We chopped down a tree in the forest!

Part 2! We had such a perfect Prince Albert National Park trip this year that I wanted to write about it. There’s still one more week to go get your tree!

As I mentioned in my last post, we stayed in a cabin at Elk Ridge Resort this year. However on the way in, we decided to overshoot the Elk Ridge turnoff, head into the park, and do the Boundary Bog hiking trail before it got dark. This is always a nice quick trail to do either on your way in or out of the park, and was a great way to stretch our legs after a few hours of driving. I love this trail in the winter, with the dormant tamaracks and snow-covered boardwalk.

After Boundary Bog we went to check in at Elk Ridge, unpacked, read books for a while, and then went for supper at the Fireside restaurant. We had a delicious meal, both ordering the available fish dishes, which proved not so heavy that we had room for sticky date pudding for dessert.

On Saturday morning we made breakfast and coffee in the cabin and set our game plan for the day. We had originally hoped to do some cross country skiing on this trip, but the trails at Elk Ridge and in PANP were not quite ready yet, so we recalibrated and decided to try the Mud Creek hiking trail at South Bay. I have been to PANP nearly every year of my life, but never on this trail, and I feel ripped off! It was such an amazingly beautiful trail, with water views almost the whole way around the loop. The highlight though was seeing two otters tumbling around, playing, and sliding on the ice on their bellies – neither of us had ever seen this outside of a zoo!

(The sun was so bright, I had no idea if I was in focus or not, so these are not particularly good photos.)

After Mud Creek, we drove over to the Height of Land Tower, which is another park institution that I only recently discovered for myself and feel ripped off about. The road was blocked so we parked at the barrier and did the 5 minute walk to the tower. This is a park highlight, winter or summer – such an amazing view.

We then stopped at the park office to get our tree permit and couldn’t resist the 25% off on park merch. We restrained ourselves to a couple of mugs, however, and then set off for one last trail – Waskesiu River. Usually we see some wildlife on this one in the winter but it was silent except for some invisible chattering squirrels. Our winter visits often coincide with cloudy weather – the sunny day made for a new experience on this trail!

The weather overall was pretty perfect for winter hiking – about -20 with almost no wind, which was not too cold but not so warm that we overheated while in full winter walking gear.

Our second supper at Fireside was not quite as memorable as the first, but still good. We both ordered dishes featuring elk (when in Rome), but this time were too full for dessert.

We made a pretty quick exit on our final day – breakfast in the cabin, pack up and check out, and a stopoff to choose a tree. In other years it’s taken quite a while to find a good tree, but this time we spotted a nicely shaped, full tree right off the road. It just barely fit into the vehicle – definitely the fanciest tree we’ve brought home from the park!

On the way home we decided to stop in Hague and try Jake’s Burger, which was featured a couple years ago on a “top burgers in Saskatchewan” list. We’ve of course driven past Hague dozens of times, but never stopped to eat. Chalk it up to yet another thing we’ve cheated ourselves out of all these years – I will never be stopping for lunch at Prince Albert McDonald’s again! The burgers were so fresh and juicy and the options for free toppings unbeatable. We opted out of fries (they did look amazing though) so we could get a saskatoon tart with ice cream (in reality, ice cream with a bit of tart on the side) from Home Baked Goodness in the same little food court building. I think most south-central SK road trippers know about the legendary Wakaw rest stop, but this place is giving it a run for its money!

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend keeping some traditions alive and adding in new ones. While we splurged a bit, this is a trip that needn’t be terribly expensive if you plan your accommodations and meals right either. Visiting PANP is a perfect way to make the most of winter in SK!

We're going to chop down a tree in the forest!

For the past few years, Prince Albert National Park has had a “cut your own tree” program where you can go to the park, get a permit, and cut down a blue spruce from the Waskesiu town site fire break. We have been doing this every year since it started, and it is an extremely fun winter activity.

Going up to PANP in the winter is wonderful in itself and we’d still go even without the promise of a free Charlie Brown tree (let’s be real, these trees are not cultivated to be decorative and a bit on the scraggly side). The park is so quiet and empty, but they still keep most of the hiking trails groomed and it’s an awesome time of year for wildlife viewing because there just aren’t that many people around.

(Last year we definitely found the king of the forest while hunting for our tree!)

