June 2023

June was a lot of time spent on construction for the new garden. Seems like half of my pictures are of the project. ;)

Matthew's air cadet program wrapped up for the year. They had an annual ceremonial review...which is just a fancy way to say they have to march around, get inspected by people, and listen to lots of speeches. It's a very formal ceremony. The next day is a banquet, and then that's it.

I decided to add "raised beds" at the end of the garden, to put strawberries in. I hope to make lids for them next spring, with mesh to keep the squirrels out. It's also just supposed to make the transition from garden to patio a bit more defined.

All the dirt is in, and some tomatoes and peppers. Now to add some more seeds. Never have I ever planted a vegetable garden this late in the year!

We promised to let our neighbour get rid of our green bin. So we emptied it out. A lot of things were junk, and some of it we decided was worth keeping. So we moved it to the appropriate places.

Bye bye bin! Closing it up before it gets taken away. It ended up raining a lot, so the bin sat there empty for a few weeks...we didn't need to rush to empty it after all. Sigh.

Another load taken away. Good wood behind the coop, junk in a heap by the patio, to be taken to the dump someday soon.

The garden in the context of the backyard.

Planting the strawberries...we had a lot in our old garden, just buried in grass. Hopefully they don't get overwhelmed here.

More dirt. And more dirt.

The linden tree looks very different now. It doesn't have a hedge and garden beside it anymore...just a tree all on it's own.

Evelyn made a beautiful flower basket.

I finally hung up the sign my brother gave me. :)

Everything is planted now!! The post sticking out is supposed to be a post for the rail of a deck...if a deck gets built one day...around the house to where I hang the laundry. The deck there is rotting away and badly in need of being replaced...so...maybe next year.

The finished project! Hopefully it stays up and doesn't fall over like the previous wall. It's higher and has more weight than before...we added about 20 yards of soil...so that's a lot of weight!!

We did do some other activites in May and June. We worked on spring cleaning the kitchen! We've been at this house for a long long time, and have never done any spring cleaning. And yes, we know it's actually summer, not spring. But we have some time. So for a while, most days we'd spend an hour cleaning the kitchen. We didn't quite finish, but it certainly looked a lot better after each time!

Evelyn decided to make a ship.

She also decided to keep track of my vegetables for me.

Don't worry, the kids had time to play and swim too! We had friends over fairly regularly in June, and they enjoyed swimming with their friends.

May 2023

Matthew heading off for Air Cadets. He went to a field training exercise...at a military base. They were supposed to learn some basic survival skills, etc. He wasn't allowed to pack his jackknife or anything else dangerous, lol.

Daniel became the bike repair guy.

My spring project this year was to rip out our old retaining wall and build it up higher than before and turn it into a vegetable garden...so I don't need to fight with the linden tree for nutrients and sunshine every year.

Melanie helped me rip out the old wall. It had been rotting fairly badly, but those big old pieces of wood were pretty stuck in in some places. I ended up using my chainsaw in a few sections.

We heaped up all the old wood...hopefully it can go to the dump soon.

Evelyn wrote her first full story. Complete with a cover. It was an initiative of her own, and a very interesting story to read!

Playing games in Jennifer's room.

It's a lot more work to put in a new wall, than to take out the old one! We put in river rock and a french drain all around the edge...hoping to prevent the new wall from rotting like the original wall.

Oh, and because our green bin was getting moved soon, we had to empty all the old wood we'd been storing in it. And put the junk out for the dump...along with the rotting wood. Matthew decided it was easier to pile it all on the trailer and tow it to the chicken coop instead of carrying it all by hand. He was right.

Philip showed me how to cut through a 4x4 post with a skill-saw.

Melanie kept me motivated with freshly ground coffee beans.

Looks like it's taking shape. The tricky part was trying to get the height of the 4x4s to match the top of the patio, while still stacking up nicely and staying relatively level. It meant working backwards and forwards at the same time...and having things sort of balance...until it was all in the right place...then finally anchoring it steadily.

We took a break to welcome a refugee family our church sponsored. They were supposed to arrive around Christmas time. Things didn't work out. But now, finally, they are on the way!! Jennifer and Evelyn made signs to wave around when we meet them (late) at the airport. After all, they won't know what we look like at all!

Super excited to welcome this family! They have a girl who is Evelyn's age...and Evelyn is planning on being her friend. And two days later I headed back to the airport...this time to pick up Nathan!

Before getting my project up any higher, I have some tiebacks to put in. They are supposed to use the weight of the garden to keep the wall from tipping over.

Daniel Jennifer and Evelyn went on a few biking outings while I was working. To the trails that we have been to before...so some time on the road, and then time on the trails. They went about 4 times. And then they couldn't agree which way to go home, and split up. Since I didn't permit them to bike home on their own, that was the end of that.

What I found in Daniel's room one day. Sort of looks like Flat Stanley.

By the middle of May the older kids were off to work. Planting season is busy for landscapers! They'd come home and inspect my work, though, and offer me some feedback on my progress.

Evelyn and Daniel took up golfing since biking was no longer an option.

Jennifer started helping me with the garden project, since Melanie (who had been helping more often) was off to work now. A lot of the work was the finicky business of keeping the layers of rock and dirt separate.

I paid her well for her work.

I went with a landscaping friend to a greenhouse and picked out some flowers for my pots.

Daniel Jennifer and Evelyn helped me fill the pots up. So nice to plant something...I'm trying hard to get the garden ready, but it's slow work! At least we can start growing something!

Since Daniel can ride a snowmobile up a mountain, he can mow the lawn. Matthew is gone full time this spring and summer, so Daniel has a lot more responsibility around the house.

Matthew still helps out on Saturdays and in the evenings though. Daniel and him loaded up the trailer with the wood...off to the dump it goes! Yay!

And my first load of dirt arrived. I didn't count how many wheelbarrows full of soil I moved, but it was a lot. And good exercise too!

Fortunately the heat of summer was usually not too intense...it is May still, but there can be hot days! Jennifer offered me refreshments, thankfully.

The pool got opened up. Philip and the kids must have done it. I didn't help at all, I pretended to be plenty busy with my own project.

I put the kids to work again...this time they are rescuing as many strawberries as they can, since I want to have some strawberries in containers (hopefully with lids to keep the squirrels out!) and we might as well use the plants that we already have!

Nathan in Korea, April-May 2023

Five weeks is a long time. We sure noticed his absence! Nathan spent his 18th birthday in Korea too. They gave him a party at the school. On weekends he was hosted by families that had older kids in the school that he was helping at. They took him to see different things in Korea, and just generally spoiled him. :p

Apartment living is quite different than our spacious home in the country.

He was put to work during the week, and helped with all the different age groups at the school he was staying at, helping out with their English.

They kept him pretty busy.

Staying at the school during the week, Nathan had a dorm experience, quite different from his homeschool experience! He made the most of it, and had a great time.