So I organized a homeschooler field trip (4th this month) for yesterday. The place we were going to has a "$15 suggested donation" per person, but did say that they didn't want (lack of) money to deter families from coming, so if they could just please give what they felt was reasonable.
I'm trying to release judgment on this issue, but it's weighing heavily on me this morning because one family of 4 showed up and gave nothing and another family of 4 came and gave $2. I have less harsh judgments towards the second family as at least they did give *something*. But if all the families who'd come only gave $2 each, the tour organization would only have received $20 *total*, not the $550 they would've got if each person had donated the suggested $15. HUGE difference.
The tour was over 2 hrs long and the person giving the tour gave us so much of her energy and was so skilled at accomodating over 35 people of a variety of ages, and children who were all over the place and interrupting and not listening and so on.
There's nothing I can do about it after the fact and I should just stop giving my energy to thinking about it but it does bother me. To give nothing at all in exchange for 2 hrs of someone's time?!? I think what bothers me most is that I feel like as the liaison, as the person organizing the tour, i feel like it reflects poorly on *me* (which i guess i shouldn't take that on) that people would be so bold as to come and not offer anything in exchange.
breeeeeathing deep and trying to just let it go.
30 June 2011
23 June 2011
PrOduCtiVe!!
The days have been flying by in a flurry of productivity. It's been great, even though there's very little time spent on the computer. It's been mostly sunny the last week which has been wonderful - highs in the low to mid 20s (celsius) which just feels so summery around here. And then there was Solstice, of course, which was also wonderful!
I'm not sure why the ravens came to visit. They haven't come bothering the chickens again much; I guess they realized the chickens weren't going to be an easy lunch with all that wire to get through. :P At any rate, the chickens are all doing fine, too, although they aren't laying as many eggs (about 9 or 10 a day instead of the usual 14 or 15). Maybe a little too hot for them lately.
Tai chi is going great; the classes are going really well and I've had some very positive feedback, which has been much-appreciated. I attended a National workshop on the weekend and learned a lot and have noticed things opening up and just changing and more of a stillness and quietness developing when practising. I couldn't be happier as that is truly what I'm striving for...
Farming is going awesome. I am soooooo happy to be helping out - today I weeded a couple rows and then picked rocks out of a freshly plowed patch and then hand pulled weeds from beneath some peas... It was great! The other afternoon there were 4 women, all in our 30s or 40s, working in the lovely sunshine, with children playing (baby being carried, and toddlers eating strawberries or playing on the various play structures dotting the edge of the field)... it filled my feminine energy cup to overflowing. I was beaming with happiness at the positive energy we were creating and was just *so* in my happy place! I love love LOVE going to the farm. I feel like I make a tangible contribution and it is lovely to do physical labour and share in that with other people... Today I came home with some deeeeeeelicious organic strawberries and some transplants for my garden: two cherry tomato plants, a zucchini, a long english cucumber, a broccoli, a couple kale plants, and some dill, cilantro and parsley... So I spent the afternoon playing on my own garden transplanting all these lovely plants, which was equally fun.
My daughter is now sporting a bright pink half-leg cast, as of yesterday. She's doing SUPER awesome with it on - even went scootering yesterday, jumped on the trampoline today and has been running and dancing in it as well as climbing the stairs and just generally getting around just fine with it. AND she's the kind of kid who doesn't complain much about anything so even though it sometimes gets itchy, she doesn't get grumpy about it. She'll have this one for a couple weeks, then they'll re-cast (in purple, she's decided), and then once more after that (when she'll choose a red cast). Funny how she's got it all planned out.
I read two awesome books lately: The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. *LOVED* it. it was on display in the library; I'd never heard of it before and it caught my eye. It was a great book, easy to read and hilarious.
The other book was Radical Homemaking: reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture (Shannon Hayes). *LOVED* *LOVED* *LOVED* it. Sooooooo exactly what I wanted to read. Intelligent. Well-written. Thought-provoking. Made me re-examine my life - am I truly living a life in accordance with the values I hold dear? Which is very important to me... it's the basis of my life, really. It also made me want to re-think some things in my life.... But one thing I've been thinking a lot about is the concept of a household being either a unit of consumption or a unit of production.
