Little Acorn

A post so monumental that I can't even think of a title...

You may have noticed that things have been a wee bit quiet around the Little Acorn corner of the web. You might have thought that I'd run out of things to talk about, but it's far from the truth. In fact, BIG THINGS have been going on at our house. BIG BIG THINGS that will change our life forever but that I didn't feel ready to talk about. Mostly because these BIG THINGS are also GOOD THINGS and we were afraid that it wouldn't work out. Nothing is ever totally guaranteed,  but things are looking pretty certain now, so we thought it was time to let the world in on our news. David and I are giddy with joy to tell you that soon a baby will be joining our family through adoption from Vietnam. This will be our first child and we have all the excitement/fear/happiness/apprehension/brain fog/glee/worry/joy that all expectant parents have. We've been in the process for quite awhile now. Anyone who knows anything about adoption knows that there is much red tape to be navigated, many forms to be filled out, doctors to visit, social workers to impress, government departments to be wrangled with, home inspections to pass and many flaming hoops to be jumped through in order to prove that we are suitable to be parents. We have been judged worthy, and now we wait to be matched with the little one who will become our child.

Do you know who the baby is?
Nope. Not yet.  We do know that the baby will be a boy or a girl, and he or she will likely be about 4 to 6 months old when we bring him or her home from Northern Vietnam.  We hope to have the adoption completed by the end of this year, but it's unpredictable and it could end up being a little or a lot longer than that. The baby that will be our son or daughter is likely growing in their first mother right now, soaking in the sounds of their family and Vietnam, growing strong and getting ready to be born. With all the joy that we are experiencing in preparing for a baby, we never forget the birth family and the hard choices and losses that will lead to the formation of our family.

When will you know?
In the autumn we should get the news that our application to Vietnam has been approved and that we have been matched with a baby. 2 to 3 months after that we will travel to Vietnam for 3 or 4 weeks to complete the adoption and have the baby's immigration paperwork processed so that he or she can come home to Canada. During our time there, we also hope to be able to explore the city of Hanoi and the surrounding area, while at the same time transforming into a family of three.

Why does it take a few months to be able to travel to get the baby?
Once our daughter or son is identified for us the final parts of their adoption is processed in Vietnam. There is just as much paperwork on the other end as there was for us. Just as we had to prove to our government that we are suitable parents, the baby must be proved to be truly in need of a family by the adoption authorities in Vietnam.  There are also medical checks to be done and paperwork to go back and forth between Canada and Vietnam before we are ready to board that plane. That wait to travel will undoubtedly be the hardest part of the process - although we're also not looking forward to 30+ hours of travel time home with a possibly screaming baby.

So is this going to be an adoption blog now?
No. There will be the occasional update on the adoption process as we wait and of course you'll share in all our good news as it comes, but the focus of the blog will still be crafting, homekeeping, gardening and cooking. It is definitely going to be a "crafting for baby" and a "decorating for baby" and a "getting the house ready for baby" blog for awhile. I've been busily sewing and knitting and crocheting, and the room we were painting on Canada Day wasn't just the small bedroom, it was the small bedroom that our wee one will sleep in.  Before now I couldn't show you anything, as you are all smart enough to figure out that something was up, and it might have made us break our news before we were ready. Now that it's out there I can start sharing all the projects I've been working on. Right now I am making things for both girls and boys as trying to just be neutral is too difficult, especially when just about everything in my fabric stash has blossoms on it. Anything that isn't gender or age appropriate once we find out who our baby is will likely be sold on Etsy.

So there. It's out there. ME - soon to be Mama.
Eek.

 

My Favourite Poet (A Guest Post By David)

My favourite poet is Shane Koyczan. I hadn't heard of him before Saturday. But now he's my favourite poet.

On Saturday, Lisa and I attended an arts & cultural festival in Port Alberni, British Columbia. Forest Fest is a somewhat strange mix of music, spoken word, art, blacksmithing, insect bites, and forestry, reflecting the heritage of the lovely Alberni Valley. In the morning, we proudly watched as Lisa's mother gave a public reading of a rocking good short story - so good that total strangers approached her later in the day to say how moved they were by it. So the trip to Port Alberni was worth it just to witness her triumph. But, as a bonus, we got Shane.

In the afternoon, we attended performances by a trio of big-name Canadian spoken word artists. We were familiar with two of the performers (indeed, we had seen them on other occasions), but Shane Koyczan was a new name. Given his apparent rock-star status in the poetry world, it's kind of strange we'd never heard of him; but given that he's a poet, maybe it's not so strange. Not many (any?) poets are household names these days. Though after seeing Shane Koyczan, you feel that, in a perfect world, he would be a household name. On the other hand, you also feel that he's speaking both to you and for you, and as such, not everybody is going to get him, just like not everybody gets you.

