It set us back about three weeks and cost a lot of money, but the asbestos is gone, and the renovation is moving ahead again. First the roof came off. Then it poured rain all weekend. Of course. There were
My friend in Nairobi
Almost a year ago I attended a meeting of local New Denverites who were interested in the idea of sponsoring a refugee family. Out of that meeting, the Slocan Valley Refugee Coalition formed. We opened a bank account and started fund-raising
Web Development
I’ve been working on a couple of Udemy courses for the past month or so. I signed up for one in April but I didn’t really dig in for a while. Once I did I decided I needed more so
Oscar
Our old espresso machine, acquired on grocery store affinity points, served us well. For the past few months it’s often refused to operate unless nudged or tilted on its side during the warm-up phase. Then it gave up working entirely.
Ghost town docent
This is a plum area for a teen to find summer employment. With such a small population, and a large summer influx of vacationers, there are plenty of jobs for students. For many teens all it takes is a bit
The Delica
Remember way back in 2008 when I was driving Erin and Noah to Calgary once a month for lessons, and was pining for a Mitsubishi Delica? It would hold our family and instruments and groceries, and would transport the Corazon choir
Graduated!
Fiona graduated from contact lens training lessons today. Okay, she only had the one lesson so this isn’t a case of hard-won mastery or anything, but she did brilliantly well and doesn’t need any more training sessions, just a check
Size doesn’t matter
Sometimes it makes me snicker, the incongruity of size vs. competence. Fiona is small for her age, but with her bright optimism and her older siblings as models, she has a strong independent streak. She insists on being very grown
New tea, new candy
When you have a lot of rhubarb in the garden, and strawberries are coming into season, and red clover is overflowing the waysides, and you’re an 8-year-old looking for inspiration for a new tea blend, the colours of your inspiration
Survey says…
Google Stats tells me some odd things about what people are looking for when they land on my blog. Most popular keyword searches: nurtured by love hairy oven beakman motor nutured by love (note the surprisingly common and rather, uh,
Touch-typing game
Erin and I used to play this touch-typing game in chat windows. One person touch-types a message but with their hands shifted outwards one key on the keyboard. Instead of having your index fingers over F and J, they’ll be
Nostalgia
While helping purge mess and clutter from the attic and coming across a sheet of once-used tropical fish gift wrap that she recalls from a birthday gone by, Fiona quips: “I’m feeling pretty nostalgic for being only 7 years old.”
Putting Christmas “away”
Yesterday we took down the tree and the decorations. Sort of. Inspired by Erin’s approach to décor in her cabin we hoisted the strands of Christmas lights to the ceiling of the living room. We don’t have enough light in
Slightly demented Christmas decorations
Christmas is a time of traditions, of course, and teenagers and pre-teens hold onto those traditions at least as tightly as the rest of us. I suppose it’s partly nostalgia on their part, but also the alluring excuse to be
Washer TV
It’s taken several long years to rationalize this purchase. I wanted an energy-efficient front-loader, but I just couldn’t make my peace with the extravagance. We have an exceptionally low pressure low flow water supply. We can barely have a shower