Today we were a unit of production... farming and bartering for some awesome plants which will feed us... and then cleaning the community hall, generating income and also giving back to the community at the same time... and going to tai chi class and furthering my own development and also learning so i can give back to my own class tomorrow... AND I didn't make any purchases today at all. FANTASTIC day in my books.
I'm not sure why the ravens came to visit. They haven't come bothering the chickens again much; I guess they realized the chickens weren't going to be an easy lunch with all that wire to get through. :P At any rate, the chickens are all doing fine, too, although they aren't laying as many eggs (about 9 or 10 a day instead of the usual 14 or 15). Maybe a little too hot for them lately.
Tai chi is going great; the classes are going really well and I've had some very positive feedback, which has been much-appreciated. I attended a National workshop on the weekend and learned a lot and have noticed things opening up and just changing and more of a stillness and quietness developing when practising. I couldn't be happier as that is truly what I'm striving for...
Farming is going awesome. I am soooooo happy to be helping out - today I weeded a couple rows and then picked rocks out of a freshly plowed patch and then hand pulled weeds from beneath some peas... It was great! The other afternoon there were 4 women, all in our 30s or 40s, working in the lovely sunshine, with children playing (baby being carried, and toddlers eating strawberries or playing on the various play structures dotting the edge of the field)... it filled my feminine energy cup to overflowing. I was beaming with happiness at the positive energy we were creating and was just *so* in my happy place! I love love LOVE going to the farm. I feel like I make a tangible contribution and it is lovely to do physical labour and share in that with other people... Today I came home with some deeeeeeelicious organic strawberries and some transplants for my garden: two cherry tomato plants, a zucchini, a long english cucumber, a broccoli, a couple kale plants, and some dill, cilantro and parsley... So I spent the afternoon playing on my own garden transplanting all these lovely plants, which was equally fun.
My daughter is now sporting a bright pink half-leg cast, as of yesterday. She's doing SUPER awesome with it on - even went scootering yesterday, jumped on the trampoline today and has been running and dancing in it as well as climbing the stairs and just generally getting around just fine with it. AND she's the kind of kid who doesn't complain much about anything so even though it sometimes gets itchy, she doesn't get grumpy about it. She'll have this one for a couple weeks, then they'll re-cast (in purple, she's decided), and then once more after that (when she'll choose a red cast). Funny how she's got it all planned out.
I read two awesome books lately: The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. *LOVED* it. it was on display in the library; I'd never heard of it before and it caught my eye. It was a great book, easy to read and hilarious.
The other book was Radical Homemaking: reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture (Shannon Hayes). *LOVED* *LOVED* *LOVED* it. Sooooooo exactly what I wanted to read. Intelligent. Well-written. Thought-provoking. Made me re-examine my life - am I truly living a life in accordance with the values I hold dear? Which is very important to me... it's the basis of my life, really. It also made me want to re-think some things in my life.... But one thing I've been thinking a lot about is the concept of a household being either a unit of consumption or a unit of production.
Today we were a unit of production... farming and bartering for some awesome plants which will feed us... and then cleaning the community hall, generating income and also giving back to the community at the same time... and going to tai chi class and furthering my own development and also learning so i can give back to my own class tomorrow... AND I didn't make any purchases today at all. FANTASTIC day in my books.
15 June 2011
Chicken-talk
Do you think that animals that cross your path have a message for you? What about animals that are common - like a robin or a hummingbird, or, in our case lately, a flock (or is that a murder?) of ravens?
We've had four ravens - I'm presuming their teenagers who are now out on their own - who keep taunting our chickens that they're going to eat them for dinner?! One of the ravens went so far as to land on the wire covering the chickens pen, cock its head to one side and stare at them.
I kinda wanted to have truly free-range chickens, opening their coop door in the morning and letting them have an entire acre to forage around on all day, hoping that they would (a) only lay eggs in the nestbox of the coop and not all around the yard and (b) that they would be *safe* from predators while unfenced all day.
But after hand-raising 21 chicks from day-olds, we'd put too much energy and time and LOVE into their hand-rearing to let them just fend for themselves on our acre. After all, we live in fairly wild lands: there are racoons around during the day, cougars, black bears, and ravens... not to mention neighbourhood dogs and so on.
