My Creative Self

To me creativity is an important factor in being happy. It’s living life with passion. When I follow my passions I find myself in the flow of life. This flow emerges when I do simple things like cooking, crafting, reading, when I surround myself with nature, when I write, and connect with people in a meaningful way. It’s bringing something forth that wasn’t there before, it’s reaching through the cosmos and seeing what enfolds.

I never considered myself very artistic. I tried playing the piano as a child and seemed to have no rhythm and I wasn’t much of a drawer. Back then I thought the definition of being creative was one who produced beautiful paintings or played beautiful pieces of music. Now I recognize creativity as a state of being where I am active in creating my reality. It’s taking life by the horns and making exciting, new things come to life! You and me, we are all creative!

Noticing the beauty that surrounds me
sparks up feelings of passion and creativity

My mediums of creative art vary. When I create pieces of art I find myself in a state of being which I like to revisit often. I love to knit, wet and needle felt, I love photography, writing and so much more. The process of creating nothing out of something is very enriching. For example, I love the journey of taking a piece of wool and transforming it into something beautiful. As I needle felt and continuously puncture the wool with my needle, my breath deepens, my heart rate slows and a meditative state ensues. There is a deep sense of satisfaction as I work and the piece of art slowly presents itself. In this state I find myself in the flow of life, excitement and joy swell within me. My mind becomes focused on the rhythm of the moment. It’s not about the project as much as the journey.

Cooking, nurturing my body with nutritious meals feeds my soul

This blog is so much fun for me to develop. With every post I write, I take pictures and feel motivated to delve into my creative self on a deeper level. I am committed to living through my passions and seeing what enfolds and I have a hunch that with each creative endeavor, with each passion I pursue at the end of the rainbow in the pot of gold there will be happiness. Cheers to you!

A project I have on the go

Flower Child

Everything depends on your mental outlook...All of your experience is filtered through the creativity and appraisal of your mind. Happy and unhappy belong to your mind, not to the world.
- Yogi Bhajan

My dear friend Jen Stewart, husband Jason and 3 children are moving to Edmonton, Alberta. This is not unusual save for the fact that they've let go of most of their possessions and moving int a yurt in the woods. Here is an interview with her:
Annie: What exactly is a yurt?

Jen: At the most basic level, one might say a yurt is a glorified tent - but a yurt is really much more. The Mongols live in them year round and tend to prefer them to other forms of housing.The original designs of these structures involved five basic elements: lattice walls, roof beams, a roof ring, a door, and a felt or hide covering. When put together, it created a simple round wooden latticework frame with a combination of felt and sheep skin covering the outside depending on the season.

Annie: Where does one buy a yurt and are they expensive?

Jen: You would buy it online. We love Yurtco (so far so good). Our state of the art Yurt with all of the fixings and lots of extra windows and doors will come in at under $30 000. This yurt is the largest they make (over 800 square feet but there are ones for much much less money).

Annie: Are you building your yurt on your own? Is it difficult?

Jen: Yes we are building it. You need to build a deck to put it on if you are living in it full time so that will be a bit of an expense. (2000.00). Check out the online videos of putting up a yurt. They are easily assembled and disassembled. A distributer can usually be hired to give you a hand but a few handy folks is all that is needed. Should be all done and ready to live in within a week!

Annie: What process brought you from living to a 3 bedroom house to moving into a yurt?

Jen: We like to try new things, we aren't interested in building equity in a home. Rather, we are interested in building equity in ourselves. We believe that housing should be affordable and accessible to all. We are experimenting with old, new to us, ways of doing things. We like the road less traveled. We understand that the climate is changed forever and we want to understand what it will be like to live with fewer resources. We want more cash to enjoy. We do not want to pay interest on a mortgage.

Annie: What amenities will you be living without?

Jen: Running water, we will have to haul it from about 1 mile away. Rainwater catchment and conservation. Eventually a small Earthship Greenhouse. Flush toilets. . . We will compost our shit, which is a good idea. As I learn more, I see how disgusting and wasteful our method of handling urine and feces really is. Man, we are putting our shit into our drinking water! There are people all over the world dying for lack of water and we gaily use drinking water (which is what is in out toilets) (5 gallons of it per flush) to get rid of our poop. Which is actually a valuable resource that can easily and very safely be composted. Download for free the Humanure Handbook online. Washer and Dryer -I will not be as wasteful with my clothing. I presently have a bad habit of washing everything that has a little splash of food/dirt upon it. I will use the laundromat and hand powered methods. http://simplicityfirst.wordpress.com.../17/home-wash/ We will have outdoor shower and a Finish Sauna to clean ourselves.
I feel the sauna will be an important part of upcoming rituals and family life. Public showers and such will also be used. We will have a generator that we can use if we like. Heating will be wood from our property. Small propane stove.

