Category: FreeForm

  • Why My Car Gets All my Money

    My house needs repairs. It leaks. It needs new windows, one of which has been covered with plastic for at least 2 years. There are pieces missing from the soffits in the front of the apartment above the garage. We just waited four years for a new fridge. Yet, the last time that the car…

  • Appliance Shopping with The Dilettante

    “Hi. I need a new fridge. What’s the smallest one you’ve got that is Energy Star rated?” This has been my opening line for the last four months in every appliance store in Sydney. Nobody was able to answer it. Not one salesperson on any floor in this town was able to point me at…

  • Flooding and the Christmas Conservatory

    We have passed on the traditional Christmas tree this year, after a prolonged conversation in the car regarding the focus of the holiday. My daughter was working her way through the symbolism, and my contention was that the mid-winter holidays, in general, were about feasting in defiance of the prolonged period of cold to come,…

  • Menu for a Blustery Solstice

    We missed the lunar eclipse, hunkered, as we were, against a storm that included/includes 90 km/hr winds. I was up battening hatches at 4 o’clock this morning. This will continue for at least the next two days, apparently. There will be no white Christmas here. Hopefully our missing flock member will manage to make his…

  • Christmas Present Traps

    I am facing the challenge of living up to my claims of simplicity. Also, to my desire not to break the budget. It is ssssssooooooo easy to fall into the “Oh! But I don’t have enough!” trap. It is particularly challenging when you spent a significant portion of the budget on bed construction three weeks…

  • Traditions: Does Rebellion Count?

    Welcome to the December Carnival of Natural Parenting: Let’s Talk Traditions This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants. *** Our approach to traditions has been…

  • Can Knitting Save the World?

    Can Knitting Save the World?

    I said to my husband one night, “Do you know why I started knitting?” He allowed as how he didn’t. I said, “Because everybody else was doing it.” He (understandably) expressed some surprise. Usually I have much better reasons for my activities. At the time (some months ago) I wasn’t even convinced that I actually…

  • On Debates and Being Right

    Margaret Wente has declared the debate on Anthropogenic Global Warming over. Her side has won. We have decided what we are going to do about climate change, and the answer is… nothing. Congratulations, climate change deniers. You played your hand well. Apparently our culture is unwilling to make any sacrifices to preserve an uncertain future…

  • Breast Feeding, Formula and Risk Analysis

    The choice between formula and starvation is a no-brainer. I had an inadequate milk supply. I did. Yes, I tried that. I tried that, too. With my first baby, I saw, oh… something like 17 doctors, lactation consultants, and midwives, including Dr. Jack Newman (the guru of Canadian breastfeeding). There were herbs, and pumps, and…

  • Remembering Montreal

    Hélène Colgan, 23; Nathalie Croteau, 23; Barbara Daigneault, 22; Anne-Marie Edward, 21; Maud Haviernick, 29; Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31; Maryse Leclair, 23; Annie St.-Arneault, 23; Michèle Richard, 21; Maryse Laganière, 25; Anne-Marie Lemay, 22; Sonia Pelletier, 28; and Annie Turcotte, aged 21. In 1989, on December 6, a gunman executed 14 female engineering students at…

  • Book Review: Modern Top-Down Knitting

    I love, I love, I love this book. I covet everything in it. The descriptions of the techniques are detailed, the patterns are gorgeous, and the clothes are up-to-the-minute and stylin’. Also, her sizes go from XS to XXL, and my 40″ bust puts me somewhere in the middle, so these are going to work…

  • My Day of Not-Writing

    Wednesdays are supposed to be writing days, but this week went differently. Today, instead of writing, I took my partner to be discharged from the oncologist  because he’s been cancer-free for two years (yay!) Best doctor ever, BTW, and not just because of the good news. It’s been an odd journey, because I’ve felt like…