So our chickens have a lovely coop, complete with three pens which I rotate them through - I grow an organic wheat/barley grass in two pens while they decimate the third of the luscious greens, then rotate them into the next while I reseed the first. It's a compromise. I'm always considering adding on more pens that I can rotate them through. And two of the the three pens have overhead fencing as well as fencing that's buried a foot down to stop predators from digging under.
The weak point (and I needn't fear that the racoons will read this, because they've already figured it out) is the gate. You can't bury the gate wire a foot down, and there's just a small gap between the gate and the surrounding fencing (I even overlapped some 'soft' mesh to make it look WHOLE but they figured that out, too). Over the past 2 yrs of raising chickens, we've lost about half a dozen to racoons, which is sort of to be expected, I guess.
But none to ravens. I was just wondering about animal totems and what message these raucous ravens have for us, seeing as they return each morning with their loud calling to one another, sending the chickens diving under their coop for safety. They're not likely to get to any of the birds, but their noise is a little unnerving.
We've had four ravens - I'm presuming their teenagers who are now out on their own - who keep taunting our chickens that they're going to eat them for dinner?! One of the ravens went so far as to land on the wire covering the chickens pen, cock its head to one side and stare at them.
I kinda wanted to have truly free-range chickens, opening their coop door in the morning and letting them have an entire acre to forage around on all day, hoping that they would (a) only lay eggs in the nestbox of the coop and not all around the yard and (b) that they would be *safe* from predators while unfenced all day.
But after hand-raising 21 chicks from day-olds, we'd put too much energy and time and LOVE into their hand-rearing to let them just fend for themselves on our acre. After all, we live in fairly wild lands: there are racoons around during the day, cougars, black bears, and ravens... not to mention neighbourhood dogs and so on.
So our chickens have a lovely coop, complete with three pens which I rotate them through - I grow an organic wheat/barley grass in two pens while they decimate the third of the luscious greens, then rotate them into the next while I reseed the first. It's a compromise. I'm always considering adding on more pens that I can rotate them through. And two of the the three pens have overhead fencing as well as fencing that's buried a foot down to stop predators from digging under.
The weak point (and I needn't fear that the racoons will read this, because they've already figured it out) is the gate. You can't bury the gate wire a foot down, and there's just a small gap between the gate and the surrounding fencing (I even overlapped some 'soft' mesh to make it look WHOLE but they figured that out, too). Over the past 2 yrs of raising chickens, we've lost about half a dozen to racoons, which is sort of to be expected, I guess.
But none to ravens. I was just wondering about animal totems and what message these raucous ravens have for us, seeing as they return each morning with their loud calling to one another, sending the chickens diving under their coop for safety. They're not likely to get to any of the birds, but their noise is a little unnerving.
10 June 2011
you've GOT to be kidding.
Wow. So things have been really going well lately - very drama-free. :) And a couple months ago, I don't know why, but I went on this little bent about everyone in the family getting full health check-ups: eye exams, dental cleanings, a general wellness check-up with the GP (whom the kids haven't had to see hardly at all since birth b/c they're so healthy)... and a couple things came out of it for my daughter. One, we are getting her heart murmur checked up on, so she's going for an ECG soon. The paediatric cardiologist isn't terribly concerned about the murmur and feels she'll outgrow it. (phew) The other thing I wanted to check out was her foot. She was born with a rather stiff club foot. It required full-leg casting as an infant for a couple months, followed by a full-time Dennis Brown splint for the next few months, then wearing it every night until she was 4 yrs of age. We were very strict about her wearing that splint *every* night. So at age 4, she had 30 degrees of flexibility in her foot and was deemed "cured" of her club foot - no further treatment was recommended at that time. And so I *thought* we had it beat, so to speak.
Fast forward 3 yrs, and we'd started noticing her running was... unique. Her left foot would turn slightly in as she ran. Her left calf is noticeably smaller than her right. Her left foot is a full shoe size smaller than the right. And the chiropractor pointed out that her left leg is indeed shorter than her right, and is affecting the alignment of her pelvis and spine (and perhaps we need to think about a heel lift for that left foot). She'd had a little difficulty learning to skip - to double hop on that left leg - but with practice and help from her dance teacher, she'd mastered skipping.
