Top 10 Things to do on Canada Day

Of all the summer holidays, Canada Day is definitely the one that's the most steeped in tradition at our house. There are certain things that just have to happen, or the celebration is not official! In no particular order, here are our top ten musts for today:

1. Pick a whole whack of strawberries at Lindley's farm (this year it was 24 quarts). Check.

2. Make a whole whack of jam with the strawberries (generally this is 3 batches, which still leaves us an obscene amount for freezing and eating). Check.

3. Watch the Joe Canadian commercial on YouTube. Check.

4. Read The Yarn Harlot's Canada Day blog post (this one will be taken care of as soon as I finish this post).

5. Watch the Blue Jays play in their spiffy red Canada Day uniforms. Check (nice game, boys - particularly the back-to-back homers by Adam Lind and Scott Roland).

6. Crank up the Canadian tunes. Check. So far we've worked our way through Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea and 54-40.

7. Barbecue something. I haven't decided what yet :) but I'm guessing it's going to be a classic burgers-and-dogs feast this year.

8. Ingest as many strawberries as possible. Yes, strawberries are a big part of our Canada Day, as they rightfully deserve. Not only are they dressed for the party in their red (with subtle white) glory, they are also ready to pick on the big day. I think we are going to go all fancy with some Strawberry Daiquiris this year.

9. Adorn oneself with appropriate Canadian themed decorations (we are just breaking out the fake tattoos as I type, and my cute little socks with the Canadian flags are all ready to go for tonight).

10. Watch fireworks! The weather forecast is not in our favour right now, but we're busy praying to the weather gods and hoping the festivities won't get rained out tonight.

Happy Canada Day!!

Connection & Clutter

These are the two words that have kept me from posting for so long!

"Connection" is the word I picked for my Word of the Year. I was pretty excited about it at the time, because it is so meaningful on so many levels:

• CONNECTION to my Authentic Self

• CONNECTION to the present moment

• CONNECTION to my family and friends

• building meaningful CONNECTIONs with many people in my new profession

• all those fun learning CONNECTIONs that happen in unschooling

• keeping myself open to unexpected CONNECTIONs of all kinds because you never know where they will lead next!

Well, ever since I picked CONNECTION as my Word of the Year, I have been caught up in a whirlwind of connections of all kinds that have kept me happily busy - so busy that I have neglected a lot of things (like this blog for instance) as I ride this wild wave!! Hopefully I will not be kept so busy *connecting* all year that I don't have a chance to share more details here.

Ah, and now on to the CLUTTER...

I am really not a pack rat at heart and I thought I had done a pretty good job of purging unwanted stuff on a regular basis over the years. So I was kind of surprised when, after hearing a friend of mine mention the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui on an email list, I felt an uncontrollable urge to see if my library had a copy. They did, and I picked it up last week. Ever since then I have been on a clutter-busting rampage the likes of which I have never experienced before. For two days straight I was pulling open cupboards and closets and tossing, tossing, tossing!! Our recycling bins and trash can are MUCH fuller than usual this week, and I have large stacks of usable items awaiting new ownership through Freecycle (or, if all else fails, a trip to Value Village to drop it in the donation bin!) Needless to say, I was quite shocked to see how much stuff we've accumulated that we don't need or use anymore. There is still more to be done but I'm going to slow down a bit (the dog's looking a bit worried I might toss him in a donation pile, LOL!). Our house suddenly feels much calmer, more serene and spacious, and I want to keep it that way. Definitely a great way to start a new year!