the bottom. If you can hold off, here are the 2020 Gypsy Breath Books, many of which our family read this spring.
You may have read some of them with your kids or when you were a child:
The Grade 3 Books
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary
When the Soldiers Were Gone, by Vera W. Propp
A Boy Named Bat, by Elana K. Arnold
The Grade Four Books
The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, by Rita Williams-Garcia
The Chocolate Touch, by Patrick Skene Catling
I Survived the Nazi Invasion, by Lauren Tarshis
The Grade Five Books
The following book, “The Truth As Told by Mason Buttle,” was my children’s all round favourite! They even encouraged me to read it. The main character, Mason, is an endearing child who shined a light on the colour of feelings and inspired me to try to be my best self. It’s a beautifully written book in Mason’s unique, sweet voice.
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, by Leslie Connor
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul-Curtis
The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani (Victoria loved this book but then she loves writing in her diary/journal too)
Magyk, by Angie Sage (My older sons read this book…well the whole series actually, and if you are into fantasy, then this book is for you!)
The Grade 6/7 Books
The following book, “Save Me a Seat,” was William’s fav book. He said he could relate to the book’s main characters, Joe and Ravi, as he, like them , has been bullied at school too. As a mom this made me cry. I want to protect my children from these sorts of experiences. It’s when I hear this that I want to homeschool them full time when we get through to the other side of this isolation.
Except, I know it’s often the toughest things we go through in life that develops our character. No amount of reading or virtual experiences can teach us to be strong people. We need to step out of our comfort zones, become vulnerable, and learn how to relate to others. We need to build our own voice and our inner resilience muscle, to become confident individuals. That’s why, after this whole pandemic is over, I’m pretty sure I will encourage our children to return to school, whatever that looks like. I’d like to believe it will be a gentler place and my children will be beacons of kindness and compassion towards their classmates.
William made tons of connections while reading this book and told me that the ending was “fantastic.”
Will gives this book a *****stars rating and two thumbs up!
Save Me a Seat, by Sarah Weeks
Firegirl, by Tony Abbott
The following book, “Bridge to Terabithia,” has been around for awhile. I read it with my older children and it was a Battle of the Books selection during one of their competitions. We read it to our younger children, as a family, last summer and I would highly recommend it for the 8 to 12 year old set….and beyond.
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
The final book for the children was “Refugee.” It’s on our “to be read list” but it sounds incredible and inspiring.
Refugee, by Alan Gratz
The Adult Books
I loved the following book. The main character Susan’s view of the world was witty and refreshing. Also, after my daughter, Alyssa, spent two years living and working in London, with me vicariously living with her, I loved the whole English vibe, in this Debut novel by Sarah Haywood. I laughed all the way through this hilarious book, which is saying something for me.
The Cactus, by Sarah Haywood
I read a lot, so when I say the following book, “We Were the Lucky Ones,” is the best book I have read all year, that’s really saying something. The book follows one Jewish Family’s experiences during the Second World War years. Even though I read this book months ago now, it’s helped me put this global pandemic into perspective.
It could always be worse, is my thinking, and this family and the Jewish people’s plight during the middle of the last century, has lifted me up and given me hope. If you only read one book this year read this. Don’t let the premise scare you….pick it up, allow yourself to be submersed into history and enveloped in great writing. You are one of the lucky ones, if you take the time to read this book!
We Were the Lucky Ones, by Georgia Hunter
I guess you now see the theme of this year’s Gypsy Breath book selection was all around war and diversity. I’m never failed to be amazed at how life prepares us for every eventuality. Reading these books, in the months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, helped us shift into the mentality of believing we can overcome anything. If the characters in these books, (some of them based on true stories) could overcome life most difficult challenges, we know we can do it too.
Together.
All we have been asked to do is shelter in place. How hard is that with a good book? If you aren’t into reading, then watch a movie based on a book. Last night, we watched part one, of the movie, “Stranded,” based on the book called, “The Swiss Family Robinson.” That book was written by Johann David Wyss, which was first published over two hundred years ago in 1812. Our kids can’t wait to watch the second part and are intrigued over a family shipwrecked on an island. I was telling them that in a way, we are that family now.
Here’s the link to part one if you are interested in watching it too.
Well, enough about books, isolation and even movies, now onto the part that you may be waiting for and the part that is also my son William’s favourite: yummy recipes. The next time you are in the grocery store stock up on fresh fruit and some cream cheese and you can make a……
Fruit Pizza
I actually can’t take total credit for this recipe as it was originally my brother in law D’s recipe. He’s been making fruit pizza for years, long before it became fashionable in the food world. That’s my brother in law D and sister C; they are always ahead of the rest of us. Earlier this year, we got together for dinner and the topic of fruit pizza came up. I knew I wanted to make something special for the Gypsy Breath snack table and thought D’s recipe might just be the thing.
I first tested it out at our kid’s group orchestra, snack table, one week, and it was inhaled in a flash. Those are kids who know good food, and by the way, it flew off the table and into their mouths, with sighs, I might add. I knew we were onto something that would work for book aficionados as well. Okay, so that’s the back story. Now let’s create this divine dessert, in celebration of books, movies, or whatever you are passionate about….anything to survive and stay well.
Fruit Pizza
Ingredients
Crust
1 cup butter
2 ounces cream cheese
11/2 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
Spread
12 -16 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 to 1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 – 2 tsp vanilla
(The ingredients range depending on the amount of spread you want on your pizza)
Glaze
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon juice
Fresh Fruit
Anything goes but some ideas are:
Kiwi (the bright green is lovely)
Blueberries
Strawberries
Pineapple
Raspberries
Blackberries
Grapes
Instructions
Make the crust by mixing the butter, cream cheese and sugar. (An electric mixer works best) Add the egg and vanilla and combine well. Add the flour, baking powder and the salt.
Basically, you are making one big batch of cookie dough. Once mixed, let dough cool in bowl with a cloth over top for 1/2 hour in the fridge.
Use cooking spray and grease a large pizza pan or a cookie sheet (it doesn’t have to be round)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Bring dough out of the fridge and spread it evenly on the pan using fingers or you can use a rolling pin. I find flattening it with fingers and then rolling it with a pin works best. Bake for 12 minutes, (350 degrees) but watch closely as you don’t want the cookie base to over cook…a light golden brown is perfect.
We made enough for 1 large pizza and one small one which the kids enjoyed when they returned from their evening event…they were celebrating coming in second…and reading a pile of great books…that was the real success!!!
Once out of the oven, allow pizza crust to completely cool. I place it in the freezer for 30 minutes before spreading on the cream cheese mixture.
While your pizza is cooling in the freezer, cut up the fruit into small pieces, thinly slice the kiwi and strawberries. Cut up your pineapple, unless they are already in slices. Think about the design you want to create. If you are making it for a special event, you may be able to make a word with fruit for instance. ( Later, I thought I could have written “Books” with blueberries .)
Once the pizza has cooled and the cream cheese has been spread, you can add your fruit. Any combination tastes great, but this is where the artist in you can flourish.
Once the pizza has been topped with fruit, drizzle the glaze around for the final touch of yummy. Here’s how our pizza turned out for the Gypsy Breath event.
P.S. Serve soon after topping with fruit and glaze, although it’s still yummy the next day, albeit the crust is a bit soft.
Our Gypsy Breath pizza
Every time I make this pizza it turns out different but it’s always amazing!!! Here are some other pictures from our kid’s Gypsy Breath night.. Remember their team was called, “The Survivors.” We had ordered a bunch of buffs for the kids to wear for the event, which turned out to be great masks for them to wear in the early days of this pandemic, when we were just out for a walk in our neighbourhood in case they came across other people.
Their buffs and dirty looking and ripped t shirts completed their Survivor costume.
This is their team’s poster with their team name…showing pictures from the various booksThe top three winning teams got to take books home. Here are Kathryn and Victoria looking at all the books to choose from.
Kathryn and Victoria with their teacher, Ms. Brianne Martin
And so we may be sheltering at home right now, but we are not alone. We are all in this together and if we have books, then we have the world at our feet. Let literature take you wherever you want to go. Fly if you want to.
Thank you for coming to visit today. I hope, not to be a stranger here in the coming weeks. Since we just planted our vegetable garden this week, I do have some images and some gardening stories I’d like to share as well as thoughts on guiding our children at home with their learning.
Stay tuned, stay safe.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
My Dad, Marvyn Derwent Clark, was born in Freedom, Alberta on April 29, 1920, during the last big flu pandemic. It was a time, when almost a quarter of the earth’s population, was infected with a deadly influenza. The Spanish flu, as it became known, was responsible for the death’s of possibly 50 million people and some even estimate that it was as high as 100 million.The exact number is unclear, due to the lack of medical record keeping at that time. What we do know though, is that the Spanish Influenza pandemic killed more people than the First World War, which has been called “The Great War.”
I can’t imagine what my grandparents, Robert and Florence Clark must have been feeling. The First World War had just ended and now the world was facing a deadly pandemic. Pregnant women, babies and young children, were particularly vulnerable and faced a higher risk of flu related complications. Although they must have been thrilled to be expecting their first child, (my Dad) that time must have been fraught with fear and a great sense of trepidation for them.
My Dad’s parents, Robert and Florence (Bob and Flossie Clark) in their garden with their Dahlias
My Dad survived however and even made it through a virulent bout of Scarlet Fever as a child, although it’s believed to have impaired his hearing. He went on to live through the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Cuban missile crisis and finally mourned with the rest of the world, when John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on November 22, 1963. He died before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon on July 20, 1969 and before I turned six.
Dad and his younger brother Elmer on the leftDad in the lower left with his family. Elmer with their dog, and then Gordon Top Row left to right, my mom Ethel and then his sister Elsie, holding my parents first daughter, their “Bonnie,” baby and my big sister…and then his parents Flossie and Bob Clark
He was a son, a brother, an uncle, a husband, a friend to many, and my Dad.
Dad above and below with my mom. I believe this was before they were married
My mom and dad married on January 1st, 1946 a few months after the war ended My oldest sister B was born in January of 1947 and over the next almost 13 years my parents would have three more daughters
If he had lived, he would be turning 100 years old today. (April 29th 2020) I can’t help but wonder what he would think of the state of our world, as we experience something unprecedented in my lifetime; the COVID-19 global pandemic. Although advances in both science and technology have changed the earth tremendously since he passed away, this viral pandemic has reminded us all that we are not invincible. We can still be brought to our knees with the realization that we don’t have all the answers and the only thing that keeps us going is the hope that we will get through it.
My Dad was killed in a company truck accident, fifty five years ago (1965) this coming September. Interestingly, I write this blog post on our Province’s day of mourning for victims who were injured or died in a work place accident. That was the fate of my Dad. My life has been defined by his passing but the older I get, I realize that with him leaving, he taught me more in his absence than if I had had him for my whole life.
I learned from an early age to be independent and behind all my successes was my desire to make Dad proud. Also, from an early age I started searching for the meaning of life, trying to figure out why we come to earth, what our purpose is while we are here, and where the heck do we go when we die. If I had had a normal childhood, my father blissfully intact in our household, I don’t think I would have been a seeker.
After the birth of our last four children, late in my life, the answers to these life’s questions became clear. I know where my Dad is NOW and I know what my purpose is too. My Dad is right here with me and my sisters. He’s cheering us all on and so proud of his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He never left us in the true sense of the word. I also know what my purpose is now; to never lose hope and to remember that loving each other is what it’s all about.
There is nothing more important.
If we can remember these two things; to be hopeful and loving, then the world will continue on. It may never look the same again, as the world surely changed after the last big pandemic one hundred years ago, but I’m hoping that this big shake up, allows us to slow down and take a good look at the path we’ve been walking and realize, what truly matters.
The collective consciousness is shifting and there is no going back. People are waking up and are starting to move in harmony for the sake of our planet and for all living things on our earth. What do you think about that for a 100 year old birthday present Dad?
Pretty cool hey? The other gift I want to give you is a place to record one of your poems that you left behind. You titled it to mom but it was a gift to us, your daughters, as well. I know you had wanted to be a published writer and now you are. Here is your poem:
To My Wife
In the still of the night, when silence overcomes life’s busy noise, heavy and dense on these pages as in my heart, reveal the love, the thoughts and all I feel.
Thru the busy years of the past, never daunted, my love steadfast, heartaches and sorrow, a spectre content to blight the joys, the days, the instant.
My strength in purpose for you alone errors in judgment I must atone, strive ever forward, my hopes ever in quest resolving ever to better, before I rest.
My eyes never so blind, still to see your hopes unfailing in an unspoken plea but the mind and heart not in tune from harshness and reality never immune.
The days and hours stride in remorseless speed diminishing the chances, the moments I need to savour the pleasures, the results of toil conceived in the mind, heart against all recoil.
My desires and love for all of you have been undaunted ever to renew the struggle for contentment and peace when in completion will my thoughts know success.
Misunderstanding and conclusions will prevail as long as man remains in this earthly jail but God gave us prayer and his trust to overcome our problems severe and unjust.
While you lay slumbering in your bed and all the little ones lay down their head up here I sit while far into the night of love and hope for you, I write.
Somewhere on life’s relentless trail in search for happiness I did fail from my heart goes this silent plea give me strength and eyes to see.
Memories I have of father and mother love I shared with sister and brother when you made me your very own did you love me, for me alone.
Maybe life will wash us fast as the tides of the sea and the past to find us on far shores apart will then solace come to a broken heart.
The trail ahead grows dim, I cannot see my heart is heavy, hear my plea grant me the strength to leave behind my children, my wife, my love so blind.
~Marv Clark~
My Dad holding me for a family picture with my sisters, B, to the left, C with the green scarf and J on my mom’s lap.The memories I have of our family in our little town of Hope are warm and loving. For the first almost six years of my life I was marinaded in love…what more could anyone ask for?
So Happy Birthday Dad!!!
I’m ending this post with a link to a short video I found, that reminds me that love never ends, even with the passage of time. Which I think is very appropriate as we celebrate the anniversary of your birth, a hundred years ago.
Here’s the movie dedicated to you Dad. You loved creating home movies and also loved the accordion. This short film reminds me of you in so many ways and also my feelings for this special father/daughter relationship…it goes on and on.
Wow….and if you can stand more, wipe the tears away and listen to a final song in tribute to your birthday.
I say once again…….
Happy Birthday Dad!
My big sister B says that you loved the Tennessee Waltz but I couldn’t find a good YouTube link so I am ending this post with a song that speaks to me….I hope you like it too.
I can’t sleep. A new day is dawning and I keep thinking about another time when I was lying awake under another dark umbrella, wondering if we would ever see the light of day again. Although what we are experiencing right now in the world with the COVID 19 pandemic is bringing us all together, what I went through thirty years ago was a lonely, personal one.
On March 26, 1990, I woke up early in the Vancouver, Grace Hospital, knowing that my first pregnancy was coming to an end. Medical Specialist told us that our baby would likely require a shunt operation immediately after birth, to remove dangerous fluid from damaging her brain, and so her delivery was being induced a month early.
We didn’t know at that time if damage to her brain had already occurred.
The last few weeks of what up to that point, had been an easy, textbook pregnancy, (except for a cold virus I had had late in the 1st trimester) ended in a whirlwind of exams, appointments and a mad scramble to our Province’s high risk maternity hospital. It finally ended suddenly, with the induced, premature birth of our baby girl. Throughout that nightmare, I kept holding onto the belief that somehow things would be all right.
I prayed a lot!
The first announcement we heard in the wee hours of March 27, 1990 after our daughter was born, was by the pediatrician. In the darkened, hushed delivery room he quietly but confidently declared, “she’s a keeper.” My husband David and I both exhaled a long, held breath. The next day, after our daughter had been examined, poked and prodded and an ultrasound had been performed, we were told she would not require a shunt and did not have the condition, hydrocephalus. She had an absent corpus callosum, which had created the dilated ventricles in her brain.
A keeper with an brain abnormality
Our beautiful daughter Alyssa was born March 27, 1990 a month early
During our last consult, with the pediatric neurosurgeon, we discovered that not much was known about this kind of variation to brain development. He assured us that they would follow our case and our daughter would be closely examined for milestone achievements throughout the first few years of life. His advice as he walked us out of the office was to
take her home and treat her like normal.
Whoosh……
I just shook my head as we left his office, looking down at our precious baby bundled in her car seat, I wondered if all of this could have been avoided if I hadn’t had that last ultrasound at 34 weeks. Why did we have to do that last utero check one final time? Seeing her tiny face peeking out from her pink bunny suit, you would NEVER think she was anything other than a beautiful, “normal,” baby.” That diagnoses never left us. Though life found a new normalcy, the words, “Agenesis of corpus callosum,” was a lingering guest in our home.
Alyssa with her Dad, home from the hospital wearing her bunny suitAlyssa fell from the stars and into my arms
In addition to being a new mother, I threw myself into researching everything I could get my hands on regarding stimulating a baby’s brain. Everything I did in that first year was to make neuron connections. I’ve written about it before on this blog, so I won’t go into the details of what we did when Alyssa was a baby but I did want to give you a glimpse into her childhood, so you can get a sense of the pressure that diagnoses held over us all. In an attempt to enrich her development, we exposed her to eighteen years of non stop stimulation.
A big part of Alyssa’s childhood were her stuffed friends and books (with bear and bunny)Alyssa grew up the oldest of eight children…talk about family stimulation!!! Here she is with her brother Clark
Take a peek into the activities she experienced as a child and a teen: “years of swimming lessons, toddler gym time, skating, ballet, and tap lessons, soccer, girl guides, down hill ski lessons, cross country ski lessons (with the school), 10 years of piano lessons, Kumon math classes, art camps, science camps, flute lessons, music theory classes, Irish dance lessons, not to mention the various clubs she was in during high school.
Alyssa selling girl guide cookies to her “Umma”Alyssa with her best friend at her groovy 60’s party
From Kindergarten on, her friends were a circle of high achievers and they were often registered together in the same activities and competed for top grades, festival awards, school recognized accomplishments, which created a tight network of cohorts. They kept busy socially as well, having play dates, birthday parties, and sleep overs together.
In addition to her cohort of friends, Alyssa was the lead in a crew of brothers….here she is with her “Blues Brothers”….when baby number 5 arrived she said she would scream if she got another brother….but finally her little sister Grace arrived
Alyssa was a quiet, graceful, sweet little girl, who grew up into an easy teen. Maybe if she had complained about the over scheduling I may have had a serious look at what we were doing but she was hardly ever sick and seemed to weather it all well. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that all her friends were also really driven. Something I found interesting though was when many of her friends were having diva, drama moments, she kept an even keel. There were seldom any emotional outburst, which should have been my clue that all was not normal.
Alyssa in Grade 2
Clearly she loved to read and she excelled in English but she was also a wonderful artist and she loved to create, sketch and paint. Her piano was the central theme in her life growing up but she also was a wonderfully strong swimmer and loved playing in the family pool in the summer. In the winter, she enjoyed down hill skiing with the family.
Alyssa loved to ski with the family from the time she was little and has a good story to tell of the day she was taken off the mountain by ambulance and landed in the hospital for a few days with a head injury….her helmet saved her life the ER Doctor said
Year after year, she just kept accumulating achievements. She and her school team won the “District Battle of the Books” for two years running, she played flute in the school band, the jazz band and the Okanagan Youth Symphony, she accompanied her brothers on piano as they played at violin and cello festivals, she herself competed in piano festivals and always came first place in the Romance category. She competed in Irish Dance Feis, winning awards.
After seeing the show “River Dance,” in Vancouver Alyssa ditched her ballet slippers and tap shoes and started Irish Dancing. She danced until grade 11 in high school and travelled all over B.C. going to Irish Dance Feis….here she is backstage with her ringlets all ready to go
In addition, she acquired her Red Cross bronze medallion, bronze cross, and finally her (NLS) lifeguard certificate, which allowed her to work during the summers at our local water slide park and various pools in our small town. She also taught piano in high school. In grade 12 she completed her Royal Conservatory Music, Grade 10 level for piano and rounded out that year playing, Rachmanioff’s “Etude Tableaux, Op 33, No 8 in G minor,” on our Performing Arts Theatre stage during the school’s “Juno Night.” (You can hear it below…although sadly this is not Alyssa playing…wish I had been more techy 12 years ago)
By the time Alyssa graduated in 2008, she and her friends were in the top 10 percent of their class for academic achievement and they took the bulk of the scholarship awards allowing them to all head off to their respective Universities of choice.
Alyssa in her graduation prom dress…when all the girls had their princess type dresses for months, she said just before Grad, “mom, we’d better find a dress.” By that time all the dresses were taken in our little home town except this one. We had to take it in a ton for it to fit her….altering it to fit her cost more than the dress!…but she was always more focused on the work than what she looked like She always looked stunning though! Alyssa graduated in 2008 and was excited about her next adventure at the University of Victoria
Did I have any regrets in over scheduling our daughter at the time?
No, not at the time.
When David and I held our tiny daughter in our arms as a baby, we vowed we would do everything in our power to help her succeed in life. As we watched her head off to University with quiet confidence, we thought we had accomplished what we set out to do.
Keep in mind as well, that we were just a product of our time, raising our daughter in the 90’s and early 2000’s. This was not uncommon for many parents at the time. By the time she graduated, people were just starting to talk about anxiety in our children and ask themselves the question….