Shane's poetry is for the common people. There's nothing academic about cutting open your heart for the world to see. His poetry is unabashedly sentimental, emotional, romantic, sensual, humanist, and so inspirational, you feel like cheering him along. I laughed, I cried - literally.

A thirty-minute performance wasn't nearly enough. Fortunately, Shane lives in Vancouver, which means (we hope) he probably makes it over to Vancouver Island on a reasonably regular basis. I'll be watching for him to return - we'd drive a long way to catch a reading by him.

Shane, if you ever Google Blogsearch your name, send Lisa an email the next time you're in Victoria. We'll make you an excellent homecooked meal.

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I am making a point of not watching much YouTube of Shane. I feel his brand of slam/performance poetry is best experienced live in person. But for anybody who's interested in a taste, these are two good pieces. The first is obviously one of his signature pieces - he performed it Saturday. The second I like for its unrepentant love of (old school) Degrassi.

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Some quotes from Lisa:

"He was a surgeon for my battered heart. At times it was as quiet and precise as a scalpel that's so sharp you can't even feel it slice the skin, but sometimes the only tool for the job is a thoracic saw, noisy, bloody and painful"

"How can anyone doubt that poetry is important? It made me feel more human, more alive, more sure of my awesomeness and more connected with myself and every other person in the world. If there's a higher calling than that I don't know what it is"

Oh, Canada!

Tomorrow is Canada Day and we'll be celebrating our great nation by painting the small upstairs bedroom. Not how many people choose get festive on their day off, but I'm looking forward to it. After that room then there is just ONE ROOM LEFT in our renovations. ONE! It started out with nine and soon it will be ONE! I'm pretty psyched about it as we've been at it for years (with lots of breaks, of course). Our fuel for the day will be a candy that truly makes me proud to be a Canadian, the Lowney's Cherry Blossom.
These are a very nostalgic sweet treat for me. Neither the product nor the yellow box with the cherries has changed since I was little. They're not a very adult taste and if you didn't grow up with them you might not like them as they're on the edge of being painfully sweet, but I love them. As far as I know they are just a Canadian thing, although they may be a Canadian and British thing, I'm not sure. I do know that they're delicious and their drippy sugaryness makes me feel like I'm 5 again every time I eat one.

Milk chocolate with both peanuts and coconut, cherry syrup, cherry cream and a maraschino cherry. Yum. I don't suggest you cut them in half before you eat them though - it guarantees a huge mess. Cherry Blossoms are not meant for sharing! I guess that's why David bought 5!

This Post Rated X

There's a lot of romance out in the garden lately. The birds and the bees, you know. But when I came across this display of raw animal invertebrate passion, I just had to go in for the camera. Yes, that's right - I caught snails doing it. I admit it - I was fascinated. The snail population in my yard is a little...dense...for my liking, but I just couldn't break these two lovers up. Oh, the slithery embrace. Oh, the slime.
I watched for a really long time...

Little Acorn?

It's hard to name a blog. Really hard. There were a LOT of contenders, but none of them were just right. David made insane helpful suggestions like "Petting Zoo Fire" but in the end it came down to Little Acorn. So why Little Acorn you ask? Or maybe you don't ask, but I'll tell you anyway. Well, there is my unabashed love of squirrels and all things squirrely. Squirrels/acorns - it seemed to fit. Then there is my love for the band The White Stripes. They have a song called "Little Acorns". Not my favourite song, but nothing else White Stripe-y seemed to belong as a blog title. But mostly there was the first Little Acorn... In 2005 David and I fostered Mama kitties and their babies for the summer. We got all the joy (and mess and craziness) of a house full of kittens and then would tearfully happily send them off to find their homes. We were the only  suckers do-gooders who would take in a mother and daughter cat duo with their 7 + 3  kittens. Yep, that's right. 2 adult cats with a total of 10 mental kittens between them. David and I said we wouldn't, but of course we named all the kittens and we loved them fiercely for the time they were with us. Mostly when it was time to go, I'd get a little sniffly and then send them off. But our last group of 3 kittens was...special. There was the Mama kitty - her SPCA name was Patches, but when my Mom decided that she would give her a good home she became Belle, the prettiest, cuddliest, most affectionate and lately the ROUNDEST calico on earth. She had three kittens - Tenzin (after Tenzin Norgay, because he loved to climb), Ember (a sooty tortoiseshell with just a few flames of orange) and Acorn... I don't know why or how Acorn got her name, but I know I gave it to her and it was just right. She was a mottled nut brown and her and I just connected. David loved crazy-kitty Tenzin best, but Acorn and I... Okay, those of you who aren't cat people won't understand, but she was just THE ONE, you know? I loved Acorn so much and when she went back to the SPCA I cried and cried and cried. I wanted to run back there and take her home where she belonged, but I didn't and I've regretted it ever since. Acorn should have been my cat. Not that I don't love Musette and Zephyr of course, but I never should have let sweet Acorn go. I hope she is having a lovely life. I hope her people are kind and I hope they realize that they've got a truly great cat. I hope her world is full of treats, soft voices, loving touches and warm places to sleep. Oh dear. Now you're all going to think I'm insane. One of those crazy cat ladies. Maybe I am.
 
