Wordless Wednesday - A family that plays together.......

Thanksgiving 2011

I love tradition. 

Thanksgiving means a few things to me:


Family
Fall
The Cabin
Turkey
Ham

Going to our cabin in the woods is like shrugging into my favourite sweater....... I know exactly how it will feel: the crackling fire, the comfy couches for reading, the swaying trees outside the window, the rain beating on the roof, Papa sitting in his green chair, the fridge that shudders and clunks on its own rhythm, the possessed coffee maker that makes more noise than a flock of Canadian geese and produces brewed coffee if it feels like it, the click of the kettle, the green mugs hanging on the wonky cabinet, the music old and new, the Vinyl Cafe stories, thechats and giggles in the pitch dark as all 4 of us sleep in the loft, lots of cuddles, brisk walks in the cool air........

Our Driveway

Strolling to the Barn

Sunshine Valley

Being there is like taking a big breath and having a big sigh....... it clears the heart and the soul.

We pulled off another epic Thanksgiving meal in an electric frying pan plugged in on the porch, a 12lb turkey in the convection microwave and bacon brussel sprouts, yams and mashed potatoes with gravy and creme brulee from the 2 burner gas stove!  It's an uncoordinated yet graceful dance in the kitchen as each person bobs and weaves around the others to get their dish made!  We do it every year..... it just works, it feels right...for us.

I am thankful for my family near and far who love so much and in so many ways, for friends who add such joy and colour to my life, for homes and cabins and jobs and cars and food and clothes and all the other trappings of life and for my God who loves me enough to bless me more than I deserve. Much, much more.

“Wake up now, look alive, for here is a day off work just to praise Creation: the turkey, the squash, and the corn, these things that ate and drank sunshine, grass, mud, and rain, and then in the shortening days laid down their lives for our welfare and onward resolve. There's the miracle for you, the absolute sacrifice that still holds back seed: a germ of promise to do the whole thing again, another time. . . Thanksgiving is Creation's birthday party. Praise harvest, a pause and sigh on the breath of immortality.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Be thankful friends.......

Disconnect to Reconnect

I went to a workshop yesterday called      
"A Cracked Foundation" 
How virtual parenting is destroying children.

It was horrifying and convicting.

The research based statistics are more than sobering

30% of children enter school developmentally delayed due to sedentary lifestyle, will fail grade 4 and 7 exams, and wont finish highschool!


TV and video game use is associated with delays in fine/gross motor and speech development.


France and Australia have banned all "Baby TV" due to the negative impact on child development and the Baby Einstein DVD series is being refunded by Disney.


Obesity increases 6% for every hour of TV watched per day, 31% if the TV is in the bedroom.


TV, gaming and internet addictions are the fastest growing mental illness in Adults.


Infants are watching 2.5 hours of TV per day - 25% of this is unsupervised
Preschoolers are watching 4.5 hours a day
And children 8 -18 use combined technology for 7.5 hours per day

I felt pretty uneasy sitting there.  I know we over use technology in our house.  I know I overuse technology.

When I saw all the negative effects especially with social and emotional disconnection I knew I needed to go home and talk to my family about this whole topic.

I so quickly want to justify my actions and say we don't do too badly.  We eat dinner together at the table, no devices or TV's in bedrooms, no devices used 30 minutes before bed (so brains can shut down), we are physically active, we do things together.......

I also know that the devices are necessary and may even be helpful in some areas - cell phones for safety etc...I want the technology to connect to my kids.....

BUT the bottomline, at least for me, is there is too much in our house and too much time, family time, being wasted on TV, Computers, iPods/iPhones, kindles...... I think this may be a tough sell for my preteen and teen children! To be honest do I even want to give up the time I spend on technology?

There is much to be discussed but at the workshop they suggested  two things I want to think more about:

• One hour in = one hour out..... for every hour spent watching TV/playing games/social networking /blogging another hour should be spent doing something either physical or social.

• To make a goal of no devices in use for 1 hour a day (dinner time), 1 day a week, one week a year!

I include the video below - it's almost 8 minutes long and the end is somewhat self-promoting of their products but if you can watch the first 2 minutes I encourage you to.  And feel free to poke around the Zone In website for some good research and information.

Soup

For a few years now Allan has made soup. 

It started with a soup club at his school - each person made soup once every few weeks and then every Wednesday you had a hot bowl of soup and some bread for lunch.

Until then we had little experience making soup and it always felt daunting (and we were always making it in big volumes). One memorable night as we were making soup for 60 the power went out and we made it on the camping stove on the floor in the kitchen!!

And we pretty much always made the same recipe. (and by we I mean we - I peeled and chopped but Allan has the magic seasoning touch and knew what order to do things in etc.).

But when we started making soup weekly for our home group we knew we had to broaden our repertoire - there was only so much butternut soup anyone could eat! 

And so Allan has become an amazing soup chef.  I think he went 12 weeks without one soup repeat!  And other than one "meh" carrot soup every one has been delicious. In fact I almost started a Soup Blog with recipes and photos!  Last November he offered up soup for sale towards the Mo-vember Prostate Cancer campaign and it sold out within 2 hours!

Maybe it's the scientist in him but Allan has really understood the chemical balances that good soup needs - he knows when he needs more stock or more acid (like lemon juice or balsamic vinegar) or more sugar.  More herbs, more "heat".........

He seems to have that sixth sense about what the soup needs.

I have been flying solo with the soup since the early Spring and fortunately had lots of help!  But I am back to the basics.  Back to butternut..... but I did make my own stock for it and most of the chopping and cooking myself.  Allan did the seasoning.

I think making soup is a process, its about layers of flavours, its about a balance of seasonings, it takes time and patience and preparation..........it's no simple thing.

