New Season

Hi Friends,

A new day.... another day of choices. We actually had snow on the ground yesterday and folks hauled out their winter coats.

It isn´t that that is all that unusual....but it was still October....yesterday.

It has been predicted that our area in Northern Ontario is going to have a drier and warmer winter than what is ¨normal¨. But we do have a lake nearby and that can skew the results.....

(it´s called lake effect snow).

Do you have certain rituals or household preps you do every year before the cold weather sets in? Do you cover some of your windows and plug up some of the drafts coming in from your doors?

So far, all that I have is a sweater that I knit many months ago....warm and snuggly, but altogether too heavy to wear in any weather other than ¨freezing¨. Oh, yes, I forgot...I also knit a hat and a few vests too. We will see if I will dare to wear those....they have a ¨different¨ look that takes some courage.

Some folks who heat their homes with woodstoves have taken care to load up their wood piles earlier this year, to be sure the wood had time to mature and dry out. Those who rely on natural gas to heat their homes are imploring our federal government to halt or slow down the carbon tax that is scheduled to impact natural gas costs.

With rising interet rates, I see that folks are simply spending and investing more conservatively....counting their coins first before splurging. It hasn´t stopped folks from travelling, but perhaps they are scouring for cheaper air fares and better package deals for accomodation. Folks still drive a lot....our roads and highways are full.

Those who are savers, who simply accumulate cash and sit on it in a savings account, are enjoying these higher interest rates. But folks who use debt to build businesses, buy real estate and other investments are scratching their heads. A technical recession is on the way into the 3rd quarter in Canada. That means a lot of Canadian investments will be ¨ön sale¨ and ripe for the picking.

Are you the type to buy when things go down in price? Do you wait until your dollars fetch more in a bear market? Or do you hunker down and wait until the bull market returns and ride the upswing?

What´s nice about the markets and real estate is that there is always something brewing, no matter what the weather is doing outside. Always a trend to watch, a category that looks interesting and someone having an opinion somewhere in the world aching for someone to listen. 

Colder weather beckons me to good books and warm steamy mugs.What´s on your reading table today?

Peace,

Carla

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Weeping Willows and Camouflaged Mushrooms...

Greetings friends.....Tis that time of year when a stroll in the autumn leaves and crisp air is essential. No worries about frost just yet....but the leaves are still giving up a great colourful show and the living things that inhabit the forests and paths are still visible....prepping the soil before the snows will fall in a month or two.

Weeping willows are one of the most recognizeable trees that adorn many residential areas in Ontario, both central and northern Ontario. Folks don´t find them depressing despite their downturned limbs and leaves, because the abundance of the foliage and the way they sway in the breezes is lovely and reassuring.

Below is another gift of the season, the discovery of mushrooms growing camouflaged among the fallen crunchy leaves. 

Well friends, there is no profound speech today, nor rants or intellectual discussions.....just the peaceful sigh of a restful sunday. We are grateful for our country, for this time of year and the beauty that God has bestowed upon us here in Northern Ontario. Enjoy your weekend friends. Drink deep of the beauty.

Peace,

Carla.

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In Favor of Dabbling

Don´t let someone call your dabbling a lack of focus.

I dabble for fun. I dabble because that is how adults play. I don´t get out toy trucks or dollies....but I taste and test out whatever hobby or craft I find interesting.

Don´t take yourself so seriously all the time. Yes, there is time for mad hatter work ethic where you are beedy eyed and uber focussed. 

But on your down time, learn to play a little ok?

Some of the things I´ve dabbled in over the past year....

Collecting wild apples without catching poison ivy.

Painting cement molded items and then glazing them with decoupage...

Writing a song. Stay tuned :)

Making a few youtube videos, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeUYJ6-lcy0bUWbC0k_Brxg

and doing random photo shoots of whatever tickles my fancy.

Watching baby pine trees grow from the seeds that fell from the dry pine cones I used to decorate my houseplants.  

 Harvesting and cooking with the chives that grew back again this year.

and the list is neverending.

Yes, I have my list of goals, and yes, I am uber focussed on them. But I work hard and I play hard. Dabbling is serious play time.

May you play a little or a lot this weekend.

Peace,

Carla

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Seth Godin — The Pursuit of Meaning, Choosing Your Attitude, Overcoming ...

 

The time I spent this weekend just soaking up the gentle admonishing of Seth Godin in this interview was time well wasted. Not much else I can possibly say to convince you my friends to invest some of your valuable time listening to Seth Godin. He is the ultimate gentleman who has not lost his teeth.

My Experience with Alkaline Water

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Big Fat Disclaimer: This story is  my personal experience and is not to be used as medical or health advice. This blog post is intended for conversational and entertainment purposes only. Please seek medical advice from your licensed medical practicitioners. This blog and it´s publishers and author do not accept any liability for the ideas discussed in this post.

I had listend to an acquaintance rave about what he had experienced drinking alkaline water regularly. He even suggested that it helped his body fend off colds when he felt one approaching.

So I decided to try drinking more of it. And this is what I have experienced so far.

I do find that  it stimulates the digestion....and in layman´s terms basically makes you use the bathroom more easily. It brings about a clarity and calmness because you can feel that your system is being cleansed... from the inside out.

