Signs of Spring

Putting my photojournalism skills to use once again, I have come up with an exhaustive list of the signs of spring that I have thus far observed:

1. New growth on trees

2. The calendar

3. Cabin fever

A Date!

This afternoon Kendall and I got a babysitter and went snowmobiling. It was nice to be out in creation. Very beautiful in spite of the fact that it is March. Following are some of the most beautiful sights of the afternoon:







(He's tying my boots for me. :) )

Playing with Evan

When Eli is at school, I get to fill his role as playmate for Evan. Mommy (usually) fights less, but she’s so much less interesting. And she just doesn’t get it.

On Wednesday Evan decided that we would play cars. He gave me my allotment and told me to name them. So I started naming them: “Bob. Willie. Mary. Delilah.”

Evan smiled at me like I had a screw loose. He handed me another one and suggested a fitting name: “Fire.”

“No,” I replied, “I think I’ll name it Jennifer.”

He tried another suggestion as he handed me a truck, “Stripes. See? It has stripes.”

“No, this one is Esther.”

“You mean Esther the Brave Queen?” Apparently that name passed. Being brave royalty and all.

He suggested that I call the next one with a blazing pony on the side “Horsepower.”

Finally I named my last car “Twila.” (In honor of you, Mom.) This was the ensuing conversation:

Evan: It looks like Twila.

Me: You mean it looks like Nana?

Evan: Yeah.

Me: Why?

Evan: Because the windshield is in front.

I have no idea. But I’m sure it was a compliment.

Then Evan said, “Okay, now play with them.”

Me: “How?”

Mom just doesn’t get it, does she? And she’s got such a short attention span when it comes to playing with cars. But she’s thankful for a very tolerant son.

Tuesday Morning

Just for kicks, I decided to take pictures of each member of the family Tuesday morning. I'm working on having the kids do more chores. Even though they complain, it seems to make them happy deep down inside.

This is how they make their beds. They always need to tuck in their stuffed animals. See that little blue flowered pillow for the monkey? That was a pillow that Nana randomly sent with Eli
one time as we started a trip from Iowa to Indiana. Somewhere along the way Evan adopted as his own. Finally, he quit cold turkey during our trip south in January. (Not his choice.) I just didn't take it along. He was fine and I knew he would be. Recently I thought it was safe to get it out again. Wrong. Apparently, the deep love he had for the pillow never disappeared. So he loves it again and claims that it is for his monkey. To keep things under control, we let him choose 2 of his "things" to sleep with every night. His choices are blue pillow, blue blanket and monkey.

He enjoyed posing with his work of art.



He's so good at washing dishes. We don't mind a little water on the floor, do we? He complains about it (notice the tongue sticking out at me), but once he gets started, he's often singing or talking contentedly.



Poor Kendall. Two mornings this week he was going to get up early and go ice fishing. First time, the truck didn't start. Second time, there was blowing snow. So he was banished to working on taxes. It's a new experience filing taxes in Canada. Rather confusing with our US income the first half of the year, moving, self-employment, starting a new job, etc. He had our neighbor work with him tonight and I think he's almost done. He's now on night shift 2 of 5 in a row. So I'll see him sometime next week. :( At least we get suppers together. :)





Don't ask me what my job was Tuesday morning. Photojournalism, I guess.

More Blizzard

It snowed so much more today. So much more. I was thinking it was funny- you know, since spring's just around the corner anyway. But I started noticing that the real Red Lakers weren't as amused.

Turns out, spring's not actually just around the corner after all. I mean we're only at the end of March, we've still got a long ways to go. As one encouraging friend informed me today, "Winter never really ends." Sigh.

Blizzard?!

Okay, not literally a blizzard, but too stinking close. This morning Kendall tried for the second day in a row to get up early and go ice fishing. (Yesterday the Blue Weasel refused to wake up.) At 6:15 he crawled back into bed and said that there was blowing snow. When I got up, sure enough. I reluctantly admitted to myself that it was pretty.

I told Eli to look outside. His first response was, "It's raining!"

I told him that it was snow. He looked at me in shock.

"It can't snow!" He knows that it's officially spring and that it is not allowed to snow anymore.

