This Moment...

Normally, Friday's 'This Moment' doesn't include any words...  And truthfully, there are few words that can express my gratitude and happiness upon getting this little parcel in the mail.
Thank you to Jim and Grace Johnston for continuing a tradition, working hard, and making liquid gold (not to mention creating one of my bestest friends, Jennie Johnston):)

Why?

I'm having a 'Why do I blog?' kinda day....  my sisters don't even read it.. lol

A Saturday Song...

 I may have already made this a Saturday Song, but it is in my top 10 favorite songs right now. Singing this song (the heavy reverb from the stairwell from which they sing) to help save their school. And if the lovely Janelle Blanchard and Kate Macdonald would go right ahead and put out an album, I shall be among the first to buy it. Love it. Great job girls, way to stand for something.



If you've got a song stuck in your head these days.. let us know or leave a link in the comments... anybody?

So Sorry..

Oh the stories, pictures, recipes, crafts and random things I have to share. Bread making, Cob oven building, hand stitching, wedding pillow creating, and ohhhh the spinach.. to name a few. Frustratingly, my health has been lacking these past 9 weeks and progress can only be represented by a wee snail, in no hurry for health. It would make for a great artsy film but not for a busy spring.
  These lungs of mine have never been a happy couple. They're fussy and don't like to keep certain company.  When I was 12, I took a non-stop drive with a boarding school friend of mine and her parents to Florida. I think the trip was about 24 hours from Montreal to Miami.  My dear friend's father smoked a pipe the whole time and never once cracked the window.. That trip was a turning point in my life,  from then on I was intolerant of most animals and suffered routinely at the hands of the changing of the seasons and various other airborne things. Of course, as a teenager I wasn't havin' it. Rebelling against the puffers and pills, I began smoking cigarettes (though in my defense it was Quebec in the 90's, where a 'just barely' teenager could buy her cigarettes for 10 cents each at the corner store).
 Cats became my Kriptonite. They have sent me to the hospital struggling to breathe more times than I wish to remember. But I left all that behind when I moved to British Columbia. The nice damp air and warmer winters helped immensely. But spring... is a different story.
This Spring in particular has been especially vicious.
Did you know that you can cough so long and hard that you can crack your ribs? I do.. lol (can't really laugh out loud though..owe..:))
I could go into so many reasons why I think I have a sensitive system and things one can do to help the situation, but I can see no reason why anyone would find that remotely interesting..
All this to say, I have lots coming, bare with, stay tuned and if you can breathe well, enjoy it.

This song is dedicated to my lungs:

And this song is dedicated to my ribs: 

A Saturday Song..

ok. This song makes me laugh soooo hard.. lol.. if you have ever been to a whole foods or a whole foods parking lot for that matter, you will laugh along with me. For a good time call David Wittman..;)

So, if you have a Whole Foods story you would like to share, proceed to the comments and share away.

This Moment...

Inspired by Soulemama..

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you have a moment from this week you want to share, tell me about it or leave a link in the comments.. Have a great weekend. xo

Today's Bounty..

I thought I would share the gifts of our garden this morning. I will soon be writing about said garden and the steep learning curve that comes with it but I am taking this bounty and my two children and running off to finish building the cob oven a group of us started last weekend (which I will also be writing about soon :)).

Hoping your day is filled with good work and blessings. xo

My Mum.

Strong, gentle, caring, kind, talented, gorgeous, intelligent, did I mention caring?.. so caring.., survivalist, resourceful, compassionate.. and there are some things there are no words for. It is my belief that there are many folks that do not understand how important this woman truly is. Mum, Mummy, Ma, Barbara Ann Falconer, Peanut, Barbie, you're a gift to us and I am so very, very blessed to have your blood in mine.

I love you. Always. xo

A Saturday Song...

The sun has arrived.. and none too soon.. as all the lower mainlanders breath a sigh of relief, here's a tune from three incredible men singing a song written by my favorite bug..  EnJoy!

This Moment...

Inspired by Soulemama..

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A Saturday Song..

Well, today's song is not really a song.. On the 3rd of May, Pete Seeger (a hero of mine), turned 93 years young! I found this video by Democracy Now of Bruce Springsteen honouring Pete at his 90th and it says it all.  Cheers Pete!

Do you have a favorite Pete Seeger Song? If you can find it somewhere, leave a link in the comments:)

This Moment..

Inspired by Soulemama..

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Have a great weekend!

