Do I really get to live here?

We had a gorgeous day today.  I talked the kids into going out for a walk and we discovered the beautiful place just below our cottage.  I couldn't help thinking of Walden's Pond.

Walden on amazon

I once tried to read it, but didn't make it through.  I much preferred a thriller called The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell which frequently referenced the classic.

Anyway, here are a few photos.

Is it really January?  Do I actually get to live here?  Oops, we just found out this is private property.  Don't go here if you find it!

Avoiding Volunteer-Fatigue: The Yes-Woman becomes the No-Woman

When we first moved here, I decided to try to say yes to opportunities as much I could.  I was no longer working full time and I had free time to spare.  This is very unlike me.  My natural go-to answer is no, so I think it was a stretching exercise and a great way to meet people in our new community.  However, once January hit, I was faced with the feeling that things are getting a bit too busy.  I was wishing someone would make me one of those lists that help you prioritize where to spend your free time, but instead of looking for one, I thought I'd make one for myself.  I kind of love making lists and I thought it would be more meaningful and valuable to create my own.

I know, I know.  I really need to fit some drawing lessons into my schedule.  I'm supposed to be sticking my tongue out as a sign of deep concentration while I try to figure out how to squeeze something else into the calendar.  Sideways faces are hard.  Also, why are my arms always so long?  

Keep in mind, I don't currently work outside of the home.  When I was a full-time teacher, all I did, volunteer-wise, was to occasionally help with Sunday School at our church and lead a Writer's group.  The Writer's group was really one of my favourite things to do and Sunday School was honestly the bare-minimum way to be involved in my children's education.

For this time in my life, here is my attempt at a priority list of where to spend my volunteer time while still providing enough time to go for walks, meet with friends, read, and write:

1.  Do something you love.  Make sure you have at least one way to volunteer that doesn't feel like work or volunteering.  You should always have something to look forward to.  For me right now, it is volunteering to read with some of the students in my son's class.  Helping kids learn to read and write was my favourite thing about teaching.  I've collected a good set of strategies over the years and I don't want to lose them.  Meeting with kids one-on-one is the best.  You have time to listen to their stories and still get work done.  I always found it frustrating that, even with a small class, there wasn't nearly enough time to listen to all the things kids wanted to tell me.

2.  Be part of a committee.  I have spent a lot of my time doing solitary things.  Writing is largely solitary, playing the piano was solitary, figure skating had some opportunities to work in a group, but was mainly a lone sport, in my experience.  Even teaching has a large element of independent work; although, fortunately, I learned early-on the importance of leaning on colleagues for ideas and support.  Being part of a committee has it's frustrations and even drama, but working through problems and brainstorming new ideas can be very rewarding and good for the brain.  I am the secretary for our school's P.A.C.  Sort of a sweet spot for a writer!

3.  Do something challenging.  (AKA Do something you don't entirely like).  I'm not absolutely convinced of this one and I certainly don't want to advertise that I don't enjoy any of the volunteer work I do.  However, I think there is something to be gained in sacrifice.  Even the volunteer areas you do enjoy likely have some aspect that is annoying or yucky.  Hopefully this will stretch you in a way that you can actually see the good in what you're doing. This does not mean doing something you don't agree with.  There must be merit in what you have volunteered for.  Perhaps you can help to work out the kinks to make the job a better one.  If nothing else, it may inspire some interesting writing!

That's all.  I only wanted three things.  I think I'm now ready to read someone else's list.  How do you prioritize where you spend your time?  Also, do you disagree with any part of my list?  Thanks!

What to do when the power is out and you are unemployed

We were recently without power for a day and a half in our new home.  This is the longest power outage I remember, though I was assured this is quite normal in our new community.  We had no luck starting the fire in the morning and as my husband and kids headed off to school and work where there was power, I had a little pity party wondering how I would make it through the day.

Here's what kept the kids and I occupied on the first night of the power outage.  The Borrowers was a great choice to show the kids that people survived without electricity in the past.

