Vancouver(ish) in September: summer weather, autumn cheer

[flowmom]

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.

Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

Welcome Lower Mainland Mamas!
(and Mamas to Be)

All local mamas are welcome here! Visitors are welcome to pop in too. We are brought together by our passion for conscious/thoughtful/attachment/respectful/wholistic/natural parenting, not always agreeing on the path but agreeing to respectfully discuss, share, and learn together. Feel free to join in the conversation and introduce yourself!

This is our thread for chatting online, discussing issues relevant to the Lower Mainland, and arranging meetings in real life. If you have issues and questions that are not specific to the Vancouver area, please start a new thread in the appropriate MDC forum (e.g. breastfeeding, discipline, health, etc.). You can also post a link to your topic in this thread if you are requesting input from your tribe members. This allows us to
1. adhere to MDC guidelines;
2. keep questions and responses organized; and
3. reduce thread traffic and allow readers more control over which discussions they engage in.

Meet-ups are sporadic and include gatherings at parks, Science World, and people's homes. Anyone is welcome to suggest a gathering time/place. Meet-ups are either announced in the meet-up thread in the Canada Forum or here.

Remember that to get email notification of new posts in this thread, you can post to this thread to subscribe or you can use 'thread tools' and click 'subscribe'.

Please note that our Vancouver(ish) Tribe has other threads in the Canada Forum, including:

* Vancouver(ish) Meet-up thread
* Knitting Group Thread: look in the Canada forum
* Vancouver(ish) Doctors for Children
* Vancouver(ish) Dental Resources for Children
* FAQ: Greater Vancouver Area Liveability and Affordability

[artparent]

i love september

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[flowmom]

I haven't caught up with the thread . What can I tell you, I am so busy with my fascinating life of laundry, dishes, picking up, room painting, and decluttering . Yes, I suppose my home should be fit for Better Homes and Gardens by now, but *no* .

We are planning to go to the Not Back To School Picnic. Ds announced emphatically that he does not ever want to go to school . I had to laugh because he really doesn't have much of a clue of what school is and might even want to attend if he had more info.

[artparent]

gardeners, a lovely bit about an urban gardener in nyc.

any suggestions where to buy beeswax candles in this city? i mean the solid ones. alternatively, where i could just get the beeswax to make my own?

i've found a place not too far from my house in london that does handweaving, they have looms, lots of fibres, and do workshops and classes. my tall one has decided she wants a class there..for her birthday we'll see what all the folks who insist on giving her objects will say.

now i just need to find a butcher that will use butcher paper, and a pottery studio, and i will be pretty content

ksenia, it is good to focus on what's in front of you, this place can really pull you away from home in a bizarre way

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[flowmom]

Originally Posted by artparent

any suggestions where to buy beeswax candles in this city? i mean the solid ones. alternatively, where i could just get the beeswax to make my own?

Wicks & Wax is quite a fun outing . They have the rolling and melting types of beeswax. The rolling kind is really easy for children to make and it comes in all colours (we go there before xmas). The atmosphere is very warehouse, but I just love to see all the materials laid out on the shelves. Don't know how the prices compare to other places.

[flowmom]

in today's Vancouver Sun: new BC study

Midwife assisted home births no riskier than hospital: CMAJ study

[kdtmom2be]

There's always our local HoneyBee Center.

[artparent]

thanks!!

i've lost sheets of beeswax somewhere in my home here
at least i find interesting things whenever i do another search for it. like yellowtail

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[Autumn Mama]

I recall seeing the solid beeswax ones in Choices, or maybe Capers would have them on the North Shore? they are purty!

[Ellp]

Beeswax...Some grocery stores sell them. I know our Thrifty's has a selection of sizes in the solid tapers and pillar type. They'd probably be sold at Whole foods, Capers, and Planet Organic too.

As for the sheets, you might want to try Micheals. I know they sell the regular coloured wax stuff.

I got our candles at a christmas fair last year. They make the house smell so sweet!:

[Autumn Mama]

Hmmmm, multi-quotes don't carry over from prior threads!

Well, okay Ellp, and artparent, since you're ganging up on me I suppose I can see your points! LOL! I do want to slow down and enjoy these processes and well, just chillax! (My new great word )

I seem to live lately as though there's a time deficit somehow, or in my mind I guess I'm creating one. For what underlying purpose, I don't know, maybe to prevent myself from enjoying and embracing my life more fully? I feel an "AHA" moment coming on...

