February 9th, 2008 -- Posted in Health, Home, Leif, Mel, Michael, food, herbal remedies, nature, nutrition, organics, parenting, society |
Well, I’ve got lots to say today! I’ve been really researching a new topic for myself any spare moment I can since early January. The topic is “Living Foods”.
I have a hormonal disorder that many more women are finding out they have, too. It does have a genetic component and, therefore gets passed on in families. I’m pretty sure mine is from my dad’s side of the family. Part of the problem is insulin resistance but that’s not all of it. So, my metabolism and my body’s ability to process certain types of food has been changing and actually getting much worse the older I get.
So, for the past few years since becoming a mom, I’ve not focused that much on my special needs and more on how to live a balanced life in society and eat like a “normal” person can. Clearly it’s not working for me and this past holiday season really hammered it home to me. I cannot tolerate dairy and refined carbohydrates pretty much at all anymore (although I love them!). Even complex carbs are becoming a problem for me, too. It’s depressing, actually because there goes my attempt at being “normal” and fitting in with everything in society.
An old friend of mine gave me a book for my birthday a few years ago written by one of our herb school teachers. It’s all about raw and living foods and how it heals myriads of diseases in the human body and gives long life and vitality, etc. I even went to see a live debate betw. this author and another famous herbalist about the benefits of the raw diet vs. a cooked food diet when my son was 4 months old. So, this has been a topic of great interest to me for several years now but has been pushed to the back burner for many different reasons.
My dear friend started on this path at that time, gradually at first and has since gotten really into it and has become “all raw” and it really changed her. She seems more grounded, happy, glowing, mentally clear and generally happy and full of light. I was so impressed and very happy for her but still I was not ready to commit. I thought it would be too much work and my son is the pickiest eater in the world and I would still have to make him separate foods although he does love fruit and different raw veggies.
Well, since I turned 40 a few months ago, it’s like a light bulb has gone off in my head and I am obsessively studying older adults as if to catch a glimpse of what is in store for me as I get older. I have to say, I don’t like what I see!! In fact, I’m kind of grossed out. I see death and decay and lots of sadness everywhere. I don’t think this is normal or the way we were meant to age. It has just become the way we are from the foods and substances and the accompanying chemicals and preservatives that go into our bodies on a daily basis.
When I look at the people who are older and living their lives by consuming the living foods, they look good and vibrant and at least 20 years younger than what they actually are. They are pain free, happy with lots of energy and very clear spiritually.
I’ve decided I want this bec. I’m disgusted with the alternative. Also, because I don’t want to die a painful death in my 50’s like my dad and 2 of his female cousins did from pancreatic cancer. Now that I have the answers, it’s an unnecessary and completely avoidable path. And, if I did develop it, it would be completely my own lazy ass fault because obviously, my family has a hard time digesting cooked grains and simple sugars and it basically wears out the pancreas to the point that they develop type 2 diabetes and then cancer.
I’ve purchased a new juicer that also does “homogenizing” so it can make nut butters, frozen desserts, baby food, etc and a new dehydrator which is like my oven now, because I can make many, many dishes but the foods are not heated over 118 degrees so all of the enzymes are still viable and available for easy digestion. I have a vita mix blender for many years (I used it mostly for making my herbal products) and I also had a food processor for many years and that is basically all the necessary tools for this way of eating. One other fun tool I got is called a saladacco which makes angel hair type of “pasta” from zucchini and squashes and also can make chips and ravioli shells from vegetables.
I think I’m able to do this program now because there are hundreds of recipes to make everything I love but the “raw” version like lasagna, mexican food, cheese (made from diff. nuts and veggies, seasonings, etc that are pureed and dehydrated), ice cream, nut burgers, bread!! from sprouted grain seeds then pureed and dehydrated. Like essene bread or Ezekial bread but living, not baked, just dehydrated at 105 degrees.
And the best one, raw chocolate!! I love good chocolate and this is raw cacao, processed from the tree at low temps so all the vitamins, enzymes and super antioxidants are all still intact which makes it a superfood, not junk food! Truly a food of the gods! There are tons of recipes and you sweeten it with raw, unfiltered honey or raw agave nectar. Divine! Believe me, I’ve tried several recipes already!
So, the foods are basically any vegetable, fruit, nut, seed, sprouts, grains (sprouted only) and superfoods (which are actually either a fruit or veg. really).