“What is a successful life?”
(I have since had many second thoughts on raising our beautiful girl and wondered how she would have turned out without us putting so much pressure on her. Did all those activities alter her brain formation? Those thoughts are influencing how I’m raising our younger children now. I may still provide abundant enrichment in their lives but I make it clear that they are not their achievements. They are children of the Universe and it’s time for us to allow them to listen to their inner soul….it’s a fine line we walk)
As Alyssa continued to accomplish everything she set out to do at University; obtaining her BA in English and then her B Ed, we had no idea that she would also spend much of her twenties rewiring her brain from a whirlwind belief system, “that you are “not” the sum of your accomplishments.” After graduating from University, she went to London to teach for two years. During every spare break, she travelled all over Europe, inhaling all the places she had read about and all the places she wanted to see for herself.
During her her time in the U.K. and through her travels her sense of self was strengthened and she started to really shine as she followed her passions in life not defined by others.
She has since returned to Canada and created a comfortable life for herself, living and writing next to the ocean. The waves fill her with tranquility and when she walks around our Province’s historic capital city, Victoria, she says she is reminded of London, which has a similar climate and feel in many ways.
Alyssa in the summer of 2005, always did love being near the ocean
At thirty, (today…yea!) I think she is proud of all she has accomplished. After all, it wasn’t easy. Sometimes. she’s a little embarrassed when people learn about her numerous talents and achievements. She has always been humble. She knows that her accomplishments are not who she is. I may be wrong, but I think if I were to ask her now what’s most important to her, she would say that following her passion to write, to create, to explore, and continue to be a piece of the magic in the Universe, is where it’s at for her today. In many ways she’s pushed herself to the brink and beyond and taught me to believe and trust that we are always on the right path when we listen to our heart.
I think of her as my “Diamond Girl.” Made from Carbon and Pressure, she is my jewel and oh so precious. I often tell her to keep shining!
I know it’s sappy Alyssa but….
You sure do shine!
And so, as the day unfolds and I can hear my younger children start to wake for the day, I’m sitting under a totally different dark umbrella. I don’t know when the storm of this world wide pandemic will end, I can only hold onto the belief that all shall be well. When our daughter Alyssa was born, I was thrown into a personal life struggle to raise her the best I could.
Giving birth also connected me to all the mothers in the world. Who knew that something so simple as becoming a mom would be so powerful. Giving birth connected me to all the children in the world too. They are all mine and now I see that experiencing this global pandemic is just an extension of my heart. We are all connected on this planet and none of us are alone. Our personal identity is shifting as well; we are not what we do, we are not what’s in our bank account, we are not our achievements. We aren’t even our bodies. (or our brains)
I also know that we are going to be okay.
How do I know that? Because Alyssa taught me long before she came to earth, to be brave, to let go and allow goodness to come and when we do that, it manifests into something even bigger than we could ever dream. Alyssa, and the generation of children she grew up with are not perfect but I think they understand that by being individuals and following their own unique talents and gifts that this will allow them to be stronger together.
They’ve got this.
Sadly, due to this whole social isolation thing we have had to cancel our trip to Vancouver Island to celebrate our daughter’s birthday but we will still celebrate it. A Skype visit and a promised trip later in the year, when the environment is healthy to do so. As we told Alyssa last night when we spoke with her, this is just another birthday she will never forget.
None of us will.
Keep shining Alyssa.
You are surely loved.
And to close out this post I wanted to share a link where you can find my daughter on line and also a YouTube video and song by one of my favourite groups to end this post.
Happy Birthday Alyssa!
This one is for you, here are the lyrics and the YouTube video.
Diamond Girl by Seals and Crofts
Diamond Girl – you sure do shine Glad I found you – glad you’re mine Oh my love you’re like a precious stone Part of earth where heaven has rained on
Makes no difference where you are Day or nighttime you’re like a shinin’ star And how could I shine without you When it’s about you that I am
Diamond Girl – roamin’ wild Such a rare thing – radiant child I could never find another one like you Part of me is deep down inside you
Can’t you feel the whole world’s a-turnin’ We are real and… Diamond Girl –
Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
I know it’s the beginning of a spanking new year, but I have a secret; where it’s at is “OLD.” When I was a child, one of my favourite quilts was a patchwork creation. On one side was a soft flannel sheet and on the other, an intricate, selection of various material squares, all sewed together to make a cozy, warm quilt. I especially loved the moss green velvet pieces. My hand would invariably stroke these squares and find comfort there. This quilt, pieced together by my grandmother, Clark, from scraps of old, worn clothing, always made me feel safe and loved. I wonder if she knew the power in her stitches?
I grew up in a generation where everything new was considered chic. In my twenties, newly married, there was a term to describe my husband and I; “DINKS,” which was an acronym for, “Double Income No Kids.” We were proud of our accumulations and we worked hard to acquire more of the same. We grinned when we heard the term DINKS, as if we were in some secret club where we had it all.
But society sold us a bill of goods. A fake lifestyle built on consumerism. At almost thirty, sitting in the house we had custom built, surrounded by interior designed window coverings, freshly home from Hawaii, I looked at my husband and realized our lifestyle was not making us any happier. I remember at the time wondering what more I needed to feel content. My husband had started to hint that he was ready for children and although I was scared to give up my independent lifestyle, I had a sense that we would find joy in becoming parents.
Having our first child was stressful though as we tried to juggle our lifestyle AND be parents. We tried living that way for a number of years and finally, when we decided to have our third child, we both agreed that something would have to give. I was so tired of juggling work and our home life and trying to have it all. The something that went, was my career.
I was so busy for years mothering our children that I didn’t have a chance to really look at that decision. but it was the BEST thing we ever did. We were forced to change our lifestyle and become more creative with how we spent our money. I discovered that was one of the keys to HAPPINESS.
“At our core as human beings, we are creators, not consumers. ”
~Lee Reynolds~
I’ve been home with our children for over two decades now and while there have been many stressful situations financially, I know that experiencing difficult times has taught us to appreciate the simple moments in our life. For me, being there at the end of our children’s school day with warm cookies fresh from the oven, lighting a candle and holding hands in prayer before our meal, cuddling with our children at night while reading a good book, have been my happiest moments.
Our youngest daughters asked for an empty box for Christmas…they are beaming! Reading by the fire is a simple pleasure our family enjoys
No amount of money can buy these moments.
This past Christmas was another good example where we stretched ourselves to give our children some carefully thought out gifts. The BEST gifts were ones we made ourselves. My husband David made our oldest daughter a headboard and base. It wasn’t fancy, but it suits her quaint sea side home. He also made our younger twin daughters a two storey, Veterinarian clinic, since they have a collection of small animals and are both passionate about caring for pets. (Kathryn aspires to be a Vet one day)
Alyssa on Christmas morning with her new mom made pillow and Dad made headboard….her Christmas p.j’s with a broken gingerbread man says, “Christmas cost me an arm and a leg!”….but not really….I’m thinking those Christmas jammy bottoms are going to look great on a patchwork quilt someday, ha!My husband David enduring the cold garage to built the twins a vet clinic and our oldest daughter Alyssa a bed…headboard to the left.Christmas evening….a quick snap of the Veterinary Clinic….we call our house, “Lakelin Reach,” and that is where we got the name for the clinic. The lower floor has a check in desk with folders all ready to be filled in for incoming pets…there is a bench for patients people…and upstairs is a stacking cupboard for the recovering pets. Kathryn and Victoria can’t wait to put their white coats on and play vet
Then when I was making my Christmas pillow covers for the family room, I made our oldest daughter a set of black pillow case covers for her guest futon. Last year, we had given her two pillows but she hadn’t bought a set of pillow cases because as she told me, “mom they are expensive.” In addition, I made her a Christmas pillow to go with this set.
With my computer printer I was able to print off the “MERRY AND BRIGHT,” sentiment on the pillow and then sew it on the pillow. The set of black pillow cases were also handmade from the Jacquard table cloth I bought at our local “Scattered Goods,” store!
While we bought new things for our children’s Christmas presents, I found the greatest joy in making these items. From the smile on Alyssa’s face on Christmas morning, I know she will treasure the things her parents made just for her.
Another thing I did was re-purpose our youngest daughter’s old Christmas dresses. They had seriously outgrown the top but as I folded the dresses and was about to put them in our donation box for our local thrift shop, I realized the skirt on the dress was very full and quite long. With a quick snip, taking off the bodice, and folding and sewing over the waist band , I turned the sweet, red plaid dresses into cute little Christmas skirts. I think I was channelling my mom because she used to make outfits for her four daughters out of old clothes. One Christmas she made us all matching red felt skirts.
These Christmas dresses have been well loved and worn for several years now….here’s a mom tip….buy your daughter’s dresses big….the tie in the back pulled them in for years The little girls have outgrown these dresses…at least the top half of the dresses….hmmmmm, how can I remake them so they can still enjoy them?Voila….new skirts and I’m thinking they will make great Christmas pillows or pieces for a Christmas quilt in the future…re-purposing is where it’s at
The girls were so happy as they had loved their dresses. There is a beautiful black velvet band with a crystal piece on the waist band that actually stands out more now that the piece is a skirt. And the skirts are so versatile depending what you pair them with. They even wore the skirt over their solid black music, concert dresses that were getting a bit short. Voila, a new outfit!!! (Plus it was nice and warm when we went to church on Christmas Eve which was snowy and cold in our part of the world!)
A quick snap before we head off for church on Christmas eve
Inspired with these homemade creations and also re-purposing the girls dresses into skirts made me want to go on the hunt for “old,” things and so at the end of our Christmas holiday, my two older daughters and I enjoyed an afternoon sleuthing through antique shops in our little town and then we stopped and had a lovely tea break at our local, “Bean to Cup,” cafe. Walking around the antique shops, seeing many things from my childhood, like a 1960’s metal dollhouse, made me realize that I’m getting old.
These things are now considered ANTIQUES! and yes, I’m well over 50 now and I guess I’m considered an antique too. If you are there too, you will understand how bizarre this feels because I may be old (biologically), BUT I don’t feel old.
And what makes me feel young, is creating. Always having new ideas, new dreams, new ways of living, and turning the things around me into new re-purposed items.
Alyssa and Grace and I touring antique shops after Christmas
You could say, I am even re-purposing my life. Shifting and changing with the seasons brings me so much joy and caring for the earth while I’m at it restores my soul.
So as the New Year unfolds, I’m looking for old. I’m looking for character filled items to surround myself with, and character filled people too. I know I’m not alone in looking at my belongings and re-purposing what we own as I was talking to my oldest sister this morning and she told me that one of her goals for the New Year is “not” to buy any clothes, shoes, etc. She is going to make do with what she has. Way to go, B!
Shopping in our own closet and looking at things in a new way, perhaps remaking them is creative and fun….and good for our earth…it’s the new chic!
I hope a warm, old, quilt, made from our most comforting memories covers us all and we realize, the simplest things bring us the greatest joy.
~Lee Reynolds~
And we are happy together.
Talking about old and being happy together, last week our son William came home from his cello group practise, and shared one of his “new” orchestra pieces. I had to laugh when I heard it as it’s a song from my childhood. It’s a catchy tune and everyone in our house is now humming it. I wonder if you know it? Check out the following link to the YouTube video, “Happy Together,” by The Turtles. It’s old and new! Come sing along with us.
Oh that was fun and reminds me that music is another simple thing that brings joy and all of us together. Signing off for now, while singing, “Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, babababa, baaaa, ba, ba, ba, baaaa…. “Happy Togetherrrrr.”
Happy New Year from our family to yours…May health and happiness find you in 2020
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Christmas is almost on our doorstep and I’m travelling down memory road once again, thinking of my father who has been gone for most of my life. I’m also thinking of my son Mitchell, who is on the other side of the world and will be celebrating Christmas in Australia this year. As I decorate our house for Christmas, putting garland and lights on the wooden banister, there is a silent watcher. One day this past fall, as I moved quickly through the living room, I caught a glimpse of our son Mitchell’s cello standing in the corner. It spoke to me saying, “tell the story this Christmas.” And so, as this is yet another winter without my father, and one of our first holidays without Mitchell at home, I thought I’d share the story I wrote about both of them….and the cello that links them to me.
Without further to do, here it is:
The Call of the Cello
My father was a man’s man. He drove truck for a living, could swear with the best of them and coached hockey, with a warrior’s heart. He was also a romantic. He wrote poetry into the wee hours of the night. We’d be lulled to sleep listening to him tapping away on his old Underwood typewriter, while his fragrant, woodsy pipe smoke settled over us, like a warm, patchwork quilt. On Saturday night, when Dad started tuning his violin, my three, older sisters and I knew we were in for a laughter filled evening dancing, singing and clapping. The night always ended with a melancholy tune that would linger long after the last note ended. After Dad died in a truck accident when I was five, our house was hauntingly silent, like a big wad of cotton batten had been stuffed into every room. Since then, I carry memories of him hidden in a box, deep in my chest.
Sometimes music lifts the lid.
The year after Dad died we moved from our little town of Hope to the larger city of Chilliwack. Our house remained dark and quiet until I started playing piano at age seven. I took lessons for two years and practised diligently on our small, three octave organ, but it wasn’t long before I had to pretend to play notes that weren’t there. There wasn’t money for a real piano. There was hardly money for lessons. Besides, my sister J, who had been taking ballet lessons, was showing natural talent. She would walk around the house like a Prima ballerina with a book on her head, and while washing the dishes suddenly drop into a deep plie. No, there was definitely no money for a piano. I don’t remember being overly bothered at the time. I joined our church’s youth choir and got involved with anything musical offered at school.
But as childhood memories often do, they influence the choices we make as parents. When we started our family, I was emphatic that our children have their choice of extra curricular activities. While they chose everything from Irish Dance to Tae Kwon Do, the consistent thread that wove through our children’s lives was a musical one. They all chose an instrument, several in some cases, and we made sacrifices to give them all lessons. After school, our house was a cacophony of sound; piano, violin, flute, sax, guitar, drums, to name a few but for some reason, it was when our son Mitchell played his cello, that I was touched the deepest.
One evening, as I was preparing dinner, Mitchell started to practise his cello. Scales first, steadily travelling up and down the fingerboard. Then he started to play an achingly beautiful piece called, “The Swan.” Low, deep resonating notes, contrasted with heart breaking, high phrases that left me in tears. I could feel my father’s presence in the doorway, between where Mitchell was playing in the living room and where I was in the kitchen.
My father was beaming.
One by one, our older children left for University. A year and a half ago, Mitchell completed his Science degree. Last March, he decided to follow a dream he had for many years to visit Australia. Without knowing anyone, he left on this big adventure and is currently turning newly met friends into family. This past fall, I was thinking how life would be this Christmas without Mitchell and one day, as I was busily cleaning the house, I spied his cello. A warm, brown elegant piece of wood, standing silently in our living room, like a sentinel observing all the hectic activity in our house.
I pass the cello dozens of times every day without giving it a thought but suddenly it called to me. Its quiet presence spoke volumes and I felt a deep loneliness for Mitchell. From the moment he was born, he was an easy baby and he grew into such a happy little boy. His big goal every day was to have a good time but that was often difficult with a mom who had other ideas. I pushed our kids (and often still do, habits are tough to break) to work hard, to be the best they can be. I’m realizing now that their best was just in “being” themselves.
Mitchell has been a good teacher!
The cello also called me to remember my father. The few memories I have of him are also fun loving. He just wanted to have a good time in life too. His smile is something I remember the most about him. It may be too late for me to “BE,” the best mom for our four older children, since they are now in their twenties but listening to the cello this fall has reminded me that creating our life’s opus takes a lifetime and I hope I’m not quite done yet.
There’s still lots of music in our house. Our four younger children have all followed in their older siblings footsteps. Our sixteen year old daughter, Grace, plays piano and our youngest daughters, Kathryn and Victoria, who are eight and are twins, play violin. Then, like an echo left by Mitchell, our youngest son William has chosen to play cello. He started playing four years ago, when he was six, and is quickly out growing his current cello. At his last lesson, his teacher asked me if we still had a full size cello in our house, as he’s almost ready for it.
The other day while the kids were practising their music, I was at the kitchen table dabbling with my writing. I heard some rustling coming from the living room and then a familiar greeting, from an old friend filled the air. It vibrated with a lingering, ringing note. Dropping my pen I went to investigate. William was seated with Mitchell’s big cello hugged close to his chest, the bow, gently resting on the strings, was getting ready for another stroke. Will smiled up at me and said, “I’m just seeing if it fits me yet.” I didn’t respond, I just nodded and smiled back. I could feel Dad in the room grinning too and when Mitchell hears this story, I know he will be glad to share his cello with his brother.
Because when the cello calls you have to listen.
~The End~
Our son William (centre of picture) at the Carriage House Orchestra’s Christmas performance at the Rotary Carol Festival….Christmas 2019…next year he will be playing the bigger “Cello.”
Dear family and friends, I hope you enjoyed my Christmas story this year and as the season of light arrives, you and your family have a joyous holiday. Before I close, I want to share a song I first heard years ago when we took our children to see this movie in the theatre. The music and lyrics are the PERFECT way to end this post. The song is from the movie, “The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian,” and is called, “The Call, (no need to say goodbye)” One of the phrases is, “I’ll come back when you call me,” and if you are ever missing anyone, or have lost anyone, I think those words will resonate with you, for all we have to do is remember, and our loved one is with us again.
Wasn’t that amazing!!!
Going to Australia…”It started out as a feeling, which grew into a hope,”…music from “The Call.”Merry Christmas Dad! “No need to say Goodbye!” The magic in the box is that we are always together when we want to be
A wonderful way to say, “Merry Christmas to all….to my sweet son Mitchell in Australia…I’m soooo proud of you!!!! and to remember my Dad…love you always….I’m your opus!
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Much pleasure thou can’st give me; O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Much pleasure thou can’st give me; How often has the Christmas tree Afforded me the greatest glee! O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Much pleasure thou can’st give me. ~Traditional German Folk Song~
Welcome back and Happy Holidays!
How’s the Christmas decorating going in your house? Do you have your tree up yet? Today, I wanted to share the story of the search for our 2019 Christmas tree, for it was fraught with indecision. With our thoughts going towards creating a simpler Christmas, with a less consumer driven bent, we went back and forth over which path to take.
Artificial tree, cultured tree, Christmas farm tree, or no tree at ALL!
Gasp!
Before I travel too far into this story, I thought I would share what I discovered about why we put up Christmas trees anyway. Where the heck did this tradition begin? Bringing evergreens into the home at this time of the year has gone back centuries, but it wasn’t until the 19th century, when Prince Albert, (Queen Victoria’s husband) who was German- born, brought his childhood tradition, of the decorated Christmas tree, to England. Soon every home in Britain had a tree bedecked with candles, sweets, fruit, homemade decorations and small gifts.
Prince Albert, German born, brought the tradition of Christmas Trees to his wife Queen Victoria and to the rest of Britain in the 19th century
And with that, a Christmas tradition began.
Going back even further, it’s believed that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. While he was walking home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he saw a breathtaking sight; stars twinkling brightly through the evergreens. Wanting to share this beauty with his family, he brought a tree into his home and set lit candles among the branches.
As the shortest day of the year approaches, when darkness prevails, it’s understandable that we want to wrap ourselves in light. Travelling even further in time, way back in history in Northern Europe, the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated with evergreens as a symbol of everlasting life.
In my personal history, my family always had a real Christmas tree. Today I spoke with my oldest sister B and she travelled down memory lane with me, reminiscing over Christmases when our Dad was still alive. The family would all pile into the big, old Buick and head out of our little town of Hope and into the woods. My Dad, Mom and three older sisters would all tromp through the snow looking for that elusive Christmas tree. B said that Dad was choosy too, so sometimes they had to hike for a bit.
Our Christmas tree in Hope…probably 1964…our last Christmas with Dad
That story reminded me of the movie, “Christmas Vacation,” when the character, “Clark Griswold,” (played by Chevy Chase) took his family on a winter quest to find the perfect Christmas tree. Finally, when everyone was freezing to death, the dad, Clark, sees THE tree at last. The choir starts to sing and the tree glitters brilliantly. That’s when their youngest son, Rusty, asks his Dad, “Did you bring a saw?” If you want a good laugh, click the link below. The clip is entitled,”The Griswold’s Christmas Tree.” This movie came out thirty years ago and is one of our family’s traditions, as it heralds the Christmas season into our home.
I was young when Dad died but I do have flashes of memory from our last Christmases together and the Christmas tree played a prominent part in the joy and excitement I felt. Of course, in those days, the tree industry was not the massive commercial industry it is today. There were no Christmas tree lots or even artificial Christmas trees in the stores. If you were to drive around our little town at Christmas you would see freshly cut fir trees standing smack dab in the middle of everyone’s “picture window,” decorated with balls, silver tinsel and shining brightly, with colourful lights.
A picture of me in front of our organ and our decorated mirror
It was a simpler time.
My Dad, sister J and me in the kerchief…precious times with our Dad
Our tree was far from what people would call perfect these days. It filled our tiny living room with long branches that were sparsely spaced, but oh the scent of that fragrant fir, fills me with memories of Christmas to this day.
