Favourite Quotes

I haven't written in a while...at least not about the dolce and amara vita I'm living...and since I'm busy with plans of our next adventure I thought I'd put down, on blog space, some of my favourite quotes...
If they're even 1% true then it gives me hope...for whatever comes our way. 

Every artist was first an amateur.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

-Robert Collier

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.

-Henry David Thoreau

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

-H. Jackson Brown

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

-George Eliot

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.

Confucius

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.-Confucius

A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tree Wall Mural

Marco and I haven't brought any wall hangings or paintings with us on this stint in the great north, so I've improvised and painted a tree on the wall. I'm still thinking about what to attach/ hang from/ cover the tree with...but I'm happy with it.

Then, while trying to fish all of my paintbrushes out of a giant box I had the idea of making a brush holder out of some fabric kicking around. Hand stitched of course...and very functional.

Hand Embroidered Wall Hanging

You are so (freakin') Lovely

Happy Birthday ...baaaaaa!

For my birthday this year we decided to get away. Last year's bday was a bust, spent alone in my stinky house share, fretting about all the things that have now come to be reality... and so this year I was excited (rightfully so) to spend my 33rd on a get away weekend with my lovely fuzzy husband.

We spent three days in the Cotswolds and another two with friends in Mumbles, Wales. It was incredibly beautiful, tranquil and there were sheep around every corner.

Why don't ewe rest? Guerilla knitters were about!

Rambling along the Cotswolds Way

Rape seeds growing

Tea time

Stop at a chapel

Navigator extraordinare

Dripping all over the Cotswolds

Mountain climber turned 'walker' hmf!

Baaaaaa!

It was a great time...one that will go down in history as a 'best birthday ever'...and now, back to reality. A reality which for many would be paradise...and for me...just reality.
Happy Birthday me!

Google Maps Angera

One day, when we first moved here, I was walking to an English student's house...and the google maps car was driving around...
Talk about making your mark!

Ethical Consumerism

Last year, while teaching my sweet 7 and 8 year olds, we did an inquiry into the choices that we make as consumers. While researching the unit and the topic, I came across facts, news and images that made me cry. Factory farming practices- in other words the way that the meat that most people eat gets to their table- are horrific. A quick search on youtube will find you (if you have sense) with tears in your eyes. Both for the animals that are treated so horribly and maybe even for us as a civilisation. When and how did it become so acceptable to treat animals for consumption so cruelly? Or is it just that we don't know and don't care to know where our food is coming from?

Maybe the next step in this line of thinking would be vegetarianism or veganism. Give it up. If you don't like how animals are treated and that they are killed to feed you, just stop eating them.

Well...it's complicated. For me, who loves to eat meat and who is truly grateful for every morsel I put in my tiny (ha) belly. Instead, for the moment, Marco and I have decided that if and when we eat meat, we will know where it comes from and what practices lead up to our consumption of it. Meaning no factory meat. No more giving money for meat that doesn't taste or look like it was ever an animal and no longer supporting its 'production'. Because really, it is production. Instead of rearing (growing) or raising. It's like the making of something inanimate, out of something artificial. How else could living things be treated the way they are. Seriously, Google factory farming.

This translates into Marco and I eating meat much less often than I ever did while living in Canada. Probably twice a week- the rest of the time we eat legumes, grains, and sometimes eggs. 

So now comes the part where I tell you about our bike ride on Friday. Marco heard from a friend about a farm in the area. We've already been going to a farm to get our meat and it's already a huge improvement over the places that probably supply meat to the local supermarkets. Clean, animals in open air, with space and clean water... But the place we visited Friday was unbelievable. I literally had tears in my eyes and not the sad ones.

The place is called Casina Casello and it's owned and operated by a woman from South Africa. The animals are not only treated humanely, it seems like a paradise. Some might argue that the final fate of the animals (consumption) negates it being a paradise, but that's for another discussion. We were so happy to find the place, looking forward to not only eating excellent meat but also supporting a business that is ethical and responsible.

 Curious hens...thought we came with food I guess...

 Bow-legged duck of some type...it was hissing. Weird.

 What a rooster....regal. Excellent posture.

 Angus beef cows napping in the shade of the trees...

 The grazing area for the cows...

 Molting horse rolling in the mud...looks like fun!

The baby cows are kept with their moms! They are all able to wander a giant space...

Weekends- Part 2

This weekend, Easter weekend, we decided to make the most of the beautiful day and ride our bikes to a local farm/ agriturismo/ butcher to grab some meat for our celebration meals. More on the farm later. We rode from Angera to Capronno then on to Osmate... and along the way stopped at a bar-restaurant for a beer and sandwich. We weren't the only ones with the idea...

The beautiful blue skies have since been replaced with grey clouds, heavy with hail...but we loved every second of our day out...