Much prettier walk

A spontaneous side trip to the beach turned out to have lovely bird watching! Flocks of migrating geese, ample variety of seabirds, a huge murder of crows and even a lone eagle screaming from the highest scrag (out of camera range). The light was strange and the wind was brisk as we paced the low tide sands, a storm was definitely brewing.... but that did NOT deter us!

If you go into the woods....

Okee dokee.... great day for a family trail ride! Especially for January in Canada!

BUT it will be muddy.

WHY do people do this to our beautiful wilderness??????? It totally sucks walking/riding along a lovely path and coming across something like THIS:

You would think we were at the DUMP!

Then again, you might just find a chair!

But maybe you prefer Brown? No Problem!

And if you need to go pee just off the path, watch out for the poached deer carcasses. (I almost vomited!)

Star struck!

Oh I had an awesome time last night!





One of my favourite shows is "Til Debt Do Us Part". It's a fantastic show about couples overcoming financial stresses and finding peace in their relationship with each other and their money through common sense and awareness.... just love the show and it is very very cool that it is 100% Canadian too. (Though really the advice makes sense everywhere).



Gail Vaz-Oxlade is the host and she is a real person.

My Credit Union was nice enough to host a public speaking lecture to de-mystify financing Preregistration was mandatory and it filled up so fast they had to offer a second lecture later that same night! But LECTURE is not the right word at all! She was fun, personal, engaging and interactive with every person in the room. "Tough love" was used to describe her style by the event organizer -- and I did get the feeling it really is love! She was telling the people with questions the real deal, even boo-ing one lady for going into debt to take her son to Disneyland. She had us all laughing and taking notes and really engaged in the things she was saying....

a few inspirational quotes from last night:

"You can have it all! -- You just can't have it all at once."

"Plan like a pessimist, live like an optimist"

"Start where you ARE and find the steps to get where you want to be"

"PAY ATTENTION to your money, it's just that easy".

Spider, you will like her so much, she writes everything down to the penny and know where it all goes.

(BUT she has a financial advisor she trusts to manage the investments because she has a life that is too busy to follow the market, and she says that is a terrific investment in itself hiring a financial advisor with the same investment personality as you.)

So, the room was packed with hundreds of people waiting for her money wisdom, and I could hear her fantastic laugh ringing through the hall, and I thought "I will regret it if I don't say Hi". So I did! I went up to her, and she looked just as happy and amazing in person as she does on her show, and I told her that. And I told her how much I appreciated her show and what she teaches. She said thank you, with a huge smile and let me hug her!!!!! I was blushing violently from sheer joy... and I am excited to watch the 4th season, oh boy.

She surprised everyone in the hall when she asked us a question.... "who can tell me what the maximum contributions to your RRSPs is allowed?" Only one had went up.
"18%" said the sheepish reply.
"WHO SAID THAT!?" Gail called energetically."STAND UP!"
So the lady stood up, Gail applauded her for knowing it, and then said "Get up here!"
The lady went to the front and Gail handed her $50! Well the energy in the room changed immediately!!!!!!! It went from attentive listening, to active participation in one blink of an eye!
She asked a few more questions and got much more eager results, and a few more cash rewards were given, it was really cool.

I learned some things. And I had a great time too!

In with the Old...

Okay I know they usually say "out with the old, and in with the new" but I am feeling a little pessimistic today.

This Christmas in particular it has hit hard how terrible the build quality on things is these days! How come an appliance used to be expected to last 20+ years and it could be repaired, and now you are lucky for it to last to the end of the one year warranty? And if you want to keep it, you can't repair it anyways because there are no such things as replacement parts?!

A full 1/2 of the electronic toys that my boys got for Christmas had a major malfunction within minutes of getting them! What kind of cheesy garbage are we getting? And with the sensitive nature of our environment, our full landfills, limited resources and greenhouse emissions, I think it really has to stop!!!!

The gravy train of consumerism is stopping in this house, it just has to! I am happy to say I have always loved buying from a thrift store (re-using) and honestly the old stuff is just plain better in a lot of the cases!!!! You could easily find something Made in Canada, Germany, USA that was proud to promote the fine steel and sturdy components! Also, by thrift store shopping I can afford the good quality materials and brands of clothes, the real deal (only last season's looks).

"Last Season's looks".... since when did furnishings, appliances and other high-ticket items get "season's" like fashions? It used to be measured by DECADES not months. Ick, but I know I have ranted about that before....

BUT the rant can go on!