Did it do anything for my immune system? Well, I can say that while I have been consuming alkaline water regularly I do find that my body does it´s own ¨fighting¨ against whatever kind of germs or bactaeria may be trying to get me unwell. I have experienced that my body goes into detox mode while I am sleeping and sometimes I will awake in the middle of the night with an elevated temperature which goes away by the time I awake in the morning. I then feel better and more refreshed and no cold or flu symptoms stick around.

But is it fair to say that I do practice other health enhancing habits to keep me well at the same time as consuming alkaline water regularly? Yes, I do.

So, all things being considered, I don´t think i can scientifically prove that the alkaline water consumption is improving my immune system, but I would state that I can confirm that it definitely does improve my body´s ability to process digestion and provide a more easy and comfortable elimination of waste. 

I have heard of more than one person experiencing weight loss from drinking alkaline water regularly, but I can´t say that this has been the case for me as of yet.  

I am curious if you have had any experiene with alkaline water? Did you enjoy it´s effects on your body, digestion, and immune response? Did you notice any effect on weight gain or loss? Did it make you feel more peaceful and content?

Leave your thoughts and comments below. I appreciate your input.

Peace,

Carla

Autumn Harvest Time

This time of year....ah the bounty of it all. The apples are still awaiting some of us to glean the last ones still hanging from the branches.

I´ve always been a fan of gathering local wild edibles....learned that from the joy of wandering the fields with my little friends when I was a child. That was back in the day when parents didn´t worry so much and let their kids roam free unsupervised.

I remember there was a patch of wild strawberries growing under the hydro towers that loomed above our favourite bike paths.

In my neck of the woods up here in Northern Ontario, Canada, we have wild apples hiding in plain sight. The issue being that folks are so accustomed to shopping for their food in the stores, that they don´t really grasp the concept of gleaning food that grows freely near their homes. I can honestly say that I have never seen any of my neighbours walking down the street with any food that they have collected in the wild. Now, this is not to say that they don´t do this beyond my observation, but in this semi-modern suburb, it just isn´t a trendy thing to be seen doing.

The things I have collected in the wild up here have included things like apples, and pears and raspberries. I have also dabbled in tasting little nibbles of spruce tips, as well as dandelion greens and even mulberry leaves.

Foraging for mushrooms in our local forest would be quite a hoot, because our location seems to sponsor a healthy bunch of mushroom varieties. I just am extra cautious and have never eaten any mushrooms I have found or photographed, simply because I don´t know enough about foraging yet to be able to confidently know whether  a local mushroom is safe for eating or not. Better to be safe than sorry eh!

If you are interested in learning more about foraging from someone who actually lives a life closer to local plant life, you may wish to check out the youtube videos of Rob Greenfield from the USA. He is an activist who seems to thrive on foraging and making do with what he can find, instead of going to stores like most folks do. Here is the link to his youtube channel  https://www.youtube.com/@RobGreenfield

Note that Rob Greenfield has made some pretty wild personal choices in his quest to live according to his beliefs. I am not here to endorse all of his choices, but merely to suggest that you may find his foraging videos to be helpful if you wish to learn more about living off the land.

Well, that is all for now friends. May God bless you with the eyes to see the bounty that is all around you....and the courage to harvest some of it. 

Peace,

Carla.

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Tiny Homes in Low Income States....the Investment Opportunity of our Generation?

I wrote in a former blog post, about how there are 15 states in the USA that require incomes under 50K for a single person to survive.(courtesy of an article written by Mike Winters)

I happened to watch a video this morning about tiny homes in the USA. Some were as small as 350 square feet. So, if North America is stairing down the prospect of a recession...there will be opportunities that empower lower income or cash strapped families to thrive in a tighter economy.

So enters the tiny home industry. Fixed home address on minimal land with minimal square footage that folks can buy while earning a modest income or on a fixed income due to retirement, lifestyle choice or disability.

The article written by Mike Winters spoke of the following 15 states...

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennesee, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

So, if you are looking for an idea for your next investment, perhaps you may want to consider investing in the tiny home industry being built in any of the above 15 states. Why focus on these low income states? Because you don´t want folks who buy these kind of homes, to not be able to afford them. You want to build them in states where folks have a lower cost of living. That will prevent foreclosures and folks living beyond their means.

What do you think friends....is this a golden opportunity? Could your family afford to invest less than 200 grand on a tiny home or more than one tiny home in one of the above 15 states? You could buy it for an income property to rent out or as an extra vacation home.

I live in Northen Ontario Canada and I see the struggles folks face finding affordable housing on a basic working family´s income. Where there is struggle there is also opportunity.

Do you want to help other people? Perhaps you can build a struggling working person or retired person a tiny home, so they have a safe stable place to live and sleep. 

We all have different abilities that God can use to support the other people we share the planet with. If you feel called to help people with housing...would building or investing in tiny home structures be a strategy?

Let me know what you think...I respect your voices.

Peace,

Carla

Disclaimer: This blog post is for conversation purposes only, it is not intended to be investment or financial advice. This blog and it´s author do not accept any liability for the ideas discussed in this post or any other post on this blog.

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