Three sisters helping my soul

Beautiful surprise yesterday...it was 21 degrees and I was at the allotment clearing my new, additional plot. On March 26th, not that long ago, I was out with my camera taking pictures of trees encased in ice...Spring in Canada is like no season I have ever known.  Is the last of the snow behind us?  maybe,, we shall see.   But the sun and the warmth is so uplifting.

I went out earlier this morning, wearing my new fit bit.  A gift from my husband after his recent trip to the UK.  I hadn't asked for one but small persons logic rings true " you're fat and you need to get fit". Turns out that husband had treated himself to a new watch...it beeps when the air pressure changes. Invaluable!  I suspect the purchase of my Fitbit was cover fire for that sneaky sojourn into retail heaven.

So, I went out earlier...I drove to the fast food restaurant to get a butter smothered egg muffin..mmmmm! But everywhere there were people.  Walking, jogging, mountain biking, motor biking.  That sums up Canadians for me...first bit of decent weather and everyone is outdoors. Love it!

Everyone that is except small person who is still in bed watching teenagers play FIFA on their xbox's.  He is a very social child who loves to play out, but he also has this 1970s approach to Sunday's which is to do nothing much and stare at a screen. Roll back 40 years and that would have been me watching Jack Hargreaves and his dog visiting country fairs and horse sales.  Was it great TV? No. Was it the only program on TV on a Sunday morning?  Yes.

So, up at the allotment yesterday - caught up with friends. It's all change in the leadership, new methods of composting are being muted. Water is being discussed.  I walk a fine line between escaping the need to think and getting involved in the work of the place.  I really just want brain peace this year I think.  I emailed the nice neighbour who grows the food for the food back to see if her tractor guy would till my plot, and serendipity saw me asking her just before she was calling him.  Happy days if he can help as that will save me 10 hours of labour.

So why an additional plot, given that my current queendom is 6 times the size of everyone else's?  Well, it was there, orphaned, and I want to find a way to engage small person in some basic life skills, like growing and eating.  He learnt about the pioneers this year, who came to Ontario mostly from Europe and were educated by the First Nation folks in how to farm in this soil. They used a Three Sisters method where you plant climbing bean, squash and sweet corn in the same spot. The corn supports the bean and the squash keeps down the weeds.  I tried it once in the UK but the climate wasn't what was needed.  Given that this is where folks did this as the norm we're giving it a go.

Also I plan to staycation on my allotment this summer.  Plans are underway for a second car, so that I can get out of the house.  Just looking at my Instagram account reminds me that I have been trapped inside for too long this least 6 months.  My husbands firm recently instigated a work at home day once a week, so more freedom there for me, as I can finish work on time once a week and head to the land whilst he's at home when small person gets in from school.

On my vision board for the last two years I had things like "all summer off" and "lengthy summer vacations"...you gotta be carefully what you wish for because it happens before you know it.  I have 2  solo art retreats on the books, plus a week north as a family in August and in the last week I found a deal on a cruise for the small person and I to the Caribbean.  Indulgent - of course. Exciting - very. Why? Because I am super tired everyday, likely working in a role that hinders more than helps me, so I need down time. Change jobs? Challenging as our being in Canada requires that I have this job. I like my work, I just think it's a bit toxic to my personality.  It's super busy, super crazy, super fast. I liken it to working on the stock market...fun but there comes a time when you need to slow down or burn out.

So the next month has us applying for residency, renewing visas, buying a car and completing endless tax forms. When you add all that up, having a rectangle of soil to play in makes perfect sense.

Namaste

How I found Squam

Sharing this story for anyone who believes in, or is looking for examples of, the universe listening and giving us what we sought.  As a romantic at heart I love to believe that is possible, but the Sheldon of my personality always chips in that what is actually happening is my unconscious mind responded to an articulated request.  Whatever!  If you state it, and plan it, it will happen I reckon.  So the story...

About 7 years ago my friend Louise Gale blogged about Squam. She shared photos, and stories and it looked amazing.  She was living in the USA at that time, a Brit abroad. I was a Brit at home, aged 40 with a new baby.  I loved what she wrote and whilst I loved my precious little man I envied her that opportunity to live the life she loved.  My journey to parenthood was over years of fertility treatment, so I also beat myself up a little for having the greatest treasure in the world and still wanting something more.  My clear memory is packing all of my art stuff into a large cupboard and joking to a friend that that  will be in there for 5 years.  As it goes, it was but that's not the story...

Role ahead to 2013 and a cold winters day in NYC. I had by now moved to Canada via work ( wish for it and it happens.  I thank Louise again for guiding me in dream boards and making dreams come true).