The first Christmas tree I had as an adult was an artificial tree. Let’s call it what it was, a fake tree. I’ll never forget being five months pregnant with our first baby and going to our local Eaton’s Department Store and choosing the tree they had on display. I also bought boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations to match the decor in our newly built house. (lots of pink and seafoam green, ugh now!)
Our first Christmas tree came from Eatons Department store and was an artificial tree….December 89…waiting for our first baby to arrive in (March)
What made it special as I look back now, was having my mom come over and help me decorate. She loved our new house and all the matching ornaments since most of her life she had had to make due and be careful with her money. That Christmas, the joy I felt was from the anticipation of waiting for our new baby and decorating my first Christmas tree with my mom.
My husband D was out of town when mom and I decorated the tree…he loved it!Mom always made Christmas so fun and knew it was all about family…she spent many Christmas mornings with us for years….our cat Ninja loved mom…but not the flash in the cameraOur family Christmas ’89…my sisters, their partners, and mom in the back right cornerOur beautiful little kids… Christmas ’89…Merry Christmas to my niece and nephews….where is my youngest niece N?
Once our children started to arrive and our family grew, we continued to put up our pre-lit fake tree in the living room. Having young children and a cat meant that I had to decorate the tree myself, ensuring all decorations were above cat’s paws and pudgy toddler’s hands.
Knowing we wanted to create lasting memories for our children, we decided early on to take them out to choose a real Christmas tree. For many years we went to a local gardening store, that turned their whole interior space into a Christmas wonderland. Our children excitedly helped us choose a cultured tree and then we would allow them to pick a keepsake ornament as well.
A keepsake cello ornament for our son MitchellOur son Harrison arrived on Dec 19th 1998…this is his baby’s 1st Christmas ornament
Once the tree was set up in our family room, the children were allowed to decorate as they saw fit. In addition to the keepsake ornaments, they filled the tree with decorations they had made at school. Over the years this tree got very full. Some years we would make popcorn strings for garland. A few years ago, our younger children made dozens of white paper snowflakes and colourful chains. When I looked at our artificial tree with all the matching ornaments and compared it with the real tree with all the handmade ornaments, I bet you can guess which one I liked better.
But as family change and grow, they also evolve and with the arrival of our youngest three children came a heightened environmental awareness. I know ironic hey! Here we were over populating the world with children and suddenly we were hyper focused on the footprint we were leaving. Once our youngest were out of the baby stage and I had more energy, I started to critically look at each aspect of our lives. When Christmas rolled around, I decided I was sick of our fake tree.
It screamed of plastic to me and didn’t represent my changing values.
In addition, it was a pain to bring in and out pf storage, it was difficult to assemble and the twinkling lights, all wired into the branches, were not all twinkling any longer. I was thrilled, when at our last garage sale someone felt they had found a treasure in our tree. A lot of our fancy Christmas tree decorations went with that tree. Goodbye pink and seafoam green ornaments!
In the last few years with minimalism becoming more popular, many people are reevaluating each aspect of their consumption and possessions….the Christmas tree is also being scrutinized asking themselves, “do we buy fake or real this year?”
As our old artificial tree left our property, being hauled up our driveway in a big box by two people, I felt a sudden sense of freedom. It’s funny hey, how a fake Christmas tree can lay the foundation for your family’s traditions, values and also once gone, give you the space to create a richer life.
A simpler life.
Now I had space in the storage area and space in our life to create new traditions…..but what were they going to look like?
Several years ago now, we started a new tradition of going up into the mountains and cutting down our own Christmas tree. The glistening snow, the scent of pine, cedar and fir, the fresh, crisp air all contributed to create that old fashion feeling I remembered from my childhood. I thought I was onto something, certainly it got us away from the consumer driven industry but my concerns for the environment had me thinking twice about our decision to cut real trees.
I wanted to plant more trees and not cut them down.
As I shared some of my concerns with my sister J recently, she told me how she and her husband B, visit our local municipal hall at the end of Earth day each April and then plant the seedling trees on their property. That got me thinking about how we could go up the mountains and plant a few trees each spring that would more than replace the one(s) we cut each Christmas. I was moving closer to knowing where we would get our tree from this year but I still wasn’t 100% there yet.
At the end of November and into December I stayed busy decorating our house with evergreen boughs from our yard, pine cones and dehydrated oranges. I made festive pillows and hauled all of our keepsake Christmas decor out of storage and decorated our house with twinkling lights and garland.
Everywhere we went we saw trees….here at Canadian Tire there is a Trinity Valley tree lot….do we purchase our tree and support a local industry?Buying the kids new skates we found more trees…the one on the right plays music too….seeing all these perfect trees all lit did not bring me joy…in fact I felt a bit nauseous when I saw the prices and thought about how many people we could feed with the price of one of those trees….I was getting closer to knowing which way I wanted to go this year.
When I brought out the nativity set, passed down from my parents, it pushed me closer to the direction I wanted to go with regards to finding our tree. The wooden stable had been built by my Dad. He had stained it and even put little bits of straw in the animal’s feeding troughs. Above where baby Jesus would lay, he had even wired in a large bulb so the baby would shine brightly. (I’m looking for a large bulb to replace the old one which burnt out ages ago…they don’t make big Christmas bulbs like this anymore…everything is LED) My mom had filled the little stable with a little plaster nativity set, probably from Sears. I loved the nativity set as a child and as I set each figure in it’s place, I knew I wanted to recreate, a simple, REAL, Christmas for our children.
My Dad made this stable and my mom found the nativity set pieces….a reminder of simpler Christmases from the past and what Christmas means to me….A Baby, God’s love and everlasting life
Then driving home in the dark one early evening, my ten year son William and our twin, eight year old daughters, Kathryn and Victoria, were noticing all the beautiful trees decorated around our little community. “When are we getting our tree mom?” they all chimed. I shared with them my feelings over not wanted to cut down a real tree this year. Then William, in simple straight forth language said, “but mom, won’t we have the tree chipped after Christmas and don’t they turn that into the stuff for your garden?”
That was it! We were going real and the tree would continue to live on helping to grow other things, in my garden and my neighbours gardens.
So after weeks of going back and forth weighing our options, we finally decided that we would head up the mountains once again for our tree. Last Sunday, we all dressed warmly, filled a large Thermos with hot cocoa and crammed a container with Christmas cookies. Then we piled into our old fashion, Honda sleigh and sang Christmas songs all the way to the mountains.
” O Christmas Tree, o Christmas Tree Your boughs can teach a lesson That constant faith and hope sublime Lend strength and comfort through all time O Christmas Tree, o Christmas Tree Your boughs can teach a lesson”
From the inside of the van, a quick snap of the road we travel up into the mountains
It was a beautiful, blue sky, cold day when we went up the mountain and we weren’t alone. When we hit the logging road, where cutting trees is legal with a permit, there were several families like us, choosing their Christmas tree. We drove slowly up the road, the kids and I both exclaiming, “oh there’s one,” ” and there’s another.” When we came to a stretch where there were several choices, we got out of the van and tromped up and down the road.
The kids, just like their grandpa Clark were careful in their selection
Finally we narrowed the choice down to a large thirteen foot tree. It was perfect! Before David cut the tree though each of us touch the tree and we said a little blessing of thanks. (p.s…D left a good stump so the tree could send an off shoot in the spring)
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree how lovely are your branches.
While David cut and wrapped up the tree, the kids climbed the hill above us. By the time the tree was safely in our van the kids were at least fifty feet up the hill. Their voices and laughter echoed in the crisp air.
If you look way up the hill you can see the kids with their little Santa hats on“Come on down kids, we are having some hot cocoa” I yelled. You should have seen them scramble down the hill….I think William was first to make it down.
I finally lured them back down by waving the Thermos and container of cookies. They slid and skidded, laughing all the way down the hill and finally plopped onto a snowbank to have their treats. We clicked our cups of hot cocoas in celebration of finding our 2019 Christmas tree and while enjoying the moment, several cars and trucks carrying trees too passed us, honking and giving us the thumbs up as they passed with big smiles on their faces. I felt like we were a secret community of people who had all found the real joy this holiday season.
It was a magical experience. It took me right back to my childhood when life was simpler and everything seemed brighter. The Druids knew what they were doing when they brought evergreens into their temples as a symbol of everlasting life.
Perfect…a bit tall but now we had some extra branches to decorate the attic withI snapped this picture the evening we put up the tree….Grace was playing the piano as I made dinner so I often close the door otherwise it’s really loud…but the lights glowed beautifully through the french doorAnother pic after the tree was finally installed….the simple things, like a tree, a fire, family and a good book make the Christmas season specialOur angel touches the roof and the branches fill the whole corner of our living room…this is a perfect tree. I saved some baby’s breath and hydrangea to fill in between the branches. I put the lights on and then the kids and I decorated the tree….it’s still not totally done. When the older kids come home next week I hope they will put some popcorn garland and some new paper snowflakes on the branches. NOTICE…the toys hanging off the bottom branches for our cat Ryuuki. The kids insisted on it!
How about you? What brings you joy? What memories from your childhood linger and how are you creating those for yourself and your family this holiday season?
As you think of Christmases past, click on the link below and hear the song, “O Christmas Tree/ Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Oh that was fun and also took me back to my childhood. I always loved A Charlie Brown’s Christmas special. I want to “Thank you” for coming to visit today. As we move closer to the winter solstice, may your heart be filled with light and joy. May the simple gifts of the season come to you and your family.
Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessing from Hope
P.S. If you wanted to know where our daughter Grace was in the Christmas tree hunt this year, the night before we went up the mountains, she had had her best three friends over to celebrate her 17th birthday party. Since the girls had stayed up into the wee hours of the night, she opted to stay home and work on her piano, do her homework and NOT tromp through the snow, but she was with us in spirit and appreciated the tree when we brought it home. Here’s a picture from her FAMILY birthday party
Happy 17th Birthday Grace…..December Babies are the best!Instead of making cards, we have been writing sentiments on our blackboard….the cake on her actually birthday was a tiramisu cake…but for her friend party I made the chocolate mocha cheesecake…the recipe is in my dessert section of my blog…yummy!
Have you seen those decorative Christmas pillows with whimsical quotes and images? Last Christmas when I was in Homesense I saw the throw pillow of my dreams. It was white and had the word, “Hope” in gold glittery letters. In my mind I had images of an all white farmhouse, with white walls, white furniture, white dishes, and that pillow would have looked PERFECT on my white sectional….the one I didn’t have.
Yet!
Notice in the picture above the pine cones….which I wrote about recently in my blog, “Gloves and Pinecones,”
I have often thought about that pillow. I could have picked it up, although my husband D was with me when I saw it and he often reminds me of my minimalist path when I start vibrating in the household furnishing section of stores. We did not buy it. The thought of it, however, has stayed with me since last Christmas.
I believe the Universe shows us things that we might, or might not want to manifest in our lives. The things we want to manifest are TOTALLY within reach. All we have to do is;
Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and you shall find,
Knock and the door will be open unto you. ~Matthew 7:7~
(sometimes the timing, or what we eventually receive may be a bit different than what we ask for….but trust that it’s coming!)
A few posts ago, I started talking about creating a simpler Christmas, one that was less consumer driven. I’m proud that we have stayed true to our intent, decorating with nature inspired items, really thinking before we made any purchases and moving towards experiences over things. It was when I looked at our family room though, with it’s extremely well worn brown, leather sofa and love seat, dark wicker chairs( with faded cushion) and dark wicker coffee table, that I decided the whole room needed a face lift. This is after all where our family spends all their time together.
This is our gathering room.
I started by taking a picture of the family room and tried to look at it with a critical eye. An eye that had never seen the room before. This was a good exercise and I immediately knew the dark wicker had to go. Thankfully, the weather wasn’t too cold and my husband D was not too busy, so he agreed to spray the wicker chairs and coffee table for me in the garage.
Here are the wicker chairs that I bought from Pier 1 years ago…the cushions were so faded…the coffee table in the foreground is wonderful as it stores all our games and puzzles
While he was busy repainting the dark wicker, I decided the pillows needed MAJOR work. I could have gone to our local fabric shop but I knew that buying material was going to cost a small fortune. Instead, I went to our downtown dollar store.
It’s not a chain, dollar store, so it has unique items in it. The store is called “Scattered Goods,” and there is something there for everyone. Do you have one of these in your town? It’s the kind of store that is piled from the floor to the ceiling with STUFF and you could spend the whole day roaming the aisles and not see it all. While there, I found two large Jacquard dining room table clothes (one black and one red) and a half dozen red plaid dish clothes. I also picked up some red and black felt squares. I found a package of gold bells as well, since D and I had just watched, “Its a Wonderful Life.” When I hear bells ringing, I believe angels are getting their wings.
I wanted to hear bells ringing all through the holidays!
The table clothes were $13.99 each but they were huge so I knew I could make quite a few pillows from them. The plaid drying dish clothes were an amazing deal at only $1.29 each and the cotton is quite heavy. They would make perfect pillow covers. The felt was only $.39 cents a sheet and the bells were a bit over a dollar. I took my loot home and gathered all my old worn out pillows and started taking off their pillow covers.
One evening after the kids were tucked into bed, I pulled out my sewing machine, set it up in front of the T.V., put on my favourite Christmas movie and started sewing new pillow covers.
I love the ending of the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” when George Bailey (James Stewart) finally realizes how good his life is….and he cries out, “I want to live again, please God, let me live again.” This movie is a yearly reminder to me how blessed I am. Making these simple pillows reminds me that I’m blessed to have a family to enjoy them in our cozy, gathering room.
The really BIG and cool thing I did this year was using my computer and photo copier to create quotes and images for my pillows. Have you heard of taping a thin, white piece of cotton onto a piece of computer paper and then printing off the Christmas saying you loved best….and the image too? I was really worried my photo copier was going to get all bungled up with the material on the paper but it DIDN’T!!!
I found various quotes and images that I liked and put them on Word It’s kind of hard to see in this picture but I cut a piece of white material and taped it to the computer paper. I ironed it down so it was smooth.I held my breath as the sheets went through my ink jet photo copier…..and it went through!!!! Yeah!Here’s one of the quotes I printed off using large font and colour in my Word setting
Before all sides of my pillows were sewed together, I sewed the felt pieces with the quotes and images onto the front side of the pillow and then sewed up the sides. The result was absolutely spectacular and the cost was ridiculously inexpensive. The wicker chair pillows cost $3.00 dollars each to make. I would have easily paid $20.00 to $25.00 dollars at Winners or Homesense for pillows like this. Note: the white material was something I had on hand; just pieces from old sheets that I was saving to use for zero waste bags but they worked perfectly for the pillow quotes and images.
Take a look at how they turned out……
Ryuuki loves the new red Jacquard cusions….what an improvement!
and then I did the leather chair cushion…
And as if that weren’t enough, I decided to cut up the red felt and turn them into poinsettia leaves, using the gold bells for the centre of the flower. I sewed these onto the black pillows I had made from the Jacquard table cloth material. At first I was really concerned over the shape of the poinsettia petals so I made some patterns using computer paper. Some big petals, some medium ones and some small ones were used to make a layered look. I cut the felt out and sewed the petals together finishing the poinsettia with bells sewed into the centre.
The result was really amazing and the best part is that I can take off the petals and turn the pillow into a year round decorative pillow. (Some day I would like to get a new sofa and love seat, maybe in off white, cream or light grey, so these pillows will look amazing on that colour) but for now this helped to update and make our room cozy for the holidays.
I’m grateful for a creative heart!
The poinsettia pillows, along with a cozy, plaid blanket we had down in our Hobbit’s Hollow and the room is ready for the holidays!And yes, this is the gathering room of a minimalist…everything in it are things I love…books, pictures of family etc…they all spark JOY!
Above, the new cushions, the newly spray painted chairs and table, a few glittery lights, a nature inspired candle holder and we have an updated gathering room
And as if that was not enough to make this room a bit brighter and updated, I talked my husband D into getting some fireplace friendly spray paint to FINALLY get rid of the brass look to our two gas fireplaces…what do you think?
Fireplace in the family room BEFOREFireplace in the family room AFTER….HUGE IMPROVEMENTThe living room fireplace BEFORE After the high heat spray paint application…..brass from the 90’s is all gone!
And the last thing I had D paint was our family room wall….it was a pewter grey but too blue in my opinion. We had the Home Depot paint people add some dark grey tint to the rest of the paint can, which is now a custom colour and we have been calling it, “tranquil seas.” I like it better and although it looks quite blue in these pictures, since we get a lot of natural light from our southern exposed windows, it actually looks dark grey during the day. Hey, it’s not the white of my dreams but it’s more practical with our family. What I love about paint is that it can change the mood of the room so easily.
(when I was doing all this sewing, I was drinking my eggnog latte’s…Cheers!)
Oh that was fun! I’m really proud too that I kept things simple. I stayed true to my intention to focus on a less consumer driven decor and while it’s not interior decorator perfect, it will welcome our family home. I hope everyone will gather to watch some movies and play some games on the newly painted wicker coffee table.
I bought the game above for our ten year old son William this Christmas….I like the idea of gifts of experiences, games, things to get our kids making memories together
By the way, if you aren’t a big sewer or don’t have a sewing machine, when you use dish clothes they are already finished on all the sides so you just need to sew one side and that can be done by hand. There are lots of YouTube videos on sewing simple pillow covers. I used zippers, seam ripped them out from old pillows, to save money and reuse items, but you can also just sew all four sides as well.
I was really inspired by a Youtube channel and thought you may like to see it too, that is if you like that shabby chic farmhouse style. The Youtube channel is called, “The White Cottage Company.” The owner of the channel, Mary, is so creative and thrifty. She also reminds me that decorating is not rocket science and each of us has the ability to create. If you want to be inspired check out her channel.
Did Mary make you want to get a can of white spray paint? Ha! Slowly, slowly, I think I will be moving in that area but white with kids scares me. I’d love to hear what you think of decorating with all white…okay, maybe a bit of greenery and red this time of year, but white for the most part. Does it make you feel peaceful too?
Well, it’s time to say goodbye but I hope to get a few more posts done before Christmas to share with you. Our Christmas tree story for sure and also a story I want to dedicate to my son, Mitchell, who in in Australia this Christmas and won’t be home. If you have time, come back for a visit.
Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Twenty five years ago we landscaped the bottom of our third acre lot. Our oldest daughter, Alyssa, was about to start kindergarten and we wanted to have a peaceful spot where she could wait for the school bus in the morning, and a welcoming place to greet her upon returning home. One of the trees we planted in that area was a Paper Bark Birch.
Birch are lovely, graceful, deciduous trees with pale bark and bright, heart-shaped leaves. Their species is called, “Betula,” which in Latin means, “to shine.” The Native peoples of Canada built their birch bark canoes from these trees and you can even tap them. Oh yes, the maple tree is not the only tree you can tap for syrup, the birch tree’s sap has a wintergreen flavour that many people prefer. Birch sap is commonly known for its detoxifying, diuretic, cleansing and purifying properties, and can be enjoyed fresh straight out of the tree.
Some visitors to our home over the years would exclaim, “Oh you would have a perfect view of the lake if not for that tree.” I never saw it that way. Trees were equally magnificent to view in my opinion. In the summer the soft green branches framed the view brilliantly, adding more colour and movement to the picture. In the winter, the white trunk and bare branches glistened in contrast with a crisp, blue sky day.
This winter our birch still stands tall with her gleaming bare branches…to the left of our view
Also, I had a sense that our birch was a strong sentinel watching over our children as they grew. Although it was planted below the safety our our children’s fenced in play area, the shade of this tree in summer kept them cool. The children would pick up the thin branches that would sometimes fall and carry them in their hands making swords and various poking sticks. Or they would gather the smaller twigs and make faerie houses, encouraging wee folk to visit after our children were called in for dinner.
In spring each year, once the snow melted, our children liked to go and stand near the birch, on the large boulder we call the wishing rock, for it has a white circle in the middle. Our children would close their eyes tightly and upon opening them they would smile widely, knowing their wish would come true. I like to think that our birch and our wishing rock created strong roots for the love of nature in our children’s hearts.
I was so sad when our birch tree died last year.
Driving the kids home from school the other day I snapped this picture of our birch tree…the wishing rock is just to the left of the tree
I have to say that I feel a sense of guilt over the demise of our tree, since I’ve been so busy in the last ten years saying goodbye to my mom and raising our children, that I haven’t been caring for our trees and plants as I used to before our family life got so hectic. It was too late though when we realized a spray head in our irrigation system was not working, by that time, we lost two pyramidal cedars and I believe, our birch tree could not with stand the drought either.
What is remarkable to me, however, is that even though this beautiful tree is gone, she continues to give to our family and to the birds who still alight on her bare branches.
Last year, some of those dry branches started to fall which allowed us to enjoy many summer evenings eating gooey s’mores around our fire pit. David made a lamp for our oldest daughter, Alyssa, using one of the larger branches for the base of the lamp. Alyssa lit up when she opened her gift. I could tell from her appreciative smile that she would treasure that piece from the birch, taking a bit of her childhood to her new home by the sea.
For my sister C’s birthday last year, I made a birch branch inspired wind chime, using the metal bracelets she had given me and copper and aluminum pipes in varying lengths. I wish I had taken a picture of that creation as I thought it turned out pretty cool. The BEST part though was the three foot birch branch that held it all together.