This in a child who is ACTIVE. She dances, skates, jumps on the trampoline, bikes, skips, plays hopscotch, climbs trees, plays soccer, rides a scooter, etc., etc., etc. She's really VERY active. She learned to walk at 10 months of age. Other than skipping, there hasn't been any noticeable (unexpected) delays developmentally in regards to the leg.
The GP sent us back to the paediatric orthopaedic surgeon for a follow-up visit, as we haven't been to see him in 4 yrs. He had her run, skip, and walk for him today, and in bare feet, I immediately saw what was happening: she's not using her left heel. She's walking on the outside of her foot (suppinating). And the club foot is slowly but surely *RELAPSING*.
Sure enough, she's lost those 30 degrees of motion to where now it's in the negative. It needs treatment.
I'm shocked.
Treatment consists of 6 weeks of full-leg (full-time, i.e. non-removable) fibreglass casts (she's SOOOOOO excited that they'll be cool colours that she can pick: pink, purple, red) and see how much range of motion we can recover. Apparently her tendons and muscles are just really stubborn, and it is unusual for a relapse to occur after the treatment she's had already. However, now that it's happened once, it may happen again during adolescence (requiring more casting and possibly at some point, surgery - hopefully she's outgrown the heart murmur before we face the surgery option - I'm not keen on the idea of a general anaesthetic when one has a heart murmur).
The first cast goes on soon - like, just over one week soon. And because she's focused on what colour to pick (and is looking FORWARD to the casts), I'm really trying to hide my dismay at having to go through another round of casts. This needs to be done - no ifs, ands or buts - so *I* mentally need to suck it up. *SHE* is stellar about it all - absolutely no qualms, and she even asked excitedly if she'll get crutches (because she *wants* them?!? who *IS* this kid?!). Despite her apparent excitement, I still think this summer may have its moments where it seems excrutiatingly long.
Still, I'm trying to tell myself it's nothing that can't be fixed. It's not all that serious. I'm spinning a little right now, but it's kinda like when I was pregnant with her and the ultrasound showed the clubfoot and I was first told about it. Just shocked. But once the surprise wore off, I could put it in perspective - it was correctable, and fairly easily (and non-invasively) so. And we are SOOOOOOOOO blessed to have a world-reknowned specialist in JUST this thing living in our city. Truly, SOOOOOO blessed, as he is AMAZINGLY gifted and very respected for his work.
So even though I'm surprised at what came to light today, I'm thankful that I have my past experiences to help me put it in perspective more quickly (and that I don't have the hormones of pregnancy colouring things at the same time, LOL). It's all going to be just fine. Take it from the kid herself - everything's going to be *just fine*.
Fast forward 3 yrs, and we'd started noticing her running was... unique. Her left foot would turn slightly in as she ran. Her left calf is noticeably smaller than her right. Her left foot is a full shoe size smaller than the right. And the chiropractor pointed out that her left leg is indeed shorter than her right, and is affecting the alignment of her pelvis and spine (and perhaps we need to think about a heel lift for that left foot). She'd had a little difficulty learning to skip - to double hop on that left leg - but with practice and help from her dance teacher, she'd mastered skipping.
This in a child who is ACTIVE. She dances, skates, jumps on the trampoline, bikes, skips, plays hopscotch, climbs trees, plays soccer, rides a scooter, etc., etc., etc. She's really VERY active. She learned to walk at 10 months of age. Other than skipping, there hasn't been any noticeable (unexpected) delays developmentally in regards to the leg.
The GP sent us back to the paediatric orthopaedic surgeon for a follow-up visit, as we haven't been to see him in 4 yrs. He had her run, skip, and walk for him today, and in bare feet, I immediately saw what was happening: she's not using her left heel. She's walking on the outside of her foot (suppinating). And the club foot is slowly but surely *RELAPSING*.
Sure enough, she's lost those 30 degrees of motion to where now it's in the negative. It needs treatment.
I'm shocked.
