A day well spent

Today was wonderful!  I woke up to my sister getting ready to head on over to our friend Nick's house, to help him decorate his Christmas tree, so of course I decided that I wanted to join in the fun!  Last night and today heralded the true arrival of Winter for this area, as we got our first real snowstorm of the season!!  We've had about 25 centimeters (or about 10 inches) of snow fall in the last day (and it's still falling as I write this!), and as we headed out the door this early afternoon, it was simply gorgeous!  Lovely snow swirling everywhere.  We walked happily, singing Christmas songs, and being very happy that we could enjoy so much snow without putting up with so much cold (the coldest it's gotten today was -5C.  For most of the day it was even warmer!).

Once at Nick's house, we set to work decorating the tree...If something that's so much fun can even be called "work". :-)












I am a total sucker for reflective ornaments.  I can't resist taking a ton of pictures of them!



"Look! All three of us are in this one!"

 


We had a brief hot chocolate break, and then continued with the tree decorating (while struggling with the two very inquisitive dogs who are VERY good at getting in the way, and seem strangely attracted to the most breakable ornaments...). 





We even decorated the rest of Nick's house with ribbons!



Then, once we were done with all of our that, we surveyed our finished work...



The three proud decorators, me, Nick, and Emi. :-)

After a (fairly large considering it was nearing supper time) snack, we settled down to watch a favourite Christmas movie from Emi and my childhood, The Muppet Christmas Carol.

We couldn't finish it before supper, so Emi and I headed back through the snowy wonderland (well, the mostly wonderland.  We did have to move into a driveway to avoid a snowplow at one point, who, though we were in plain sight and had not just popped up in front of him, showed no signs of either veering to avoid us or slowing down.  A very common occurrence with snowplows around here...) for a (very quick) supper of homemade lentil soup.  I uploaded my photos from the afternoon, then we headed back over to Nick's house, where we were joined by Trev as well for the remainder of the movie.

When we finished the movie it was still snowing, and looked simply lovely from the window, so there were no complaints from anyone when Nick decided he wanted to go play outside in the snow.  We had a snowball fight, ran around in the middle of the streets (one of my favourite things about snowstorms is how few cars are on the roads), and decided to venture into the woods.  And that was beautiful.  So beautiful!  Even though darkness had fallen a while ago, it was still very easy to make our way through the trees, since the reflection of light from the crisp white snow made it almost as bright as dusk.  Sound is even more muffled after a snowfall in the woods than it is on the streets, and it felt almost holy...  I was sad when we had to head back towards a warm house when Emi's feet started to get too cold.

After getting warmed up with some hot chocolate and cookies, I was still quite happy to head outside yet again for the walk home, despite a bit of wet clothing...  I just adore the first real snowfall of the season!

All in all, it was a day very well spent.

Peace,

Idzie

What life looked like today

My family got some very bad news yesterday. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll probably know what that news was. I'd love to blog about it as well, since to me, blogging is a great outlet, but before putting that news on the net for anyone to view, I think I should check with the person who's bad news it was. So for now, just know that my family is going through a bit of a rough patch, but I'm doing okay, and keeping some mental distance. When I need to think about it, I do, but otherwise, I'm distracting myself, and just going on with life how I normally do.

I could write 'what unschooling looked like today', but I came to a realization just a little while ago; there is no 'what unschooling looked like today'. There's only what LIFE looked like today. Learning IS living, and living IS learning, so why differentiate between the two? If I'm living, I'm learning, and obviously if I'm learning, I'm living! So what did life look like today? So far, I read a bunch of blogs, mainly on unschooling. I read some of Endgame, and thanks to that book, I decided to take a walk.

I love where I live. I love being so close to the water. So that's where I walked, down to the water. It's a bright day today (although as I speak the sun is starting to go down), and fairly warm, with the snow starting to melt. However, the wind is strong, and makes it feel MUCH colder. It was a spur of the moment decision to go for a walk, so of course I didn't even bother changing out of my PJ's before going out! I simply put on my coat, wrapped myself up in my stripey wool scarf, slung my camera over my shoulder, and started out. (I wanted to show you some pictures I took, but blogger isn't cooperating. :-( ) I walked along, huddled in my coat, pretty much just looking at the ground, and in that position I couldn't help but notice how all of the snow was glittering. It was melting a bit today. But since it was still cold, there was lots of ice. Marvelous, glittery, slippery ice. I stopped to take a picture of a random chunk of ice on the street, and I'm very happy with how that shot turned out. :-) I'll use that shot for my photography blog today, and I'll post all the pictures that I wanted to in a separate post when blogger starts working properly. As I walked, I let my mind drift... I listened to the cars go by, and the wind passing by, and saw the beautiful sunlight streaming down... When I got to the water, I had to navigate the ice before I could get to the shore and the patch of grass (actual grass!) where the snow had melted. Just as I got near the shore, the wind suddenly picked up, making my loose pajama pants billow like crazy, and the leaves that had somehow managed to cling to a dead branch rustle wildly. What a lovely welcome! Everything was ice bright, and I quickly started snapping pictures. Note to self: next time I want to take pictures when it's cold out, I should find proper gloves, instead of wearing a ratty old pair of mittens that the wind cuts right through. My hands got pretty cold pretty fast, so I decided to head back. Just as I started to walk away, the wind gusted once more, pushing me away from the water. I love the wind! :-) I was so lost in thought on the way home that I actually walked past my house!