Step one:  Get that fire started!  After two more tries, I got the fire going.  In my head, I heard my new friend Karla telling me "Well, if it doesn't work, we just have to try again."  She also passed on my friend Michelle's secret of "stuffing the box".  After taking this advice with a good dose of prayer, the fire started and things began to look up.

Step two:  Make coffee.  Michelle also told me she made coffee on her stove.  By 9 a.m. I was in serious need of caffeine, so I put the kettle on the stove and waited.  Thanks to Phil's new AeroPress Coffee maker, I had one of the best cups of coffee in my life, along with an excellent book to help me through the day.

Step three:  Start using your ingredients.  I was beginning to worry that all the food in my fridge would go bad.  I thought to myself - well, I made coffee, why not try biscuits?  That's what the pioneers did!  I dug out my trusty Westgate Alliance Church cookbook and found the biscuit recipe.  Nothing like a church cookbook to remind you of wonderful women from your past.  

Biscuits on the stove

Finished biscuits

Westgate Alliance Cookbook

Step four:  Keep cooking.  It was about an hour from lunch, but cooking on a wood burning stove takes time.  I decided to use up my bacon, eggs and spinach.  An hour later, not much had happened, so I fired up the barbeque and finished the job.  Mmm.  Eggs cooked in bacon grease.  Delicious!

I couldn't stop there.  I still had feta, eggs and spinach to use up, so I invented a recipe for spinach, feta muffins, using a church recipe for apple cheese muffins as my reference point.

Step five: Chop some wood.  A lot of our wood is too big for our stove, so I decided, while acting as a mountain woman, I should try my hand at chopping wood.  It was a fantastic workout and I was very warm, but shortly after this photo was taken, I quit.  The axe was firmly stuck in the wood and I couldn't get it out.  Something for Phil to do on his lunch break!

At this point, I thought I should reread my Grandpa's book on surviving in the North, but I never did get to that and will have to start another day in preparation for the next power outage.

Step six: Write some letters.  It was a bit lonely without a phone, twitter or facebook, so I took Julia Cameron's advice in her book The Right to Write and wrote to my sister and parents.  So glad I bought this sweet Jane Austen writing set from Scholastic book orders last year!

Anemone, Barnacles, Muscles too . . .

My daughter Julia just returned from a four day trip to Bamfield Marine Science Centre.  I told her I would interview her for my blog when she got back, because I know a lot of our friends and family will want to hear all about it.  Here she is, answering my questions.  The photographs are hers as well.

1.  How did you get to Bamfield?
First, I went on the ferry to Horseshoe Bay.  It was 20 minutes long.  Then I went on the Nanaimo Ferry.  It took about one and a half hours.  Then I took a charter bus to Bamfield.  It took four hours.  For two hours, I got to watch a movie called The Spy Next Door.  On the way back, I watched Gulliver's Travels.

On the ferry to Nanaimo

2.  Where did you eat at Bamfield?
I ate in a cafeteria that looked small on the outside, but big on the inside.  It always took a long time if you were last in line, so you had to get their quickly.  When I first got there, I ate pork, glazed carrots and potatoes.  They had a lot of beverage choices like milk, and a lot of different kinds of juices.  There were two coloured juices that were blue and pink.  Someone found out how to make purple out of it by putting pink and blue together!  It was very popular, even some of the adults there did it!  The food was marvelous!

Main building at Bamfield

The cafeteria is in the back

3.  What did you do there?
The first time I went on the boat was when I first got there.  We tested the water to see the temperature higher up and lower down.  We also collected plankton to look at in microscopes.  A couple days later, after we collected the plankton, we looked in the microscopes.  It was creepy at first, but then I got used to it.  They looked like little aliens and bugs.  I showed a picture of them on the television.

Plankton on T.V.

Microscope we used

Plankton in a petri dish

At Brady's Beach:  We had to take a boat to get to the second part of Bamfield.  We had to take a one-kilometre hike.  We had to do an activity where you had to go to a tidal pool and look at all the creatures in it and make a little song or rap about it.  My group made a little rhyming song about what we had in our tidal pool.  It went like "Anemone, Barnacle, Muscles too.  If you don't like that, then Boo Hoo Hoo!"

