Catching up

Since the day I started this blog, long ago, I have never let it sit so many months without updates...but it felt like I could never quite get enough time to come back and visit. Everyday things I love fell by the wayside over the last few months, and I am only now getting them back.  The first big news is that by the end of February, we finally had our new kitchen.  The one where we had to gut the old kitchen entirely, put in a structural beam, get a lot of plumbing and frozen pipes fixed, etc.  This bread would be unremarkable, except we went many months without homemade bread...everyone in our house is so "used" to having it that going from November until end of February without bread was a long wait.  (Of course now, Passover is almost here too, so no more homemade bread, but at least there is a kitchen to cook and eat in again!)

Literally the moment the cookbooks got taken out of the boxes, we were looking at recipes again, discussing what to make next, and getting excited about future meals again.

When the kitchen was finished, we could move the stained glass from the old house and hang it in the new one. Everyone felt relieved at the move.  We bought this stained glass when our twins were infants, and recently the artist who has helped us with the glass in this "new" old house told us that this window stained glass was likely from the late 1800s or early 1900s, and by the way, many of the types of glass in it were no longer available.  All the more reason to treat it with caution.

Getting through this time with no real kitchen, managing two mortgages (until the old house sold), a part-time job plus my freelance work, and of course, managing our household, twins and dog--has been complicated.  We spent a lot of time outside and I have found access to winter time activities  and exercise like an outdoor rink in walking distance and the (frozen) river trail--have been a great gift.

Walking the dog out on the river trail among art displays, skaters, skiers, kicksleds...it's an amazing opportunity, like having a new provincial park at the end of the block.  When the trail closed, the dog and I were both sad!

I've also been sewing, knitting and spinning when I can fit it in, although not with as much regularity as I managed before.  This winter, we managed to have twins signed up to three extracurricular activities in January and February.  (Chess club, sewing studio and piano lessons) In March, we continued with piano, tried out kick sledding--with and without the dog, and also kids had an intro to racquetball.  Later in April, we're starting again with chess and sewing, but at least there will be fewer snowstorms and -30C evenings to contend with while driving around.

Each bit of renovation that happens is a triumph.  When our contractor brothers opened up this back door area and renovated it, it was like a doorway to the past.  My professor husband has been slowly getting windows fixed one at a time, rehanging the window weights, and we have so far opened up 4 windows and two doorways.  (2 more windows to go, I think.)  Whoever decided to close off windows and doors in a long-ago renovation...maybe in the 1980s or maybe much earlier...really wasn't the brightest bulb.

Here's the re-opened back door area.  Below are two high up windows in our new kitchen...both were blocked off but one of them had actually been left open, behind cupboards and walls, to vent a half-bath for perhaps 40 or more years.  No wonder why the area was cold and the pipes froze in winter!

We also finally have a working dishwasher, which is a huge deal when feeding a family all winter.  We were not surviving on take out or eating out during this time...but we did choose to use paper plates during the kitchen renovation.  It was probably the most paper plates we adults have ever used in our lifetimes.  It was worth it though, there are limits to what one family can manage...even an eco-conscious one.  It's also the first time in 20 some years when we haven't composted at all--because our dog got skunked in September right after we started composting.  So you know, we decided to stop composting until we figured out how NOT to attract skunks to the yard.  If you have tips on that, let me know in the comments!

Knitting continued as kids keep growing and needing new woollies!  This is another version of my "Stripe Freestyle" Sweater- slightly upsized as my kids are now a little bigger than the pattern I published.  The yarn for this one was my handspun Cotswold and silk singles.  I dyed it as well, the yellow was dyed with marigolds and the red came from a nice dye packet.  I wrote about spinning and dyeing this yarn on the blog in 2006.  Some yarns just need time to marinate in the stash!  In this case, I obviously had to give birth to twins first and then wait 11 years.

Here's another fun photo of kids enjoying the art installations this year--this one was taken at the Forks. This sail turned in the wind while you stood on it...but it also served as a much needed windbreak on a very chilly day.