The only problem I have with eating this way is that alot of the specialty ingredients I buy right now are not local and sustainable to where I live and I really believe in eating a sustainable diet. It would be no problem if I lived in California!
As I have found out, alot of these recipes and bulkier foods like nuts, avocados, etc I eat more now as transitioning into this way of life and to feel full like you do from cooked foods goes away as you cleanse your body from stored toxins and you will crave more of the lighter foods like veggies and fruits.
So far, I’ve been doing more of a hunter-gatherer type of diet which is this raw foods diet mostly with about 10% of cooked food daily coming from either organic eggs or free-range poultry or wild caught fish. Haven’t had any beef since xmas and the beef we eat is grass fed. This is the diet recommended to me to heal my hormonal disorder but I’ve been thinking of taking it one step further to try to be completely raw for a month and see how it goes. It surely is doable and very enjoyable from the many recipes I’ve been making everyday (different salads, fruits, raw almond butter, almond milk, raw granola, raw jam from dried and fresh fruit, blueberry scones, fudge balls, smoothies, green juices, chocolate coconut shake – amazing!, etc).
Today, I am making a raw lasagna. There are lots of steps involved bec. of the many layers so I saved it for the weekend. My wheat berries have also sprouted for a few days now so I am making my first round of bread today, too.
But, I’ve noticed that if I drink a juice of fresh greens and an apple or a fruit smoothie or some coconut drink, I’m not hungry for a long time and I realize that I’m not eating that much bec. I’m just not hungry! My body is getting all the nutrients it needs from the raw foods and I don’t crave any cooked foods. How cool! And, all of my bloat is gone (I get swollen from eating the foods I’m sensitive to like dairy and cooked grains) and now I’m just left with some saggy skin that I need to work out a bit more to get rid of. I am detoxing the stored junk in my body from living on cooked, dead food my whole life and this part isn’t so fun.
I see how once you get going with the right tools and ingredients from the store (or my garden in a few months!) it’s really easy and only takes a few minutes of prep work for a recipe. I’ve been trying to soak a new batch of seeds or grain for sprouting every night or soaking some different raw nuts for different recipes so you do need to think a few days in advance of what you want to eat and when since some recipes have to be dehydrated which can take a long time depending on the recipes.
And yes, my husband is totally into it, too. He says he craves the green drinks and loves the coconut drinks and while he’s fine with eating cooked grains, etc he doesn’t seem to want to eat much of that and really is into the raw recipes we make. Leif, however, is slow to come around and I have to bribe him to take a sip of the green juices (which taste really good!). He likes it but is not ready to willingly drink it without some form of bribery. I’m going to make up a batch of raw cookies and see if he will eat them bec. he loves cookies. He wouldn’t even try any of the chocolate stuff I made and he loves chocolate. I couldn’t figure that one out!
It’s funny, even the desserts and treats are all healthy and nutritionally good for you so I could technically eat a whole dessert (maybe a raw pecan pie) as a meal if I wanted and it would be just fine!
I will post some updates periodically and hopefully some pictures one day!
December 3rd, 2007 -- Posted in Home, Leif, Mel, Michael, holidays, parenting, society |
I must admit, I’ve been a shopping maniac lately. I’ve been trying to keep this holiday season one that is not too over the top, not too expensive and ideally kind of simple and home made. Yeah, right on that last part. I don’t know who I’m kidding, I’m sick of making stuff with my hands all the time (have a home based herbal products biz) and, really, I love to shop – especially for others. What’s more, I’ve discovered over the years that I love to shop and score some really quality stuff at amazing prices.
We did venture out on “Black Friday” to get the great deals on certain items we needed for our home. Kind of like a joint xmas gift we give ourselves. I looked at all the black friday ads and picked the few places to go to in the morning and really, we found the best deals on small appliances we needed to replace and some xmas gifts for family at Macy’s and Kohl’s. Macy’s was fine, not too over crowded but Kohl’s, oh my God it was like they were giving away free gold or something. Lines went from the registers all the way to the back of the store for both banks of registers (one set on each side of the front of the store). It was crazy but we did still manage to get the few items on our list at ridiculously cheap prices including a new (backup) portable dvd player for our son for traveling for $50. The one we have is a bit abused from him and we think it will die sometime this year. I stood on line for one hour there. Michael and Leif left to shop at another store while I waited. It was madness.
