An Unusual Summer

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….instead of lounging on the beach at the cottage I’ve been spending a lot of time in the city

I was really looking forward to my summer holiday this year. I opened the cottage later than I would normally and when I returned to the city I spent 3 days in school cleaning up my office and packing up books so that the new carpet could be laid down this summer.

In the second week of the summer I went to visit my aunt. She lives by herself about 20 minutes from my house. She never calls me but she is always happy to see me. Unfortunately, she stopped answering her door or picking up her phone. Two years ago her daughter found her very ill and admitted her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with congested heart failure.

The day I went to see her, my cousin was already there and she said she had a bad night and she was still in bed (3:00 in the afternoon). After a short conversation we went to check on her and she didn’t look good. To make a long story short we called 911 and she was admitted to emergency. At around midnight, after numerous tests, x-rays and blood work we were told that she has double pneumonia.

For the next six days I was back and forth to the hospital. Five weeks later she’s still in the hospital. Her pneumonia has cleared up but now she has a multitude of other problems. Every time I come back from the cottage I go to see her and when I’m not there my husband drops in.

Last week my husband’s car had to go into the shop so he’s without a car and I’ve been driving him everywhere his bike can’t take him. This week he went in for his routine CAT scan and next week he has two more appointments.

Our dog, Frances is presently at the vet clinic having her teeth fixed. Unfortunately the problem is more complicated than we thought and she has to see a specialist to fix the under lying problem. We pick her up this afternoon and will learn more details as to when her next procedure has to be done.

Next week my son-in-law is going into the hospital for surgery so I will be dog sitting Lucy and keeping my daughter company during the procedure.

I’ve also been helping my friend A organize her basement and garage so that she can get ready to sell her house in the near future. Last weekend I also cleaned out our garage but with lots of help from family and extended family members. Normally I like to be at the cottage but when people offer to help with big jobs you kind of have to work around their schedule.

I did go up to the cottage right after the clean-up and I took our youngest daughter and Lucy with me. We only stayed a couple of days because I had to get back into town to get Frances to the vet.

It turned out to be a beautiful weekend but again my cottage neighbour offered to help dig a new outhouse hole so I spent hours on Sunday digging and then hauling sand out of the hole.

This week when I got back to the city I got a call from my friend G who called to warn me that my classroom was a bigger mess than we anticipated. I went in yesterday to check it out and was blown away by what I saw. Painters had come in July and it was decided that they would tackle one long wall. Of course, not knowing that this was happening, none of the books on that wall had been cleared. All the books were removed from the shelves and stacked on the tables and then the shelves were taken down. Were they put back? No!

Upon arriving to school the caretaker tried to prepare me for what I was about to see. The shelves that were moved to lay down the carpet were not returned to their original space. More shelves behind my desk were emptied because they were too close to the floor and the shelves themselves were dumped in my office.

When I left in July I had cleaned out my office so that nothing was on the floor and the counters and the table were clear so that the surfaces could be properly washed. Yesterday I couldn’t even get into my office because everything was pushed into that room. I took pictures so that my principal could forward them to the powers that be and hopefully someone will come in in the next two weeks before school starts and try to clean up the mess.

I spent a few hours yesterday locating some of the shelves, washing them and putting them back on the wall. I also clean off my library desk moved it back up against the wall so that I at least have a place to sit without looking through a mountain of stuff.

Not everything about being in the city has been bad. I did enjoy spending time with my family and taking in some of the World Cup games, especially the final when Germany won.

I’ve spent more time in my garden and reaping the benefits of time well spent.

I also saw part of the Caribana parade and spent some quality time with my husband walking, running and riding our bikes.

This summer I have produced a lot of art thanks mostly to Carla Sonheim’s on-line Summer Camp. Some of it I worked on at the cottage and the rest here at home. I’ve got lots of great ideas to share with my students when I go back to work in September. I think I’m happiest when I’m creating art.

Acrylic paint on 8 x 18 inch cedar shim.

The Cottage – July 22, 2014

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….the story of a lost dog

I went to the library yesterday to post my last article but lo and behold it wasn’t opened to the public because a private workshop was in session. The group was on a break so the librarian kindly let me go inside and I had just enough time to check my emails and I was able to copy my story to WordPress but I ran out of time before I could add my photos. So I’m afraid that many of my articles will all appear on the same day, either when I return home or sometime later this afternoon if I get back to the library.

My husband and the dog came up on Sunday and left about 30 minutes ago. We had a great few days together, despite losing the dog yesterday. K loves to run and walk through the woods with the dog on the logging trails. He usually does a loop that is about 9k long. Yesterday when he returned the dog wasn’t with him.

