Taking steps towards future...

So, this year, my kids needed multiple pairs of mitts, as always...someone's always showing up with wet or (momentarily) lost mitts at the last moment.  -And by the way, they are still wearing at least one pair of mitts, snowpants, parkas, and hats to school every day.  The high is -1C today (just below freezing) and the low for tonight is -10C. (14F)  It's currently overcast and...flurrying.  However, with someone sick at home from December until April, my knitting output has been limited.  The latest has involved the Professor and both twins, three separate illnesses, as best we can figure out.  Between three guys, four sets of antibiotics, one allergic reaction, some fevers, some unexplained ongoing stuff...it's been a heck of a winter for illness around here.

This is the year when I began to see how longterm investments pay off. :)

...Meals I put into the freezer for later, bulk buying that worked out when I couldn't get to the grocery store or we didn't do laundry, the whole nine yards of planning ahead for a "rainy day."

These white mitts are the top layer for a cold day.  Underneath are these are a pair of The Hole Inside Mitts and a homemade mitt liner. (to keep things dry and windproof.)  Where did the white mitts come from?  This, friends, is a pair of size small women's mitts.  I spun and knit these for myself while I was in university.  They are probably 23 or 24 years old, give or take.  (I was the kid who brought her trusty Ashford spinning wheel to the dorm.  Really.)  These have never been fancy, show off mitts but have been worn, off and on, for years.  This year they got nearly daily use for a while.  They looked a bit dingy, so I washed them.  That's it.  Medium wool, spun into a chunky single, knit using an old Penny Straker mitten pattern.

Many of my projects are in use throughout our house.  I don't "see" them most days, but on a winter like this one, I began to notice things I've made--and use-- again.  I am beginning to update some of my Love knitting patterns. Some of them used small batch yarns that are hard to get, and maybe I could make suggestions...so I'm doing it, a little at a time.  Here are some examples:  I noticed the Ploughed Acre Socks had a project over on Ravelry worked up in a widely available yarn, Dream in Color Smooshy.  They look great!  So, I've updated the pattern to suggest that yarn.

My Zafu cushion is still hard at work in our house.  It's currently in use as one of my twin's "quiet corner," which involves a big old box, a dark sheet, the cushion inside, and some special quiet toys to keep him busy while he's hiding out in there.  The cushion has been well used and loved.  The Churro rug yarn wears like iron!  However, it's hard to find, Churro is a rare breed wool. Several people have worked up this pattern on Ravelry.  The most interesting options include yarns I hadn't thought about.  They include: multiple strands of mill end yarns, three strands of Red Heart Super Saver (an inexpensive, hard wearing acrylic yarn) and more.  I don't usually use acrylic, but I can really appreciate the reasoning of this knitter...she wanted an inexpensive project with lasting results--and she planned for everyone to put their feet on this.  So, she wanted to make something easily washable, too.  Everybody makes choices based on their household's needs...I get that.

One of my pleasures as a designer is watching others quietly create different and interesting versions of an idea that first came out of my head long ago.  Each pattern available as a weird eternal life that I love seeing as it evolves...and some of the originals also have staying power!

Thoughts like these have been heartening during this winter.  There have been days when I did not feel well enough to knit, or could not manage much knitting after doing all the chores by myself.  (The professor was down like a fallen tree for a while, he was really sick.)  However, if I looked around, I realized there was plenty of knitwear around the house to buoy us forward.  We have extra handknit afghans for those days on the couch, and a felted sweater blanket as an extra layer on the bed.

I wish this long winter were over already and everyone in our household felt better!  In the meanwhile though, planning ahead for that unknown future need seems to be serving us well.

A little story about health care

As a dual citizen, (and my husband and I have each lived abroad in a third country--so, experience with 4 countries' health care systems between the 2 of us) I am often asked to compare our health care system in Manitoba with US health care.  This is an impossibility; it's like comparing anchovies with oranges.  If someone asked you to do this, you'd say, HUH?  Why?

In the US, health care is different in every state. Even more complicated, it varies enormously from one city or region to another.  (Health care in Northern Virginia, near DC, as compared to, say, the stats from Appalachian Virginia)  Health care in upstate New York or Durham, North Carolina was vastly different than when I lived in Kentucky...it varies so much in the US from one place to another and is so uneven that if you've lived in a variety of places, you know these generalizations are useless.