This Christmas our tree is giving once again. I have many of the white branches throughout our nature inspired Christmas decorations. This year I talked my husband David into helping me make candle holders using the larger branches.
He picked an inch and half drill bit and after cutting the branches to varying lengths, he drilled in the centre of the branch to create a hold deep enough to place a votive candle.
And we just started cutting the birch branches into various sizesDavid looking serious as we cut the birch into candle holder sized pieces…he always says, just tell me what you want. I think I need to learn to use power tools!I literally threw this one together; pine, cedar and fir, along with the giving tree’s branches…added a few cinnamon scented pine cones and we had a front door basketI’ve added bits of birch in many of our Christmas centre pieces
They are lovely on their own, as singular birch candle holders with some pine cones or greenery around them. For the room where our family gathers I wanted a bigger arrangement. I took three of the varying sized birch candle holders, wrapped them in jute and circled them with cinnamon spiced pine cones. A magical combination!
Placing the three candle holders on a red plate and adding some pine cones was the perfect touch to remind me of the magic of nature…especially our trees
And so…this tree keeps giving.
This winter I hope you can take a relaxing walk in nature. If you spy a tree that resonates with you, give it a hug and whisper thank you. I’m sure you will feel an energetic embrace back. When we are heightened to it, the energy from our trees sparkle and generously give what we need to keep going.
I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today. I know how busy life can be this time of year. I hope I have inspired you to carry a branch of gratitude in your heart and maybe decorate your house this holiday season with your own creation from nature. In upcoming posts I’d like to share more of what we have been doing to keep this holiday simple and sacred. I also have another tree story~ our 2019 Christmas tree adventure…coming soon.
Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful this holiday season.
The Christmas lights are up, the season of light is upon us.
Welcome back and thanks for joining me in celebrating the season of light. On the heel of my last post entitled, “Unplugging the Christmas Machine,” all about my desire to create a simpler yuletide, I want to share a few things we’ve been doing to slow down and smell the roses,…..
or rather the pine trees.
Last week was busy as per usual but on Wednesday, when we don’t have any after school activities, I picked the kids up at 2:30 pm and asked them if they wanted to go on an adventure. I knew it would have to be quick too since we had to pick Grace up from the high school at 3 pm, but my three youngest all perked up over the idea of a spontaneous excursion.
With excited eyes, the kids and I quickly drove to a large park in our area, however, at the entrance there was a sign warning of a bear sighting in the park. Do I take the kids and chance a visit with a sleepy bear I wondered?
We decided to risk it.
Our feet crunched on the gravel path as we ventured forward. Our lungs filled with the oxygen rich air. The sun was getting very low in the sky and in the 30 minutes we were there, the temperature dropped noticeably. As we walked briskly on the path, the children told me about their day with animated voices, laughing easily over the days events.
Why didn’t we do this more often I thought.
We could have continued on that path until we reached the look out over the lake but knowing Grace would be waiting for us, we turned around and headed back. It was halfway back that the kids spied piles of pine cones under one of the biggest pine trees in the park. Victoria, a natural artist, started talking about how cool it would be to make something with the pine cones. As we gathered a pile of them, choosing the biggest, most symmetrical cones, we talked about things we could do with them.
William remembered the gnome his cello teacher had given him made from a pine cone and he thought that would be fun to make. Kathryn and Victoria, always thinking of the welfare of animals, thought it would be great to spread the pine cones with peanut butter and roll them in bird seed to feed the many birds who winter over in our area. I was thinking about fragrant pine cones decorating our Christmas tree and table tops. Thankfully, I had a cloth bag in my pocket, which we quickly filled with our treasures.
Our time was up though and with a bulging bag we started running, taking turns carrying our “Canada bag” full of nature’s magic. Although I never said anything to the children, the whole time I was warily keeping watch for any signs of a bear. I casually drop the stick I had carried when we hit the red gate, signalling the parking lot ahead.
Whew!
Thankfully we never saw any signs of a bear and when we finally made it back to our car we carried with us a lovely late Autumn memory and a bag full of fall’s bounty.
(Above, William, Victoria and Kathryn showing their pine cone treasures…notice the bear warning on the gate)
That short foray into nature gave us all the energy we needed to get through the rest of our week. It was busy too with two music concerts. One at our children’s school and another at the Music school where our three youngest take lessons and are involved with the youth orchestra.
Victoria, William and Kathryn before their music concert….the “Second String Trio,” played really well and all the hard work paid off…restored by a mid week hike into the forest
Then to herald in December, both William and Grace sang in their respective school choirs at our little communities outdoor Christmas light up event. It had been a hectic week but that thirty minutes in the woods mid week restored us and kept us going for the rest of the week too. Imagine how much energy we would have if we allowed nature to lay roots in our soul every day?
Between all of the week’s activities I started to decorate our house for the holidays. I will share a few of the projects with you in my upcoming posts but last week was all about pine cones. First, I soaked them in my large laundry room sink and then in batches, I dried them in the oven at 200 degrees F for a few hours. As they dried, they filled our house with the most intoxicating scent of pine.
Once dried, they opened up beautifully and were lovely and big. I sprinkled some cinnamon essential oils on the bulk of them and added them to the greenery I had collected from our yard the week before. (I saved some for the craft projects and bird cone feeders that the children want to make)
In addition to the pine cones, I dried some slices of orange and when both the pine cones and oranges were dried I had fun decorating our house with the greenery, pine cones, dried oranges and birch branches, from our dead birch tree at the bottom of our property.
I had cleaned the living room but it needed a little something to pull it all together…something from nature does it every time!Baskets filled with white birch limbs/branches are hot in the decorating world right now. Thankfully I have an abundance of them falling off our dead birch tree at the bottom of our yard. I could have made a small fortune if I had been able to chop the tree down before Christmas.
Such simple things bring us the greatest joy and they don’t cost anything or take up much time to create. Also, being outside with those we love are the BEST winter memories!
Well, that is the “Pine Cone” portion of my post but when I was bundling up our little girls to play outside on the weekend, seeing their bright red gloves reminded me of an acronym for winter well being that I had read recently. I’ve altered it a bit.
GLOVES!
G stands for “gratitude.” Counting our blessings and realizing everything we need is already abundantly ours, is the corner stone to our sense of well being. I’ll never forget watching the movie, “The Shift,” with Dr. Wayne Dyer. As he rose in the wee hours of the morning to write, the first thing he would say was, “Thank you.” He was a strong spiritual mentor for me and now that he is gone, I like to continue greeting the morning with those precious two words. If you want to read more on the effects of gratitude on the brain click this link. And that reminds me of another shift in perspective Dr. Dyer left me and that was his quote, “change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change. ” Thank you Dr. D!
If you have never seen the movie, “The Shift,” take some time and allow it to flow into your life….something just may Shift!
L stands for “love.” When we remember that we are connected to all things and people on this earth and each of us can make a difference by spreading love around, then we will start to feel a humming vibration of peace. At the end of last week, both my sister C and my best friend T, took time out of their busy lives to send me inspirational messages. C sent me several emails and a picture of a flock of swans swimming in the icy river below their house. Seeing them reminded me of gracefully moving with the flow of life. (All hope for a healthy planet is not lost C…thanks for reminding me of that)
Then a snail mail package (remember those?) arrived the same day from my dear friend T. She had updated me since we last saw one another on my birthday the month before but mostly the package was full of love.
I like to believe that T and I have a sacred contract with one another……she is always there keeping me on my path…thank you T for the snail mail package with newsy letter and cards!T is like an Aunt to my kids…she was with me as I dreamed about them years ago and didn’t poo poo the idea that there were still souls waiting to join our family. Love you T
Little did my sister C or T know that when they were reaching out to me that it would send ripples out into the world and keep me going too. I got through the week and we all had energy to give love to a stray cat who showed up on our door step. She won’t come in but she is grateful for the food we leave out for her. Love for all sentient beings changes the vibration on our earth. (p.s. our kids haven’t given up on the idea of her joining our family…or at least rigging up a warm place for her to sleep outside)
O stands for “organic.” This applies to everything in our life from food that comes as close to nature (without the use of toxins) to natural clothing. If we take steps in surrounding ourselves also with an organic lifestyle, we will find our spirit is restored. Something as simple as decorating our house with pine cones can be the seeds for our well being in an organic way.
Victoria holding some of our dried pine cones and Kathryn is holding the candle holder we made from our birch tree branches…more about that in the next upcoming post Filling our home with natural organic sources creates a healthy environment
V stands for “Vegetables.” Our mothers were wise when they told us to eat our veggies. We are always looking for the magic pill; to make us healthier, make us younger, give us more energy, give us glowing skin and hair. It’s really simple. I have a secret to tell you, “Eat your veggies.”
E stands for “Exercise.” Anything that gets your heart pumping and your blood flowing is great but the best kind of exercise is the kind that happens when you don’t realize you are doing it. So get out and take your dog for a run, ask a friend to join you cross country skiing, or head out with the kids and the toboggans once it snows. (Pick a steep hill so your hamstrings get a work out on the way back up.) Years ago, when I was a part time fitness instructor, I used to think that my daily exercise practise was my path to my spirit but in fact it was the feeling of well being that I would achieve when exercising that connected me to my soul energy. Our bodies crave that connection.
Grace, William, Kathryn and Victoria, out for a walk on our mountain…you would never know that this large pond is just over the hill from our house, filled with ducks and wildlife, being outside exercises is good for our soul.My husband D works so hard but he’s starting to walk daily and is noticing that he has more energy for everything. Exercise is part of the key to feeling well in our lives
And the last letter in Gloves is S. S stands for “Sleep.” Most of us don’t get enough but we need it to restore and reset our energy so we can live our best life. At the end of day to help your body unwind, light a candle, have a bath, crawl into a comfy bed and allow your body to slow down. Turn off all electronics and tune in to the natural rhythm of your breath. In and out, in and out, allow it to bring peace at the end of your day. Quiet your mind. Say your prayers. Drift into a deep, restful sleep. This is the time of year for us to hibernate along with the bears.
And if that picture got you yawning and you think you might be ready for some sleep, I thought I would end this post with a link to a YouTube video that my oldest daughter Alyssa recently found for me/us. When she was a baby I used to play a tape with ocean waves, sea gulls and classical music. Everyday at nap time I would tell her, “settle down and take a rest, sometimes quiet time is best.” Then I would press play on her tape machine and she would drift off into a blissful slumber. She was always a good sleeper and I often think that tape inspired her to play the piano and also live near the ocean where she says she feels most at home. I have to agree.
So the next time you want some quiet time, grab a quilt and play this video.
Thank you! for visiting with me today. A few of my upcoming posts will continue on the theme of celebrating the holiday season with simple ideas, reminding us all once again to slow down and nourish our body and our soul.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Can you believe it’s only a month until Christmas? It doesn’t feel as if we are moving any closer to the winter solstice, since in my part of the world, (Okanagan Valley, in southern British Columbia) we are experiencing a lovely, sunny November. Usually it’s rainy, sometimes snowy, and definitely cold this time of year. The days are getting shorter though and our nights extremely chilly, still I’m not complaining. I have heaps of leaves to shred and compost directly into my garden, which is going to create light and fluffy soil next spring.
This fall I’ve been digging holes all over my garden, adding kitchen scraps and leaves and then covering them up….this is called trench composting and makes GREAT soil.Thank you to my sister J for the garlic bulbs…Victoria helped me plant them this fall…pointed side up!
I’ve been thinking of Christmas though. When you are the mom to eight children who’ve all enjoyed a few Christmas treats and surprises in the past, you have to start planning early. I’m absolutely thrilled to say that seven of our eight kids will be home for the holidays. Sadly, our son Mitchell won’t be able to come home but I’m happy he’s making friends in Australia, where he has been living since last March. I know wherever he is, joy will find him and wherever I am, a piece of him is always with me.
Anyway, with almost everyone coming home and only a month to go, I’ve been thinking about how I want to celebrate the season. I know we want to continue to move away from a consumer driven holiday, since we have been going down that path for several years now, but this year, I still don’t know how that will look. With my desire for a zero waste holiday, more vegetarian fare, and emphasis on spending time, instead of money, my intention is to unplug the Christmas machine.
While talking to people and doing workshops over the years, on how to create a more meaningful holiday, these two authors have written a book filled with thoughtful and practical advice on how to have a joy filled Christmas.
One of their workshop attendees shared this thought, “When spirituality leaves the holiday in favour of materialism, it leaves a very large hole.”
Spirituality means different things to different people, but in my case I was thinking about the magic of the season, versus the stuff and that resonated with me.
I particularly liked their Christmas Pledge. It read like this:
(Believing in the true Spirit of Christmas, I commit myself to:)
Remember those people who truly need my gifts
Express my love in more direct ways than gifts
Examine my holiday activities in the light of my deepest values
Be a peacemaker within my circle of family and friends
Rededicate myself to my spiritual growth
I’ve thought about each of the above statements and ways I could incorporate them into my holiday celebrations. For instance, this year we ordered seven poinsettia plants to give to our children’s teachers. All the funds raised will go to a less fortunate school’s parent advisory group in our area. That makes me really happy as it’s giving to those less fortunate. Also, I like the idea of giving a living plant to our children’s teachers as they help our children to bloom and grow and it’s in keeping with my concerns for the environment.
Then, like an affirmation that I was on the right path, this morning, while pulling apart my little girls bedding to be aired in the sunshine, I found my daughter’s holiday wish list hidden under her pillow.
It said, “Kathryn’s Christmas Wish list”
Whole family to come home
Flannel Sheets
Headbands
Arts and Craft (canvas, paints, etc.)
Slippers (bigger size)
2020 calendar (animal, cats, yoga cats)
new p.j.s (Christmas ones)
Chocolates
A Christmas surprise
A big huge empty box to play in
The first and last items on her list made me realize that what my daughter wants more than anything is to just be with her family and have open space to create the holiday of her dreams. Easy!~ I can make that happen, literally and figuratively.
Victoria and Kathryn icing the gingerbread cookies they make all by themselves on the weekend….and my girls are now big peppermint tea drinkers too!!Sunshine has been pouring into our house this November
It was her letter that inspired this blog post today. If we truly look inside our hearts, what do we REALLY want for the holidays?
I think we may get confused when we look outside our homes at what other people are choosing to do, and worse, when we venture into any retail outlet. (Why do we do that again???)
While I was doing some recent web surfing for ideas on how to decorate our house for the holidays in an organic and environmentally conscious manner I came across dozens, and I mean DOZENS, of You tube videos of Vloggers inviting you to come into their homes to watch them clean, decorate and then finally tour their home for the holidays. As a voyageur I couldn’t resist. I clicked on several of these links and was taken into another world.
Another world filled with twinkling lights, glitter, and the latest in Christmas decor. I was thinking, does this say, “have yourself a merry little Christmas?” For many it obviously does but I want something different. While I continued to read the book, “Unplug the Christmas Machine,” I realized that this was something I needed to figure out for myself. Each of us is a creator and when we turn inward, we find what is most meaningful to us. And that brings me to the last point on the Christmas Pledge, “To rededicate myself to my spiritual growth.”
Personally for me, it’s not about being in a church any longer, although our church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service is a sweet reminder of Christmas’s past, when I used to sing in the children’s choir after my Dad died and I needed faith so desperately. Or those Christmases when David and I were new parents, often with a December newborn in our arms. We were so grateful for our family. I wanted my children more than anything to hear the story of God’s love and let it fill them with peace and joy. Now, for me at least, I find my way back to my spirit, back to God, when I’m out in nature. I want more of that this holiday season. What would it look like for you?
Bringing nature in to decorate our house makes me happy
Today at my lunch time school gig, I read a story to the kindergarten class I supervise for an hour each day. I read them a story called, “Pig the Elf,” by Aaron Blabey. It’s a hilarious story of two dogs, one humble and sweet, the other greedy and rude. It illustrates beautifully how being grateful and gentle is an easier path, and yet, it’s fun to watch Pig, the Pug take a different approach to Christmas. It reminded me that no matter the path we take as people, and as parents, lessons abound and to just relax and enjoy the journey. Hopefully, an angel saves us. Check out the YouTube video below to hear the story. I hope it makes you laugh as much as my kindergarteners did at lunch today.
Well, at the very least I hope this blog post gets you thinking about how you want to spend your holidays and the memories you want to create for your family. In the next few weeks, I want to share our journey with you. As our days grow shorter and darkness descends, I want the upcoming season to be filled with light. To be filled with love. For me and for you.
Thank you for visiting today. I hope you find some time to come back soon and we can chat about ways to stay well this winter..
Until we meet again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.
Blessings from Hope…..and……….
P.S. ………..
Another birthday celebration to declare,
it’s my sister C’s birthday I want to share.
Peace and joy, love and delight,
C, if you are reading this,
You make the world bright!
Ok, I never said I was a poet, ha!….but I wanted to reach out and say……
Shine On! Happy Birthday from me to you! Love D.L. a.k.a. Hope
From left to right….my sister C, my sister J, and me in the blue….C and I share November birthdays! Happy Birthday C!I wanted to include this picture as it’s a good one of J and she told me she only wants me to post good pictures of her….I think this one is great of all of us.
With a steaming mug of pumpkin spice tea next to me, I’m joining you once again. Two seasons have passed since my last blog post. I had material a plenty but felt I needed time to just be in the moment. Instead of capturing and posting life, or writing down my thoughts in words, I wanted to just be.
As a family we were also busy. Our spring flew by, while I worked at my gardening gig and as I finished up the school year working as a lunch time student supervisor. Our twin daughters, Kathryn and Victoria, turned eight in May. Our youngest son William turned the grand ole age of ten at the end of June.
Our daughters turn eight….they say it’s their lucky number. Happy Birthday Kathryn and Victoria
Happy Birthday William….celebrating with a huge strawberry shortcake…double digits now, big 10!
Blue skies and warm days met us all through our summer. Thankfully we didn’t experience the choking smoke from forest fires, since rain scattered through our warm months like a welcome blessing. Our garden flourished; our cherries were luscious, and as summer came to an end, Italian prune plums abundantly filled buckets.
Kathryn and Victoria (and Coco) weeding the gardenluscious cherries Cherry pies…yumOur two trees produced buckets of prune plums late this summerDavid spent every free moment working on yard projects
We accomplished many projects as well. David built a rail styled fence along our garden and then created a lattice privacy wall at the end of our swimming hole. He painted the pool house and the play house and then built a set of steps up the middle of our rock wall.
Our new privacy screen (painted pool house)New fence and abundant garden once againI can’t find the picture with the finished stairs but here’s a picture showing the start of them………the kids spent all their time in the pool, working on their strokes, dives and here Victoria is just floating on her back
While he was building, I painted. Steps, fences, and benches. When I wasn’t covered in paint, I was deep in the garden harvesting and canning or freezing food.
Cherries, and more cherries for the freezer and in jars
William went to camp, the little girls had a mid summer’s eve party, Grace worked at the water slides and our oldest son came home from University and worked as a landscaper once again.
We were blessed with food from our gardenThe girls say goodbye to their brother who was off to Eagle Bay camp for a week….his first time away from home…a BIG deal. He was missed!Grace spent the summer working at the water slides earning money to go to the U.K. in spring of 2020….it was hot work but it will be a trip of a lifetimeThe kids were thrilled to have their big brother home for the summer…Clark worked really hard but hopefully next summer he will be pushing a pen since he is currently in his second year of law school this year
Mid summer, we had a lovely respite when we took the family to Vancouver Island for a weeks get away. We picked up our oldest daughter in Victoria and headed up Island where we set up a base camp at Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and perfect for a camping holiday. The days were warm enough to swim in the ocean and during the evenings we happily gorged on s’mores around the camp fire.
Kathryn, Victoria, and William love the ferry to Vancouver Island..the weather is gorgeous!Our day at Long Beach….Amazing warm dayThere is something so restorative about digging your feet into ocean sandWe needed this holiday as a family, as a couple.Cathedral Grove…one of the giants. Pray for our trees and our children
We were able to visit all of our favourite haunts too; Qualicum Beach, Coombs, (Goats on the Roof Country Market) Englishman Falls, Cathedral Grove Forest and we had an amazing, warm sunny day at Long Beach and Tofino, on the west side of the island.
All spring and early summer I’d been feeling off balanced. As if I was walking on a long, narrow board and at any time I would fall and crash. I pushed myself along but the fear of falling stayed with me all through spring and summer. That trip to the island helped to restore my soul but I still felt off centre and sad. I couldn’t explain why because I was so grateful for so much in my life…but a dark feeling persisted.
With every march, and every speech I heard her give I realized that a heavy stone, holding down the hope I had for our children’s future and the health of our earth was being lifted. (I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was feeling unbalanced from all the negative voices in the world, fighting “against” climate action) Also, I felt like we, as a family were not moving fast enough to help the earth. Yes earlier in the year we had cancelled our garbage pick up but we were stalled on our path towards a zero waste lifestyle. We weren’t where I wanted to be.
But as my heart opened and balance returned, I realized that I was being too hard on myself and I wouldn’t be able to take any action if I didn’t have hope. This blog is all about hope. This blog is about inspiring others to live a more sustainable life, connecting with others while helping our planet. If I didn’t have hope, I had nothing to write about. Greta gave me back hope.
And here I am today, drinking tea and writing, while my youngest make gingerbread cookies.
