Last night conditions were perfect for a camp fire. I watched while Attila burned the last two bags of sensitive data paper in the fire pit, along with the last of the branches from the dead ash tree, and the dead branches from the spruce trees. The piles of brush are gone! But the piles of logs are not gone, they still need to be sectioned and split for firewood. Attila thought he would get this done during the summer and autumn, I guess there is still time, but I am doubtful that he has sufficient free time to get the job done that quickly.
There were many bags full of paper with sensitive data that I purged months and months ago. We burned quite a few bags, here at Mist Cottage, and at the Camp, but there were two full to bursting bags left. These were burned last night, the last of the purged items. It feels very good to have them gone.
I don’t participate in burning the fires, as I am concerned that I will forget myself, and overdo breaking branches to fit into the fire. I’ve always been strong and active in burning brush, and enjoy it, but right now I am reluctant to risk lifting or straining. It is difficult to hold back from activities you have enjoyed all your life.
The view from the kitchen window has improved tremendously with all that brush gone.
On the topic of views, my easy chair faces the living room windows. Since the ash tree outside that window died, and was removed a few months ago, the view out that window is sky and hydro poles, extremely ugly. Not only that, the sun shines into my eyes most of the day now that the shade tree is completely gone.
There is not enough room in our living room to place my chair anywhere else. I have come up with a solution. Every morning I rotate my chair to face away from the window and toward the front door. The window in the door has a lovely view, the crabapple tree, the spruce tree, and the neighbour-across-the-street’s maple tree. The sun no longer shines into my eyes, and the view is lovely. Actually, at this very moment I am watching a black squirrel hop through the branches of the crabapple tree, eating the fruit as they go. [I still struggle to remember to use they as a singular pronoun, after a much more than half a century of using gendered pronouns!]
Every evening I rotate my chair back to face the living room window, which also puts me face to face with Attila and Ginger. Luckily my easy chair is very light, I can rotate it with very little effort.
Small things can make a huge difference to the quality of life.
For the first time I have ordered an item from the US amazon to be delivered in Canada. The experience has gone smoothly so far, but it isn’t over yet, the item has not arrived. The tracking followed the item across the continental US to Cheektawaga, then crossed the border into Canada, landing at Burlington. It was “transferred to another carrier” in Burlington, and there the tracking ends. So far amazon has not provided any information on what carrier has my package, or any further tracking information. I am watching with great interest. The item, manufactured in the US, is not sold in Canada, and if it had been I would have purchased it here. The price on amazon us was $79.99 US, I paid $175.87 CAN.
The purchased item is a stainless steel steam canner, made by Concord. There are companies here that sell Concord products, but not this canner. I have a steam canner, it is aluminum, and I love it. The aluminum is thin, and has begun to develop pits, which will eventually wear through to become holes. To avoid disappointment when the aluminum canner suddenly fails, the stainless steel model will hopefully arrive safely, and be ready for action. Another advantage to it is that I will be able to can several batches at once, which will be very welcome when canning bushels of tomatoes or apples.
So that is my Christmas present, travelling across North America to find me. I love practical gifts!
Our time changed overnight, the clocks jumped back one hour. All of the clocks in the house had to be set back one hour. It is now getting dark a lot earlier in our perceptual day, and getting light earlier in the mornings. Of course, there is no actual change in what happens in the natural world, only in how we experience it.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Sun, Nov 5 at 9:55 AM
3 °C
FEELS LIKE 0
Clear
Wind 13 N km/h
Humidity 69 %
Visibility 24 km
Sunrise 6:49 AM
Wind gust 20 km/h
Pressure 101.9 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 4:53 PM
Quote
“Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go.'”
Maya Angelou
1928 -2014
Hi there! I periodically order items from US Amazon. There can be a major price savings, even with the current exchange rate. And of course there are items available there that can’t be found on the Canadian Amazon. I find that if an item comes over the border to Ontario, the wait is usually about 3 business days. If it comes into BC, it usually takes at least 7 business days.
Glad you brought this up! You reminded me that I should look on the US site for some shoes I’ve been trying to find.
Teri, thanks for sharing your experience with buying through US Amazon! I am a little bit nervous about my order, your description is very helpful! I don’t know what carrier is delivering the item, so that will be interesting. Our usual carrier for CAN Amazon knows our quirky address and the parcels seldom get delivered to the wrong address, so I hope the carrier is our usual one!
I hope your steamer arrives quickly and gives many good years of service. Stainless steel is always better than aluminum. Arizona doesn’t do the time change, but as everywhere else does, anything on the internet happens an hour later than it used to. Now my favorite radio gives “incorrect” time! I think as we are all so connected via the web, each region needs to pick a time zone and keep it.
Thanks Joan, I am looking forward to using this steam canner, I will have to invent a canning project just so that I can give it a first run when it arrives.
That would be confusing, being an hour different than your surroundings!!! Although some people here complain about the time change, it has never really affected me much, I notice it only because I have to change the clocks.
Hi Maggie. I’ve been meaning to catch up with you for awhile. Canning and preserving season is starting to slow down now. It was a good gardening year for some things like peppers and cabbage but crappy for tomatoes and potatoes which we had to buy from local farm shops. About 500 jars of canned food are now sitting on my basement pantry shelves. Only a couple of more batches of apple sauce left to can. We are in the centre of apple country here in the Annapolis Valley with many local orchards close by plus we have some trees of our own. Most of them have been planted in the last 5-10 years so are only just starting to produce. I am also interested in buying a steam canner. I have a steam juicer which I love and I think the steam canner might be just as handy. You mention the stainless steel one which interests me as we recently bought an induction stove which does not work with aluminum. I will check out the Concord steamer. Thanks for the info.
Hi Sandra. Wow, that is a lot of good eating in your pantry, 500 jars! That is a lot of work, a labour of love. Every year there seems to be a unique combination of what does well in the garden and what does not! Thank goodness for local farm shops! We are very lucky here in Ontario as Ontario grown produce in bulk for preservation shows up briefly in our local grocery store; the produce comes from farms in Ontario, but not farms who grow crops near us. When we lived in the little city there were many nearby farms and the local market was wonderful for buying high quality vegetables by the bushel, I miss that.
I had been keeping a keen eye open for a stainless steel steam canner, more versatile than the aluminum model, although not a light. I like that it is also compatible with induction burners, I have a portable induction burner that I can use to can on the back porch, which will be nice in really hot weather. Enjoy the “fruits” of your labour, all that wonderful nutritous food in your pantry!