mumma yaga

Sign at the playground, before the caution tape was put up. Oct. 28     We are seeing the beginning of the age of the Covid Children. It would make a good novel, set in the Black Death, or now. Or is it the Miri Episode on (the original) Star Trek. "Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah."     Our children have gone months without the usual social and  educational development and we will probably be doing this pandemic for another year, or 5.   Robin and Indre just received a new set of Kiwico Kits, which are home-delivered make-it-yourself science projects, and Indre asks her father, "Will we still get kiwi kits when it's not covid anymore?"    The kids must wear a mask to go out and play: talk about sci-fi! Cooties is real. In earlier years many of the children from school stopped at the the park to play together before going home. Most have not been to a park since March. Swings and slides were caution-taped until August, but I haven't seen anyone i...

 oct. 24, Saturday It's just before six in the morning. The rest of the house is asleep. My young self would be shocked that I went to bed before ten on a Friday night. It's still the best night of the week, party night, but at my age, as the work week ends I am tired and it is a pleasure to go to bed early without an agenda for tomorrow. (Before covid when I was chief cook Fridays were often take-out nights because I was too done to make one more meal. But we haven't had take-out since February 26 and it has become a source of pride to stick to our covid protocol.) So I woke early today and it's just me and the ticking clock. I went out to see the day and not even the eastern sky was light. It was so clear and all the main stars were bright. A neighbour's motion light came on and their tree lit up so I went down to the sidewalk to see what was stirring. It was a possum! I have seen her once before near that house. It is so seldom I see a live one, maybe six times i...

 Oct. 23 Indre and I went out to see the day this morning and the fog was all around. We smelled the water in the air, and it seemed as if the other end of our street had disappeared! We took Fig and went to the corner to look for it - but then our end was gone! We've looked at clouds from inside now! ***** It is an act of community spirit to share a seasonal display with one's neighbours. Such a simple thing but when you put decorations up, it says "I'm with you!" to the rest of the street. I liked the colorful messages people put up at the beginning of covid-19.  On the right, an impromptu street game of soccer - all the kids were out! And Nick and I too. Soccer lends itself to social distancing. Bikes and scooters offer another safe play choice.                   *****  A line in this blurb from The Toronto Star made my day. "We can't preach water and drink wine." I haven't heard this before. Is it a "saying" in the Cz...

Oct 21 Squirrel condo: two large luxury nests in a quiet suburban setting.     It has been gloomy and rainy lately but this morning it is warm and windless, though still drizzling. In the morning, first thing, I like to go out and see the day. In the summer it meant greeting the sun already up, but lately it is seeing the sky brighten (or not!) and catching the squirrels frantically preparing for winter. Indre and Robin have begun to go out too to see the day, as part of their morning ritual, take deep breaths of the morning air and make their own weather predictions.     What a lot of work trees do each year! I have had September in Quebec and October in Ontario to contemplate the faith and fortitude of trees. In the spring they wake up and begin producing flowers and leaves in the thousands. In summer their fruits ripen for the reproduction of their species but amazingly for a huge food source for wild animals and humans alike. (They also grow in girth an...

Robin, Indre, Fig and I went to the creek yesterday: The children were not in the least concerned about the cold - a serious wade was on the agenda. Wilderness in the middle of the city.           "As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue Exhaustion and impatience are creating new risks as cases soar in parts of the world. “They have had enough,” one U.S. mayor said of her residents. "* *  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/17/us/coronavirus-pandemic-fatigue.html?referringSource=articleShare   Oct. 18     This is the scare: people are tired of the pandemic. It was the latest rage but we've had enough and want to go back to normal. It is feared that people will just be more reckless and fatalistic and the pandemic will swing wildly out of control. We are burnt out, and just tired of it all, tired and broke and needing a drink in a bar just to feel like the before. People are lonely, lost, scared - we all are, t...

Oct. 17       Here comes the sun.   I think we just bought an all-wheel-drive smart phone. We purchased a Subaru Forester (used), it has all sorts of gizmos and gadgets, but what threw me was that this car will remind me when my nephew's birthday is. And it will know his phone number (I have to tell it first for both of these conveniences, but STILL!)   The trees are beautiful in Etobicoke in the Fall. Each has a garden, or a space of its own, so it has the runway to itself so to speak. It is not a patch in a quilt, it can hold its whole self against the blue sky and be a star. I am glad to be back here to enjoy the autumn I am familiar with. The orange-red maples are first in colour, and the yellows are following and the sumac has gone pink. Fig and I walked to the field this afternoon. We usually go in the morning and meet a couple of friends, but this afternoon I met a new friend, a woman I have met three or four times: today she was so friendly and talked to...

