Positive things

  My column came out in the Jewish Independent last Friday:

We are shaped by history

This article didn't run in the Winnipeg Jewish Post & News and is potentially my last column for a while--until, perhaps, government funding helps these small publications or advertising picks up again...I wrote it a while ago, but it ran, and right now, every small bit of work is a good thing.

We celebrated a big birthday, my dad's, by family Zoom chat.  My kids made amazing cards, which we sent by email.  My parents are doing well and the 'party' was fun!  (I was a bit sad not to celebrate in person, but that isn't possible these days, considering the Canada/US border is closed, among other pandemic reasons...) 

I dug around in the freezer and came up with apricot/apple puree from last summer, and I made some jam.  In April...and it makes darn good brisket for Passover, as well as being delicious on homemade bread beforehand.

We've had a couple spring snow storms, and one of them was quite a bit of snow. (8-10" or 20-25 cm or so.)  I was able to catch a photo of my family shoveling team from the window of the second story of the house.

We've been busy learning at home, doing science experiments in buckets, reading Dr. Seuss, and more.  Every day is full...but now, we are taking a break.

While everything else crazy has been happening in the world, we've been getting ready for Passover.  As I write this, kids are busy setting the table, helping their dad make special desserts, and producing lots of matzah balls... we will celebrate, and we will remember.  There were other plagues before this one.

Aside from dog walks, playing in the muddy, snowy front yard and once a week trips to the grocery store, done by one adult...we're staying home.  And it's fine.  Honestly.  We all have to cooperate, and work together, because staying healthy is the most important thing.

Yes, I'm knitting and spinning and sewing whenever I get the chance, as a sort of mental health break if nothing else.  However, we also spend time every day remembering to be grateful.  We have food, shelter, heat, family, and dogs.  We are able to email and zoom and facetime with people.  We can learn, grow, jump, play, sing, and dance... and the goal is staying healthy and staying alive.  We can do this.

If you celebrate it, Chag Sameach, Happy Passover!  Next year, let's get to spend it together, with our families and friends, wherever they are.  Stay well.  Take care.

A new year

It is time to update the blog and keep up with all the things that are happening.  The professor and I (and twins) are visiting family for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  This is the first time we have managed a high holidays family visit in over 10 years!  It is the beginning of the school year, when professors start teaching (but the professor is not teaching this fall) and, well, the stars aligned and we flew east.  So far, the twins have seen lots of family, gone to a few playgrounds, ridden the DC Metro for the first time, and had several other big adventures.

I am taking a break with family and from trying to juggle everything in Winnipeg: toddlers, running our household and working whenever I can manage but had some things to share.

Learning to ask where our food is from just appeared in the Forward...this is a revision of what I originally wrote, but it is probably a kinder and gentler piece now!  Here's one of the photos I sent; a canning photo with more frills appeared with the piece, but this is what my apricot jam and saskatoon jams looked like this fall. (yes, I have managed some canning this summer, and I am so excited to have a full pantry again, I have not managed to can since 2010 so this is huge!)

A little while ago, this article about "helping hands" appeared in the Forward as well. I am so glad to get a chance to continue talking about the issues of helping new moms and new families--there has been a lot of quiet feedback from women of all ages about my two articles on this topic. More women struggle with these issues than you might imagine; our society needs to step up and help more! Finally, I am so pleased with recent interest in my new pattern, Slippy the cowl. It has been slowly beginning to sell, and I cannot wait to see knitters' versions as they appear on Ravelry and the blogosphere. All this seems like it is worth sharing as we begin 5774, the new year, and a brand new school year.

when I'm not knitting...

I've still been keeping pretty busy. First though, I'm reading all your posts about books. We seem to be a relatively old fashioned lot who enjoy actual books. That is, except for those of us who would love for knitting books (including mine) to be available formatted for the latest Kindle from Amazon or for other e-readers. I've heard that it is hard to make knitting books available in this format because of the graphics, but it wouldn't hurt to ask if you're interested..the contrast and graphics software are improving all the time. Go to the Amazon page for the books you'd like (mine, for instance?) and say you'd like the publisher to make it available for Kindle... I figure it couldn't hurt to ask!

This past weekend I spent a lot of time outdoors. On Saturday, the weather here went from sunny to rainy to hailing all in a matter of seconds. I happened to be outdoors during the hail, so I can vouch for it. The intellectual highlight of the day for me was going to the Winnipeg Art Gallery. First, I discovered something new. I learned that our most recent house guest, someone I've known for 7 years, knows quite a bit about art and really enjoys it. Our favorite exhibit, hands down, was this one with Andrew Qappik's art. The other exhibit that really felt powerful was the Canadian apology to First Nations' Residential school survivors,We Are Sorry. (Canadians were not alone in harming North American native populations, but they do a very good job of apologizing compared to the U.S., in my opinion--and remember, I'm from the U.S.!) This photo of me is at the very top of the museum, in the rooftop sculpture garden. I'm standing next to an artist's gorgeous rendering of an Inukshuk. (We weren't supposed to shoot photos
in the museum, but since we were technically on top of the museum, our house guest snuck one in.)

Saturday night, we walked through our neighborhood to go out for dinner at a Felafel joint. The Professor and our house guest spotted a rare thing on our walk--leave it to biologists to notice the special in the every day neighborhood nature! It was an apricot tree, and it was loaded with fruit. This is uncommon because apricot trees rarely fruit here as the weather is too harsh. It's also a wonderful coincidence, because I love apricots. I knocked on the door of the house and met our neighbor, who happened to be 9 months pregnant and ready to deliver. It was her due date, so she wasn't picking or putting up apricots herself! She invited us to harvest what we could so it wouldn't be wasted. We provided her with quiet and amusing entertainment. (She begged us to give her a shock so she'd have the baby already!)

We came home with more than enough apricots for a (very tart) pie. I also am freezing the apricots as pulp as they come ripe. When I have enough pulp, I'll defrost it and make jam.

On Sunday, the Professor gave a talk at the Living Prairie Museum as part of their Monarch Butterfly Festival. It was a bright sunny day so we didn't mind sitting in a shady tent for a while to hear the talk. Also, it was pretty fun to see all these little kids listening intently to the Professor's talk while dressed up in life size butterfly wings, antennae, and face paint.

Sunday afternoon, the biologists went off to yet another park to see more flora and fauna. I stayed home for a couple hours, worked on warping my loom and made a big dinner. It's amazing what some time outdoors does to stimulate the appetite ---People cannot live by apricots alone!

That's what is going on here. House guest #7 left Monday morning right as we went off to the university for a busy day of teaching and research. House guest #8 arrives Thursday. Never a dull moment...or at least, not until it gets colder around here...February might be quiet in comparison!