Somewhere between the 5 and 6k mark of the trail, Frances was distracted by something she heard in the woods and took off. K called and called her but continued to run figuring she would follow him further down the path. When she didn’t return to the cottage we both got into our cars and drove in different directions looking for her.

My husband drove into the village and I made my way along the logging path. Unfortunately I don’t have 4-wheel drive so I stopped when I came to a very large and deep puddle in the road. There was no way to get around it. I got back onto the main road and found another logging road further away. Again I was hampered by the deep ruts in the road and had to turn around.

Back at the cottage my husband decided to go back to the trail and and backtrack in case Frances followed his scent in the opposite direction. I drove him into the woods as far as my little car would let me, dropped him off and headed out via the main road to the exit at the other end of the trail. K exited without the dog so I drove him further east until we arrived at the next entrance to the trail which headed back to the cottage.

I drove back along the main roads and returned to the cottage. Before heading down our lane I checked out a couple of other lanes that she might have taken, spoke to a couple of women about our missing pooch and then started to head to the end of the trail where K would exit. For some reason I decided to go back to the cottage one more time before meeting my husband. There sitting in front of our door was Frances, completely exhausted and out of breath. I called her to get into the car and we drove off to meet K together.

You can imagine the relief and joy on K’s face when he saw Frances. He wanted to be mad at her but he was overcome with emotion. We figured that K had walked at least 15k that morning and who knows how far Frances ran. The two of them were pretty quiet for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon we all went down to the beach and both K and Frances played in the water. I think the cool water helped both of them recover from their sore and tired muscles.

I think the biggest lesson that we learned that day was that Frances knows her way home. Next time, heaven forbid, we won’t be so panicked looking for her.

Till the next time,

Cheers!

Cottage Life – July 19th, 2014

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

I finally got up to the cottage. This is actually my second trip to the island but I was back in the city for an extended period of time. Now that I’m back I’ve settled into relax mode. On my first trip I opened up the cottage and did a lot of the cleaning and sorting one does when you first open up after a long winter break.

My fridge is run on propane and right now the only downside is that it requires two people to start it, one at the front and one behind. Unfortunately the automatic starter doesn’t work so someone has to hold a flame in front of the pilot light which is at the back of the fridge while another person pushes the buttons at the front. When I arrived last Thursday, alone, none of my immediate neighbours were around so I kept my food in my cooler. Luckily my girlfriend’s daughter arrived on the next boat so the fridge dilemma was quickly resolved.

My meals are simple. Fruit and yogurt for breakfast, soup and an open face sandwich for lunch and salad and grilled meat for dinner. I always make a thermos of coffee first thing in the morning and later in the day when it cools down I might put a few ice cubes in it and have an ice coffee. I also enjoy a cup or two of tea but I have to stop drinking by 7:00 in the evening or I’ll be up in the middle of the night. Oh, did I mention we don’t have indoor plumbing. I don’t mind the outhouse, except at 3:00 in the morning. I never have to get up in the middle of the night at home. Why is that?

Today my girlfriend and her husband arrived. They’re my immediate neighbours to the south of me. I joined them for coffee when they arrived early this morning and they invited me for lunch later in the day. I always contribute in some way when I’m invited for a meal so today I sliced and grilled sweet potatoes and onions that I prepared on the BBQ. Most of my meals are cooked outside, in fact all of them because I also don’t have electricity.

As I type this on my fully charged laptop I’m listening to the radio which runs on batteries. I love the CBC in the summer. If I stay for an extended period of time I’ll take a trip to the library in the village and use their Wifi to post my articles, catch up on my emails and recharge my laptop and iPhone. I’ve been up for three days and I’ve already finished reading one novel and am on my second. I get a lot reading done at the cottage. The weather’s been a bit cool so I’ve stayed close to the cottage. The beach isn’t warm enough for lounging right now. I need to get out and walk a bit more. I’ll probably do that after I finish this post.

Another activity I like to do while I’m up here is paint. I’ve brought my boards and canvases up with me on this trip and am planning to apply gesso to them to get them ready for painting. The next time I go home I’ll pick up the rest of my paints and bring them with me on my next trip. I also like to take photographs and I’ve taken a number of shots of my neighbour’s garden across the street from me. They come up a lot earlier than I do and when I get here in July their garden is well established. Well I’m I think I’d better finish here and get outside and move.

Till the next time. Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge – Relic

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..Wordpress’s weekly photo challenge features the word ‘relic’.

Wrought iron gate

Strike a Chord

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..Do you play an instrument? Is there a musical instrument whose sound you find particularly pleasing? Tell us a story about your experience or relationship with an instrument of your choice.

My parents wanted me to play an instrument but they couldn’t afford to buy a piano. I remember someone coming to the house with an accordion when I was about 8 years old and trying to get me to manipulate this big, heavy and awkward music box. I’m sure that the cost was too prohibitive, never mind that I had no interest in being an accordion player. In the end my Dad bought me a Hohner melodica.