I'm now on to knitting yet another "Stripe Freestyle" sweater for the other kid and the fuschia yarn in the background will likely be a sweater for me, someday.  (It's on hold while I knit more for kids.)  It never fails to surprise me which knitting patterns sell lots of copies and which don't.  The Stripe Freestyle pattern is a slam dunk in my household, but doesn't sell many copies on Ravelry, Payhip or Lovecrafts.  No idea why.  In any event, it's been a mainstay in these twins' wardrobes for years.

 Finally, I'm adding a much overdue photo of the lovely birthday celebration we had back in January- I had a big birthday, in the midst of all of this. We were stressed out and it went by quietly.  However, now that we're "down" to owning only one house, things are somewhat calmer.  Still lots of renovations to go and some ends to tie up, but I'm hoping for warmer weather and more time for writing, designing and playing ahead.  

New dress, new year

Winter break has taken over my whole world.  Kids go back to the school tomorrow and I may be able to catch up again!  My late night sewing has turned out this new #100actsofsewingno1 dress with a lining rather than bias tape and inseam pockets.  I'll show you both sides!  It's Brussels Washer Yarn Dye, (linen blend) and the colour is called heliotrope, although I think it looks sort of like a raisin in gray light. I made this to match my new knitting design...more details soon!

We've done some fun things over break, including buying both twins new skates and trying them out at the local community centre arena.  This has been fun and included a few brief moments where I too wore skates again.  (It's been a long long time...)

Last but not least, my opinion piece went live on CBC-Manitoba today:
Mental stimulation amid child-rearing? You can do it if you try

To that end, I recently signed up to learn more Talmud.  I signed up for a 'Daf Yomi' email every day...learn more here.  Sign up here if you're interested.  To my surprise, it is all in English so far, so I am also using Sefaria, or at least I am--on day 1!  Happy Birthday to me!

Celebrating who we are

Happy first day of Hanukah!  We're having a blast. I hope you are, too--eating lots of doughnuts and latkes? So far, we've done arts and crafts, (note--see sticker mosaics by squinting...) made robot dreidls and heard fun Hanukah music with banjo accompaniment. (yes, really)
It's been great!

Also, this piece ran in the Winnipeg Free Press today:
Recreation facilities often unfit for people with disabilities:
 Everyone pays for recreation facilities, so we should all be able to use them. That includes people with disabilities.

These topics seem to go together, in my mind...it's about that phrase "we all have a right." 
...Just as we all should have a right to celebrate religious freedom, all of us, even those with special needs, should have a right to access recreation, like swimming and skating.

This blog is now 13 years old!

  Click here to check out a bunch of other random fun blog stories about Hanukah.

River Trail

Last Sunday, we took advantage of some fabulous warmer weather (we've had highs in the 20 to 30F range, or for folks in Celsius, highs around -5 to 0C) lately.  I'm still really lacking stamina from the pneumonia, and one of my kids got knocked out by a big hives episode last Saturday, so we're doing things slowly.  We have been very sorry to miss the skating season--but we took the River Trail's walking trail and went out on the river.

For those who don't know what this is, every year, our two rivers freeze solid in Winnipeg.  There is an amazing effort to create kilometers of skating and walking trails on the river.  We have an international competition to build architecturally interesting warming huts.  Folks commute, walk their dogs, (or skate their dogs), drag their kids in sleds, and spend time outside every winter.  This year has been a special event:  10 kilometers of groomed river trail AND, as of yesterday, 69 days open to skaters and walkers--a new record.
The trail is weather dependent. Some years,it opens late, the ice is too bumpy, or it just cannot be made longer.  This year, we hit the jackpot and I was just yearning to see it...although even this one extended outdoor outing was still pretty hard for me.

The weather was perfect and everyone we saw seemed to be grinning with enjoyment. One joke that ran on the river trails "conditions" twitter feed was something like: Our Canadian Olympic speed skating champion, Ted-Jan Bloemen can do 10 k in 12 minutes.  How fast can you do the winter trail?

We did only a fraction of the trail, bumped into some friends, saw a few warming huts, petted some amazing dogs, (one husky weighed 170 pounds!) and nearly got run over by three cross-country skiers.

