Composting

Do any of you have much experience with composting? Right now, we just have a big pile in the middle of the garden, but I need to move it soon so we can plant our seeds. The Canadian Tire store sells this compost bin, but I see it's gotten mixed reviews. I know that compost breaks down faster if it's in some sort of bin. Perhaps I should see if someone could build me one--I've seen photos of 3 bins in a row, and the compost is transferred over as it starts to decompose.


Apparently, compost is so valuable that many people call it "black gold." In addition to improving garden soil, it can be used on grass, trees, bushes, and flowers. And you may be surprised by the variety of things that can be composted--dried leaves, grass clippings, fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, even paper towels! So it's very good for the environment as well.

*Updated to say, check out my newer post What I've learned about composting so far.

Things I never said before having kids

* "Please stop playing with the dental floss."

* "Don't dip your hair into my tea, please."

* "Toy cars don't belong in the toilet."

If a Child...

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to have confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns appreciation.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

-Dorothy Law Nolte, quoted by Anne Ortlund in Children are Wet Cement

I've been blogging for one year!

Thanks for reading my blog! I hope it helps you feel more in touch with our little family in Saskatchewan! Thanks for the comments, the parenting advice, the book recommendations, and the empathy! If you don't have your own blog, it's a lot of fun!

How many countries can you name in 5 minutes?

123

Things I miss about Scotland #1

I didn't have a blog in Scotland, but I do have lots of photos and wonderful memories. So I thought I'd do a few posts on what I miss about Scotland.

And to start off, I miss our pedestrian lifestyle. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and has a half a million people. However, it's a very compact city, and quite walkable. We lived in the University of Edinburgh housing complex for student families, about a mile and a half south of Edinburgh's Royal Mile and the city centre. We did not own a car for the 3 years we were there--if we couldn't walk somewhere, we could make use of the extensive bus system in the city. Eric walked to the divinity school every day, where he worked on his dissertation in a graduate study room called "Wit's End." :) I could walk to my job at the City of Edinburgh Council, but I usually bought a bus pass for the day, since I needed to get around the city visiting clients anyway. On the days I was home with Kate, I could walk to the bank, the post office, the library, the Royal Commonwealth Pool, beautiful parks, and our church. As the weather is fairly temperate all year, we were out and about all the time, and certainly got our exercise! The following photos were taken on a walk north from our street to the Royal Mile:


A view up the street.



The doctor's office, called a "Surgery."



Kamco, our favorite convenience store, and Moviebank, home of the 99 pence rental



I had a great group of "mums" in my antenatal classes (childbirth classes) and after our babies were born, we would often hang out at this cafe.



The pharmacy



A favorite Chinese restaurant



The fishmonger




The butcher



There was a whole row of charity shops, where secondhand goods were sold to benefit various charities. Here's Oxfam, which focuses on hunger around the world



Cancer Research UK's charity shop



If you can't find it at the Edinburgh Bargain Store, you might just be out of luck



Boots, a drugstore



Tesco, a leading British grocery store. Like most other grocery stores, you can place an order online at the Tesco site and have it delivered to your door for a small fee.



Jordan Valley, a healthfood store




Blackwell's, an amazing bookstore



The Pound Stretcher!

Stay tuned for more posts on "Things I miss about Scotland."

Dr. Kate

Spring?

Two great books by Mary Pipher

Mary Pipher is a well-known therapist and author from Lincoln, Nebraska. You may have heard of her book about adolescent girls, Reviving Ophelia. I really enjoyed her book, The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding our Families, in which she makes a strong case for the importance of families in our mobile and fragmented society. Pipher includes lots of real life stories in her books, from people she knows, as well as clients she's counseled.

You might be less likely to pick this one off a bookshelf, but Pipher really opened my eyes in Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of our Elders. How many of us think very deeply about the joys and challenges of old age, until we're almost there ourselves? She is writing primarily to Baby Boomers who are trying to understand and support their parents in old age. However, I think this book could be relevant to people in any generation. Our society is so youth-oriented, and the elderly have so much to teach us if we take the time to listen.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love the musical group Iona, and here are the powerful lyrics to their song, Encircling, based on a prayer of St. Patrick:

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead
His eye to watch, his might to stay
His ear to hearken to my need
The wisdom of my God to teach
His hand to guide
His shield to ward
The Word of God to give me speech
His heavenly host to be my guard.

