Georgetown Highland Games

We're into piping competition season once again, preparing to make the rounds of Highland Games throughout Ontario. I made the rounds myself for 30+ years, hauling kids and dogs and cases and water jugs and tents and... well, let's just say it's a major undertaking. And the thrill of it is standing in front of a judge, trying to remember what tune you're supposed to be playing and worrying that the beating sun will shut off your drones or make the sticky tape on your chanter slide around.

I gave up piping six or seven years ago, partly due to health reasons and partly because I'd finally gotten fed up with dealing with 8 yards of wool in a port-o-potty. Now when I go to the games, I can park myself in the shade under a tree and only venture out when I want to hear a particular person or band play, or to browse through the vendors' booths.

I do have to say, the vendors' booths can be quite fun. People sell everything from certificates printed with clan heraldry, handcrafted knives, intricate Celtic-themed pottery, British candy and baked goods, t-shirts, and...well...yesterday someone had a booth displaying rain gutter systems. There are also Clan booths set up to teach about their heritage, and there was a weaving and spinning demonstration. There are also piping and drumming supply houses, where you can grab last-minute bits of uniform you may have forgotten, explore the latest water traps for your pipes, or get new reeds. 

I spent a lot of the day hiding from the heat, even sitting and reading a Pilcher novel while eating Edinburgh Rock (for the uninitiated, it's a candy that most resembles sidewalk chalk). But I did venture out to watch friends and hubby compete and to buy peameal bacon on a bun. The highlight of the day, though, had to be the sheep dog show. The same woman is there every year, showcasing her amazing and highly-trained border collies driving a small group of sheep around the field. She explains what her commands and whistles mean, and it's always a fun event. Yesterday, though, it became quite exciting, as the sheep panicked and leaped over the fence like deer and bounded off into the street outside the venue. But the woman sent her most experienced dog after them, and within a few breathless minutes, the sheep were brought back to the field and duly put in their pen.

It's been fun to watch my husband's students mature and develop in their musical and leadership skills over the years. Two have gone on to become pipe majors themselves. I've seen their confidence grow. One of them always greets everyone with a huge hug, as if he's just so amazed to discover you're still alive and he couldn't be happier to see you. Even though I'm kind of an adjunct and wasn't directly involved in his instruction, my husband was, and this student always bounds over like a joyful puppy to greet me when he sees me. At one point, his father leaned over to me and whispered, "He's everyone's son." And you know what? He feels like mine sometimes. Just because I've seen him grow up in the piping world over the past 15 or so years, and know that my husband was a big part of his journey.

World Food Program

While I'm still figuring out how to add a donation button to my blog page, things are dire in Somalia, and the UN World Food Program can use some urgent help. Please consider contributing if you're able. Thank you!

Donation page:

UN World Food Programme (WFP) | Donate now

Hearing Aid Miracle

My husband got hearing aids not long ago. It took a while to learn how to drive them, but they've made a huge difference in both our lives.

Yesterday, he went out to cut some volunteer maple trees out of our privet hedge, and I went out to assist. As often happens when my husband gets stuck into something, it turned into a five-hour project. It was extremely hot, I could feel the sun baking my skin, and the work involved a lot of scratches and punctures as we tried to remove an astonishing amount of weed trees and dead wood out of this massive hedge. Also a couple of spider bites. A lot of the job involved lying on my back, shoulder deep, trying to reach shoots right at the back. My husband got out a stool so he could attack from the top, reaching down into the hedge with an assortment of clippers and secaturs and pruning snips.

Anyway, we finally finished, cleaned up, set the bins at the side of the house, and went inside two hours past lunchtime, exhausted. All I could think about was jumping into the cold pool and having something to eat. And then my husband realized, to his horror, that one of his hearing aids was missing.

A) These things are not cheap. B) He had a bagpipe competition the next morning (this morning, as I write this), which required he be able to hear. C) He had no idea when he lost it, so it could be anywhere in the house or yard or in one of the many tall bins crammed with yard waste.

We called the cavalry (sons) out of the basement, went back out into the furnace, and started crawling and poking gingerly around the yard, hoping not to step on the hearing aid, wondering if we had any hope, and then my husband remembered his phone had an app to help locate lost hearing aids. It proved to be a difficult thing to use, giving very vague readouts. It was a bit like playing that game we played as children, where one kid tries to find a hidden object while his friends shout "You're getting colder!" "You're getting warmer!" It would have been more helpful if the app worked like Marco Polo, with the hearing aid giving feedback, but no. It gave us a general location, though, at least enough to let us know we didn't have to dig through all the bins.