Oh - and if I ever have a band, I'm totally naming it "Petting Zoo Fire".

Forty garage sales later...

...and this was all we bought. One single ceramic squirrel container. 50 cents. I didn't even have to bargain. We stopped at 40 garage sales in about 2 1/2 hours and drove by many more. It was Garagellenium - an annual event where a neighbourhood in our city has hundreds of garage sales all on the same day. David and I are absolutely sure that the hundreds of sales we DIDN'T go to had all the good stuff and we were unlucky enough to just go to all the ones with junk. We haven't been in years and probably won't go again. I do enjoy my squirrel container though. Now what should I put in it? Nuts just seems too obvious.

Peonies, finally

Just about a month late, my peonies have finally started to bloom and I've brought in my first tiny bouquet. The pink which is just opening up is a very fragrant Sarah Bernhardt and the white which has been blooming about a week is a Shirley Temple. The Shirley Temple was mislabeled at the nursery, but it turns out to be one of the stars of my garden. It has huge white blooms just tipped in red here and there and the smell is heavenly. It only takes two peonies to make my kitchen smell swoon-worthy. Come in closer for a sniff...

Oh, that's right. Can't smell things on a blog. Too bad. Trust me - swoon-worthy.
The little cream jug this bouquet is in is from the Hotel Minerve in Paris. David liberated it for me from the breakfast tray on our last day in Paris way back in 2002. Ahhhh, Paris. David and I spent nearly a month there, seeing the sights, being crazy in love, taking a million non-digital photographs and getting rained on day after day after day (and NOT proposing or accepting a proposal of marriage, but that's another story). It was a record settingly cold and wet spring - but we were in Paris and in love, so the weather didn't matter. I love this little jug and all the memories it carries with it. Whether it's holding peonies in the summer or hot chocolate in the winter, it always makes me smile.

What's Blooming?

This is year three for most of the plantings in my garden and things have really settled in, spread out and started to bloom. There were some casualties though. Our harsh winter seems to have done in the calla lilies and I've lost the battle with the snails over the lupine. The large leafed hostas look pretty chewed up as well so they may get gifted to a gardener with less of a snail problem (or one who is more willing to go to war with them). The smaller leaved variegated ones are fine though. Who's to say what's super tasty to a snail?  What I like best about the finished area of the garden is that it's becoming quite low maintainence. My goal was to have no bare dirt, and without bare dirt after my big weedfest in early spring I really only pull the odd weed throughout the summer. Now that the plantings are established it doesn't need much watering and the shrubs are finally getting tall enough to start giving us the privacy we were needing. If only I could talk David into getting rid of the grass, then there wouldn't even be any mowing to do. Finally I can be out in that area and just enjoy it without seeing all the work to do. Of course there are still other areas that are basically wild right now - heaps of dirt, blackberries, binderweed, herb robert, dandelions, chickweed and other nameless weeds. Once my whole garden was like that though, so slowly it's being converted.

There's lots of colour out there right now, mostly from the foxgloves which blooming in white, purple and every shade of pink and from the Nelly Moser clematis, which is blooming it's heart out this year with huge dinner plate sized pink and white blooms. The one plant that is repeated in my garden a lot is Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla Mollis). It's just so easy care and attractive and it seems happy in every situation I've got it in, from hot and dry to partly shady and damp. It's a big blousy plant with interesting leaves and I love the acid yellow colour of the tiny blooms.
I'm still waiting on my peonies this year. Everything is late after our long cold winter, but the peonies which usually bloom around my birthday are still a couple of weeks away.

More Butterflies

Where does the time go?

Whew! I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged! I guess I was just so happy to not be sick anymore that I had to get out of the house and start doing things. As soon as I felt like getting up off the sofa I wanted to do something better than just go get some groceries or any of the other errands I hadn't been up to before. We made a day of it and headed out for a day of butterflies, lunch, farm stands, thrift stores and aimless back road driving. We ended up getting a seasons pass last time we were at Butterfly Gardens and we really enjoy just stopping in for a little walk around and to take a few pictures when we're out that way. What you will not see is a picture of me after Butterfly Gardens. The humidity does bizarre things to my hair...