The mighty three
My protection be
Encircling me
You are around
My life, my home
Encircling me
O sacred three
The mighty three.

Eric is just so entertaining!

Here he is with Will a few days ago...




And with Kate when she was about the same age...

Canadian taxes done!

It was much less of a headache this year thankfully. No refund, but fortunately, we only owed about $20. Here are a few things you might find interesting about doing taxes in Canada:

*There is no "married filing jointly" option. Each person has to file their own tax return. Mine was quite easy, as I basically put a zero on each line!

*You use the tax package for the province you live in. Federal and provincial taxes are calculated together, and it all gets sent to the same tax centre.

*We have to report our foreign income, including interest earned in US savings accounts. This just gets added to our Canadian income, using the official exchange rate for the year. If we had already paid tax on the income in the US, we could claim a credit for that in Canada.

*There are deductions for medical expenses, moving expenses, donations, self-employment, and even money spent on children's fitness! But Canada does not allow a mortgage interest deduction.

*Residents of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon can claim "Northern Residents Deductions." I've heard these are quite generous, as Canada needs more people to live and work in these areas.

One down, one to go! We still need to file our US taxes--fortunately, expats have until June 15.

And here's one for the grandparents...

I'm pretty sure that my parents and Eric's parents, despite being interested in books and life in Canada, are happiest when my blog features photos and videos of their grandchildren! Here's Kate, trying to sing "Corn Grow"--a song that Mommy wrote at age 5.

A Candelight Dinner

In Caronport, anyone can request to be on the community email list. People request rides, or list things they want to sell, or ask to borrow DVDs, or whatever! Our friend, Gwen Nolan, uses the community email to bless people! She will often hold "contests" where people enter their names to win homemade dinner rolls for that evening, or a jar of her homemade jam. Well, on Valentine's Day, Gwen held a contest in which she invited people to enter for a chance to win a candlelight dinner in March at her home! We were thrilled to win, and the photos below show what an amazing evening she gave us!


We entered the Nolan's home to find it filled with candlelight, fresh flowers, and beautiful music! The dinner started with fresh rolls, pumpkin-coriander soup, and a salad with fruit and poppyseed dressing. Gwen also provided a bottle of sparkling peach juice!



Then she brought out the main course of salmon with a maple-dill sauce (Gwen is a true Canadian after all!), steamed carrots, asparagus, and rice.



Dessert was a lovely Black Forest Cake with chocolate from Rome, and Gwen's own canned Bing cherries!



Our lovely hostess, Gwen Nolan



One blessed couple! In addition to the glorious food, we enjoyed having uninterrupted time to talk! Gwen and her husband, Randy, joined us for tea and a game of dice to conclude the evening! Randy is completing a PhD from Queen's University in Belfast, and they spent last year in Northern Ireland, which they blogged about here. Gwen is a nurse, a Moms and Tots mentoring mom, a Clothes Closet volunteer, and I'm sure many other things!

THANK YOU GWEN!!!!!!!!!!!

A fun time at Chapters bookstore

We drove to Regina on Saturday and spent a couple hours at Chapters bookstore. It's a large bookstore with a Starbucks, much like Barnes and Noble in the US, or Waterstone's in the UK. The kids loved the children's section!


Will was fascinated with the model train set!




Although his idea of playing with a train set involved throwing the train cars onto the floor!



Kate indulged her love of all things "princess"!

An Evening with a Harpist

We had a lovely Friday evening with our friend, Laura Welker. Laura is a Montana girl with a long history at both Briercrest College and Briercrest Seminary. We have loved getting to know her, and we'll miss seeing her around Caronport as she heads back home to take some time off for health reasons. If you check out her website, you'll see that Laura is quite the Renaissance woman! God has given her so many gifts, and a keen scholar's mind, so we will enjoy seeing how she is used in the future!

She brought her harp with her and gave us a private concert in the living room. She played everything from Loreena McKennitt to Anglican worship songs to lullabies! The kids loved it, and tried to join in!


Laura playing while Kate looks on




Will swaying to the music



Our favorite harpist



Mommy tries her hand at it! I was surprised when Laura told me that learning the harp is easier than learning the guitar. I had been under the impression that playing the harp must be quite complicated.

Here's a video showing Laura playing a song, with lots of help!

Little explorer!

We never know what he'll try to climb next!



Standing, but not yet walking



Reorganizing the hall closet




We sure love this boy!