Now that my son is almost 4, he’s getting into an age where toys can actually be fun for the adults, too. I’ve really been into toy shopping for him and have found some great German made toys as well as quality toys from American toy companies. I’ve been getting mostly stuff that he can do creative and imaginative play with instead of the blinking, flashing lights or computer oriented type stuff. This is still the age where he can expand his creative capacities in his brain so that when he’s an adult, he will hopefully be one of those people who can think outside the box instead of being just a drone. We do still have a couple of the electronic toys that are for making music but most everything else is up to him to do himself and he surely does. He’s got a large wooden train setup and this kid loves trains and still plays with them more than other stuff.
Last year, I asked my husband to build him a wooden kitchen. He said ok and never got to it by the time of his bday and his teacher last year gave him a cute, corner kitchen that he really liked for a while and still plays with but only for short periods. It’s nice but plastic (little tikes) which would be great for my backyard but I don’t like to look at it much anymore in my house so I did ask my husband again to build him the kitchen for xmas this year. We had everything we needed except the wood and he got everything laid out onto one sheet of nice plywood so the kitchen only really cost $26 (plus hours of my husband’s time!). Michael has a decent tool shop set up and has built tons of stuff for us and for his family and friends even before I met him. This is the first thing he’s made for our son Leif and he says he’s having fun building this kitchen. It looks gorgeous and I can’t wait to see it fully finished. I can see why these big kitchens cost so much in the catalogs, it’s very time consuming for all the finish work. He is also building a tool bench for him out of another sheet of nice plywood and we are waiting on giving him that one until his bday in February. Michael wanted to give him both for xmas but I thought that would be overload for the boy.
Because of the large gift from Daddy, we just decided to give it to him this week for Hannukah. We celebrate almost every holiday this season – Hannukah, Christmas and Yule/ Winter Solstice. At Hannukah, it’s the festival of lights so we light a candle in the menorah while saying a blessing every night for 8 nights and (usually just kids) get a gift every night. This is both good and bad, with one gift per night, you can really focus on it and enjoy it. The bad part is it’s just one gift and kids like lots of gifts like at xmas. I remember this so much growing up. I am really loving celebrating all the holidays as an adult and the build up and the decorations for xmas are so fun. Christmas morning is really fun and we are developing our own family traditions since we celebrate everything and both of our families only celebrate one holiday.
So, my son will be getting 8 gifts (kitchen being one of them) for Hannukah, then I tried to keep it to a fair amount for xmas including the stocking stuffers but I have this fear I’m over doing it and will wind up spoiling him and creating a monster as he gets older. He’s an only child so I have a tendency to give too much bec. 1) I’m his mom and 2) I love to shop for him! Some things I’m delegating to the bday pile and last year, my husband had to tell me to put some stuff away for this year bec. it was too much so I did.
However, this year I have been trying to only go to the Ross/Marshalls/Tues. A.M type stores and look for only the quality brands for a great price or shop online where there are also really good prices on stuff. I’ve gotten some great things for him at amazing prices so that makes me feel better.
I’ve also gone thru all of his toys and taken out the ones he’s outgrown but that I’d like to keep for another child so those are packed away now plus I’ve freecycled some toys (esp. ones that eat up batteries) and threw away random cheap plastic stuff from wherever – parties, restaurants, etc. He has not noticed except for the puzzles I packed away, I let him know I was doing that to make room for new stuff and he was fine with that. It felt great to pare down his stuff and keep really just what he uses and what doesn’t drive me crazy (some toys he got as gifts drove me nuts!).
As for me, all I really want for xmas was for certain things around my house to be better organized which means for Michael to either build it for me or adjust something, no money but it requires more of his time which he doesn’t have alot of. Small things make me happy and that’s all I really want is better flow to make me happy in my day to day life. Last year he built a new shelving system for shoes for our small coat closet and he measured our bags and put hooks all over to hang all our assorted bags and backpacks on and wow, can we fit a ton more stuff – neatly – in that little closet. I loved that. One of his best gifts to me ever (I’m such a dork). The other great gift from him this past year was my bday trip to Vancouver Island and a really cool camera so really, I don’t want much.
I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season and are having fun, not stress, while out shopping!
September 11th, 2007 -- Posted in Leif, Mel, Michael, travel/vacations |
Well, we are back from our 2 week journey to the Pacific NW and Vancouver Island, BC. I just want to say that I love Canada and esp. love this island. I’ll get to that later.