There is not a ton of choice for accommodations in or around the park, but there is enough to accommodate most price points. If you want to stay in the park, you can get a room or suite at either Waskesiu Lake Lodge (warning – autoplay video with sound) or The Hawood Inn for as little as $80/night, or get a cabin at Lost Creek Resort (again, autoplay warning). Lost Creek is the fanciest and newest of the three options, but is off the main road without a lake view. The Hawood has the only in-park dining in the offseason. We have stayed at both The Hawood and Lost Creek which have both been good – though I would avoid the Hanging Heart Condo at The Hawood in winter because it is far too big to keep warm with the existing heating infrastructure.

(Waskesiu River boardwalk trail)

Another place to stay just outside the park is Elk RidgeResort, which has everything from hotel rooms to large cottages or townhouses. This year we’re staying in a cabin for our second time at Elk Ridge. The pricing is similar to Lost Creek. We prefer cabins to hotel rooms because we can cook a lot of our own meals, and the guaranteed quiet. The restaurant at Elk Ridge is very good (we’ve eaten at least one meal every year there for the last few, and between the two of us only one meal has ever been bad).

(Boundary Bog trail)

Back to chopping down your own tree – I come from a “real Christmas tree” family, where we always had a real tree growing up, but we never went to a tree farm to choose one. We lived close to a mall which either had a tree seller set up in the parking lot, or a cage of trees at the Extra Foods, so we’d walk down to the mall with the toboggan and pull the tree home on the sled. Brahm and I would always get real trees from a greenhouse or tree lot for Christmas for the first few years we were married, but the first time we cut one down in the fire break was kind of magical. It is so much fun to hunt around for the “perfect” tree. In nature, most trees are not nicely symmetrical so it takes a while to find a good one, and then your car will smell amazing all the way home.

I highly recommend this Saskatchewan winter escape! It’s just under a 3 hour drive from Saskatoon, but the northern boreal forest is a completely different landscape, and especially beautiful and rejuvenating in the winter.

(Last year's tree in all its Charlie Brown glory)

The Buzz Lightyear Kid

One Saturday morning a year or two ago, my husband and I went to our neighbourhood Co-op for some groceries. As we were entering the store I noticed a kid and a dad getting out of their car. The kid was wearing most of a Buzz Lightyear costume, and then the dad helped the kid into the wings to complete the costume out in the parking lot, before they entered the store.

I should note that it was not anywhere close to Halloween on the calendar.

For the next 10 or so minutes that we spent in the store, we passed the Buzz Lightyear kid and their dad a few times. The kid looked SO genuinely happy and proud to be out in public in a Buzz Lightyear costume, and the dad appeared equally thrilled to be able to make his kid so happy.

Pretty soon, all the customers in the store had encountered this joyful situation and you could actually feel the mood in the store lifting. Everyone was smiling as they shopped.

So thank you, Buzz Lightyear kid, whoever you are. And thanks to your dad. You randomly made our collective day, and I still think about you fondly.

Alternate Gift Idea - Meewasin

My last post admittedly did only discuss “material” gifts. I possibly implied that they are the best gifts, but of course the actual best gifts are more meaningful than chocolate from Shoppers. I was mainly focusing on thoughtful gifts that one could give to anyone on their list, including the co-worker you don’t know very well but drew the name of in office Secret Santa.

The true best gifts for people you care a lot about are experiences, or tied to shared memories, and today I will talk about a Saskatoon gift idea along that theme.

I assume if you’ve ever been to Saskatoon, you’ve spent some time near the river. You may not be aware that the conservation of the river valley, not just in the city limits but covering a pretty large area outside ofthe city as well, is managed by the Meewasin Valley Authority (MVA). Fed a chickadee at Beaver Creek? Meewasin. Skated at the outdoor rink downtown? Meewasin. Sat on a bench along the river trails, or spent an afternoon watching pelicans at the weir? Meewasin! You get the picture.

(photo credit to my dad)

The MVA unfortunately does not have unlimited funding, and has had to scale back some beloved services in recent years, so it’s an important cause to donate to if you have the means (and advocate for when you have the opportunity!). Right now until December 20, one of the MVA’s founding members is matching donations up to $50,000, so your gift can go even further.

(no colour editing whatsoever)

The MVA offers a few “dedication” donation options which can make for very special gifts. It looks like they have raised the minimum donations for these items in the last year, so are probably a bit beyond the everyday gift budget. If you do have the means, the limit starts at $150, and these donations get you an invite to the annual tree dedication ceremony in the early summer. Last year I dedicated a brick in memory of my dad, so my family and I went to the ceremony and then for a walk at River Landing to find the brick. Similarly it would be nice to do this with “your” tree or shrub! Or, if you make a smaller donation, it could still be accompanied with a nice card and an IOU for going out to Beaver Creek and feeding the chickadees with the recipient, in lieu of a material gift.

