I can create some fictions, but not one that will trump having my two sisters either on cruises or anticipating a cruise in the next two weeks Fiction is what I would be reduced to, to make my life sound more interesting than theirs. To tell you the truth, -30 wind chill is cold and that is what is facing Albertans today. One of my kitchen windows had the Jack Frost ice crystals all over it. The guys who live here don’t know (yet) that you have to close the outside and the inside window when winter comes. My handy hair dryer took care of melting the ice so that I could take care of being able to move that window. Rebecca told me this morning that there is snow in Victoria. Snow closes down Victoria, at least a few inches of it. Commerce keeps chugging along in Calgary, even at the deepest, darkest temperatures.
When Lurene lived here, and she wanted to know what temperature it was outside, she would put her hand out the door as she came up from downstairs. She wouldn’t have to do that today, for the door knob on the inside of the house is frosted. Temperature control is variable in the house. The basement is always a number of degrees colder than the upstairs. As I run from upstairs to down, and even from room to room, and thirdly, depending if my activity is at a vigorous level or if I am sedentary, the gloves, heavy sweaters and scarves come on and off, then off and on around here.
I went to have a hearing test at the Health Science Centre, one scheduled since early spring. I rescheduled once when the timing wasn’t good for me. They rescheduled once when the timing was bad for them. I was there ½ hour early yesterday, barely out of my scarves, woolly black hat and lined ankle-length coat, only to have to put them back on again, for the fire alarm began to ring. When all was said and done, a broken water pipe was flooding the area called 5B, the one where the test was scheduled. “I am not authorized to tell you how long it will take until you can go up to that floor, but from the look of the firemen running back and forth with the hoses and clean-up material, I don’t think I would wait,” said the woman at the Information Desk downstairs.
Back home I went to re-schedule. The bus driver’s don’t check your transit passes when it is this cold. They just tell you to get on the bus so they can get the doors closed as fast as possible.
I could tell that Richard had been over here yesterday, earlier than I got up. When I was outside to take a look at my car, it was plugged into a new electrical cord. Not just any cord, but a fluorescent green cord with a light on the end that lets me know electricity is going through the cord when I plug it into my block heater. Richard warned me that it would cost $15 more, a modest expense, compared to what I would be spending if I were on a cruise. I went for the top of the line equipment for my block heater. Small extravagances. Why not?
Speaking of Richard, I went to get into my email and had to close down a couple of windows: “Cam’s Taxidermy” and “Ryan’s Meat Processing”. I am pretty sure I was not the one out googling those sites. As well, I have gone to the garage and checked out Little-Whitetail Doe. Matriram Pun was the first one who told me that the animal was stunning, hanging there, antlers, head, skin and all -- gutted from stem to stern, and then he made an imaginary cut down his own body to show me what to watch for.
I may not be on the cruise, but still, every day in real life is one I would not want to miss.
Arta
- 10 in Winnipeg. We went from + 20 in October to this, quite a shock. Things keep moving along and I am hoping that temperatures with change rather than stay the same for the next 6 months (go up, not down).
ReplyDeleteMy tip to you is not to lick anything (including doorknobs) that are frosty. Talk to Trent about that.
I am not sure what the official weather report is for Annis Bay, but my glove measurement test estimates that there was 4.5 inches of snow on the roof of our car this morning. We are not down to plugging the car in weather. The temperature read -7 Celcius as we drove off to town.
ReplyDeleteWe were able to drive off to town thanks to Glen, his plow, and his generosity -- he plows us out. He called at 7:15 to find out when we were leaving. I lept out of bed and began shoveling the porch, a path to the cars, scraping the cars, and shoveling the snow away from the back of the vehicles. It was beautiful, white, fluffy snow, just perfect for snow angels, but I knew my time was short.
Our car made it easily up the plowed CPR/Pilling's road at 7:50am. An arrival time of 8:15 am at the school felt much earlier than David's usual 11:10am start time. We got there just in time.
Today was "meet your secret buddy" day. David has been talking about Beckett, a Kindergarten boy in the morning class, since Day 1. They share a hook for their handtowels and a cubbie. The two K classes had made gift bags for their secret buddy. David came home with a homemade googly-eyed puppet, a bird made of of recycled maaterials, and binoculars made from toilet paper rolls. There was a card that read "A David, de Becket". David said it was a funny card with a joke inside. Inside it was blank. I am not sure if Beckett ran out of time, or really was making a joke for David. David loved it.
Today was also P.A.L.S. day -- Parent's as Literacy Supporters. Parents had a 15 minute lesson on promoting literacy, and then each child had 30 minutes to do literacy activities set up in the gym. There were 13 stations. The presentation was great. I was reminded that oral language is the best predictor for being a good reader and that David gets very limited French input at home. I resolved to get more French Junior Picture books on tape out of the library for me and David to listen too. I was also grateful for the reminder that children learn best when they are having fun and feeling successful. Letting them "reread" books they have memorized gives them chances to show they have completely mastered a task. Great reminders.
There were stations for doing dot-to-dot puzzles that had letters instead of numbers. There was sand you could write letters in and there were chalkboards you could paint on with water. There were sequencing puzzles so children could make stories and predict endings. There was a puppet station for practicing creating stories with a beginning, middle, and end. Each child's name was written on a page, and then they could trace their name with glue and sprinkle jello powder on it (a "scratch and smell" page).
Joaquim asked me which was my favorite station. I said, "The one I made up. The find-other-parents-to-set-up-playdates station." David was learning what he was seeing. He began asking children on his own for playdates. This usually made the eye's of the adult by the child's side get wide.
David wants to play now -- he handed me one of his new letter magnets he got sent home with. He also got two new books. Perhaps we will also read "Jillian Jigs".
That's nice that David is setting up his own playdates. Hope it fits into your shedule.
ReplyDelete