Our trip started with us getting up at 4:30 am on Wed. 8/22 and getting to the airport for a flight to Seattle. We picked up our rental car and immediately took off for an almost 3 hour drive to Portland to Michael’s aunt’s house where we were meeting his mom and step-dad from CA there, too. We got there mid-afternoon after dropping off our stuff at the hotel first. We had a bbq and hung out with them all and his aunt / uncle have 2 little girls ages 7&4 that Leif went off with immediately. It’s so cute how little girls just love to take over with kids younger than them. Leif loved it.
The next day, Thurs., we all went to see Michael’s grandma who is in a nursing home near his aunt’s house. She is mostly senile now but such a sweet lady and was very happy to have so many visitors and seemed to (or acted like she did) remember Michael. After a couple of hours with Grandma, we all drove over to hike by this beautiful waterfall called Multnomah Falls. It’s right next to the Columbia River and in a mountainous area. It was a sunny day so you could really see the beauty all around you. We next went to a fish hatchery that was nearby and saw these sturgeon fish that their biggest one is called Herman the Sturgeon was so enormous. They have a pond set up where you can walk down steps and look thru a wall of glass to see the fish swimming and Herman goes right up to the glass. They are basically dinasour fish, have been on the planet unchanged for millions of years. They also have fish food dispensers for a quarter you can throw the food into the various ponds all over the place. Leif loved it.
There were the fish ladders there, too and you can see that from the outside and also from the inside of another bldg / museum type of place. It was interesting to learn about the salmon and their journey back to this area to spawn and die (or get eaten in the process of getting back). It seems so hard to have to swim against the current and the ladders were just that, graduated steps up along the diverted waterway and they swim thru doorways since most large rivers are diverted for use, etc. This is to ensure the salmon get back to where they are from. There is also a narrow channel at the top of the ladders so that the fish have to go single file thru a narrow opening so they can be counted. Very smart system they designed. We also saw huge Osprey birds diving in the river to get the fish.
The next day, Fri, we hung out with them again, went to a local playground after lunch and then left for the drive back up to Tacoma, WA where Michael’s dad and step-mom live and where his step-mom’s family was having a party there that night – everyone flew in for his step-sister’s wedding that weekend. It was late afternoon and a very clear day and we got to see Mt. St. Helens in the distance which was cool for me since I’ve never seen it in person before and since the tops of these volcanoes are usually covered in clouds most of the year. You could even see the part that’s missing from when it erupted a while ago.
On Saturday, there was a big out of towner’s party for all of the bride and groom’s friends / family at a beautiful ranch owned by the bride’s uncle, a judge who married them the next day. His ranch is in a town in the mtns. not far from Mt. Rainier. Very beautiful there. The clouds were coming in and it blocked the mtn. view but it was right there. Lots of kids and their dads went swimming, too. After the party, we all went back to my in-laws and the relatives and all the little kids, too for dinner and Leif just had so much fun playing with all the little kids (mostly girls).
Sunday was the wedding in Seattle. It was on a retired ferry that has been converted into a catering place and is docked on Lake Washington. It was a nice day with some clouds so the temp. didn’t get too hot out which was great. A beautiful ceremony, a beautiful bride who wore a red dress like her grandma did during the war – it was her best dress she said her g’ma said. I thought that was awesome she did that. After that, back to the in-laws with all the kids again and more partying. Fun, exhausting, 5 days of family and traveling had by all.
Mon. a.m. we set off for our vacation week to Vancouver Island!! We drove up to Port Angeles, WA (almost 3 hours north) to take the ferry over with our rental car to the city of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia on the southern tip of VI. We never went over to mainland Canada, we just stayed on the big island the whole week. While waiting for the ferry to come in, we saw some otters swimming under the docks looking for food. They are just so cute!
Once we did all that and got to check in at the hotel and drop our stuff off, we went and walked around the harbour area of town. Needless to say, Leif was exhausted from all the excitement and traveling of the past 5 days so he passed out in the stroller and Michael and I had a nice time checking out shops and all the old English architecture like the Parliament bldg and some old hotels. Very British except on the front lawn of the Parliament bldg were sev’l amazing totem poles. I thought that was funny to see the huge contrast betw. the 2 cultures.
