Reading II

Our book club had picked the author George Orwell as one of "our authors" in February and it was so good to get reacquainted with his work.  I just re-read Animal Farm and even though it seems quite "innocent" and predictable 75 years after publication, it was important to read his "Preface to the Ukrainian edition" which was included as an appendix at the end of the online book I borrowed.  Orwell wrote about what he had lived. He  knew about poverty, hunger, and the horrid life of working in a mine for a living.  He also knew about the failure of political systems.  In his very short life of 47 years he achieved a profound understanding of humans and how they behave.  I am indebted to his brilliance.   

Online Bridge

Many of you know that I am a bridge enthusiast.  I've been resisting renewing my membership with the American Contract Bridge League (partly it's the name) because I didn't want to let myself get addicted to getting Master Points and worrying about how many I had compared to everyone else.  It didn't totally prevent bridge anxiety for me.  Well, now the only way that I can play bridge is to play online and I rather like it.  I've been playing a bit with my regular partner from Argenta - yes, the wee Quaker refuge of Argenta on the north end of Kootenay Lake actually has online bridge happening, and I've played with  my brother-in-law in Wetaskiwin, AB.  It's been a bit of a crapshoot and we haven't done well (either pairing), but it's been fun.  There's a thing called Support Your Club where part of your fee goes to your own duplicate bridge club.  It isn't enough.  They just put the fee up to $6 USD.  Today, Phil and I tried Speedball Bridge for 12 boards.  We get 48 minutes to play 12 boards.  We didn't find the time a problem at all in this match.  Our bidding was just way too conservative.  The good features of online bridge - you can play a "short game", you don't have to listen to your partner natter at you about your errors, it's quiet, and if there is time between boards, you can play a piece or two on the piano. (If you piano is conveniently located next to your computer!)

State of the Garden II

I have concerns about my sweet peas.  I've started collecting seed and kept the seeds in a cool place all winter.  Maybe it should have been in the freezer?  I soaked my sweet pea seed for a good 48 hours and the seeds did seem to swell.  I planted 4 weeks ago and I don't see anything yet.  I have netting over the seed so it isn't the birds or the deer.  I feel discouraged.  I also collected edible pod pea seed which has also not germinated, but it did swell when soaked.  Hmmm.  The Green Arrow seed that I bought has germinated and is looking good.  I do want to become a seed collector and I had fabulous production last year with the edible pod peas.  I know the seed was well dried. 

Two tulips managed to escape the deer damage - this is the first time I've seen the tulips and I can't remember when I planted them - I've been away for so many spring bloomings that I have never seen them.  You can see that the wire is there for protection.  One little joy is the hepatica that my sister gave me years ago.  I thought that I had lost it, too, but I see it has self-seeded through the garden and tiny blooms are showing in rather obscure spots.  I gather that it doesn't like a fuss.

hepatica

Reading Material

I'm not finding that I get much extra time for reading these days.  Keeping up with the schooling schedule is actually very time consuming and when the daylight hours are available I love to be in the garden.  Monday, I finished reading American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins and I'm highly recommending this book.  It's a story of Mexican migrants trying to get into the USA and it's a "downer" in every way except one.  (No spoiler here).   It's probably not something a lot of people would want to read at a time like this one.  However, it can really put the perspective of gratitude into your life - your life is so MUCH better than what those characters experience every day.  It's a MUST READ for everyone whenever it suits. 

A word about reading on a tablet.  There's lots I like about it - the good light and the convenience.  What frustrates me is that you never know what someone is reading.  It's such a good conversation-starter.  Dave does nothing but read on a tablet so I never know what he's reading unless he actually answers my questions.  He did recommend The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson and I've just started reading it.  More on that later.  I searched the house for things I'd like to read and have found 3 books that I want to revisit or read for the first time - Orwell's Buramese Days, Daniel Martin by John Fowles and Love in the Time of Cholera.  For those of you who read American Dirt, you'll know why I want to read the Marquez. 

Easter Scavenger Hunt

I've been out of blogging for several years and many of you will not know that Dave and I purchased a home in Trail, BC near the end of 2017.  It's got a flat lot, it's an old veterans' neighbourhood (just like Montgomery) and we're right next to one of my favourite North American rivers, The Columbia.  We're working on the house - it's totally functional - built in 1949 for the original part, and it's been extended in 3 directions and we're not exactly sure when.  It's a lovely little neighbourhood with all these older homes which are very slowly being gentrified.   We bought it in order to have a place to stay when we wanted to see the grandkids - there's only so many times you want to impose on your kids and we like having our own space. The home in Kaslo is still in our principal domicile.   Since the purchase, however, "life has happened" in my extended family and I haven't spent nearly as much time here as I intended.  And now we have travel restrictions.  But we came here to plant the garden.  Trail has very hot summers and it's a great place to garden.  There's a big ugly lead smelter in town which makes real estate pretty cheap.  Andrea works in environmental clean up and the lead level testing that has shown up in vegetable produce grown here is diminishing all the time.  We're old so we don't worry too much about that.  