Treatment consists of 6 weeks of full-leg (full-time, i.e. non-removable) fibreglass casts (she's SOOOOOO excited that they'll be cool colours that she can pick: pink, purple, red) and see how much range of motion we can recover. Apparently her tendons and muscles are just really stubborn, and it is unusual for a relapse to occur after the treatment she's had already. However, now that it's happened once, it may happen again during adolescence (requiring more casting and possibly at some point, surgery - hopefully she's outgrown the heart murmur before we face the surgery option - I'm not keen on the idea of a general anaesthetic when one has a heart murmur).
The first cast goes on soon - like, just over one week soon. And because she's focused on what colour to pick (and is looking FORWARD to the casts), I'm really trying to hide my dismay at having to go through another round of casts. This needs to be done - no ifs, ands or buts - so *I* mentally need to suck it up. *SHE* is stellar about it all - absolutely no qualms, and she even asked excitedly if she'll get crutches (because she *wants* them?!? who *IS* this kid?!). Despite her apparent excitement, I still think this summer may have its moments where it seems excrutiatingly long.
Still, I'm trying to tell myself it's nothing that can't be fixed. It's not all that serious. I'm spinning a little right now, but it's kinda like when I was pregnant with her and the ultrasound showed the clubfoot and I was first told about it. Just shocked. But once the surprise wore off, I could put it in perspective - it was correctable, and fairly easily (and non-invasively) so. And we are SOOOOOOOOO blessed to have a world-reknowned specialist in JUST this thing living in our city. Truly, SOOOOOO blessed, as he is AMAZINGLY gifted and very respected for his work.
So even though I'm surprised at what came to light today, I'm thankful that I have my past experiences to help me put it in perspective more quickly (and that I don't have the hormones of pregnancy colouring things at the same time, LOL). It's all going to be just fine. Take it from the kid herself - everything's going to be *just fine*.
June
I haven't posted because I've been busy these days... two mornings a week I'm volunteering/working on a local organic farm (mostly weeding, but the other day I was laying out drip irrigation hoses) - in exchange for organic produce! - and another two mornings a week I'm teaching a tai chi class. I'm also trying to fit in my daily exercise: a 45 minute (9 km) row on my Concept2. And then there's parenting, keeping house, helping my son with his cleaning job at the community hall, appointments and errands, gardening and yardwork around here...
I was doing well, watching my nutritional intake, and then one day the kids and I made pizza from scratch for dinner and I decided to have a couple pieces. *big* mistake as my body simply cannot tolerate wheat. But sometimes it takes a while for me to *learn* these lessons (the smell of fresh baked bread does *nothing* for my resolve). So now I'm trying to get back into the groove of being mindful in regards to my food... and it's not always easy.
I'm also organizing a couple homeschooling fieldtrips right now, and that's always a little... complicated, with people backing out at the last minute and trying to fill those spots and so on... I'm *hoping* the four fieldtrips run smoothly! ;)
That's really about it around here... I'm *loving* working on the farm (my kids come along with me, the farmer is my age (early 30s) and female and has kids of her own, and there are other females who also work there, so it's some awesome women-connect time, too), and would happily spend more time there if I could fit it in, but I also want to respect the balance I've created in my life - a little of this, a little of that... so for now, I'll honour that balance and limit myself to two half-days a week. Besides, it leaves me time for my daughter's 'beach parties' on the deck! LOL
I was doing well, watching my nutritional intake, and then one day the kids and I made pizza from scratch for dinner and I decided to have a couple pieces. *big* mistake as my body simply cannot tolerate wheat. But sometimes it takes a while for me to *learn* these lessons (the smell of fresh baked bread does *nothing* for my resolve). So now I'm trying to get back into the groove of being mindful in regards to my food... and it's not always easy.
I'm also organizing a couple homeschooling fieldtrips right now, and that's always a little... complicated, with people backing out at the last minute and trying to fill those spots and so on... I'm *hoping* the four fieldtrips run smoothly! ;)
That's really about it around here... I'm *loving* working on the farm (my kids come along with me, the farmer is my age (early 30s) and female and has kids of her own, and there are other females who also work there, so it's some awesome women-connect time, too), and would happily spend more time there if I could fit it in, but I also want to respect the balance I've created in my life - a little of this, a little of that... so for now, I'll honour that balance and limit myself to two half-days a week. Besides, it leaves me time for my daughter's 'beach parties' on the deck! LOL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)