Day 183: The Pabst Smear

March 28, 2011

Some pictures from yesterday.

So 

Double on the saucer!

At Right Brain Brewery

Today Matt made a toboggan out of a cardboard box, christened it the Pabst Smear.

Before

During

Painting break

After

 

 

After dinner Jacob reminded me that I told him we could go sledding on the toboggan. It was dusk, but we were all about it.

Good times had by all. Jacob was loving the whole thing. Running up and down the hill, saying, "Again." Then, "Ga-cob see stars." We did see a few while sledding.

The boy had a lovely sponge bath - I wish I had a bathtub like this! And then we got to see some more stars. We've had amazingly clear days and nights most of the time I've been here which has been awesome for stargazing.

Day 182

March 27, 2011

A picture is worth a thousand words, so this is a really long blog.

Day 181

March 26, 2011

A really good family day today. Gran/Gigi came over to hang out also. Matt was here building a new marble track for Jacob, we played Candyland (Jacob's new favourite game) and talked to Nick and Amy on the computer again. Skyped with Fraser too a couple of times. He's definitely ready for us to be back. I am in many ways but also have the usual sadness when it comes to leaving my family, crazy as we all are together.

Four generations

Day 180

March 25, 2011

Had a really nice evening tonight. My dad, Julie and I went to meet Matt downtown at a local brewery, Right Brain Brewery. Delicious beer, fun atmosphere and a little break from the boy. My mom was wonderful enough to hang out at home with him so I could have a break.

It's just nice to chill and talk about all sorts of random stuff over a yummy, locally brewed brewski. Came home and had some delicious homemade fish and chips (thanks, Dad) and continued the evening of fun. We played Apples to Apples for awhile and skyped with Nick who couldn't come up this weekend. Lots of frivolity. Not nearly the entertaining pictures of last weekend. Probably a good thing.

Day 179

March 24, 2011

Hung out at the house today. Julie, Jacob and I bundled up at one point to go play in the snow. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we were actually pretty warm outside even though it was still quite cold. Julie and I made a few sledding paths down our best hill. At first Jacob didn't want to go down at all on the saucer. At one point, though, he just said, "Ga-cob go down." I asked if he wanted to go with me but he said he wanted to do it by himeslf. Sure enough, he goes down, laughing and smiling the whole way. He went down many more times after that, having a blast. Finally he had to go in because he said he wanted an apple.

Julie and I went down the road a bit to a big hill and had some fun racing down that. There's just something about sledding that makes you feel like a kid. All of a sudden you're just laughing your butt off and smiling. It's great.

There were some absolutely incredible stars out tonight. It was very cold (I think they were calling for a low of around 11) but so awesome that I had to stand out there and stare upwards for awhile. The sky seemed like a dark blanket with little holes poked in it, bits of light shining through everywhere. I miss looking at night skies like that. Awe-inspiring. 

Day 176: Maple syruping

March 21, 2011

Interesting and fun day over at a nearby neighbour's house today. Matt and my dad had come upon someone else doing some maple syruping, but on a much bigger scale. They told us we could bring over some sap and put it into their syrup finishing tub to boil it down. I went over to check it out with them.

The finishing tub is a bit like a bathtub, a deep, rectangular tub. Underneath, though, it has propane burners. The added surface area is very helpful for burning off all the water in sap. 

We put our sap in there and started heating it up. Patti and Jim were emptying their 122 taps and getting ready to do their syruping for the day. They use a vaporizer for theirs. This machine is so cool. The sap drips down into the first of several chambers where the sap is just boiling like mad. It winds its way down to lower chambers where it's still boiled until it gets hot enough to be syrup (syrup boils at 7 degrees above the boiling point of water). Then you open a tap and out runs some hot, golden syrup. We tasted some and it's just delicious. It has a slightly gritty texture because it's not filtered yet and tastes a lot like maple sugar candy. Pure magic on the tongue.

Julie by the sugar shack

The sugar content in sap varies and after testing ours, it came out right around 2%. Syrup's suger content is 67%. We had a long way to boil that sap even with better equipment. We hung out with Patti and Jim who were super friendly and cool. Patti told us how they used to have a sugar bush (as they refer to their trees) with 700 taps over in Wisconsin!! She said it took 8 hours to collect all the sap and another 10 to boil it down. One season they went through 5 and 1/2 cords of wood in 17 days. It's a very labor and energy intensive process which is why syrup is so expensive.

Eventually, after almost four hours, we decided to take what was left of our sap and head back home. They offered to turn our sap into syrup with their vaporizer for us if we brought over our sap. Very nice of them. The whole experience was really facsinating and fun. It was also great to hang out with such cool people, neighbours even!

Day 178: Snow Storm!

March 23, 2011

Huge snow storm last night. We were under a winter storm advisory for the whole night. Jacob woke up and looked out the window saying, "Wow. Snow come down."

Jacob and Aunt Julie went out to feed the birds. Jacob could barely walk. It was pretty funny to watch. But he enjoyed it a lot. He'd just keep falling, roll around a bit and then ask Julie to help him up. 

My mom and I put up some art around the house. They have a lot of artwork including some great pieces from my different siblings. Pretty fun to look at. It's also interesting trying to figure out where to put things. I'm not great at interior decorating but it's' a bit easier at someone else's house. And they have lots of wall space here.

It was a nice relaxing day at the homestead, especially after two long days out. Julie made us some lovely, natural bath mixtures for baths, and we had some lovely sister bonding time.

Day 177

March 22, 2011

Took a day to go out and about with Mom. We did some practical errands and some fun things; I'd wanted to go to an antique store or two with her. We also hit up one winery and a cute lunch stop at a place called The Dish in downtown T.C. It turned into a longer day than we'd both bargained for, though. We didn't make it back home until 5 and we were both totally pooped.

There is so much more going on here than at home and sometimes I don't set aside time to process it all. It's a hard balance between having me time which I wanted on this trip and having family time which I also want. Crazy. I curled up in the library downstairs tonight for a little reading which helped me regroup.

Day 175

March 20, 2011

Sunday morning breakfast, one of the very few times I've seen both my parents cooking. Alright, it does happen but it is not often. Mostly holidays or special occasion. Jacob asked me for an omelet (which Daddy cooks at home on the weekends). "Cook mushrooms, peppers and um.. carrots," he said. I love that my kids likes vegetables (so far).

A cold grey day; glad that we weren't maple syruping today. Nick had to leave today. We all wanted him to stay longer than he was planning on. It felt like he'd just gotten up here.

He was procrastinating, didn't want to leave either. We dragged out the hanging out as long as possible. Granny came over which helped matters for a bit too. But eventually, he had to go.

We drowned our sorrows by building a roaring fire in the wood burning stove, reading Uncle Remus and playing rummy. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday after all.