The other beautiful thing I noticed was all of the amazing hanging flower baskets all over the place. Just gorgeous, really. I have total, 100% basket envy. I have 4 hanging baskets in front of my house and although they do pretty good for the hot, dry CO sun, they are no VI baskets! (I was just happy to see them still alive and blooming when we got home – gotta love drip line on a timer!). The weather in general all over the Pacific NW / VI was really nice and cool – anywhere betw. the low 60’s to mid 70’s. A nice break from the heat in CO.
The “Inner Harbour” as it is called in Victoria is where all the action is. It is a really nice area with great views all around. We got some take out and sat by the water eating it as Leif slept in his stroller. He woke up and wanted to keep moving so we found out where a supermarket was located and walked over to stock up for the trip – all the places we stayed at were like little condos with kitchens. Makes life so much easier with a little kid. I just could not believe the prices! Even in Canadian dollars (a little cheaper than our dollars) food was like NY city priced (at least double CO prices – even organics). We went back to the hotel and made Leif some dinner and then we all passed out from exhaustion!
This island has a big city (Victoria) plus some smaller cities and many little towns, mountains with ski resorts, lakes, rivers and the “Wild Pacific Coast ” as it is called. We just stopped in Victoria for one night to get a break from too much traveling in one day.
We headed out early on Tues. a.m. for our 5 hour trek to the “Wild Pacific Coast”. We drove thru many little towns and up over the mtns. to get to the coast. Stunningly beautiful is all I can say of the island. The plant life, the enormous trees, the diverse animal life the lakes, oceans, streams, mtns, I could just live there and feed off the good energy of the island. Of course, I can’t tolerate a grey, wet winter for too long so we don’t live in the pacific nw bec. of that reason. We are content to visit it in the nice weather months. But, wow. I see how all that water makes everything so incredibly lush and beautiful. Plus the weather is temperate so it never gets too hot or colder than freezing (’cept the mountains get good snowfall so I think up there it does).
On the west coast of the island, we stayed for 4 nights at a resort right on the beach outside of the little town of Tofino. There were lots of surfers on our beach in thick wetsuits since the water feels like ice cubes (40-50 degrees year round). Even in winter – a.k.a. “storm season” there are lots of surfers out so they have told me. There were a bunch of surf schools there, too. We had a great view of the ocean and surfers and rainforest surrounding us from our condo. The area of the island we stayed in is a large UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. UNESCO = United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization. There are alot of “First Nations” people living on VI (native americans but this is what they are called in Canada and Canadians are also known as “North Americans”).
When we got there, it was mid-afternoon and we unloaded the car and then went and walked on the beach! They have their own little rainforest boardwalk trail that leads onto the beach so my first venture in the temperate coastal rainforest was great and the tide was going out so we got to go and look at the tide pools by the rocks. We saw tons of purple and orange star fish, green anemone, lots of barnacles and mussels stuck to the rocks and assorted rocks and shells. (I didn’t find a sand dollar but did find one in a store a few days later! Very unique things, I had to have one). We drove into town to check it out and it was so beautiful – just off the land were these mini islands all over the place covered in big trees and there were mountains in the background of that. We went down to this crab dock and Michael got 3 big dungeoness crabs for us to cook for dinner. Yum. We even had a bunch leftover for the next night. The place has crab pots and the nut crackers for all the guests to use. We sat on our balcony overlooking the ocean and the sunset was happening. Nice. It got pretty cool once the sun went down so we went back inside for the rest of dinner.
The next day we headed right to the rainforest trails after breakfast. These trails are part of what’s called the Pacific Rim National Park. We hiked in the temperate coastal rainforest with the 1,000 yr. old trees and all the plant life and wow again, it is so stunning to be in the presence of such rare, gorgeous nature. Such very still, calm energy in that forest like nothing I’ve experienced before. They have boardwalks for you to walk on bec. it is so muddy and lush with plants they don’t want you to disturb. Walking with a 3 yr. old checking everything out, we go pretty slow. I totally didn’t mind bec. I wanted to hang out with the old growth trees as much as I could. I even did a short meditation with them and got to speak to some wise Devas of that forest. I love to do that – connect with the spirits of the land of places of such raw beauty. We heard a raven basically speaking – carrying on a conversation in raven language. And it went on for a while. I know they can make many, many sounds but I have never heard them make more than 3 different ones, really. We don’t know who he was talking to bec. we didn’t see another raven there. That was so cool for me to hear that. Such interesting birds. Even when we lived in the forest here in CO, there were 2 ravens that lived nearby and I never heard them have a convo like what we heard in this forest. After hiking all day, we decided to head into town to hang out and book a whale watching trip for the next day. Then we went home and had more crab for dinner!
