Thankful November 16

Although I have no daughters, I sometimes find myself having objections to the whole "princess" culture.  If I ever have daughters, I don't want them to base their self worth on an unattainable expectation of beauty, power and wealth, and I especially don't want them to believe that happiness can only be found through a handsome prince (who, according to Disney will very likely be grotesquely muscular and extremely self-centered or completely clueless.)  I was raised in a family of 7 girls and 1 boy. We were all taught to be strong and independent, regardless of our gender.  Grandma Jackson once, when my darling husband, covered in paint because he was helping my parents build a mini-cabin at our cabin in Sandpoint, asked for a glass of water, said, "Why don't you tell him to get his own damn drink of water?!"  Us Evans girls are no princesses!

Still, I can't say I didn't love a little Disney fairy tale action as a kid.  And, as much as I wasn't interested in boys and dating as a teenager (horses were way more interesting!) I still had hopeless crushes on boys at the dances and kept an up to date "marriage list" with my friend Annette, and worried about what people would think of my less than perfect skin, or my more than generous body shape.  So, if girls are going to feel that way anyway, what's the big deal with fostering the whole "Prince in shining armor" dream?

Today I decided it's the inequality of it (I'm only mostly joking)!  Girls spend their lives worried about when their prince will come sweep them off their feet, but not often do you hear of boys concerned with which lovely girl in their lives will be their princess.  In fact, in general I don't think much emphasis is put on their eventual princesses, or how they can be prepared the man that girls are dreaming of at all.

Well, I'm breaking the mold... kind of.

For you see, Eli has a Princess, whom he loves and adores and cares for like a princess should be cared for.  Sure, she's got 4 legs and weighs 400 lbs, but hey, appearances can be very deceiving, for this little lady is all charm, and Eli is smitten! 

This little Princess is a dream.  She's and I have known each other for years and years.  She has followed me from one farm to the next, just waiting to be some little boy's beautiful Princess, and that she is!  Today I am thankful for Princess, not because she is ornery or feisty (which she totally is), but because she is Eli's Princess, and he loves her, and to me THAT is a dream!!!

Sit back and snare a gopher

It occurs to me sometimes that there is a whole lot more I could be doing with my boys.  There is preschool, swim lessons, zoo programs, art classes.  There's gymnastics and baseball, soccer and tumbling. Even around the house I could be doing weekly letters and themed activities.  My Eli is almost five, and while he could count to 10 at 18 months, he hasn't gotten much beyond that.  There is a whole lot out there, and not much of it do we do.  Sometimes I feel guilty about it. Maybe we would be better off getting up and going to some lesson or another, rather than sitting around all morning eating breakfast slowly and playing lego.  Maybe the boys would have a happier summer at the lake if only I had them in swim lessons all year long. 

And then, we go out to the farm to do a whole lot of nothing, and Eli spends half an hour staring at a gopher hole.

And catches a frog in the grass, calmly examining it before he "lets it go back to it's family."

And in the meantime, Silas quietly and independently crawls over piles of wood, up mountains of dirt, and in and out of barb wire fences, staring down horses in the way.   

 And to some, racing off to swim lessons and gymnastics club, this may not seem very productive or educational, but to me it was absolutely beautiful. They will learn to swim this summer when they see all their cousins jumping in the lake.  You should see their tumbling acts as they wrestle on my bed every morning. Next week I may work on the alphabet, and counting past ten, and writing their names.  This week we're going to work on nothing, and enjoy every minute of it. 


And in case you wondered what Baby Brother was doing, he was going for his first horseback ride, just as you would expect a boy of mine to do.

Hi-Ho, The Derry O

The farmer built a fence!

Last weekend we had a work day at the farm.  Jack had a fence, which I didn't take any before pictures of, but which was about the most derelict fence you've ever seen.  You see, for years it was a fence that kept goats in... or rather, a fence which tried to keep goats in.  There were so many pieces of this and that just holding the fence together.  First we tore the old fence down, replaced a few posts, and strung new, clean, sharp wire!  It was a fun day, and the boys were great helpers.