After we climbed off the trail, we headed back towards the Forks on the river bank trail--pictured here.  You can see a clear warming hut up ahead, where people are putting on their skates, and a maybe the big blocks of snow--(We have snow sculptures all over at this time of year)

You'll also see the weird circle in these pictures, the professor's camera got humidity inside the lens from transitions between warmer and colder places.  We also were very bundled up--me, because I am still sick--and the boys were wearing snow pants so they could stay dry and climb on things. It wasn't cold though--at least, not for us.  (Yes, we were out walking on the ice, so context matters!)

On the way towards home, we stopped to see the Nepinaks. These  elders offer their time every year to invite people into a warm teepee at the Forks to cook bannock and talk.  We cooked bannock together on whittled sticks and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  This was a highlight of the day for me - a beautiful way to make connection and break bread and acknowledge that we are on Treaty 1 land.

We topped it off with some ice cream on the way out and headed home.
I paid for all this by being absolutely worn out from the physical effort--definitely still not 100% yet, but it was well-worth it.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure!

normal? spinning & audio books and life

I recently set myself a little challenge.  I would try out a new kind of wool--a sheep breed I'd never spun before- and spin it two ways.  Lumpy-ish worsted/aran singles, and a skinny little, relatively smooth two ply yarn. I set up my wheel over the long weekend.  (It was Louis Riel Day here)  We did go to Festival du Voyageur on Monday, but we also spent a lot of time playing inside.  This picture of the lumpy Clun Forest that I bought from Custom Woolen Mills in Alberta this past summer.

True confessions:  I haven't been spinning much these days.  Our house has been taken over by toys, art projects, and other busy things.  When I have a spare moment (hah!), I try to knit when I can.  It takes up less space...and we're always needing some new hand knits for winter here.

However, the other problem is that I'm still lacking stamina from having pneumonia.  It seems like I can do one thing a day, and after that?  I need to have a break.  Spinning was actually a sort of "active" thing for me, and I ended up very tired out.  I haven't plied the skinny smooth singles yet, nor have I washed the finished skein of lumpy yarn.  Both are destined to be mitts, I expect, as this wool doesn't felt easily, according to what I've heard.

I also discovered recently that my local library had changed its electronic subscriptions--and that I could no longer access audio books on Hoopla.  This was a big bummer.  They also have a limited subscription to Overdrive.  I only know this because I secretly cruise my parents' libraries in Northern Virginia, and they have much better subscription packages than Winnipeg's library...more access to audio books and ebooks for free.  I have even figured out, by the way, how to read an ebook on my iPad while I spin... (but only if it is a boring, skinny, plain vanilla kind of yarn.)

Where does this come from?  Well, in the old days, before twins, I used to listen to a lot of audio books while I sat spinning.  Now I listen to a lot of audio books while I do housework--and frankly, it helps me keep my sanity.  I can continue thinking about something (anything!) bigger than meal planning, cutting up vegetables or cleaning pots, etc.  In this case, multi-tasking may keep me from a sole minded focus on, say, salad, but then, who needs that amount of focus on cucumbers and carrots?  (Yeah, not me, sorry!)

To supplement what I could get from the library, which can be spotty, to say the least, I have treated myself to an Audible subscription.  The first year or two it was a birthday gift, for which I was grateful.  Then nobody wanted to give me gifts anymore--but I felt I could not give up this luxury.  I use coupons at the grocery store and cook more so we skip eating  meals out to read/listen to more books this way.

I found out recently that there is some sort of deal going on with Audible.  You can get two free audio books if you try a free Audible subscription.  That seemed like a gift I should pass along.  If you're in the US,Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks.

If you're in Canada, here is a link to the Audible membership thingee--I hope it works.  (As a dual citizen, my internet access sort of goes back and forth and I can see sales in one country but not the other, etc.  So, I hope this is the right link!)

