101 Uses for the Power Auger

Last week-end we rented a power auger...that big yellow machine in the picture. We need to build a hay/woodshed with as many found/scrap materials as possible as we have no budget for this project! So the upright posts are beetle-kill timber that the hydro people have been cutting down to clear the hydro right of ways, and average about 18 feet long. Grandmaman did the 'skinning' of the bottoms of the posts.
Erich dug the holes in no time, using the handy power auger, and it took all three of us to get the posts into position in the holes. Next week-end we are hoping to get going on the roof. And since we had the auger, we added some poles to the treehouse and made room for some swings.

And this is my darling daughter, who loves to help, especially if it means she can wear Daddy's hard hat, it's all about the accessories :)

Quesnel Lake

This week-end we packed up the tent trailer and headed over to Quesnel Lake, to camp out with some friends at their cabin. It is about a 45 minute drive, down some very windy gravel roads but man is it ever worth the drive!

Such a beautiful spot and almost completely untouched. Quesnel Lake is the deepest fjord formed lake on earth and the largest lake in the Cariboo. According to the Horsefly Realty site:

At junction of the North and East Arms Quesnel Lake is approximately 4 miles across. The North Arm is 25 miles long, the East Arm is 34 miles long and the Main Lake is approximately 50 miles to the outflow of Quesnel River located at Likely, B.C.

The end of the North and East Arms are right in the Cariboo Mountains with peaks in excess of 7000 feet that are snow capped a good part of the year, and in the summer have beautiful alpine meadows. There are many interesting names that all have stories attached to them: Mount Watt, Mount Brew, Niagara Peak, Mount Wotzke, Roaring Peaks, Mount Mitchell, Mount Mathew, Mount Youngren, Mount Spranger, Miller Peaks, Roberts Peak, Three Ladies Mountain, Welcome Mountain, Mount Stevenson, and Spanish Mountain – just to name a few!

There are fabulous sandy beaches at numerous locations around Quesnel Lake, many accessible by boat only.

Our friend's cabin is part of a strata which means they get the benefit of a few amenities like this boat launch and dock...or what used to be a boat launch and dock. The water is incredibly low...
Not that it mattered to the kids who had a blast collecting 'seaweed' to make a tanning bed on shore.
The rest of us were a little less industrious and just enjoyed the beach...

Building a treehouse

We've been talking about building a treehouse with the kids since we moved here. A few week-ends ago we decided to get going on it. We found a spot where we had two nice big spruce trees and an aspen in front...to make a triangle. It has a pretty nice view too!
G.'s friend from next door came over to help out. They hauled lots of lumber, cut off branches and hammered in lots of nails. Knut was happy to be able to climb up there on the pile of logs.
This gives you an idea of where it is, in relation to our house. Our front deck is in the bottom left corner of this pic. Notice Knut, positioned so he can keep an eye on everyone, he's such a good dog!
And this is the almost finished product. We would like to put a roof on, and a swing off to the right and perhaps some side walls, but it's good enough to play on for now until we get around to that.
And notice the very tidy piled logs? Well, that has been Grandmaman's project, while here on vacation. She has been sorting the pine from the aspen, piling everything neatly and moving probably more than a hundred wheelbarrows full of logs to the side and front porches...getting us ready for winter. We do let her have a rest occasionally...

Two Festivals and a Wedding

What a glorious summer it has been! We kicked off our summer holidays around here with Arts on the Fly at the beginning of July.
What a blast and in our very own town! The Horsefly school grounds were transformed, with a beautiful outdoor stage, an artisan market, the Inspiration Station for children and over at the Community Hall, a wonderful fibre arts show. I think the highlight of my family's weekend, was a last-minute request to host some artists for the week-end. Linda McRae and her hubby James (Sr.) and Steven Nikleva and James Lillico all bunked down with us Friday and Saturday night. They were good sports, especially since Steven and James had to sleep in my daughters tiny twin beds! They enjoyed the trampoline with my girls and even went with Erich to feed the chickens and move the chicken tractors. Then, they put on an amazing show on Saturday evening!
What an awesome group of musicians, between them they played the stand-up bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin and banjo. What a treat for us! Especially since we are huge Spirit of the West fans, and have seen Linda (one of the original band members) play with them several times.
It was a great week-end but also very tiring...as you can see Mimi passed out in the middle of the show...

**All photos taken by Florian Krumsiek

Check out this youtube video of them performing one of my favourites...

