- Mr Turtle took a long time to get over the infection he developed end of April, though finally he is on the mend.
- My province has been crazy hot and dry and hundreds of wildfires have broken out over the past few weeks, especially in the northern areas (none near me).
- Last week I took the kids on a solo road trip to AJ’s dance festival (about a 3 hour drive away). Usually this would be a fun family weekend, but Mr T was on IV antibiotics and could not come. I took a deep breath and decided I could do the trip on my own.
- …..and all was going well until about half an hour from the hotel when my car broke down on the highway.
- I kept my head and did all the right things, getting the car off the road, calling AMA, etc.
- The weekend was still enjoyable in many ways. There was no wildfire smoke at the time (though it was unseasonably hot) and AJ’s performance went swimmingly. Gold medalist!
- One of the nicest parts: thanks to my car trouble, we reconnected with an aunt and uncle of Mr Turtle’s we hadn’t seen in years. The kids were especially happy to meet this lovely new auntie after they had just had the stressful experience of getting stranded by the road in an unfamiliar place.
- My father in law drove up to rescue us, yay.
- Back in home city, we went out for a nice dinner on Mother’s Day with the recovering Mr Turtle. All was great, and then AJ woke up puking the following night. She recovered quickly though and nobody else got sick.
- The wildfire smoke blew in with a vengeance last week, turning the air yellow on the worst day. The air quality index was 11, which sounds like a number somebody made up because 10 wasn’t bad enough.
- Several of my students graduated this week. I think work is going fine. I can’t remember right now.
- My car is still in the other city, but reportedly fixable. It’s getting expensive to maintain through, so probably will be car shopping in the future. Not exactly excited about that but better in summer than winter.
- Mr Turtle is off the IV and able to do most things again. Yay!
- On a day with no smoke, we met up with some friends in the park. The kids played, and we just did nothing and talked, then went out to dinner and talked some more. The sky was blue.
- The smoke came back. It was hot. I couldn’t sleep.
- I came down with a cold.
- But most importantly…..
Monday, 22 May 2023
Sometimes rain that’s needed falls
Sunday, 30 April 2023
Spring moments
Saturday, 15 April 2023
Visual journaling 1a
Marshmallow roast again, abstract. I really like this one. The words that weave through the fire are what the kids told me about their experiences.
The girls made a fairy garden with one of the little girls they met there. Again, I tried to create a realistic depiction. It was difficult because of all the detail and light and shadow in the photo I was using. But I kept playing with it and actually I enjoy the result. It is called “Nature did most of the work” since that is how AJ described the process.
In the previous picture, I particularly liked how I drew the evergreen branches. So I did a piece just using that technique.
What I learned:
- I enjoy visual journaling
- I’m more likely to do art when there is no wifi
- It works to start drawing as soon as I have an idea (do not overthink)
- I’m inspired by life but I like to represent abstractly
- I like playing with textures and patterns
Friday, 7 April 2023
Birthgap Documentary
Monday, 27 March 2023
Sketchbook
Saturday, 18 February 2023
Living inside stories
I haven’t listened to any of the analysis yet: again I like to allow myself and others to experience something on our own terms before going into the other layers. I’m always curious if I can find a way to understand and relate even to my presumably different experience. My observations on these fairy tales?
- Lots of repetition: everything is organized into in 3s. Each event happens 3 times: the first two with very similar outcomes and the third time with a twist. It is a bit odd till I remember stories used to be passed on orally and if nothing else this would make them easier to remember.
- I have kind of a fixation on 3’s so this was amusing.
- Random life lessons I have picked up:
- if you meet a wild animal on your journey, don’t try to eat her babies, not even if you are really hungry.
- Let your sisters marry whom they want: they probably know what they are doing.
- Always get lots of sleep, even under extremely stressful conditions. Example: you are living with a witch and she is hoping to put your head on a stake that next morning. But have a good rest and most likely a critter will help you out the next day.
Saturday, 4 February 2023
Art of '23
This is the third time that each person in our family has created an original painting around the time of the New Year. I think I truly can call it a tradition now because it was AJ who reminded me this year.
