Blue Potatoes & Captain UnderPants

The leaves are beginning to turn just a little.  Only about 5% of them but enough to tell us that summer is winding down.  I think it's been a lovely summer, weather wise, but locals tell me its been dreadful - I guess its what you are used to.

Saturday today so a slight lie in after a very long (not) part time work week.  It does seem to be a 21st Century phenomenom that the weeks prior and post your holiday see you making up the time that you were off.  Could be worse. Not many people get to work with cats at their feet and crickets cricketing outside their window.  So slight lie in, feed the guys then off out to Alton Mills to collect some leaflets and posters to distribute for the September Art show.  By all accounts it will be fantastic because they rejected my entries so the standard must be very very high ;-). 

After a beautiful 40 minute drive north to the Mill I collected my leaflets, and orders on where to take them, then spent a silent 30 minutes looking at art. They have a new exhibition with judged entry starting soon and I am working on a piece for that, so I wanted to see what "acceptable" looked like.  Some of the art is mind blowingly good - huge canvas' heavy with bright oil paint, landscapes, abstract, lots inspired by Canadian flora.  And some of the art, well lets just say its not to my taste, too fussy and laboured.  Each to her own.  I took my husband and small person to the Mill last weekend as we were out exploring.  In a rare moment of praise he exclaimed "you can do better than this crap".  Bless him.

Head home past some very fine Firemen running a charity car wash in aid of the local Hospice.  Using their big equipment. It would be rude not to stop I reckon.  I'll move on now as the temptation for paragraphs of double entendres has been beaten down.

So, leaflets in the car and off I went, spending a lovely 2 hours driving here and there giving them out.  The library, the sports centre- all very accepting.  The book store - no, already had them but that was okay, not a wasted trip as I found out that the new Captain UnderPants is out on Tuesday and she has a load in stock waiting to go on sale ;-)

Next stop Starbuck, with leaflets and in need of an ice tea.  As I suspected Starbucks only support local community activity that is non profit, and as the Art show is folks selling their creations the corporate giant said no.  Finger to the man - off to the local Art studio to see the owner who was very happy to take some.  Off to the Pottery painting store, where they greeted me by name, again very happy to help.  Next Second Cup thinking they'd do a Starbucks on me, but no.  Poster up and off I go.  (It was just like the Ruby in there, Corner Gas watchers, and it is attached to the gas station!).  Final stop the ReStore. They said absolutely, poster up.  All in all a great morning and I am feeling very connected to the community at last.

Home, feet up for 10 minutes when small person announces that he and his BFFs are waiting by the car, to go to the Skate Park.  Now here's the thing - recently I have started saying "tomorrow we could..."; "maybe we could..." and it is being absorbed and processed as "10 minutes after she gets back we are going out".  The joy of a 6 year old mind!  So, I agree but with a catch. "I'll take you all to the skate park if first you come with me to the allotment to dig up some potatoes".  Huge sigh from mine with wining; but the 2 BFFs were totally up for it.  A fun 15 minute journey where two 6 year olds and an 8 year old try to out do each other with boasts about who has the biggest head, before One Direction comes on the radio and I have to crank up the volume as they all sing along.

Mine wanders off to play with the hose pipe whilst the 2 BFFs offer to help me get the potatoes.  They had no idea where we'd find them, probably hanging from trees.  My garden fork was enough to awe them.  "It's like a giant fork!" they tell me.  Bless.  So I dig a little and turn the soil over and they are absorbed with spotting the treasure.  No moans about dirt or bugs - we filled a bucket with 10lbs of spuds. It was great fun and they liked it too. 

To top off an already great day, the Indian chap from the other plot came over to thank me for the Blue Potatoes that I gave him last week.  He boiled them, he told us, and "they tasted so good, like butter" - he said this with great florish and sincerity.  I remarked that they are a little odd looking as they go light blue when boiled but he tossed that remark away with his hands and said.  "but the taste.  So good."  Such a nice man.  Such a great day.

A month has passed since I wrote...

What have we done in that time?  Small person and I went camping. First night there was an amazing storm, thunder, lightning, very very awesome.  We weren't scared but small person did wake me at 3 am to say that he wanted it to stop as it was keeping him awake.  We lasted two nights then went home, a day early.  I have concluded that we need a holiday where there is organized kids entertainment.  He can make friends fast but once those folks drift off for dinner he expects me to be Mrs Tumble and I can't be doing with all of that.  I'm tired and grumpy.

