Magic

Our second concert in our Old School Concert Series was a hit.  We had less of a crowd this month but it was no less phenomenal.  I was not previously familiar with all of the artists on stage but I have found some new favorites in my musical roster.  It was truly magical to be sitting with my daughters by my side listening to some of the best talent in Canada playing live in my home.  I want to thank Emily Fennell, Chris Brown, Eli Abrams, Reuben DeGroot, Jenny Whiteley, and Joey Wright for making the trip to our little spot in the County and putting on one hell of a show.

If you were unable to be here on Wednesday night, here are a few short clips of Emily Fennell, Chris Brown, and

Reuben DeGroot.

In other news, we are all looking forward to school starting.  Perhaps I am the most excited about it as it’s been a busy season here.  I’m going to take some much deserved time to myself with exercise, writing, art, and yoga.  My Ernie dog has finally come around and has become friends with our little Elsa dog.  It is a joy to watch them wrestle about together.

We are  blessed to have my brother in law and his partner visiting from Australia for a few days.  We’ve gone tubing, and swimming and generally been hanging around dancing, singing, making floral crowns, and having fun.  We will be sad to see them go.  We are also looking forward to Vickies Veggies Tomato Festival this weekend.  I’ll be there on Saturday to do my annual volunteering shift, and eating my share of organic heirloom tomatoes.  She has over 100 different tomato varieties to sample. Yum!

I hope your labour Day weekend is fantastic.

 

 

 

Concert Line Up

We have had a slight line up change for our August concert.  I expect it to still be fabulous.  I have also had confirmation for our next three concerts as well.  Here it is, drum roll please:

September 24th – Doug Paisley

October 29th – The 24th Street Wailers

November 26th – Ali McCormick, Sheesham and Lotus and Son

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Tasks and a New Friend

This is another post where I complain that I am too busy.  I’m not really complaining but it sure sounds like it.  I think perhaps I have too many projects on the go.  I am trying to keep up with my canning but have failed.  The produce pile is growing in my kitchen and we can’t eat it or preserve it fast enough.  I’ve decided to take off a day or two from preserving.  It is ok if a few vegetables go straight to the compost pile, it’s good for the earth.  Before my vacation, I did try my hand at fermenting.  I filled a big crock with excess cucumbers and followed a recipe online at wild fermentation.  My pickles are coming along quite nicely and are filling the Principle’s office with the scent of dill and garlic.  I can’t wait to eat them.

I remember being told last year that County people are really busy in the summer.  I didn’t really get that since I spent the majority of my summer hanging out with visiting friends and drinking beer.  We didn’t start any of our renovations until September.  Both Jess and I were unemployed, and had time on our hands to do as we pleased and wrap our heads around our crazy new abode.

A year later, it doesn’t seem so crazy.  Our school feels more like a home than a school.  Our garden is in full gear as are our rental accommodations.  Our first concert was a success and I will be out putting posters up today for our next concert at the end of the month.  I also submitted an essay for a writing contest yesterday for a Canadian magazine.  Thank you to all of you that have encourage me to write more.  I truly love it although it is not always easy to find something to say.  And then there are those times when I can’t seem to shut up.

The other project that is keeping me busy is this little girl.  Her name is Elsa (from the movie Frozen), and she is nine weeks old.  She is adorable, and cuddly, and we all love her, except maybe Ernie.  He is slowly getting use to her, and one day will be pleased that we got a companion for him.  He told me that last night when we had a heart to heart about the whole new puppy situation.  The downside is that she is causing me to sleep less, and clean more. Those are two things that don’t bode well with me.  Getting a new dog was not a well thought out decision, and is a bit of a hassle.  But little Elsa makes me smile everyday and I need more of that in my life.

Scrambling

I’ve been scrambling to get everything done these past few days.  There is still some clean up left from the concert, both rooms are filled in our rentals, and there is canning to do.  Plus, I was up most of the night tending to my little one with a fever of 104.1 F.  My poor little Ruby.  Usually Jess and I are fairly laissez faire when it comes to sick kids.  We make them comfortable with lots of hugs and movies to watch, and keep an eye on their symptoms.  Ever since Ruby’s tick bite, we are a little more concerned.  It’s so hard to know if her fevers are related to reoccurring Lyme disease or just a simple fever.  This is the second time since her antibiotics that she has had a high fever.  We’ve been hard pressed to keep it below 102 F.  As a parent, I tend to get worried at 103 F.  I’ll take any advice if you have any.

So while my little Roo has been sleeping, I’ve been in the kitchen.  We have a goal of making all our own jam for the year.  It is a worthy goal.  All five of us have a sweet tooth and we eat a lot of jam around here.  I made a small batch of blueberry jam yesterday, another batch today plus a few small jars of raspberry jam.  It seems I’ve missed raspberry season with all the hoopla around concert preparations.  It’s obvious to me now that raspberries won’t reschedule their growing season to accommodate my party planning.  It is official that raspberries are the most egocentric of all the fruits currently available.  You have to give a little to get a little.  Did you ever hear that one, wee raspberry?  Perhaps by next year, if that little fruit with the little heart, reflects on his behaviour in 2014, we may try to make some more raspberry jam next year.  I’m not one to hold a grudge.  That was a totally untrue statement, but I am working on eliminating my grudge like nature.  Maybe I too, am part raspberry.

While I was working on jamming, Jess brought in a bucket of cucumbers.  I called in the troops and Wini, Reya and I started on the pickles.  I have a bread and butter batch and am trying a new curried pickle recipe.  We will see how it goes.  There’ll be countless more buckets of pickles to come shortly.  They will have to wait until I squeeze in a quick visit to Toronto.  The corn is almost ready to pick as well.  We will have hundreds of cobs to eat and process.

Our first thought was to have a party.  If we have an excessive amount of corn, isn’t it logical to invite all we know for a corn roast.  The idea is percolating.  More details to follow.

I must get back to my pickles.

And my little Ruby.

 

Thank You

I’m pleased to announce that our first concert was a smashing success!  Norris and Jones opened for Jenny Whiteley and Joey Wright and they were all fantastic.  I want to thank all the musicians, our good friends who spent long hours helping us set up, and everyone who came to the show.  It was a true communal event.  The kids and their friends helped by making all the signs, and ran the snack bar.  They also did their share of eating from the snack bar.  But wouldn’t we all prefer to be paid in chips instead of money if we had the choice?  Our friends did a fabulous job of pitching in to make it all happen, and everyone who came was so supportive of all we have done to our beloved school.

If you weren’t able to make the show, here is a small teaser of Jenny and Joey singing Baby, I in our gym.

And just so you know, we have another show coming up at the end of the month on Wednesday August 27th.  The line up is fantastic.  Mark it in your calendars.  We have a concert for you on the last Wednesday of every month until November.

We hope to see you here.