I have what you might call a stubborn and determined personality. I get hold of an idea and like to see it made real, whatever the challenges, objections, cries for mercy from small children or other obstacles in my way. Like the Terminator, it’s one of my strengths because I never give up, ever. But unfortunately, there can often be collateral damage. As a young man, I was convinced I’d be a millionaire by now and live in a renovated…
Friday was a pretty uninspiring day, despite the fact that Huwyl was on the mend the weather was a lovely combination of ice rain and snow. Yum. For anyone unfamiliar with the joys of ice rain it is rain that turns to ice on contact, making the world your skating rink. Getting out to the chickens in the morning had a life-in-peril feeling as I slid around trying not to fall and break something on the concrete hard yet utterly…
As astonishing as you might discover it to be, I’ve never really been cool. Not at school, not at University and not at work. Don’t get me wrong, there have been moments of reasonable chilliness such as being the poster boy for an anti-racism campaign at university and paragliding over the Himalayas, but if I’m being honest, they were just too little too late. My uncool had already been too deeply ingrained by earlier lifestyle choices such as unselfconsciously donning…
We have an officially poorly boy in the house, Huwyl has gone down with a fever and is currently curled up on the sofa watching Dennis the Menace with his brother. We’ll be dosing up on Vitamin D, probiotics, echinacea and any green goodness I can hide in a smoothie. I’ve noticed Huwyl has been a bit fraught this week, lots of emotional outbursts and now I can see why. So for the next couple of days we are snuggling,…
I find myself thinking a lot recently, looking inwards, retreating a little. Perhaps it is the January urge to hibernate, to be tucked away in a little nook until spring comes calling. My lack of energy is a bit seasonal and mostly health, the tiredness is part of this problem I’ve been fighting for what seems like a long time. It’s tempting to ‘give in’, to slip into sleep and put the world on pause. But. That isn’t how…
The wind is biting this morning, the air frigid, but it’s worth getting outside to watch the dogs flying happily along as we walk the trails Stephen made around the fields. The sunlight is hazy but the snow still shines, glittering pinpoints in the icy crust that covers everything now. The dogs crunch through the crust, sending shards flying with their crashing paws, the sound of broken glass is everywhere as ice hits ice. I think about the warm…
Joining Soulemama in this Friday ritual. A single photo, a moment from the week that you want to remember. When a pint of fruit and kale smoothie just isn’t enough. Happy Friday!
There is a word that accurately describes life as we know it in a Canadian January. Cold. Very, very cold. Temperatures are regularly down below the -25C mark and that wind chill really does make life interesting. We are snuggly warm in our house enjoying passive solar gain and free heating on these cold but sunny days, but our chickens are not quite as cosy. Despite having an insulated coop (using leftover insulation from the house build) it gets a…
Who says kids these days don’t work hard? As the snow came down my intrepid boys headed out to the green garage to collect wood. It was a surprise for their Mummy, of course a surprise is more fun if you are watching the whole time! They loaded the sled together then Huwyl pulled it to the house, it probably weighed about as much as he did. Then they loaded it all into the wood box, their faces so proud…
I love my tractor. Not in a creepy grease nipple, if I’m smiling don’t leave me alone with heavy machinery kind of way. Just honest, wholesome bloke love for his tractor. But, I’ve been having one or two technical challenges of late with George. As you probably know, we live in Canada and it usually snows a bit in winter over here. When we bought George in spring, I remember thinking about how great it’s going to be to use…