I'm still not up to my normal pace of life and miss my walks with Sally the dog, but I'm working on it.  In the meanwhile, my brain can race with ideas while my body catches up.  I also found this gorgeous BBC clip about commuting-- ice skating to work in Sweden, and it almost made me feel like I was skating again.  (but I am definitely not well enough for that yet, either!)
(I had to edit this post to fix the Audible sale links, I hope they work now!)

Focus

I'm still here.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed lately.  I've got too much 'on my plate'--still not feeling too well and taking antibiotics for Lyme.  The latest info I've learned is that even after I finish taking the antibiotics, it might be six months to a year before I really feel better.  Of course, there are the usual things, too: two little boys, work deadlines, and some volunteer obligations I took on before I realized how much time everything took.  Oh, and the news.  It is a bit much, the news these days...
On Friday, I took some time to listen to an audio book and produce lots of food...or what I thought was a lot...

Here are some "cauliflower bites" made with two heads of cauliflower, cheese, eggs, and seasoning.  I thought they were fine, healthy snacks.  Two out of two twin kindergarteners disagree.  I froze half, and now I suspect that I have to eat through the rest on my own...I have not even heard the Professor's opinion! (He's not a big cauliflower fan in the first place)

 I made three big loaves of challah, and I froze two.  I'd been coasting by for a few weeks on some kind "gift challahs" from a friend, and bread machine challah (it comes out in a rectangle, which no one likes).  This buys me a couple more weeks!

The best way to catch up on your work?  A little at a time.  It boosts productivity if you have good company like Harry the dog.  He follows me up to my office to keep me company, and hops into my warm spot if I get up.  He's helpful that way.  I have been working at night when I can stay awake--I have a couple of great editing jobs, but they require a lot of focus.  I can only do it for an hour at a time before I need a break.  Harry is happy to provide breaks.

The subject of this post is this: one of my twins gets overwhelmed, and his teacher taught him to pause, put his hands on his chest, and take deep breaths.  He then waves his arms around and says "Focus!  Focus!"  It helps.  I am trying to do the same.

Otherwise, we continue skating onwards towards March.  (literally skating, the boys are learning to skate, although the ice is very bumpy from our weird warm weather.)  What's going on with you?  Do tell.

Cause now I write about hockey...

It's a little known fact that when I was 12, I broke my leg (for the second time) playing hockey.  It was a pick-up game at a schoolyard rink in Ottawa.  We were visiting family friends and they took us to an outdoor rink for fun.  It had been warm; the ice was mushy and too soft.  I was stupid and although I had a pair of hockey skates, I'd worn my figure skates...but you know, I was from Virginia.  What did I know?  The pick at the front caught in a little bubble of soft ice and I went down.  My only solace was that I'd assisted on a goal in the process...and if you have to break your leg in junior high, it was maybe a cool way to do it.  (but I do not recommend it!  Note: First time?  At 18 months, I jumped out of my crib.)

Since then, I've skated a little, but only recreational figure skating and very little of that.  However, I've lived in both Buffalo and Winnipeg.  In both places, hockey is always in the news and in the air.  When I heard of the big trade this week--a couple players going to Buffalo and vice versa, I realized I had only a very small thing in common with them.  I wrote it about it...and it came out today on the CBC here:
 Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian: Are you curious about Buffalo?

For those who know me, this whole thing is peculiarly funny...especially because I wrote another piece about the positive educational benefits of play (something I actually know about, because of that grad. degree in Education) but I didn't sell that one.  No, I sell the hockey essay.  Of course. 

Also this weekend, the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper mentioned The Hole Inside Mitts: A Yarn Spinner Story + Pattern in their Books section.  Here's the link:
Author Sews Together Knitting, Short Yarn 
What I like best about it is that the columnist took the whole thing seriously...and it ran as his lede.  All in all, a very sweet couple of days--like a professional Valentine.  I feel grateful.

On the home front, we're getting a lot of juicy hugs and kisses from three year olds, who even gifted us last night with only one wake up and sleeping 45 minutes late, until 7:15 AM.  Now that was the greatest Valentine! 

that's icy cool!