I'm a sucker for an Apple Tree

When we found out we had to move, we knew we wanted to leave B-town (aka Burnaby) and go back to East Vancouver. We hoped for an affordable, preferably lovely bedbug free home, with a bit of space, not owned by slumlords (which, in Vancouver, is a near impossibility these days... but that's a whole other conversation). We looked at lots of places on gorgeous tree lined streets that were overpriced, cold, rundown, moldy.. which I found so sad since I could tell that, at one time, these houses had been homes, filled with love and respect but now had fallen into uncaring hands. Three days before we were meant to leave for a week in Alaska, I found yet another posting for a home that seemed to have promise. I basically stalked the the landlord for 24 hours and he told me we could come and see it the next day. We were not the only ones there for the showing, and we all walked into the 'home' (inhabited by 4 twenty year old men), and were met with a disgusting disaster. It was hard to see the forest for the trees.. it seems every one of those boys owned 4 couches and an aquarium long devoid of any life but filled with water and muck nonetheless. Beds in closets (ah remember those days..), I won't even go into the state of the bathroom, and they collected their 30 or so pizza boxes between the wall and the very old gas stove (a perfect place for oily paper products..;)). Right, back to the point. The inside was a nightmare and overwhelming, but charming and hopeful. However, when we stepped outside, I saw something that made me turn and say to my man:" let's take it babe". The Apple Tree.

It was summer when we moved in and it was just a big, beautiful, leafy mama. There was so much to do in the house that there was not much time for her though and the kids were a bit intimidated by the mass amount of bugs that enjoyed the unkept tree as well.. So Autumn came and apples started to fall.. Lucian, The Apple King, of course ate many of the fallen apples.. bugs, bruises and all. The rest of us were sorely disappointed by the taste.. they were yucky really. Again, the house was requiring so much work that I didn't think, as I was composting bushel after bushel of apples, that there must be SOME reason that apple tree had stood for so long.. I thought I might try an apple crisp with the last of the apples just to give it another chance. And as the house filled with a most delicious aroma of apple, a light bulb finally went off in my head.. Could they be baking apples??  Well, they are. Such delicious baking apples. Oh how I felt a fool.

When the cold winds of fall blew the leaves to the ground, Eddie gently pruned her away from power and clothes lines and got rid of some suckers, balancing her weight more evenly. He even cleared a perfect spot for a certain someone to climb and sit.

Over the Winter, (as I had hoped) Sage found a quiet space for thinking, listening to birds, getting away from his brother and of course monkeying around in this sleeping tree. Meanwhile, Lucian became the Lorax of all things slimy.. poor worms, and Edward began fulfilling a dream of becoming an urban farmer. 

One day when walking home from taking Sage to the bus, I noticed something on the tree...

Spring has arrived! In that moment something crossed my mind that I had not considered before. Two beautiful words that would force me to stare at her daily in anticipation: Apple. Blossoms.

When would it happen?? I felt like a child waiting for Christmas. This week, my gift arrived. (these pictures span approx. two months)

I don't want to leave my home these days.. (And fortunately, I am suffering from quite a brutal lung cold, and my little one hurt his arm, so there is no need to go very far..:)) I'm soaking it in... and sooo looking forward to watching the apples grow.
I realize that she doesn't have a name yet.. must rectify that.

Happy Beltane everyone and find a reason to smile today:)

Lessons of the week.. so far.

Well, this week I've learned two very important lessons that I think will help others who may be faced with similar situations...
                   1- If your child has a cast or splint on their arm, DO NOT think that putting a plastic bag over it and taping it REALLY WELL to their arm will keep it dry for swim class.
                 
                   2- If you like to hide chocolate in your steamer, DO remember to check inside of it before all that lovely goodness melts into the pot of boiling water below.. for shame.

Now, go fourth and plant something!
cheers

Canning knowledge...

 So, this is the year of 'as-close-as-I-can-get-in-the-city' to self-sufficiency... i hope:) We've built a huge garden (huge for us anyway)with hopes of having all our peas, greens, tomatoes, potatoes, corn ,zucchini, pumpkin and carrots for the winter... and with that, i am learning how to preserve food. My mother is a wonderful canner and oh how I wish I had paid better attention. Luckily, there is wonderful program called 'Seasons of Food' at the community center down the street that offers gardening, preparing and preserving food courses WITH childcare. An incredible program that needs to spread to all communities. I have taken two canning courses: one on pressure canning (still a bit scared.. and by 'a bit' I mean 'a whole lot') and the other on water bath canning. The library shelves under 'canning' are very light because of me these days and the internet is always there for reassurance. 