The next day was Thursday and we hung out on the beach in the a.m. and saw a porpoise and her baby feeding right in the bay by our resort where all the surfers were – that was neat – then we were off to see the whales! This is very special to me, last year we went whale watching off the Oregon coast and did spot one but this year, we hung out by a grey whale and a humpback both feeding in different spots. They go down and come up in a few minutes to breathe and then go back down. My damn camera was too slow (or the batteries were losing charge or something) for me to capture the perfect whale’s tale shot every time but we luckily got the whole thing on our video camera. I basically complained about this camera sev’l times when I used it since Michael’s Uncle Bob had the digital camera I really wanted with no wait time betw. shots, super fast, super zoom but super expensive. My dear husband got me a great new camera for my bday – not the one I really wanted but it does have all the fancy stuff for much better shots and I’ve used it 2 days now and it’s awesome. Totally happy with that. Ok, back to the whales. We saw sev’l bald eagles sitting in the trees as we were slowly cruising out betw. all the little islands to get to the open ocean. We also saw a bunch of otters swimming around, lying on their backs eating stuff. And we saw a lot of sea lions – 2 different kinds: Stellars which are huge and California -hanging out on this giant rock in the middle of the ocean, too. We were on the boat for 3.5 hours and were supposed to be on it for just 2.5 hours but the guy hung out longer to see the humpback. On our way back, Leif kept lying down, holding his head and then he puked – all over Michael and himself. Poor guy, he got sea sick. Luckily they gave us stuff right away to clean it up and I also had wipes handy in my backpack for emergencies. We went down to a lower deck out of the sun and I reiki’d him for quite a while and then he bounced back even before we pulled into the marina. Totally fine again. I love Reiki.
We went back to the condo and went down to the beach to see the tide pools again and we got to catch the sunset from “sunset point” which is a cliff area betw. 2 bays where we were staying. Gorgeous sunset and we got it on film. We went upstairs to the condo and made some dinner and passed out from a long day.
On Friday, we were going to go to Meares Island off the coast of Tofino where there were more rainforest trails and a 1,300 yr. old cedar I wanted to see but since Leif got sea sick the day before and we would have to take a water taxi over there, we decided to do something else on land. We drove over to the other little town at the other end of this peninsula we were on to a town called Ucluelet and there is a trail there called the Wild Pacific Trail, also a part of the biosphere and the national park. We just did one small section of a trail that takes days to hike from start to finish. Needless to say, another beautiful rainforest with such interesting trees that take a direct hit from the strong winds and winter storms that come in off the ocean so lots of these trees are all twisty and different looking. We brought the Ergo backpack since it’s packable and I’m glad he can still fit in it (although it says it goes to 65#) bec. every hike at some point he’s done and wants to be carried and then usually falls asleep on Michael’s back. I don’t wear him anymore with my back issues but I carry the daypack. We went down to a black sand beach and looked at all the hermit crabs and shells and colored rocks for a while. One of Leif’s favorite things to do is to throw rocks into water (ocean, river, reservoir, doesn’t matter) so we did that for a while then walked all the way back up to the trail and continued on thru the beautiful rainforest. Once we were done, we drove over to a First Nations cultural center called the Wickanninish Cultural Center and they had a small museum right on the beach of the Pacific Ocean with nothing but water in front of them. It was kind of cold standing right there on the beach and this was August still! There was also the biggest collection I have ever seen of huge driftwood logs piled up on the beach from the ocean bringing it in. There was this plaque showing where we were and the next land out from us was basically Japan or Hawaii. The Pacific Ocean is just so immense and you can really feel that from where we were standing. We went over to another deck and saw a humpback poking his head up feeding just offshore from this place. That was great – free whale watching from land! Inside was all about the different First Nations tribes of the island and whales and how their tribes used to hunt the whale for food, etc and they had a huge skeleton set up of a grey whale and other native artifiacts all made from whales or the cedar tree, etc. Very interesting. After all of that, it was time for dinner and we went out in town and got local fish and chips and then some locally made ice cream. There is a flavor in Canada they say has been around for a long time and I have never, ever even heard of it. It’s called Tiger and it’s orange ice cream and black licorice ice cream. Some company in the U.S. should make it – it’s awesome.