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Left: AJ, Right: Dani, Centre: Mr. Turtle |
The girls, of course, create art constantly: any time is the best time. It is as natural as breathing to them. Mr. Turtle and I need to be more deliberate about it.
I was the last to participate. The idea that came to me was to do something organic, abstract and inspired by ancient cultures. Sometime completely different from last year's attempted realism and symbolism.
I started by collecting a few images, specifically from Neolithic Ireland and Mesopotamia. But it was after reading the beautiful essay Time Unweaved by Flat Caps and Fatalism that I felt I was onto something.
My creation for 2023:
"If time is a directionless field for the email worker, a forward arrow for the mill hand, and a turning circle for the peasant, then what is it to the people who know how to stay alive? Perhaps it is the spiral, of which there are many prehistoric examples in Yorkshire."The spiral has the rhythm of agricultural time without the lie that we can return to the same point. It has the movement of mechanical time without the lie that it has a direction. It has the all-encompassing field of flat time without the lie that nothing will change. Perhaps we can sing a spiral song with the world awhile." --FFatalism, Time Unweaved
Saturday, 21 January 2023
First new 2023 goal!
After my last post discussing how I might, one day, make some New Year's intentions, and/or assess how 2022 went, I did start a blog post draft where I began writing down ideas. But this has already become a large collection of random thoughts, links to articles that appealed to me (but are major thought provokers in and of themselves) and memories and observations. It would take a large effort and amount of time to make all of that cohere into one blog entry, even though there probably is some order or pattern in it somewhere. Plus it is like a snowball rolling down the hill, picking up extra snow and other debris as it goes. I'm not sure it's entirely in my control anymore.
So instead what I will probably do is take pieces of that collection from time to time and see what I can do with them.
Today's piece is a dream I remember from my rather restless sleep last night. I had two dreams actually. In the first one our family was out camping, and we were having quite a good time, but then we had to pack up and my youngest daughter's boots kept getting misplaced.
Incidentally, this dream reminds me a bit of a recurring dream I had when I was younger. In the dream I had to catch a train, but would suddenly realize that I had lost my shoes. I would then spend a long time frantically searching for my shoes and miss the train. Eventually, I decided that if I was ever in such a situation, I would just get on the train in my socks. I then stopped having the dream.
Anyway, after the camping trip the dream setting changed completely to the university from where I graduated, more than 20 years ago with my first degree (!). I was in the university as an adult, and my goal was to take some courses, just out of curiosity and interest. The only other criteria was that I really wanted to take a course that had a final exam, because I missed that experience.
The part about the exam must have been inspired by the fact that it is currently "exam break" in high schools. In waking reality, I have no desire whatsoever to take an exam.
But the notion of taking a course stuck with me after I woke up. The dream was so vivid. And suppose I really did take a course in something? There are plenty of things I am interested in. So I took a look at the websites of two local universities, just to see what was offered. Continuing education was mainly vocational classes with a certificate in this-or-that attached. I decided I do not want anything with a certificate or any kind of career application.
Then I took at look at the university's website for classics and religious studies. I have long wished that my education included more classical history and literature. Of course, there wasn't time to do everything, but if I could do it over, I would have made some different choices.
This was the blurb on the university website:
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Who am I and what am I doing here? |
So, well, that leaves (for now) online. I poked around a bit, exploring maybe 0.00000000000000001% of what the internet has to offer. I listen to podcasts regularly, so I want more than just audio. I don't mind spending some money. I want professional production.
Tuesday, 3 January 2023
Hey 2023!
So, 2022 has waned and passed away, and here we are in the new year.
My family and I welcomed the new year on an airport shuttle. That's a first for me! We had just completed a successful and mostly relaxing trip to the USA. The girls and I are lucky to have an extra few days of holiday at home, so here we are.
As I do my selective reading online, I see some truly impressive posts by people describing how they assess their goals and accomplishments of 2022, and set new goals for 2023.