Last week-end we had the pleasure of seeing Linda play again at Arts Wells, another music festival in the North Cariboo town of Wells (close to Barkerville). Another great time, we camped out in Wells for two nights with some friends and family. Arts Wells is a huge festival, with over 70 musical acts of folk, jazz, country, funk, hip hop, electronic, world, pop, roots & more. Click on the poster for more info...
Phew...and in between all of that we squeezed in a fabulous family wedding out at the ranch in beautiful Beaver Valley. Remember those pictures of the hayfield well that was the backdrop for the reception and barn dance that went on til about 4am (apparently...I only stayed standing til just after midnight :) It was a beautiful wedding, with girls arriving in horse-drawn covered wagon...groomsmen on horseback (really something to behold) and seating for the crowd provided by some comfy square bales. It was a really hot day, but the breeze off of the lake felt good, and we were able to cool off with a quick dip after the ceremony.

This week-end looks like another road trip to pick up our little ram lamb...his name is Hvítkárr. More about that later...

10th Annual Town-Wide Garage Sale

Today was Garage Sale day in Horsefly. Here's how it works...if you would like to be part of the town-wide garage sale, you must register your home with the organizer. Then she makes up a map and lists all the participating houses on the map. Maps are available for purchase at local shops for $2 with proceeds going to the Christmas Hamper Program. Then rain or shine...everyone drives around, hunting for bargains. Here are the treasures we found...
Yes, that is a Vita-Mix which I got for a meagre $5 and that thing beside it is a jelly strainer, which can also be used for making cheese and yogourt and that one was a dollar! We also got a few buckets and odds and ends and a nifty tin cooler with a spout which looks great for lemonade.

We're staying pretty lean still after our last move, but possibly next year, we will have a table.

Ursa Minor

G went over to the neighbour's after dinner - he picked her up on his little dirt bike (he's 9!) and off they went with two hot dog wieners each to roast over the brush fires at his place. On the way back, they passed by the black bear that's been apparently hanging around the neighbourhood.

None of this is particularly odd for us - anymore - except I thought it funny that the bear wasn't the first thing G told me about when she got home. She almost forgot about it! It's not that she's reckless, but rather that it's not a novelty. How quickly they change!

Happy Mother's Day!

Knut

Meet Knut! We named him after the famous polar bear, born in the Berlin Zoo. Apparently the k is pronounced but we have just been calling him 'newt'. He is a Maremma/Akbash cross. This breed are raised as livestock guardian dogs. And...this was our intent when we bought him. The idea being that he would live with the sheep, bond with them and protect them. The problem with this idea is that to bond with the sheep, they should really have minimal contact with the people. While a good idea in theory...would you look at that face?
Yikes! There were a couple of challenges to this idea. First...our sheep have horns...and they know how to use them. After several butts sent the little fellow shooting across the barnyard and shaking in his boots, we decided perhaps to introduce them to one another a little more gradually. Second...our barnyard fence has openings that a small pup can easily squeeze through...so we thought we had him secured in the barn and a small kennel we set up but as we were eating our breakfast we heard some whining at the front door and discovered the little pile of wagging fluff on our doorstep. The girls find him to irresistable to ignore for long and frankly so do I.

Our compromise is that he will bond with the kids and us but spend his nights in the barn with the sheep. It is not such a bad thing to have a dog that will protect the kids from bears and cougars...right?

While Mom is away, the kids will...saw?

This morning M. and I went over to the school for a few hours to Ready, Set, Learn! a school readiness program being offered at the Horsefly School. G. and V. were home from school today and decided to stay home, Erich was working upstairs so could kind of 'supervise' them. I came home to this...

I don't consider myself an 'overprotective' parent but I will admit that my heart did skip a beat to see my 6 year old sawing away at a peace of 1x3, with a few nail points sticking through to boot. Overall though, I was really very proud...as were they.
This is one of the reasons we made this lifestyle change and one of our central and shared values as parents. In the words of the inspirational Miss Frizzle (from the Magic School Bus) "It's time to take chances! Make mistakes! And get messy!" And that's what childhood should be all about!

Erich and I have talked about how much freedom we feel to create, build and basically do whatever the hell we want, living out here. It is most rewarding that this feeling also seems to have rubbed off onto our children.

This is a stark contrast to Toronto, to where we could have raised our family...where the Board of Education ripped out all of the playground equipment from every school because it was too 'dangerous' for kids. Seriously! Have you ever heard something so goofy? There seems to be a trend to generally sanitize environments for kids with the idea of removing as much risk as possible. It makes me crazy! How do kids learn to manage risk if they never get to take any?? 'SMARTRISK' is not just somewhere I used to work...it is something that has become a guiding principle in raising my kids.

