Popping by

This has been a long time between blog posts...it's not usual for me. Lots has been happening, but it's kind of overwhelming.  Like, when the weather finally warmed up, and we had a radiator pipe burst in the basement.  Like that.  

When each challenge has happened this year, we've worked as a family team and well, just kept our heads down and dealt with it.  Often, it means I'm doing home school/remote school with kids and dog while closed up in the guest room while the masked professor deals with a procession of tradespeople.  But, you know, now our pipes work, our heat works, our hot water works, our dishwasher has stopped leaking, and even the mice influx seems to have finally stopped ... lots has been fixed while we continue to stay home. 

 I hear some people take exotic hot weather vacations. (not us) However, it's a pandemic, and last I checked, there are still 250,000 people ahead of us to be vaccinated in our province... so we just spent that money fixing stuff.  Thank you, careful, masked tradespeople! Did each bit of damage happen for a reason? because of construction nearby?  Because of the extreme weather? Because that one little dishwasher valve wore out? Who knows.

In the work department, I've had some articles published, but it's not been frequent work. In one case, somehow the article's comments became like, well, a real tire fire.  I've been told by my Canadian friends that in Manitoba, people say "dumpster fire" to mean the same thing. When I say the words 'TIE ER FIE ER" --my accent comes out, straight from Virginia, with hints of my time spent in North Carolina and Kentucky.  It's slow just like when you're driving on the highway and see the huge plume of black stinky smoke.  Everyone ahead of you slows down to rubberneck and you're stuck in this horrible endless traffic jam. People are all aghast at the fire, which will take forever to put out and how did it happen?  And what kind of nasty pollution will it leave?  While the thing burns on endlessly and stinks. It's so awful that it's hard to look away.  (OK, now you can imagine how negative the comments were.)

So, I'm not linking to that article.  No need for anyone to go read those comments.  Hint:  it ran on the CBC and in this personal essay, I implored people to hold on, the pandemic's not done with us yet. I say this despite really missing my family and being so tired of this, we'd been lucky so far.  We were privileged, despite losing a family member in NYC last spring. The article ran at the end of March, and well, here we are now, starting the third wave. Just. Not. Over... yet here, folks. (Sometimes the true news is an opinion that hits home.  That's what people really didn't want to hear...)

While all this is happening, I am actively making things.  Sometimes, it's lots of food to get ready for holidays.  (We had a great Passover and spring break, and having a Zoom seder works fine for us. It's also awesome not to have to go anywhere and pack soggy matzah sandwiches for lunch...)

I've also been sewing, knitting and spinning up a storm as I find it a tremendous way to relieve stress right now.  I made a really large scarf out of beautiful red silk from Japan (a deadstock fabric remnant sent to me from Fabcycle in Vancouver) and a tiny bit of coordinating floral print.  I am knitting a sweater...probably for me, maybe a new design, but I'm sort of winging it so we'll see how it comes out. 

I finished the big new wool bathmat from Churro and Hebridean wool.  It's been a great addition to kid shower or bath time!

--Also, I was recently told by one of my twins that there was no way he was going back to wearing store bought pajama bottoms as the flannel ones I made were so much more roomy and cozy.  But oh, by the way, spring is coming and both twins grew.  So, now I'm sewing a pile of lightweight pjs in cheerful colours.  There has been some dispute over who gets which fabric. (pretty much all from stash or deadstock remnants)  I've encouraged both kids to realize that since they share the same room, they can always get to see the pjs across the room, even if they aren't wearing them.  This seemed to briefly mollify them!

I've also been spinning up some Dorset/Rideau (I think) wool.  This fleece was handed to me as a gift.  It's really soft and cozy.  The first couple skeins were ones I processed myself from start to finish, but then I decided to have the rest of the fleece processed by my favourite local woollen mill.  The roving came back clean and lovely to spin. 

 Alas, despite everyone's best efforts, this fleece still has a lot of field left in it. At each stage, there's lots of vegetable matter to remove.  I'm likely to still be removing it as I knit.  However, the wool is really something...I have spun it as a chunky two ply and it will possibly make a sweater for one kid or another for next winter (after dyeing it) as they are growing like weeds.

