Ellis Bird Farm

Earlier this summer I visited the Ellis Bird Farm...on the occasion of a shower put on for E and I (thanks again, M!)
And I was so impressed that I visited again, just E and I...whereupon M fed us tea and scones (she waitresses there occasionally).
And was still so impressed that I went back a final time with my husband...the last day they were open for the season.

May I recommend visiting?

If you like birds....

They apparently have the largest gathering of mountain bluebirds in North America.
Purple martens and many other kinds of birds also abound. 

If you're aren't a birder (which I am not)...

there are still reasons to go. 

Like the delicious baking at the teahouse. In keeping with the natural fauna of the area, the teahouse serves an array of desserts featuring saskatoons, rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries. The buns used for sandwiches are baked fresh every morning and the tea is loose and served in personal tea pots with real china cups and saucers.

And the scenery. The Bird Farm is an oasis amidst fields of crops. Not that there's anything wrong with fields of wheat and canola and whatnot. But when you step onto the paths of the Bird Farm, you feel like you're entering another world. The Farm is a mixture of native trees and shrubs and general "bush" and carefully maintained gardens of shrubs, perennials and annuals. I found butterfly gardens, a xeriscaping garden, a "native-species" garden, and a water garden. And, of course, there are birdhouses tucked away everywhere.

The Ellis Bird Farm is free to visit, including the interpretive center, where you can see stuffed examples of various bird species, and watch live video feed from inside a swallow house or from the finch feeder. And the resident biologist and manager, Myrna Pearman, is more than happy to answer questions and get even the most skeptical visitor excited. It is closed for the season now, but will re-open on May Long Weekend of 2011 with another full season of tours, birdhouse-building events, birds and flowers and lots and lots of tea.

Finally, on an interesting note, the Ellis Bird Farm is integrally tied up with the MEGlobal/Dow Chemical plant across the road. An interesting juxtaposition of industry and conservation, to be sure...

Travel Literature

The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around Great Britain by Paul Theroux

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The concept is good: walking and taking transit around the coast of Britain, while examining the people, culture and general society throughout. But Theroux seems to have such a negative and cynical outlook on what he sees that you come away thinking Britain is an incredibly depressing place.



Which it is not! I've been to Northern England and stayed in two of the towns that Theroux passes through, and the country is not nearly as dirty and depressing as he makes it out to be.



The biggest frustration is that Theroux seems to find no joy in the people. They are mostly unemployed, fat, unambitious and inward-looking. And that's certainly not who we encountered while there.



Bottom line: I don't like Theroux's bad attitude.



View all my reviews

Figuring

Just some figures in an update on life:

 36 bundles of shingles estimated needed for the south side of the roof

18 feet spans the width of the new veranda

8 sheets of drywall required for the master bedroom and front hall way

2nd trip to Calgary for a baby passport was successful

4 board books borrowed from the public library

2 days til good chance of a killing frost

1.5 days between load of diapers washed

and,

2 pictures of E to share.

Book Review: Last Child in the Woods

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A thought-provoking book to be sure, Louv's critique of our society made me think carefully about my relationship with the outdoors both when I was growing up and now, and how I want to share the natural world with my own children. He points out what I have always felt--that people, whether adults or children, are more calm, organized and directed when they have natural space to be in.



I have always treasured and enjoyed natural landscapes in my surroundings, and Louv emphasizes just how important--and how precarious--those spaces are as our population grows and becomes more suburbanized.



I appreciate how Louv ended on a hopeful note, outlining ways that people can get involved to protect natural spaces and ways to share them with the next generation.



I highly recommend this book to individuals with a vested interest in future generations of children, and in the future and place of natural spaces, plants and animals in our world.



View all my reviews

Address From The Chair

It's time for another Fireside Chat.

We all enjoy a good belly laugh now and again. It keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously.

But there are also moments where a degree of seriousness is required. 

Especially when discussing deep subjects like 

proper posture in carriers and strollers and purple-coloured seats, 

timing of vaccinations, and the quality of cotton used in diapers.

