First Snow

Saturday morning, just after 8 o'clock. I was working in the garden, pulling out the pea and lettuce plants. When I saw the first few flakes, I thought it was ash from a neighbour's chimney. It took me a few minutes to realize we were having our first snow of the season.

What the World Eats

Over the summer, Time Magazine ran a two-part photo essay called 'What the World Eats'. It's a look at the weekly food baskets of various families around the world and it's fascinating. The links to the whole series are here and here, but I'm posting a couple for quick reference.

Egypt - cost to feed this family per week: $68.53

U.S. - cost to feed this family per week: $341.98

Chad - cost to feed this family per week: $1.23

And Another One

Last night's dream was in fact quite a nightmare. It appeared someone had dropped a nuclear bomb. Children were running in the streets, screaming, their skin falling off their bones. It was utter chaos. I was standing, watching all this in horror, not knowing what to do. I appeared to be unscathed by the bomb.

Just then, someone (it wasn't clear to me who) standing beside me said, "You have the most beautiful green eyes!" Their comment affected me almost like a drug: all of a sudden I felt calmer; almost unfazed by the horrendous scene going on around me.

That's all I remember. Now what the heck was that all about??

Last Night's Dream

I haven't been sleeping well since I've come back from N.S. and haven't been remembering my dreams. However last night's was one of those crystal clear dreams that you can't get out of your head. Jamie and I were visiting my Dad's house (now my house) in N.S. I don't know where I'd been, but I'd been out very late. I came back to the house and saw that it was bathed in a beautiful blue light, both inside and out.

I walked in the door, noticing that there was a lot of paper stuffed into the door frame of the front porch, almost as if it were being used for insulation against the cold. Inside, I saw my Dad. He looked as he had when I was growing up: tall, straight backed, with auburn hair and mustache. I don't recall him saying anything to me: he was just walking around the house not doing any obvious task. I remember thinking how good he looked.

I saw the clock - 5 a.m. I thought, "No wonder I'm tired and my contacts are bothering me! It's very late!"

I noticed three dogs in the house: two little ones (one black and one a midnight blue colour) and an older dog. The older one was Dad's; the other two he was looking after for another relative (my brother perhaps?) I spent some time patting the blue dog and marvelling at its colour.

Then Joe's Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb were there. She said to me, "Remember you were asking me where we came up with our meals? Well, here's my secret." She showed me a couple of those commercially-prepared frozen dinners. They were high end ones, but nonetheless they were a disappointment to me.

I was about to go down into the basement to go to bed (there was a bedroom down there that Jamie and I were sharing) when Jamie came up to me. He had a towel on his head, and two rolled up towels in his hands. He started to unwrap the rolled up towels, and each had one of his shoes in it. I became uncomfortable, thinking he was going to put on those shoes and go out. I asked him where he was going all alone at this time of the night. He wouldn't answer, and I realized he was just teasing me and he wasn't planning on going anywhere.

That's when I woke up.

Simple Satisfaction

I had one of those 'I got a lot done!' week-ends. Nothing terribly exciting; pretty mundane domestic stuff in fact, but satisfying nonetheless.

The big job was cleaning out Iris' room. I washed clothes, packed things up in boxes, and started painting. But apart from that, I dug up the rest of the carrots (I have a good 20 pound sack of them in my front porch), made an apple torte for a potluck we went to on Saturday night, taught my first piano classes of the season, got up early on Sunday morning and made blueberry pancakes for the brood, went cranberry picking, made a yummy dinner (if I do say so myself) of roast organic chicken, roasted garden veggies and apple pie made with the apples I brought back from N.S., made chicken soup with the leftover carcass, and collapsed into bed by 9:30 last night. Phew!

Last of the Spuds

It was with a fair amount of regret that I dug up my last few hills of potatoes yesterday. They are now sitting in a bucket in the corner of my kitchen, waiting to be used up over the next few meals.

Luckily, we have lots of our other veggies left: with the mild September we are having, even our lettuce is still frost free and tasty. With caribou meat and wild berries in the freezer, and a garden out our back door, it's amazing how much less we're spending on groceries these days.

After dance class last night I spent some time rewarding my hard working potato patch with a big feed of of compost and horse manure, so it'll be ready to till and plant in the spring. Being an old farm girl, I'm already dreaming of next year's crops.