There's lots more to tell you, dear blog readers, but no more time in a day to fit it all in.  For now, I'll leave you with one finished pair of pajama bottoms  and our table, set for the first Seder.  It was great having my parents 'sitting' at the end of the table with us.  The table was really long.  Thanks to Zoom, it started in Virginia, and ended in Winnipeg. 

-And, because we live in Winnipeg, and it's mid-April, we're expecting another snow storm.  Happy spring time!!

Springing along

The Nanking cherry blossoms in our yard are making a gorgeous display here! Here's a close up that the professor took. Everything is "greening up" nicely and we are having some gorgeous sunny weather after a week of clouds and rain.

Normally a little spring rain is "good for the flowers" but we have very serious flooding in our province right now. This happened because of a combination of factors--a lot of precipitation in the fall and winter, for one thing. However, so far, here in Winnipeg, we have very high water in both rivers but are doing fine with the help of some sandbags here in there. In other parts of the province, folks aren't so lucky. (over 3,000 people evacuated so far)

I mention this because some of those close to us read our local news on occasion and it does sound like Armageddon if you read or listen to the news. To reassure you, we are pretty darn sure we can still cross the bridges necessary to get to a hospital in time. :)

I am now at 36.5 weeks pregnant and doing a lot of resting. The doctor has indicated that it could be "any time now" and that most women with twins who give birth to healthy babies at this point do not have to worry about prematurity issues too much...usually they can go home from the hospital with the babies at the same time. That is good news!

However, the fetuses inside me seem perfectly comfortable (I am not!) so I am being patient for now.

The other big news of the week is that for now, our big fix-it projects in the house seem to be complete. The professor put on a last coat of paint on a wall on the 3rd floor last weekend--and we think that is the end of the ice dam/roofing/insulation mess that started in January. (Finally complete!)

The other big fix-it was our front door lock. You see, one of the charming parts of having old house is that sometimes, everything in it is, well, OLD. Our front door lock was roughly as old as our house. Just shy of 100 years old. Last year, we had a problem where the temperature shifted abruptly from very cold temperatures to warmer ones--and the lock wouldn't work. We found the locksmith in town who could help. They came out, reconditioned our old lock, and put it back together for us. It worked again.

The fix came with a warning...this lock lasted a good long time. Don't expect it to last forever.

This winter, we had the same problem and the professor suggested I just wait for spring and it would work again...who needs two exits from a house? (Uhh, our house is wood...in case of fire? I do.) The difference? I was now pregnant with twins and trying to imagine getting out of this house with my lumbering pace, only one dependably working door lock and two dogs in a dangerous situation worried me.

We again called the locksmith. This time, they did a temporary fix and recommended getting a replacement lock. We ordered one from the USA and discovered when it arrived that every measurement would fit in our (original) door but one crucial measurement. Since replacing the door as well didn't sound good, we decided to return the lock.

Guess what got damaged in the post? $400 plus dollars later, we're waiting for that claim to be settled. In the meanwhile, the locksmith helped us find a perfect solution, and the new (but old looking) lock was installed on Friday. It looks beautiful. This is the photo of the new lock so you can see it too!

Should I mention that everyone has admired the old lock? It had been repaired at one point and it was a beautiful welding job. It was worn, but it served us very well. It has been hard to part with that old lock.

How long did that repair project take? Well, I think I last wrote about it in March...about two months total, perhaps.

We're hoping that in the next few weeks, the only thing likely to shift, change, fall apart or re-structure itself might be me! We'll keep you updated on the baby front as best we can.

Thanks for all the lovely emails and check-ins--I'm mostly resting (and eating) these days. We'll tell you when something changes!

flooded

We are in the midst of flood season here in Manitoba. Winnipeg is located where two rivers meet, the Red River and the Assiniboine River. Both rivers are really high at the moment. There is a wonderful system of ditches and diversions, known as the Red River Floodway or "Duff's Ditch," that keep large parts of the city from being flooded each time there is a lot of winter melt and precipitation. At this time of year, it can be bright and sunny, but the melt off of the snow can cause a flood at the same time.

The professor was driving to the university earlier this week when he took some time to rubberneck at the river near where he parks his car. (Everyone does, the rivers are mammoth this time of year...) What did he see but two hawks! He pulled over his car and whipped out his camera. Others immediately slowed down their cars, and a couple even got out their cameras. Here are a couple of photos of what the professor saw by the river...he knew they were hawks, but not what kind. He brought his photos to one of his colleagues, who told him they were mates--a pair of Cooper's Hawks. Pretty amazing sighting!