Don't get me wrong...we're not completely irresponsible...we have shown our kids the proper way to hold a saw, drill and hammer...so they have had a chance to practise supervised...likely why they felt so comfortable taking on the task on their own.

So this is the final product...

Great job ladies!

Worth the trip

 

This weekend found us back in Vancouver. We decided last minute to attend the Memorial Service for Erich's great Aunt Eleanor. Erich's Dad was flying in from Ontario, so it was also a nice chance to visit with him. It was sunny and warm and we did a couple of trips to the beaches at Horseshoe Bay and Ambleside and had some super-yummy Indian food at a great restaurant called the Indian Oven. AND....we were able to pick up our chick starter...yay! I just love the Otter Co-op...it's chock full of great stuff for animals, gardens, small farms etc. We also found a small greenhouse that was on sale! The only downside was that there was not so much room for poor Violet on the return trip.

Back from the Big City

We're back! We had a lovely visit with Nanna...although somewhat short. We filled each day with trips to the Aquarium, Stanley Park, Ikea the beach at Deep Cove and a really cool wave pool. We also had a great dinner with Auntie Karen and family, recently returned from their trip to Australia.

We had a rather uneventful and quick trip down to Vancouver and a more eventful return trip home. Our first stop after saying our goodbyes to Nanna, was the Otter Co-op to pick up 600 kilos or so, of organic chick starter and some laying mash. It turns out that I really should have called first because they only had two 20 kilo bags of chick starter. Rats!! Will have to make other arrangements.

We headed up Highway 1, and things were quiet in the back seat as the girls were watching Beethoven and little M. passed out. We came around the corner at Spence's Bridge and G, spotted these grazing along the side of the road...

Check out the curly horns of the big guy in the middle...

It's amazing how much they looked like our Icelandic sheep...kind of crossed with a white-tailed deer.

Seeing those guys was definitely the highlight of the roadtrip....the $130 speeding ticket I got on the Horsefly Road? Definitely the 'lowlight'! Could have been worse...guess he could have given me a ticket for the speed I was actually doing :)

Looking forward to a good night's rest...you just can't beat your own bed.

Snow Growing on Aspens

We're one month into winter-the-season, and there's likely almost 4 months left of winter-the-reality, and I can see how it can start to bring people down. Folks crave southern climes, sunny beaches and lighter clothes.

But winter here redeems itself. The girls are outside every day for a few hours, and there are phenomena that are truly awe-inspiring.


We've had fog over the past few days, but it's still been below freezing. The result is the growth of frost on any and everything - branches, fences, weather stations (which I have to knock off or the anemometer doesn't work).


UPDATE 1: No we didn't get 20 Icelandic horses recently :)...these were taken at Big Bear Ranch, next door.

UPDATE 2: Joanne rightly guessed this was hoarfrost, which, till now, I'd only experienced in novels (much like gibbous moons).

Made me laugh...

Generally, we're not a bath-a-day kind of family...I like to think it's because we have to conserve how much waste goes into our lagoon, but really it's because the girls can usually find other things they want to do and I like to pick my battles. So the other day, I was trying to convince V. to have a bath...the conversation went something like this...

Me: Come on V. it's been a few days, how about you go have a bath.
V: I don't want to...I'm busy.
Me: Well, you really need to have a wash and wash your hair, it's getting a little grimy, why don't you go start the water.
V. reluctantly goes into the bathroom...as usual I get distracted in some task and come back to her a few minutes later...still playing.
Me: V. I told you to go and run the bath, do I have to send you to your room for a while?
V: (with a bit of a sob to her voice) I don't want to have a bath...
Me: (interrupting her) Come on...I don't want to have this argument everytime...blah blah blah
V: (more sobbing) I don't want to have a bath...the bathtub is dirty...
Me: What do you mean...come on...you just don't want to have a bath...
V: (big sobbing voice) It is too dirty...there... is... hay... in it!!!

**Guess I should fill the sheep's water bucket somewhere else, if I want to get them in the bath ;)

Mixing the New and the Old

This week-end we finally got into the swing of things, in preparing for the holidays. We're a little behind...usually we get our tree the first of December and decorate the house around that time too. But the past few week-ends have been jam packed with preparations for sheep, picking up sheep, surviving during power outages and extreme cold temperatures and building a sheep shelter in -30 degree temperatures (you can kind of see it in the background covered in a blue tarp as we didn't the roof quite finished yet).


