CBC/Radio-Canada

I'm grateful to be living in a country with such a culturally-rich national radio station. CBC radio has, as on so many other occasions, been providing the background to our Christmas Eve day. And on this day, what could be better amidst playing with my grand-daughter, making fudge, and cutting out paper snowflakes than the likes of Handel's Messiah, Stuart McLean and the Vinylettes, and the perfect blend of traditional and not-so-traditional songs of the season? Thank-you, CBC, for being part of the tapestry of our lives.

Making Holiday Memories

Simple living brings with it many gifts, the greatest being a natural continuum of appreciation.

As we distance ourselves from consumeristic trappings, the more our mind and soul are free to breathe, to see good, to create, to participate in our existence.

Each year I grow further away from the consumerism that polluted my life when my children were small. Each year I am aware of a greater degree of inner peace.

How are we celebrating the holidays? My son and I are purposefully doing one special thing each day in addition to our usual family time:

Paper snowflakes, nature photography walk, making fudge, picking up a "new" board game at the thrift shop then settling in for an afternoon of playing and popcorn, playing music at local residential homes/shelter/seniors' homes, repainting canvases, an afternoon of sketching memories from family life, a "kitchen experiments" day, learning to knit, a minimizing day of clearing out items that could be better used elsewhere, felting, a "downtown" photography day, making a cookie train, and a movie evening which was a gift from a friend. We did the movie evening last night and saw "Hugo" - an interesting film highlighting the works of Georges Méliès. ***My son has reminded me that we'd also decided that we'll be making a special treat in the kitchen every day!

We're aiming to go for a walk every day. We usually put any food cuttings/scraps into our  small compost bag on our deck but during the winter we put some out in our yard every day for the squirrel and birds. We've been watching the History of Canada on vhs tapes we found at the thrift shop - they have so much information that we're looking forward to watching bits of them frequently throughout the holidays. My grand-daughters will be stopping by to spend part of a day here and there, when I'm sure much teadollspuzzlesstories-
windowwatchingwaterplayingsnacking will take place. We're going to play Christmas lp's, now that I finally found an affordale record player ($15 at our thrift shop!), including one that's the same as one I had when I was a child. On Christmas morning, we're looking forward to enjoying a breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and mandarins before my son opens his stocking. At some point we'll walk over to one of the local residential homes for adults living with disabilities and we'll share some music. We haven't decided yet whether to have our Christmas dinner around noon or later in the day. We're also considering picking up some ice skates at the thrift shop and trying to stay upright on the local outdoor rink across the road from our house.

No malls, no shopping stresses. We're giving a few small gifts - some purchased at a couple of local shops within walking distance from our home, a few purchased online, and a few homemade.

A simple, peaceful Christmas.

Holiday Treats

Gluten-free, Casein-free

I was reminded this morning that there are folks looking for quick and easy gfcf holiday recipes. At our house, quick and easy is a favourite when it comes to treats. I've done quite a bit of experimenting with food to find what works for my son's needs as well as our finances. Here are some of our favourite sweets....

Chocolates

 

 

 

Melt bakers chocolate with a bit of natural honey to taste (I usually do 2 squares of chocolate and a dollop of honey that just covers the tip of a regular wooden spoon then add as needed. Don't overdo the honey though or you'll just end up with chocolate-honey soup. Add enough honey to "just" sweeten the chocolate)

 Drop by spoonful onto waxed or parchment paper and enjoy! These can be eaten as is OR wait til they're cool enough to roll into balls then dip them in chocolate and roll in hemp seed, coconut, crushed gfcf cereal, crushed nuts, cinnamon, or whatever else your heart desires.

Chocolate Cereal Drops

Melt whatever you usually use for melting chocolate. Because we're very careful with our shekels and have become used to eating few sweets, we can afford to purchase a nice bar of fair trade, high cocao, cane sugar chocolate for these. For the cereal, we use gfcf puffed millet or gfcf puffed rice (both of which we've been able to find on sale for 99cents a bag so stocked up). Gently stir cereal into melted chocolate and drop by spoonful. Try not to eat them all before they've set.

Potato Candy

Potato candy is very simple to make - and if you've never made it before, it's also an interesting process to observe. This has been a tradition in our family for generations.