The coolest part about the tidal pool was the Sea Anemones.  We touched them and they stuck to us a bit when we tried to pull away.  They were cute!

Where we crossed the water to Brady's Beach

Thank you Julia for your excellent pictures and answers.  I'm sure glad you got back safe and sound!!

Walking in Autumn

“Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.” 
― Jane Austen, Persuasion

It has come to my attention that some of my readers are becoming haters:)  For those of you who die a little inside when they read my blog posts, wishing you lived where we live, you may not want to read any further.  However, if you are secure in your surroundings, feel free to peruse this random collection of photos from some of my walks in the past few weeks.  There's nothing like walking to bring on writing!

A misty morning yesterday

Instead of walking, we decided to go to the beach this past weekend.

This made me think of a walk from my friend Laurie's book

Our last summer swim took place here

Like a scene out of The Hobbit

Stay tuned for an interview with Julia after her four-day field trip to Bamfield.  We sure miss her and can't wait until her return tomorrow!

The New Normal: AKA What do you do all day?

If you can believe it, we are now one month into our new adventure and patterns are beginning to emerge.  At least on school days.  Phil is usually awake first and gets up to write a few emails or work on a sermon.  He also makes coffee.  At 7:20, my alarm goes off and I take a few minutes to get ready before I wake up the kids.  We eat breakfast together.  I go for toast, Phil and Julia usually have cereal and Levi likes pancakes.  Then we try to share the bathroom as best we can and by 8:15 we need to be out the door and walking to the bus.  The kids still love the bus ride.

Then Phil goes to work and I have the house to myself.  Hurrah!  I've been lucky to find some other women who like to walk or I will go for a walk myself.  There is a labyrinth of trails to discover and I am happy to note it will take quite some time to walk them all.  Yesterday, we volunteered for Levi's walking field trip.  Imagine walking down to the beach to collect rocks!

There is also writing.  Yesterday, I finished the first draft of my newest novel.  Now I am following Stephen King's advice to put it in a drawer for several weeks.  I can't remember how long he suggested.  It's not in a literal drawer, but I will try not to open my computer folder for at least three weeks.  I am hoping to pitch it in October at the Surrey International Writer's Conference.  I've been wanting to attend this event since my friend Katie and I met CC Humphreys at the Strathmore Library several years ago.  I'm finally close enough!  I'm a bit nervous about the pitch.  That will be my next project.

Phil usually joins me at home for lunch and I often read, bake or clean in the afternoons.  Then I meet the kids at the bus stop and they tell me about the joys and sorrows of their day while complaining about our steep driveway.

A blue heron in the pond across from the bus stop.

Julia has recently taken up helping me make supper or do some baking after school.  She's also excited about the Drama School she has joined.  They both love our new rope swing and continue finding new and annoying apps on our hand-me-down iPhones.

The days are speeding by and we do our best to soak up the sun while it's here.  We hear there's a long dark winter ahead of us.  We sure miss our friends, but are doing our best to make new ones.

Changes

Three days ago, I began to work on my novel again.  My kids are at school now and I have the house to myself while I write.  It is only the second day of this phenomena and I must confess I feel a bit guilty.  I should be out doing pastor's wife things, visiting others or applying for jobs and getting involved in everything I can.  Can I really just sit here and write without minding children at the same time?  I'll get to these other things soon enough, but after three months of moving, I'm going to revel in this oddity for a few days.  Despite Stephen King's admonishment to turn your desk away from all windows and distractions, my desk is situated in a room full of windows.  It's like I'm in a treetop.  My friend Laurie thinks I'm living like The Hobbit.  Lucky me! 

It's been a tough adjustment to school for the kids.  "Everything is different," my daughter keeps saying.  After being a substitute teacher in about 30 different schools, I know that all schools are different, but even I have been surprised by just how different and Island school in B.C. can be.  To start with, they don't begin school until after Labour Day.  This is  a full week later than the kids would start school in Alberta.  I'm a big fan of the fact that the first day of school is only an hour and 20 minutes.  The first day of school is overwhelming for teachers and students, plus this encouraged the parents to stick around for a parent tea where we got to know other parents and were able to learn about volunteer opportunities.

