I'm a bit behind but really you've not missed much. The last week and a half consisted of homeschooling and driving around the area looking at land which is for sale. First, homeschooling. We started out without our main box of books, but that wasn't an issue as we wanted to go back to doing some basics with them anyway. The kids enjoyed the first week, although they were ready for a break on Friday. We have a routine now, Monday to Friday, which helps to keep us on track. Tea, Bible reading, breakfast, then school. We went driving every almost every afternoon last week to look at properties.
First, let's talk about breakfast! We really missed having bagels when we were in Austria. Occasionally someone would bring us a couple of packages but since they are really hard, or impossible (where we were) to come by, we're revelling in them now! Especially Everything Bagels...with herbed cream cheese. Or plain. Or occasionally with crunchy peanut butter! We do switch things around for variety and economy, with cereal or porridge. Or cooked breakfast on the weekends. When we have chickens, eventually, then we can start having more eggs again. I'd love to have organic eggs here but the only ones that's I've priced so far were $7 for 12 eggs. I should check out the price right at a farm. I know that we were really fortunate with eggs and milk in Austria and we are really missing that just now. On the other hand, we have bagels here!
School is mostly just the mornings now, with music and some other studies in the afternoons. Elena was learning about Blue Jays (the birds, not the baseball team- wrong season!) and so she made a model of a blue jay which weighs what the bird should weigh, has the right wing-span and she coloured it as well. The kids are eager to learn about the birds that they see on the back porch of Grandma and Grampa's house, where they have a bird feeder. My parents are great sources of information for local flora and fauna and we'll look forward to learning some things from them. Grandma also sketches and paints, which we don't, so that's helpful too!
We took one afternoon to string up the Christmas lights. The kids were so excited to get to do it that Dominik let them, more or less, decide how they would be hung. It looks like we should be having a lawn party with them going from tree to tree!
Most afternoons last week we drove around and looked at properties which we had found online, or else we just drove the back roads looking at what is for sale. We have been talking to the German Real Estate woman in Kingston, she is really lovely and it's fun when we view a property to have the entire conversation in German. :-) So, did we find anything? In a word- NO. But we've learned a lot! We were looking at one property which was on a great, quiet, dirt road, miles away in the country. But there were high tension power lines there. You know- the really big towers. We thought that we might be far enough away on this property to not be affected by them, because we know that they do affect people. You should read some of the studies. Anyway, then we discovered that this power line is THE main east-west line for Ontario. So, that was that.
Next property was again on a nice, dirt road (we like them) but only about 20 minutes from my parents. North. Not south. That would be the States. On this one we looked at soil quality and the acreage was good, but we could always hear the sound of traffic. Highway traffic. As one friend said to me when I mentioned it, "You didn't move all the way to Canada to listen to the Autobahn!". How true. But the final blow for this one came when Dominik started doing research online about zoning and planning and where the old and new garbage disposal sites are. Now we can see where the rubbish is, where the swamps are, and how the lots are zoned for building or farming or just for city life. This is handy information! It saves us a lot of time. This lot had 3 dumps (rubbish) within a small radius, and one of those bordered a swamp. So, no again. Interestingly too, the road was called, 'The Land O Nod Road'. And I thought of sleep and "drifting off to the Land 0' Nod". Sounds nice, doesn't it? But what does it actually mean? It is Biblical and means the land of the 'fugitive' or 'wanderer'. This is where Cain fled to after murdering his brother. Hmmm...... Wir sind von Österreich ausgewandert, aber, nein. (we left, or wandered away from, Austria, but..no). ;-)
Then, just on this Biblical-meanings theme for a minute, we were looking at the by-laws for building on a property up near Bob's Lake. Lot 19. For that we found that it was zoned for building a religious centre, including meditation cabins with a central wash house/toilet. Really? So we could start our own little camp or centre here? Hmmm...... But then we discovered that we were looking at the by-laws for the wrong township. (There were 3 in that county).
The best land to be had is in Northern Ontario, it seems. I found a lovely parcel of 77 acres in Moonbeam. Isn't that a lovely name? What a great place to live! And the price is right! But it's over 9 hours from here. Away from my parents and from our lake-side cabin. So, that's a non-starter. For now at least.
My Dad came home and told Dominik that he's found one, out towards North Augusta, near to where my great-grandfather had a farm. It is a great-looking piece of land but it's not yet an option. So, we're praying and waiting. AND...now that it's snowed.....we can relax a bit. I'm really glad actually, because it was getting hard- school then driving around and then all evening scouring the internet for land and information. I wasn't feeling relaxed.
On the social side of things, Jonathan and Rebecca were invited out to a friend's youth group for their Christmas banquet this week. They had a great time and we're really thankful for our friends' kids who took care of them there. They saw some of these youth then at church this past Sunday and the girls were invited to join in a Christmas craft afternoon after the service. They both went and again enjoyed meeting people. We're keeping them busy here, especially with preparations for Christmas, but getting out with the youth is great.
And this morning we woke up to SNOW! Lots of it. The kids went out for a break in the morning but the real fun came in the afternoon. They all bundled up and, with the 3 new kids shovels that I bought yesterday (yup, I knew that snow was coming!) they made a hill in the front yard and started shovelling everything! Then Dominik got into the action with the snow blower. He taught Jonathan how to use it and together they cleared the driveway and even some of the yard. Why? Because Dominik wanted to make a really big hill in the back yard for the kids to play in. :-) Then they all had hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows. How Canadian!
The other perk of the snow is that more birds are coming to the feeder. Today we were all excited to see male and female pair of Cardinals coming to eat. Every time there's a new bird there Elena will run and get the bird/wildlife book to look it up.
So, besides this running commentary on what we're doing, what can I tell you? We are adjusting to things in Canada. We are really enjoying some aspects, all the things that we were looking forward to. Especially the time together, the weather, the bagels! I think that we miss the recycling in Austria the most. Especially because in Upper Austria we recycled almost everything! And we even had food waste which was collected weekly. And the plastic was sorted into an insane number of categories- loud plastic, quiet plastic, hard plastic, etc. I know that most other European countries aren't close to that either. Canada isn't alone in that. But it takes some time to get used to just throwing things out that we always used to recycle. I look forward to trying to cut down on packaging and growing our things ourselves, as much as we can. But we'll see how that goes. First we have to buy land!
And, in case you're wondering, no, I haven't found a job yet. First of all, we're on holiday so we haven't yet any stress. Plus, Christmas is coming. And lastly, but most importantly, the government here hasn't yet reactivated my Social Insurance Number, which I need to work. I guess they're still trying to figure out if I've stolen someones identity or if I'm still me or whatever. It was dormant for over 5 years so it has to be reactivated. Good thing I'm not desperate for a job! :-)
Christmas is coming- are you ready? Christ is coming back- are you ready for that?
Have a great week!
1 comment:
The best land being in Northern Ontario should not have been a surprise to you .��
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