The new roof and attic insulation are all finished at this point. (We now have more than the original 1912 wood shavings in the attic.) The professor also took photos of this event--it was quite a scene while it took place. While the outside "fixes" are now complete, we're still going to have some more painting inside next week. The plaster, dust, and noise are still messy, but there is hope in sight. The dogs and I enjoy every quiet moment in between repair jobs. Who knew ice dams would cause so much damage and so much expense?!

These days I have to spend a lot of time with my feet up to reduce swelling. I'm also doing a lot of resting...Since my hands are also swollen, knitting, cooking, and other pursuits requiring dexterity have to remain limited. To fill up the time, I've been reading a book by E.B. White called One Man's Meat. It was published in the early 1940's and is still in print. Each essay is a jewel. I can see why, in a new time of war around the world, there is much to cherish about this depiction of life during another war and time. I hope to finish it soon so I can write more about it. It's well worth reading.

Hope you're well and dry, wherever you live!

constant renovations

I'd meant to include knitting photos in this post, but honestly, renovation has been on my mind. Every day, we have some new surprising change. We haven't been up in my sunny office on the 3rd floor to work in a week--the plasterer was working up there so I relocated the laptop to the first floor to avoid any stinkiness or dust.

Meanwhile, on the first floor I can actually answer the door when people arrive without rushing down 2 flights of steps. This is fine except that Harry really misses going to work upstairs with me. Instead, every time there is a stranger trying to work in the house, the dogs have to go to their crates in order to avoid bad run-ins with fur/plaster/paint or other messes.

This morning, we were surprised to find a forklift in the backlane, delivering our shingles. They were deposited on our back yard path here. This is not a small delivery...you can see our (tall) fence and my car beyond it for a sense of scale. At the same time, the roofers are a bit concerned about the weather prediction for tomorrow (flurries and/or rain) so the insulation will happen tomorrow and the roof work will perhaps start on Thursday. Did I mention that tomorrow the painter arrives to work inside for the first time?

My bad postal service karma seems to be continuing. I still haven't received the yarn I ordered at the end of February (the seller is trying to track it down) and no big dresses have arrived yet to offer me enough for a week's worth of twin maternity clothing. I know it is just me because anything the professor orders arrives promptly. I am trying not to take it personally!

In the meanwhile, I present this wacky photo of my belly. It's not the best angle for seeing the whole thing....but last I measured, I was 45" around where there used to be a waist. For comparison --for those of you who know the professor in person? That is several inches bigger than his waist size. The mirror in the kitchen is a bit old and wavy so the best photo of my belly is streaky. Here it is on the left.

People say some mighty quirky things at this time...I'll be 30 weeks' pregnant on Thursday. I'm this big because I'm carrying twins--I don't have a cute little basketball bulge like the full-term folks in my childbirth class who are just expecting one kid. It's more like an old-fashioned watermelon!

I've heard everything from "Gosh, she's pregnant? I just thought she got really fat!" (gee, thanks, you look great too!) to "Oh, you're not that big, I was bigger" (Said in a disparaging way, like if I just tried harder, I could lug around an even bigger belly!) The test was going out to dinner last week. I just looked at what the other customers' expressions were. If I had to guess, it was something like "Oh my gosh, I hope she doesn't go into labor right here while I'm eating..." Of course, I still have roughly a couple of months before these fetuses are full term, so I will be even bigger then.

I meant to tell you about the dyeing I did today as well as some knitting and sewing stuff, but I imagine that will wait for another post. In the meanwhile, you might understand why taking a nap with Sally is top on my list for afternoon activities. I am not going out much anymore--I don't really enjoy the commentary I get all the time. Sally, on the other hand, says very little and curls up with me every day to be sure I am cared for. There is something to be said for the dog as nursemaid. Peter Pan's Nana had it right.

plasterer, locksmith, candlestick maker

-kidding about the candlestick maker....I hope.