My garden is growing like crazy and we've been eating a fresh picked salad almost every night. Isn't the colour of this lettuce gorgeous? It's a french heritage lettuce called "Continuity" or "Marvel of the Four Seasons". It's fast growing, tasty and so very pretty. The flowers in my garden are pretty, but the lettuces really appeal to me in a way the flowers just don't. You will get flower pictures soon though, I promise.
We also fit in a little thrifting where I bought this wee dolls chair. David thinks I should paint it some fun colour, but I'm not sure if I like the well loved patina that it's got or not. We also bought a beautifully made vintage dresser that is definitely getting a coat of paint. I'll show you the before and after once I'm done.

David and I have had a burst of energy and motivation to get the last of our renovations done, so most nights after work and weekends find us plastering, drywalling, installing trim and painting. My bedroom is going to be sooooo beautiful when it's no longer the colour of pepto-bismol! Even last weeks heat wave didn't slow us down and Friday night found us in our underwear at 11pm painting. No -there are DEFINITELY no pictures of that!!!

Sleep is good

I was right. Finally getting a good nights sleep really made a difference. After 9 hours in bed with just a few breaks for coughing I feel almost like a new woman today. There's a spring in my step and a desire to get up off the sofa and get things done. Yay!

Sick, but productive

Yes, I'm still sick. Really sick. So sick that even though David had planned an entire weekend of birthday fun and a special evening on Monday (my actual birthday) I couldn't enjoy any of it. That led to me feeling sick AND sorry for myself. The worst part is that I'm not sleeping more than a couple of hours a night so I'm a total mess each and every day. Today I might be feeling a bit better, but it's hard to tell since I'm so tired. If I can just get a decent  sleep then I think things will really look up. It's been 7 days now. At 10 I guess I'll go see the doctor if things haven't improved. I'm continuing to be productive though. I'm one of those people that always needs to have busy hands so I've been crocheting granny squares for the past few days. Granny squares have always been one of my favourite craft projects because they're just so repetitive and soothing. Sewing all those ends in is less fun, but once you find your rhythm it can be pretty trance-inducing as well.
 

Lost Long Weekend

It was the Victoria Day long weekend here. Most of our friends and neighbours celebrated by getting outside to play, having barbecues, enjoying the parade, soaking up the sun and other generally pleasant pastimes. How did David and I spend our weekend and every day since? Taking turns being sick. REALLY SICK. Not swine flu sick, but still SICK. I won't go into details - they're too horrible. David started it all by coming home with a sore throat on Friday and I took good care of him through the weekend, until on Tuesday when I succumbed. For a couple of hours I insisted that I was only really thirsty and that I didn't have a sore throat, but by dinner time on Tuesday I admitted I was sick and I've been getting sicker ever since. Hopefully today is my worst day and by tomorrow I'll be feeling a little better. The one good thing about being stuck inside on the sofa watching movies for days on end is that there is a lot of time for knitting. I could only work on a super mindless project so I made this wee kimono-style sweater. The pattern is here on the lion brand website - you might need to sign up to see it, I'm not sure. I modified it so that the edges wouldn't roll, but other than that kept the pattern as written. Super easy and a very satisfying quick knit with yarn like rope and super huge needles. Endless stockinette was just what my jelly-like brain craved. I think it turned out pretty cute.  

Potatoes

Yes - that's a growing potato plant. I bet you didn't think much about the "plant" part of potatoes, did you? Maybe it's my eastern European ancestry, but I LOVE potatoes. When I started to think about growing food the first thing that came to mind was potatoes. Organic, tasty and interesting potatoes like you can't find in the grocery store. Back in April my seed potatoes went in and I waited, and waited and waited, but FINALLY my potatoes are taking off! Mmmmmm. Baked potatoes. Scalloped potatoes. Mashed potatoes. Roasted potatoes. Boiled potatoes. Hash Browns. Steamed potatoes with butter and dill. Au gratin potatoes. Potato salad. Potato pancakes. And of course - fries. I deep fry exactly twice a year - Valentine's Day and David's birthday - and on both those occasions the dish is french style frites with parmesan, parsley and garlic with an aioli dipping sauce. I hope some of my homegrown potatoes make good frites...

Much Prettier

I couldn't leave you over the weekend with a picture of raw meat, could I? Instead I'll leave you with the plant I love the most in my garden. This subtle beauty is variegated Solomon's Seal, officially known as Polygonatum Odoratum "Variegatum". It was a charity plant sale treasure three  years ago, and although it's been painfully slow to establish and the slugs and snails like it a bit too much, it's still become my favourite. This year it has really begun to spread, and it is finally starting to live up to the potential I've known it had for years. It's just so pretty. The sweet white bell shaped flowers are just about to open, but I couldn't wait to show you a picture. If you want more information on it, you can check out this site.