Time to change to winter tires. It's 15 degrees C today which makes me feel a bit silly putting on winter tires, but it is the end of October, and it is Ontario. You know what they say in Ontario, "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes". If you change your own tires, a couple of things I've learned:

1. get a tire cart. I used to roll my tires out to my car from storage, but that is a pain and the tires keep escaping as they roll. A 60 dollar tire cart just takes the hassle out of it.

2. you can used a bicycle pump to inflate car tires. With the cheap pump I have, 1 full pump is almost exactly a quarter of a pound, so 4 pumps is 1 psi. When I put on the winters just now, they were all around 26 psi, so about 24 pumps was required on each tire. 

Summer tires tucked away til next year...

I started out last night listening to Christmas music but meandered as I often do in this algorithm based world, and I ended up here. Far from appropriate for the season, you might say, and about events long ago, and far away. Sometimes though, a song captures a feeling, a spirit of something, that I am trying to express and says it better.

In this case, trying to make sense of a world that doesn't seem to make much sense.

Later in the evening I got here. The same artist wrote this song a few years later; a response to the feelings and emotions expressed in the first song--searching for hope instead of anger. At least that is the way I like to think about it.

I know I am not the only one looking for hope in a chaotic world. That is the spirit of this season and my prayer for you (and myself).

 Every year, the organization I work for hosts a big gala event. This year, like many, we are having to adapt and are holding a virtual event. There will be several talks and other events and unlike in the past, you wouldn't have to go to San Diego to attend.

If you want to know more here's the link:

https://plantwithpurpose.org/gala2020/

I am one of the speakers as well, so check the schedule if you want to hear more in particular about our watershed approach, climate change and how it affects farmers, or how we measure impact. There are several other talks as well so you can avoid listening to me altogether if you choose!

On the flight home, when breakfast was served, the Ethiopian Airlines flight attendant asked me if I wanted eggs, pancakes, or ful. Normally I find airplane breakfast uninspiring but my ears perked up when she said ful. This is a bean dish cooked with pepper and other spices and is usually served with fresh baked bread. Really delicious. So right away I asked for the ful. Then very next second though, I thought, "Oh, they would never serve ful on an international flight, she must have meant "full" as in eggs plus pancakes." I figured I was having one of those weird cultural transition moments, not quite knowing what context I was in and hearing something from the wrong place or time. So imagine my delight upon opening the foil lid to discover that, a) I had heard things correctly, and b) I was going to get to enjoy ful one last time on this trip. I was so excited I almost went back to the service area to tell the flight crew that was the best airplane breakfast ever but I thought they might think I was a crazy person. Seriously though, best airline breakfast ever.

A native species of olive that is often found in church forests. We are planting thousands of these to help reinvigorate these forests which are often centuries old but experiencing heavy encroachment from neighbouring farmland

Frankincense. Yup, same as the 3 wise men. Part of drinking coffee in Ethiopia

This morning I uploaded this file--a geospatial pdf. This shows 3 watersheds in Ethiopia and lets the user check their phone and figure out where they are relative to watershed boundaries. Why would I want to do this? Knowing where you are in a watershed is important to planning for example for tree planting activities. The upper parts of a watershed tend to be especially critical and are often the source of rivers that supply water to the rest of the system. Knowing where you are then means you can decide where is best to plant and what is best to plant. A simple file like this, easy to read on any phone can help farmers make the best use of their time and resources in restoring the environment.