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.

what's up with social work?

Perhaps I'm a rotten social worker. No, more accurately I'm a rotten traditional social worker. The underlying principles and aims I sunk my teeth into during school are dead on. The problem comes up for me when I get my quarterly BC Association of Social Worker's newsletter and I read the titles of the articles and seminars. Makes my skin crawl. Not that the issues aren't important or that it's poorly done, it just that most of it doesn't interest me personally, AT ALL. (Minor disclaimer, there was one article on adoption in this issue that is technically of interest to me, as I work in that field). There seems to be precious little content that doesn't directly pertain to a government position in family/correctional services or private counselling practice. Most of it is individual oriented and that is obviously not my area of interest. I think we should be out there making stuff happen at the group and community levels. Am I out there? I think that things like getting involved in the Summerland Citizen's Association and supporting their new link with Smart Growth BC counts as social work. There's a municipal election coming up with some very opposing views, I'm looking forward to that showdown.

Maybe I should write my own article for this little newsletter and see if it flies. That's an exciting challenge I think I may take up.

fall catch up

So about all that soul searching I was going to do about whether or not to keep blogging...didn't get to it because summer was so good. Jeremy and I decided to make his Headspace J sight an official family affair so if I have more family-ish stuff to say I'll post it there. If I have other things I want to record or share they'll go here, as I've been doing sporadically lately but hopefully more frequently now again.

My summer reading mostly consisted of gardens, plants and permaculture. It's something I discovered as a holistic concept back in March and it's really stuck with me. I have reached a point with my reading that is unfamiliar to me - some sort of overload paralysis. I walked into the library one night with the usual anticipation and as I browsed my favorite sections I got more and more agitated. I'm so sick of reading exciting things and then not doing them. I feel like I have enough knowledge and ideas for a lifetime of experimenting but lack the time, money, energy or just plain grit to get into it. Maybe all four or maybe only the last, after all it is much easier to talk about the dream than do it and I have a very well developed fear of failure.

In an effort not to beat myself up too badly I'd better note that I have done some small things. I'm committed to only growing plants that have at least two purposes (possible purposes include: edible, beautiful, medicinal, insect attracting, hedge, windbreak etc.). Aside from a section of select edibles they must all be drought tolerant. My dad helped us clear out a section of mostly dead and ugly junipers in June and we finally got around to putting some plants in despite the strata president's desire to turn everything everywhere into lawn. While we're on the topic of lawn, my opinion of it is that it's generally useless, water hungry and high maintenance. A small patch of high use and more drought tolerant grass for actual living and playing is great. Ornamental strips that are a pain to mow and nobody uses are an abombination.

Back to my little patch - we put in a native vine maple, saskatoon, blueberry and lavender. I transplanted some very hardy chrysanthemums in there as well and we'll see how they do. Once we get the extra topsoil/compost/mulch thing going on I'll put in some bulbs and echinacea and hopefully get a picture. Hmm, the bubs and chrysanthemums are apparently only for beauty and don't meet my criteria. They were cheap and plentiful in my own garden, maybe that should be another factor! It's a far cry from the "guilds" I read about in Gaia's Garden ( I love almost everything that Chelsea Green has published, as an aside) but it's a lot better than more lawn.

Underlying all this planning for plants and more ecologically sound living is general angst about committing to living in this spot. I simultaneously want to literally put down roots and stick around to see them mature at the same time as dreaming of a more "ideal" place to do it (um, could there be a more ideal place that where I actually am?) or more exciting would be to travel to various places to learn more and help others do it. I'm making it a goal to have visited the Kootenay Permaculture Institute by the end of next summer to get a sense of what that scene is like.

strawbale winery

I finally made my way into a strawbale building. The Orofino Winery is less than an hour away in Cawston so we made it the destination for a Saturday outing. John and Virginia Weber are the owner/operators and John was on duty the day we were there. He very graciously answered many questions that he's probably heard a thousand times and let the kids play with his son's wonderful toys (the son wasn't there to have his say in it).

The building was a lot like I expected and hoped it would be. The deep sills and thick walls delighted me most and the cool temperature on a smoking hot Okanagan day was impressive too. I still don't know if I would react to spending a lot of time in a strawbale building, as I'm so incredibly allergic to straw dust. The few minutes I was in the tasting room were fine but the doors were open and there was good airflow. The only thing about the whole scene that worried me was what I felt was a lingering smell of damp concrete (which incidentally, nobody else could smell). I think the building was only completed this year so perhaps it needs more time to cure? Also if the building was heated with wood in any way it would likely end up being on the dry side in short order.

My next stop on the strawbale circuit will be a strawbale fruitstand near Okanagan Falls...can't find a website but this one has a picture.

fruit season

I thought maybe a new template would get me all fired up to post again...we'll see. We're getting into the swing of fruit/veggie season and am trying to figure out the best way to try to preserve all this good local bounty. I have to learn to can or buy a freezer as far as I can tell. Freezing seems much easier but then you have to plug that sucker in all year. Does anyone have tips or personal experience with canning vs. freezing?