A Day at Granville Island with Lucca and Marigold

Eye candy
Hat shopping
Who knew there were so many different kinds of olives?
Pondering a purchase
Photographing the photographer

Souvenirs

I imagine that the airport security folks must get a chuckle when they x-ray my luggage. The souvenirs that I bring back from my trips almost always include food and rocks. Here's a rundown of the treasures that I brought back with me this time:
-rocks from Scots Bay (my collection of Scots Bay perfectly round rocks is becoming quite impressive, I must say)
-dragon's eye tea from Chinatown
-dulse
-dried soldier beans and Jacob's cattle beans (for making soups and old fashioned baked beans) and fresh shell beans for making succotash
-Gravenstein apples: once you've had a pie made with these, you'll never be satisfied with anything else. However, these are 'summer' apples - they don't store over the winter - which is why you'll rarely see them in a grocery store unless you live in an apple belt like the Annapolis Valley. My friend Ellen (of the Stirling Fruit Farms family) was appalled that I can't get this apple in the Yukon. Ellen is a master baker who has won awards for her apple desserts. You must try her recipe for apple dumplings!

Home

Here it is not yet 5 a.m. and I'm wide awake...still on Nova Scotia time. Or is it Ontario time? In any event, my body clock is rather confused and bewildered and it will take several days to settle it back down. Being in N.S. was hard - it's pretty tough seeing someone who all his life has been strong and vibrant suffer the indignities that come with Alzheimer's. But there were good times too -- visiting with my friends Ellen and Lucca (although by the time I got to Lucca's I was in such a daze from lack of sleep and worry that I was little more than a walking zombie!). Now it's time to settle back into the fall routine: dance classes, teaching piano, overseeing Jamie's homework, etc. There's the garden to clear out, the wood to stack, the fall berry picking to be done. Yes, it's good to be home.

Last night I had a delicious dinner with Peter and Luz, and I picked up my painting. I'm including a photo of it here, but it is sooo much better in person. I feel like I could sit for hours and watch the many layers reveal themselves to me. Although I have a number of prints, I've never purchased an original painting before (other than a small water colour I bought while in Greenland one year) so this was both an exhilirating and scary experience for me. Now the challenge is to get it home! Luz did a very thorough job of wrapping it though, so I think we're OK.

Vials in the Ocean

I'm reading a book called "The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet" by John Blofeld. His writing is clear and concise: his explanations are within the grasp of even someone like me, who has very limited knowledge of Buddism.

In the section I'm reading now, Blofeld compares all of us to vials of water in a vast ocean, or at least says we tend to view ourselves as individual 'vials'. In fact, he says there are no vials; they're just an optical illusion. Really, all that exists is the ocean. The cockroach and I are both part of that ocean. The beggar on the street and I are both part of that ocean. George W. Bush and I are both part of the ocean.

And therein lies the challenge for all of us. If we don't want to feel hunger ourselves, how can we walk past a beggar in the street without providing him or her with food? If we don't want to be inhumanely treated ourselves, how can we turn a blind eye when we know that animals and humans and the earth itself suffer inhumane treatment every day? If we don't want our own 'vials' cracked or broken, then what makes us think it's OK to crack or break the 'vials' of others?

Most of us were raised on words of "treat others the way you'd like them to treat you" or something similar. But somewhere along the way, many of us have forgotten this most basic of principles. If we all took a vow to adopt this one simple (well, maybe not so simple) tenant, think how changed our world would be!

Phew! What a whirlwind of a day yesterday. With a great deal of help from Roy, we got Iris settled into her dorm. We spent much of the day running around buying many of the things she'll need for her time there: a new computer (the lucky girl got a Mac Book - I'm envious!) and printer, storage bins for under her bed, all the little things like laundry basket and soap, toiletries, etc. She even has a little tv and dvd for her room....things someone had left on the curb but that work perfectly well.

Then it was off to Whitby to see Joe's family and pick up the rest of Iris' things: sheets, pillows, towels, etc. We got back to her residence at about 11:30 last night and I left her to get herself settled while Roy brought me back to his place to spend the night.

Exciting times for our Yukon girl. Her room mate had already moved in but wasn't around all yesterday, so she may or may not have met her last night. Today we'll see if we can pick up a final few things (although I'm not sure if any of the stores will be open, it being Labour Day) and then my duty will be done!