tidbits

- We saw the world premiere of "Independent America" tonite in Kelowna. I loved it, partly because it was produced in Kelowna of course but also because it inspired me to keep working at buying local. I know I sound like a broken record but I have to keep reminding myself because it takes more effort! (see following paragraph for clues as to why I'm back on the warpath) The payoff is always worth it as far as I know. I wonder how many lovely and tasty gourds I can store in my house over the winter without tripping over them.

- The concept of the more you are engaged in something, the more you energy you have has come up a few times lately with both my parents and with Jeremy. I just proved the theory for myself last week. It seems that I haven't been doing a lot of things on my own lately (my choice, nobody's fault) and I found that when I suddenly had a lot more work on my plate than usual I was making the time to do more interesting things and having all kinds of energetic ideas. That's on top of getting a lot of work done by the way. What's up with that?

- There were a lot more juicy tidbits I was saving to share but they must have gotten lost in the shuffle this week, along with my wallet. I am still hoping to find the wallet in the house so maybe the thoughts will come back as well.

colour

I made one of those no-brainer self discoveries in my favorite spot for such things, The Beanery. I've been immersing myself in Christopher Alexander's work again and have tackled a heavy tome with the lofty title of "The Nature of Order, Book 3 - A Vision of a Living World". Let's be honest, I'm looking at the pictures and skimming the text when it looks compelling. The discovery part is that I connect to the world through colours the same way lots of people I know feel music. I don't know how to articulate it but I can look at a particular combination of colours and light infused with life and want to cry at the beauty of it, just like a haunting song. Maybe most people are like this but don't know how to express it either. The picture above is the closest thing to it I could find online at this late hour.

I think I've dissociated myself from the way colours and buildings/rooms affect people because it smacks of the consumer oriented home reno madness. Like so many good ideas, it's been commercialized. Why shouldn't we be paying careful attention to the boxes we call houses so that they actual take on the characteristics of a home and meet our needs rather than worrying about resale values?

Anyone who has ever seen me obsess over a quilt and enjoy throwing intensely coloured fabrics all over the floor in various combinations should enjoy a good chuckle over my little "discovery". I've clearly always loved colours but want to learn to just enjoy it for what it is and be comfortable with it being an emotional or even spiritual experience for me. Now it's starting to sound kind of like a self help book. Probably time for bed.

back on the ice

I'm delighted to report that I've once again suited up for the Summerland Ice Hawks women's hockey team (#18). Sounds official, doesn't it? We had a great practice today and I feel tired and wobbly but supremely happy. I don't know what I like best about it, getting to learn something new, finally playing hockey after talking about it for years, the casual comeraderie or the intense exercise. It's all good.

I'm thrilled when something I really love to do coincides with a healthy lifestyle. Playing hockey encouraged me to eat something healthy when I got home (it helped that Jeremy had the food ready) and got me thinking about heading to the gym to work on some muscle conditioning this fall. Another recent occurrence of that type of synergy was learning how much I enjoyed growing plants in summer - can't think of a better way to eat than picking things out of the tiny garden as I need them.

in honour of...

My little Ella Pearl turned two today. Not sure why that's so exciting except it more formally puts those baby years behind us. In the past month I've had the delight of ditching the crib, high chair and yes, diapers. I get the feeling I've written that somewhere already but it bears repeating as it dramatically affects my quality of life. I've taken on more work this month than usual and have even toyed with the concept of getting some kind of regular employment. The idea of any kind of full time job is terrifying and I have no intentions of that but Jeremy and I have always wanted a more eqitable distribution of work (inside/outside the home) and it seems like a reasonable time to start exploring that. The potential for growth and change is exciting even though I'm quite enjoying my role at home with the girls.


Jason, this post was inspired by you. I was mortified to learn that you check for a new post every day and decided I'd better come up with something fast.

See a few Ella birthday pictures here.