However, our children are struggling with the fact that they still don't know who their homeroom teacher will be.  At this school, previous students begin with their teacher from the year before.  This allows the school to assess their numbers and accurately divide the students into grade groupings.  Students start on Tuesday, but aren't assigned to their teacher until Thursday or possibly Friday.  None of us have experienced this before and, being new students, I think our kids are longing to find security and comfort.  I'm hoping that today they will learn who their teachers will be and begin to find their place.

Another change for our kids is taking the school bus.  We've always lived close enough to walk or bike to school before.  You had to sign up to take the bus and I think there was often a fee to be a bus student.  Here, it is assumed the students will take the bus and just registering them in school gets them a place on the bus.  The kids and I were both worried about getting to school this way, but in fact, the bus ride was the highlight of yesterday for the kids. They love their bus driver and they are the first kids to get pick up on their morning route. 

Yesterday, we also got our first truckload of firewood.  While is not quite as exquisite as a recent This Is That video, we are all pretty enamoured with our fir-scented woodpile.

I felt Waldenesque as I stacked the wood next to our little cabin.  Even though the wood came fully cut, I feel like I am at one with the land.  We could survive a snowstorm now.  We are beginning to become true islanders. 

West Coast Shock

One of our new friends asked me what I find different about our new province and home.  There are so many things I could hardly name them.  After more consideration, here are a few:

1.  The roads: The roads on this island are insane.  I nearly had a full-blown panic attack when I first arrived and had to drive up our driveway.  Now that I've been up a few others I realize that ours is quite tame compared to what some people drive everyday.  I often wish I could remember how those physics problems worked.  Plane times load or something.  Will we actually make it up the hill and at what acceleration will will begin to go backward?

2.  The garbage/recycling situation.  I thought I was a pretty good recycler in Alberta.  We recycled cardboard, paper, tin, drinking containers and plastics.  Most weeks we only had one large garbage bin to put out for garbage collection.  Here, we can only put out one medium-sized garbage pail.  Every TWO weeks.  The recycling depot is open limited hours and run by volunteers.  It is a fantastic facility, but nothing gets by these dedicated folks.  We can't recycle garbage bags or hard plastic without a number on it.  With the move, especially, we have a lot of extra garbage.  I'm planning on sending a bag home with my parents when they visit.  So leave a little extra room in your trunk if you decide to come see us:)  Fortunately, they have an excellent organics program here, so there won't be any food in the garbage bags.

3.  Downsizing.  We knew we were coming to a much smaller home.  We planned ahead and sold off any extra furniture we thought we wouldn't need.  I went through a lot of my papers and the kids toys, but eventually, we just had to throw everything in boxes and get the boxes into storage.  Opening them here in our cozy home, we realized we still had far too much.  Thankfully, there is a a volunteer-run second-hand store that will take our extras.  Even so, sometimes it's hard to say goodbye to memory-laced toys, games and wedding presents.

4.  Septic System/ Water Filtration/ Electric Heat - I've never lived in a house without central heating.  Simply adjust the thermostat and your house is toasty warm.  We even had air-conditioning in our last two houses.  I've never had a septic system either.  When I first learned about it and our water filtration system, I admit, I freaked out.  It's laughable now, but when you're overwhelmed with moving, meeting new people and worrying if your kids will survive the transition, the idea of unsafe drinking water or a septic system overflow can really freak you out.

5.  The rain - I was prepared for rain.  I was prepared for trees.  But I wasn't really prepared for the loss of sun and sky.  Say what you will against the prairies, but the open spaces and bright skies becomes a part of a person when they live in the prairies for 16 years.  The only cure is to get out into the new surroundings, give thanks for the rain and hike a trail.  I'm determined to love this beautiful place.  It'll just take a little time.

Moving to the Coast: Day Six

We actually arrived at our new home on Tuesday, so technically, we are not still moving.  In reality; however, our lives are moving, shifting and rearranging at a breakneck pace so I'm reserving the right to title this post "moving".