Thanks so much for all the comments on the last post. I appreciate your support very much.
Now, on to a slightly colder topic...
We're having a bit of a heatwave in Winnipeg at the moment. That means--wait for it--it's above 0F most of the time. In fact, it's even threatening to come up to the 20's F. (for Celsius folk, that's -18C to -4C)

The professor and I decided to celebrate by taking a long walk outside. On the river. (Yes, I said, on the river...you'll see. :) First, we parked our car near the Children's Museum and checked out the ice castle. It's a gorgeous piece of sculpture. My professor's comment? "Gosh, what a relief that must be for the ice sculptor people. After all those swans for weddings and bar mitzvahs... Finally, a chance to do something else!"

By the way, if you're wondering, that slightly dirty snow in front of the ice castle is the road. That is what all secondary roads look like. Snowpacked, with a little sand thrown in for traction. Yes, everyone drives on it, and I've only felt my anti-lock brakes kick in once. (It was a surprise, but nicer than fishtailing) Plowing happens here, but not, say, as regularly as it did in upstate New York when we lived there.

Then we headed off to see the river. As a reminder, this is what it looked like in early July, 2008. Note the big concrete buoy thing with the red marker on top and the train in the distance.

Here's what it looks like in January.

The evergreen trees are used to block off hockey playing arenas. (Imagine trees and a hump of snow instead of the "boards" used at a regular hockey arena.) There are actual red lines drawn on the ice here--and we saw a dad and teenager playing hockey together when we went by.

The ice is cleared of snow by bobcats and then conditioned for skating by a Zamboni. Here's a picture of one of the workers going by on his equipment. (and, this is how thick the ice is, equipment just boogies around like it weighs nothing...)

The professor and I were walking along a snow packed trail alongside the skating area. The trail we were on was on the ice as well, but just not cleared of snow the way the skating trail is cleared. We wore our regular winter boots. Here I am, prepared for the adventure. Although the high yesterday was roughly 20F (-6C), it was more like 12F(-11C) with a stiff breeze while we were outdoors.

The professor took most of these photos, as I couldn't manage the camera without taking off my mittens. Also, the digital camera had to be stored inside of my professor's parka in order to stay warm enough to use it. (note all that knitwear..two pairs handknit mittens, two handknit hats--one inside the other, a handknit sweater, and handknit socks. I was prepared.)

The skaters sailed by. We saw people putting on their skates at warming huts, whizzing by, and enjoying the day. I'm not quite good enough on my skates yet to attempt this, but hope to be soon.

You can see the lights along the trail there, for evening skating. By the way, this man and his dog were having an incredibly fun time. The dog loved it! I can't imagine that Harry, Sally or I would ever be coordinated enough to do this. I would be desperately afraid of hurting them with my skates.

On our way back to the car, we walked by the Forks. We saw this amazing little ice playground set up for kids. One part of it was even a slide! Hop on in your snowsuit and have your mom push you down the slide...

(and people say there's no reason to visit Winnipeg in the winter time! Whatever do they mean...how often does one get to walk on a river or two?)

Hanukah, Hanukka, Channuka...

More than one person has asked me recently how you spell Hanukah. Well, you spell it חנוכה or more traditionally,חֲנֻכָּה‎! What's that, you say? in English? :) This is a Hebrew word, and it is transliterated (or "Romanized") in a variety of ways. Here are a few I know of: Hanukah, Hanukka, Channukah, Chanuka, and the list goes on. Basically, if the way you spell it sounds remotely like the word itself? You're good! No mistakes here. Call it....alternate phonetic spellings.

We've also been to a party or two. One was a grown up, dress up affair with lots of good food. For another, I was asked to do a singalong at a community Hanukah event. It was maybe more accurately described as a carnival, or maybe a 3 ring circus. Anyhow, it went ok, although there were some organizational difficulties. There weren't a ton of takers for the Hanukah songs, although it's certainly a traditional thing to do on the holiday. The professor shot a photo or two with me as I sang with a few new friends. (This is an unidentified friend, no idea of names!) Note the red handspun sweater...it was held in an enormous gym.