This week, our house has had a continuous stream of construction-oriented visitors. First, there was a carpenter--he did drywall fixes to ceiling holes, among other things. Then, hot on his heels, the plasterer came. The plasterer now visits me for about one to two hours a day, working on the 2nd and 3rd floor ceilings. He is making those ceilings look good for the painter, who might come next week. (So far, I've heard that I'll be seeing the plasterer again on Monday and Tuesday, so the painter might come to visit after that.)

Next Wednesday, weather permitting, the roofers and insulation guys will start work on our roof. They will be able to blow insulation in from the outside because--there are now no holes in our ceilings inside. Whew!

In a separate kind of house repair, we're working with a locksmith that specializes in older houses. In one part of our house, we have a gorgeous lock that we really like--and it is just shy of 100 years old. It needs a little help. That is not related to the ice dam repairs or the roof repair. It just needed fixing at the same time.

Meanwhile, outside of our front door, there is a backhoe digging up our boulevard (the grassy bit between the sidewalk and the street) to install a new gas line for the new building across the street. The ground is not free of frost, so there is a complicated process of banging and digging going on. Also, they appear to have a big tube on a truck that blows hot air at the ground. The tube makes a loud droning noise that reminds me of the driers at an old fashioned beauty parlor.
All this makes me wonder how anyone could manage to fix their house AND work at an office that wasn't at home. I have moved my laptop and my current freelance job to the living room, where I can easily answer the front door and cope with the stream of folk coming and going. I never know exactly when they will arrive, when they will finish, or who might come next.

On one hand, I am thrilled that all this work is getting done before the stork arrives. It is amazing how quickly the tradespeople made this work when they saw my big belly and asked about the twins' due date. (Early June if it were one fetus, but sometime in May for twins, we'd guess, although they come when they are ready, we hear.) That has been miraculous so far.

On the other hand, the chaos, noise, and doorbell ringing is intense. There are a few moments when, seized by irrational hormones, I just want to scream, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! YOU ARE STRANGERS! GO AWAY!" I've managed to hold this in, believe me.

Yesterday, I spent a long time rifling through my stash to find this. Two skeins of bulky weight burgundy tweed cashmere yarn...purchased 3 years ago, with no real project in mind. In fact, I'm not even sure if they will turn into a project now, as my swollen hands are sore, numb and tingly--making it hard to knit much.

I've placed the cashmere skeins right next to where I am working. Every so often, I grab one and have a reviving snuggle with it. A whiff of luxury and a really soft yarn hug every time I feel out of control...so far, it's working. Something about fiber is very reassuring and comforting to me. Maybe this should be a new method recommended to maintain calm. "Grab cashmere. Inhale its comforting soft smell. Repeat." (sign me up for that cure)

Permanent Residency

Thanks so much to all the readers of my blog who sent me wonderful comments and emails in response to my last post. I appreciate all of your amazing words of encouragement and read them over and over! Thank you. (I write you today from the sunny 3rd floor office...!)

Today, the professor and I are off to have our medical physicals for our Permanent Residency application. When we moved to Canada in July of 2009, we were granted work permits. The professor's permit is tied to his job. These work permits mean we're allowed to live and work here, but if something should happen to the professor's job...we'd need to leave. Of course, we hope that doesn't happen!

This is unsettling, as we've moved all our belongings here, bought a house, and set up our home in Winnipeg! So, we started the process to gain what's called "Permanent Residency." This step is much like a green card in the USA, but we don't have to compete in quite the same way to gain a place. (Immigration rules are different in different countries.)

Another thing is that the step of gaining "permanent residency" is a step along the way to gaining Canadian citizenship, if we want to do that. We could also keep our US citizenship in this case. When the babies are born here(hopefully healthy and full-term...), they will be both Canadian and U.S. citizens.

One thing most Canadians don't realize about this residency process is that it takes a while. It's also not free. We've been saving up so that we can afford to pay the fees associated with this application for Permanent Residency when the time comes.

Although Manitoba really encourages immigration--it's in the news here all the time-- I don't think the average local realizes how expensive this is for newcomers. For instance, it took us about a year to get access to a regular Canadian credit card. (with a very low credit limit...) That's because, even though we'd bought a house and came upon the invitation of the Canadian government... we didn't have any credit history in Canada! Instead, we had to pay a currency exchange fee both every time we used a US credit card, and more fees every time we had to move money from one country to the other to pay a bill. It was an expensive year. We paid for things in cash whenever we could.

