01 | December | 2012 | Mama Cormier

…..snow, grey skies, biting winds and the Santa Claus parade

I looked out my bedroom window this morning, hoping to take an interesting shot of the tree outside my window. To my horror, I discovered that the tree had been cut back so drastically by the city that all the interesting branches outside my window had all but disappeared.

A couple of months ago we called the city because the tree needed a trim. The branches were always hitting the house during wind storms and some of the branches were hanging so low that they were brushing up against the cars in the driveways on both sides of the property.

So earlier this week the crew from the city’s maintenance department showed up and did their thing. All week I’ve arrived home in the dark and in the mornings I’m always in such a hurry that I never looked up at the tree. When I finally looked out at the tree from my bedroom and could see the houses across the street I was stunned. I hope come the spring we’ll still have a nice shade canopy.

On our walk this morning the wind by the lake was biting cold and the waves were crashing onto the rocks. Frances didn’t seem to notice the cold and enjoyed the brisk walk to the park where we threw the ball over and over again to tire her out.

While we were on our walk we kept hearing the sound of sirens coming from Lakeshore Blvd. just north of us. We soon realized that we were hearing the police cars, ambulances and fire trucks that were in the Lakeshore Santa Claus parade. We extended our walk and made our way to the parade. When we got to the Lakeshore the parade was just starting to pass where we arrived. Great timing. Well at least it was for me. K and Frances didn’t stay long and headed back through the park to get home.

It’s funny that I decided to stay to watch the parade because I had just made fun of a friend at school who was so devasted that she had to miss the Bolton Santa Claus Parade that was happening today as well. A couple of us thought it was strange that a grown woman whose children were now adults still took so much pleasure from the parade. I’ll have to apologize to her when I see her on Monday.

Here are a few of the colourful sights of the parade: Enjoy!

….it seemed like the longest week ever

I’m sure that the full moon had a lot to do with it. The students were unusually chatty and restless. For the first time it was a struggle to get them to finish their work. Our mayor was found guilty in a conflict of interest case by the courts and stripped of his position. The teachers’ union made work to rule official and is threatening rotating one day strikes across the province. The minister of education is trying to convince the media that the government is putting students first and that the teachers are bargaining in bad faith. City council was caught in the middle of a shouting match between the mayor, with the aid of his brother and a few councillors on issues that turned out to be non-issues. A crazy week, all in all.

So if the mayor’s appeal is denied we might be looking at a by-election and the same judge that found the mayor guilty clarified today that he could run again in the by-election. He’s convinced that he would win again but I’m not so sure and the polls aren’t in his favour at the moment.

I had my fitness test this week and signed up for 24 sessions with a personal trainer and then the next day I found out we are be in a strike position and could be walking the pavement. Yesterday I cancelled the sessions with the personal trainer until things are a little more settled at work.

Last Friday I discovered I have mice in my library office. They’re living under the sink and have been chewing through my paint mixing containers. All week I’ve been throwing away containers that have big holes in the bottom. I haven’t seen them but there’s lots of evidence that they’re around.

I started to mark some of the art projects. I have to use my time more wisely because as of December 10th we have to leave school 1/2 hour after the students leave. This will be a challenge for me and a few other teachers who regularly stay at school till 6:00 most days. After the 10th, no more field trips, sports teams, extracurricular activities, and anything that involves collecting money and administrative paperwork. I marked about 100 projects tonight. Only 320 to go.

Art classes will continue but displaying the work could prove challenging when I have to leave the building early every night. Some of the work may have to stay up longer than it would normally. Here’s what the halls look like at the moment.

Not everything was bad. At the school council meeting this week the parents put my new art cart on the top of the priority list of things to purchase. It was ordered the next day and arrived yesterday. It only has to be assembled.

On Thursday I went to the One of a Kind Show with my daughter and her partner. They made me a great dinner. I had a free pass into the show and parking was free (that’s never happened before).

The weekend looks promising. I’ll start the day with a walk with the dog, workout at the gym and then to an art show opening in the afternoon. My friend’s 91 year old father is exhibiting his work at the Moore Gallery in downtown Toronto. He is a very accomplished artist and has had many shows in his lifetime. Just a month ago he won another award for one of his pieces at the Watercolour Society.

On Sunday we may be taking a trip to the Niagara region and do some wine touring. This is what my daughter wanted for her birthday and it looks like it should be a nice day weather wise. With Christmas just around the corner and winter on our heels we need to make this trip sooner rather than later.

We had a dusting of snow today in the afternoon. By 4:15 it was already dark, partially due to the overcast sky. Of course for the next 21 days it will continue to get darker earlier in the day. How depressing but I can’t let the stress get to me.