Life

A few things of note the past few days:

• Hallowe'en. As we live in a very rural area, the kids go trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood, to less than a dozen houses and are done within an hour easily, and aren't completely inundated with masses of candy. It's just right, imo. The kids put most of their candy in the freezer, and you know, before going out yesterday, they both still had candy leftovers from LAST year's Hallowe'en, so they're not even eating it all throughout the year! this year, ds went out as a jedi warrior with a light sabre, and dd as Cinderella. We had a campfire earlier in the day with extended family and the kids carved pumpkins and had a fun time... and ooh, if Grammy didn't pull of the BEST EVER Dame Edna costume!!! WOW!!! A costume that will go down in history. I'll have to post a picture. dh was both a little disturbed and highly amused at the sight of his mother dressed up as a 6'2" Australian transvestite. LMAO (you would be to, admit it)
• The end of Daylight Savings Time. I was kinda hoping to sleep in just a little this morning, but alas, pets (and children) don't seem to have any regard for man's "wondrous" invention, the clock. Really, I don't have much use for time management either, generally speaking, so I felt compassion and empathy for the animals and children who have a greater connection to their natural rhythyms rather than what time the clock says it is, LOL. I didn't mind so much at all getting up "early". :) So the rooster was crowing by 6 a.m., which was actually 7 a.m. yesterday morning. I made Lucky stay in the coop with the girls until 7 a.m. this morning - I know full well that the local noise bylaw prohibits "excessive" noise before 7 a.m. and after 11 p.m., so I just don't let the chickens out of their coop until 7 a.m (and they're NEVER noisy in the evenings). But the puppy was up at 6, too, and the kids were up by 7ish, which was, yes, a little too early for me. I was *hoping* to have them asleep by now, but they seem to be adjusting to the time-change faster than me. LOL
• Our day was simple. I went to the quarterly food co-op meeting and ordered organic staples for the rest of the house (rice, flour, beans, canned goods, pasta, etc). It's nice to just go and spend time with other women; I enjoy their company. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny autumn day; the kids splashed in the creek in the forest out back, and I played in the compost and cleaned out the chicken coop, and spread finished compost in the garden areas lying fallow for winter (some "chores" are just plain fun - for me, anyways; I don't mind taking the kitchen scraps out to the compost, stirring it up, adding things to it, digging for worms... to me, that's not a chore, that's just enjoyable, but I realize not everyone would agree. I don't even mind cleaning the chicken coop. How weird am I, LOL). And you know, here it is, November 1st, and I was eating FRESH RASPBERRIES from the garden. No kidding. Beautiful, delicious, fresh raspberries. yum.
• Tomorrow we're going on a tour of the local fish hatchery; should be fun, if you happen to think watching salmon get sacrificed for the harvesting of their eggs is fun. One of the dads coming is a minister; maybe he could offer a prayer to the fish who are giving their lives for the greater good of their species? ;) I'm half-kidding; even as a raw vegan, I actually understand the whole circle of life involved, and the importance of the work that goes on at the hatchery. And I'm sure my kids will have some interesting observations and comments on the ride home, too. Undoubtedly.