So where next ...I am taking him to New York for a weekend in August.  No planned kids entertainment but hopefully it matches his energy level so no boredom will set in.  We have a budget of $150 whilst we are there...so we will eat pizza, drink cheap pop and do free stuff...central park will figure highly and there is a free kids show in Bryant park each afternoon...yes please.  He wants to stay up late so Toys R Us after dinner is the Friday night plan.  Off to see Matilda on Sat night.  Our one extravegance. Sunday planning a hop on hop off bus trip stopping at the museum where the animals come awake at night.  I have warned him that the Tablet of Armun Ra is at the Smithsonian so nothing will come to life, but he is ever hopeful.

Talking of magic and mysticism, I read a help guide recently on childcare.  Mine is six and a half so I figured reading one book in that time wasn't excessive.  It was the Child Whisperer, and despite my cynicism at the start I thought it was great.  It is an evolution of Jungian theory - like MBTI for kids.  That appealed to me because I had studied all of that back in the day when I worked in training and development.  "It really spoke to me" but that may be because the author and I have the same personality type.  The type that loves 4 box models and categorization.

I recommend it to anyone though. I learnt that small person and I have the same type, loud, spontaneous, action oriented, get bored by qu 3 of a 10 question quiz. I am planning on writing a one pager for his new teacher titled Understanding My Child!  I learnt that my husband is a different type to the boy and I. He is inaction to our action; he is silence to our jibber jabber.  No revelation there, but interesting. And I learnt that my husband's type are prone to say "that is stupid" a lot, and what they are actually saying is "that could have been done so much better".  It's not them being abusive, they are disappointed. Fascinating I thought.

Back to July, I have been going to Yoga, which is great. Yin Yan yoga which is all about stretching, calm and breathing. It is a great way to try and chill for an hour.  My lack of bendiness is alarming  but I knew that.  Scooting around with small person has likely exacerbated my knee problem, so that I now have a loose kneecap.  Long walks to and from camp this week have required an orthopaedic knee brace, which is such an "on trend" look with my shorts. But walking anywhere in Canada is level one eccentric, so hobbling adds nothing much to my already odd persona.

The allotment is thriving although it will be all but a pumpkin patch a month from now...they are like triffids. Even the colorado beetles avoid them.  All in all a busy month living life.

Venom or the Incredible Hulk?

Who'd win?  I say Hulk ( I always say Hulk, huge fan).  Apparently the answer is Venom "as he grows badder every day."  Good to know.  Filed that information to use later.

Day off tomorrow - Canada Day.  The street opposite ours is having a street party, huge flags draped accross the road.  Reminds me of the Queens Silver Jubilee when I was a kid, although needs more blue with the red and white.  Our plans include not getting up at 6am and at some point, in between storms, going to the allotment.

A Cheeter or the Incredible Hulk - who can jump higher?  I say Hulk.  No, a cheeter "cheeters can jump a million high"   Good to know.  Filed.

I was feeling homesick yesterday - saw lots of friends on facebook and was reminded of how long it is since I went out for a coffee or a drink; had a grown up meal; had a break.  As we drove up to the allotment small person and I chatted about England and missing friends...he misses his little bromance gang and the girls who liked him to chase them at playtime.  "Should we go back home?" I asked.  "Seriously Mom!  Oh my Gawd! no way".  So you like it here then?  Good.  What do you like best?  "MarineLand and in Grade 2 we get to go swimming as a lesson...from school in a building!" 

Who is the only superhero that can defeat Venom?  Hulk?  "no mum, I'll give you a clue, it begins with a SSSS"  Spiderman,  no.  Superman, no.  You're sure its not the Hulk?  "SSSSSSSSilver surfer, but he doesn't want to fight, so Venom just gets stronger."  Aha!

Small person and I are going camping on Sunday for 3 nights, in a Yurt.  It has a proper bed and electricity and is near both the showers and the childrens play area so hopefully we have all bases covered.  We spent a fun hour in Canadian Tire earlier buying stuff...cooking stove, check, cooler, check,  enormous marshmallows, check, but we have eaten most of them already.  Also for $12 at the recycle shop we got plates, cups, cooking pots, barbeque tools.  We are good to go.  The Ipad is coming, but it will have a low profile and will only come out for car journeys to MarineLand and the Zip Line park (eeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk). I have introduced a new regime for summer - "If you want 30 minutes on the ipad you have to draw one picture and write one sentence in your summer scrapbook".  This worked well on the first day, all be it that it took some explaining and rebuffing his attempt to renegotiate terms.  Now, on day three he doesn't want the ipad - great...but the journal?  Please write a sentence, keep your brain working.  Nope.  Hmmm!

I just asked him "Darth Vader or Venom?".  Venom.  "Why?"  Because he has webs, he can tie Vader up!  Obvious really when you think about it.

Happy Canada Day!

It's so quiet!