As this is our first Christmas in our new home, we decided not to travel to Vancouver, as we did last year, to see my family, but to celebrate in our own home. As we were getting our tree today, I was reflecting on how different each of our Christmas' have been over the last few years and how pulling out our Christmas decorations, is the thread that ties everything together...no matter where we are. The kids excitedly take out each one, squealing with delight as they recognize one that they made at preschool, one that has their name engraved on it, one that they received as a gift etc etc.

Last week-end we attended the Old Fashioned Christmas party put on by the Horsefly Community Club. I see this as being a new 'tradition' in our family, because it was so much fun. The event starts with a huge potluck dinner...I have never seen such a large buffet with such a variety of dishes. The kids loaded up their plates and in a rare twist of events...ate almost everything! After dinner there were some performances by local musicians and music students and a rousing version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, Horsefly style...my favourites were the 5 Share Shed Shoppers, 6 Fire Levies, 4 Dry Wells and a Closed sign at the Cafe. The entertainment wrapped up with a visit from jolly old St. Nick.


After the entertainment we headed outside into the cold, to enjoy a bonfire, some horse-drawn sleigh rides and hot chocolate, while the kids climbed all over the huge piles of snow left behind by the snowplows.

This week-end we started another new tradition, heading out to chop down our own Christmas Tree. I've been scouting out trees for the last few weeks...looking for one that is about the right size and sufficiently 'bushy' for putting ornaments and lights on. We have always purchased our tree...and always had a Fraser Fir...they seem to last the longest and don't drop as many of their needles. We don't have many (any?) fir on our property so we had to go with spruce. I spotted one that I thought would work so we all headed out to chop it down...



The snow is a little deep...good thing there is no sound ;)



Timberrrrr!


I think it looks lovely!

Tonight we will be celebrating Winter Solstice...a tradition we started last year...with a bonfire, lots of candles and discussion of all the things we look forward to as the days start to get longer again.

I've always thought highly of her...

but seeing her put the holiday lights up this past weekend, I think we can all see why so many look up to Joanne.

Seriously though... isn't she awesome?

Guest Post from JHY

This morning, we received a comment on the blog, from a close family friend that I thought was worth sharing as a 'guest post'. Bobby, or JHY as I call him, is really part of our adopted North American family...because most of our 'real' family was still in the UK, my parents adopted a few families that throughout my childhood, we celebrated holidays with and became 'family' through so many shared experiences and I would include Bobby in that group. Originally a co-worker of my Dad's, Bob is from the US, New Jersey to be exact. When I was a wee little girl, I must have watched a lot of episodes of the Jeffersons, because one day when Bobby was visiting I walked up to him and said "Hello there, you Jive Honky Yankee" and since that day he has been known as JHY. Anyways... he introduced us to beautiful New Jersey tomatoes and cantaloupe, the Jersey shore, was a great friend to my Dad and never forgets my birthday... so here is what he had to say...

"First time that I have ever taken a look at a "blog". You must have too much time on your hands! Interesting observations from an ex-city person. But, I gotta tell ya. Yep, Ray was one hell of a guy, not only from his hands on mechanical abilities, but I believe more importantly his ability to provoke conversation about the vast amount of subjects in which he was interested -- that's one reason I had to get him to China! If "you" recall the days of the Kennedy Clan and how each Sunday they gathered round the dinner table and each week one was chosen to discuss a subject -- well Ray gathered his extended family around whatever table that was present and discussed all sorts of things. And, his family was provoked to think -- about all sorts of varied subjects - past, present and future. Not many families do that today, or ever did!

He is also the person with whom I learned to water ski -- on Lake Simcoe, while at that time California was one of my sites to visit.

He still provides lots of fun, stories, and wonderful memories for many of us that were lucky enough to know him.

These interesting observations of the family in Horse-what come to me via a computer, and take me back almost a century in my life.

Grandpa lived on the farm down the road from our farm, which my Dad bought from him; and my other Grandfather -- the UK/Hull and Orono, Canada guy, also bought from him. There he had horses, cows, pigs, a BIG garden, and Grandma cooked on a wood stove. She is the one who killed the chickens -- Ma is the one who taught my boys how to kill chickens with an axe.......... Hay was brought in on a horsedrawn wagon -- yep I got to ride in it. Dad would cultivate corn with the horses, and sometimes go to the house and leave me on the cultivator -- the horses knew to go the 1,000 ft or so across the field, turn and come back, that little pre-scool kid had nothing to do with what they did!

