Year's end

 It's been hard for me to find a moment to catch up on the blog. I've a little more time now that Hanukah is over and winter break is here...  I've mostly spent my days helping my kids learn at home.  We've also been staying home for a while now...the high virus rates are worrying.  It's a bit lonely, but we're definitely all introverts here. For us, there have been some advantages to having a break from regular life for a while, too.  I've made a lot of challah.  I've sewn Hanukah gifts: flannel pajama pants for little boys.  

I've had some articles come out:

This piece came out in the Winnipeg Free Press, I am a co-author (with my favourite professor):

Half-measures won't slow the pandemic

Here are some from the Jewish Independent, in Vancouver:

That glitter gets everywhere

Gift of doing nothing at all

The past helps decode the present

Also, I had a fun article come out about how to plan for handspun yarns and garments to keep warm in PLY magazine (I've yet to see a copy of that one in print).  Just today, I got my copy of the new Vogue Knitting.  I'm very proud to have an article on the value of having a yarn stash in that issue, too.

We're doing lots of playing in the snow, dog walks, and eating yummy foods.  We hope you're having a great winter break with lots of joy ahead.  Our sky is darkening now, on December 21st, and it's barely 4pm.  The great darkness is upon us....more time to read, knit, and stay cozy at home.  We're very lucky -and privileged-to be able to do so.

Stay safe, stay warm, and here's looking forward to happy and healthy 2021.

May stories

It's been such a long time since I posted here...because I've been swamped with real life stuff.  Homeschooling, job issues, and a death in the family in NYC --not the virus but she died alone in the hospital because of it--awful.  

I decided to  show this last month mostly in pictures...with one article link.  Thanks to the Vancouver Jewish Independent, I still get to write a column every so often!  This one is about how three big world religions find common ideas to discuss and help us get through during these challenging days. 

Uniting in significant times

In our province, our PC (Progressive Conservative) premier, Brian Pallister, has decided that this would be a good time to cut the budgets of Manitoba's universities and also to cut public sector jobs.  

According to every economist and all the business leaders and columnists in the media, this will create an even more depressed provincial economy...think of Herbert Hoover in the US for a reference point. 

 However, our premier keeps pushing this.  It will definitely affect our household--our biology professor--and since my work is uneven or nonexistent these days, it feels very personal.  We made signs and went in our car to a couple social distance "honkathons" at the Legislature Building.  Here are the signs.

We've been doing school at home.  Kids built a 'bonfire' for Lag B'omer...and played outside, of course.  (This would be jousting with pool noodles, on hobby horses, if you have not seen this particular version of the game before.)  We also had hotdogs and I had to bake buns for them.  Cause it would not be a day outside without them...

I've been knitting whenever I can, mostly to maintain my sanity...and I finished the next Woolly sweater for the kid who is growing a lot but still really wants to wear a sweater with sheep on it.

There were some pretty great Mother's Day cards.

The professor took boys on a lot of bike rides, which gave me time to do crazy stuff like work and have an hour by myself.  (Hahah, not kidding.  One hour!!)

I've baked a lot of bread. Our local bakery is closed, we shop about once a week, and these people in my household are like locusts!  You'll note here that now I have to cool the bread on a rack on top of the refrigerator.  When Sadie the dog stole and ate an entire loaf of bread (anyhow, that's what we think happened, although she may have shared some with Sally, hard to say?)---well, I got creative.

It's been a long month...but I hope you'll still come back and check in and I'll find time to write more...
  Stay well!  Wash your hands!  Take care.

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.