Handmade life

You may be wondering where I've been.  (So have I!)  Things have continued with a whirlwind pace. This week my kids have had two separate medical appointments (this is usual, things are ok, generally). The temperature has dropped here fast, and as we've gotten out the warm clothes, we've found plenty to mend and repair.

When I haven't been running around, working, or fixing things?  We've been out in the sukkah.  (When it isn't raining, of course.  It's currently pouring and in the 40s (F). Celsius, it is maybe in the 5 to 9 degrees range....

On the web, folks have been talking about 'slow fashion' October and other trendy ideas in the "maker" world.  I sometimes berate myself for not being enough of a joiner.  Then it occurs to me, oh, yeah.  I am making things all the time.  There's the sukkah. I make dinner.  I serve it in the sukkah...when it's not raining.

There's lunch. (leftover salad from dinner, topped with cheese, walnuts, and roasted chickpeas, a balsamic mustard dressing, spelt bread from the bakery, cantaloupe on the side.)

There's one of many emergency mending projects.  Here is the sweater with 9 lives. (or 15, at this point.) I picked this up off the floor to put it away. Note: our twins are supposed to put away their sweaters, but gravity seems to win out quite often at age 7....
I found this scary raveling on one of the cuffs.

The professor started doing some important bedtime reading with the guys. We're currently addicted to these fairy stories, in case you were curious.  I picked up the stitches with a spare double pointed needle.

I carefully knit up the stitches I could with the remaining yarn, and then used a bit of leftover yarn to fix the cuff itself.

All fixed!  Mommy saves the day (and the sweater!)….Hurray!

Striving and building more

Here's a photo of a long-ago sukkah, I think we put this one up in 2010... (before our twins were born)  I'm hoping we can manage to get ours up this year before the start of Sukkot.

This is a link to an article that came out today in Vancouver on the Jewish independent's website:
Striving and Building More

Things here are barreling onward at a breakneck pace.  I'm still rushing around trying to catch up with a work backlog, feed everyone a pile of holiday meals, keep up with the paperwork that seems constant at the beginning of school...it's been a few days since I knit more than a row or two or even mended the pile of holey jeans waiting for "Mommy's help."  Stay tuned, I hope to get back to the fiber arts portion of things soon.  In the meanwhile, I have more round challahs to bake.

More than apologizing...

Here's my latest CBC-Manitoba opinion piece.  It's about the (lack of) sexual harassment and violence support at the University of Manitoba.

U. of Manitoba's 'sorry' not good enough when it comes to harassment, assault on campus

Do you know your priorities?

An article about the new year, 5779, has just gone live over at the Vancouver Jewish Independent:
Do you know your priorities?

(If you read the Jewish Post & News, you may already have seen a copy of this.)

Here is a fun shot of one of my twins, all dressed up for high holidays...in 2015.  They are big now and he doesn't look like this any more! (But he still looks very good dressed up on the holidays, not that I'm biased or anything...)

CBC-Parents article has gone live!

Here's a new article I wrote about observing Yom Kippur with kids--
Check it out on CBC-Parents!

We just finished Rosh Hashanah last night, and it was a pretty decent holiday.  We had gorgeous weather, walked to a family service and back, and big meals at home.  Mostly enjoyed each other's company, too....(mostly had peace between twins, which was great!) Sadie the dog went to a dog daycare both mornings so she could manage while we were away for an extended period.  I think she ran a few dog marathons while wrestling the other dogs, so she is beat this morning.  (She's on the left in this funny photo)

Speed Demon? Not

Here's my latest CBC piece:
Winnipeg needs more traffic enforcement-just not more cameras

(This ran on September 9th, but I was busy getting ready for Rosh Hashanah and missed posting about it.  Oops!  Better late than never?)

Back to school

The last few days before school starts, well, it was all a big blur.  Although someone may have taken some, it's easiest to admit...there are no photos that I took.  It was crazy.

We've been picking an older neighbour's apple tree (and tidying up underneath it) and well, it's a lot of apples.  I have an enormous shopping bag of apples left in the fridge, and that is after countless dehydrator apple chip sessions, applesauce, peach-apple jam, a couple of crumbles, and at least an apple a day for everybody.   (We have also donated a lot of apples so others might eat them.)

Then, last weekend, we went out to a U-pick vegetable farm, because I needed to make some pickles.  I thought I needed maybe 12-15 lbs of cucumbers.  I spoke with the farmer, who is also a professor at our Professor's university.  I held Sadie the dog's leash.  And before I knew it, twins and their professor dad had picked:
Over 40 lbs of cucumbers
a dozen ears of corn
a zucchini the size of a cricket bat
one bright orange winter storage squash

I stopped them right then and there.  It's been a lot of putting up since then.  I've canned 23 lbs+ of pickles.  The rest of those cucumbers also got donated.  A family can only eat so many...

While this happened, we prepared for the start of Grade 2!

And, this article ran...(and I missed it entirely, so forgive the delay in mentioning it.)
The benefits from repetition

Soon-- it will be a new year!  If you celebrate it, wishing you a very happy and healthy Jewish new year! It's 5779!  Now it's back to catching up.  Thank goodness for school. :)