  I headed to the airport early as I hate to be late. Traffic was absent, lights were green and I got to Laguardia so early that they put me on standby for an earlier flight. At the risk of sounding provincial I had never been on standby before...it was quite exciting.  I get on that flight, and sit next to a lady wearing a beautiful shawl. I unpack my essentials and settle down.  My essentials being a ball of yarn and a crochet hook.  The minutes I did that she burst out a laugh and said " I don't believe it".  Turns out she was commenting on the odds of sitting next to a fellow yarn nut. Over the course of the flight I learnt that she was high powered exec by day and an awesome sample knitter by night. Folks design patterns and she road tests them.  She gave me great tips about Toronto, my new home, and told me about Ravelry.  Who knew there was a on online community for knitting and such?

A few days later when I had time to stop and not think I checked out Ravelry and there was an icon for Squam...that thing that I had heard about over 5 years before but hadn't thought of since.  I checked it out, I signed up for Fall 2014. I had no means to pay for it and when It came to pay the balance I recall asking Elisabeth if there was a wait list so that some one else could take my spot.  That wasn't possible so I scratched around and found the money somehow and off I went.  It was amazing, and you can read about it in my blog under Squam, Calm and Slow.

So was that fate, serendipity, cognitive something or other? Don't care, it's a recipe for success I reckon. Stop, think, or stop and stop thinking, see what comes into your mind...you want it - ask for it...it arrives.

I'm looking for something

I am home alone this morning. My husband gets back from the city later today after a 2 night "me time" break. I go away for work or fun quite a bit.  Huge gratitude to everyone that I am able to do that, especially the fun parts.  So last winter as the snow looked like it was staying for ever my husband said that he fancied a weekend away in Toronto. Nice idea I thought, but who will look after small person?  " Well you will Fiona, I'm going alone".  I'll admit that my mind went at 300 miles an hour from "how dare he; what's he up to; it's alright for some" and then I applied the brain brake and realized that this was a great idea.  He gets to sit in silence if that's what he needs; he gets to drink beer in a bar and watch sports that he is only now starting to understand, like Curling.

So he's off having fun and being the smartest man alive he also seals the deal this time by asking "do you want anything from the L'Occitane store".  Smooth!

So I'd planned mummy and me time with Small person.  Nothing elaborate, just a meal out Friday and a trip to the movies Saturday.  Turns out that when you are 8 you don't need your mum so much, you prefer friends. Apparently people have studied this. I can vouch for it being true because on Friday night he fidgeted throughout the meal and acted like he was sugar high and then he dumped me for his mate who asked him for a sleep over. I could have said no but I have learnt that dragging him kicking and screaming with me with the order "we will have a nice time" is exhausting and not so much fun. So, home alone, plus cats. Strong tea and calabrese toast with Scottish Marmalade. It's so quiet I can hear the silence.

Having had time to myself this weekend I have been sorting things out, in the house, at my bank and in my head. I tried to explain introversion to others at work this week, but I'm not sure I did it that affectively. I said "everything that I see, feel, need to do, need to understand, every imagining of any kind is a file in my head. So when we are at work and it's busy, and we need to work out what to do first, all of those questions are files in my head, additional files.  My head ( physically larger than it should be for sure, as my family have mahoosive heads) has to hold all of the information.  So when I check a box on a survey that says " workload is too high or not fairly shared out" what I mean is there is too much to fit in my head.  It's not about my ability to prioritize at this point, because if you imagine hundreds of files shoved in a finite space there is no room to sort them and move them around. It just becomes a pile of stuff wedged in a box.

That to me is the crux of introversion  - it is the beauty of being able to think before I speak and the burden of having a very full head.  So the challenge then becomes about doing thing that silence the thinking. Doing absorbing things that have me focus in the moment. I am back doing yoga. It's helping but I still find that the silence in my head is a new space that get filled with thoughts on how to solve that work conundrum.  It will take time and practice, probably over a lifetime I reckon.  Another way that works is to get lost in a crowd of people who are just like me.  It's kind of diversity in reverse in a way but if I go camp out in the woods with my tribe the need to "work it all out, whose who and why" isn't needed. My brain slows right down...and that my friends is why I am going twice to Squam this year. Woot woot!

Namaste

Cemetery in the woods

Sunday morning, breakfast behind us. Small person and husband have a day of doing nothing planned but I want to do something. It's mild for February, around freezing point, a little bit of ice in the shade. What to do, what to do? I decided to just get in the car and see where it went. It went to Tim Hortons drive through...well this is Canada, and I haven't had a coffee in around a hour so coffee it is.  Then I drove onto the Mcmichael Art Gallery which is magically 3 miles from my house.  Somedays living in a small town north of the burbs can be boring or overly franchised.  But then I remember that the greatest collection of Canadian Art (IMO) is 12 minutes away...and off I go.

 

Sometime I go inside but mostly I walk around outside. Today I took a different path and then watched 2 chipmunks playing, up trees, down trees, through hollow logs. It was very cute and they were surprisingly loud and squeaky. I walked around the sculpture garden. Huge bronze statues. I liked them in their setting, as they were so out of scale and hard looking against the trees.  I walked through an art installation which I think was about the river of dreams. Sign was in French so I had to guess a few word.  12 massive weather vain like structures along a frozen stream. Each one had a message in a bottle hanging from it... I read them all.  Again, I likes the fact that this was so large and incongruous but it didn't touch my heart.