The same can be said about Canada--although health care is "free" here, it's actually paid for by our taxes, and there are fees on top of "free" that vary from province to province.  It's also different in each province, and again different, when comparing regions: a city, for instance, as compared to a rural area.

Just a couple days after I got diagnosed with pneumonia, one of my kids woke up in the middle of the night with something that looked a lot like mumps.  (and yes, we are fully vaccinated at our house.)

Here's my most recent CBC-Manitoba opinion piece about our experience, which ran on Saturday:
How would Manitoba handle an epidemic?

Hey-remember me?!

 Sometimes time gets away from us, right?  Last summer, my kids said their favorite parts of summer were playing in the yard, splashing at the local wading pools, and spending time with Mommy.  I realized that there was something to that.  Despite the hassle of being on 'mom-duty' non-stop during unscheduled vacation time? Free time to play is important.  We all need more of it.  I sure do.

My plan involved summer camp in July (that is happening now), a visit from grandparents (my parents, aka Didi and Bop) and a lot of free time, too.  At the same time, it became clear that we've all needed a round of medical appointments.  Call it a tune-up. Or an overhaul, whatever, we need some "fixing." We had a little less than two weeks off between the end of preschool and the beginning of camp.

To summarize, we had four days last work week before Canada Day. There were also four medical appointments.  I was extremely grateful for the help of two extra adults (grandparents) whose trip from Virginia coincided with all this.

It's also coincided with me feeling generally yucky.  Early in June, I went to the doctor for a 9:15 AM appointment, feeling swollen and sore and out of whack.  Our Professor/the twin's dad was out of the country, beginning field research in Colorado, in the Rockies.  I was managing two dogs and twins on my own.  I dropped off the preschoolers, walked to the doctor's, and passed out there.

No really.  I lost consciousness.

So, when I came back to myself, vomiting and being generally mortified, I got a ride to the hospital in an ambulance.  My twins got an unexpected Monday night sleepover with the preschool director's family.  Another friend took care of my dogs.  A third friend sat with me at the hospital.  The Professor booked a flight home and cut his week of field research short..with only one day in the field.  At 10:30 that night, I came home from the hospital--nobody really knew what happened, hopefully it was a fluke.  I spent several days just resting as much as I could.  I was extremely grateful for all the help I received--thank goodness for all these friends!

However, I still don't feel great, and since then, I've had another appointment, more blood work, and look forward to a referral or two and maybe some more lab tests.   It's been a...time.

I also wrote a CBC piece that got little notice...but recently, another writer linked to it and used it as a jumping off place.  I'm not linking to that second reference, because the writer maybe misunderstood what I wrote, or why I wrote it.  There's no need to give someone publicity for misrepresenting me. I was upset, because there were some assumptions in that response that are wrong...and I wrote this person a note.  That's all for now.  I got no response, and maybe I never will.  Oh well.

Before twins, I felt deeply troubled by or sidelined by negative comments, by inappropriate or unkind words about my work, or even hate mail or threatening phone calls I received as a result of my writing.  These days, while I try to listen and understand that feedback, I read it, maybe learn something, and move on.  I even sometimes have to report it to the cops, and then?  I'm done.  My work is important to me, but it's only part of who I am...and even when I don't feel good or have a lot of work, the 'show' at home must go on.

This week, camp started.  I've made 14 or so jars of strawberry jam, 3 loaves of bread, and cooked a few meals.  I've packed elaborate snacks and lunches for 5 year olds going to the big kid "traveling day camp" for the first time.  I've written some, sent out some emails, done some work.  Today, one of my twins had another appointment...and it took the Professor more than half his work day to deal with it.

I had a physio (physical therapy) appointment at the same time.  In Canada, you can sometimes have acupuncture as part of the appointment.  For a little while after the treatment today, I felt as though someone had taken off a very heavy burden.  I felt better, without the soreness I've felt for weeks.  It was an unexpected gift.

I'm very grateful for all the help I've had lately.  We've enjoyed big adventures despite the medical stuff (new big boy twin beds!  new bikes with training wheels!  the wading pool...at last!).  I hope to do more...everything.  Soon.  Until then, let's sit on this virtual porch, play a bit, and visit.  Please...drop me a line to say hey.  My boys can't wait to do a lemonade stand, too.  :)    

a drive-by post

It's been a busy time, complete with a a bunch of vaccines (dog and kid), some stitches being removed (from Harry the dog, he had surgery last week, he's fine) and a kid's nasty ear infection.  I've been rushing around from the vet to the pediatrician's office today.  I am beat!