On this chilly November day, nothing makes me happier than a cup of tea Kathryn and Victoria decided it was the perfect day to make some gingerbread…who am I to argue?
And while I’m still not where I want to be in all areas, when I look back at where we used to be ten years ago, I know that progress is more important than perfection.
Fall has nourished me with the reminder that each season has it’s own gifts. As the days grow shorter, my energy is restored. My heart is open. I’m excited again about the ways we can make a difference in our own home. And I see I’m not alone. At our children’s school there is now a compost bin in each classroom. There are fewer buses and more children riding their bikes to school. There is less paper coming home in backpacks. Our community is coming together. Greta has us talking about ways we can make progress towards helping our environment and that’s inspiring.
Well, my tea cup is almost empty, so our visit is coming to a close but I know I will visit with you again soon…..if this is a place that you find nourishing too, please come back for a visit. I wanted to share with you a few things that we are doing again this year to have a less consumer driven holiday. I love Christmas and the joy the season brings but I want to teach my children that it’s not about what’s wrapped in a present. It’s not about decorating our house to the nines. It’s not about looking perfect or attending every party and event. It’s about the gift of love we give each other. Also, Christmas is about finding hope again.
With hope we find a place of balance.
I hope this blog can be a place of balance to nourish your soul too.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope
P.S. Sending a birthday wish off to a dear one in my life. Happy Birthday Danielle. May you know how much you are loved! May a balanced life always be yours! (I wrote this blog post on Nov 23….but it’s shown as being posted on Nov 24th…the joy of blogging)
Danielle and our son Harrison celebrating a special dinner last February 14th.
Welcome back to my blog. Spring has arrived at long last and with it, came focaccia bread and inspiring sparks of joy. A few weeks ago, our children were off school for their two week, “spring break.” Boy, did we need a time out from our usual routine. During those two weeks, we accomplished a tremendous amount, but when I look back, the highlight was when our sixteen year old daughter, Grace, made focaccia bread. “Focaccia,” comes from the Latin word, focus meaning “hearth, or place for baking. Those two weeks ended up being a time of focus, when we grounded ourselves around the hearth and created an atmosphere where sparks of joy flew.
We started the holiday by resting first, which like bread dough, after an intense kneading session, was something we needed in order to rise to become our best selves.
Don’t you find rest can do wonders for a body? I feel as if rest is viewed negatively in our society. We seem to need to fill each and every moment and day. Even our holidays are jam packed with activities. In the week before the break, I had many people ask if we were going anywhere or doing anything over spring break. I would respond by saying, “we don’t have any great plans,” and then I would ask what they were doing, only to hear that Hawaii or Mexico were on the agenda. For our family, I knew what we needed most was to rest and gain strength. I knew we needed that in order to clear our house, clear our minds, so we could focus on what we really wanted in our lives.
In the weeks leading up to spring break, I had been watching Marie Kondo’s latest Netflix series on tidying up and decluttering. Have you seen it yet? If not, click on the link above and get a glimpse of her program. She has developed an interesting method of gathering all like objects together and then letting the things that spark joy be your guide in deciding what remains in our homes. While I thought I was rather a master at decluttering, using “this” concept, allowed me to tune in more accurately towards inner feelings of elation.
To hone this approach to a greater degree, I also read her latest book, “Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up).” After that, I was hooked on getting down and dirty, touching everything I owned and asking myself one question, as I held the item close to my chest, “does it spark joy?”
At first this wasn’t easy for me. I would hold the item close to my chest and often feel something, but it had more to do with, “but I may need it in the future,” rather than a zing of joy. I believe this is the residual effects of being raised by a mother who was a child during the depression and then a young woman during the World War II years. If you come from a history of lack, then the tendency is to hold on to things, just in case. As I touched each item, sometimes I would hear a tiny voice saying, “you may need that one day.” But then there was another inner dialogue occurring debating whether it was worth holding onto, maintaining and having to house the item and worst of all, using my energy again next spring picking up the same item! Disregarding both voices, I would simply ask, “does it spark joy?” If not, I thanked the item and put it in the donation box.
I know this may sound weird but this was the part that gave me the greatest joy. I absolutely loved thanking the item and then letting it go. It created this marvellous space in my life and everything around me seemed to sparkle and was suddenly very special. While I decluttered, I also took time to clean or organize what I was choosing to keep which made me feel immensely grateful for everything in our house.
One of several trips I took to donate items that no longer spark joy.I had kept these skates for ages, thinking I would sell them on kijiji, after all each one was worth at least $60.00 dollars new, but then I decided to take them in to our school after spring break and the school was so thankful to have them for their future skating field trips. That sparked joy when I knew they would go to good use.
Can you tell what sparks joy for me most in our home from the pictures below?
Did you guess, “books?” Well you were right. I love them….they spark joy and I love surrounding myself with them and I think our children do as well. I have let go of many, and I’m not one to hoard them, but having books around me makes me happy. What makes you happiest in your home?
In the second week of spring break, my family and I started the meditation challenge together that I wrote about a few posts back. The topic was on Manifesting Grace through Gratitude. Have you been meditating with us? Today is day 21 and the title is, “Seeing with the Eyes of the Soul.” Now I won’t say everyone was enthusiastic over sitting together in a guided meditation, ahem, but I have to give our daughter Grace my thanks, for she hung in there with us throughout the week. I knew the experience was powerful for our younger children, as our daughter Victoria drew a picture during that week, of us sitting in a circle around a candle and she wrote, “I feel way better after doing medating, it also helps me to keep cam and follow my brething.”
Victoria’s picture and story
Then when the break was over, on our drive to school when everyone was feeling anxious about getting back to the routine and seeing classmates, Will remembered one of the mantras, “Namaste,” he said to me as he kissed me goodbye.
When we weren’t omming together, and while I was tidying and decluttering, David, my husband was painting the interior walls of our house a “graceful grey.” After ten years living in a home with varying shades of beige, it was time for a change. Last year, when we were on Vancouver Island, I picked up my future decorator’s palette, while walking on the beach; a piece of creamy driftwood, a grey rock, a dark blue one, a black one and a white one. Those were the colours that spoke to my heart and I knew that even though we may not be able to live at the coast right now, we could recreate those nature colours around us.
Behr’s Graceful Grey throughout the house…we plan to replace our front door but after this picture was taken, David painted the interior of the door…grey. It all looks so fresh and reminds me of the oceanAnd a Galatic Tint, (blue/grey) over the horsehair brown in our master bedroom…reminds me of the lake below our houseThis picture was snapped at the beginning of March….so much can change in a few weeks
Also, with us living on the hillside above the glacial formed, “Kalamalka Lake,” that has earned a moniker of, ” the lake of many colours,” due to all the minerals in the water, I felt that the grey’s and blue’s on our walls would echo what is often outside our windows. I want our house to feel like it’s part of the landscape. Our home and garden, are all works in progress and keep me grounded to this earth. Often as a society, we turn to what is trendy and wonder why we aren’t happy in our homes. If we started to look inside and ask ourselves what makes us happy; what do WE love, then and only then, will we discover authentic joy. What colours make you happy, make you feel good? Are you surrounding yourself with those?
As David and I were busy inside our home, our three youngest enjoyed the warm spring weather. They rode their bikes, jumped on the trampoline, ran in the yard, played board games, read books, played music, and helped me find what sparked joy for them.
And yes they did MATH too…here Will is solving math word problems
In the case of their clothes that was fairly easy. It it fit, it stayed and if it didn’t it went into the donation box after a blessing of appreciation. After learning, from raising our older children that kids grow fast, we try not to over buy clothes for them, making decluttering each season fairly easy. But with regards to stuffed toys, well, as I discovered, that was a totally different animal.
Hard to see but we are using Marie Kondo’s method of folding…absolutely revolutionary in our drawers!!!
One afternoon, I had our twin girls bring all their stuffed animals and pile them on the floor of my bedroom. I had them hold each animal close to their chest and had them ask themselves if it sparked joy. In most cases, they only had to pick it up and you could tell from the light on their faces that it wildly sparked joy. As we moved through the pile, to my dismay, almost every single stuffed animal sparked joy. There was little culling going to occur. Is that the right word for stuffed animals; culling?
Whatever is the right word, letting go was not something they were prepared to do. It’s funny, but they did let go easily of their “FurReal,” stuffed animals. These were the ones that actually barked or meowed, or moved in some mechanical way. Interestingly enough, these were also the ones that were the most expensive toys. I choked thinking of the money we had spent, as they hugged these stuffies one last time, thanking it before dropping it into the donation box. I had to accept that this was a part of the process and lessons for all of us. The animals that sparked the most joy were the ones that were in the worst shape. They looked well loved!
I’d like to think at the end of my days, this is how I will look.
Oh, and you may be wondering how our older daughter Grace spent her spring break? She went to the gym a lot, she worked on her piano pieces as she is hoping to complete her Royal Conservatory grade 10 next year and she spent a bit of time also tidying and decluttering her room, as she has caught the bug and understands the concept of surrounding herself with only things she loves.
She also spent a bit of time helping us cook in the kitchen, making Focaccia bread with a lovely pasta dinner one night, bagels another day and she and her siblings treated us to a pizza dinner one night, a group effort I was proud of. It was so lovely after a day of painting and intense tidying and decluttering, to light a candle, and sit down as a family, enjoying dinner together.
Grace’s Focaccia Bread Recipe (to pronounce, the first C is hard and the second make a cha sound)
Ingredients
2- 3/4 cups of flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
4 tbsp virgin olive oil (3 tbsp for the recipe and 1 tbsp to brush on top before baking)
2 garlic cloves…but I like more and would use 4!
1 tsp of rosemary/ 1 tsp of thyme/ 1 tsp dried oregano/ 1 tsp basil
Opt: 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
Directions
In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, sugar, yeast, thyme, oregano, and basil. Mix well and slowly add the warm water and 3 tbsp’s olive oil.
Mix well and when dough has formed a ball, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface ad knead it until it’s smooth and has an elastic feel. Lightly oil a large bowl, placing the dough inside, turning it over to coat it. Cover it with a damp, cotton cloth and place it in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Punch the down down and place it onto a greased baking sheet. Grace used a round cake pan. Pat down the dough to 1/2 inch high and brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle it rosemary and optional cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm with a pasta dinner…or as a appetizer with a dipping sauce of
When spring break finally came to an end, our house was almost fully painted, almost every category had been thoroughly vetted. Only a few boxes of sentimental items and years of pictures are still on the to do list. We were all feeling healthy and strong, ready to focus on what is truly important to us as we head back out into the world. It’s amazing what a rest, some meditation, some tidying, some updating, and some hanging out by the hearth, eating healthy meals with your family can do for a person. I highly recommend it! So on your next break, I hope you take some time to make some homemade focaccia bread, dip it in olive oil and rosemary, and look around your house elated at things that spark joy.
I think Grace’s Focaccia bread recipe will become a family favourite, like our son Mitchell’s crazy bread recipe that he brought home from his Foods course years ago. Before I close though, I have one other thing I want to leave with you. Over spring break I watched a heart warming Hallmark movie. It reminded me yet again, that we don’t have to go far, we don’t have to travel the world, we don’t have to visit expensive restaurants, or spend our time being consumers at the mall. To find real joy, is to be present in the moment.
It’s when we are present, grateful, surrounded by people and things we love, that real sparks of joy occur At least for me. I like to talk about ways where we can live sustainably on this blog and to be moving in that direction, where we are living a lifestyle reducing our carbon footprint, and our need on Earth’s resources, well, it all comes down to living more simply. Resting our bodies, meditating, being grateful for everything in our lives, cooking and baking from scratch and spending time with our families; eating, talking, laughing.
When I watched the following Hallmark movie on You tube, called, “The Magic of Ordinary Days,” I was reminded of another time in history, just before our society took a big jump towards “modern living.” I think something was lost along the way and like an archaeologist, excavating artifacts from past societies, I think we can learn something about living more sustainably and joy filled from past generations. Just like Marie Kondo’s greatest wish, to help the whole world tidy their space and find sparks of joy, my fervent wish is for the world to find the magic in ordinary days. One evening, make a big bowl of popcorn and sit down to watch this movie ,……I will be right there with you, sparking joy!
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
“Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.”
―Maya Angelou
I took the picture of the bridge above, which is located in the Cathedral Grove park, near Parksville, B.C., many years ago. Cathedral Grove, is home to some of Western Canada’s tallest and oldest trees. I was awestruck, traveling through this gathering of wisdom and history. Walking this bridge, reminded me of my life’s journey. At the time, we had four children. Little did I know that we would expand our family to include four more and they would be my greatest teachers.
As the above link proclaims, “Cathedral Grove is a rare and endangered remnant of an ancient Douglas fir ecosystem on Vancouver Island in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The biggest trees in the Grove are about 800 years old and measure 75 m (250 ft) in height and 9 m (29 ft) in circumference.
Although spiritual in meaning, “Cathedral Grove” is a name embedded in a romantic and Eurocentric attitude toward BC nature that does not adequately acknowledge the stewardship of the indigenous peoples, First Nations, who cared for this biological treasure over 1000s of years and preserved it as a big tree heritage for all human beings.”
As I walked through the park for the first time, almost twenty years ago, I can only described the experience as a sacred journey. There was deep peace thrumming in the silence. The oxygen, rich air, filled my lungs and the mossy, green giants, whose roots went deep into the earth whispered, “we are all connected.”
Mitchell and Grace between two giants at Cathedral GroveGrace examines the rocks next to the creek moving through Cathedral Grove
We may not have been able to take our children on grand adventures to see the ancient cathedrals, scattered throughout Europe, but I’d like to think that by taking them to Cathedral Grove Park, and to Long Beach, on the West side of Vancouver Island, where the waves pound, like earth’s own heart beat, that we instilled in our children the love for adventure.
From l to r..Harrison, Michell, Clark, Grace, David/Dad and Alyssa on the ferry ride to Vancouver IslandMitchell during one of our Vancouver Island holidays
And I’d also like to believe that having adventures out in nature, taught our children that we are all connected.
Grace and Harrison, exploring behind our cabin at Parksville.
Two days ago, I tightly hugged my son, Mitchell, and said farewell. He left on his latest adventure. Since finishing University last Spring, he has been working extremely hard to save money to travel. We felt so blessed to have him visit us for a brief period in February.
After a long day of driving to the Okanagan, I had dinner and a belated birthday cake for him. That cakes was amazing with Irish Cream, Chocolate icing…I will make it again and share the recipe. Happy 23rd Birthday Mitchell!
While home, he was able to connect with his younger siblings. He and I had long talks, he with his coffee and me with my tea, about his childhood, mine, and the future. He and his Dad, even had a one on one ski session up at Silver Star.
David and Mitchell off to ski at Silver Star
He was also able to take a week long trip, down to Seattle and Portland, finishing off the trip in Victoria, where he said a final goodbye to his long time friend, A.
Mitchell on his trip to Portland…he’s wanted to experience this placeMitchell with B, on their trip to Portland and Seattle
I haven’t been feeling well since Mitchell left. Our four younger kids were all sick last week, with coughs, fever, sore throats, etc, and this week I’m sick. I’ve been really bummed about it, as I had planned to resume my decluttering, that I put on hold while Mitchell was home.
After the kid’s orchestra group practice last night, I basically came home and collapsed into bed. David warmed up the dinner I had made earlier in the day and tucked the kids in for the night. When I woke up a few hours later, I just laid in bed. The house was quiet. I started thinking about how I felt about Mitchell’s adventure. I started thinking about my own life.
Throughout the night, I turned and turned in my sleep. Even our cat, Ryuuki, gave up sleeping next to me. I laid awake for a long time wondering why I was so restless. Of course, being sick doesn’t help, but there was more. Way more going on.
I had to admit, that for all my talk of letting go and trusting, I was holding onto him. Even a dream I had had a few nights before he had left, hadn’t given me true peace.
In the dream, I was in bed one minute and then I was flying up into the atmosphere. I was flying across the world, across the blue, blue ocean. Then I stopped, and like the camera on a Google map satellite, I zoomed down, and down. My vision becoming clearer, until I saw my son. Mitchell was sitting in a city, near water and he had the most contented look on his face. Then I noticed something red on his travel pack and like a camera lens, I drew the image closer and clearer.
A red lady bug was resting on the top of his back pack. Ever since my mom passed away, seven years ago, the lady bug has been my sign for my mom. Of course, mom was going to be right with him. I could relax. I told Mitchell about that dream the next morning and we both laughed about how my dream was obviously showing me what I had been focused on.
Saying goodbye.
Seven years ago, we had a family gathering in our living room. It was just a few days after mom had passed away on Feb 28th, 2012. We were going around the room, sharing stories of mom and my older sister B, spied the lady bug in an unlikely spot. Did I mention that in my part of the world, you don’t see lady bugs in early March. Ever since, seeing a lady bug is a sign for me from my mom.
This morning, not feeling much better but doing what all moms do; care for their kids, I got up and helped the kids get ready for school. After dropping them off, I reached into my car’s storage drawer, where I keep my Burt’s Bee’s lip balm, and that is when I saw it. A single card from my healing deck, created by Caroline Myss and Peter Occhiograsso.
Just a single card. How did it get there and why was I only finding it now?
The card has a picture of a woman, who is walking on a path of music and the map of Canada is below her. Her arms are wide open and above her are the colours of the chakra.
The text reads, “To be sure of the road, close your eyes and walk in the dark.”
That simple message, put all of my feelings into context. As I drove home, I contemplated the words.
Once again, my children have been the best teachers in this life for me. If my son Mitchell can go across the world, not knowing a soul, just because, “it would be cool to see Australia, maybe New Zealand,”, then I can stay exactly where I am, and have my own adventure right here. After all, do I know what tomorrow holds for me?
For no matter where we go on this earth, life is an adventure and there is nothing to fear.
Exhale! Inhale…exhale.
When I got home from driving the kids to school, I turned over the back of the card and these words were written, “Spiritually closing your eyes permits Heaven to enact the most wonderful guidance in your life. Say the prayer, “Open a new road to me today,” and expect the unexpected. When it appears, accept the gift.”
I’ve said this many times before, but it never fails to surprise me, when I’m given exactly what I need in the moment. This healing card was what I needed to let go, for me and Mitchell. He will be taken care of on his journey, as will I.
One of the many paths through Cathedral Grove
And here I am, hours later now, the kids are noisily home from school, and I’ve spent most of the day, drinking tea and writing this post. And you know what? I feel pretty good. I’ve had beans cooking in the oven all day and the house smells of cumin and garlic. I know as we eat dinner tonight, Mitchell will be right with me. (he really seemed to like my baked beans, rice and veggie dinners)
I also know that wherever Mitchell is, I’m with him too.
March 3, 2019…Mitchell off to the airportTalk about traveling light…the Ospey pack holds all he will needAlthough Mitchell really wanted to get going as it was going to be a long drive to Vancouver to catch his 6 pm flight…he posed with his mom and dad Despite the fact that it was freezing out…minus something below 10 for sure…the kids all came out to say good bye. Grace has been in bed all week and finally is up this morningOne final picture on March 3rd so we can remember all the snow…it’s like 27 celsius in Melbourne! Mitchell in front of the Air New Zealand counter at the Vancouver Airport on March 3rd,
And as I often do, I will close with Coldplay’s video, “Adventure of a Lifetime.” Mitchell this is dedicated to you. Thanks for always gently teaching me and reminding me that all we can do in life is our best and then we have to let go.
You are loved!
Life is an adventure. Live it well!
“Adventure Of A Lifetime”
Turn your magic on Umi she’d say Everything you want’s a dream away And we are legends every day That’s what she told me
Turn your magic on To me she’d say Everything you want’s a dream away Under this pressure, under this weight We are diamonds
Now I feel my heart beating I feel my heart underneath my skin And I feel my heart beating Oh, you make me feel Like I’m alive again Alive again Oh, you make me feel Like I’m alive again
Said I can’t go on Not in this way I’m a dream that died by light of day Gonna hold up half the sky and say Only I own me
And I feel my heart beating I feel my heart underneath my skin Oh, I can feel my heart beating ‘Cause you make me feel Like I’m alive again Alive again Oh, you make me feel Like I’m alive again
Turn your magic on Umi she’d say Everything you want’s a dream away Under this pressure under this weight We are diamonds taking shape We are diamonds taking shape
If we’ve only got this life This adventure, oh, then I And if we’ve only got this life You get me through
And if we’ve only got this life In this adventure, oh, then I Want to share it with you With you With you Yeah I do Woohoo Woohoo Woohoo
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
The words “be safe, have fun,” keep reverberating through my brain. They were the last things I said to my two kids, who left on adventures this week. My son Mitchell, who will be off on a grand adventure to Australia at the first of March, left on a west coast road trip this past week. Seeing Portland, Oregon has always been on his bucket list and saying goodbye to his best friend in Victoria before he goes to Aussie land, was a must. Then our sixteen year old daughter Grace, joined her school jazz band this morning, as they traveled down to Moscow Idaho’s big jazz fest.
I hope they both enjoy their journeys.
Saying goodbye is never easy for me. If you have read many of my posts, I may have shared a bit of my past and how my Dad was killed in a truck accident when I was young. Who knew, as I sat on his lap, while he drank the last of his morning coffee, that I would never see him again. While that may be morose, the knowledge that we may never see our loved one after they walk out the door, has settled deep in my bones. I have to resist clinging, but with a quick hug and a jaunty wave I say, “be safe, have fun.” Inside, I’m tearfully praying, “Bring them back to me.”