Every night for the last two weeks the street has been filed with kids playing, going in and out of others houses. We have become part of that with Small person now having 5 BFFs in our road. But tonight all is silent. The streets are empty, apart from the Canadian guy 3 doors up who fixes his car at weekends, drinks beer and some week shouts "the f word".  Italy are playing football and the folks here take that very seriously.  I was going to watch the match, as they are playing England, but I was out voted by a small person who wanted to watch Alice in Wonderland ( again) and a large person who wants an easier life.  So I breeched the curfew and cut the front lawn...alone, just me and the Kanuk fixing his car.

Earlier today small person went to a party...a pool party.  Should I leave him or should I stay? He put his trunks on, jumped in the deep end which is 10 foot deep, and had to be dragged to the edge by the birthday boy.  I stayed.  "Harking but nah heeding" is the order of the day with him at the moment. I chatted with Mums as he splashed and sploshed for 3 hours. We talked about school stuff, as 3 of them are teachers.  I learnt that I should be doing 30 minutes, reading, riting and rythmatic with him every night, in addition to homework.  I had no idea.  I learnt that spelling and grammar have been removed from the curriculum.  When I told my husband that he used the f word.  We have found the cost of moving to Canada...education.

I have bought the Child Whisperer on kindle - maybe whispering rather than shouting will get the small person to pay more attention...we shall see. I have read the first three pages but then I fell asleep for 2 hours.  Introvert talking with strangers at pool party equals exhaustion.  Another party tomorrow...this one is at Chuck e Cheese, which I have only heard about in movies. A friend tells me is is nasty pizza, watery wine and flat beer, but kids love it.  My husbands Fathers Day treat is that he gets to stay home alone whilst we go to the party. What price respite?

Happy Fathers Day to my dad, home alone with the cats.  Love you.

Culture Shock

I was at work on Friday, beavering away in my office at home, when through the window I heard a fascinating conversation that told me more about the difference between Europeans and North Americans than I ever knew. My neighbour from next door but one, many generation Canadian, was having a conversation with the woman across the street. He doesn't work as he is on the compo, with a back injury.  I know this as that was Thursdays listening novello.  I assume he gets bored as he pounces on people for conversation the minute they leave their homes or cars.  Any how, the cultural shock story..

He..." Do you watch soccer?"

She... "No, I don't get it."

He..."I know, the scores are like 1 to zero after 90 minutes.  90 minutes and that's all you get!.  Men running around a huge field chasing a white ball.  There's no excitement and low scores eh!"

She..."there's a competition starting soon, I've seen flags on cars"

He..."Yeah, the World Cup.  They make a big fuss about it. I just don't get it."

Then the Polish guy up the street gets home, they share their confusion with him.  He disagrees with them obviously, so my neighbour tries to explain that Hockey is a real game, "There's contact and fighting and they score 45. It's fast, I like a fast game. Soccer is slow.  I don't get it!"

Now I'm not a huge football fan, being a Scotland supporter you learn early that the only way you get to the World Cup is on a package deal or an Easy Jet flight.  But I supported Spurs from the sofa back when Ricky Villa and Ozzy were all the rage.  I watched that other Argy handball to win. I know that Camaroon do that corner post dance thing when they score.  I know that Pele is a god and Terry is a dreadful role model, but a great defender.  I know that the national team suffers because the players have greater loyalty to their clubs, that are floated on the stock market and driven by money men. 

I spent the first 15 years of my working life in a male dominated world.  Where football was discussed for hours every Monday morning, and then again after the mid week match.  I know it's about skill and stamina, that the team formation is critical. I don't understand the offside rule...but more in terms of why do you need it.  I get the whole formation part of it.  I learnt, at 19, that you don't join in those conversations unless you know your stuff.  They are serious, important, tribal.  They are where men, who rarely express emotion, express emotion.  I never joined in.  I made the right noises if questioned.  Clearly Watford were the better team and Luton were W*****s.  Apparently still the case.

So, to hear a grown man saying that he has nothing in his blood for football is actually shocking to me.  It is my first "you are not like us" experience.  I had assumed that would be over politics or war, but no...sport.  I guess that whilst the Olympics unites us, ball games devide us.

I'll stick with my plants:-)

Sat On The Front Porch

As predicted I have moved quickly from grumbling about 4 months of snow to winging about the heat. Today it's in the high 20s with no shade so feeling a lot warmer. Tomorrow the weather channel predicts 34 degrees, which I am guessing is high for May, but as it's our first spring here I am not sure.   The back garden is now in full sun so I have escaped onto the front door step for shade.  If this was the UK neighbours would be twitching curtains and questioning my sanity.  In Canada people seem to live in the street.  Four doors up they are playing street hockey, further on basketball.  The woman across the street is greeting all neighbours with discussions about their front garden. Much talk of ice storms, maple damage and dandelions.  Someone told me the other day that " in Canada a home is not your castle" but I suspect that your front yard is your kingdom.

