the season of engaging

Today my thoughts have been turning to elections. I feel an immense gratitude that I live in a time and place where I will be casting at least 3 votes in the next few months. My union's executive committee elections will be held in two weeks. My local municipal councillor has just resigned and so a by-election has been called, and the premier of Ontario has also just stepped down. Three very different levels of leadership, all bearing great impact on my life and my family's life, and I get a say in who fills each of those roles.

I have to admit it, and I do so almost guiltily, but I love politics. I don't love the abuse and scandal that is part and parcel, but I love the whale, despite the barnacles. Leadership, to me, on any level, whether it be the Prime Minister or a camp counsellor, is a sacred and wonderful thing. The struggle of differing ideals and opinions, the collective will to rise up and forge a path forward, and the entrusting of individuals with the power and authority to be our guides, our governors and our champions, is thrilling stuff. When I engage myself in politics, I feel connected to humanity the way gardening and camping connects me to the earth. It's not about party affiliations, petty scandals or even tax breaks- I just love being a part of something bigger than myself. I want to care about decisions being made now that will send ripples through the lives of my grandchildren. I want to understand the role my country is playing in events halfway around the world which I would otherwise be oblivious to. I want to know the values of the leaders who will be negotiating the next collective agreement with my employer.

This isn't a political blog. But it is a place where I try to share my grasps at this Good Life I'm always going on about. It's where I do some of my most public internal wrestling. Right now, the season outside is Autumn. Harvest Time, Holy October. But within me, it is the season of Engaging.

Some people would grumble and gripe about one upcoming trip to the polls, let alone three. Not me- I am excited. We live in a great time- one where not only powerful, white men make the decisions, but young and old, wealthy and poor, female and male, any race or colour, can cast and equal vote and say "This is what I want for my family, for my community, for my country" and each voice is heard clear and loud.

In a short while, I will have a new union president, a new municipal councillor, and a new premier. The very fabric of my workplace, my town and my province will be in the hands of three people whom I will have a say in electing. Some days, my soul is turned so inwardly that all my thoughts are consumed by a rising ball of dough or a needle and thread. But lately, it is flayed open and stretched to the changing winds, and I feel both a heady excitement and a sobering appreciation for the right and privilege to be a part of shaping the things to come.

ads

My goal is for this space to contribute to my family's income someday. I don't plan to have a job outside the home forever.
I added Google's AdSense to the blog, on the right sidebar, to see if it is worthwhile. They pay a small commission every time someone clicks on an ad posted on your blog. I'm going to give it a try. I apologize if anyone finds it tacky or offensive. I don't choose the ads. Right now I see there is one for hand gun training. I have no idea how Google's computers decided that firearm training was relevant to anything I've ever written here. Oh well. I will give it a bit of time.

Just wanted to let you know :)

transitioning

It has been a rough ride going back to work, I'm not going to lie. My house is a capital D-isaster. Laundry? Find something not too dirty in that pile over there. Dishes? I can eat ice cream with a butter knife. Dog hair? Let's call it above-floor insulation.

Don't call Children's Aid on me please, I promise that my child is dressed in a clean diaper and fresh clothes every morning, and does not play in filth. I'm just finding that balancing work, motherhood and domestic responsibilities causes a quick and utter lapse in the obviously least important of the three.

I have enjoyed returning to work. I love spending my days outside in this glorious Autumn weather. I arrive at work before 7, and walk to my area listening to the Arctic wolves howl and yip at the sunrise, their breath rising in steamy clouds between the trees. I rouse the otters from sleep and let them outside, and release reindeer out into their paddock. Their antlers are bare now, all that lovely velvet rubbed off, a sure sign of fall. The jaguars hesitate at their doors before venturing out, not quite sure if the chill is worth it. The flamingoes don't seem to care; they will stay outside until their legs are stuck in the frozen pond. The beavers are furiously munching away and cluttering up their viewing window with fresh sticks, hunkering down for the deep cold ahead.

Yes, I love my job. I miss my son terribly while I am away at work, but I would be lying if I told you that I hated leaving every morning. I enjoy the adult conversation, the rewarding work, and the physical exertion. And I am that much more excited to see Hunter and enthusiastic about whatever he's up to when I get home, having not seen him all day. He likes daycare, and although I do remember making snide comments like "why would you have kids and then pay someone else to raise them?" before I had one of my own, I now truly appreciate that other saying, "It takes a village..." and how very true that is. Even if some of the villagers require monthly withdrawals from my bank account.