Annie: How far will your yurt be from the city?
Jen:35 minutes from work.

Annie: What challenges do you expect your family to face?

Jen: Lack of Community at first.

Annie: How do you think your family will grow through this experience?

Jen: I have no agenda. I guess we will have to see! But I will say this. A wise lady once shared with me this bit of wisdom, "your actions must always be worthy of emulation," so for my children and my friends, I must be the change that I want to see in the world!!! N'est Pas?

Thanks Jen! Green blessings to you and yours. You will be missed.

I must admit that I have a yearning to forgo material things and move to be in the presence of trees and live off the land. I often wonder if I was born in the wrong era!

Cheers!
Annie Bananie

Summer Solstice 2009

Yesterday was a a magical day. My friends whom I like to call my sisters gathered to celebrate the longest day of the year. It's a tradition among our group to come together for the solstices and equinoxes. Here are some pictures that might help you grasp the magic of the children’s laughter and sharing of friendship. We ate, danced, sang, swam naked and played volleyball. It was a true celebration!

Frog eggs


Clam Collection
The girls found these huge clams. They were so excited to see that they were alive and so big.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing the children play in the water. They played in the water for hours. As Jen pointed out there were no fights and no whining all day!!! The children just found their rhythm, played together and loved every minute of it.

Here is Grandfather Sun and Brother Wind. I made these puppets last week for the skit:
Grandfather Sun and the Dandelion. It's a spring story about the sun making friends with Golden Girl (a dandelion). It's a cute story and I am so proud of my puppets!

Jen sang somewhere over the rainbow on her new ukulele that she recently purchased in Newfoundland. Michele did some kid's yoga and Anne and Earl lead us through the Raffi song: Mr. Sun, Sun Mr. Golden sun please shine down on me.


we sang and danced to this song which has a native beat to it:
The Earth is our mother
we must care for her
ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na ho!

The sky is our father
we must care for him
ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na ho!

The rivers are our sisters
we must care for them.
ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na ho!

The trees are our brothers
we must care for them.
ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na, ai ya na ho!

I love that our children get to see us dance, sing and celebrate!

As a parent I want to give my children the freedom to explore and learn through tangible experiences.

Here is Kiah running and dancing!

Thank you Jay for sharing your cottage with us. It truly was magical and we were enchanted by it all. Thank you! :)

The Beetle House by Owen and Sasha

I love garbage finds. In the past I've found a baby swing, a book case, baskets, glass jars (my favorite) and so much more. One persons garbage is another person's treasure, I must agree.

When I salvage things from the garbage I feel good to be reusing and saving an item from the landfill. I also feel very connected to my father. As a child I have vivid memories of the Corbeil dump. We would drive up in my dad's lime green pickup, dump our garbage and always find something to bring back. Some of the items foraged can still be found in my parents barn.

A few weeks ago I found some rectangular pieces of wood which I thought could be of some use. I put them in the backyard and waited to see what would manifest.
Since then the children have been loading dump trucks with the wood and building towers and the usual block play. Last Friday I was thrilled when doing the dishes and I could hear Owen and Sasha hard at play. Together they built a beetle house.

This became an elaborate 30 minute story of how the beetles lived there and what they needed to be happy, where they were going to sleep and so on. I loved listening to their engaged play. For them what they had built was a real beetle house and there were real beetles that lived there. They brought buckets in the house to fill with water so the beetles could drink. This brought questions like do beetles like cold or warm water? What do they like to eat? and so on. To me that is real creative play. It's like an artist filling a blank canvas.
On that day Owen and Sasha took mere pieces of wood (their canvas) and through their imagination they created, co-operated and built a beetle house. No adult/teacher was there to guide them as they needed no guidance. They instinctively knew what to do and through their imagination and self-exploration guided themselves into a very complex beautiful story.
This is childhood at it's best.

The Best Tofu Salad EVER!

You want to impress your guests? Serve them the best salad on this side of the universe. This combination of toasted sesame oil, tamari, garlic, ginger and seaweed makes for a scrumptious salad. Yes, I did say seaweed., such a yummy, yummy weed that is soooo good for you. ....makes this dish absolutely divine. Mmmm my mouth is salivating just thinking about it :)
Seaweed helps us in many ways:
Prevent and relieve osteoporosis
Maintain strong, flexible bones
Lower blood pressure and cholesterol, increase cardiac efficiency
Eliminate varicose veins and hemorrhoids
Maintain healthy thyroid function
Increase stamina
Increase Immune function
and so much more!!!