We had to leave beautiful Tofino on Sat. right after b’fast to head back to Victoria for a couple of nights. I could not get a room for longer than we had, it’s that popular. We got a good feel for the wildness of this land and the amazing beauty. There is lots of wildlife on the island, too – black bears, wolves, cougars, elk, eagles, ospreys, hawks, etc. Plus all the marine wildlife. I love that. As we were driving onto the highway, we saw a young black bear eating berries off a bush and we tried to get a pix but he ran back into the forest. He was very cute, though.
We decided to take our time getting to Victoria and made a few stops in little towns and one last big old growth forest on the other side of the mtns. called “Cathedral Grove”. It has alot of thousand year old doug fir and cedar and some maples, too. Different type of forest but still very gorgeous. I am enthralled by old growth trees and the energy they emit. I would love to live near them but I just can’t handle so much weather in my face everyday. In Tofino, they get 10 FEET of rain in 6 month’s time every late fall – spring. You have to be a real trooper to deal with that plus the low lying clouds and constant grey color. Most of the non-native year round people of Tofino all surf. This island is the warmest location in Canada so you either deal with a butt – cold winter or a wet, grey winter (Victoria is not nearly as much rain but still wet/grey they say).
We also stopped for lunch at a little town called Coombs that has a store called the Old Country Market and like old villages in Europe, they had a sod roof on the bldg. and goats on the roof grazing! That was so cute to see pygmy goats hanging on the roof tops. Good marketing ploy bec. the place was very busy in a dinky little town. The market itself was like a cross betw. Cost Plus World Market and Whole Foods. I was happily surprised over that. We sat outside and watched the goats and all the diff. international tourists – lots of German people and British, too, of course.
We stopped in one other town called Qualicum Beach along the Straight of Georgia and you can see land off the coast which I found out was a small island part of an island chain that is there betw. VI and Vancouver the city on the mainland. Threw more rocks in the ocean, of course and Michael showed Leif how to turn over big rocks and see all the little crabs scurry off to find cover. Boy did they have fun doing this. He said it was just like being a kid in WA same kind of rocky beach that we stopped at.
Our last stop before Victoria was this town called Duncan and they have like 100 totem poles. Leif loves the totem poles. We even found one small scale, full color in a tourist shop and boy was he happy with having his own totem pole! As soon as we get here, Leif pukes all over himself and the carseat. Ugh! He was fine on the beach and all of a sudden he’s sick. We think this was a bug this time. We had to wipe him off, change him and wipe down the car seat and lined it with a raincoat until we could get to the hotel. He seemed ok and wanted to see the totems so we walk across the street while Michael cleans it up more and he is really into the totem pole park there plus an old caboose train there, too. He gets woozy again so I pick him up and we go back in the car and he seemed ok, I gave him a tupperware type bowl container I had and told him if he felt sick to puke in that. I felt so bad having to make him ride in the car another half hour to the hotel but what else could we do? He was good until halfway there, started heaving and I had to dump the liquid in the bowl out the window while driving. Ugh. It was pretty sucky on all parts. Needless to say, we had to do laundry and take the carseat apart (our own Britax), too once we got there. Now we have a squeaky clean car seat! I was Reikiing him in the car, at the hotel, he stopped heaving and just passed out on the bed. Nothing else happened, he slept all night and woke up hungry. We started with dry toast and after eating / drinking and keeping it down, he was fine. He did hit his head a few days earlier so we thought maybe it was that causing this twice.
On Sunday, we were supposed to go to this place called Butchart Gardens that is a 50 acre flower garden over 100 yrs old. I was really into going to this but bec. of the sickness the night before, we decided to lay low in the a.m. bec. we were to go to Michael’s friend / biz associate’s home about 20 min. away from Victoria in a town called Sidney-by-the-Sea. We told them what happened to Leif and that he was ok and they still wanted us to come over. They have an almost 2 yr. old boy so I didn’t want to not tell them about the vomiting. We spent the whole afternoon with them and had a bbq. They live right on the water with a marina in the backyard. So cool to look out the window and see all these beautiful boats! What was also great was to get a transplanted American’s view of life living on a Canadian Island. The biggest bonus besides the sheer beauty of the place is the medical card you get once you live there. The wife was telling me she feels Canadians are more relaxed in their lives bec. they just don’t have to worry about health ins. or if something happens how will I pay for this,etc. There are sev’l walk-in clinics in each town plus the emergency room and hospital stays are all free! She said she and her son were at a playground and he fell and hit his head and she took him over to the walk in clinic to be sure even though she didn’t think it was so bad. I asked about wait times and she said it’s really not bad at all. I asked if they would treat tourists the same and she said yes. That’s nice. Alternative medicine is covered, too. Dental is not covered, you need to get an ins. plan for that. Her husband said for wealthy Canadians wanting more specialized or “better” care, they go to the states!