Yesterday we had our grandsons riding around the neighbourhood on bikes, looking for clues, to finally be rewarded with a bag full of apples (and a couple of Easter treats).  It was fun making it up and I hardly saw them on most of the hunt because they can ride way faster than me and aren't afraid of the short cuts down dirt trails.  I'm on a skinny tire bike (my Dad's old bike which I brought home from Saanichton when we closed the estate last winter) and love to stick with the pavement.  Here we are enjoying treats in the back garden on a sunny Easter Sunday!

The New to Us Camper Van

Dave has spent a good part of the time since October refitting a 2014 cargo van that we bought in Kelowna in the fall.  It's been a fun project for him and tonight we had dinner in it for the first time!  The propane isn't hooked up yet so we aren't cooking out there, but the solar-powered fridge is working well as a second fridge because we buy more groceries on the weekly shop than we used to purchase.  Items that still need to be configured - what do we do about new cushions?  Our old camper van cushions worked for today but they aren't the correct size and we need to get some made.  We're not sure how that will happen at the current time.  Anyway, we're nearly ready to roll!  We even had 3 mosquitoes join us for dinner tonight - it was truly like camping!


                                                         

Spring Birding I

My twice to thrice weekly walk goes around Mirror Lake near our neighbourhood.  It's a pleasant hour walk - the actual lake is only about half of the journey.  It's always a great place for birds and I've had a bit more time to sit around watching them. 

Today I noticed quite a few Barrow's Goldeneye - seems as if there is two gals for every guy - a small group of Ring-Necked Ducks and two male common mergansers.  

One Great Blue Heron came out of the marshy bits of the lake and, of course, the ubiquitous Canada Goose is always present! 

Spring Gardening I

This week we've got spring and it was so good to get up to a snow-free Kaslo Community Garden yesterday.     I planted 5 rows of  onion sets and starts. If these are successful I plan to "give a row" to our local food hub.   I hope that the water gets turned on there soon because I may need to water if the weather continues.  

On the Pine Ridge estate just south of Kaslo it looks as if the garlic are recovering from the mule deer who keeps leaping the fence.  Dave raised the wire by placing blocks of wood under it and that seems to be doing the trick.  There's a few blooms here and there but many spring bulbs have been victims of hungry deer.  We had a lot of snow this winter and it's been slow to melt so the deer are really keeping an eye out.  I've placed netting over most of the raised beds.  The lettuce, spinach, green onions, kale and peas are planted.  Now we wait!

Back to the Piano

I don't think that I've played the piano in nearly two years.  Someone asked me if I wanted to sell it a few months ago and I declined so I guess I had planned to get back at it "sometime in the future."  This has been the perfect opportunity!  I notice how crippled my fingers have become over the years and being able to move the fingers quickly enough is not a task I will be able to accomplish in my lifetime.  I try to spend about 15 minutes per day at the piano.  I play some finger exercise for a few minutes, then some short skill pieces from the Hanon book.  Some of you will be familiar with it. I try to do a scale each day and remember how to do it with the chords, etc.  I'm really going back to basics and I am trying to play pieces from Volume 2 of the Suzuki Piano School.  I like those pieces and it's about what I am capable of playing at the present time. 

Schooling!

Our local CBC station had someone on radio today talking about by next week they really hope to have something out to the students.  I can't believe how slack the province has been about the school program.  It was announced on March 17th that the schools would not be returning "indefinitely" and the teachers began a two week break on March 13th.  I realize that this was "vacation time" for the teachers and I'm sure that many of them had to cancel travels.  I did.  On March 30th I would have expected that something would be ready to send to the students over email.  I know that all of the parents have the ability to communicate with the teachers via email and vice versa.   It is now April 2nd and we are still waiting for something to be sent to them. 

I've been pretty impressed with how technology can meet so many needs during this pandemic and schooling is an obvious possibility.  I gotta stop writing:  I have an online visit with my optometrist, followed by online schooling with my grandsons, then I register for online bridge and two hours later I get to play a bridge game and enjoy every minute of it with very few distractions!

Deer Dung!

We can occasionally get manure from friends who have horses in exchange for "computer consultations".  It's a valuable resource!  Now that we can't be welcome at their estate I resorted to collecting deer dung in the forest north of us.  We've had dozens of deer and elk wandering through our neighbourhood throughout the winter so now we can take advantage of their leavings.  It will be interesting to see how this manure will compare to that of the horse!  Happy planting, everyone!