Oh, how I disliked this thing. Image courtesy of https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6014/5927778569_5a0e7458c5_z.jpg

I didn’t like this instrument either.

When I was in grade 7, our school had a school band and everyone was welcome to participate but you had to rent your instruments. Again my parents couldn’t afford the cost of the rental. Instead I took part in the class where we learned how to play the recorder. That instrument my parents could afford. In fact I was pretty good at it. Years later, when I started teaching grade 5, I took a refresher course and started teaching my students how to play. It’s not my favourite instrument but I did take some pride in knowing I could play an instrument and pass on my limited talent to my students.

In high school I was very limited as to what elective courses I could take. As much as I loved the arts I couldn’t fit any arts programs into my curriculum. I think this is one of the reasons why I was so happy that my own children had the opportunity to attend the arts high school and they all studied a musical instrument. When our son was 10 years old he expressed an interest in the piano and we started with an old clunker and then quickly moved on to a beautiful baby grand when we realized that he had a natural gift.

Once our children reached middle school they all played instruments in the school orchestra and band. Two of them played the cello and one the saxophone and they continued to play in high school.

I think one of my favourite instruments is the guitar. I can’t play it but my husband can and over the years, off and on, he had fine tuned his skills. He started playing when he was 14 and even gave lessons at this early age. I never heard him play until he was well into his 30s and in his 40s he played with our daughter at a school recital. He’s pretty much self taught but for a couple of years he did take lessons. He’s added a couple of guitars to his collection over the years and I bought him a strum stick several years ago.

Image courtesy of: http://www.baconworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/strumstick2.jpg

Recently he’s added a mandolin to his collection and every day I hear the sweet sounds of his new acquisition wafting up from his office in the basement.

I’ve tried to learn how to play a musical instrument on my own. I tried to play the piano and I started to feel somewhat comfortable with it but then the piano needed tuning and I stopped. I know it’s a pretty dumb reason to stop but our children also no longer played, mostly because they had all moved out or were away at school and I guess I felt I wasn’t worthy of spending the money to have it tuned. Hmmm? Money seems to be a reoccurring theme in this post.

An instrument that I have taken an interest in lately is the ukulele. I bought my first uke some years ago when we were considering teaching it to our students. I think the one thing that put us off was that we would spend most of our time tuning it, leaving us very little time to actually play.

My love for the ukulele, however, continues and for Mother’s Day this year my husband bought me a new concert ukulele. It’s a little bit bigger and the tone is so mellow. I love it and I keep plunking away. I bought my friend, who is also the music teacher at my school, a ukulele last Christmas. We’re hoping to spend some time this summer honing our skills together.

Maybe some day we’ll form our own ukulele orchestra. LOL!

For more ‘Strike a Chord’ entries check out

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/strike-a-chord/

A Crazy Week

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..so much has happened at school this week and we’ve got more to go before signing off for the summer

If anyone tells you that nothing happens in the last month of school don’t believe them. This week alone (the last week of school) we’ve had rehearsals for the grade 5 farewell, the actual farewell assembly, the book club’s all day activity event for 50 students, field trips into the community, training for next years Peace Keepers, the kindergarten play day and final printing of the report cards.

Yesterday I emceed the farewell assembly for the grade 5s in the afternoon and then spent time after school getting the materials ready for today’s Forest of Reading Extravaganza. In the morning we split up the group of 50 children into two groups and sent one group to the drama workshop and the other group stayed with me for the book making workshop. After recess the boys and girls rotated to their second activity so that everyone had an opportunity to participate in both activities. After the morning activities we served them pizza, water and Freezies and the staff that helped us all year as expert readers joined us for lunch.

When lunch was over we had Allan Stratton who is the author of Curse of the Dream Witch come to the school for an hour to read to and talk to the children about being an author. The children asked him wonderful questions without any prompting from their teachers and he skillfully kept the children engaged with his many personal anecdotes about writing and how they could become writers.

After the last recess of the day some of the children returned to their classrooms but many stayed behind to finish their handmade books. There was a fair bit of cleaning that needed to be done but the grade 5s were more interested in getting their yearbooks signed. I’d put them off all day while the activities were going on so during the last period of the day I gave in and signed most of their books.

It’s been pouring rain since I’ve left school and it hasn’t stopped for over five hours. I’m afraid that it might affect tomorrow’s play day at school and the grade 5’s excursion to the pool and the park for lunch tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’m going to that but I think that the teachers who get prep from me tomorrow were given their time today. If all goes as planned we will go swimming in the morning, go to the park for a barbecue lunch and then head over to the golf course for a round of mini putt.

