Strike!!! Out!!! Safe!!! and Goooooooooal!!!

If you play a sport you are likely to hear those words. Unless you play volleyball or american football. But these are the words that we hear when Jeremiah is playing soccer or Jonathan and Rebecca are playing baseball. I (Jonathan) wanted to play baseball since we moved here. Rebecca wanted to do the same, but Jeremiah could not decide until the last minute. In the end he started playing soccer. I miss soccer a little and would like to play it when possible, but I also enjoy baseball.
I started playing baseball with only a soft-toss experience and friendly game, no stealing bases. Also, I only played it only a few times a year. In the first few games I had a hard time hitting the ball and getting it into my glove on funny or normal hops. Now I still have some difficulties but I have improved. The soccer that Jeremiah plays is nothing like the World Cup. It might be a bit faster on the smaller field, but almost every person on the team cannot wait for the ball, they can only all pile up and try to get it. Jeremiah has already scored one goal though. And he likes it.

Thank you Jonathan!  He wrote the above before he left for Austria.  Now he will be getting ready to play more baseball at the Ten English Days camp at Schloss Klaus, which will begin next week.  These past months of living in Canada have been all about having new experiences.  When spring came we knew that the kids would want to get involved in some summer sports.  Jonathan and Rebecca ended up in two different leagues for baseball, based on age, and Rebecca was the only girl on her team!

Rebecca's Team- the Diamondbacks

  Jonathan played on a team with one boy that he knows from the youth group, so that was a good start.  They both had a big learning curve ahead of them, with all of the terminology, the Canadian-isms ("eat it!!", "good cut" and so on), as well as learning when you could safely come off base, steal, and when to and not to slide.  They both had great coaches and nice kids on their teams.  After I had seen some of the teams that Jonathan was playing against, I was even more grateful for that.  Rebecca's games were all played within Brockville. There were 4 teams in her league and they ended up coming in second in the play-offs at the end of June.  Jonthan's league was for 13-16 year olds and some of the away-teams (they played up to an hour's drive away) were a LOT bigger in size than their team.  I mean in body size.  On one team we were amazed because they were playing against a guy with a beard!  Really?  Some were nice, some were not nice.  The same applies to the parents.  It is amazing how crude and horrid some parents can be when feeling competitive.  What an example to the kids!  Well, we saw them acting accordingly.  Some well, some not.  All-in-all Jonathan loved it and was sad to know that he would be missing games when he flew to Austria.

Jonathan's Team- The Nationals

Our soccer experience with Jeremiah has been a bit different.  At his first game we showed up and the kids just went onto the field and ran around chasing the ball.  No coaching.  Now they at least say who is a forward and who is defense, but I'm not happy with their coaches.  Besides that their only practice is 10 minutes before the game, they have said some things to the kids which have not been good. Such as last week.  "Don't worry about that kid in goal.  I coached him last year and he's afraid of the ball!".  Great.  So then I've had to sort that out.  The coach and assistant are pretty rough.  Jeremiah will probably be doing baseball next year.  That's alright as he loves baseball too.  But he does well with soccer and understands where he should be when.  Alternatively we've heard that there are soccer clubs outside of Brockville which actually teach the kids more and have a real practice.  To be fair to Brockville, I have seen better coaches on opposing teams.  Oh yes, and all three kids ended up as a number 5!!!  What are the odds?

Now, for a general update. Jeremiah and Rebeca both celebrated their birthdays in June.  Jeremiah loves and uses his hockey net every day.  Rebecca received a real spinning wheel!  Dominik had to fix a part of it but it works and she has some wool to practice spinning with.  I foresee that getting more use once winter comes again!

We spent a bit of time up on our land in the Lanark Highlands (Ontario, not Scotland! Actually, Lanark in Scotland is lowland, isn't it???) .  As June progressed the bugs decreased in number and it became less difficult to be there. By the time that Dominik is back in August, and we move up there for the month, it should be easy with the mosquitoes.   Josiah caught his first fish there- with his first cast from our little dock!  He caught a nice sized pike.  And we ate it! :-)

Beans and Chips away from the Mosquitoes

Camo Man!

I started trying pressure canning in order for us to have some nice food up on our land, instead of having to rely on bought canned food.  We don't have any refridgeration there, as we're off-grid, and although things left in the ground stay cooler, we still couldn't keep meat for a long period of time.  I canned some chili- raw pack!  And also some chicken breasts.  I will use those to make a nice creamy sauce for rice or pasta.  I will try to do a bit more before we head up there in August.

Dominik and Jonathan flew to Austria on the 3rd of July and will return on August 6.  That leaves me as a single parent of four children for just over a month.  In order to keep everyone, myself included, entertained, I have planned a few road trips. :-)  We went to the Waterloo area to see my former supervisor from when I was working up in Pangnirtung, Mary Bender.  We had a great catch-up time and then went to the St. Jacob's market and for a tour of a Mennonite farm as well.  After that we were off to the middle of Michigan to see the Pickett Family- on home for a short break from work in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq.  Their kids are about the ages of ours and we had a lovely time, relaxing and catching up.  The long drive home after wasn't too bad either.  Although Toronto traffic is bad even on Sunday mornings. 

Working together again!  The dream team!

With Mary at St. Jacob's market

The next week we were involved in our church's Vacation Bible School, where I had been asked to organise the snacks- according to the program that they had purchased.  So, although limited as to what we could do, we (my friend Heather and I) managed to make them at least slightly healthier.  A fact that some kids didn't appreciate!  There really are many levels of culture here in Canada.  Those of us who want to eat organic and self-made food have totally different palates than those who are constantly eating processed and sugar-filled foods. 