Ingredients: Mashed potato, icing sugar, optional peanut butter, optional peppermint extract

Although the bulk of the food preparation in our home is gfcf, I do not purchase gfcf store products. I view them as being in the same category as any other boxed/ prepared/processed food. We have, however, occasionally received gfcf icing sugar from our food bank. I've also recently learned that icing sugar is just sugar and cornstarch blended together, so will be experimenting in the new year with cane sugar and gfcf cornstarch. All in all, we generally don't use sugar or icing sugar. Potato candy, however, requires the latter.

I use about 2 heaping tablespoons of mashed potato, then slowly continue sprinkling in icing sugar til I have a firm dough. This sounds simple enough, and it is, but if you're new to the world of potato candy, you'll likely be surprised or possibly even concerned when you first start adding the icing sugar and realize you have what looks to be a liquid mess in your bowl. What's happening is that the sugar is breaking down the starch in the potato. Bravely carry on.

Once the dough is ready, sprinkle some icing sugar onto waxed or parchment paper and place the dough onto the paper. Knead, adding more icing sugar as necessary. Once you think the dough is firm enough, roll it out into a rectangle, spread with peanut butter (or other nut butter), roll it up as you would for a jellyroll. Some folks then wrap the roll in waxed or parchment paper and refrigerate then slice. I just let mine sit for a bit on the table before cutting it into deliciously lovely little slices.

**Alternative 1: I usually put a couple of drops of peppermint extract into the palm of my hand then gently rub my hands together then knead the dough. If I forget, then I just gently rub my peppermint hands over the finished roll before slicing. The roll is good without the peppermint as well.

**Alternative 2: Instead of rolling dough out into a rectangle, just form small balls. These can be eaten as is or dipped in chocolate.

Enjoy!

Felting and Fulling/Waulking

Silk, Bamboo, and Merino fibres felted with Manitoba Shetland and fulled

"Lake Winnipeg"

My first attempt at wet-felting a picture.

I'll be spending more time rolling this piece this afternoon.

It's been an interesting journey to wool. I'd been talking with a friend about how much I disliked using toxic products for paintings, particularly the varnish that provides the wonderful finish that I and my clients appreciate. I started investigating other options at our local paint shop. There are some eco-paints out there, some that may or may not contain arsenic and/or other not-so-desireables, but the price point is such that I'd have to change and severely limit my present process. Additionally, I couldn't find a responsibly-supportive varnish alternative. What started out as a wonderfully pleasant, soul-feeding experience of abstract expressionism was now becoming a cerebrally-bathed exercise. While all this way going on, I was continuing my weekly wanderings through our local thrift shop and realizing there were certain items that seemed to have a semi-permanent life on the shelves - doilies, bags of raw wool for quilts, pillowcases, etc. Every time I wandered by these items, my brain went into upcycling mode until one day I bought a bag of wool and went home to research. I was surprised to learn that wool has all those lovely benefits mentioned in a previos post, and was thrilled to think that I could become skilled at making pieces with such a natural and easily-sourced material. I've been looking into where I can find locally-produced roving, asking experienced felters about the likelihood of being able to use the thrift shop wool (my previous post tells the story of difficulties I've had with felting it), and building skills through researching online and trying my hand at felting something small every day. I'm hoping to be able to find a local alpaca farm that cleans and cards from its own alpacas. In the meantime, I'm also experimenting with basic felting/fulling of premade wool items. It feels so enriching to be working with wool.

Felting Soap, Roasting Chestnuts, Making Tutus

A few weeks ago during one of my frequent trips to our local thrift shop, I realized that there are often bags of batted wool (for using inside homemade blankets/quilts) sitting up on one of the shelves. Knowing that wool has all sorts of lovely benefits (anti-fungal, mildew-resistant, naturally warm, highly flame resistant http://www.duofiberworks.com/journal/2010/12/30/super-non-scientific-fire-testing-felted-wool.html, etc.), I bought one of the bags, brought it home, and starting researching wool projects online. I soon stumbled across a myriad of information about felting and fulling wool, and decided that felting soap would be a good introductory lesson.  I won't include the "how to" on this blog, since there is already so much information available online and mine would just be repetitive. My first two attempts at wet felting look like more or less like tiny, woolly sheep bodies without any evidence of the wool felting to/over the soap bar. I sought out some help from folks at a wool shop. Yes, I'd used a textured mat. Yes, I'd used hot water. After a few more minutes of discussion, I left with some of the shop's roving. My third attempt showed some evidence of felting but was horrendously bulky. The blue/pink bar below was my fourth attempt - still learning!

