An Adventure at Gleaners

This oil painting (1857) by Jean-Francois Millet comes to mind when you hear the word Gleaners. The modern day application is quite different.

Whirrr! Shovel! Scoop! Spread! Stack!

What a busy time at the North Okanagan Valley Gleaners plant near Vernon, B.C.  Early on the morning shift, I had just selected a wonderful knife on the shelf, that cut cleanly and swiftly through the various sized beets in the large bin beside me. Terry was happily splitting giant cabbages with his machete-like knife.

Various shapes of veggies that don't make the market find their way to Gleaners.

Then I was asked to help "spread".  Abandoning my calm and fairly predictable post at the cutting station, I joined my friend who was already spreading the mix of diced beets and shredded cabbage onto trays that were to go into the dryer.

The diced vegetables had to be quickly patted into place with a few deft butterfly movements of the hand, just ahead of the next scoop that was waiting to be thrown onto the tray.

Here are carrots that are being scooped up to be flung onto the trays in rapid succession. I had to restrain myself from tidying someone else's spreading job when it was my turn to fit the trays into the many-slotted rack.  Sometimes when there was a moment's lull, I would furtively pat some vegetables into an empty looking corner of the sheet.  But there really were not many pauses, unless the dicing machine broke down. 

Then the machine had to be opened and the reason for the breakdown determined. Usually it was something like too much cabbage, which had to be mixed equally with beets to keep the vegetable cubes running freely.














I thought I knew what I was doing when my friend and I wheeled the trays into the dryer. 
Hmmm.  Why is this extra space here on the side? I thought.

No, no, no!  The trays have to go in this way, and we had to rearrange them all, down to lining them up with all the metal sheets in colour-coded order, and the stacks with the extra trays placed on the sides of the room to create proper air flow. Some time during the night, when the right level of dehydration is reached, the dryers automatically shut off.

The next morning the trays are scraped, and the now dried product collected into huge barrels, labelled with their contents, ready to be combined together into a soup mix to be shipped overseas to needy nations.  Apples and pears are packaged separately to be re-hydrated or eaten as a crunchy snack. 

Medical supplies are also collected by the North Okanagan Valley Gleaners. 

Terry stands by a pile of wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches, and later, helps to load some of them into a container destined for Guatemala.

Some crutches from the surplus in our town made their way to the collection. In the background you can see barrels full of the dried product.

Packages of dried soup mixes and fruit go into the container  first.












Various countries around the world are grateful recipients of the generosity of Canadian farmers, and our labour in processing the bounty.

 A very worthwhile project!
For more information, see www.novgleaners.org 

Play date with Grandma and Grandma

When the boys were asked what they wanted to play when Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit, the quick choice was "Play dough!"
The big container was dumped out on the table, and we began.
"Oh, here's some new stuff!"
In the new can the play dough was smooth and flexible, moldable, and easy to form into shapes. While Little Sister happily transferred the old, lumpy play dough in and out of its container,  Big Brother pressed a lump of the new stuff into the piece of play equipment I call the garlic press.  Spaghetti-like strands extruded from the little holes, but turned into little bumps when he tried to pull the lump out.
"It looks like a cheese grater!"  I said.
Soon its wedge shape turned into an armchair. Then a man to sit in it. Then another wedge shape looked like a foot bath.  Our imaginations ran rampant.

Little Brother said, "I want a man and a chair, too!"
"OK!"
I told the boys, "My dad and I used to make things out of play dough when I was your age. Only it was called Plasticene."
"That was my great-grandfather," said Big Brother, who is six.
Wow, I thought to myself, quick thinking.

There's a Bible verse that in a modern translation says, Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, that is, don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world. As a Christian, I'm to let God transform me into a new person by changing the way I think.  God is the One to do the squeezing, poking and stretching to mold me into the kind of person he wants me to be.  Sometimes the process is painful, like the play dough man who kept losing his arm.  I won't reach perfection any time soon because He's still working on me through the pokings and proddings of this life.  One day I will be changed to be like Him!

French Camp

Six years ago I began French Camp with my oldest grandchildren, and they've been going on every summer except the year we were in the throes of selling our beautiful log home. It was my daughter-in-law's idea, based on the week-long French Camps I had attended in Edmonton, while teaching school.  Caleb and Emma were being home schooled at the time, so it was supposed to enhance their education. I'm amazed at what they've learned over the years, and every year we add to it.

Bonjour, Georges!

Reviewing three digit numbers

This year the focus was parts of the body and their ailments, and the seasons and weather.
Georges, our French Camp mascot, was there, conversing with Petit Georges and Felix, a stuffed teddy.

Petit Georges a mal au pied

Coude, coude!

Dos, dos!

Monster drawings with random body parts:  

Il a trois yeux verts...

  The game Operation was hard to do, and not that
useful for learning.

Matching clothing items with the weather.

Mets la main gauche sur le cercle jaune!                                                                                                            

A picnic day was an opportunityto do some outdoor games.
Here Emma is carrying a beanbag between her knees.

An early birthday celebration.








Bonne Fete a toi! Treize bougies.







The "Littles" began their own French Camp this year.

Hard to do with the littlest one wanting in on the action.  Success!

Matteo matches colours and numbers using the dominoes.

Grandmaman is fatiguee, but contente.  See you next year!

Camping at Dilberry Lake

It's been a long time since we camped in Alberta--five years to be exact. Our condo was too hot, and we needed a change of scenery.  Dilberry Lake Provincial Park on the Saskatchewan border fit the bill, and the lake was actually swimmable.