It's all very exhausting, really.

But we're getting through, my parents and I, one topic at a time.

Our Alberta

With one day off a week these days, we really treasure our Sundays as time together as a family. 

Yesterday we slept in, went out for breakfast, bought a couple of new clothes for E, and then went for a long drive in west central Alberta. 

We had a location where we needed to end up (the Danish Canadian National Museum at Dickson, where I did a bunch of my research and am still involved) but we didn't have a time limit. 

We had a backroads of Alberta mapbook, and we took secondary highways, machinery roads and gravel for most of the way (our poor car sadly needs a wash now...)

I love Alberta.
The old barns in various states of disrepair (or repair).

Memorials to towns and schools and communities no longer there.

Fields of richly coloured crops almost ready for harvest.

Hills and valleys, drumlins and eskers, creeks and rivers, lakes and swamps and dug-outs.

Places that still reveal traces of the settlers' European heritage.

Places that remain relatively untouched, containing native plant species that are becoming more and more rare.

We live in a beautiful province, made especially beautiful by the season of full bounty awaiting harvest. 

It was a refreshing break from our little plot of mud and clutter and hard work.

Life Today

We three
and our moat
and our drawbridge
and the hole in the foundation.

What more can I say?

Birthday too

It's Robert Plant's birthday too.

Have you heard the duet album of him and Alison Krauss? It's amazing. Definitely one of the top albums of the past couple of years.

So without further ado, Plant and Krauss and "Stick with me Baby."



Everybody's been a-talkin'; they say our love wasn't real
That it would soon be over; that's not the way that I feel
But I don't worry, honey; let them say what they may
Come on and stick with me, baby; we'll find a way
Yes, we'll find a way

Everybody's been a-talkin'; yes, the news travels fast
They said the fire would stop burnin', that the flame wouldn't last
But I don't worry, honey; let them say what they may
Come on & stick with me, baby; we'll find a way
Yes, we'll find a way

Come on and stick with me, baby

My Life in France

My Life in France by Julia Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A genuinely entertaining read! Normally I don't enjoy autobiographies because what the author finds interesting about herself is not necessarily what her readers will find interesting. Not so with this one. Child is funny and descriptive and I learned a lot about French cooking (who knew the proper way to beat egg whites requires a copper bowl!?). The book has scattered photographs throughout that add to the story and show off the beautiful French landscape and culture. The movie Julie and Julia is based closely on this book.



View all my reviews »

Another Saturday Night...

We all needed a bath after Saturday. But only E got hers on the kitchen counter.

A Working Museum

Carstairs Custom Woolen Mill

The carding, batting and spinning machines from an upstairs look-out.

 E and I visited the Custom Woolen Mill near Carstairs.

The Museum calls itself a "working museum" -- and that is exactly what it is. As a side note, Dan, I think you would love this place.

Making yarn

The Mill receives wool from all over Alberta, washes it, cards it, and makes it into woolen batts or yarn. They also sew wool duvets with a one-of-a-kind long-armed sewing machine unit and knit socks on giant machines.

 The machines are largely all built in the 1800s and the whole operation has the feel of a Victorian era Industrial Revolution textiles operation.

The carding and batt-making machine up close.

The Mill has a millwright and a metal lathe on hand to fix or rebuild gears and sprockets to fix the machines.

The carding/batting machine up close.

The business is so busy they have two years' supply of unprocessed wool waiting in storage sheds.

The sprocket system the quilt design runs on.

The head of the sewing machine.

In addition to making socks, quilts, yarn, felt and batting, they also make wool insulation, which, I'm told, is used often for insulating log cabins.

Quilting a quilt.

It was free to tour; the staff were knowledgeable, friendly and wanted to share about their work; it was a very cool place to visit. Now, if only I could finish my quilt so I could take it here to be bound with warm and long-lasting Alberta wool batting!

August Long

It was a busy weekend for everyone,
not just us.
One brother and sister-in-law moved.
Another found a place to move to.
We installed three windows and tore stucco off the house.

