Ezra medley

Here's a short movie for the adoring grandparents. The rest of you are allowed to watch too if you're so inclined...

back on the ice

Unlike Kaili, I didn't rock my first hockey "game" of the year. It was a practice with scrimmage and I really appreciated having a coach. I'm at a stage where I can really benefit from getting instruction on even the most basic skills. I had a lot of fun, got good exercise and enjoyed seeing the crew again so you'd think the net effect would be really positive. It's odd how I'm perfectly content to do a lot of things half-assed (like housekeeping), yet the perfectionist in me surfaces at the strangest times (like hockey).

I forget during the off-season that I've only played a few years and was never really as good at it as I like to imagine. I get myself all wired up for the first outing of the year and, well, you can call me the queen of dropped passes and over-skating the puck. I can't count how many times I lost it in my skates and someone else took off with it.

Don't even ask about positioning. That's the challenge and beauty of a scrimmage, you end up playing everywhere at some point. I think I was playing them all at once and to put it kindly, I was a little random. I'm pretty lost playing defense but want to have a grasp on what I should be attempting at least. I love it that instead of discouraging me it only makes me want to put more effort into it. I'm looking forward to the next one.

For any of you who may question my sanity and readiness to play, Ezra is 6 weeks old now and I felt pretty good. I'm not too sore, two days later. My main weaknesses were my core muscles (obviously) which I could feel when we worked on shooting, and my overall endurance. I need basic conditioning, and honestly, couldn't all of us always use more of that?

fall food tally

We've gone into our annual fruit preserving mode. Compiling the quick list of what's in the pantry & freezer helps me understand why I feel busy sometimes. I've been really happy with the amount of food we've been able to get locally the last few months and we're working hard to take advantage of what's available. It's amazing how many dishes you can come up with that revolve around peppers & zucchini (and still enjoy them!). Tomorrow morning we'll hit the farmers market again and come home with loads of whatever seems to be in season. I'll be watching for garlic to stock up on and we'll pick up some locally roasted, organic coffee beans.

I'm not sure why I didn't dry more fruit this year, I hope to do more tomatoes though as we use them all winter in dips & sauces. We managed to grow beans, beets, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onions, dill, lettuce and broccoli in the garden although generally not a lot of any one thing. We have carrots coming yet but they're puny from being way overcrowded.

Here's the tally as it stands now with full credit given to Dianne for much of the jam, drying the tomatoes and generously donating the blueberries. Thanks also to my mom for canning cherries, freezing cilantro and keeping the garden happy while she was here.

Cherries - 16 pints & one cookie tray frozen (and then bagged)
Peaches - 7 quarts & one tray frozen
Blueberries - two giant freezer bags
Nectarines - one tray frozen
Jam - about 3 dozen jam jars (apricot, blueberry, plum, peach, raspberry and Jeremy's pride - yummy batches made from wild chokecherries and saskatoons)
Apricots - dried one batch, didn't turn out as tasty as I'd hoped
Salsa - 13 pints canned and another 6-ish pints fresh frozen
Tomatoes - several bags frozen and a big bag dried
Basil & Cilantro - frozen bag of each
Peppers - 1 huge bag, chopped and frozen sweet peppers
Pears - ??? we'll find out in the next week

Phew...I'm not sure if all this counting makes me hungry or tired but I know it makes me feel incredibly rich. We are so lucky to live in a country with resources like this and have the means to grow & buy them. I'm starting Thanksgiving early, it has definitely become my favorite holiday and I think we should draw it out. Maybe all year in fact.

catch up

Today I really am beat so you mostly get more kid pictures instead of insightful and groundbreaking thoughts. We had great visits over the last week from my brother Mark and my honorary sister, Tanya. I got to enjoy winery patios again after a long dry spell and show off the town to boot. We also made several beach trips, what's not to like?


Hanging out with Mark on the glorious patio at Dirty Laundry although I was disappointed by this year's Gewurtztraminers and Riesling, two of my previous favorites. We chose the Pinot Gris but next time I'd go for the "Hush" on the patio. On a later visit to Thornhaven we loved their '06 Gewurtztraminer and will go back for their Pinot Gris sometime.