(so many Western Red Lilies at Beaver Creek this past June!)

Even if you can’t donate, it’s a nice time of year to reflect on how lucky we are to have the MVA in Saskatoon. I’m sure I’ve taken it for granted most of my life, assuming most other cities also have such well-maintained, four-season public spaces along their river valleys, but I know this not to be true. I can't count the number of times that spending time in Meewasin has turned my day around, or given me a special and lasting memory - we are so fortunate!

Christmas Gift Guide - All Hail the Luxury Consumable!

I love giving gifts. To get to think about how much I like someone and what I could do or give them that would bring them some joy is the best. It was actually when my gift-giving skills started failing a couple years ago that made me realize I'd reached a pretty high level of burnout, because I was forgetting to be thoughtful and phoned in a wedding gift for a friend I cared deeply about. This won't do, I said, and make some drastic changes in my life which led us all here together to this very post.

I know for many people, gift giving is very hard and not enjoyable, a "just tell me what to buy you" experience. There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes people (like me all too often) say "I don't need anything" or "I already have too much stuff" etc etc. This is where the Luxury Consumable will save you!

One can almost never go wrong when gifting a Luxury Consumable - i.e. something that by its very nature is not meant to be "kept" (e.g. food or toiletries) but is likely a little higher-end than what someone might buy routinely. As long as you have a vague idea of whether the person you're gifting likes the general category (e.g. booze, chocolate, candles) of your gift, the Luxury Consumable is a foolproof present that works for every price point.

There is no shortage of places to obtain Luxury Consumables year-round in Saskatoon - The Saskatoon Farmers' Market (only in the downtown location until December 22), SaskMade MarketPlace (now with a Midtown location), Joyne, The Better Good, Wanuskewin, Ten Thousand Villages, Saje, Bernard Callebaut, the grocery store, the list goes on. There's also a ton of Christmas pop-up markets happening over the next few weeks, which CBC has compiled a list of. Just pick a store or market, go with a general idea and budget in mind, and I guarantee you'll find the right gift.

Some of my favourite luxury consumables with a local flavour:

• Chocolate from Those Girls at the Market - still taking Christmas box pre-orders, I think
• There is no shortage of excellent locally produced specialty booze in Sask (multiple links here)
• Or if you want to gift a tasty and bubbly non-alcoholic beverage, Parkerview Brews has really perfected their craft
• I got an Alauna Whelan candle in a silent auction at the Third + Bird market and I love it, expensive but very nice and lightly scented with essential oils only
• Everyone needs soap! Soap Cutts has several scented just with essential oils too which are safer to gift if you aren't sure if someone is scent-sitive
• Lots of independent coffee roasters around, my favourite is Caliber out of Regina even though I have to get it shipped to Saskatoon
• While we don't agree on certain transportation planning initiatives in Saskatoon, McQuarrie's is still a great place to buy loose tea in Saskatoon
• My former curling teammate Kevin of Saskatoon Spruce has Christmas cheese boxes this year, his business and story is very cool
• I also love the chevre (goat cheese) from Red Barn Dairy but best to buy right before you gift because it doesn't last forever
• Kitako Lake Honey is some of the best honey I've ever tasted and I'm not just mentioning it because Steven is my cousin-in-law (is that a thing?)

However - you don't have to go to a specialty market to find something great! Last time I was in Shoppers Drug Mart they had giant higher-end dark chocolate bars (PC brand) on sale for four bucks. Unless one is allergic to chocolate I can't imagine not loving such a gift, and never guessing it was only four dollars. Grocery store gifts are HIGHLY underrated yet nearly always appreciated.

Joining a Book Club

Until about grade six, I was the weird kid to only wanted to read all the time. As I got into my teen years, I prioritized having friends/not getting bullied so I didn’t read as much anymore, and into adulthood kind of went through phases where I’d buy a bunch of books and read for a while, and then not read for a stretch of quite a few months. A few years ago a library opened up within walking distance of my house, and I have been reading a LOT ever since. 

It turns out, you can get books for free?! as long as you bring them back eventually. You don't have to be a slave to Amazon and shell out 30 bucks for a paperback (or a few megabytes) you might not finish or like! What a concept. The library is the best. Please, take all of my tax dollars. On average, I probably get through 1.5 books a week (I’m up to 74 in 2019 as of today). Because my husband also got really into the library about a year after me, we’ve actually done some (drastic?) things like cancel Netflix in order to spend more time with books.