VBS Picnic

This week the girls are at Circle Square Ranch in Arden, Ontario. They were so excited that they had been planning their packing and activity choices for weeks!  Rebecca even sewed her own sleeping bag!  What a project that was.  Dominik helped her as she had no pattern.  It is their first time at this camp but I'm confident that they will really enjoy it.  Christian program with nice counsellors, a lake and horses!!!  What more is there?! :-)  I will pick them up on Saturday and then on Monday morning EARLY we will be off to visit friends north of Sault Ste. Marie.  This will be another catching-up visit as I haven't seen my friend in four years!  The winter isn't the time to drive up there, it will be about 12 hours with stops, so this is our first real chance.  Baseball and soccer schedules kept up close to Brockville up until now.

Finally, we've caught some bees!  Remember the bee traps that Elena built with Dominik?  I've included some extra photos here.  One of our traps has bees in it!  We went over to see them yesterday and we're very excited about it!  Now we will see if any of the other traps do the same.  Two families who used to have bees, but the bees died, have found that bees have come back this year, but into the old hives and not into the trap.  (Please understand that it's not really a 'trap' but alternative accommodation until the bees are moved into a hive.  They do fly in and out as they would in a hive.). We're just pleased to hear that the bees are coming back a bit.  I have really noticed a lack of bees on the clover in parks and so on.  The amount of pesticides and sprays being used are really ruining our ecosystem.

Finished bee trap

SO, that is our blog for today.  Sorry for the inconsistency of it.  I hope that this sports and catch-up one will be soon followed by another blog. Thanks for reading!

The Syrup Update

I am so sorry that we have not posted a blog in such a long time. It has been well over a month. But now we have finally got another blog and a video. 

I already wrote a blog about the sap and everything, but did not say anthing about boiling. I stopped with drinking sap. A nice slightly sweet taste. But now to boiling.

Almost everyone, (I have not heard otherwise) boils the sap over a fire. In a video about boiling syrup, somebody said you could do it with propane, but be warned, it will get expensive. We boiled the sap over a fire. Who would do otherwise, when there are trees and brush and wood waiting to be chopped up or burned? Because maple sap has only got a sugar content of about 2% it takes a long time to boil. Since 40 litres of sap equal 1 litre of syrup there is a sugarcontent of about 66% in maple syrup. The boiling is not that exciting, because you mostly just make sure that the fire is really going, so without further a do, we present a video about making maple syrup.

Why was it a bad season? At first the temperature would not go above 0 degrees Celsius, later it did not go under 0 to drive the sap back down the tree. 

We hope you liked the video and will hopefully be posting another blog about sports and summer activities soon.

Have a great week!!!

Jonathan

Love Stinks!!!

No! Don´t worry. Your children don´t stink. (Well, not normally). It´s not a relationship that stinks. It´s different.  The founder of the 'Love Stinks' campaign, a good friend of ours, was visiting his aunt in Africa. There he saw terrible things happening. People dying of sicknesses, infections, people getting killed, a woman was even killed by a crocodile and this witch doctor was rolling around bones to find out who should be punished. When our friend came back, he looked into his closet and started thinking about all that we have. We have sooooo much food. Many people in Africa suffer from hunger. A lot of people starve to death. We have sooooo many clothes. Many people in Africa only have one shirt or none. So, he started thinking. What if some of us wear one shirt for five days?If people in Africa have one shirt all year round and can hardly ever really wash, (never like we wash ourselves) why should we not try it? And so the 'Love Stinks' campaign was born!  This is an opportunity given to school children and others in the community to spend five days wearing one shirt, completing various activities and reading a daily thought and Bible message, while also raising money for various local charities.  One overall charity is chosen each year and over the five days other charities are also highlighted.  This year the focus was on the elderly.  All of these activities are aimed at prompting people to think about those in situations less fortunate than our own.  Empathy and understanding are hopefully gained and money and other practical donations are given to these charities.  So, no showering or washing and wearing one shirt for five days. That can (in some cases) get pretty stinky. If you are working hard and sweating it is harder.

If you are just sitting in front of a fire, reading a book, waiting for the maple sap to cook down to maple syrup, but doing nothing else, it´s easier. (More to the syrup later on). Every year in "Love Stinks" money is collected for a local charity. Last year it was the Brockville food bank. This year it was Brockville Palliative Care. But how do you collect money? Beforehand everyone finds sponsors that will pay you to wear the shirt for five days. But also some people walk door to door and ask for money. Now for Rebecca and I, (Jonathan here again) this was pretty weird, because in Europe nobody walks door to door for anything. We were a bit nervous at first, but after a while it went all well. Some let us speak, thought for a bit and then said yes or no. Others said no immediately before we could explain, and others found excuses like: 'I would like to, but the shower is running and I cannot give you two seconds of time', or, 'I was having a nap and now that I am up, I want to go to bed again and cannot listen to you'.
Every day there is a devotional to do and a 'Love Challenge'. On the first day it was fasting from everything (that is food and drink) except water. The second day was finding all the spare change around the house to support a Christian bus program (taking students to visit seniors in Senior's Residences). The third day was bringing clothes to donate to the Salvation Army. The fourth day was putting tape on glasses to make visibility worse. Putting ear plugs in to hear less. Taking popcorn seeds and putting them into your shoes to simulate aches and pains. And finally, putting on rubber gloves and wrapping rubber bands around your knuckles- all to see how it may be for some older people. I even tried to make pizza dough with everything on. Losing eyesight halfway was the hardest thing for me.

Making pizza dough

Almost every day there was a charity supported by doing the Love Challenge, but overall all the money collected went to our local (Brockville) Palliative Care. Syrup news next time!

Have a great week!!!