I sip my coffee, nibble my breakfast munchies, and relax in the slightly sweaty comfort of my PJs, untidy hair and slippers. This will continue until the next hot flash, whereupon I will throw various articles of clothing across the room and pace about the house. In the meantime, I gaze into the depths of my mind and soul, as far into the murk as I can see, and I ask myself: Am I capable of assessing 2022 and setting some Intentions for the new year?
The answer comes back: Nope, let's not go there yet.
Whenever I do feel like it though, I will be using these three posts for reference:
One month(ish) into 2022 (see, I never start early!)
Answering Lynnette's question (throughout my life, I have found it helpful to ask myself - and sometimes others - blunt questions and answer them as truthfully as I can, whether I like the answers or not.
Seeds in My Mind (isn't it much more pleasant to reflect when it's nice and warm outside?!)
What I do feel capable of is setting some intentions, maybe even goals (!) for the next few days.
First, things I have already accomplished:
- Our first day back, with a medium-bad headache, I tidied and re-organized the girls' rooms. They were both in desperate need of such attention. I felt strongly that I couldn't and shouldn't put off this job since we were arriving (of course!) with Christmas gifts. I love exchanging gifts, but. Introduce anything new into a poorly organized space, and a chaos explosion ensues. I cannot handle that. So I worked very hard for a few hours while the rest of the family had screen time or napped (and were out of my way, lol). I am very happy with the result, and the girls were grateful for their renewed, cleaner spaces. Also the headache went away after a few hours, so I'm glad I powered through it. I feel pretty well rested and healthy, overall.
- Unpacking and doing laundry in a logical, calm progression. I've given myself permission to not unpack suitcases until I'm ready to do so. Because I'm a pretty well-organized person, I don't actually need the majority of what I packed, so there is no urgency.
- Put on a pot of bean soup to cook for dinner today. Mmmm, soup. Hot, delicious, full of fibre (travel and unfamiliar diet did mess a bit with my digestive system).
- Family trip to the zoo yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather we were blessed to return to (the two weeks before Christmas were a deep freeze here, which added to the overall feeling of exhaustion and overwhelm).
- Teach the kids to maintain their newly tidy rooms. It's a process to learn the skills of organization, so I am keeping the expectations reasonable (I hope). It's easier to practice organization when starting fresh, however. AJ has been doing pretty well with her drawers, but her bookshelves were a mess. So I organized and labeled all the books by genre. She is very excited about this and is currently pretending she is a librarian. So, good start there. AJ also wants to keep a broom and dustpan in her room which I'm hoping will encourage her to not leave things all over the floor. Expectations are lower for Dani but with the new organization I can at least keep her accountable for putting away a few things at a time.
- Cook a few meals this week, maybe trying new recipes or even just renewing ones I've forgotten about. My cooking style is comfort food and January is a good month for that.
- Continue with cleaning/reorganizing. Part of improving the kids' rooms was to remove the majority of their stuffies. They do love their stuffies, and goodness do they have a lot. Right now the stuffies are in overflowing bins in the basement playroom, which is pretty untidy and ugly-looking. I have ordered some mesh organizers for the playroom and door hanging organizers for their rooms, so I'm hoping that those improve matters.
- There are always soooooo many organizing jobs to do around our fairly small space. I can easily get discouraged trying to do too many things at once, or only seeing what needs to be done. I'm grateful for this week because I feel like I can tackle a few things at a time, but have enough time to see some progress too. So the goal is, do a few things frequently without attempting too much.
- Do a few errands outside the house. I really don't feel like going anywhere, I admit, especially after all the travel. But, well, we probably should. Maybe tomorrow.
- Spending a bit of time doing my volunteer coordinator work. I joined the board of my daughters' dance organization this year, which means some extra responsibility.
- Continue re-reading Lord of the Rings and continue when done with The Silmarillion. Becoming a bigger Tolkien nerd sounds like a fantastic goal for January / February, and is easily the one I'm most happy about. I may also dip into a few other books on philosophy/spirituality, if I'm moved to do so, but I'm really following my heart with this one.