(The SPL also does this great thing where they tell you the value of all the books you've taken out. I'm up to $2650 in 2019 - can I read 3 grand worth of books before December 31? Challenge accepted!)

One very fun thing that has happened as a result of reading a lot is joining a book club! I was out for supper with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, and she mentioned Tara Westover’s Educated, which her book club had just finished reading. I’d read the book and loved it a few months before, so she invited me to come to the meeting the next evening.

It is so enjoyable to read a book and then get to talk about it with other people who also read it. And maybe the best part is it has exposed me to books I never would have picked off the shelf for myself, but am so glad to have read. And this has made me a bit more adventurous at the library, in grabbing books I haven’t vetted through the Goodreads reviews beforehand (which has worked out well... most of the time).

I think there is some sort of joke out there that “book club” is a euphemism/excuse for getting out of the house and drinking wine. While the quorum at the meetings of my book club generally have finished the book, one is also always welcome to come listen to spoilers and have a visit even if they didn’t read it. It is just a very nice and wholesome grownup activity, where the beverage of choice is usually herbal tea so that we can all still get to bed at a reasonable hour. Being a grownup is great!

One cool thing that the Saskatoon Public Library offers is public book clubs, so if you don’t have a friend with a ready-made book club to join you can sign up and join the monthly discussion. It’s a free activity with a lot of potential benefits, and the worst thing that could happen is not liking the book. I like those odds!

Cooking with Animal Fats

I had a long-winded draft of this post written and I really hated it so I'm just going to get right down to it: animal fats are very good for cooking with!

Growing up when margarine was still considered healthy, even the word "lard" was enough to induce gagging when we heard it as kids, though I didn't really know what it even was - it just sounded gross. But fast forward into adulthood where I started saving the bacon fat for frying eggs, which turned out to be a gateway.

I don't like the strong smell of beef tallow so I rarely use it unless I have some extra from making soup, but pork lard and chicken fat (chicken fat is commonly referred to as "schmaltz") are

Lard actually doesn't have much of a flavour (you could use it in sweet applications like pie crust), but schmaltz is definitely very chickeny which is great especially if you're browning onions etc. to eventually use in soup with a chicken broth base. Baked oven fries or hashbrowns are very, very good when you use animal fat. I am definitely prone to bastardize classically vegan dishes like falafel by frying in pork lard.

I cook a lot of vegetarian meals which can be made to taste richer when the base fat is chicken or pork. Animal fat also has a much higher smoke point than vegetable fat which means you are less likely to burn things if you are sauteeing/frying/roasting at high heat. It also makes whatever you're cooking MUCH crispier and (in my opinion) less greasy than vegetable fat frying.

I am not against vegetable oils, which have their place, but I am definitely over using extra virgin olive oil as the base for everything. Olive oil tastes like olives, folks. Not everything needs to taste like olives!

It is easy-ish to collect small amounts of animal fat from your cooking to use later but only if you are doing things like homemade stock on a regular basis. I wouldn't buy it from the grocery store because I've heard, for example, that lard sold for pie crust purposes has been altered a bit to make it more solid. Luckily in Saskatoon (and most of Saskatchewan) it's not too difficult to come by a variety of simply rendered animal fats from very cleanly and humanely raised animals. Cool Springs Ranch sells pork, beef, and chicken fat for about $9/litre through their monthly pickup program and I will vouch for the great quality and flavour. While I haven't purchased from them, Farm One Forty(/Odla Restaurant) also sells pork lard and I'd assume it to be of similar quality. I'd guess some of the health food stores probably carry animal fats from local producers, but don't go driving around the city on my assumption only.

We have been using animal fats pretty regularly in our home cooking for several years. While I'm not here to defend it nutritionally, I haven't found it to be "bad for me" in any measurable quantity. What it does do very obviously is improve the quality of our homemade meals!

Tomato Pie

I have been thinking I need to write a post about tomatoes for a while and then realized that would be a silly endeavour as I could honestly start an entire separate blog about how much I love tomatoes. So, here is a decidedly unseasonal post about one of my favourite things to do with home grown tomatoes, written wistfully while the last of my 2019 San Marzanos ripen on the counter. 