And, using less wool and using a nylon produce bag, I finally figured it out! The photos below show both sides of the successfully-felted bars of soap. As you can see, the bar in the middle is larger/bulkier than the others.

I tried again with the thrift shop wool but to no avail. Lesson learned - figure out some other creative use for the wool bats.

*********

We came upon some chestnuts at a local store a couple of weeks ago and bought a few to try them out. Having never actually eaten them before (other than their cousins, canned water chestnuts), I read a couple of websites then soaked the nuts, sliced an "X" across their flat sides, and put them onto a pan and into the oven at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. I  was less than enthused at first, but popped them back into the oven for another 5 or 6 minutes and tried them again. The added time produced a nuttier/starchier, sweeter flavour.

They didn't stay in the basket very long.

********* 

With two little granddaughters, I decided fairy skirts would be a suitable gift for each one. When I went over to the fabric store to price them out, I realized I'd be spending close to $40. per skirt to get the fullness I wanted. Hmmm, back to the drawing board. When I went to the thrift shop later that day, I was happy to discover some mosquito netting for $8! As you can see, this one isn't quite finished yet (the netting has taken more cutting time than I'd anticipated), but is turning out quite nicely.

*****

December 6, 1989

In Memory....

~Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
~Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
~Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
~Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
~Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
~Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
~Maryse Laganière (born 1964), staff member of École Polytechnique
~Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
~Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
~Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
~Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
~Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
~Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/École_Polytechnique_massacre

Easy, Nutritious Summer Drinks

A couple of summers ago, my son and I decided to make homemade soda for his birthday party. We made six different flavours. My son thoroughly enjoyed them all. He knew this was a rarity because each required a simple syrup (requiring sugar - thankfully we have fair-trade, organic cane sugar available from Ten Thousand Villages) and club soda. I knew there had to be healthier, inexpensive alternatives.

Here are some of our experiments:

Ginger Juice

Boil sliced ginger in a pot of water (I use about 2-3 inches for about 8 cups)
Sweeten to taste (optional)
I find the warm version tastes different than the cooled version, and though I enjoy them both, I probably enjoy the chilled version more than I should. I've started making this much less than I used to because even the thought of it makes me want some, and I'm not even a ginger fan otherwise!

Citrus Blends

Our nearby grocery store has a "50% off" produce shelf. A couple of weeks ago, it was full of oranges, lemons, and limes. Did you know lemons have a myriad of health benefits? It's true! We've been peeling a combination of citrus, then cutting them into wedges, gently poking numerous holes into them, tossing them into a pot along with the peels, covering them in boiling water from the kettle, then putting the lid on the pot and leaving it to brew for a few minutes just like that. About 10 minutes or so later, I use a potato masher and gently mash the fruit a bit, then add more water and let the pot simmer. Strain. I added honey and cinnamon to my first batch. Divine! Unfortunately, we (mostly I!) drank all of it that afternoon. I did up subsequent batches without anything other than the fruit and water, and canned the blends into quart jars for later sweetening. I also kept a jar in the fridge, and I really didn't mind it without the honey once it was chilled.

I also did up a couple of jars of ginger/citrus - and will definitely be doing up more of those!

Smoothies/Juice

Many folks make smoothies these days. This is nothing new. We greatly enjoy the fact that you can toss almost any produce into the blender.

One of my favourite things about smoothies is that you can toss in raw beets, spinach, etc., and drink down a greater quantity of produce than you might eat otherwise in one sitting.

And for the cocoa-holics out there, you can toss in additional health benefits by tossing in some cocoa.

Here's one of our favourite smoothies:
Coconut milk or other milk, and water
Frozen fruit (mangoes, friends' organic berries, etc)
Banana
Spinach (I usually toss in 2 servings)
Sprinkle of cinnamon on top

For those of you scrunching up your nose at the thought of the taste of spinach in a smoothie, have no fear. The spinach is masked by the other flavours.