Here it goes:
Mix together the following marinade:
1/4 tamari
1 cup water
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp ginger, grated
1 block of firm tofu cut into 3/4 inch slices

Marinate 6-8 hours

1/4 cup hiziki seaweed

Soak in 1 cup of water for 1 hour. Drain. Squeeze out excess liquid. Remove tofu from marinade. Place slices on parchment paper, on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or an hour and a half, until brown. Cool. Cut each slice into quarters.

To the cooled sliced tofu add:
1/2 cup of parsley diced
1/2 cup of green onions, including the green parts thinly sliced
1/4 cup red pepper, diced
1/4 cup green pepper, diced
1/4 cup carrot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup celery, thinly sliced
the previously soaked hiziki

Dressing
1 large garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp sweet brown rice vinegar
1/2 tsp mirin
3 tbsp tamari
1tsp grated ginger

Mix dressing, pour over tofu and vegetables. Mix well.
Serves 6
This recipe was taken from The Green Door Restaurant recipe book. If you live in Ottawa, Ontario you are sure to know this yummy, wholesome restaurant! Yummy!

Grandfather Sun

The longest day of the year will soon be upon us. I am so looking forward to celebrating the sun!!!
I love the sun. It's strength brings me strength!
It lights up my days and makes everything green and alive!
What would I do without the sun?
We always celebrate the solstices and equinoxes with a celebration
of food and a variety show for the kids.
This is a puppet of grandfather sun that
I am felting for the small skit I will do.

May the long time sun shine upon you!

Felted Butterflies

Children love butterflies with their beautiful colored wings and graceful flight. This is a very easy, rewarding project.

Take a piece of felt (or square piece of tissue paper) and fold it in half.

Cut out the shape of butterfly wings (make sure it's on the side where the folded pieces meet)Take a pipe cleaner and fold it in half

Slip butterfly onto folded pipe cleaner and twist pipe cleaner in place leaving some length for antennas.

Slip some beads onto antennas

Owen loved making his butterfly.

While we were crafting we sang the song:
"Fly like a butterfly, fly like a butterfly
fly like a a butterfly in the sky!"

Once we were done we hung our beautiful insects on our seasonal wreath. The children often look up and sing the song! The wreath hangs from the ceiling over our kitchen table. We decorate it with seasonal themes. It's an easy way to celebrate what's happening in our surroundings and the children love it.

And the winner is...

It is that time to announce the winner to the identification of my mystery plant. Is it a Columbine? Is it Meadow Rue? Is it a tree?

Many people had guessed Columbine when in fact it's a Meadow Rue. While the leaves are quite similar to a Columbine they are smaller and their shape is a little different. Note the difference below. Thanks for all your replies, it's been fun! To unveil the winner keep scrolling down :)

"Meadow Rue"
It's part of the buttercup family and can not be eaten :(

"Wild Columbine"

Who's the winner? Drum roll please (sound of drums) and the winner is......

Tamara Marshall!!
Congrats Tamara. I hope you enjoy your Kanteen.
Smiles to everyone :)

Connecting with Mud

This weekend we drove the 4 hour drive to Corbeil where my parents live and where I grew up. I revel in bringing my children to the country side. Nostalgic feelings come over me as I watch them delight in simple things like climbing rocks, skipping down hills, and the highlight of this trip pond foraging. Zoe was on a frog hunt. Her excitement was palpable. The green little creatures her prey. They lay in the sun, little heads poking out, limbs splayed to the side. Her hands reached out inches away scared they disappeared in the blackness of the murky water. It amazes me how my children can be oblivious to the cold, wet mud. I admire their free spirits and wish to preserve it, bottle it up for the future when the inhibitions set in.

While Zoe was captivated by frogs, Owen was with mud. He threw handfuls into the pond laughing at the effects of splashing, rippling waters.

See mud flying what a delight!

Thank you for your replies!

Thanks to those of you who replied to the post: "Can you identify this plant?" It's been so much fun reading your replies. So far we've had lots of guesses for Wild Columbine. Other stabs at identifying this plant have been: Meadow Rue, Bleeding heart, and someone else think it's the beginnings of a tree. My plan is to wait until the plant flowers to give it a positive ID. So stay tuned and the winner will soon be announced.