But the truest part of me knows, they are okay. They will always be okay.
So…..
I let go and trust.
What else can a mom do?
Mitchell as he heads off on his Oregon, Vancouver Island/West coast trip
And what do Buddha Bowls have to do with all of this? Well, I was thinking about how Siddhartha Gautama, who was later referred to as, Buddha, the one who is awake, was born into a royal family in a small kingdom on the Indian-Napalese border. He left all his wealth behind to adventure into the world and discover what was the meaning of life. He wandered the country side, like a traditional holy man of the day, seeking the Truth. He became very adept at meditation under various teachers, and then took up ascetic practices. This was based on the belief that one could free the spirit by denying the flesh. He practiced austerities, to such a strict degree that he almost starved to death.
I wondered how his mom felt as he left home?
What words of wisdom did she impart?
Also, while I don’t know this for sure, I wonder if he too, like many holy men of his day, carried an empty bowl, trusting that he would be fed. There are certainly pictures of Buddha carrying a beggar’s bowl.
As my children head out into the world, on their adventures, I visualize light surrounding them and a full bowl in their hands. I’m trusting my gut, knowing that I can’t hold on to them. They are their own people. I must let go, to allow them to find their own truth; their meaning of life. And while they are away, I will prepare my Buddha bowls and smile, knowing that wherever they travel, they will be fed.
If Buddha’s mom knew that her son would become a spiritual teacher and become enlightened, would it have been easier for her to say goodbye I wonder?
And thinking of being filled and enlightened, I hope you will now join me in my kitchen. We can make a cup of green, or ginger tea, and you can help chop the vegetables so we can make a bowl brimming with goodness; a blissful thing to behold and eat. We need nothing more in our day. Oh and we can chat about what we really, REALLY need in life?
And as we chat I will tell you what I have learned about the Buddha bowl.
Apparently, I’m coming to the party late, or rather, for years now, I was throwing a party for my family and didn’t realize a Buddha themed party was going on around us. Years ago, I took a course called, “The Pursuit of Excellence,” which was a three part, intensive course, put on by the Concept Training Corp. The second part of the course was called, “The Wall,” which took place on Orcas Island, off the coast from Seattle. It was there, that I discovered, Tai Chi, Buddha bowls, and the power of vision boards. That was thirty years ago, long before the trend of Buddha bowls became popular. Then Seventeen years ago, I was invited to visit the Birken Monastery, outside of Kamloops, B.C. for a weekend with my sister C, and her whole yoga class. It was there that I discovered Buddha bowls again.
An image from the Birken Monastery near Kamloops, B.C.
Since then, I’ve been making Buddha breakfast bowls, and lunch and dinner ones; in the morning having oatmeal, fruit and nuts and seeds, and mid day and for dinner, mixing brown rice, or noodles, a bit of stir fry or fresh, raw veggies, pieces of avocado, or a few slices of orange, a sprinkling of nuts and seeds and calling it my “Wall,” dinner or my “Bliss” bowl.
Anyway, a Buddha bowl is comprised of ; something made of grains or starch, such as rice, quinoa, noodles, or sweet potatoes. Then a smattering of protein, such as beans, chick peas, tofu, or meat. (and no, as I will explain later, a Buddha bowl does not have to be strictly a vegan one, although that would be most Buddha- like) And then you add colourful vegetables, raw or lightly steamed, your choice. Finally, you top the whole works with seeds, nuts, avocado for some healthy fat, and some sort of drizzly sauce. Let your bowl be a thing of beauty. Many bloggers have done a piece on Buddha bowls in the last few years. I found one that I really liked called the “Healthy Maven,” and she wrote her Ultimate Buddha Bowl Blog, almost 31/2 years ago. Check out the link to her blog as her Buddha bowl is perfect with lots of greens in it. YUM!
Many people now, who do Instagram like to share what they eat. I know when my son Harrison made a Buddha bowl during the holidays, he was pulling his phone out. Who knew it would be hip to show what you are eating.
Here is a snap of Harrison’s breakfast Buddha bowl
So while making a Buddha bowl is easy, I think the hard part of it, and the thing that sometimes is lost in translation for many, is the idea to eat slowly, mindfully and with a grateful heart. Also, the bowl need not be brimming over. As I watch our little Kathryn eat, I realize that she eats so slowly that by the time the rest of us have finished our meals and are looking for dessert, she is full and has eaten only half of the contents in her bowl. She eats carefully and seems to relish each bite. Oh to watch her eat tomatoes and avocados with such a beautiful smile on her face, inspires me to chew slower.
Savour the flavour.
Kathryn, last summer, looking at a bowl of peach cobbler and ice cream
Certainly when I was on Orcas Island, hitting the proverbial wall, the facilitators from the Concept Training Corp, were ahead of their time, reminding us as we ate in silence, “to contemplate each bite and be grateful for the food.” I think many of the people at this work shop had big issues with the food over that long weekend, as it was sparse. Many pointed out, when we came out of the silence part of the course, that they had paid big bucks for the course, many traveled far, and they didn’t appreciate sleeping in frigid, boy scout cottages, on rough, wooden bunk beds. And the breakfast oatmeal and rice and veggies for dinner were not cutting it for many. Most people hit the wall with regards to their comforts in life. But not me. Nope! I was in my element. The limited food allowed me to think clearer and the silence allowed me to find deep peace. Trusting others however is when I hit my wall on Orcas.
Harrison making another Buddha bowl over ChristmasOn a bed of rice, there was vegetables, chicken, and some avocado slices
Years later, when I traveled with C to the Buddhist Monastery, I found that the two healthy meals a day, inter mixed with meditation and yoga allowed me to focus on my inward journey. And when it was meal time, I was heightened to the food’s texture, flavour and colour. I was also intrigued later to learned that the monks, while they preferred to eat a vegan or vegetarian diet, were thankful for any contribution that people offered them. If meat was given, it would be cooked lovingly and eaten with the same reverence and gratitude they held for their vegan or vegetarian fare. They blessed all food that was given to them and they were thankful for each mouthful.
Ever since the Wall, I ve enjoyed a bowl of oatmeal each morning with some apples and cinnamon…..being ever grateful for each bite
While our older children may scoff inward at our habit of saying thanks before our meals, as they search for their own ideas of spirit and God, I know that being grateful for the food we are about to eat, is an important aspect of allowing it to be used well by our bodies; to nourish and to bless.
My sister’s birthday party reminded me that less is more…beans, rice and veggies is all we need
Last November we went to my sister C’s house to celebrate her birthday. Her husband D put on a wonderful spread, even though we said we were just coming for afternoon tea. D had been simmering beans all morning and had a big pot of rice, colourful tortilla chips, and a vegetable platter all laid out beautifully in their kitchen. The meal was served in simple white bowls.
My sister J, and in the background is my husband David enjoying his Buddha Bowl of beans and rice…veggiesMy brother in law B, who just celebrated his birthday a few days ago my sister C’s family dog, Coco…I think they call her Coco bean….she was sleeping when I took this picture and she just looked up…isn’t she a sweetie…my daughter Victoria would say, “all you need in life is a dog!”We made these crazy little instruments made out of wood and elastics and C is trying to blow the tune to Happy Birthday on her’s….happy Birthday C!What a wonderful Buddha Bowl birthday meal we had at C’s party last while this isn’t the greatest picture…if you look above C’s head, hanging above their fireplace is the windchime I made for C’s birthday…J and I were finishing it off on the car ride to their place…good memories!!!…the round bits are bracelets that C gave to me…and the header is from our birch tree.
Anyway, THAT meal, inspired me to pull out my mother in law’s old, brown, bean pot. Under my brother in law D’s suggestions, I now soak our beans, (usually pinto and black beans, but navy beans are great too) the night before. In the morning, I rinse and drain the beans and pour them into the bean pot. Then I saute onions, garlic, green peppers, and add a bag of frozen tomatoes, from our last summer’s harvest. Add a few cups of water, and some cumin, a few pieces of dried chili pepper, some barbecue sauce, a bit of apple cider vinegar and some brown sugar. I add that all to the bean pot and cook it all morning at 300 degrees in the oven. I check it every hour and stir often. As it thickens, I add more water until the beans are nice and soft. Later, I make a pot of brown rice, a big green salad, pull out a bag of tortilla chips and I have dinner and a lunch for the kid’s thermos the next day. Another Buddha bowl type dinner!
It’s all we really need in a day.
And although Victoria put her dinner on a plate, it looks great in a bowl!
So whatever you fill your bowl with each day, I hope your heart is filled with loving kindness and compassion. For without those, in my opinion we are truly empty. And the next time you see someone on the street, think of Buddha’s empty bowl and give something to that stranger, it doesn’t have to be much, even a smile, for that stranger is is my son, or my daughter.
And before I close, as I often do, I wanted to share a video of George Harrison singing, “Give me Love~give me peace” For some reason when I think of Buddha, George’s music comes to mind. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
This year end blog post, is basically centered on the theme of Henry David Thoreau’s quote below.
~”Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to mankind”~
It’s timely is it not? After all, the weeks leading up to the holidays are consumer driven, as we purchase the non essentials in life, to bestow on those we love.
While there were many times I started writing on this theme, and I certainly talked to many people about it throughout the year, it took a recent event to help me find clarity on the subject.
Also, it was a tough year for me. In my often, ummm, can I say depressed state, the last thing I wanted to do was write a non inspiring post. After all, this is suppose to be where you can find hope. She was clearly absent.
My best friend T, gave me this ornament years ago…later in this post I will tell you about how T’s visit shifted my perspective at the end of this year
Unwrapping the last days of this year, has allowed me to see the gem of wisdom that 2018 gave me. But first, before I show you how well it glitters, I’d like to travel back over the year, sharing how this unusual year unfolded for me.
Have you ever had one of those years, where almost everything you own, stopped working? Well, if I were to describe 2018, it would be the year of “experiencing possession hell.”
It literally started on New Years Day when David was taking the older kids home after Christmas. While driving over the mountains to the coast, a car flew by our van, and a rock was thrown up, hitting and smashing our sun roof. That was the first incident heralding a difficult year for us. The next item to crash was my computer.
I had really wanted to join my writing group in January, for what was meant to be a “diving deeper session,” but without my main writing tool, it was impossible to write. I have been limping along using the kid’s desk top computer, (which I’m writing on now) but it’s been agonizing to write in our computer niche, which is basically in the hall between all the children’s bedrooms, a thriving thoroughfare. Not in the least, conducive for writing.
Then all sorts of little things throughout the spring stopped working; our lawn mower and trimmer, David’s coffee maker, our toaster, the microwave to name only a few.
Our new lawnmower, after our old one died
In June, we had a terrible wind and rain storm. I awoke in the dead of night, to hear William whisper urgently, “there is water coming into our house.” When I went to investigate, water was flooding down the stairwell. As it turned out, our sky light had blown off our roof and rain was pouring in, which damaged our wood floors, caused water stains on our drywall, and of course, the sky light was badly scratched. Of course, the roofers, who had just replaced our roof the year before, denied being responsible for “NOT” screwing our sky light down when they laid down the new shingles
This was also the month that we were finally having the air conditioner replaced, although we did know the summer before that this would be on our list. Still, it was a biggie and you know, it’s always such a pain getting contractors to quote and then actually do the job. We had started looking for someone to purchase it from in April and it had taken months to actually have it installed!
After what seemed like forever, the new air conditioner was installed
Finally, cool air was blowing in our house in time for our summer guests to arrive but then one morning, I woke up and there was no hot water. Yikes! Yes, our hot water tank needed to be replaced.
At this point, I threw up my hands and wondered what was next. What was next, ended up being new tires for our little car, (the back tire literally shredded to bits while I was driving with the kids to what was suppose to be a frugal camping experience, HA!) When we came back from that trip, our pool pump stopped pumping, and then, gee, while we are at it, we might as well replace the solar cover for the pool too, since it was falling apart.
Here is a snap of our little Fit being loaded onto a tow truck trailer after we blew a tire on the way to our camping trip. It was blistering hot as we waited on the side of the road for David to come and collect us in the van.
Well, this went on and on, with one item after another breaking down. Somewhere along the way, we got our two University bound sons off to their respective schools, the van loaded down with various furniture pieces, their Dad had constructed for them throughout the summer. I thought things would let up, as we headed into fall but nope, and in fact, as I write this blog post, David just got the part for our garage door opener, and thankfully, it was the right one. He was able to take the whole thing apart and put the necessary part in himself. It’s handy, to have a handy-man in the house. What would we have done if he was not so, I don’t know.
What was the worst thing about this whole year you may ask? It was my depression. I was mentally broken. I can’t pin point when it started but with each thing that needed to be replaced or repaired, it took a piece of light out of me. And until recently, I felt disconnected with the world. When I look back at pictures of myself, I seem to be there but trust me, I was living in a fog of sadness.
But as life may have it, something happened to help me see my life in a different light. My dearest friend came for a visit in November. We don’t live close any longer, but thankfully, she still has family in our area and she often takes time to visits me when she does come to our little town. It was so good to see her and we caught up on each other’s lives in a few hours. You know you have a BEST friend when you can pick up exactly where you left off, even though you may not see each other for months.
This is for you T……
When I waved goodbye to her, I realized that she had brought me a huge gift. You see, her mom, and her younger sister, had both been recently diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. Throughout the fall, they had both been dealing with surgery and treatment for their disease. My dear friend was holding everything together for her family. Somehow, she has been caring for her immediate family, (as well as a family friend who was living with them) holding down a job, helping her oldest daughter to plan a wedding, spear heading many of her youngest daughter’s grade 12 grad events/fundraisers, while all the time coming up to the Okanagan to offer support and care for her extended family. When T’s navy blue car was finally out of sight, I walked back into my home, sighing deeply.
Something inside of me shifted.
A little piece of light shone.
When I look at the list of “THINGS,” that had broken in my life, I realized I was dealing with first world problems. Also, nothing can compare to when you have someone sick in your family.
It was all just stuff. Although it had been a really tough year on our pocket book, somehow David had earned the money to cover our expenses. Also, when I looked at my list; “sun roofs, sky lights, air conditioners, pool pumps,” etc, I realized how blessed we are!!! To even have these things in life is incredible. What really hit me was, “the more we have, the less focus we have on what is truly important.” Our family, our friends, our community, our world.
And when I look back on some of the highlights from our year, life was full of goodness, even if I was too blind at the time to recognize it. Here are a few moments from our 2018 year.
Early in the spring, David completed our cool attic space, in time for Harrison to return from University. Although he changed the “Relax,” sign to “Carpe Diem.”
Harrison home from his first year at University
Mitchell came home too for a short visit. The weather was beautiful and it was a nice respite for him after a challenging year of University. Soon he would graduate.
The Second String Trio (Will, Kate and Tori) throw a few late spring concerts
Will got a kayak for his 9th birthday and we are all excited for him….can we try it out?
I planted our garden late in the year, but we had abundance, after abundance, even though our Province was covered in smoky skies from all the forest fires.
We went to the Island to see Mitchell graduate and had a delightful visit in my sister B.’s guest suite at B and J’s strata complex. The kids love, LOVE their dog Dugan
A pod of killer whales were spotted while we were on the ferry..wow!
Then we went to Victoria to attend Mitchell’s graduation from U ViC, proudly holding his new science degree diploma.
Guess what? My oldest had her ten year grad reunion last July. . Here she is visiting with our kitty Ryuuki before she heads off to one of the planned grad reunion events.
And right after Alyssa’s grad reunion, we left on the fateful camping trip, where our car blew a tire. We had to have the car towed to Salmon Arm and then have four new tires installed!
Grace, above in the bright orange shirt, turned 15 last year and this past summer, got a job at the water slides. The kids and I spent several summer days hanging out watching her say, “go…okay, you can go….go, ….no, don’t go…”…you get the idea.
In July, we had a memorable family get together at my sister J’s house…the one that lives in the country with an amazing house/property
The kids jumped and jumped all summer long…on the trampoline, in the pool, off the wharf at the country club.
While the little kids jumped, Harrison and Clark worked hard as landscapers….Clark worked 5 days a week and then on the 6th he worked at the Science Centre….The guys had great tans and amazing muscles by the end of summer…thanks for digging up one of our mugho shrubs boys!
Then before we knew it, Clark was off to U of A, where he had been accepted into their law program. All thumbs up Clark!
And then it was Harrison’s turn…not the best picture but the kids were up super early to say good bye to Harrison. David looks really tired as he just came back from driving to Edmonton, where he dropped Clark off…now he is off to Victoria with Harry….what a crazy summer!
And before we knew it, the kids were back to school and it was clean up time around the yard. Thanks Kate, and thanks chickens. Sadly, we lost one of our chicks this fall…but as I type this, the other three are probably cuddling together under the heat lamp.
Another highlight of our year, was when Harrison came home in November for reading week and brought a special person into our lives. It was lovely getting to know D better. Using a coin expression I’ve picked up from when Alyssa was in London, “Don’t they look brilliant!”
Then it was David’s birthday, my birthday, my sister C’s birthday, then Grace’s 16th birthday and finally, just a few days ago, Clark came home on his birthday and we celebrated his birthday too
Amidst all of those birthdays, it was time to decorate for Christmas….
And finally there were concerts, and concerts and concerts…I’m not kidding! Today, was finally the last one…oh that is until Christmas day when the kids will throw us another concert…it’s their gift to us. It’s my favourite one of the year though, as it’s in the comfort of our home.
As I wrap up 2018, I can look at it kindly and say, thank you. It was a year of immense lessons. When so many people in the world are starving, when many families are struggling to give their children a better life, when families are facing major health issues, or losing loved ones, how can I be depressed over our material wealth?
I gave myself a good kick in the pants, pulled up my socks and threw myself into the act of counting my blessings and giving to others. There is so much goodness in my life and this year, I basically slept through it all in a fog of depression. I vow to do better tomorrow, in the days ahead, and in the upcoming year.
I also want to take more time and reevaluate our material possessions. I read two interesting books this past fall, “Meet the Frugalwoods,” and “You can buy happiness, (and it’s cheap!).” Both books had me really thinking again about material possessions and simplicity. I know for me, when I choose to NOT buy into the consumer driven culture, when I’m creative, when I make things from scratch, etc, I’m more content and happier.
Elizabeth Willard Thames, the Author of Meet the Frugalwoods…a must read if you want simplicity in your life
A good example, is our trip to the mountains once again to cut down our Christmas trees. (BTW, they are under the power lines and would be cut down anyway.) They are beautiful. No, they are not full and huge, like a cultured tree, or a fake one. Instead, they are organic looking, natural and real. Did I mention how delightfully fragrant they are too? Instead of buying a tree stand, David and I put our thinking caps on and filled a large bucket with small round rocks from our yard and filled it with water. Guess what? It works great and didn’t cost a thing.
Along the lines of simple living, I’m knitting our little girl scarves for Christmas and David has been in Santa’s workshop again this year making them a Barbie house. Our oldest daughter is also getting something special from the workshop, but as she often reads my blog, I will refrain from spoiling the surprise.
Despite it being Freezing in the garage, David, aka, Santa, built the little girls a doll house for their barbies….in the picture it’s not painted but it is now and it’s very cottagy…is that a word? We have plans to make some furniture and a fireplace with little pea gravel glued on…the top of the doll house comes off so it can turn into a shelf unit when the little girls outgrow Barbie’s.
The point is though, that for me anyway, making things, if we have to have “things,” is more satisfying than earning the money and buying stuff. More stuff that will just break. And you know what brings me the most joy? Doing little things that help others. Although we didn’t have a lot extra in the budget this year, we were able to buy some baking from our school’s girls group, who were using the proceeds to purchase goats for third world families. We gave some gently used toys to our community’s local toy drive, (and a new one too) and all the kids dropped food into our school’s food bank bins. It’s not much, but it makes me smile and realize, I have so much.
So how was your 2018? What did it teach you about your life and how you are living it? Often, it’s the times in our life when we are down on our knees crying, that we learn the most about life. I don’t think we always need to suffer though to learn. We need to open our hearts, open our eyes and realize how blessed we are.
As the year closes, I hope you know that one of my blessings is you. I’m thankful to have a few people who make a cup of tea and come to read my posts.
Christmas is only a few days away and with it comes the season of light, love and hope. It’s hope that lit my way this year. Now if I can spread a bit of that around, my holiday will really be full of joy. Funny how that works hey?….when you give of yourself, the joy of giving floods back into your life.
What do you want for Christmas?
I hope your holiday is merry and bright and magic fills your heart. I thought I would end this post with one of my fav newer Christmas songs. “When Christmas Comes to Town,” from the Polar Express movie, is played, it WHOOSHES me back to when I was a little girl. A little girl whose father had just died and she was struggling to still believe in the unseen. Was Santa real? Where did her Dad go? I sometimes wonder if this material world is real.
I think it’s just an illusion to get me to look deeper.
Merry Christmas!
and happy New Year! It will undoubtedly be full of new experiences and lessons. (Also, in my case, my daily mantra will be, “All things are working in my life!)