No coconut milk? No problem, if you have coconut or other nuts at home. Walnuts or almonds are a great alternative - before making your smoothie, just toss half a cup or so into the blender with 2 cups of water, blend blend blend, then strain out the leftovers (and eat with honey or on cereal, etc) or leave them in your smoothie when you add the other ingredients.

Of course, you can experiment with leaving out the "milk" part and just try out different fruit/vegetable/water/herbal tea blends to find some that you enjoy. There are no rules - at least, I haven't come across any yet!

***************

When it comes to drinks, we all know we don't need soda or energy drinks or even commercial fruit juice. Our bodies need water. Our bodies need vegetables and fruits. We need to have some fun. When we toss a few things into our blender, we're in control of what we're drinking which means we're healthier. It also means we can probably slip in a few more vegetables than we or our children might be taking in otherwise.

*****************

One morning, my son called to me from the kitchen.
"Mom, do you want some iced tea?"
"You made iced tea? And it's cold already?"
"Yeah. I made it with cold water."

And he had. And it tasted - well, it tasted like cold tea. He'd put a couple of herbal cinnamon teabags into a pitcher and filled the pitcher with water then let it sit for awhile. Basically, it was flavoured water. But it was nicely flavoured and already cold without having to wait.  So I guess we really don't need to use power to heat up a kettle for to make iced tea (with the exception of sun-brewed tea) only to later put it into the fridge to cool, and we definitely don't need that syrupy, sugar-laden stuff of yore.

Soon it will be time to experiment with drinks that will satisfy and warm through the Autumn months. A friend of mine once served me a cup of warm beet juice with just a splash of vinegar. I'd never had beet juice before, but oddly enough it immediately brought back memories of walking to school through fragrant fallen leaves, and all felt right with the world.

Happy Experimenting!

Urban Garden Report

June 25, 2011

My urban garden thus far consists of:

- 3 squash plants in 2 long, narrow plastic containers; 1 in its own container, 2 sharing the other container
- 3 strawberry plants in an upside-down planter
- 1 tomato plant in an upside-down planter
- 4 tomato plants in the ground underneath our living room window
- 2 parsley plants in a container
- 1 chocolate mint plant in a long, narrow plastic container which suddenly is now also home to approximately 20 or so mystery seedlings
- 1 mint plant and 1 tomato plant from the nursery still waiting for a new home
- 11 tomato seedlings still waiting for their new homes
- 6 indoor tomato plants, one of which has a serious water addiction

The upside-down tomato plant looks as though it's practising for its gymnastics debut. Maybe it has sensory integration challenges - it definitely is not presently comfortable with the idea of being upside-down. It looks like someone who's hanging by their ankles and trying to touch their feet. And I could be wrong, but it doesn't look as though it's actually growing. It doesn't appear to be dying either, so I'm hoping it will relax at some point so its energy can go into growing tomatoes instead of going into surviving its directional crisis.

The strawberry plants do not seem very happy at all with their communal situation. I've been removing a few curled and/or brown leaves every couple of days. Again, I'm hopeful that a few more days for adjustment is all they'll need to become their happily productive selves.




Out of all the tomato seeds I seeded in melon rinds and containers, only 6 did not come up. I still have 11 happily (and quickly at this point!) growing in their original (small!) pots, some on their own and some with room-mates, and have yet to figure out where to put them all!

I'm trying a few tomato plants inside to see how they do. So far, all of them appear to be doing well. One plant, however, looked extremely sad as soon as I transplanted it into its own pot and moved it indoors.  Within about half an hour following transplant, it was very, very droopy. None of the others displayed such a dramatic response. Overall, that plant requires at least twice the amount of water as the others, and looks extremely sad every morning. It may need to be relocated back outside.