Oh well. We were wrong and there was definitely snow and a lot of it. To look on the bright side, it is officially spring, which means that winter can't last forever. And it is pretty again. We still had lots of snow, but it was icy and dirty.

Just yesterday I was thinking about walking with Evan to pick up Eli at school. I thought I could finally use the stroller! While there was still lots of snow piled around, the sidewalks were much better than they had been. They had been covered partly by snow, partly by ice, partly by slush, partly by puddles and there were parts with the cleared concrete and asphalt. So neither the sled nor the stroller was a good option for walking with Evan.

So Eli and I walked to school. And in the afternoon I pulled Evan in the sled. It was a good workout and as fun as a blizzard in late March can be.

Ice Fishing

Eli and I took the snowmobile to shore to collect firewood.

Eli so happy with his hot dog and chips.

Sleepy Evan

There's something about snowmobile rides on nap-free days that make Evan drowsy. He's out and Eli's stuck.

Okay, it all made me drowsy too.

Saturday was a very warm day. We were out on the lake ice fishing for nearly 5 hours. I sat in the sun (and even got a face tan). As I was sitting there with my eyes closed, it really did feel like summer. My face and hands were warm from the sunshine and the rest of me was well-covered. But of course the fantasy had to come to an end. I opened my eyes and saw the snow. And as the afternoon turned to evening, it got colder and colder.

Oh well, spring is oh so close!

Time Out

This is what I found on the chair regularly used for time out.

Here's a close-up so that you can more fully appreciate Eli's art.
When I confronted Eli about writing on a chair, he explained it all to me: "It's to make time out more fun!"

He'll now be spending time cleaning and/or sanding his beloved time out chair.

On the Brink

My current definition of ‘insanity’ is as follows: Being forced to listen to various renditions of We Are the Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything over and over and over. And over again.

This has been going on for weeks. Weeks, I tell you! Maybe even years. I can’t remember anymore. Insanity is creeping up on me and I am on the brink.

(Oh what sweet relief! Right now I hear Eli half singing, half humming, half whining Oh Where Is My Hairbrush. Yes, you can have 3 halves in this situation. It’s excessive.)

Anyway, this pirate thing. Sometimes it’s a conscious thing- they sing the song and are oh so funny. Other times it’s unconscious- it’s just stuck in their little heads. But it gets stuck in my little head too and my head seems to shrink even smaller with the torturous repetition. Several weeks ago when the song was already getting annoying, I even assisted them by looking up the lyrics online. I was tired of hearing the same few lines over and over.

(Wow. We may be experiencing a wonderful transition at this very moment. I now hear Eli singing I Don’t Have a Belly Button, also recorded by those famous vegetables.)

And, to push me just a bit closer to the brink, the boys listened to a rendition of the pirate song sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks. We, quite unfortunately, came across that thing on youtube. I don’t recommend looking it up. It’s so not worth it.

And just so it's clear...I've never plucked a rooster and I'm not too good at ping-pong and I've never thrown my mashed potatoes up against the wall and I've never kissed a chipmunk and I've never gotten head lice and I've never been to Boston in the fall!!!

Random Thoughts About My Boots (In Relation to My Feet)

Other than our time in the States and a couple weekends away, I am guessing that the number of times I’ve worn shoes out of my home since winter has begun has been less than 10. I wear boots everywhere. If I go to someone’s house or to the school or to the library they usually come off right inside the door. I leave them on at public places and at church.

It is possible that I may be taking this whole Canadian thing a bit too far. It’s just that I don’t slip and slide on the snow in my boots. They keep my feet relatively warm when it’s freaking cold outside. They’re mostly waterproof. All very good things that have helped me be more okay with the winter of Northwestern Ontario.

I thought everyone wore their boots everywhere, and they do wear them lots, but I am noticing more shoes than I originally thought. And I really don’t like the idea of wearing boots to church, then changing into shoes once I’m there. When I walk to church I am definitely wearing boots and I usually wear jeans, so they’re not that noticeable anyway.

But after nearly 5 months of boots and slippers, my feet are feeling the neglect. I’ve been noticing some numbness and aching down my right leg and in my foot. My personal nurse suggested stretching, so I’m doing that. I’m also trading in my slippers for Birkenstocks. So if you were to knock on my door close to bedtime, you might be greeted by me in my fuzzy, red, snowman-speckled pajama pants and my sandals. Peace.