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope
(This blog post is dedicated to my dear friend T, her mom, and sister. You are not alone. Your struggles touch the world as we are all connected. “Be well.”) Continue reading →
I missed writing my minimalist Monday post yesterday. Partly, due to the fact that our three youngest children were playing with their youth orchestra at a music festival out of town, and partly due to the fact that I’m oh so very sad.
Victoria, William and Kathryn, on our way to the Kelowna music festival
The little girls warming up….I can hear them CLEARLY, even though everyone was warming up…that’s a funny thing about being a mom….you can always pick our your child’s voice in the crowd, or in this case…their violin.
William warms up intently….he really enjoys playing cello and during the actual performance his head and facial expressions were expressive….way to go Will….you guys got GOLD!
You have heard me say this before; “we are all connected.” And never do we feel it more than when there is a tragedy. When I heard the news about the Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Bronco’s hockey team’s bus crash last Friday, my heart broke; so many lives lost, and so many families changed forever. What I keep thinking about over and over is why. The accident was so bizarre and out of the blue. I mean, if there had been a terrible blizzard, maybe one could wrap their head around it, but there doesn’t seem to be any other reason, other than the bus was at the intersection at the wrong time. As my son Clark said, “what makes these events tragic, is how random they are.”
The YouTube video below by Lorri Brewer illustrates how connected we truly are….
Having been changed forever when my father was killed in a truck accident when I was a young child, I have a clear sense of the magnitude of a family’s loss. And being a parent, whose worst nightmare would be to lose a child, this accident hits me deeply.
And as if that wasn’t enough horror in our world, there was yet another chemical weapon attack in Syria, where once again, crimes against humanity have occurred. I’ve been crying deep inside for the victims of this most recent poisoning and all the families effected in the bus/truck accident. How do we go on amidst constant tragedies in the world? How do we support one another?
Here is one way another grieving person (Sylvie Kellington) chose to help the Bronco’s families with; “A Go Fund Me, :page. We can all help to make a difference.
It felt, so flippant writing about another way to become more minimal and environmentally proactive this week. While those things are important, at least to me, stopping and feeling the pain from loss seemed more appropriate right now. Some would say, “oh Lee, stop watching the news shows, or stop reading the news on line.” But if I did that, I’d feel like I was turning my back on people’s pain and grief. As hard as this is on my heart, I want to be impacted by their darkest days. I want to be reminded, that in a blink of an eye, our lives can change. We are all living on this large, spinning planet; gravity holding us to the earth, but in more ways than one are we truly one family. And we need being reminded of that. Because, although we may not be able to avoid horrific, random accidents, we can make a change with regards to how we treat each other, and make a stand on how dictators around the world are acting.
How can we move forward with hope in our hearts and allow healing to occur. How can we change what is happening in our world to our fellow humans?
I ask these questions and seek the answers and thought I would share an article with links that I came across on the net. Since I’m not a psychologist, or a grief counselor, I needed to find ways to process the most recent events and the following article and links inside of it have been beneficial to me. Maybe, you too, would find them helpful. Check out: We humans~How to be More Hopeful, written on Apr 3, 2018 by Kara Cutruzzula
It was a timely article for me and highlights eight Ted talk speakers, who are inspiring. I particularly appreciated the writer, Andrew Solomon, who said:
“You need to take the traumas and make them part of who you’ve come to be, and you need to fold the worst events of your life into a narrative of triumph, evincing a better self in response to things that hurt.”
“Grief is like the ocean;
it comes in waves,
ebbing and flowing.
Sometimes the water is
calm, and sometimes it
is overwhelming. All we
can do is learn to swim.”
Vicki Harrison
While I would love to crawl under the covers today or to sink deep into a fiction novel, that flies me far away from real life issues, I am choosing instead to stay connected with others and “listen deeply and intentionally,” as Dave Isay, founder of the NYC-based nonprofit StoryCorps suggests, allowing others to share their story of love, wisdom and courage, to fill me up, instead of depleting me. As he says, “it can sometimes feel like you’re walking on holy ground,” when you listen to these stories.
And if there was ever a time I need that, we ALL need that on this earth, it’s now. It’s when we break open and allow grief to change us, that we return to the NOW, and remember what’s truly important.
“Simply Loving each other”….and maybe that is my minimalist post after all…because nothing is more simple and yet powerful than that!
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Welcome to another Minimalist Monday post. In a few short hours, the last Monday of Spring break will be over and everyone will be back to their respective schools/jobs. It was a fabulous break in so many ways. No we didn’t go to Hawaii, or to Mexico, like many of our children’s friend’s families. One family even went to Cuba and Will said another is off to England for a month. WOW! It was wonderful none the less, although we rarely left our subdivision. Sometimes, keeping things quiet, relaxed and simple are the best ways to enjoy a break.
At least in my opinion.
I continued to get more pruning done since I last wrote. David and Clark also accomplished a lot. They took most of the second wooden retaining wall down and hauled it to the land fill. All 800 pounds of it~! Once Harrison’s attic space is complete, (David is working every spare moment on it) we can get going on the second river bed rock wall above the pool. And then we can plant it with herbs, and edible flowers, which is perfect for our pollinators. Check out the plants that pollinators love.
Do you see all that old retaining wood in the middle of the bed…well David and Clark finally cut that up and hauled it away. We are one step closer to the next rock wall being built!
We concluded the Easter Egg hunt in the attic space we are building for Harrison, who will be home from University in three weeks!When it’s finally done we can start working on the rock wall again.
The children practiced their music, their math and their reading everyday in the morning and then spent the rest of the day outside riding bikes, playing in our play ground, or jumping on the trampoline. We even invited a few friends over to play, which was nice for the children to reconnect with their friends, since two weeks is a LONG time when you are six and eight. Grace even had a friend over.
Our Easter Weekend was more minimal than is past years and started out with a good April Fool’s joke–or at least I thought it was one. On Easter Sunday the children burst into our bedroom really early and exclaimed, “it’s snowing!” I laughed sleepily into my pillow, “oh that’s a good one guys.” “No, really mom, it’s snowing!” they all chimed in unison, as they opened our bedroom curtains to show a white out outside our bedroom window.
Saturday had been glorious. Okay, maybe a bit brisk, but the sun was shining and the sky was mostly blue. What had happened? The sky was now heavy with white clouds, and big, fluffy flakes were gently falling, covering the ground in a thick quilt of more white. No green was showing. “Ahhhh!” I said, collasping into my pillow and pulling the comforter over my head.
David, laughed and got out of bed to take the kids to the kitchen for Sunday breakfast. Normally, it’s their tradition to make pancakes and waffles with fruit on Saturday and Sunday, but since it was Easter, there were cinnamon buns and everyone was looking forward to that treat. “Do you want anything mom,” they asked as they left my bedroom. “Spring,” I said, and promptly went back to sleep. I dreamed a weird dream about our neighbours ripping out all their lawn and laying down carpet, upon which they exclaimed , “It’s so easy to keep clean. You just vacuum it!”
I woke up a while later rather groggy, residue from my dream still lingering, and stumbled into the bathroom. I was shocked to see blue sky. The grass was even green. Had I dreamed it had been snowing a few hours earlier? “Where did the snow go?” I yelled towards the kitchen, in which David replied, “all melted!” That was the strangest Easter morning I have ever experienced in all our years in our little town. Now when we lived in Calgary, Alberta, many years ago, that wouldn’t have been an uncommon occurrence, but not in the Okanagan. (Do you doubt global warming when you wake up to a blizzard on Easter Sunday in the Okanagan?)
Needless to say, I flew into action as I didn’t want to waste a moment of this promising day. I had much to do. Get the turkey in the oven, ice the bunny, carrot cake, I had made the night before. Peel all the vegetables and generally get ready for our Sunday dinner. Clark and David were hauling the broken down retaining wall out of our yard and into David’s company truck, which he had for the weekend so it was my job to get the scavenger clues distributed for our Easter egg hunt.
No time to waste!
The kids helped me decorate our carrot cake/bunny cake
Ta Da….Bunny 2018
While I took the little kids to their orchestra rehearsal for their upcoming festival, Grace iced the sugar cookies she had made…they were delicious with a hint of almond in the icing, yum!
These sugar cookies turned out perfectly….thank you Grace!
Grace agreed to take the little ones for a walk while I set out the clues around our yard and the day was well on it’s way. As I was moving through the yard, dropping clues among plants and faeries, I was thinking about how great this spring break was for our family. I was also pondering what I wanted to write about for this minimalist Monday and suddenly it came to me. Over spring break we did a few things in the name of minimalism.
Grace took the kids for a walk, while I put out all the Easter egg hunt clues…See what a nice day it turned out to be. You would never know it had snowed heavily earlier in the day and everything was white.
Only seven of us around the table this year…small but lovely. Happy Easter!
The first step to moving towards minimalism is:“let go of what doesn’t serve you any longer.” But it’s a constant process. Last summer, at a golf tournament, David won a golf bag and putter. They were both good quality but nothing David needed, nor did our sons, who also play a bit of golf. So one night, David did a bit of sleuthing to see what these items would sell for and then he listed them on Kijiji. Within a day he had two people interested and by day two he had sold the items.
Sold…bag and putter and no longer collecting dust in the garage!
The man that bought them was thrilled with the price and the value and kept saying, “this is just what I have been looking for.” David felt really great about selling the items and knew that they would be put to good use. The money also came in handy, as we were able to help out our two University sons with a bit of money to tide them over until the semester ends.
Win/Win!
Then a few days later the twins invited a friend over for a play date. As it turns out their friend has a little brother. Bonus! I pulled out Will’s old bike with training wheels and the big wheel tricycle that we have been tripping over and asked the mom if she thought her little guy could use them. She smiled brightly and said she would gladly take them, as they can always use more outdoor toys. I smiled too, as we tucked them into the back of her van.
Will’s little bike with training wheels and the Big Wheel, found a new home!
Walking back to our house with a tiny bit emptier garage, I suddenly felt lighter. I was so inspired by letting go of these items, that I cleaned the whole garage. Once it was done, we could actually find what we were looking for. The rest of spring break was even better, as the little ones could wheel their bikes, scooter and plasma cars, in and out of the garage without bumping into things that they no longer played with.
Win/Win!
And so while we are well along the path towards minimalism, it reminded me that you have to be ever vigilant and get rid of stuff as soon as you recognize it is no longer serving you. Although we did a huge declutter, a few years ago, I am always combing through drawers and closets to make sure we never get into that space again. It reminded me that it’s so easy to let the bigger stuff stay because it’s not like you can just donate it in a bag to Good Will. And speaking of Good Will, I just saw a CBC, “Marketplace,” show, discussing what happens to all our used clothing. Check it out!
If you think that someone is happily using your donated clothing, think again. I had no idea, but most of the clothes that gets donated, ends up in land fills, either in our country, or abroad. It was shocking. And so, as we make a list of what our children need in the way of new clothing, ’cause they are growing out of everything, I’m going to be a mindful consumer this spring. I will try to purchase fewer items of good quality so we can wash them again and again and they continue to look great. Also, by buying good quality, when you do let them go, the chances of them being used until they are truly worn out is better. People appreciate good quality cotton clothing.
Well, that concludes my thoughts for this Monday. If I don’t post it soon it will be Tuesday…PROBABLY will be, as I’m on the west coast and it’s already April 3rd where my blogging site is located. Anyway, it’s all good! I hope you enjoyed your break and if you too are moving in the direction of becoming a minimalist, the next time you trip over something in your house, garage, or yard, set it aside and find a home for it. A place that will appreciate it and the side benefit is that you will feel lighter as you move along this journey we call life.
One final thing I want to leave you with is a prayer. Part of taking a minimalist approach this Easter was to remind our children that it’s not about the Easter bunny and getting stuff. While we all enjoy a bit of chocolate, I wanted to teach them why Christians celebrate this holiday. I pulled out a few of my treasured childhood Christian related books, and we read bible stories. Will, Kate and Tori sat quietly, attentively, listening to the stories of how Easter came to be. Finally we found a lovely sweet prayer at the end of one of the books that resonated with all of us. I hope you enjoy it as much as our little ones did and I hope you know too, how much you are loved.
God Whispers to us in our hearts:
“Do not fear, I am here
And I love you, my dear,
Close your eyes and sleep tight
For tomorrow will be bright~
All is well, dear child.
Good night.”
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
The Price of Anything is the Amount of Life You Exchange For It
It’s been the wackiest first week of spring break. We thought the nice weather was finally with us, but then out of the blue, it started snowing. Everyone was shocked. Normally by the time that my sister J, blows out her birthday candles on the 19th, Spring is well on its way. By the way, did you know that the first day of spring changes year by year? Huh? That is something I just found out this week. But anyway, whether it’s the 20th or the 21st, someone should tell Mother Nature that the white, cold stuff is persona non grata around here.
.
As if the kids hadn’t seen snow all winter, they were excited to see one last snow fall this spring….or will it be?Even our Siamese cat, Ryuuki was rather shocked.
Clark brought me home this tea mug, “Irish Blessing,” when he and Alyssa were in Ireland last year.
And the next day, I dug through my “seeds of hope,” box and quickly potted up a few dozen of my favourite seeds; four different kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of squash, plus pumpkin, and several varieties of flowers. I am planning to work once again at my gardening gig later this spring, where I can buy beautiful plants, but I find it fulfilling to start some of my plants from seeds. Plus, I find that the plants are stronger and more resilient when they have already grown a season in my garden.
I started a few dozen plants on March 18th, which is about 8 weeks before I’m going to plant them out in my garden
I place the pots in a south facing window and even though we have had some cold early spring days, after one week the tomatoes are up.
Well, that’s a peek into our first week of spring break and now I will get on with my second, “Minimalist Monday, ” topic; “Pruning Fruit Trees and Hair. “
WHAT?
Yes, if you are like my husband David, you are probably wondering what pruning fruit trees and hair have to do with minimalism. When I told him what I was planning to write, he looked at my oddly. But hang in there with me and I will try to tie the two together.
First, if you are visiting my blog for the first time, and the word “homestead, ” drew you here, you may be interested in the subject of pruning fruit trees. I’m all about making or growing what we use and like to eat, so several years ago we started a mini orchard in our back forty. Nine years ago this fall to be exact, as our son Mitchell was still home, (he’s just finishing up his four year degree at University this spring) he helped us dig the holes we needed for our trees. I’ll never forget the sky growing ominously darker as we were digging the holes for the trees. By the time we were finished planting, we were all drenched from the pounding rain. Mitchell was smiling. He has always loved the rain. I was smiling too, as fall is a good time to plant fruit trees, and I knew they were getting a good watering that first night in their new home.
The other way I remember the age of our fruit trees, is that I’d saved the placenta after our son William had been born in June 2009. The placenta was in our big freezer all summer waiting to be settled somewhere in our yard. Will, if you are wondering where the placenta was planted, check out the picture of you below behind the Spartan Apple tree. Strangely enough, it’s the tree that always produces the BEST fruit.
I knew that all over the world and in different cultures, the placenta was saved and planted or used in a ritual. For instance, for the Navajo Indians in North America, it is customary for them to bury a child’s placenta within the sacred four corners of the tribe’s reservation as a binder to ancestral land and people. The Navajos also bury objects with it to signify the profession they hope the child will pursue
I didn’t follow any particular belief or ritual, but I had waited a long to for William to come to earth and it had been a struggle to conceive him. I wanted the tangible thing that connected us to each other, and also helped him grow inside me, to be placed next to the roots of something that would bear delicious fruit.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand; pruning fruit trees. When we prune a fruit tree, it helps the tree’s production, growth, appearance and health. And that is where I link minimalism into this subject; Thinning branches that are diseased or growing inward, preventing light and sunshine into the centre of the tree, is a bit like how I’m trying to create my life. I’m looking at each aspect of my life; the things surrounding me, the people I associate with, the ideas that flow through my mind, and even my hair, are all things that can hinder or help me in creating a rich, inspired life. So this last week, as I stepped back from my fruit tree and decided which branch needed to go, I was also thinking inward about what I wanted to prune in my life to bring more light and sunshine into the centre of my being.
Isn’t it amazing how nature is ALWAYS teaching us?
You can hardly see William behind this Spartan apple tree which needs a good thinning….kind of like how we live our life. Until we let go of stuff, we are unable to clearly see ourselves and what we truly want in our life in order to create our BEST life.
And here it is after the thinning process…although I realize now that with the Birch tree in the background it’s hard to clearly see the branches I have removed. Suffice it to say, the central leader is nicely displayed and the branches that were crossing over and moving inward are removed.
When I finished pruning the last tree, I exhaled. It’s a big job, but time well spent as I know we will all appreciate eating the organically grown fruit later this year. It’s really satisfying growing your own food and knowing you don’t have to rely on anyone else.
Now we just need some sunshine.
And that brings me to the hair aspect of my post. “Hair, hair, beautiful hair,” that song from the Broadway play, “Hair,” is playing over and over in my head, like a CD on repeat mode, this Minimalism Monday. Just like pruning our fruit trees this week, taking care of our family’s hair took a lot of my time. Well, to be accurate, it takes up a lot of my time every day, since I still have young children, who need help maintaining it. And as I was analyzing the branches to prune in my orchard, I was also thinking about the changes I have made caring for my hair, and also my family’s hair. The first big step towards change occurred when William was just a baby and we were planting his placenta under that apple tree. We were starting to really think about living more sustain-ably. Suddenly, caring for six heads, seemed overwhelming to me, both in time and financially, and it occurred to me that cutting hair was not rocket science. It was something that clearly I could do myself. I looked around and realized, I had a houseful of of hair. Curly hair, straight hair, thin hair, thick hair, blonde hair, brown hair, baby hair, well you get the idea. All sorts of hair to learn to cut.
Also, right around the time that our sixth little person was born, I suddenly had no time to book hair appointments, or even take time to drive to them, wait for the stylist, sit in the chair, listening to canned music that unnerved me, and then I felt annoyed having to pay for a cut that I often didn’t even like. David too, was tired of going to his high end stylish and paying a small fortune every 6 weeks and he often came home saying it was too short, or the stylist had kept the top too long. Then there was the expense!
So, I bought a good pair of scissors, an electric trimmer with graduated attachments, a few combs, some clips, a spray water bottle, and started reading up on various style cuts for women, men and children. (Now there are tons of YouTube videos on cutting hair)
I went to shop in town called “Sally’s” and bought what I needed to cut hair
But where does minimalism come in you may ask. Well, just like in pruning fruit trees to produce the best fruit, when you have a good hair plan, perhaps a minimalist style and maintenance, it allows you the luxury of more time and money to live the life you desire. Now, I’m not suggesting that you say “au revoir,” to a beloved stylist, but if you are like me, and feel unsettled being in a busy salon where people are chatting away all around you, scissors are going snip, snip, snip and blow dryers are screaming a whirling noise, not to mention that canned music, then you may want to reconsider how you are managing your hair. If you haven’t gone there yet, just think about cutting your own hair, cutting your partners hair and certainly your children’s hair.
From a minimalist point of view, hair that is either really short or really long is the best way to go in my opinion. While short hair may need more maintenance to keep it short, it frees up your time daily in styling. And long hair doesn’t require as many cuts, and although it may take longer to shampoo and condition, it’s easy to do every day. Wear it down, pull it back into a low pony tail and your done. (And who’s to say that you need to shampoo it at all. Our son, Mitchell, does the “no poo.” He wets his hair when he showers but that’s it. He never shampoos it with chemical rich hair products and he has thick, glossy, healthy hair)
The other plus about cutting your own hair, is that you don’t have to listen to what a professional feels is the right cut for you or get lured into buying hair product that just sits in your bathroom. Usually a stylist wants you to cut your hair short so they can keep you coming back regularly to maintain it. (Okay, I may be cynical here but that’s been my experience) For instance, I have had hair dressers say that since my hair is fine and straight, I should wear it no longer than my shoulders. Well, I’m done with that. Right now my hair is moving way past my shoulders and it’s actually starting to get wavy. While many may think it’s not as flattering as my usual bob, I’m loving it. It’s now loose and relaxed, like how I want to live.
And as for men, I really dig beards that are so popular now. If I were a man, I would be relieved not to have to shave. Saves time, saves money on razors, shaving cream, and is warm in the winter. Also, I love men with no hair. I think bald is very attractive in my opinion and environmentally friendly, as it saves on hair product! Now a bald man with a beard….ahhhh! A great combi.
I realize most people have strong opinions about hair and I’m not saying that you need to minimize your hair routine etc to be a minimalist but hey, just think about where you are spending your time and your money. Is that where you want it to go?
Check out my kitchen salon, “Hair by Hope.” Our younger kids have NEVER been to a stylist and personally I think they have great cuts. William’s hair is blonde, curly and beautiful. Most of the boys in his grade three class have short, I mean buzzed hair, which is fine and probably easy for their parents to do every day, but for William, he looks best with locks and he loves his hair longer too.
Victoria Before
Victoria after…she has wavy hair that looks great in a bob but we are going to grow it out
Victoria after…we pull back the bangs with a clip to keep the hair out of her eyes
Kathryn Before
Kathryn After, her bangs are grown out
Kathryn After…Could a stylist do any better?
William Before….yes his hair is starting to get crazy
William After…he asked me not to take too much hair off but it’s tamed down now
Kathryn, William, Victoria, AFTER….ready to go and play
Me, cutting Victoria’s hair. When I cut my hair, I flipped it forward and cut it straight across. Then I cut the sides with a bit of layering. It’s a lot longer than it looks in this picture.