We've moved before.  Several times, in fact, but somehow this move is more difficult.  Or have I just forgotten the details of our previous moves?  This would be welcome news, actually.  That all of this anxiety, emotional highs and lows, doubts and fears could be forgotten would be a blessing.

There's a lot that's good, though.  A million reasons to be grateful, so instead of listing the things that make me freak out, I'm choosing to remember the awesomeness.

1.  Our new community has blessed us with fresh food, flowers and friendliness.  Fresh food on an island is even more of a gift than it may sound.  Buying food often requires a ferry trip, packing a cooler and making it back to the ferry in time.  On island purchases are also more dear as they are more costly.  Not to mention, some of our new friends cooked for us.  What an amazing way to help a family during a stressful time.

2.  Breathtaking scenery.  We frequently gaze out the windows, amazed at this new world.  Moving from the Prairies to the Coast is like entering an alternate universe.  I can't wait to explore the trails around us.

3.  The Beach!  The kids are full of questions when we head out to the beach.  What types of shells are we seeing?  How do tides work?  Can a pearl grow in a clam shell?  I have my work cut out for me figuring out the answers to these questions.  Fortunately, we already have our library cards and a stack of books and videos await our discover.

4.  A Parade!  Today, our island celebrated it's annual music festival with a parade for the kids.  We missed the town parade when we left Strathmore, so the kids were thrilled to get the candy they missed.  It was also a wonderful chance to chat with our new community.

5.  A Massage - My husband took the liberty of booking me a massage after the parade today.  He knew I would need it after all of the packing, stress and headaches this week.  It was a wonderful massage.  I fell asleep.  I've never done that before.  If you are moving, do this.  It is the best. 

A Soundtrack for Moving to the Coast: Day One

In many ways it seems like we've been moving to the coast since June 19, the day our house sold, but today, we actually started to move ourselves and our stuff down Highway 1.  With our young kids and my short attention span for driving, we decided to break up the trip from Strathmore to Vancouver into two days.  I only had to drive the kids from Banff, while Phil took the UHaul from our hometown for the past 6 years.

The kids and I got onto the highway by 8:15 a.m. this morning and the first thing we all wanted was a little music.  "Hey kids, this is what I used to have to listen to," I said excitedly as the radio picked up Neil Diamond's classic Song Sung Blue.  "Should we turn it off?" my daughter asked.  Hehe.  "It's just one song," I replied.  "We don't have to listen to a whole CD." As I tried to sing along, I realized the words actually were, Song sung blue, weeping like a willow and not Song sung blue, weepy woppy willow.

Shortly afterward, the radio turned to fuzz as we went further into the mountains.  I had tried, unsuccessfully, the day before to find some children's books on CD at the Chapters and Coles stores in Calgary.  So, we dug out the old CD case and I let the kids be the DJ's.

My son made the first selection based on the "Cool running guy" on the CD.  It turned out to be a recording done by several of the youth while my husband was a youth pastor in Saskatoon.  It made me smile to hear their sweet voices and awesome piano and guitar riffs.  Next, he selected a blue and white CD with a cloud and and mountain on it.  I wasn't familiar with the album, and couldn't check until we had stopped driving later to find out it was Matthew Good.  It was kind of fun listening to a mystery album.

wikimedia.org

My driving highlight was stopping at the Information Centre in Golden B.C.  We had just passed through Kicking Horse and I was craving a coffee with the same name.  Bless their hearts, the Information provided Kicking Horse coffee with real cream for only $2.  Their plentiful bathrooms were pristine as well.

kickinghorsecoffee.com

But the best part of all was being done driving and checking into The Best Western in Kamloops, taking the kids for a well-deserved swim and then discovering The Noble Pig Brewhouse and Restaurant - a local restaurant dedicated to fresh foods and craft beer.  The lamb burger with roasted apple and brie was divine!

beerwrangler.com

Tomorrow night I get to sleep in my own house for the first time in over two months.  Can't wait!