Eli spent most of his time with Jack doing real man's work!

Silas was quite content to hammer.  He wore through his plastic, Home Depot hammer and moved on to a real one. 

And after five hours we had a fresh new fence, just for Jack.  Most of you can't appreciate just how nice it is, but trust me, it's nice.  Here's to no barb wire incidents this month...

A Visit to Paradise

Not everyone was as lucky as I was to have a place to call home every summer doing something I absolutely loved!  I was able to work (can you call it work when you are doing everything you ever dreamed of doing?) on a farm in Bragg Creek, Alberta, helping with a riding school and farm camp.  Honestly, I loved every minute of it. I still call Flying Goose Farm home!  Carmen Pearson, who ran The Goose, for as long as I remember has been a teacher, mentor, boss, mother and friend.  A few years ago Carmen and her family moved from the beautiful Foothills of Alberta to the incredible Gulf Island of Mayne, in the Strait of Georgia.  So, while in Victoria, I just had to take the trip to visit her on her little bit of paradise!

We stayed at the resort Carmen now owns, Blue Vista Resort. Honestly, if you've ever wanted to visit the Gulf Islands, go to Mayne and stay at Blue Vista. It was charming, beautiful, and I fell totally in love!

We stopped at the Mayne Island Farmers Market, where Eli bought a real quill and ink to write with and I bought a delicious raspberry pie for dinner at the Pearson's. I love small town farmer's markets more than anything!

Once we met up with Carmen, she took us straight to the beach to shuck oysters for dinner.  Guess what? I didn't eat them, but it was fun to "harvest" them.  Apparently there is something about the ocean streams, or the tides, or something, that makes the oysters and clams on the beaches of Mayne edible and not chalk full of toxins.  We also learned that when you harvest the oysters you have to throw the shells back to the beach, because the baby oysters live on the backs of the big ones, so to keep the population up, you just throw back the shells.  There is also something about the ocean streams that make the Mayne climate much more mild than other places. We watched the rain pour in Vancouver while the sun was shinning on Mayne. It was beautiful. 

 

Eli thought the beach was pretty cool.  We found the only sea star that wasn't firmly stuck to a boulder.  Eli wanted to take it home as a pet, but we convinced him to leave it there with his family.

This crab also almost came home with us. 

Andrew, Carmen's husband, and one of my favourite British men in the whole world because as long as I can remember he has always called me "Love,"  took us for a ride in his boat to see the Sea Lions on an island just off Mayne.

We sat and watched them bark at each other for half an hour, fighting for a place on that rock, disappearing in the rising tide. It was pretty cool.

It was so nice to just explore the island. The 21 square km didn't take long at all to cover, but we enjoyed every bit of it.  Carmen told us all about the sordid past of the island, from the rum runs during American Prohibition (Carmen's house sits on "Smugglers Cove" where the rum runners would beach when runnig from the US authorities), to the deportation of the Japanese settlers during WWII.  She also told us about all the islands around, many of which were privately owned by people much more wealthy than me!  Oh to own an island just to throw some peacocks and goats on it.  In another life...  The greatest part though was being able to enjoy the company of dear old friends!

Carmen's kids, who I watched grow up on the farm, were both there for the summer. I can't believe how grown up and wonderful they both are!  Love them. 

Kay, this could have possibly been my favourite thing on Mayne Island: Car Stops. They were all over the island, places where you could stand to hitch hike to wherever you needed to be.  No place was very far, but if you didn't want to walk, you could just catch a ride with whomever came along.  Awesome.

Honestly, pack up right now and go.  If you are going to fly, fly into Victoria though, because the ferries are cheaper to and from there (and maybe you'll be as lucky as we were and see killer whales from the ferry as you travel!).  However you get there, you will love it, I promise!

Here's a video I made years ago with all my pictures from Flying Goose Farm.  There are a few of you out there who will appreciate the memories!