However, here are a couple new articles, one on the CBC online about the province's recent cosmetic pesticide ban...(no secret, I'm in favor of the ban...)

Local food, dandelions, and harvesting the lawn

Another article came out last week, about finding different avenues to prayer.  I actually called it "Davening with the angels," but it's the same article here, under a different name:  (davening means praying in Yiddish)

Finding holiness in different ways

Finally, in celebration of 3 different family birthdays this month, our upcoming 17th wedding anniversary, and the release of my new eBook-- Three Ply--, all my other Ravelry patterns are on sale until June 28th.  They are all 20% off with this coupon code:
June2015sale

OK, that's the news from here!  I'm off to go make tempting breakfast foods for a kid whose ears hurt a lot...and he feels nauseous and hates the taste of the new antibiotic so much that he is yelling "THROW IT IN THE GARBAGE CAN, MOMMY!"  at the top of his lungs.  Gotta admire the volume he achieves, I guess...

Makes writing about dandelions, or better yet, being outdoors admiring them, very appealing about now.  :)

what I've been up to...

The last few days have been a whirlwind.  The professor has a very busy term, teaching two upper level classes, so he needed to do work on the weekend.  Didi (my mom) came from the US to visit and play with twins.  One of the twins has a whopper of a cold, which means it is likely only a matter of time until the second one gets it, or the grown-ups get it.  Oh, and nobody ever sleeps through the night, have I said that before?! :)

Meanwhile, my essay, Building Jewish Identity -- for preschoolers, came out.  Suddenly, I had people I did not know (at preschool pick up, of course! where else do I go?) telling me that they were reading my work.  This was a surprise.  To be honest...a lot of the time, I write something, and I never hear a thing afterwards!  Sometimes there are negative comments, but this was totally different.  It was positive. 

Then, Maclean's magazine published a truly game-changing piece about racism in Winnipeg.  The author of that article quoted me, based on this essay I wrote for the CBC back in November.  More than anything, I am so glad that people "heard" what was being said in that important article--and I see lots of discussion about racism in the media here, in emails people send, --and who knows, maybe out on the street.  (I haven't been out much, what with the twin preschoolers, the cold virus, the lack of sleep, etc.)

The most interesting thing about all this is that I haven't been especially worried or afraid.  Back when we lived in Kentucky, if I wrote a piece with anything political, controversial, or religious in it...I often heard about it. I received hate mail, or weird phone calls.  It was really disconcerting and scary sometimes.  It did not stop me from writing or wanting to make positive change, but it did make me wonder if it was safe, if it was worth it, and whether I should keep writing. Who knows, maybe I am just too busy to worry here, but luckily, lately, the positive feedback has outweighed anything else.

Recently, I've felt like it is worth it to keep doing this writing thing.  At the same time, I've been working on a new knitting design.  This has been fortunate, because when somebody wakes me up every 2-3 hours, I find it much harder to formulate any kind of argument or point...hence the delay in posting here...but knit?  heck yeah.  I can still knit.

Even if I didn't design, this always has benefits.  People in Winnipeg will always need woollies. :)  
 

Yesterday...

You might recognize this farm from Fiber Gathering.
Yesterday, the horse really wasn't feeling well. The farmer handed me her feed: I fed her the oats with medicine in them.

The sheep were ready for shearing.

Gerald came to shear them.

Courtney helped pack down the wool that the shearer took home.

I was encouraged to take fleeces. "Oh, but I'm moving to Canada!" I said. Fleeces came home with me anyhow. White Romney....

Black/sunburnt tipped Romney/Border Leicester cross wool

Gray Romney

By the time I got home, I'd come back to my senses and realized I wouldn't have time to wash these before moving. I skirted them and packaged them up. The post office was busy on a Tuesday after Memorial Day! A little less than 40lbs later, I had no more raw fleeces. They were on the sheep Tuesday morning, and in the mail Tuesday afternoon.

Unfortunately, the farmer also wasn't feeling well. I just got back from visiting him in the hospital...he left the farm to go to the doctor just after I went home. What normally would have been a wonderful time on the farm is now bittersweet. If you liked that chapter of a farm on sheep shearing day in my book, remember the man in the red suspenders? Please send a few healing thoughts in his direction. (and thanks in advance...)

PS: I love every single comment you've written lately! I'm so sorry that I'm too overwhelmed to write back to every one just now. The first moving estimate was today--tomorrow? two more. Just keeping my head above water over here.