The container where I planted the chocolate mint suddenly sprouted a community of seedlings this past week. Many seedlings. Many, many, many seedlings. It's a mystery. So far, the best I 've been able to figure is that they might be canteloupe seedlings from some we had tossed into the compost. Anyone want canteloupe seedlings?? My sister tells me it's far too late for canteloupes anyway. If they're put in earlier in the season, they're only ready by mid-September. Here in Manitoba, anything past then is at risk for the bite of frost. Poor little things, I'd hate to just yank them out and let them die. My sister has a plan - just pull them and transplant them randomly in public spaces around town! That's not unlike my "secretly plant ferns around town so I can harvest fiddleheads next year" plan ;-)

The only plants that I've put into the ground are 4 tomato plants under my living room window. They aren't dying and they seem happy enough - but they aren't growing. They just seem frozen in time.

I'm hoping to find folks willing to let me pick their unwanted fruit this year. So many residential yards have fruit trees, particularly crabapples, that eventually drop their fruit which then just rots on the ground. I can think of a few other uses for those apples :-)

Urban Gardener, out

Embracing Purpose

I've heard it in movies, from friends, from acquaintances, in casual conversation, and in all sorts of different places  -  there really are people in this world who don't feel they have a purpose in life. There really are people in this world who eat, sleep, work, and live their life with a sense of emptiness.

As a Mom raising a child who lives with disabilities, I never question whether or not I have a purpose in life. I never wonder whether or not I'm contributing to the world. I don't ever wonder if my life is worthwhile.

I make a difference in the world every single day just by being who I am. That difference can be positive or negative, depending on how I choose to be.

I make a difference in my child's world, and he makes a difference in my world. And knowing both those things makes a difference in my world as well.

I make a difference in the world around me every single day by loving my child and teaching him how to live well, and by allowing my experience with my child to mold me in positive ways.

I make a difference in the lives of others when I advocate for my child or when I help someone else better understand my child. And every bit of understanding also makes a difference in the lives of others living with disabilities.

I make a difference in my child's future by providing the supports he needs today, but that difference also effects others who will know my child in the future.

Sometimes an unpaid career is just as meaningful as or even moreso than a paid career.

Gardening, Volunteering, and Drinking

June 9, 2011

Small-Space Urban Gardening

My squash plants are up!

"How are you going to grow squash plants on a deck?" you might be thinking.

Well, the original plan was to start them from seed then transfer the seedlings into the community garden. But now I've decided I'm also going to experiment a bit. Two plants are going to be transplanted into two separate containers. The containers will be set on the floor of the deck and I'll be carefully training the vines to run along the deck floor. The containers will be fairly shallow, less than 6 inches in depth, but will be long and will only have one plant each. That will be Experiment #1.

The second experiment is to see how well dandelions grow in various containers. I'm going to dedicate two containers to the gentle green and see if we can have fresh produce all summer. Part B of Experiment #2 will be to see how long dandelions will grow inside once their main growing season is over.

What else...oh yes - the tomato plants I seeded into melon rinds. There are four seedlings that came up in one rind and zero in the other. While I'm obviously happy to see the four that have come up, the resulting data leaves much to be desired for scientific purposes ;-)   I also started two tomato plants by seed in separate corners of a rectangular container and put varying amounts of "pre-compost produce-waste" in an around the seeded sites. One plant came up. Unfortunately, in my carelessness one day, I accidentally pulled the teeny plant out when moving an orange rind.

Community

There are so many financially-free ways to be involved in one's community. Here are some of the ways we've been community-minded over the years:
-Many local festivals offer some free activities in addition to those with a price tag
-Attend different levels of sports games, from peewee to adult, for free afternoons/evenings of entertainment and community-connection
-Volunteer, Volunteer, Volunteer! Oh, and then Volunteer some more! I've been on various committees in our community. I've volunteered as a crisis counsellor and with our local arts center and with our local teen drop-in center.  My son and I have volunteered with programs for newcomers to our city, with programs for adults who live with disabilities, at our local library, in our local parade, and with seniors. We're presently working on organizing an afternoon in the park for local families of children with disabilities. Once in awhile, we've done some secret volunteering as well - secretly dropping off a bag of groceries for someone in need, organizing a Mother's Day basket for women at the local shelter, etc. In addition to all the community-building benefits, it's also good for my son to be involved in giving to his community to develop his sense of becoming a positively-participating member of his community and all the personal good that goes along with that. A meaningful life really is possible for all.