I have been following the blog (upgraded in recent years from blog to “site”) Simply Recipes for years, and the recipe for Tomato Pie caught my eye several summers ago. I have made it multiple times a summer ever since, starting with store bought crust, sometimes using a hollowed out summer squash or zucchini instead of pie crust, and this year finally evolving the recipe into a true labour of love (and multi-hour project) with a homemade crust. It's sort of like deep dish pizza, except if deep dish pizza was actually pie, i.e. the best thing ever.

The recipe as-written makes a pretty darn good pie but when you make a recipe so many times it’s inevitable to find a few ways to improve it. I also never got a fully baked pie crust by only pre-baking for 25 minutes as written; it needs at least 45.

I have and likely will never make this out of season. I’m sure it would turn out just lovely using greenhouse tomatoes, but as with many recipes I associate with summer (beet borscht is another one), it just feels a bit sacrilegious to make if I haven’t grown most of the ingredients myself. It would probably also stop feeling like a special treat if I started making it year round, and that just won’t do.

We are so lucky in Saskatchewan to have long summer days that are perfect for tomato growing and I am addicted to growing fun and fanciful varieties and figuring out how to best use them. Example - look how cute my tiny Spoon tomatoes are on top of a tomato pie! Spoon tomatoes are some of the smallest you can grow and apparently the closest you can get to The Original Tomato, but they are annoying to pick, not especially flavourful (but decent), and a lot of work for a few handfuls of tomatoes but just LOOK HOW CUTE AND PRETTY. They are about as whimsical as a tomato can get and they make me very happy. I am not ashamed to say that I grew them this year specifically to make pretty food.

Bonus because this post is low on pictures, here they are peeking out of a Greek salad:

Here is my recipe for tomato pie, adapted from Simply Recipes. I’m not going to pretend it’s a particularly simple weeknight dinner. While none of the steps are difficult, it does take a while but it’s worth every minute. If you love tomatoes you won't be sorry.

Time: Approximately 3 hours from start to finish if you're making your own crust, but only about 1 hour of actual hands-on time

Serves: Realistically, 3-4 people as a main course

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie shell (I follow the combo butter/shortening recipe here but use bacon fat instead of shortening)

Cooking fat of your choice (I like bacon fat, olive oil is fine)

½ cup chopped sweet onion

1-2 garlic cloves, pressed

Pepper to taste

1 cup of chopped beet leaves, swiss chard, or other greens

3 cups of chopped, salted, and squeezed tomatoes (see original recipe if my directions don't make sense, I use an old fashioned potato ricer. Do not skip the squeezing unless you are using extremely low-moisture tomatoes)

2 tbsp cornstarch

¼ cup chopped basil

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

¼ cup mayonnaise

A few dashes of hot sauce of your choice (green Cholula, or Tapatio works well)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Cover the pie crust in foil and fill with pie weights. Bake for 45 minutes.

Liberally salt the chopped tomatoes. Don't worry about using too much, a lot of it will drain off. Let sit for at least 10 minutes. 

While the crust is baking, brown the onions in the oil/fat. Add garlic and greens and cook until greens are wilted.

Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the salted tomatoes (but you don't have to go nuts, the cornstarch will take care of whatever you leave). Mix the tomatoes, contents of your frying pan, basil, as much pepper as you feel is necessary, and cornstarch together.

Mix the cheese, mayo, and hot sauce together.

Remove the foil from the crust (don’t throw it out yet) and put in the tomato filling. Top with the cheese mixture. Top with extra tomatoes if you wish (make sure they are low moisture so you don’t end up with soggy topping).

Bake for about 45 minutes or until you see the filling bubbling. Let sit for about 10 minutes before cutting. If the crust starts browning too much, cover with the leftover foil.

If you have leftovers do yourself a favour and reheat them in the oven, not the microwave.

Reminder that this filling/topping is also excellent in a zucchini boat, if you are avoiding carbs or have a giant zucchini to use up.

The WWZ Lifestyle

It’s still October. There’s a thick blanket of snow on the ground in Saskatoon. Readers, it’s time to talk about That activity – the simplest winter life improver Saskatchewan has to offer, but also one of the hardest to get into, the one we all have a bottomless list of excuses for not doing. I’m talking of course about becoming a Winter Walking Zealot.

I personally self-identify as a Winter Walking Zealot, or WWZ. I am here to admit: it’s terrible. It’s 100% terrible in the moment like 95% of the time, unless you happen to hit the sweet spot where your winter clothing choices overlap with the temperature, humidity, and wind speed at the exact intersection of legitimate outdoor winter comfort. The perfect winter walk is what we WWZ’s strive for yet rarely achieve.