Cutting hair is not rocket science!
Grace has thick, long hair and it got this way from me just trimming it regularly. When she used to go to the salon they would take a few inches off every time she went and it never seemed to grow….now it’s growing and looks amazing
Grace After…SMILING.
To finish up my day at the kitchen salon, I did Clark’s hair too
Clark After….he’s got a bit of a beard and mustache starting. This cut will last for about 8 weeks and cost NOTHING~~~
So that’s what has been going on around here this last week. Cutting hair and pruning trees. Oh and meditating. Are you meditating with me? I hope someone is. I tried to get my family ommming with me but they just looked at me like, “I have better things to do with my time!” That’s okay. I get that. I’ve really enjoyed the daily meditation sessions with Deepak and Oprah. I love when Deepak says as the end of the guided meditation section, ” I’ll mind the time and when it’s time to end, you will hear me ring a soft bell.” Today’s mantra was, “Siddho Hum,” meaning, “I am perfect.” And isn’t that what it’s all about really? When we come from a place of self love, feeling perfect, then we can begin to really live. It’s not really about pruning fruit trees or cutting hair, it’s about living in the here and now. Mindfulness is the key. Stripping what doesn’t work for us, creates a bit more room for us to find our true nature. The meditation theme has been about shedding weight in all aspects of our life and for me, staying in the present moment, and letting go of my story, is my biggest challenge. Am I alone?
Are you moving in the direction of living an inspired life? If you get frustrated that things aren’t exactly how you would like, just remember we are all in the process. That’s what makes this earthly experience so delightful. We have choice, and can choose to grow fruit trees in our backyard, grow our hair long, or cut it all off, we can choose to meditate or not. In the big scheme nothing matters. “So hum,” is what I tell my children when they get going in all directions. It means, “I am.” And when you come back to that place, there is peace. There is love. That is where the most inspired life lives.
But on a more earthly subject, I’d love to hear what you think is a minimalist hair cut. What works for you and makes you happy with regards to your hair? And I hope you come back for a visit as we made Sauerkraut recently and I want to share our results with you so, STAY TUNED.
All through writing this post, I was humming this tune…check out this video ’cause if you haven’t lived in the 60’s you may not know it, “Hair” by the Cowsills
Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
“It is the first mild day of March. Each minute sweeter than before…There is a blessing in the air. ~William Wordsworth~
Guess what?
As I knock on my wooden desk, I have to tell you that the last three days have been sunny and glorious. The snow is slowly melting and the birds are starting to sing.
Dare I say, winter is on the threshold of bidding me goodbye?
This a picture from our deck this past weekend
This past weekend, I donned my country sweater. The one my step dad Bud used to wear with the brown, wooden buttons and pictures of horses in the knit. It’s too big for me, but I like it. I smell old spice when I wear it and feel him walking next to me. It reminds me of a simpler time, when we lived as a family together in Creston, in our big heritage house up on the hill. In spring, shovel in hand, he used to head out to the garden and double dig the well rotted horse manure he had dumped on it in the fall. I would wave goodbye, leather bridle over my shoulder, heading out to the fields where our horses were boarded. As I rode “Blondie,” my big Palomino horse, I would sing at the top of my lungs, John Denver’s song, “Country Roads,” and Blondie’s long ears would flicker back and forth and she would step out alert and bright.
With these memories floating through my brain, and Bud by my side, I headed out to clean the chicken coop. To me, that’s the first rites of spring. Weird, but I like to do it. The very first thing I did was unplugged their heat lamp and their water font. I wrapped up the electric cord and dropped it into my husband’s work bench drawer with a determined plop and went back to the coop, clomping in my black winter boots.
As I started to scoop out the old wood shavings, I laughed watching our four hens tip toe across the frozen, still snow covered tundra of our back yard. They gratefully hopped up onto the exposed dirt of the garden. The little kids came out to join us and gleefully started bouncing on the trampoline, which was no longer weighed down by a pile of snow. They started taking turns having rolling and crazy jumping contests, while the sun glinted off their shiny heads. As the kid’s laughed, I could hear the chickens happily “pluck, plucking,” while they gleefully scratched in the quickly thawing earth.
In this atmosphere, the seeds for this post started to germinate.
You may remember me mentioning in a few of my past posts how over and done I was with winter. It was only after one of our last snow falls that I finally conceded, dug deeper under my winter comforter, allowing the cold season to follow it’s natural course, without further grumbling on my part. It’s not like it was going to leave any faster, and being depressed was making me miserable.
And so I surrendered.
Surrender is a funny thing. You’d think once you wave your white flag and give up, that what you want most of all moves farther away from you and yet, the reverse is true.
William brought home this little snow man on Friday. I’m thinking it’s the last winter craft that will be coming home
I learned this lesson early in my adult life, although I didn’t start putting it into conscious practice until I was over forty. I’ll never forget falling in love in my early twenties with someone who I thought I could easily spend the rest of my life with. Rob and I dated the fall and winter when I turned twenty one. I was enamored with his intellect, humour, and his kindness. One of my last memories I have with him, was skiing at Lake Louise in the Rockies. It had been a blissful day, gliding down the runs, but by the end, every muscle in my body screamed for a hot bath. As we were driving home though, it started to snow heavily and when we spotted a car pulled over with it’s hood up, instead of passing like everyone else, Rob pulled his truck over, got out and went to help the driver. I don’t remember what he ended up doing; something mechanical. He liked solving mechanical problems. It wasn’t long though, before he jumped back into the truck with a smile on his face. In that moment I fell deeper in love with him.
A long term relationship was not to be however and we broke up. The next thing I heard, he was dating a classmate back in my old hometown. The year after they were married. I was devastated after we broke up and my heart was hurting. As spring unfolded though, and the beauty of the season with it, I decided to swear off men, letting go of any thoughts that love was in my future. I planned to make a good life for myself. I had a job I loved, a comfortable place to live and friends who were good companions. I didn’t need men in my life.
There is some miracle that flies out into the great Universe when we let go. It’s like a bird, light and peaceful, drifting higher and higher until you can no longer see it in the sky. And when you have forgotten all about it, when you have started to laugh again, that bird gently finds it’s way back to you, settles on your shoulder, and when you glance at it, you notice it’s feathers are dusted with grace and glisten with a golden orb of hope.
After my relationship with Rob was over, my best and dear friend Lynne and I joined the Calgary Ski club. While spring is maybe not the best time to join a ski club, that group organized fun events all year long. The Friday night socials were a highlight, with something fun being planned every week. Of course, at the club there was great music, the drinks were cheap and the evenings were spent laughing with friends. It was there, when I was decidedly single, and happily proclaiming my status, that I met my future husband, David.
I was not in the least bit interested in getting involved with another man. He had other plans though and my mom’s words, “you can never have too many friends,” rang in my ears. Slowly we got to know each other. He became a friend and eventually, he wooed me back into the idea that love was worth it. He was the man that I was meant to be with for this lifetime. The rest is history, as they say.
The point of that little story was to illustrate how the law of attraction works in our life. When we want something so bad, no amount of pushing and pulling will ever bring it closer. It’s not until we let go and surrender that a void occurs, allowing what is really meant for us to move into our life.
And as this quote below illustrates, the law of attraction and the wisdom in surrendering, has been recognized for centuries.
“Let your mind be quiet, realizing the beauty of the world, and the immense, the boundless treasures that it holds in store.
All that you have within you, all that your heart desires, all that your nature so specially fits you for–that or the counterpart of it waits embedded in the great Whole, for you. It will surely come to you.
Yet equally surely not one moment before its appointed time will it come. All your crying and fever and reaching out of hands will make no difference.
Therefore do not begin that game at all.”
~English Poet, Edward Carpenter~(1844-1929)
And so, Cheryl married Rob and together they had four children. They were married for 32 years until he sadly died of cancer in 2014. I will never forget his smile or his kind heart.
In my forties, the art of surrender finally came home to me in a conscious way. David and I had been trying so hard to have our fifth baby, one that I thought would complete our family, not knowing something even bigger was destined for our family. It took a long time to get pregnant. Then finally, we did and I was jubilant. All too soon, we discovered that our “soulbaby’s” heart beat had stopped. I eventually miscarried at the end of the first trimester. That winter was full of pain and grief. As I let go of the idea of ever having any more children, with it came a moment of grace. The following Spring, as the world was waking up once again to the warming earth, and me with it, I got pregnant again. Our daughter, Grace Elizabeth, was born just after I turned forty three, the following December. I often call her my surrender baby.
Even after her birth though, and the true understanding of the power of letting go washed over me, I sometimes get caught up in the act of pushing life, only to remember that no amount of gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands will bring what I want into my life. All I need to do is open my hands, palm side up and offer myself up to the great good of the Whole.
And once again, the early days of spring are almost here. Was it me finally surrendering to winter that made it appear?
Is there something you desire more than anything right now? Are you working hard to create a life or bring something into your world? Stop and think about how you are trying to manifest your dream and surrender your desire. MOVE INTO THE FLOW OF ALLOWING and watch it whoosh into your life. (often it comes even better than anything you could EVER dream)
A great mantra that I have used many times since Grace’s birth is “Let go and let God.”
When we let go, and live in a state of gratitude and appreciation, good things always flow our way.
And that finally brings me to my final story and a lesson in making almond milk.
On the weekend, as I started working outside, close to Mother Earth, cleaning the coop, picking up crinkled and dry leaves and digging them into the garden, sweeping up the sidewalks and drive way, I started to get frustrated. I have so much I want to do to create a richer, more sustainable life for myself and my family. At times, it feels like I’m walking a tight rope, holding all the things I want to implement into our lives, while below is a consumer driven society that beckons us to live a different way than our heart’s calling. I work hard at not falling.
I came inside the kitchen fuming over my thoughts and exhaled them all over my oldest son, who was making a pot of tea. Now Clark, as you may know, has a Science degree. An Earth and Environmental science degree to be exact, so he gets where I’m coming from. He cares about our planet But he’s also been marinaded in the art of surrender and allowing for years.
He’s been exposed to quotes like the following one by Rumi, on our large kitchen chalk board; and of course we have had many great philosophical discussions on the merits of a soul driven life.
Although he comes from a Science base belief system, he understands the art of surrender. At times, I think he’s even perfected it. A demonstration of such is recently, it was me not him, who was wringing her hands, wondering if he would get into law school next fall. He sent off his applications and then calmly went about his life, doing things that made him happy. Spending time with his friends, working out at the gym and making a difference at our local Science Centre. So the other day, I should not have been surprised, when he made an astute observations and brought me up cold. I was talking a mad streak about some of my zero waste ideas, while pouring a cup of raw almonds into a large canning jar and filling it with water. I set the jar on the counter to soak and continued my frustrated vent with him. He listened to all my thoughts and when I took a breath and was silent for a moment he finally said…..
“Mom, are you making almond milk?” I glanced over at the canning jar and said, “Yeah?” “Well, mom,” he said, “maybe you can’t solve the big environmental issues on the earth, but it’s the little things you do each day that make a difference; like making almond milk from scratch.”
“Hmmm, ” I said and smiled.
I rinsed the soaked almonds this morning and made almond milk. While doing so I remembered something I often tell my oldest daughter but I forget to do so myself;
I remembered to, “breathe, relax, trust and enjoy,” and made a note to myself to talk with David about my idea to cancel our weekly garbage pick up. Stay tuned on how the process of surrendering THAT, goes in our life.
And if you’d like to stop buying almond milk from the store, and take little steps with me towards living a more sustainable life, then come on into my kitchen and let’s make some almond milk. You can make it as creamy as you like, you can even add a vanilla bean or any flavouring you like. The best part is you don’t have to drive to the store to get your almond milk. You save fuel, and also the packaging that is used for the almond milk. If you are able to buy your almonds in bulk, using your own jar, or reusable bag, all the better.
Ready to surrender?
Let’s go and make some almond milk….it’s ALL GOOD!
Homemade Almond Milk
Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight in cool water
5 cups of filtered water, (adjust this according to desired thickness
Pinch of sea salt
Optional: 1 tsp vanilla extract or one vanilla bean, scraped
Optional: Sweeten with 2 pitted dates
Instructions
1. Add your soaked raw almonds, water, salt and any additional options into a high speed blender until creamy and smooth. Keep it running and milk the almonds for 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Using a strainer or a nut milk bag, or even a thin dish towel, let all the liquid run into a jar, and squeeze or press the remaining nut pulp, until all the liquid is extracted. (you can use the remaining pulp for any baked goods)
3. Cover the jar and place in the refrigerator but we like to make smoothies out of it, or drink it fresh, or my personal favourite is to add it to my morning oatmeal, and my Earl Grey tea, making a slight London Fog. Yum!
Note…if you do put it in the fridge, make sure to shake the jar well before using as it does separate.
And that is a simple thing we can do today, while singing our hearts out. Join me in singing with John Denver, “Country Roads,”
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
My mom loved to smile. Even though she was a child who lived through the tough depression years, even though she was a young woman during World War Two, even though she became a widow at 39, and was left to care for her daughters, she learned the art of smiling.
Random Fact:
If you smile, even if you’re in a bad mood, it will immediately improve your mood, because the simple action of thinking about smiling and using the muscles is enough to trigger happy chemicals in the brain.
As a child, if I woke up grumpy and wandered out of my bedroom with a frown on my face, my mom would tell me to go back to bed and get out the other side with a smile on my face. At the time, it often made me grumpier; I felt like my real feelings were being ignored. In time, I learned the wisdom of this advice.
(Above: My mom, dad, and three older sisters…I’m in mom’s lap)
After my Dad was killed in a truck accident when I was five, my mom moved our family away from our small town of Hope, (yep, I was born in Hope. I like to say literally and figuratively) and moved us to the nearby big city of Chilliwack. People there did not know our story. As a single parent and sole provider, mom took a typing course and got a job as a front desk clerk/receptionist, at one of the larger hotels in Chilliwack.
Mom greeted all the guests with a friendly face and would smile at everyone she met. All this cheerfulness however annoyed one of mom’s co-workers. She apparently hated mom’s smiling countenance, and snarled her negative feelings of mom’s attitude to another co-worker saying, “what does she have to be so happy about?” This other co-worker knew a tiny bit of mom’s history and took a moment to share this with the annoyed co-worker. Nothing further was said, until one day that angry woman approached mom and said, “I know a bit of your story, but what I don’t understand is why you smile so much.”
Mom looked at her seriously and said, “If I don’t smile, I will cry.”
After that, this co-worker became a friend and even she was found smiling from time to time. Also, years later, mom’s brilliant smile and warmth, attracted a man who came to the hotel one day. That man became my step father, “Bud,” and for many years my mom smiled and laughed until Bud had a heart attack and passed away. Mom was just 59 years old. Despite being widowed once again, after grieving another loss, she showed us all how to spread joy with her generous smile.
A Happy Birthday moment…mom would light up the room with her laughter
She taught me much about smiling
It’s been a tough winter for me. As you may know from previous posts I’ve written recently, I’m trying to find a new groove in my life. Our family is changing and I’ve never been great with change. Three of our eight children have left home and each time one of them leaves, it feels like an earth quake has shaken our home. My heart quivers with after shocks for months afterwards. Our oldest son, Clark will be next, as he’s heading off to law school in the fall. Even our youngest, our six year old twins, Kathryn and Victoria, don’t seem to be need me quite as much now that they are BIG grade ones.
Then there is the fact that I don’t do well in the winter. At least not where we live. I think I suffer from “SAD”, (seasonal affective disorder)The Okanagan Valley, in the southern part of British Columbia, Canada, is known for these great inversions. The winter clouds roll in sometime in November and we rarely see any sun until March. Oh, and then there is the bitter cold, and dumps of endless snow. I think I could bare both, if they were accompanied now and then with some sun. Snow is truly magical and I do love this season of bundling up and hibernating, but it’s the sun that gives me the daily lift to feel happy and hopeful.
(Above is a picture from my kitchen window…a break in the clouds finally)
But today, I’m thinking about my mom, thinking about her smile, and also about winter, and this day; February 28th. Six years ago today, my mom had a massive stroke and died. We knew she was declining but I had hoped she would be with us longer. Once we moved her into an extended care home, after a hospital stay, I think she said to herself, “I’m outta here!” Thankfully the weekend before she passed away, (Februrary 28, 2012) there were many golden moments where her light shone.
I brought our twin daughters, who were just starting to crawl over to her new home. As they explored under and around her bed, she smiled at them.
(Above are Victoria and Kathryn, our twins…they made mom laugh with their antics during our last visit with her)
My sister C and her husband D, brought their beautiful golden retriever, “Sunny,” for a visit. As Sunny rested her head on the edge of mom’s bed, looking up at her with compassionate brown eyes, mom smiled.
And when mom would wake from one of her drifting dreams, she would smile gently, saying she had been at the beach with her brother Dick, who had moved on beyond this mortal veil.
When I think of my mom, I smile. I’m thankful I had her for so many years. I’m thankful that I still feel her presence in my life now. Even on my darkest days this winter, she has been close, whispering into my ear, “find something to smile about.”
And yet, I think of mom. I think about all those who aren’t here on earth any longer. If they could come back for one day, what would they say to us? Maybe, “be thankful to be alive? “Be thankful to have the choice to smile.” “Maybe, try to make a difference in this world.” Mother Teresa isn’t here any longer either, but her acts of kindness and her words live on……
Yes, let us meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. And I think peace too. And don’t we need that in the world right now?
And so today, I force the corners of my mouth to go up, instead of down. I think of ways that I can help those who are dealing with serious issues and I ask myself, “what can I do today for them?”
I can smile.
And what else can I do?….well, I can bake a pie and share a family recipe.
Thinking about my mom, makes me think about lemon meringue pies.
OOOOLALA….Delish!
She loved them. Well, she loved anything lemon and so do I. Especially at the end of winter; when I need something tart and zesty to lighten my palate and remind myself that spring is just around the corner.
So I think a good closer for this blog post is to share my recipe for lemon meringue pie, and the homemade crust recipe as well. I made two of these recently and my family inhaled them, literally in two sittings. They must have inherited my mom’s love for lemons. And they too must be starved for sunshine.
So on yet another snowy winter day, please join me in my kitchen and we will start to make the crust which is soooo easy, you won’t believe it. I’ll do the crust and you can start cracking some eggs, separating the yolks from the whites. And we can chat about other ways to help change the world….starting from our own home.
LET’S BEGIN with the…..
Pie Crust Recipe... I can’t take the credit; this is the Tenderflake recipe which is perfect every time!!! Who wants to mess with perfection?
Note: The recipe below makes 6 crusts…which is a lot for most families but I freeze the extra pie crusts and use it for other pies or for my chicken pot pie recipe, which I have to blog about…coming soon… I promise.
Ingredients for Pie Crust
5½cupsor 850g of all-purpose flour
2tspor 10 g salt
1poundor 465 grams Tenderflake® lard, rendered lard, or 1/2 lard and 1/2 butter, cubed
1tablespoonor 15 grams vinegar
1egg, lightly beaten
Ice Water
Instructions to make pie crust
Whisk flour and salt; cut in ice cold fat until it is pea sized or looks like slow cooking raw oats
In a 1 cup liquid measure, combine vinegar and egg; add ice water to make 1 cup
Gradually pour liquid around the edges of the mixture, mixing by hand, adding only enough for dough to cling together
Form gently into a ball; divide into 6 equal portions on counter
Wrap and label portions
Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes if you are using right away, or
Freeze for future use by placing wrapped pastry dough in container, tightly sealed
When ready to use, roll out each portion on lightly floured surface; If pastry dough is sticking, chill for another hour or two
Transfer rolled pastry dough to pie plate
Trim and flute shells or crusts and bake according to your pie recipe
When making crust for lemon meringue pies, you just use ONE bottom crust, , use a fork to prick the sides and the bottom of the pastry crust and place it in the oven at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until it looks golden. (watch closely)
When done, set it aside to cool on a rack
Lemon Meringue Pie Filling….this is where you will use the separated eggs!
Ingredients/Filling
1-1/4 cups sugar
6 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water
5 egg yolks, beaten (set aside the egg whites to sit at room temperature)
2 tbsp of butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt, mixing well. Stir in boiling water. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, translucent and just starting to bubble. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir for 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Whisk a little of hot mixture into beaten egg yolks; whisk back into the pan with half of the butter. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining butter, lemon juice, rind and vanilla; stir until uniformly thick and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside, partially covered.
Ingredients for the Meringue
5 egg whites at room temperature
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
Directions for Meringue
In a bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. (I use my electric beater) Add lemon juice, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Combine 1 tbsp of the sugar with cornstarch; set aside. Beat in remaining sugar 1 tbsp at a time, then cornstarch mixture. Beat until stiff and glossy, about 2 minutes. Pour filling into pie shell. Spread merigue over hot filling right to the edge of the crust; swirl into peaks. Bake in 325 degree oven for 15 minutes or until lightly brown. Let cool for at least 2 hours for a clean slice.
Smile and Enjoy!
Wasn’t that easy?
And before I close, in memory of mom today, I wanted to share a video link to Jimmy Durante singing, “Smile.” I love you mom!
If we can do nothing else, let us smile.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