Then I wandered on to what the map called "the artists cemetery". At first I thought I'd detour to avoid that but why? Go have a look. As always the thing that I would have avoided if I'd let myself dwell on it too much was the best experience. I had no idea that six of the Group of Seven artists were buried, with their wives, in a circle in the trees. Before I came to Canada I had not even heard of the Group of Seven. Now I am learning as I go, and their art is a spiritual connection I have made with my new home. The cemetery and graves is a circle of granite rocks with their names carved out. The rocks symbolizing the Canadian landscape that they captured in their art in the 1920's and 1930's.  I'm still processing the experience...how people, live, are great, have a profound impact that remains when they are gone, and then there is a circle of rocks. The trees keep growing, the chipmunks play on.  I stood in the silence, my bare hand on a tall tree, trying to feel something. I have trouble feeling feelings, nobody's perfect. But what I did see after standing still was more detail.  It was as if more of the nature came into focus.  I liked that.  I took a lots of photos of foliage for a study of the colours of winter that I am starting on later today...simple pleasures

Namaste
Fiona

Things to know when visiting Canada from the UK

We are all very excited as Small Persons BFF is coming for a visit in 2 weeks time.  Coincidently her class is learning all about Canada this week, so we thought we'd offer up some translations to help her in both adventures.  Also yesterday, as I rummaged in my bag to find my purse I was reminded of the differencies in language.

I was in a shop paying a bill and as I rummaged I said " sorry, just need to find my purse". The girls pointed at my bag and said " but that's your purse".  "No, that's my bag.  Here's my purse".  "Really? Because to me that's your wallet".  " ha, men have wallets, girls have purses and bags"... So you see the fun that can be had moving to another English speaking nation.  I suspect the French to French here has similar nuances but I don't have those language skills to tell yet!

So, here is the helpful list:  from UK to Ontario English ( things may be different in other provinces)

A hat is a toque
A jumper is a sweater
Trainers are runners
A cuddly toy is a stuffie
A pussy cat is a kitty
Trousers are pants
Pants are underpants
Salopettes are snow pants
A bag is a purse
A purse is a wallet
A white coffee is coffee with milk
A biscuit is a cookie
A scone is a biscuit
Sweets are candy
Fizzy drinks are Pop
A swede is a rudebega
A cucumber is an English cucumber
A muffin is an English muffin
A Canada goose is a goose
Petrol is Gas
Gas is gas
An estate agent is a realtor
A chemist is a pharmacist
Cigarettes are smokes
Our car is a truck

Toilets are washrooms
Starbucks is Starbucks
Torches are flashlights
Crisps are chips
Chips are fries
Sledge is a sled
A manual car is a Standard
A queue is a line
Football is soccer
The car boot is a trunk
The car bonnet is a hood
The road is pavement
The pavement is the sidewalk
The head teacher is the principal
The deputy head is the vice principal
Play time is recess
The climbing frame is a playground
The back garden is the yard
The settee is the couch
Young people are called youth
Pudding is called dessert
Jelly is jello
Wool is yarn
Doughnuts are donuts
A tram is a streetcar
A spade is a shovel



If we got and wrong feel free to correct us in the comments below
#weloveithere

Interview with small person

Hello small person, what did you do this weekend?

- I went to camp.

Where was that?

- in a cabin

Did you sleep on the floor?

- no in a bunk bed

What was your favourite thing about being at camp?

- tobogganing

What did you like the least?

-  hmmm, like the least?  Looking at trees.

Why were you looking at trees?

- I don't know.

What did you eat?

- schmores, sandwiches, berzangne, bacon and syrup. That's it.

What was the funniest thing that happened?

- nothing...

Interview suspended whilst he visits the bathroom. Door closed he's singing " I kissed a girl and I liked a it...her lips tasted of cherry Chapstick." He returns and the interview continues.

Did you kiss a girl?

-NO!

What made you happiest at camp?

- I already told you, tobogganing

What did you learn at camp?

- Nothing.

nothing?

- eesch mum, how many times do I have to say it.  Nothing.

Interview ends, TV off pause and SpongeBob fills the room once again.

#makingmemories

Raggy Blanket

What to do with a pile of old kids t-shirts and jeans when you have a week off work? Raggy blanket!

Lots of six inch squares, cut with a roller cutter. It's super sharp so I managed to cut my finger at the start of the project.

Then sew 12 in a line with 1cm edge on the right side.  Clip the corners at 45 degrees, so that it's not too bulky when it all gets sewn together.  Iron it flat, see below.

Make 9 rows then sew them together, with a 1 cm edge on the right side.  When you have a rectangle you just need to sew on a back sheet having first sandwiched in thick fleece or quilting fluffy stuff.  Then spend a couple of hours clipping all of the edges into fringes. Voila!