Last night we had some friends over to eat dinner. (roast beef with chutney, potato pancakes --latkes, applesauce, coleslaw, dilly beans, smoked gold eye fish, rhubarb wine and raspberry cake...a feast!)

The professor also made sure our "gelt" (it means money in Yiddish, but also means chocolate coins for Hanukah) was appropriate to our big move this year. Usually we buy chocolate coins with Hebrew on them. This year, he found chocolate loonies and toonies.

Traditionally, you get treats each night during this holiday. Maybe sweets and maybe a bit of money on Hanukah, but no really enormous presents. Highlights from when I was little included the socks and underwear nights, the donate to charity in your honor night, and the calendar for next year night... My mom did buy us one or two big gifts but mostly we could predict what we'd receive.

This year, our big gift to ourselves was block heaters for our cars. Or, as our friend described it, long underwear for the car! It's not glamorous but it's a necessity here, especially since we don't have a garage.
Hanukah's a pretty low key holiday (on par with Arbor Day..), but we've been having a great one here in Winnipeg. Compared to places where we struggled to have anyone with which to celebrate this, or past years, it has been wonderful indeed.

It's a bit nippy still. Our weather has been roughly in the -24C range (roughly -11F) but with variation. For instance, it was -18F earlier this morning, and with windchill, this falls into the category of "Ohmygoodnessit'scoldoutthere."

We're staying toasty inside. Many of our windows have a little jack frost visiting. We've got double (and sometimes triple) paned windows in this house. However, the outside storm window is an old fashioned one, so sometimes there is a bit of ice build up there. The "inside" double paned window is a newer one, but in any case, it makes pretty decorations when you look out!
The dogs are hunkering down, for the most part, although they do get a bit stir crazy. We do one short walk a day, and otherwise it's run to the yard, do your thing, come right back in!

It is supposed to get warmer later this week (maybe even -9C or 16F!) and that "heat wave" will be enough to let us take a walk and enjoy ourselves outside again. In the meanwhile, I managed to skate indoors--much warmer inside than out--at a rink yesterday, and I kept myself upright and going round and round for 45 minutes. A new record! Soon I won't be so sore, I hope. I forgot I even had these muscles.

My goal is to get back to a place where the skating is more fun and less painful. I imagine that with practice, I'll get there. I'm really looking forward to getting out on the river even if I'm just walking on the footpath and not skating.

Wishing you winter joy, no matter what your weather!

I tell you zee joke

A couple nights ago, the professor and I were talking about science presentations and things. I brought up a recent conference that I read it about. The meeting was held to dicuss the increased difficulties and issues, due to melting ice, regarding polar bear and human interaction. Apparently the meeting was very popular and useful because of the increased polar bear/human interaction and danger all over the world. People came from the U.S., Greenland, Canada, and several other countries to attend the meeting.

Then my professor says, "And what was polar bear attendance like?"

Suddenly he starts making these weirdo moaning noises that polar bears make. We only know these noises from when we watch them on nature shows or at the zoo; we haven't been up to Churchill, Manitoba yet to see the polar bears ourselves. (We know people who have been there and scientists who study them, though...)

I start laughing and ask him what he is doing. He says, "Oh, this is what I think the polar bear powerpoint presentations are like." (Yeah, all the slides are white. Every last one of them.)

PS: I thought I'd tell you about this joke today because I went skating this afternoon at a rec center about a mile or two from my house. When I was skating around and around, I realized I didn't have a camera. Also, I couldn't possibly have managed a photo while dodging all the pint sized kids zooming around me on their hockey skates. For the first time I've skated in perhaps 13-15 years, (at least since college) all went well. I didn't fall, and my new stiff figure skates and I managed to stay afloat for about 40 minutes before I called it a day. My ankles hurt like they were on fire---but I'll be out again to build up those muscles soon! I can't believe I used to be good at this--I'm so rusty! However, well, the ice looked alot like the professor's description of a polar bear powerpoint presentation. It's possible tomorrow I'll be copying the moaning sounds of the polar bears too if my ankles are sore...

So, did you think this was as funny as I did? Please let me know!