All of the local farmers used to get together to help each other gather wheat sheeves and thresh (at each different farm) -- which resulted in BIG pile of straw on which to play. I got to start driving the 1943 Ford tractor at age 10, brother Garrie at age 8, he was taller and could reach the pedals.

We would go about a mile and half down the road to Wilson's dairy farm and get our milk in a can -- it wasn't until I went into Princeton to school that I got to taste that - ugh - pasturized milk.

I walked a mile to and from the bus stop, and rode 7 miles into Princeton to school. (It wasn't until high school that the bus picked me up at the bottom of the farm lane. (Ma had taought there before getting pregnant with me.) Ma had her own Nursery/Kindergarten -- The Farm School with 30 - 50 children and a Summer Day Camp (RoGaPeKi -- the boys/brothers names, coined by me) with about 150 children and 30 on the staff.

I also got the "opportunity" to mow our cemetary with a reel mower and then !! Grandpa bought a reel type mower with a motor on it -- wow! .50 cents an hour and he would bring over a glass gallon jug of water to "refresh" me.

Today I still have a 1/3 Acre garden over there, and I still "jar"/can my own tomato sauce and Red Tomato Chili (from a recipe written in one of our maid's handwriting -- yes we had maid/s. Ann, was the only black person at my wedding.) By the way, I was in the first class of the "Princeton Plan" in about 1948 when the schools were intergrated and we white kids were sent down to the black school.

Over the years, although the main crop was apples (I, of all the pickers, was the only one who could pick 100 bushels a day off the tree - at .10 cents per or 200 per day up from the ground at .05 cents a pop - $10 bucks for 10 hours.), we also had at times, chickens, pigs, sheep, ponies, horses, cows, sheep, goats, turkeys, rabbits, pigeons, and Lord knows what else. We, as did Grandpa and the neighbors, killed most all for food and or sale. (Just recently got my first deer with a crossbow in Ohio.) Lots of deer around here, in fact NJ is so overpoplulated that the kill limit is -- unlimited. (Destructive to farm crops and vehicles.)

Last year, while deer hunting over at the farm, I heard the scream of Fisher Cat for the first time -- they are evidently being crowded out of the Northern areas and into our area. (Blood curdling)

What was the question?

Love from,
JHY/Uncle Bob/Bobby "

Inspirations and Thanksgiving

I've been adding a bathtub to our main bathroom (which entailed moving a toilet and removing a shower stall) and will post some details about that soon.

Since Joanne and I have been together, she has inspired me to:

• add a wall into our first house's basement
• finish the basement in our second house (5th home)
• renovate the kitchen in that same house
• add a wall to convert a loft into a bedroom in that same house
• enlarge the kitchen in our 3rd house
• remove a granite floor and brick wall in that same house

Here we are in our 4th house (7th home), and the inspirations keep coming!

Joanne has this incredible faith in what I am able to do, and somehow (not without frustrations, mistakes and changes of plans) I've been able to keep up. Both of these traits, Joanne's belief that anything is possible, and my ability to rise to the occasion, I directly attribute to her father, Ray Meyrick.

This is the time of year where I remember him most. He passed away shortly after Thanksgiving (the Canadian one) three years ago, and I think it was fitting that I was working on yet another of Joanne's inspirations, the aforementioned new bedroom (for M, due a few months later) in the second house.

Joanne grew up with a mother (aka June, aka Nanna) who was an equally (if not greater) source of inspirations. Ray was always working on them, able to keep up with an attention to detail and a skill level I'd only previously read about. (Dad, if you're reading this, please forgive my candour, but you must already know that, as intelligent and capable as your are, "handy" is not one of your characteristics.) So naturally, Joanne now expects this.

What I'm most grateful for is that Ray didn't leave me to my own devices, to learn from my own mistakes. Though he enjoyed the odd mistake I did make, and used them as vehicles for his lessons, he was a ready and willing instructor. He taught me how to keep up to a Meyrick woman's inspirations.

So, as I was wrestling the plumbing underneath our house in the crawlspace, I could hear him chuckling at some of my goofs. I told him, that weekend three years ago, when he apologized for not being able to help with the new wall, that he was already helping me, and that every step I took was under his guidance, and always would be. He laughed and said "don't choke the hammer."

I thanked you then, Ray, as I do now. I think you'd enjoy Joanne's latest list of inspirations.