And found time for visiting, pancakes, a trip to the city, ice cream,
and a walk for just the three of us.
(though one of the three managed to sleep through most of the excursion).

Small talk

How's life, you ask?

"Oh, it's good. I'm growing lots. And I have lots of big people who love me."

"But now for some serious talk."

Do you know where your food comes from?"



















 "It's an important question! Generally, I prefer my food to come from a local source. "

"On that note, have you seen my mother?"

Another Anniversary

Five years ago, he and I became "us."
And now we're three!
We are so blessed.
And in love.

Sureties

It's been said that the only things you can count on life are death and taxes.
How pessimisitic and boring.
One thing I can count on these days is dirty diapers.
But that's not a bad thing.
I like laundry,
and I like it when the sun shines
bleaches my diapers brightly white,
and starches them crisp and straight.

Some More Before

Onwards Past "Heavy Rainfall Warning In Effect"

Items of news:

Positive: We have amazing friends and family who encourage us and through in helping hands when ever they're free.
Negative: The project became a whole lot bigger last week with all the rain, requiring tools like jack hammers, excavators, and products like PVC pipe and sump pumps. 'Nuf said.

Positive: I found an amazing new blog that details projects just like ours! We've already gotten lots of ideas.
Negative: we're a long way yet from the painting stage.
Positive: That doesn't mean I can't plan and dream and visit the paint store down the street.

Negative: It rained huge amounts last week, which limited the kind of work we could do.
Positive: we got two windows in on Saturday, thanks to lots of assistance, and B now is very comfortable with installing windows so the others shouldn't be too hard.
Negative: There's a lot more rain in the forecast for this week too.

Negative: It's easy to succumb to cabin fever when it's pouring out and E and I are car-less and very limited in space. Especially when I found this awesome blog post about quilting. My quilting space is cut off for some time to come...
Positive: There's sunshine coming later in the week; there's several projects that I can tackle in the house; and our garage is organized enough that I can access fun things like slow cookers, yoga dvds and E's toys.
Positive: My sister-in-law just arrived for a visit! That's enough positives and negatives for now...

Interior before

Antidote

When the renovating situation becomes exponentially more complicated,
adding cost, time and stress,
I'm glad for peaceful baby moments.

Demolition

 The destruction of the basement is underway,
and not a moment too soon,
because with the Government of Canada's dire weather prediction of
"Heavy Rainfall Warning In Effect"
came flooding on three sections of the foundation.

Bliss

Bliss is.

Bliss is little toothless grins with smile lines around the eyes.
Bliss is soft fuzzy hair fresh from the bath.
Bliss is clear blue eyes looking out seriously at the world.
Bliss is long relaxed nursing sessions resulting in full tummies.
Bliss is a cheerful expectant face first thing in the morning.
Bliss is snuggling in bed as a family.
Bliss is clean crisp white diapers fresh from the clothesline for little bums.
Bliss is wiggling arms and legs.
Bliss is little coos and sounds in response to friendly faces and familiar toys.

Life is good.

Trailers for Sale or Rent

Let's just say life is pretty full right now. No complaints here--we're incredibly blessed--but we're glad it's just for a season. In the past two weeks we have
1) Celebrated B's birthday.
2) Watched E grow and grow and grow and pass her two month birthday.
3) Driven the stretch of highway between Calgary and here about umm a lot of times. I lost count.
4) Moved out of a house.
5) Moved into a trailer.
6) Gotten a library card and a Co-op membership.
7) Had a hard drive crash.
8) Smashed a lot of drywall.
9) Installed soffit, fascia, smartwood and Hardi-Plank.
10) Got a new cell phone, and two new phone numbers.
11) Had the summer's first campfire and smores.
12) Oh and whole lot of other crazy things.

This summer is going to be busy with many things and we've jumped in full swing. I can't wait to move into the house when things are all done, remodeled, painted and settled. Sigh. That seems ages away...