In Our Kitchen: Healthy Alternatives to Soda and Juice

We don't buy bottled water. I boil the water from our tap and generally just drink from that throughout the day/evening. On a cool evening or rainy day, however, I enjoy brewing up a bunch of homemade drinks to stock our fridge. Here are some favourites:

Mint
-Bruise/break mint leaves and toss into bottom of drink container
-Add boiled, cooled water
-Refrigerate

Parsley or Basil
-Boil a pot of water
-Add parsley (dried or fresh) or basil (fresh)
-Remove from heat and let steep
-Strain and cool
-Pour into container and refrigerate

Ginger (my favourite thus far!)
-Boil a pot of water
-While waiting for water to boil, use a metal spoon to scrape the skin from a piece of fresh ginger (how much you use depends on how much water and personal taste - enjoy experimenting!)
-Slice your ginger and add to the boiling water, then simmer til desired taste
-Strain if desired
-Add honey to taste
-Cool, pour into container and refrigerate

Honey (use the good stuff so you get all the health benefits!)
-Boil water. Add honey. Cool. Pour into container and refrigerate.


Enjoy!

Still Figuring Out The Details

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." 
(Henry Miller)

The Environment; Our Environment

In our home, we use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning. There is no vehicle in our driveway except when friends stop by.

We try to stay as clear as possible from processed food products, though the items from the food bank fall mostly under that category and we appreciate the availability of all food bank items.

I'd like to eat primarily organic food but that's a bit tricky for low-income families. I'm looking forward to having a bit of a garden on our deck again this year ("Deck Gardening"), and though we don't have storage/freezer space, we're working on our plan for this year's community garden and are looking forward to having homegrown produce throughout the Summer.

I'm also thinking of picking up a few extra seed packets this season to see if I can grow some produce indoors next Winter. If you've done so, I'd love to hear from you!

In the meantime, we are aiming to focus mostly on "The Clean 15" for the next while and see how we do. I'll keep you posted on our progress!

That said, today's recipe is a GFCF snack using packaged rice crackers.

2-Ingredient, Snack-Size GFCF Pancakes

Ingredients:

24 Rice Crackers (I used Superstore's plain, "no name" crackers)
3 Eggs

That's it!
I used my "Magic Bullet" and first made the rice crackers into crumbs then blended in the eggs. I spooned the batter into a non-stick frying pan and cooked just til the batter seemed to start firming up, then flipped them over. Watch that they don't burn.
****This recipe only makes 8 very small pancakes, each about 2 inches in diameter. They were perfect with honey!

A few months back, I was craving french toast and didn't have any gfcf bread in the house, so I coarsely crunched up some rice crackers, mixed in some eggs, and poured the mixture into egg molds in my frying pan. They were pretty good, and I've turned to that often as a french toast alternative. 
One day when I was recovering from some sort of something or other, I wanted something more along the pancake line, and knew I needed something with protein that would be light on the stomach and wouldn't take long to make. These worked out to be a perfect solution. Obviously this doesn't work well for families having a big pancake breakfast, but that's not healthy anyway! These are great as a snack or as part of a meal.

Enjoy!

Finding the Riches

Gratefulness. Every Day.
Purposely seeking out beauty numerous times throughout the day. Every day.
Purposely choosing to randomly smile throughout the day.


There's Something About Nature

"I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree"
William Blake

Remember being thrilled by the sight of a ladybug when you were toddling about and barely able to say the word, "bug"?

Remember how the rest of the world faded away while you marvelled at how the ants you were watching could carry such giant food crumbs and how easily they could maneuvoeur around the piece of grass you experimentally placed to disrupt their intended path?

Those wonderful, miraculous pleasures didn't disappear.

Looking into a flower and doing nothing else but breathing brings a calm  -  a different calm than one that comes from soaking in a tub or reading a book. For some who have been away from calm or from nature-appreciation for awhile, this might involve a bit of mind-training, but even starting at 5 seconds a day and working up to being able to successfully block out the world and focus on the simple and miraculous intricacies of a flower for a minute or more each day provides a sense of connection. Healing. Calm. I remember when I started to re-understand that as long as there was nature around me, all would be ok in my world.