We also talked about the pricing of stuff on the island. It turns out that the islanders don’t object too much, they want it that way to keep people from moving there. Everything has to be flown or shipped in so it’s more expensive. Especially gas – they pay the equivalent of $4.25/gallon or more! Ugh.
Another nice thing about Canada is that they have a strong consciousness for organics, recycling, green bldg, etc. So great to see a country so into it! There was a small recycling bin in each hotel room and they recycle everything – all plastic, glass, aluminum, paper board, etc. Impressive. This couple was also talking about that, too. Gay marriage is legal, too. Also, I loved this, she had her baby in Canada and when you get preg. you get to pick a midwife and stay with just her care the whole preg. unless you are high risk, then you go to an ob/gyn. She did have a drug-free hosp. birth (totally free) and then her baby got stuck, never dropped, like Leif, too and her midwife consulted with a doc and she had to have a c-section or risk losing him bec. he was under too much stress. Interesting, no? The midwife has power in the hospitals, too.
After the birth, they show you how to breastfeed and assign a nurse to you to come over to your home sev’l times to check in on you and make sure your breastfeeding is going well. They will also send over lactation consultants if needed, too. Canada advocates for their mothers to nurse for TWO years if they can. Also, mothers get a full year off work for maternity leave with job security and fathers get 6 months off if they want with job security (I don’t think salary, though). This policy is the same or similar if you have a sick or dying relative at home you have to care for. She went into other details of all the help they can get from socialized medicine and how having that really reflects in the people’s more relaxed attitudes. It was very eye-opening for me to hear all of this. No place is perfect but I really love Canada all the more now!
After we left, we decided to get a light dinner at a local greek restaurant we saw. Food was great then we drove home and went to bed. Our ferry was 3pm on Monday and I wanted to go to Butchart Gardens in the morning.
3 a.m. rolls around and I hear Michael getting up and then I hear retching in the bathroom. He’s sick! By 4:30, I’m in there sick, too! We have to leave the island today!! We are much sicker than Leif was. I try to reiki Michael and myself but really have been so weakened so fast I just wanted to die. We both had the same symtoms, body aches, stomach cramps, and everything else. I hope we did not get those people sick! It just came on like a ton of bricks out of nowhere. I had to call down to the front desk and beg to stay in our room one more night and they shuffled people around so we could do that. So, we got to see nothing and had to pay more money to just be sick. Poor Leif, he was raring to go and we were both like it’s your turn to get up and get him whatever. We both hurt that bad. I got him some food, set up the dvd player on looping and opened his bag of toys and had everything out for him. Each of us had to sit in the bathtub to ease the pain in our legs and get the chill out. Then we all took a nap and by evening, I wanted t eat some dry toast and have some water and we both were able to keep it down and were on the upswing again.
Luckily, I planned a buffer day for just in case and so we could see his parents one last night before we flew home. We had to call them sick from bed to cancel that, too. We got to switch our ferry to the a.m. packed up late at night when we could be upright for more than 30 min. and left the next a.m to sit on a ferry. We were fine just exhausted. What a fast moving flu we got. It was weird. I usually am so good at taking my preventatives and really slacked on this trip and we all got some version of it, too. The only low point of the whole 2 weeks away.
So, we go thru customs and drive all the way to the airport (almost 3 hours) and get there fine. Our flight is delayed a bit but we get home and go pick up our dog who did really well with the nice older couple dog sitters – it was like he stayed with grandma and grandpa and was spoiled – they really loved him and kept raving about what a wonderful dog he is. Our cats and all the plants and the garden all did well, too. My babysitter came in and took care of all that plus we have automated drip line everywhere so that was great.
All in all a wonderful, yet tiring trip to an amazing place that I can’t wait to go visit again!