I'm distracted lately by wanting to fix up my home, as it's been really neglected, but I still want to carve out some "me time". So I will!

Even if I only manage to make 1 dozen cans, I will have learned more about how to, and will have allowed myself the company of friends and lived in the moment. And each one of those cans comes with an ingredient I can't buy: love. I'm really looking forward to the Fall, as I very much want to knit and create and make and be. I need to work on letting go of my perfectionism and just sink my hands into things, and nevermind the house! It ain't going anywhere, lol! It's funny, because all of my growing up years, my mother was quite unavailable due to compulsive home cleaning and I definitely don't want to do that to my kidlets. I don't clean compulsively, but I get all caught up in "making something better" instead of just it being "good enough".

Well, good enough, here I come!

[tooticky]

Originally Posted by artparent

any suggestions where to buy beeswax candles in this city? i mean the solid ones. alternatively, where i could just get the beeswax to make my own?

The Ethical Kitchen in North Van sells solid beeswax candles....

[Storm Bride]

All this talk about beeswax is making me want to get back to candlemaking. I've only worked with paraffin (couldn't afford beeswax) and I've been on hiatus for a long time. Maybe I'll get organized to do a bit before Christmas this year. I'm a little nervous about melting wax in our small kitchen, with ds2 around, though...

I really need to declutter. I got on it a little bit, due to a small burst of "nesting" energy when I was pregnant with dd2, but the energy petered out fast. (I can't complain, as I've never had it before at all.) We have too much stuff for the space we live in, and it's definitely a source of tension and conflict around here. While I'm kind of sad to be done having children, I'm also feeling some relief. I've always held onto all my old baby clothes - almost like a talisman to ensure that I would have them all. Now, I can finally start putting them into my donation bags as dd2 outgrows them. I put the first sleeper in there a few days ago, and it felt good.

Now, I just have to summon the courage to go through dd1 and ds2's drawers and get rid of the stuff they've outgrown. It's going to be a big job, and dd1 will fight me every inch of the way. She still wears toddler dresses as shirts whenever she can. I actually don't mind that, but she has so many clothes!

[Autumn Mama]

Tomatoes:

Okay, canners: I contacted Ladybug and spoke to a fellow there who *has* alot of tomatoes right now, but due to some shortages with orders he doesn't have alot to spare. These would be the #2 Roma tomatoes. He will get more Friday, and so I would like to know how many I need to pick up?

I can't can on Friday (B's Bday), but I could Saturday or Sunday...Or should we stick to Thursday and I can go to/ call Two EE's (close to me) and order theirs?

How many does everyone involved in the canning want? I'm aiming for 12 jars, for this canning day. I'll go back over the posts to see how many pounds I 'd require. I guess I need to decide if that's 500 ml jars or 1 litre jars.

I'm so used to buying canned tomatoes I'm even not sure if they're equivalent! Math, here I come.

[kdtmom2be]

Speaking of Ladybug Organics and coconut products.... anyone notice these? They sound yummy

[weliveintheforest]

Those coconut bars look so yummy!


We are going to come to the Not Back to School Picnic

[Autumn Mama]

It'd be great to meet you Sheila!

I promise I won't say a word about chickens, too!

Are folks heading to the New West one or the one in Vancouver? We're thinking New West, but it was soooo huge last year. It made it tough to talk to folks and mind where my boys were. It would be nice to see some of you in real life and catch up.

We're off to explore around Hope.

I guess, no on the canning for now? I'm fairly busy with my DH on holidays, and don't know how to plan this any further, because we'll be away so much, enjoying my little one's birthday etc. I'm going to away from a computer...I'm really not much of a planner...it doesn't come naturally, I think.

[artparent]

autumn, if ellp wants to go ahead with the tomatoes kd mentioned, i still have tomorrow all ready. otherwise, maybe we should see how things go...we're awfully busy next week, and the weekend is busy with family.

don't feel badly! this hasn't been easy!!

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[artparent]

oh - and i'm happy with 40lbs!

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[Autumn Mama]

But who is ordering them?

I can still come and pick them up, if need be.