This park features knob-and -kettle terrain, a landform of small irregular hillocks (knobs) and shallow lakes, (kettles) formed by receding glaciers. A few of these small lakes made up the park, the largest being Dilberry Lake, the one with the sandy beach where families liked to enjoy the hot weather.
I enjoyed my swims, too! At first my muscles and bones were creaky after my fall seven weeks ago, but by the second day I could do a modified breast stroke. The water was so refreshing, and fairly clear.

Foam churned up through wind, sodium, or organic substances

We drove to an ecological reserve area that was supposed to have sand dunes, but never found it.  Then we thought, "Maybe we are on the sand dunes; and they're grown over."  Most of the vegetation was grasses and shrubby aspen trees and smaller silvery-leafed wolf-willow bushes.

Elaeagnus commutata

As we hiked around the campsite, and the next day around a five km loop around two smaller lakes, we were surrounded by these trees and saskatoon berry bushes.









We avoided the poison ivy!

Leaves of three, let it be!

We were amused to find that the trail around the lakes was actually a swath cut through the grassland!
The trails through the campsite were gravelly sand, not quite comfortable for my Townie bike.

Western Goat's Beard or Yellow Salsify

I'm not sure I was supposed to pick the saskatoon berries, but I thought the deer wouldn't mind sharing a few handfuls.  They were much more closely clustered together and prolific than this picture shows.  The juiciest saskatoon beries I've ever tasted! I certainly filled my antioxidant quota for the day. A great mid-morning snack!  Good thing they grow in and around Red Deer, too, so I can make jam.

                                                                                   Chokecherries were still green on the stem, and prolific as well.                                                            

Amelanchier alnifolia



Terry was amused that one side of these steps was Alberta, and the other side, Saskatchewan, according to the map.  

Food tastes better in the open air.                                              

Dilberry Lake is an important bird area, and we totalled nearly 70 species. Terry was excited about the cranes that flew overhead, and was convinced they weren't the regular Sandhill Cranes, since they had black heads. We'll never know for sure, since we couldn't document them with a picture. Here's one of my favourite birds, the Wilson's Snipe. I used to see it sitting on a fence post as we would drive to school,

Life was slow paced in a natural setting. We chose not to be connected to power, and the neighbours were not too close.  I felt refreshed, and didn't really want to go home.  It was time, though; we ran out of interesting food and on the last night the Coleman lantern sputtered and died to night-light mode, too dim to read longer.

A peaceful end to a long, satisfying day.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

J.G. Whittier

Birthday Lunch Date

Ellis smiles in his car seat on the way to his birthday lunch with Grandma and Grandpa B.  Thanks, Grandpa, for transferring the car seat, and for driving.

 The card I made him shows a pirate looking through his spyglass with the words  "I see you have a birthday."

Ellis is four years old today.
He never knew his great grandmother, but he was born on her birthday. She would have been pleased. His brother's birthday is two days from now; his cousin's is tomorrow, another cousin's was four days ago, his uncle's was yesterday. It's quite the birthday week for this family.
His great-great-grandmother's  and great-great-great-grandfather's birthdays also cluster around this date. Interesting how this happens in families!

This pirate puzzle requires concentration.

 It's finished before the food comes.

Fish and chips goes well with the informal pirate theme. "Don't pick pancakes," we told him.  "That's what you chose for your birthday dinner with the family!"

At times the overhead TV screen was a distraction to conversation, 

just as it is with the other Burnett boys.

Ellis chose a beautiful shiny ring with a pink "jewel' from the treasure chest at the door. Pirate treasure!

Too full for the chocolate cupcake, so we brought it home.
 Birthday party time with his brother in three days.  Wonderful to have summer birthdays with a big back yard.

Friends

Meeting friends was one of the joys of being on Vancouver Island. I grew up there, so had a base of people from which to draw. We met new people, too!

Myrtle and Bentley opened the gate for us at the camp 

Marilyn, friend since Grade Four 

 Marilyn treated me to the play Pride and Predjudice at the theatre in Chemainus. We also had dinner at Arlene and Nelson's from Port Alberni school days, but I forgot to take a picture.

Peter and Marion, from Camp Columbia and UVIC days

Jerry & Tricia from Fort Nelson teaching days

We had an awesome lunch at the Rocking Horse Pub in Nanoose Bay with Peter and Marion, and a lovely day with Tricia and Jerry at their seaside home in Campbell River, plus a walk around Buttertub Marsh, Nanaimo, and lunch another day.

Ted from Fort Nelson teaching days. 90 years old today!

Lana from New Denver days. 

Ted was happy that we came to celebrate with him on the way home. It was good to stay a couple of days with Lana and Rob near Kelowna.
On the way down we had a long overdue visit with Joan in New Denver.  Again, I forgot to take a picture of this dear friend.

Goddaughter Rachael with sons Kyle and Cody in Nanaimo

My brother, Ed, and his wife, Heather, had a new summer home built by the ocean in Chemainus. We're looking forward to spending more time there in the future.

Dianne, niece of our former doctor in New Denver

New friends, Wally and Julia from Saskatchewan

Ed and Heather, taken last year

So fun to "randomly" meet Mary-Ann, who contacted us after seeing me on the street. We didn't know she lived on the Island, but we had fun catching up.

Our student, Mary-Ann, some 40+ years later

One sad note: I spoke on the phone with Tom, the husband of my first neighbour and playmate in Port Alberni. He explained that Colleen had died nine years ago!
Friends, new and old, made up for the loneliness of being the only SOWERs on this Canadian project.