The Profound Significance of Repainting

I’ve been obsessed with a kitchen project for a week now. That would be part of the reason that I haven’t updated for a long time. As you can see by the following photos, I am repainting. I’ve only included "before" and "during" pictures. We are doing a few other projects to go with the repainting, so you will have to wait for the finished product.

Along with repainting, I also cleaned out the cabinets and came up with this table full of...um...items we just don't use (some dating back many, many years with this mission). Some of it went in a garage sale box, some went in a box of things the mission may use again, and some went into the dumpster.

Excuse the mess, but isn't that how "before" pictures are supposed to look?


Yes, those are still Christmas lights, but I left them up on purpose. We can always use a bit more coziness.



Whoa. Not what I had in mind. Too bright and too shiny. I took the paint and got it lightened. Still very bright. I tried lightening it here. Still quite bright. But after 3 tries, I was sick of it. So we still have bright yellow walls, but you'll have to wait to see them until I'm good and ready to show "after" pictures. And the longer I look at the yellow now that it's done, the more I like it. (Over the painting days, it made me nauseous.)

What, you ask, is the profound significance of repainting the kitchen? I’m sure you knew there was something deeper, something more than a coat of yellow paint. Well, Kendall and I have been mulling over the decision of whether to leave when our year is up or whether to stay longer. I always said, “The second we decide we’re staying, I’m repainting the kitchen.” (Our kitchen has the feel of a cafeteria with its wide-open spaces, industrial white walls, huge formica-covered table, folding chairs, freezer, and portable dishwasher.) We haven’t made an official decision, but you may gather from the brightness of our kitchen which direction we are leaning. Okay, we’re more than leaning. It’s pretty much decided, I’m just having a hard time giving the definitive, “Yes, the decision is made.” So Kendall is patiently waiting on that affirmation from me.

I like my life here. I’m enjoying some new friendships. I love the outdoors. There are great things about being in such a small town. I’m involved in some enjoyable activities. The boys are making good friends.

But I also really miss people in Indiana. There are quite a few things I miss about Indiana. I certainly don’t miss it all, but I miss a lot of it. And what I miss, I miss a lot.

It wouldn’t be hard for me to stay here longer. But it is very hard to decide to stay. Does that make sense?

It looks like we will be extending our time here by one year. Most of the time neither Kendall nor I really see ourselves living here long-term. (I cannot believe the number of people I’ve heard say that they only meant to move up here for a short time. And then they stayed.)

And sometimes we wonder if God has something entirely different up his sleeve for us.

There is some grief that goes into this decision. But if we were to leave Red Lake this summer, our time here would, in some way, feel incomplete. (Not that I know what would make it feel complete.)

So this is not an official announcement because that’s a bit too much commitment for me, but it’s something close to an official announcement. You can take the sunny kitchen as proof.

The Definition of Tool (That's 'Cool' in Grown-up Language)

Apparently, cool is all about how you wear your hat.




Evan informed me that this is "tool."





This is "medium."





And this is "nice."

Boys.

They changed into all "black" to do whatever they're doing. I suspect it has something to do with ninjas.




The other night I was on the phone with my family. They ended up at the kitchen sink in their swimming trunks spitting mouthfuls of water at each other.

Bedhead

Outdoors Card

In case you can't read this, this is Karen Y Hochstedler's official Ontario Outdoors Card. I think it's proof of my certified bushwoman-ness.

The Bridge

Last week our generous neighbor stopped by to tell us that he and his wife were going to be out of town for a few days and could we keep an eye on their house. Oh, and here are the keys to the snowmobiles. They're all gassed up and ready to go.

So we gratefully took the snowmobiles out Monday afternoon. We took the boys back to our special spot. It's what Kendall calls "The Bridge," although there is no bridge there. For some reason it's just a special place to me. I was trying to figure it all out as we drove down the trail. It's almost 10 whole years since Kendall first took me to the bridge! Hard to believe. We took a picture of the two of us (newly engaged) that winter. Over the years since then we've visited the bridge when we've been here and taken other pictures there. The last time we were there was 3 years ago. The picture from that time has a very young Eli and Evan is quite obviously there, though not yet born.

So here we are again. Only now we're not just visiting. We're, like, Canadians or something.