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Thunder booms, lightning flashes, rain pours from the sky, the metal roof hums in the falling rain. We are experiencing our first thunder storm of the season! I think of Attila working out of doors, and I shiver.
The snow is very patchy, but still very deep in spots. Yesterday I took a little walk towards the back of the property and sank in snow deeper than my boots. I got a “soaker”! It won’t be long though, until even the deep snow will be gone.
This morning Mist was in a mood. She decided she wanted the blinds opened. I do not open the blinks until dawn, so since it was still dark Mist did not get her way. Attila assured her that my affection for him would magically open the blinds when he left for work, as I would wave goodbye. Mist did not care, she was miffed.
While the morning was wet, the afternoon was merely cloudy; and warm. For the first time this spring I have windows open. The fresh air is wandering through the house, sniffing in all the corners, leaving freshness behind. I can hear the wind in the pines. I can hear the birds calling to each other. I can hear the hum of distant traffic on tarmac. It is all familiar and welcome.
The book Cane River has my complete attention at the moment. I borrowed it from the library on my Kobo. When I become entangled in the web of a book, I find myself thinking of the story at odd moments, and sometimes stopping as I bend my head to a task, wondering where I left the Kobo, suddenly wanting to read more of the story, hear more in my head.
The first fruit and vegetable basket was picked up in town today. I arrived at the allotted time, but the delivery truck was 45 minutes late. I decided to wait, rather than spend my fuel getting home, only to have to come back again. Attila has yet to determine if the box of fresh fruit and vegetable will be economical. Certainly if my time is worth anything, it will not be. But today I had time, so it was not wasted, and will not be tallied into the cost. I placed the entire contents of the basket on the counter and took a photo, so that Attila has an accurate record to figure from. It seemed a lot simpler to take a photo than to make a list.
The genealogy sources continue to occupy chunks of time. I am working my way through the sources for my GGG Grandmother and GGG Aunts and GGG Uncles. Most of the research was done with microfilm and microfiche, in libraries, through interlibrary loans. It is so different now, with so much available online. It is easy to find copies of the referenced documents to verify the accuracy of my data and to create a proper source for each bit of information for each person. So far, I have found two errors that I made over the years of hurried research, both of which have now been corrected.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
21°C °C
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 100.3 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 20.8°C
Dewpoint: 13.8°C
Humidity: 64%
Wind: S 43 gust 54 km/h
Quote
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature…. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
Helen Keller
1880 – 1968
Something else we have in common: I get a box of fruits and vegetables every two weeks. Organically and locally grown. They include a list for me and if any of the produce is exotic (to me) there are recipes included and a little newsletter from the head of the co-op (as I would have called it in my you, when we had such things). It talks about planting times and the first fresh shoots in a particular field, and what it’s like to see his young son learning to love the land as he does. Quite charming, and worth every penny to support a local farm co-op.
When we lived in the city, before moving to this house in the bush, we belonged to a CSA, which at that time stood for Community Shared Agriculture. Everything was organic and delivered weekly. The farmer and his wife are still my friends, and I administer their farm web site at no charge. Occasionally they donate food. Really, I do it because I believe in them and what their energy brings to the human condition. Good karma all round.
The fresh fruit and vegetable basket we get here is not so wonderful by comparison. There is little that is local. That is not surprising as we live on the Canadian Shield, an unforgiving landscape of rock outcrops and thin soil. Beautiful, but empty of agricultural activity. The few pockets of farmland survive by selling their wares at prices that no working person could afford. Can’t blame them. We live where the wealthy recreate, the wealthy own most of, and dominate, the area. “Local food” has to be from further afield for most local residents. Unfortunately, this food basket supplies fruits and vegetables from the main food terminal in Toronto. Some would be from Ontario, some not. The advantages for us though, are that the produce is fresh, and reasonably priced; not something we could achieve with our food dollars at the local grocery stores.