In a moment of madness and defeat yesterday I took small person to the animal rescue centre. They wouldn't let me leave him there so we adopted two kittens instead.  The speed of the decision is the madness I refer to. The defeat is that small persons reward chart is now passe and we were never going to get to our kitten goal.  So do we wait until he starts to listen, tidy up, eat lunch at school, go to bed and stay in bed? Or de we reverse the psychology and get him the promised kittens with the new insentive being "behave or they go back".  We probably should have waited for behavioural nirvana; and we have probably created a rod for our own back but it felt like the right thing to do.

I have never seen him so happy.  The kittens are super cute and they play fight like ninjas which he finds hysterical.  He seems to be trying to train them like dogs, and believes that he has to watch them all day to "take care of them". Thankfully we convinced him to watch a cartoon and the kittens took the opportunity to climb into the blanket basket and have a sleep.   He hasn't asked for the iPad once since they arrived.  He was just playing sticky ninja on the laptop, but after 15 minutes he said he was "fed up" and returned to kitten training. I suspect that they will love the peace tomorrow, when he is at a school. I'm planning a quiet Monday too.  The US are on holiday, so hopefully all emergencies will be on hold until Tuesday. I have planned to do that file tidy and archive that will make life easier.  Happy days.

I met my new allotment today

And she's a beauty.  10 k from home, in the rolling hills.  On the way there I had to stop to let two deer cross the road. Reminded me of home.  The allotment ( they call it a garden here ) is a strip of land 10' by 40', so 1/3 of the size that I had back in the UK, but that is the plan...start small.

I feel like I need to relearn how to grow some things.  I started gardening proper 28 years ago.  Whilst most people come to gardening late in life, I started there when I left school.  Back then I mostly grew flowers from seeds and cuttings, endless clematis plants and annuals, then my passion moved to perennials and alpines.  I like conifers but there has never been any romance there for me.   Dabbled with heathers for a bit, they are beautiful.  I didn't start growing veg until I got my UK allotments 4 years ago.  I remember my first afternoon on the plot, faced with soil like concrete, hacking away with my pick, looks of derision from some plot holders.  One guy who decided to lecture me on what to do, what not to do.  Gave me loads of advice, all of it wrong, but I think he meant well.

It takes time to find your groove on an allotment...for many it is a solitary activity on purpose, so the concept of joining a community is slow to realize.  For every chatty person there are 5 people who just want you to shut up and move along.  Over time I worked out who to chat to and who to stay away from.  No one was mean, but folks just wanted peace.  I learnt not to talk about the fact that I was qualified in horticulture because despite the study and the years of experience with plant propagation I had minimal experience of growing food.  After 4 years I gained a grasp of what I could grow and a huge knowledge of what happens if you cut corners - "I'll cover the cabbages tomorrow" result was bird ate them overnight.  "I'll pick those red current at the weekend" result No redcurrents.  "Just snap off the bind weed for now" result even more bindweed.  I wouldn't say that I am great at growing veg, because like all things in my life there is limit to the effort I am prepared to put in.  I get bored with rules and protocol - hence the knowledge of cutting corners.

So here I am, facing my first season growing food in Canada, actually further south than I was in the UK, so I expect a drier warmer summer climate.  Once again I am faced with having lots of knowledge but limited practical experience.  I am very fortunate to have been given a plot that was well managed by the previous tenant. The soil looks rich and clean, apart from couch grass.  Couch grass and I are are old adversaries but we have learnt to live in harmony over the years.  At the open day earlier the site manager advised us that our three greatest pests are deer, wild turkeys and black fly.  Small person questioned her at length about the turkey's - in fact he spent 20 minutes asking her questions on many topics.  He has a thirst for knowledge and I suspect he is also sponsored by Duracell to keep going - he gets paid by the word!

The hierarchy at the open day today is already evident.  The wise old women are already offering to give guidance and advice ( wether you need it or not ).  There is a large group of retired Indian folk who have taken a plot 10 times the size of mine - I hope they grow awesome veg from Asia as that will be cool to see.  I tried to chat to them but they are a closed shop at this point.  There are folks from Italy, UK, Jamaica, Pakistan, Canada  and US.  If we do get to talk it will be cool to learn from each other. But if folks want to be alone that is cool too.  I'm aching a little from spending a warm hour cleaning 60 sq foot of soil.  Only 340  sq foot more to go.   Small person made friends with Lily, the resident dog, so all in all it is shaping up to be a fun season.