So yes, admittedly it’s terrible most of the time, but the benefits are many. It prevents cabin fever, spares you from sitting in a cold car and/or saves gasoline, exposes you to the various good things that are associated with exercise such as improved physical and mental fitness, recharges your energy, gets you some vitamin D and fresh air, and in general will just make you feel ALIVE. It is is a bit like joining a fight club where the members are you and Mother Nature.

Yes, it truly is one of those old-fashioned "character builders." (It's not lost on me that many of the activities I recommend on this blog are things that many people would rather gouge their eyes out than participate in; "saskatude" is perhaps is an unintentional euphemism for character building and maybe the dads really did know what they were talking about all along.) It’s uncomfortable and awful in the moment but when it’s all over the sweet comfort of a heated grocery store or your own living room is a high reserved especially for the WWZ. You did it! You winter walked and made it back to a temperature-controlled environment in one piece! Reward yourself with an impulse buy from the candy section or a hot cup of Sleepy Time Tea.

Now, after that EXTREMELY CONVINCING and fun-sounding argument with zero holes in it, here are the steps to become a WWZ:

1. Commit to not driving anywhere within a radius of your choosing (for me, this is anywhere I can physically see from my house or workplace)
2. Obtain weather-appropriate clothing*
3. Put on said weather-appropriate clothing
4. Go outside and walk where you’re going instead of driving
5. Repeat

*I’m talking: Parka! Toque! Mitts**! Scarf***! Boots****! Long johns! Ski pants! If you’re going to WW at night, get some high-viz armbands, they are cheap to order on eBay and drivers will thank you.

**not gloves, they make your fingers cold

***maybe two, one for under the coat and one for over

****rated for -40, natch, do not be That Guy trying to WW in Converse runners

It is VERY! important to note that one cannot truly ascend to WWZ levels if trying to WW without adequate personal protective equipment; I’m not being tongue-in-cheek or making a joke because I’m a safety profesh, I’m legitimately begging you to be safe out there. You know who you are, Bare Ankles McGillicuddy, suck it up and put on some gosh darned long pants. A second important note is that none of this clothing need be exorbitantly expensive. If you’ve bought into the extremely false narrative that the only way to be warm in winter is to buy a coat that costs $900 and rhymes with shmanada shmoose, I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but spending thousands of dollars on winter layers ain’t one.

(The Gap appears not to be currently advertising styles appropriate for the WWZ, but this can be remedied with ski pants and/or high socks.)

If you don’t actually have utilitarian places you can walk to in your non-driving radius, you’re going to have to set some sort of alternative walking routine. Is it around the block every night by yourself? Can you find a WWZ partner who lives an acceptable distance away and walk over to each others’ houses on alternating evenings where the other is waiting with a hot drink? Do you have to do it anyway because you have a dog?

Having a library and grocery store open up about 1km from my house was the kick start I needed to become a WWZ, and it’s always easier when the walk has a purpose. But the habit is pretty engrained now so I usually WW at least 5 times a week whether I have a destination or not. It absolutely makes me feel better, even though I curse it the entire time. It’s not TOO cold yet – don’t wait until it’s -40 to give it a try.

(I'm not joking about the high-viz armbands. They stay on my coat all winter long.)

Why didn't I do this sooner: Duolingo

You know how sometimes you just feel like sitting in a chair and swiping around on your phone but then it accidentally makes your life worse? WHAT IF you could do this, but not come out more depressed and anxious than before?

I’ve mentioned a few times how stopping with the excuses has been a life-changing mind shift for me. For the record I’m not strictly against making excuses, as long as one knows that’s what they are doing. For example, if you don’t want to go for a walk because you have a cold and just want to veg out and watch TV today, own it. If you say you CAN’T go for a walk ever because you don’t have time and then you spend that time watching TV and swiping around, that is where one runs into trouble. All this to say, I used to complain that not being able to grow up somewhere with a school French Immersion program prevented me from being bilingual. That, friends, is an excuse that needn’t fly in the Future in Which We Live.

I’d heard good things about Duolingo for a while and one day when I was bored and swiping away at my phone making my life worse, I decided to download it. I was and continue to be very impressed! I’m working through the Spanish course because I think unless you are going to spend a lot of time in exclusively-French speaking Quebec or France, Spanish is probably the more practical language for most North Americans to learn.

I’m not sure how fluent I’ll become even if I work my way all the way through the Duolingo “Tree”. Internet people all have their various preferences for language learning software and one major critique of Duolingo is that the learning style is mostly direct translation, so you can’t really start to think in Spanish. I don’t know if I should switch to an immersion program instead, or just supplement Duolingo with Spanish immersion in the form of TV (or the Duolingo podcasts) as well as a textbook for getting a better handle on all the grammar rules.