There's Something About Music

Addict: noun [with modifier] informal
an enthusiastic devotee of a specified thing or activity

My name is Christine, and I am a live-music addict.

For me, it's not just the music. There's something very deep about sharing music. Beauty, connection, wonder  -  there's something unique and satisfying to being part of a live music performance. Whether you're on the sharing end or the listening end, there's something that's created in those moments of time that can never be recreated. And both the sharer and the listener (although, really, are those roles actually truly separate? hmmm) nudge each other's lives while experiencing those moments together.

Of course, the music itself does count. It reaches deep down inside; some place primal that's connected to ancient times before the development of verbal language. It can touch places that are so often untouched and left parched in modern society. And lyrics? Well, I'm almost always up for listening to a story!

There's Something About Friends

"I have moved and I've kept on moving
Proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing
Found others on the way"
{Caledonia}

I've found in life that there are so many layers of friendship (I'm referring to actual friendships here, not folks within our circle of acquaintances). When I was younger, I viewed friends as folks who drifted somewhere within my "inner circle" and "outer circle" of people I knew. The inner circle friends were those with whom I felt the closest (usually based on time together, familiarity, commonality, etc), and the outer circle were folks with whom I'd had similar connections but just to a different degree. Later in life, I reached a bit of a quandry in having common interests and general philosophies with some folks, yet was on the other end of the spectrum in lifestyle or other viewpoints. I began to see that some friends are like some relatives - with some, you develop a close relationship, and with others, you might or might not get together very often and might not have a great deal in common but there might be one or two good-sized factors that provide the glue that keeps you in touch and keeps you wanting to be there for each other.  I also simplified  -  weeded out unhealthy relationships as well as personal/friendship relationships with individuals who showed evidence of a lack of respect towards others, and found much peace in relationships with those who exhibit a true sense of peace in the way they live their life.  Most of the latter have included common interests as well as common philosophies in various areas, but some have included only one or the other. As a result, I truly enjoy and appreciate the eclectic treasure of individuals I am honoured to call my friends. 

Deck Gardening, Chocolate, The Apple Tree, Time/Space, Autumn in Virginia

SMALL-SPACE GARDENS

I live in what some might consider a small space. Everything's relative, especially when thinking globally.  We also have a deck, and it's a living space for which I'm truly thankful. 

In wanting fresh, local, organic produce, one of the (too many) things my brain is often trying to figure out is how to grow more food in a small space.

Thankfully, there are some very inspirational sites on the web:

 WOODEN PALLET VERTICAL GARDEN

 UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTERS

 LIFE ON THE BALCONY

 VERTICAL FARMING

 ANOTHER WOODEN PALLET IDEA (though I'm not big on the newspaper/plastic bottles)

A SMALL-SPACE POTATO IDEA (not for decks though!)

Along these lines, we had some great news today! Some land has been donated to the local food bank for their clients to use as a community garden this coming season - and seeds are being donated by a local greenhouse. Excellent news! We will definitely be signing up for a row!

Outside our Front Window
"So what's been happening with the squirrel?" you might be wondering. Well, a few weeks back, my little granddaughter and I decided to see if our resident squirrel would enjoy an apple - and for the price of an apple, we had an entire afternoon of squirrel-watching moments while he made numerous attempts at getting the apple up into the tree. And he succeeded! Now, apparently it takes a bit of time for such a little squirrel to eat an apple that size  -  evidenced by the view from my second-storey bedroom window the next morning  -  for there, in all its glory, sat the apple on the third or fourth bough about a third of the way up the evergreen tree. There is just something about seeing an apple sitting up in an evergreen, minding its own business, that still brings a smile to my face. Stay tuned for the grapefruit story...

TODAY'S BIT OF ART

"Time and Space"

Acrylics on 24"x 36" gallery-wrapped canvas

  

"Autumn in Virginia"

Acrylics on 36" x 12" gallery-wrapped canvas 

 IN OUR KITCHEN:  Healthy Hot Cocoa!