Today, we'll need to pay something in the range of $400 cash just for these physicals (Not free as they are part of a residency application and not for our basic health and well being) and I will have to return later to follow up with another expense, an X-ray, since I can't do that today. (X-rays aren't ok for pregnant women who can avoid them...)

Why do I mention all this? Immigration is a fairly complicated (and expensive) experience. Lately, I've been thinking about all the political upheaval in the news. This causes refugees and immigrants to move every day. They do not all have the advantage of speaking the local language or having access to bank accounts...let's face it, they have very few advantages. Some escape with just the clothes on their backs.

Today, the windchill is -40 in Manitoba. I feel very lucky to have warm clothes so when I go out in a few minutes, I won't get frostbite. I think the North American "locals" --be they Manitobans, Canadians, Americans, etc. take their status, their safety and their citizenship for granted. Sometimes we need to be reminded of all the luck and privilege we've been afforded.

The professor and I have had to turn down a lot of wonderful invitations to the theater, fancy dinners out, etc. in the past year and a half when we realized we'd need to save up our money instead for all these expenses--and of course, fixing up our house so we'll have a roof over our heads. In the end though, we don't feel we've suffered...because actually, we feel pretty dang lucky most of the time...

(It's a "count your blessings" kind of thing.)

Icy Silence? (no)

The delay in communicating with you, dear blog readers, is not because things were quiet over here. On Saturday, there was an emergency effort by a roofing company to remove ice and snow from our roof to get rid of some of the ice dams. This was good, but the not good part is when it took 4 hours of work because they had forgotten their extra tall ladder and couldn't reach the roof and needed to go home and get it. (whoops!) I'm more concerned because they may be charging us for that time. Oh well, I have to say, it is only money...and my impression is that we'll be spending a lot of it very soon to fix up this situation.

So, the saga continued. On Tuesday, a nice contractor came out to visit because the insurance adjuster sent him. He determined that our beautifully painted 2nd floor bedroom would need the entire ceiling replaced, and there was no point doing that until spring when the last snow melt happened. Until then, it will likely just drip and rain indoors. Good thing we can sleep in the room next door. Good thing #2? We are not setting up any kind of nursery before the babies arrive, because right now, we're sleeping in that space. (No, this aspect of things doesn't worry me in the slightest. Two babies can sleep in dresser drawers or laundry baskets if necessary...) My only regret is that I wish I hadn't happened into a construction zone in my house in this way.

Also on Tuesday, we were encouraged to start calling roofers because we need to get this fixed in a permanent way. Of course, roofers too only start work after the snow melts. I found myself at the top of the call back list when I explained that, well, I was due to have twins this May/early June so could the insulation/vapor barrier/re-roofing maybe happen quickly? (I don't usually take advantage of physical issues in this way, but heck, this shlepping around of two fetuses is hard work. I was at a low point.)

Then, Tuesday, in the late afternoon, the contractor calls back. He says that the 3rd floor bathroom plaster is too wet to be safe. It is an "emergency" job and can he send two guys and a plumber to rip out that plaster and put up a temporary vapor barrier (plastic) and some insulation right away? He gave me the option of today, Wednesday, or tomorrow, Thursday. I chose Thursday. I needed a bit of breathing room.

These pictures show how small our little guest bathroom is--and if you see this sloping ceiling on the left above the toilet? It is all crinkly, saggy and wet. Most important, you can notice the yucky brown cave color. I don't think the professor and I will miss this color scheme at all...we're looking forward to this somewhat inopportune chance to repaint this space and make it slightly brighter and less cave-like. (Removing the drippy damp will go a long way to help with that, right?!)

Meanwhile, I've been making spindles and assembling spindling kits for my "learn to spin" class on Sunday. Every bag gets filled with a certain amount of wool roving in different colors, some informational brochures, and the spindle, of course...The show must go on. Today I need to finish doing that, because starting tomorrow, I'll need to have all that organized and sheltered from a bathroom plaster demolition.


Oy. By evening, I had resorted to a comfort food dinner of oatmeal, an apple, and ice cream. I couldn't even knit. Demolition? Yes, demolition.

Must go--I just got a phone call from the gas company. We're about to have our gas fireplaces (installed in September) officially inspected. Is our number up this week for house fix-its and repairs?