Our Creative Family

Due to a combination of some rainy weather and being inspired by this book...


our house has been a whirlwind of creativity just lately. The book is written by Amanda Blake Soule...who also writes an excellent blog called SouleMama. She posts the most beautiful photos and I find her posts about crafting and general parenting to be joyful and inspiring. The book is really a collection of gems from her blog, with a lot of how-to's for various activities thrown in.

In particular, she makes a few points that really resonate with me:

1) "Less is more" - in so many things but specifically, she is talking about the toys, activities, crafts etc that we do with kids. I couldn't agree more...although my kids have often lobbied for the toys that make a lot of noise and do all kinds of things...the things that they have got the most from ( and usually last the longest) are toys that require them to use their imagination e.g. a cardboard box, our old clothes, scarves, wooden blocks, fabric, wool, toilet paper rolls, etc, etc.

2) "Investing in a little together creative time reallys pays off" - I have found that nothing draws kids (usually away from the TV) more quickly than Mom sitting down at the table with a pile of art supplies. She makes the point in her book that when children are 'filled up' in terms of their needs for parent-to-child time, they are more likely to go off and be content doing their own thing. I have found just recently that we have been spending our mornings doing craft projects together and by the afternoon, the kids are off doing their own thing, leaving me time to work on my socks...


or make bread or get dinner going or write a blog post.

I liked this too:
"I began to notice that when I was able to fit a bit of creating into my day, I was more centered, at peace, and fulfilled. All those things made me a calmer, more patient, and more mindful parent. My needs were getting met and I was therefore able to meet the needs of my children even better." I discovered the same thing, when I picked up knitting a few years ago.

3) Keep good quality art supplies within reach for when inspiration strikes - I have recently done a reorganization of our art supplies and have put our essentials ( e.g. beeswax, beeswax crayons, pencils, pencil crayons, paper, scissors, glue and a mixture of pipecleaners/straws etc) in kid friendly containers out on shelves.


I have also put out some baskets for handwork projects we have on the go - right now these are some finger knitting, a few embroidery hoops and some hand knitting. All these items are getting much more use than when they were contained in the cabinets behind closed doors.

A word about quality - Amanda makes a point that children should use good quality art supplies and I have to agree. We have gone through more crayola crayons than I dare to imagine over the years, but last year I bought G. some quality art supplies, beeswax block and stick crayons, some beeswax pencil crayons and some nice watercolour paints and paper.


These crayons have never broken, the pencils sharpen perfectly and the paper just displays their work so beautifully. The kids also know that these are special supplies and to treat them that way.

So with all of that on my mind and the Horsefly Fall Fair coming up...this is what we have been up to...

These are drawings the girls will be entering in the fair...

"A Merry-Go-Round and a Choo Choo Train" by M. Age 2


"The Purple Train Ride" by V. Age 5


"Carnival World" by G. Age 8


G. is also working to complete this little knitted chicken she started a while ago...



We have all just started to learn embroidering, from a Klutz book we got as a gift. It's quite a nice activity because it has a varying level of complexity, i.e. V. can do a basic design,



and G. , who really likes sewing, can also do a more complex design or create one herself, as she did here...


and here...


One of the challenges of having three children of varying ages, is finding something that they can all participate in, that fits their various abilities. M. has been wanting to get in on some of the needlework that has been going on around here and I found the perfect activity for her in The Creative Family...homemade sewing cards...we made these today from colouring sheets I found online...

Now M. can 'sew' to her heart's delight. It also fits with her current interest in anything related to farm animals, her favourite being the 'moo cow'.

Painting is also a hit with everyone. We collected these rocks from the Horsefly River a few weeks ago and when there was a break in the clouds, we headed outside to paint them...


I found a great recipe for play dough...which is another craft that seems multi-generational...

it's made with drink crystals and it looks and smells great!! Here's the recipe...

Smelly Play Dough

1 up flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tbsp cooking oil
Unsweetened drink mix )three flavours for three different colors)

Combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar in saucepan. Stir in water and cooling oil. heat, stirrin, until very thick and hard to stir (The mixture will resemble mashed potatoes). Remove from heat. Let cool 5 minutes.

Turn out on a lightly floured surface. Divide in 3 equal parts. Add 1 tspn. unsweetened drink mix to each part. Knead until pliable and an even color. Wrap in plastic wrap to keep fresh.
From "Jazzy Jars - Glorious Gift Ideas" by Marie Browning

And finally...there's nothing better than crafting in your pajamas...


Do something creative...today!