I don't see how anyone could ever not love life, when there's crunchy ice to be cracked, rocks to be kicked, wind to be raced with, clouds to be watched... This was one of those Winter days that lets you know that Spring is on the way. Sure, there will probably be more snowfalls, and there will definitely be many more cold days, but Spring is still on the horizon, moving steadily closer. Everything is just so damn wonderful.

I picked up the mail on my way in, and discovered that my Yukon travel booklet had arrived! I now have travel information from New Mexico, Newfoundland, BC, and the Yukon. So far, the places I want to go to most are Newfoundland and BC. I find it funny that I literally chose the two places that are farthest appart. One on the eat coast of Canada, one on the west!

And that's pretty much it. I continue to read Endgame, and look at the travel info... My family has decided we need to go to more unschooling conferences, and so far we're looking mainly at the Northeastern, We Shine, and Toronto unschooling conferences. Cost is a big issue, and so far We Shine seems o be the best for that... I know that most unschoolers who read my blog are west coasters, but I still have to ask, is anyone else looking into those conferences? It would be awesome to run into people I know online! :-D

Peace,
Idzie

Icy days...

I don't have the energy right now to write a proper post. The cold I had is completely gone (yay!) but I feel grey and gloomy today. However, a few days ago I took pictures of the snow and ice and dogs, and I wanted to post them here.

Icy trees as seen through the window

Fresh snow

Flora

Winston

I'll try and write a proper post later on, since there's been a million different ideas and thoughts flitting through my brain these last few days, and I really want to get some of them written down!

Peace,
Idzie

As the days grow colder

Today it's snowing. I was watching it snow earlier today, the small flakes drifting slowly down, in no apparent rush to reach the ground. Later, the wind picked up, and so did the speed of the flakes, swirling around in miniature flurries, seeming to create momentary ghosts that quickly scatter into thousands of individual shards...

I find it hard to believe, having grown up here, that some people in other parts of the world have never seen snow! Never walked on a frozen lake, or built snow forts... I know it's true, but Winter and snow have always been such a big part of my life that I'd truly miss them. Now here's another thing I don't understand; so called "snowbirds" who leave for warmer parts at the first whisper of snow. I would NEVER want to do that! I'll admit that by the time February rolls around I'm sick to death of brushing snow off the car every single time we want to go somewhere, sick of shoveling, sick of frostbit cheeks and wet pant legs simply from taking a walk. But still, all that is most definitely worth it for the beauty of a fresh, untouched snowfall. And catching snowflakes on your tongue. For the way that snowflakes glitter under a streetlight, and the way your voice is muffled by the blanket of snow. For having a huge snowball fight, then stumbling, still laughing, into the house to warm up by the wood stove, nursing a cup of hot chocolate... In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in a poetic mood, and loving the beautiful snow. I said I hadn't posted pictures for to long, so I'm now going to remedy that.

As the days grow colder...

...I experiment with black and white photography... Doesn't my blog look more interesting that way?

I experiment with sepia tone.

I eat peanut butter fudge.

We become pensive.

I watch the snow.

We pull out our fuzzy sweaters.

We happily move inside to escape from the cold outside.

We go to Emi's pipes and drums school Christmas party.

I continue to make lots of yummy stirfry's.

I read about paganism.

I continue to find cool names.
And the cats put in even more snuggle time.

May you all have beautiful cold weather days.

Peace,
Idzie

Snow, shovelling, and poetry...

It snowed yesterday and today, which means Emi and I got to shovel for the first time this Winter. Just lovely. It's only a couple of inches, just enough to cover the ground, and it's awful and slushy. Now it's raining.

In other news, I wrote another poem. It was in response to a poetry marathon thing, so the first line of my poem is from the poem above mine. I also posted it on my poetry blog.

Oh, and how about this new layout? After seeing Emi's blog, mine just seemed so boring... So I made it less boring! I love the colors, and I just feel like it has a very nice, cozy, wintery feel to it. :-)

I'll leave you with a couple of photo's of what it's like outside. Hope you have prettier weather!

Peace,
Idzie

SNOW

Guess what?

IT'S SNOWING!!

Big wet flakes that melt on tongues and catch on eyelashes. That sting your face and delight your soul. That make wet sounds as they hit the pavement and melt, yet cover the lawn in a carpet of white wonder... The first snowfall is always something magical and soul lifting! Each new season brings such joy, that it would be absolutely impossible for me to pick a favorite season. I always tell people that my favorite seasons are the current one and the next one! The world never ceases to amaze me, to uplift me, to make me unbelievably happy. So here's to the wonder of life.

Peace, love, happiness, and lots of snow,

Idzie