Yes, you can have your chocolate and drink it too. Less expensive than coffee, many body-benefits (yes, real chocolate is healthy!), less calories than those hot "chocolate" garbage mixes  -  dark, powdered cocoa (or organic cacao if you can find it locally) is one of my pleasures in life, and is easy-peasy to blend up as a mug of either bitter or sweet goodness

Ingredients: dark cocoa powder, boiling water, maple syrup or honey (optional), cinnamon or a chilli(or chilli powder) or other spices (optional)

Mmmmmakin' it: Drop a tablespoon (or more/less to taste) of cocoa powder into the bottom of your mug, add a spit of water to mix the powder so you don't end up with floating bits on the top, then add more boiling water to desired level. Enjoy as is or add cinnamon and/or a chilli (or chilli powder) or organic maple syrup or honey to taste (or enjoy it like the Mayans!)

***CINNAMON WITH HONEY IS ALSO A WONDERFUL HOT DRINK

Almond Pudding, Living with Autism, Train the Brain, Thrift Shop Stained Glass, Red Squirrel

TODAY AT THE THRIFT SHOP
I'm not into consumerism. I believe in reusing, and find no shame (a bit of a thrill, actually!) in finding ways to reuse thrift shop items. For my son, our treks to the thrift shop provide him the opportunity to peruse an abundance of items and maybe even take some of them home with him - most frequently, movies for $1. and board games for $2.  It also allows me to address my son's ongoing clothing needs on bag sale days and replace the numerous items that often need replacing in our home. As an added bonus, we often see a few folks we know there on Saturdays which makes for a nice social outing.  Today's little gem is going to be cleaned up and hung on an old barn door I have on my deck. Yes, that's a $1.00 price tag at the top!

OUTSIDE OUR FRONT WINDOW
Last September, we noticed a small red squirrel in our front yard. This was the first I'd seen in this area and hadn't expected to see much of him/her. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that he or she seems to appreciate the neighbourhood and seems quite at home in our evergreen trees. This little gift is providing us with much viewing enjoyment. Stayed tuned for apple stories.

INSIDE MY SON'S WORLD
Training the Brain
For children whose brains did not either fully develop in utero or developed differently than "the norm", daily functioning can be an ongoing challenge.  While visual and/or verbal prompts are helpful to many, my son has repeatedly rejected the idea through the years because he often doesn't remember to use the visual prompt and usually doesn't want to have to be reminded.  What's one left to do? Train the brain! My son either takes some quiet time to himself or shifts into brief physical exercise in order to help him focus and train his brain to think about what he needs/needed to do. In addition, there's repetion repetition repetition! Learning by rote is one of the strongest tools my son has been able to use.

TODAY'S BIT OF ART

"Living With Autism"

Acrylics on 20"x20" gallery-wrapped canvas

TODAY'S RECIPE:
Amazing Almond Pudding
This is one of our favourite foods! It's light, made without dairy and without processed sugar, and everything about it is adjustable to your personal tastes. The following makes four just-right servings, about 1/2 cup each.
Ingredients: 1 cup almonds, 2.5 cups water, honey or maple syrup to taste, vanilla (optional), cinnamon (or other spices) to taste, cornstarch
Mmmmmaking it!
1.Toss 1 cup almonds into your blender. Add 2.5 cups of water. Don't forget the lid! Blend on high for a couple of minutes until well-blended then strain the liquid into the top pot of a double-boiler. You can also use a regular pot on the stove, but you'll have to be very careful not to let it burn. (Keep the "almond mash" for future use - cereal topping, add honey to it and just enjoy, etc.)
2. Add melted honey or maple syrup to taste.
3. Sprinkle a bit of spice to taste. We use either cinnamon or a pumpkin pie spice blend.
4. Add about half a teaspoon of vanilla, or to taste. (Optional)
5. Heat the mixture to bubbling, constantly stirring/whisking while thickening with cornstarch blend (about 1.5 Tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 0.5 Tablespoon of water   -    repeat if you prefer a thicker consistency) or whatever you prefer to use as a thickener (tapioca starch doesn't work - we tried!)
6. Pour into ramekins or other small serving dishes. Can be eaten warm or cooled. To keep the pudding from forming a rubbery skin on top, place a small square of foil or parchment paper onto each dish so it is in contact with the entire surface of the pudding. When serving, I often sprinkle a bit of added cinnamon on top and/or a square of Fair Trade chocolate.

Enjoy!