Yurt Living

My dear friend Jen Stewart, husband Jason and 3 children are moving to Edmonton, Alberta. This is not unusual save for the fact that they've let go of most of their possessions and moving int a yurt in the woods. Here is an interview with her:
Annie: What exactly is a yurt?

Jen: At the most basic level, one might say a yurt is a glorified tent - but a yurt is really much more. The Mongols live in them year round and tend to prefer them to other forms of housing.The original designs of these structures involved five basic elements: lattice walls, roof beams, a roof ring, a door, and a felt or hide covering. When put together, it created a simple round wooden latticework frame with a combination of felt and sheep skin covering the outside depending on the season.

Annie: Where does one buy a yurt and are they expensive?

Jen: You would buy it online. We love Yurtco (so far so good). Our state of the art Yurt with all of the fixings and lots of extra windows and doors will come in at under $30 000. This yurt is the largest they make (over 800 square feet but there are ones for much much less money).

Annie: Are you building your yurt on your own? Is it difficult?

Jen: Yes we are building it. You need to build a deck to put it on if you are living in it full time so that will be a bit of an expense. (2000.00). Check out the online videos of putting up a yurt. They are easily assembled and disassembled. A distributer can usually be hired to give you a hand but a few handy folks is all that is needed. Should be all done and ready to live in within a week!

Annie: What process brought you from living to a 3 bedroom house to moving into a yurt?

Jen: We like to try new things, we aren't interested in building equity in a home. Rather, we are interested in building equity in ourselves. We believe that housing should be affordable and accessible to all. We are experimenting with old, new to us, ways of doing things. We like the road less traveled. We understand that the climate is changed forever and we want to understand what it will be like to live with fewer resources. We want more cash to enjoy. We do not want to pay interest on a mortgage.

Annie: What amenities will you be living without?

Jen: Running water, we will have to haul it from about 1 mile away. Rainwater catchment and conservation. Eventually a small Earthship Greenhouse. Flush toilets. . . We will compost our shit, which is a good idea. As I learn more, I see how disgusting and wasteful our method of handling urine and feces really is. Man, we are putting our shit into our drinking water! There are people all over the world dying for lack of water and we gaily use drinking water (which is what is in out toilets) (5 gallons of it per flush) to get rid of our poop. Which is actually a valuable resource that can easily and very safely be composted. Download for free the Humanure Handbook online. Washer and Dryer -I will not be as wasteful with my clothing. I presently have a bad habit of washing everything that has a little splash of food/dirt upon it. I will use the laundromat and hand powered methods. http://simplicityfirst.wordpress.com.../17/home-wash/ We will have outdoor shower and a Finish Sauna to clean ourselves.
I feel the sauna will be an important part of upcoming rituals and family life. Public showers and such will also be used. We will have a generator that we can use if we like. Heating will be wood from our property. Small propane stove.

Annie: How far will your yurt be from the city?
Jen:35 minutes from work.

Annie: What challenges do you expect your family to face?

Jen: Lack of Community at first.

Annie: How do you think your family will grow through this experience?

Jen: I have no agenda. I guess we will have to see! But I will say this. A wise lady once shared with me this bit of wisdom, "your actions must always be worthy of emulation," so for my children and my friends, I must be the change that I want to see in the world!!! N'est Pas?

Thanks Jen! Green blessings to you and yours.

I must admit that I have a yearning to forgo material things and move to be in the presence of trees and live off the land. I often wonder if I was born in the wrong era!

Cheers!
Annie Bananie

Can you identify this plant?

My first encounter with this plant was a couple of weeks ago. I had finished meditating by a stream when I noticed these pretty rounded edged, flat shaped leaves growing beside me. They were pretty and I wondered what name this plant was given and what wonderful medicinal, nutritious properties could it hold? When I got home I perused through my herbal books and found nothing to uncover the mystery.

Two weeks later (this Saturday) I noticed the same plant in Michele's (a friend and lovely person) front garden. She was also ignorant of it's name. Since I'd last spotted this plant's kin by the stream it had become much taller and was about to bud with flower.
Now I turn to you. Please have a look at the pictures below and see if you recognize my mystery plant.
The first person to identify the plant accurately will receive a 12oz Klean Kanteen.

Here you can spot the rounded, smooth, flat leaves. This is what I saw two weeks ago.

Two weeks later the stem has grown past the leaves and will soon be blooming with flower. Although I took this picture on Sunday (yes I spotted it for a 3rd time) this is what it looked like in Michele's garden.
In passing, apart from Michele being a great person she is also learning of plants. While at her house on Saturday she had Nettle hanging from a string and drying in her window sill. What an inspiration!