I’m also kicking myself for not doing this earlier when I was sharing an office with native Spanish speakers, or doing even a few weeks of Italian before going to Italy (two times! What is my problem). After starting the program about a month ago, I just progressed out of the introductory level and definitely can’t hold a conversation but know a variety of greetings, pronunciations, and essential phrases (donde esta el bano, how ignorant have I felt for not even knowing how to say that the three times I’ve been to Mexico).

Maybe Duolingo isn’t the tool to get to total fluency but it’s definitely a very easy way to prep oneself to be decently respectful if traveling to a place where English isn’t the first language, and a much better use of screen time than social media.

Manitou Beach

Last weekend we spent a day/night in Manitou Beach. This charming and sad little resort town, just minutes from Watrous and about an hour from Saskatoon, is very near and dear to my heart for several reasons. It is a place my family frequented as a summer day trip when I was a kid, and the spontaneous Plan B when Brahm’s and my very first “getaway” as a couple (camping at Greenwater Lake) got torrentially rained out. In recent years it’s been a nice place for a mini-escape in fall or winter.

On my first childhood encounter with Manitou, one of my parents had heard it was a neat place to visit so we decided to make a Saturday trip in the summer. My mom shared the plan with one of her co-workers, who told her that the pool was the best ever. I am not sure what pool the co-worker was referring to, but my mom interpreted it as being the Watrous public pool, so on the way to Manitou we stopped and spent a few hours at the outdoor pool in Watrous. Suffice to say it was nothing particularly special. We continued on to Manitou and immediately regretted wasting part of the day at the crowded pool in Watrous, as stepping into Little Manitou Lake was one of the most amazing experiences of our young lives! With a higher salinity than the Dead Sea, it’s impossible to sink, and what could be more relaxing for an adult, or fun for a kid, than to float the day away?

We eventually concluded that the pool my mom’s coworker was probably referring to was the Manitou Springs Spa pool (WARNING - link autoplays a video with sound), which filters and heats the lake water. As kids, we always just went to the free lake rather than the “expensive” pool, which we assumed was just for rich people who were staying in the hotel and wearing their hotel robes right down to the pool. Oh, what luxury. We could only dream! As an adult with disposable income I can and do stay in the hotel, use the robe, and generally prefer the heated, shrimp-free pool over the lake. Relatively speaking, a night at the hotel is a pretty good deal as it includes swim passes and a hot breakfast buffet. Our recent hotel bill, which included supper and ice cream at the unexpectedly excellent poolside cafe, came in at just under $200.

Some of the charm of Manitou Beach seems to be that time has forgotten it a bit. There are no franchises and a lot of the signs and storefronts seem like they’re from a bygone era. I don’t really feel like I’m in rural Saskatchewan when I’m there; it’s got a bit of an island vibe. It’s a truly unique community, and in my opinion a local gem that everyone in Saskatchewan should visit at least once in their lifetime.

Why, if it’s so great, did I also describe it as sad? A couple years ago, we noticed a lot of prime-looking lakefront properties for sale, for shockingly low prices. As we drove around looking at the various properties, we realized what was going on: the water level in the lake wasrising and a lot of the community was threatened with flooding. Every time I visit, I really never know if it might be the last time.

If you live in Calgary or Vancouver, a one-hour getaway to the mountains or another world wonder is pretty easy. In central Saskatchewan the options are a bit more limited, but Little Manitou Lake and its community of Manitou Beach are one-of-a-kind. Please visit this special place while you still can!

I want to ride my bicycle

It seemed like winter had arrived in Saskatoon, alas it was only the annual "tease freeze" - one hard freeze and a bit of snow before the weather warmed back up to 15ish for several weeks. I'm glad for many reasons (though as always, annoyed I had to take my tomatoes out when it's going to be sunny and warm for a few more weeks), but the top one this year might be that I wasn't ready to stop riding my bike yet.

I have owned my current bike for about 10 years but it's gotten most of its use in the past three, with an exponential increase in 2019. I began to realize how empowering it felt to not have to be tied to a car on a couple occasions last summer, and used my bike to get to most routine locations over the summer this year.

I love the feeling of using my own body for relatively fast transportation, and getting fresh air and exercise while in transit. I feel like I'm maximizing the efficiency of travel because I'm getting from A to B while also improving my physical and mental health AND increasing my energy levels. I have grown to dislike driving a lot in recent years; to me it is a high risk/low reward activity that also totally drains me of energy.

