7.5 hours in the car--with twins

We went off grid.  Away for the August long weekend...(Canadians have a holiday August 3) and travelled to see a friend at his family cottage in Minnesota.  It was billed as a 4.5 hour trip by the directions that the Professor printed out.  Our friend said, well---maybe up to 6 hours.  It was 7.5 hours -- each way...with four year old twins.  In between multiple interruptions, I did some knitting on the Turkish Lace Camisole while the Professor drove.

What was the delay?  Road construction, a little line up at the border crossing, and about 50 billion pit stops.  We had to visit every rest area and water every tree and plant between here and Minnesota...and a second time on the way home.  No kidding.  However, I am the first to proudly say: we had no accidents in the car!

Meanwhile, while away from the Internet for the first time in eons, the CBC published my opinion piece.  Due to the holiday weekend, I'm not sure many people read it, but it's live here:

Environment Canada air quality system needs a megaphone

Although the skies here are now clear, this has been a terrible forest fire season--and Canada does not have nearly the air quality alert system (or the weather warning system) that the US has.  I was reminded of this when we were alerted by weather radio, early Sunday morning, to a big storm near the lake cottage where we visited.  This is something the US is doing very well!  Maybe Environment Canada/Provincial/local governments/health care systems can learn from it.

I wanted to share fun lake photos of boys digging, but the Professor (and possibly his camera) have now rushed off to a conference at UC-Berkeley.  Here's a brief description I wrote, in part, to a friend earlier today:

We just returned from our friend's family cottage in northern Minnnesota.  It was gorgeous in terms of location and really a fascinating old family retreat, full of family treasures dating back over 100 years.  (Including working pump organ, hymnals from 1908, and other amazing handmade woven, braided, quilted, rug hooked, wood working treasures.)  Downside is that a 320 mile trip took 7.5 hours each way because of construction, border crossing, and two boys who needed to make a ton of bathroom and food breaks.  It was a very long trip! We stopped by the road and watered the plants many times between Winnipeg and Ottertail, MN. I also saw the inside of every single rest stop.

We really enjoyed seeing our friend though and the boys spent many happy hours digging into the sand, wading in the water, taking a boat ride, and checking out the cottage and lakeside wildlife.  

There is nothing like rushing out to see a blue heron on the dock at 6:45 AM!  Well, maybe playing with minnows in a bucket (a close second) and watching all the water come alive in a temporary lake water aquarium in the cottage living room... 

That...and s'mores.  The boys had s'mores for the first time this trip, and it clearly was an enormous hit. :)
Hopefully, I can share a photo or two sometime soon.  

In the meanwhile, Happy August!

August Long Weekend

We are celebrating our very first August Long Weekend. This three day weekend has a "civic holiday" on Monday. As best I can figure, Canadians decided that yes, everyone wanted to go to their cottages (or do home repair or enjoy the nice weather) so might as well have a designated 3 day weekend for it. I'm all in favor. Here's what's been happening...


First, we've been synagogue hopping...each Saturday morning, we're trying out a different congregation. This has been a pleasure--since everything is close by and folks seem so welcoming. No photos of that. :)

We went raspberry picking. This involved grabbing some tupperware, wearing older clothes, and driving out to the city limits. It took no time at all to be out on the prairie. We wish we'd remembered the camera (oops) but the end result was something in the range of 12 liters of berries. Think 3-4 of these cardboard trugs. Eventually we ran out of tupperware and used one of these instead.

Many of these berries became strawberry/raspberry and raspberry jam. We're up to something in the range of 32 jars in the basement, so far... We're also freezing some, and eating a lot of berries, too! It may seem ridiculous to be doing this just after moving, but summer is short here and we must take advantage of local produce as it happens! I'll love all that "summer" on the shelves this winter.


In a new house, there seem to be an endless number of house set-up tasks. We discovered a distinct lack of shelves. We had built-in bookshelves (but no shelves, just the framwork for shelves.) Off we went to buy boards, get them cut to the right size, and put them up. We'll stain them later. For now, the book boxes are unloaded. (Note half assembled spinning wheel in foreground; the flyer has now been located and it is set up for use again.)

All of our clothes (aside from, say, winter clothes) have been unpacked and put in the appropriate places. I have my very own cedar lined closet! Now that I've done the legwork, I even have a shelf at the top of the closet. This seems like a small thing until one has made two trips to the hardware store, measured, and installed said shelf...


Also accomplished? Little Gem spinning wheel has been located, set up, and put into use. I am consulting for a sheep farm that is interested in building value into its wool products; as a result, I am spinning with an eye towards future fleece improvement. It's a very fun consulting gig--and, the first wool I've spun on a wheel in our new home! I'll likely have more information on this later, as I learn more about the wool. It's good stuff.


Other new developments? Introducing....our fence! Our home came with a sturdy fence on two sides. The third side was enclosed with an old tiny wire fence, which did nothing in terms of dog containment. We had a fence built this week, and it is a major life improvement! Now we only take the dogs on, say, two walks a day. (instead of 4 or 5.) In order to make the fence level at the top, there were gaps on the bottom...which makes it somewhat useless for dogs. We've blocked these with old railroad ties and will add something more aesthetically pleasing soon. Also note that gravel...we were left with a lot of mud and muck in a shady area of the yard. Now, we've got approximately 550 pounds (250 kilo) of gravel there instead. The professor did that himself, with 55 lb bags. We'll worry about flower beds or gravel patios or whatever later. For now? We have fence. We have mud under control. Dogs are happy.


Our new yard has some small cherry plantings (sort of bush-like rather than trees) that we share with a neighbor. I'm looking forward to tasting those as they ripen. We've also got a young Rosybloom Crabapple tree. It's growing fruit! It's described as ornamental, but we're thinking that if the fruit actually grow to a decent size, I may try canning with it. Anyone know anything about the "rosybloom" variety? All the varieties are new to us here so we're happy to have any input you can offer!


Last, but not least, I've put in a very few rows on one of my "traveling" knitting projects, the Lady of the Lake cardigan. I love how this is turning out, but am having a hard time concentrating on anything by the time I sit down after dinner in the evenings. We're just falling down with exhaustion after a day of unpacking, home fix-it, and summer delights.


Oh, and have I mentioned emphasizing the positive in all things? I'm not going to discuss how see-through those bathroom curtains are. Annmarie's wise test idea suggests that I have a bit of work to do in the "making bathrooms private" department. Please, if you could stop all south-bound walking and driving along Stafford St. in Winnipeg, or avert your eyes for the foreseeable future? That would be great... Thanks!