My husband likes good quality tools, and he splurges by getting a nice wrench or socket set every once in a while. This year he was horrified to see that his favourite high end tools are now not made with German precision, but instead China, and trying to keep optimistic, because the company has always provided excellent workmanship, he bought the tool he needed. He had to take it back.... the quality was not there The ratcheting action was not smooth and it got surface rust immediately! For the $100 + price he paid for it, he is just buying the name if the tool isn't up to snuff! So what happens now? How do we find quality, something that really lasts anymore?

I am old-school in that way. I want to think about my major purchases, do some research and then buy it once. (Just look at my old cars!)

Every company on the planet seems to be conspiring against it however.

Ah yes, isn't it great that I can see Al Gore's, Inconvenient Truth is to play on the television today! I will watch it, to remind myself that it is not just for me that I want the old things, but for the little caterpillars, drowning polar bears and everyone all over this planet!

Julie of the Wolves

There are a few books that inspire me to be a better inhabitant on this planet each and every time I read them.

One of those books I happily consumed this week in eager chapter-sized servings at every spare sitting moment I had. The book was "Julie of the Wolves" something I was forced to read in Junior Highschool, and for which I will always be thankful to have experienced.

In a nutshell it is about a very young lady who runs away from a bad situation and finds herself lost on the Tundra and nearly starving until she gets resourceful and follows her Eskimo ways to read the earth, and the animals around her to survive.

It's a simple story, but so well written, I think it comes from a true place, and it makes me pine to sit outdoors and just listen, learn and watch.

The same can be said about "Clan of the Cavebear" (never mind that I found the sequels to be tawdry, cheap romances), this book was so detailed in its description of her education as a medicine woman of her adopted family, that I always find myself craving to know about the plants and their uses and how to survive in the wilderness in general!

This must be a throwback to my childhood, creeping around in the ferns, making forts, hunting for creatures on the beach and throwing sticks at homemade targets. I guess I can sympathize with the leading ladies of the stories...

Well worth a look and a delightful read, Julie of the Wolves.
Books like this remind me most poignantly that all the comforts I have here (light, heat, grocery stores) are all very very new to humanity, and very fragile. This wild, harsh world just outside the door is still very much there! And we need to respect it and not forget it. I love books that do that, I really really do!
(Picture from :http://www.mikeadamsart.com/mondadori_1992.htm)

Resolutions

Happy New Year!

(picture I took of wildflowers at Pipers Lagoon)

I welcome 2008 with open arms, this is the year I am officially in my late 30's, this is the year I finally go to Disneyland, and the year my oldest son creeps closer to manhood ( I have heard 11 is a transitional age when peer pressure gets more intense than ever for boys ..... aaaack). This is the year when our new puppy becomes a dog, and my youngest son should grasp reading.

Many things are sure to happen this year, birthdays and everyday kind of days, too.

2008 is a leap year, which I always think is very special. I was born on a leap year, right next to leap year day. My mom got to chose whether I would be born on leap year day or March 1st thanks to a scheduled C-section.

This year has not started the greatest. The puppy woke VERY early, and piddled his crate, and then he whined and barked and wanted to play long after it was reasonable. Ugh. I almost lost my temper I was so exhausted! But I did not. Then at around 9am, T finally rose (apparently last night was the first night I had decide to *SNORE* and he did not sleep well) and I went back to bed..... ah yes, sleep. They left for breakfast without me, so it was just me and the puppy for the rest of the morning.... he didn't whimper enough to keep me from sleep - no sirree!

The rest of my day was better, though I was ill-tempered to be sure.

On to the topic of this entry....

I have never put much weight on the whole "resolution" thing. In fact, I generally thought it was a foolish and naive practice (sorry if I insult any one's traditions here). This year though, I found myself momentarily excited about the prospect of making a resolution!

"I will walk to and from the school everyday! Good for the environment, saves gas, keeps us in touch with the neighbourhood, and healthy exercise for us and the dog too!!!!" I thought boldly. Followed immediately by the thoughts: "Except on Tuesdays because of me having to work outside the home, and well I guess that will destroy my gym membership -- what a waste that would be... and I bet it's going to be annoying getting the kids ready early... that means I will need to get up earlier (ugh) ... and no one will like going in the rain and snow... so I guess I should wait until the Spring."

And in less than one minute, my excitement of thinking of a worthwhile resolution was deflated before it was even started. And that makes me so sad. I REALLY WANTED to believe I could do it!

And maybe I will, but I'm not calling it a resolution.

Sigh....

and I gained a noticeable amount of weight over Christmas too. All of it being tight jello right around my middle. Completely gross.

I WILL do something about that though. I don't need a resolution for that.

OH! But lunch with spider the other day gave me a really manageable goal, one I can do for sure! I am going to clean out under my bed!!! The lost depths of magazine archives and stereo boxes must go away. I know if I clean under there, I will sleep better in 2008.... maybe my dreams will come back.