I won't go on a rant about the lack of good cycling infrastructure in Saskatoon because that's not what this post is about. I've been able in most cases to find routes that stick to lower-traffic streets without sacrificing more than a minute or two of the commute. It's still a learning process for me to take up space on the road and figure out how to maneuvre some confusing infrastructure situations but overall, I don't feel particularly unsafe biking on the road with cars. That said, I'm not ready to become a winter cyclist, and likely will never be. I will enthusiastically walk in -40 (post forthcoming) but my saskatude has its limits.

What was the secret to cycling more? As I've previously mentioned in another post, once I stopped making excuses about why I couldn't ride my bike around the city I just... started doing it, and realized it was awesome. Here's hoping for another few weeks of roads free from slush and snow.

(I have no pictures of me on a bike as an adult, so here is a picture of my dad helping me learn to use my first tricycle.)

Bird Watching - Pokemon Go IRL

I cannot recall the moment I decided to get interested in birds, but over the past couple years I have slowly been working on my bird watching skills. I am still very very novice, but this has become a truly fulfilling and fun hobby.

(American goldfinch in my neighbours' crabapple tree)

I continually tell people who raise an eyebrow that birding is basically playing Pokemon Go in real life, but with a near infinite number of Pokemon to catch. You can even gamify it using an app like Audubon, or a simple paper checklist, to record all your “catches.”

(Tree swallows have hemmed and hawed over our bird house for two summers but never moved in)

Previously I, like many people, just saw birds in the background. While it might be pretty amazing to see a deer or a fox “in the wild”, I didn’t register that it could be just as exciting to observe birds in their natural (or slightly unnatural, such as at a feeder) habitat. Once that switch flipped, I not only had a challenging new hobby but a simple way to practice mindfulness nearly anywhere I went.

I don’t know if there’s a “best” way to start birding but what I did was get a bird book, and then just started taking pictures of birds, especially those I couldn’t identify. I’d use the photos and the book to ID them when I got home. I also print out a picture of each species and put it in a photo album, which serves as my “bird collection.” It helps to have a camera with a high zoom and not just a phone. For more affordable camera options, Canon’sPowerShot Elph line is great as it has pretty high zoom capabilities and fits in a pocket – you’re not going to get magazine quality photos, but definitely good enough to ID a bird that’s fairly far away. I also have a DLSR with an 18-250mm telephoto lens, which I’m thinking about upgrading to something more powerful as a grad present to myself, but this is more of a luxury than a necessity. You can also just use (cheap) binoculars but I may be too entrenched in the “pics or it didn’t happen” generation because I prefer to have photos.

(Got to watch this baby learn to fly in our yard over a two week period, do I have a thousand pictures of it? You know the answer to that question)

I am pretty lucky because there is a storm pond about a block from my house which attracts a lot of bird life. I can usually ID between 10-20 different species on a 30 minute walk around the pond, and I’ve yet to go there and not see something new to me (who knew there were soooo many different kinds of ducks??). It’s also pretty amazing what can happen if you put a feeder in your yard – even though our area is very “newly developed suburbia” with no mature trees and the bird life is 95% house sparrow, we’ve also had a relatively wide variety of other birds show up on our property  – American goldfinches, house finches, slate coloured juncos, tree swallows, cedar waxwings, American robins, one yellow warbler, chipping sparrows, brown headed cowbirds (which laid an egg that the chipping sparrow had to raise), black-capped chickadees, Brewer’s blackbirds, and the occasional crow or raven. It’s also not uncommon to see pelicans soaring around right over the deck, which gives my tiny suburban yard a bit of a tropical feel.

(Chipping sparrow mom feeding brown headed cowbird baby)

When I recently travelled to Bologna, Italy for a conference, I was pretty struck by the lack of green space and bird life in the city (other than pigeons). After traveling I often come back jealous of cities that aren’t designed around worshipping the Almighty Car, but this time I did realize how lucky we are in Saskatoon to have all the green space we do, especially our urban forestry program.

(Great blue heron coming to say hello at the storm pond)

There’s probably a bird out your window right now – can you identify it? What's it doing, and why? These simple questions are all it really takes to get hooked!

(We won't talk about what happened to this baby killdeer shortly after the photo was taken)

(We cannot end on such a morbid note, so here's a pelican that appears to be the leader of a flock of geese, Chappell Marsh)