Oct. 15     Woody, who is Rain's (but he doesn't talk any more) and some  Old Bear Stories animals who belong to Elf.  On Tuesday K and I bought a car, revelled in a blue, blue sky and sunlight warmth and it was a (mostly) peaceful day of family and jobs-to-do dovetailing smoothly. After dark we went outside to see Mars rising in the east, bright and red, then Jupiter and Saturn in the south! K came out after a few minutes to announce that Venus had just set. It was a family astronomy lesson! I declared Wednesday to be a day off. I would run no errands, contribute nothing to the household, just do my own thing all day. Dinner was leftovers so I didn't have to cook. I pottered about clearing out closets and boxes and baskets discovering treasures and "stuff" I haven't before found the time to sort through. My neighbour reminded me that when we get our mind-and-body "house" in order we are often able to tackle our actual house and put it in order. (On...

 oct. 14 Into the fray... K and I returned home from Quebec on Thursday and began to re-insert ourselves into the family. I pictured an elevator already carrying four: the doors open and K and I step in and there is a resulting shuffle as the others accommodate our presence. And Fig, too, slips in. Fig seems happy to be back home where everything is familiar and there are no coyotes yipping outside in the dark. He and the children were both happy to see each other. Tamar and her family have new routines built around the children's virtual school days and I feel like a guest waiting her turn to use the kitchen. It always felt busy when two or more adults and kids were in a room, but before our trip it seemed so workable.  This morning as the kids go back to school after the long weekend things feel a little smoother and I am waiting my turn to get into the kitchen and find some breakfast. 9:01 a.m., Indre's class just started and behind me Robin is settling down at his desk, fi...

 Oct. 09 Mumma Yaga is safe at home in Toronto. K and I had an unremarkable drive home, an 8 hour drive, with stops. We left the unpacking until later and out came Robin and Indre for hugs. Fig took off on a brief tour of the neighbourhood, just to see if everything was the same. A kind young woman befriended him and grabbed his collar for me. Tamar had a lovely dinner ready for us and the table all laid, so we declared it our Thanksgiving dinner! No one feels like cooking a turkey. I have always done one for Thanksgiving with all the accompaniments, kind of a practice run for Christmas, but this year I will pass. K and I have been enjoying a diet of more vegetables less white breads and rice, lots of vegetable proteins and fish instead of meat, so the nine yards of Thanksgiving is more than we could enjoy. We might have brussels sprouts, beans and sweet potato, maybe some precooked turkey or chicken. Pumpkin soup instead of pie. Some fall fruit: grapes and apples. Mmm. Now I am ge...

Oct. 5  Is it a bobcat? Hard to know. See the photo below of the domestic cat Pixiebob, [link cited at top of photo.] But what is such an unusual breed doing wandering around in Potton County? She was big, maybe bigger than Fig (who's 22 pounds). Bobcats are not uncommon in this area of Quebec and the US.                  Good morning! The rising sun created an ever-changing light-show of clouds over our circle of cedars on Chemin du Lac. Sumac: Canada's vitamin C - the fruit is a good source of Vitamin C and was used by Indigenous People for many medicinal purposes. (See URL link*, how to prepare as tea.) It is very beautiful in fall and the furry berry clusters dark red. *********** A glimpse of the Guardian on-line paper this morning: bad news about the pandemic. Why did the world drop the ball on covid safety and let the pandemic swing out of control again? Why does it seem as if everyone shrugged and said, well, there will be a seco...

                   Oct 2    Woke Wednesday to find that it had rained 58 mm in the night. I brought my rain gauge to Quebec, of course. Except for an occasional car passing by, the only sound was the rain.    Yesterday Rain and I took a walk at a friend's property and Fig was able to run around off leash. He was thrilled and dashed everywhere, returning from time to time to share his delight with Rain. He waded in the pond around every corner, once or twice his paws sank into the mud which took him by surprise and he hastily retreated! For once he seemed unconcerned about wildlife smells and forest noises. He is stronger and coughs less since being in Quebec. (He has congestive heart failure, but the fresh air and exercise have helped.)     I was told to look out for mushrooms! My mother was a wild mushroom hunter and my nephew is an expert, but it is new to me. Two well-known species in the Estrie...