An hour later, after raking under the hedge, gingerly sifting through everything, standing on the stool and peering down into the foliage, Son #3 had the idea of sticking his head under the hedge and looking up instead of in or down. And there it was! This tiny little comma-shaped electronic device, spluttering and annoyed, hanging from a twig deep inside the hedge.

You have to understand, my yard is big, the hedge is a monster, and my husband had been all over it for five hours. That thing could have been anywhere. It was literally like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. And we found it. We're bitten and bleeding and burnt red, our backs may never be the same, I ripped my best pants, but we found it. I hugged my son and told him he was a hero.

Prayer works, folks.

Where to Find My Books

I've consolidated all of my new releases in one "bookstore" page on Lulu.com. Here you can find my latest novels (more on the way!), my gardening e-book, and the workbook that accompanies the workshops I offer on simple living. Please give it a look, and if you've enjoyed any of my books, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads. Thanks!

Kristen's Bookstore on Lulu

For my older novels:

Deseret Book offers the audio or ebooks. In the near future, Desperate Measures, The Governess, and The Song of Copper Creek will be available in paperback on their website as print-on-demand. You can also find secondhand copies of all my books online. 

For my novel All My Loved Ones, please see Cedar Fort.

Enjoy!

Just Some Pretty Things Seen on My Morning Walk

Raising Money for Charity

I'm looking at how many people are reading this blog each month, and people have told me I should monetize it or add a "Buy Me a Coffee" kind of button. But I'd feel much better about raising money for a charity instead. Readers would be given the option of voluntarily supporting the chosen cause through a link, and I'd never know who donated or how much money was being raised. The donations would be handled entirely by the charity. 

The question is, which charity? There are so many good organizations, and so many people in need. I thought I'd ask for some feedback from you. My personal inclination is to address food insecurity (after all, I'm a vegetable gardener). With all the mess going on in the Middle East, on top of weather and climatic conditions, they're predicting a global famine. While that may not impact Canada as much as many other places, it will still mean raised prices, and over a million people in Ontario alone already access the food bank. Humans can get along without a lot of things, but food isn't one of them.

I don't want to choose an organization so local that readers from around the world will feel less attached to it and therefore less inclined to donate. At the same time, I don't want to choose an organization so vast that it feels like our small contributions won't make a difference.

So...any suggestions? 

Service in a Small Town -- a Shoutout to Brooketel

Did I ever tell you about our experience with our Brooketel internet service? No no, stay with me, this is interesting, I promise. Heartwarming, even.

As you may know, we lost our minds and bought an old church during the pandemic. This was partly to satisfy a long-held dream of renovating an old church, partly to add to our property portfolio, and partly to create a peaceful space where we could retreat (or quarantine) when things felt too crowded at home. Possibly even live in upon retirement, though so far that hasn't panned out. 

In addition to needing an almost complete rebuild, it is located in a small village half an hour from a large town, in farm country. No pizza delivery. No grocery store within walking distance. No anything within walking distance except a gas station, a fire hall, and a little conservation area with a lake. We struggled to find an internet provider for our area. Back in the city, we have Rogers, which I have a love/hate relationship with. Their service is generally okay, but not always reliable, cutting out frequently, and it takes forever to get them to come out to do anything. I think it took over a year to get them to come bury a cable. Regardless, Rogers didn't cover the area where the church is. We needed good service, because at the time I was working remotely, with lots of video calls.

Almost by accident, we landed on Brooketel, a local co-op based in Watford. The service has been reliable, FAST, and unlimited, and the monthly price has even dropped over the years. But above all, the customer service is the best I've encountered. They don't just respond, they initiate!

Example: one day when we were back in the city, Brooketel called us to report that their system showed our internet service was off at the church. They offered to go figure out what was wrong. I gave them the lockbox code. Fifteen minutes later, they called me to report they'd gone to the church, found a loose plug, fixed it, and internet was restored. No cost, no fuss, and I felt instantly reassured I was in good hands. At a time when I was drowning in electricians, plumbers, drywallers, painters, and engineers, it was nice not having to worry about one thing.