There is a Yiddish saying "Troubles are easier to take with soup than without." As we have built community around bowls of soup we know the comfort that a steaming bowl of soup shared with friends can be.

Allan’s Amazing Soup
(aka Curried Butternut Squash Soup)

For 8 servings:

Ingredients:

6 cups of vegetable stock
3 cups chopped butternut squash
1 small onion, chopped
1 large potato, cubed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp brown sugar
curry powder, to taste
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 cup cream
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley

Directions:

1.    In a large pot, bring the stock to the boil.
2.    Add the squash, onion, potato, bay leaf, sugar, curry powder, basil, oregano, cinnamon, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
3.    Continue boiling until the squash and potato are tender.
4.    Discard bay leaf.
5.    Puree the soup with a hand blender or in a food processor.
6.    When blended add the juice of a couple lemons or a splash of balsamic vinegar to "brighten" the soup
7.    Gently fold in cream and parsley and serve. ( we generally skip this step these days and we don't miss the cream)

If you needed further motivation.......
a factoid that was presented in Barbara Kingsolver's Book   Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  if every U.S. citizen (add Canadian citizens too) ate one meal per week from local, organic food, we would save 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. Just one meal. 1.1 million barrels per week. One meal. Local vegetable soup - DONE!

Wordless Wednesday - Graham "The 30 Year old Man" Hofs

You can take the boy out of the prairies........

Telling his birth story which included the words "even the trees made me cry"

Graham demonstrates excellent fine motor skills

Mr "Fun Guy" Junior Youth Leader!

Ninja Hofs

He really is excited for Fridays

He is only 2 feet off the ground

Giving the kids the "rules" BWAHAHAHAHAHA even they don't buy it

Bend it like.??...... ooops it broke.......

Kayaking - the before he fell in photo

Man talk

The Warrior - Before

After

Modelling safe behaviour for young boys - and throwing eggs

His crowning achievement to date! Penelope Pepper!

Thrilled to be 30

Ain't no doubt about it!

That drawer

You know that drawer........ some people call it the junk drawer, the one where everything gets put when one can't think of where else it might go, the catch-all for the oddest things!

About the only thing I like about moving house is chucking the junk drawer out.  I don't look, I just chuck!

But........ we are neither moving house ever soon and nor is this supposed to be the junk drawer!  I tried to eliminate the junk drawer!

It's supposed to be the cutlery drawer!

But besides the knives, forks, spoons, teaspoons and other assorted cutlery items (both useful and not) the following items were discovered:

2 battery chargers

A strawberry huller (un-used)

A bottle opener -ok more than one bottle opener - ok 3 bottle openers

2 screws

A drill bit

3 old fashioned films that I intend to get developed (should be fun)

one chopstick

3 pkgs soy sauce (at this point I stopped asking why?)

2 pkgs Nando's peri peri sauce

A dozen felt pads for under chairs

A whistle

A piece of the slap chop "machine"

Several old keys (which Lindsay will be cleaning and making into jewellery)

A Candian Tire Token (we offered it to David but he declined to swallow it - lesson apparently learned!)

Pinking shears

Bees wax for furniture 

More than one DQ Blizzard spoon - that is all am I going to say!

Lock de-icer

A tin storage container for matches - it was empty!

Assorted plastic cutlery

2 black sharpies

Scotch tape and packing tape (which we shouldn't ever need again because we are not moving!)

3 pens

An eraser

2 tea lights - one used - one not

A golf ball

75 cents Canadian

1 American penny

Drawer dirt....... I shamefully admit.....how do all those crumbs and other stuff end up in the drawer! Eeww!

So I tackled it on Sunday - and returned it to it's intended purpose!

Drawer craziness

A blank (and clean) slate

Good and clean and fresh!

Ahhh - cutlery in a cutlery drawer! Genius!

That is IT - no more stuff!

Vive La France

Our beautiful daughter Lindsay is leaving for France on Oct 12 for a 2 week school trip to Paris, Normandy, Brittany, the Loire Valley.........so many beautiful, richly historic and far away places.

Seeing as we will be away at the Cabin next weekend for Thanksgiving I decided that we should celebrate all things French to mark this big event in our lives!

I made flyers for the event and gave each member of the family one on Thursday night..... it said!

To Celebrate a weekend of getting Lindsay ready for France you are invited to participate in the following!

Wearing as much Red / White / Blue as possible

Eating Croissants

Speaking French or in a French accent at all times

Offering helpful advice about travel in France

Eating French Toast

Drinking wine

Wearing a beret

And so we have celebrated all weekend long.   I think Allan and my french accents and vocabulary have improved immensely - the children might disagree!

The culmination of our efforts was a bistro dinner last night.  A magnificent meal that lasted over 3 hours and was interspersed with Lindsay showing us on Google earth all the places she is going and staying.......actually what Lindsay was doing was finding every patisserie and boulangerie within 500 feet of where she is staying - she was very pleased indeed to find several promising spots!   One of the places they are staying is 400 meters from the D-day beaches and as for the Auberge in the Loire Valley - a.maz.ing!

Ze parents in ze berets....cute non?

Le Menu

French linens and bistro table settings

We projected a Paris night scene and then toured France via google earth

Salut Lindsay et Bon Voyage (now put the wine DOWN)

French onion soup - of course!

Pork Tenderloin and mustard sauce,  french beans and garlic fingerling potatoes

This morning we feasted on croissants......... and so ended the french celebration as the reality of life set in, cleaning the kitchen, laundry and soup making!  Not to mention homework!

Tonight we start working on her packing list to make sure we have everything and everything fits in the suitcase!  Tomorrow I need to get Euros for her to take........ aack..... its going to be hard letting her go but I am SO excited for all she will experience!