Every Saturday I head out to the farmer's market where I get the majority of our groceries these days. I noticed the beautiful apples we have enjoyed all winter were dwindling and i knew it was time to make a big batch of apple sauce to get us through to the fall when our apple tree (hopefully) gifts us with a bounty of apples. I bought a bushel (40 lbs) of apples from my favorite farmer at the market and off I went. Without knowing it, this was to be a very important learning exercise and the learning curve was steep.. and slightly painful..

I have made apple sauce before, but never correctly and always in the company of friends.. always good fun:) This undertaking had to be done the next day. So Sunday, I set the kids up with arts and crafts, outdoor games and a variety of snacks. Chai made, I was off...

 I have never peeled the apples before hand but didn't want to use my sieve so I thought better to peel, core and cook. I discovered my first problem within the first hour of peeling... the further I got into the box, the smaller the apples became. To get a little perspective, my 3 and a half year old modeled with a few of the apples. Please note how many apples he can hold in one hand.

The biggest problem with using small apples is that you basically end up peeling and coring at least half of the apple. DO NOT MAKE APPLESAUCE WITH SMALL APPLES. Wow. i peeled for over 5 hours and destroyed my hands in the process. Seven days on and i still have cracked, stained hands with blisters.. woa is me:)

I cooked the apples in two batches, first batch I peeled and peeled till the pot was full then began cooking. Second batch, I cooked as I cut and this was way more effective and saved time. I was able to get way more apples in the pot and they cooked down faster.

I left a 1/2 inch headspace after stirring and popped them in the water bath for 20 minutes at a rolling boil. 

So here they are. 40 pounds of the smallest apples ever created. All cooked down to a measly 7 and a half litres of apple sauce. Of course, my children have since let me know that they prefer the smooth, non lumpy, sieved version of yester-year, but ah well.. I remain proud of my acquired canning knowledge and yummy, lumpy applesauce. cheers and happy canning!

A Saturday Song..

An oldie but a great song, love Liz Fraser, brings back loads of memories...

If you have a favorite song you're listening to right now, leave me a link in the comments.. enjoy:)

this moment...

Inspired by Soulemama..

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A Saturday Song...

What to say... hauntingly gorgeous, strangely inspiring and if I close my eyes I can nearly feel the sun on my face.. thanx Mountain Man !

This Moment

Inspired by Soulemama..

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Spring is...

-Planting seeds....

so many seeds indeed...




















-Couches crowded with sniffly noses, books and lego...

 

must make more hankies....















-Hunting for hidden treasures..

chocolate for breakfast... 'nough said.















-Cherry Blossoms. Could there be a more delightful sight..

 (which can only mean one thing:..)









-My son grows yet another year older...

-Watching the fruits of our labour finally grow...

sweet.

-Happiness in knowing summer is nearly here..

Happiest of Springs to you all.

seems these days all I have time for is a song...

Well.. it's not Saturday but I love this song so much AND I happen to be near my computer so I am going against my own rules..HAHA.. take that rules.

A Saturday Song...

Well this one is too delicious not to enjoy a few times over...  thanx First Aid Kit (and Fleet Foxes) for being most enjoyable:)

Working together...

It is rare that I actually buy a brand new gift for someone.. especially children. It usually comes in the form of a handmade (sewn or knit) gift or a thrifted one. The same cannot be said for my children. When it comes to gifts, they almost always get boxed, packaged, plastic, made in a foreign land, gifts. They, of course, love them.
As they've grown I have always tried to show them the beauty in a handmade gift. Thankfully my mother, a wonderful knitter/seamstress/all-round-crafty-egg, has surrounded them in homemade things since birth.
  The past few years they have watched me create in many different ways and I have watched their curiosity grow. Sage, who will be 7 in a matter of weeks, has dabbled in needlework and knitting, but always seemed quite interested in the sewing machine. So when the invitation to a school friend's birthday party came up I seized the opportunity for some mama/son crafting time. And Craft we did..

Sage decided that what Chloe needed was a lovely bag. He picked two beautiful fabrics for the job and wrote out a pattern. Since attention spans can often hinder artistic progress, we decided the first day would be ironing, measuring, cutting, and pinning.

So far so good, day two held more in store and so after a nice walk and healthy lunch we took on the rest of the project. It must be said that he did 98% of the ironing, cutting, pinning and sewing himself. Once shown, he needed very little guidance.. only encouragement to keep going. 

I helped him to attach the strap to the bag (tricky business) and to sew the button on and we were done. Proud mama am I!  Such beautiful work and frankly he does a better 1/4" seem than I do! 

So to finish off the gift we made a little photo booklet of  'the making of..' the bag as a card.

I can't wait for the next project:)