The fact is that parents usually need to work. I am blessed, because I actually enjoy my work. I struggle with guilt just like any parent (a friend once told me that motherhood is just one big 18 year-long guilt trip), but when it comes down to it, Hunter enjoys daycare. He has never played strange with anyone and I attribute that to being exposed to lots of new people at an early age. We are both ecstatic to see each other at the end of the day, and, since I am not burnt out by a job I hate or by chasing him around all day, we go home and enjoy each other's company.

Yes, we are long on love around here, but short on clean socks. I don't mind.

Tonight, I have for you, dear friends, an easy-peasy, tried-and-true recipe for natural, homemade doggie skunk shampoo!
Not exactly what I felt like doing at 10 o'clock on a Wednesday night, but, when is it ever a good time for your dog to get tagged by a skinky mustelid?

Last time one of my dogs got sprayed, it took days of shampooing with so-called "skunk shampoo" from the pet store before she smelled any kind of normal again. Today, after a good scrub down on the porch and a follow-up with his regular coconut shampoo, he's lying in his bed in front of the tv, and you'd never know anything funky had happened.

best part, I had all the stuff in my kitchen cupboard!

Here it is, hope you never have to use it!


Homemade Skunk Rinse For Dogs:

4 cups hydrogen peroxide
1 cup baking soda
squirt of dishwashing liquid

Mix in a pail of warm water, scrub dog down using the whole pail, then rinse.
I followed up with a regular shampoo and rinse, but you might not find that necessary.

October...

...is a month of reverence for me. It is the month I look forward to all year; the start of the season that makes my blood hum and my bones quiver. September is full of hints; those particular trees that shock us by suddenly turning red before any others, and that subtle shift in the air that reminds us. Autumn is coming.

Some deep instinct makes us suddenly crave the hearth, and my dinnertime thoughts turn from salads to stews. Out come the slippers, the throw blankets, the door snakes and the crock pot. The primal urge to hunker down and nestle together tugs on my subconscience. 

But oh, oh, oh, how I love to be outside in Autumn. There is nothing better, and my heart sings with excitement as i write this, nothing better than spending a crisp fall day outdoors, filling my lungs with that glorious fresh air, and then coming home to a cozy evening inside, with a casserole maybe, a hot mug of tea, and a favourite movie. 

I. Love. Autumn. 

It's more than just my favourite season. It is the Time of Grace. The season of harvest. Of bounty after a hard summer's work (for many, anyway, and hopefully someday for me, too). Of blissful relief after the oppressive heat of summer. There is something about Autumn that always draws me back to my Maker- makes my soul call out for something greater. It is a sacred time of year for me, and I'm not sure I understand it well enough to articulate it any more than that. I think it's something inane in human nature, maybe in all life. Perhaps it is because, in days long ago, this was our final season of relative comfort before the trials and hardships of winter. Perhaps these Autumn days were once full of thanks for their lingering warmth, and prayers for strength and provision in the coming cold and darkness ahead. I'm sure of it, in fact, and maybe the echoes of the prayers of my ancestors is what I feel when I see the forests around me ablaze with colour and my breath catches and my skin tingles. 

There is no fear in winter anymore, for many of us. The thermostat gets cranked up and snow tires are installed, but the grocery list doesn't change, there is no scrambling to stack the last cord of wood, no long underwear to mend, and little meaning in the changing of the clocks beyond a stolen extra hour of sleep. Winter is a season for snowboarding, holiday shopping and Caribbean vacations.

But that instinctual tingling is still there, oblivious though we may be. The urge to camp on the couch with a steaming mug of cider, the quickening of our blood as we walk around outside; we have done a fairly thorough job of stamping out our primal nature in the last hundred years or so. But not completely.

October still makes every fibre in me tingle. It makes me want to fall to my knees in a pile of glorious red and yellow leaves and thank God that I have not been completely severed from my connection to the Earth. It makes me want to dig my hands and feet into the ground and fall asleep with the trees, and meditate until Spring on reforging that bond.

Hallowed October, Welcome.

I took a video of myself trying the firefly pose today. I am working on getting it uploaded but my blackberry and imac don't seem to be speaking the same language right now. Hopefully I'll get it posted later this evening!

this moment

Joining SouleMama for This Moment today.

It's been about a month but I'm ready to get back into this space again (and I will post that video, I promise). I'm back to work full time now and it has been a huge adjustment, learning how to manage my time again, hence my temporary absence here. But my fingers are itching to write again, and what could be a better day to share my thoughts than the day my baby boy completes his first turn around the sun. One year old.

May all your dreams come true. I love you more than life itself.