After school we have our staff party at the home of our gym teacher. It is usually our last day with the students but this year we all have to return to school on Friday. I suspect that many of the students won’t show up especially since they get their report cards on Thursday. On Friday we have an assembly in the morning and in the afternoon teachers will be madly trying to straighten up their classes with their students present. It should be an interesting day.

I have a feeling that I will be going into school next week to tidy up the library. As much as the students want to help me it often ends up being more messy than when we started.

Cheers!

Share Your World – 2014 Week 25

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..almost half way into the year….yikes, where does the time go?

What is your favorite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal, drawing, cartoon or character in a movie or TV show)

As much as I love our current dog, Frances, I’d have to say that my favourite breed of dog is the Golden Retriever. Before adopting Frances we owned 2 Goldens over a 23 year period. Our first dog died way too soon, just before she turned eight and our second Golden lived to be 15 years and 40 days old. My husband says now that the Goldens were my dogs and that Frances is his.

This is Scully at the cottage when she was 15 years old. As you can see she only has one eye. She lost her eye when she was only two but it certainly didn’t slow her down. She hated having her picture taken and would usually run away when she saw the camera. I suspect in her last year or two her sight in her one eye was starting to fail.

Frances is a mixed breed of Dachshund and Australian Shepherd.

Name one thing not many people know about you.

It’s a weird thing to admit but I have a deathly fear of bears. I’ve never had an encounter with a bear or even seen one from a distance. My sister thinks it has to do with a book our Aunt gave us when we were kids about bear attacks. Last year a family of bears swam across the lake and now live on the island where our cottage is. I’m actually afraid to go for walks in the woods now.

Have you ever gone scuba diving? If you haven’t, would you want to?

I’ve never been scuba diving but if I went to a sunny island in the Caribbean I would probably like to try it.

What was the most important event in your life last week? (anything goes it can be a good nights sleep, finished a reading book,winning the lottery, or getting married)

Last week was extremely busy and I had a lot of late nights. For two nights in a row I didn’t get home until 9:30 and 10:30 and on one of those nights I couldn’t sleep right away so I stayed up and painted and didn’t get to bed until 2:00 in the morning. The following day I went to lie down right after dinner because I was feeling a little off and I didn’t wake up until after midnight. I changed out of my clothes and into my PJs and surprisingly fell asleep without any difficulty. I woke up shortly after six in the morning. Sleeping for over ten hours on a school night and finally getting the rest I needed was the most important event of last week.

One of the paintings I was working on.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that my daughter went into school with me on the weekend and helped me clean up my art area and part of the library. She also helped me organize the children’s prizes from the Jump Rope for Heart activity and together we took down all the art work around the school and returned it to the different classrooms. I knew that if I didn’t get it done on the weekend I’d be in big trouble this week. There is so much going on at school this week that I needed to get those jobs done ahead of time.

I’m looking forward to the end of school on Friday and to our staff party on Thursday night. Normally the children are finished one day before the teachers are but this year both students and teachers work right till the end of the week.

For more Share Your World posts check out: http://ceenphotography.com/2014/06/23/share-your-world-2014-week-25/

Ode to my Pine

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..first you see it, well what’s left of it

…..and then little by little over the next four hours it starts to come down

….until nothing is left but a bit of saw dust

….and now my view has completely changed

Thirty five years ago

you were barely three feet high

You grew wide and tall

Your lower branches spread across the lawn

and encroached on the neighbour’s roof

trimming was a necessity but you continued to grow

until you shot above our two story house

You were home to birds, squirrels and racoons

You provided shade and nourished the soil

I cursed your shedding needles but

you always stayed green season after season

Your demise was swift, we barely saw it coming

Sun shines where before you provided shade

and our view is forever changed

Farewell dear tree

Rosestock or Rosethorn in the Rain

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….aka Rosethorn in the Park

Almost every year since I started working at my school we’ve put on some kind of year-end show. For most of the 15 years that I’ve been at Rosethorn we’ve rented a portable stage and parked it outside on the school grounds by the hill. For a few years we booked the local high school auditorium when the cost of the stage became too prohibitive.

There was always something very special about putting on the show outside on a warm summer evening. In all the years that we performed outside it never once rained during the show. Well the year we decided to bring back the show mobile we had rain. We were very optimistic and decided to go ahead with the show despite the forecast of potential showers. The sky was overcast for most of the day but the rain held off.

When we started the show there was no rain but after four classes had performed the rain began. When it looked like it wasn’t going to let up our principal gave the audience some options. Well actually she didn’t get past the first one which was to continue with the show. Everyone wanted to stay. The umbrellas came out and the children were pretty much dry under the roof of the stage anyway. Luckily the sound equipment and the operator were protected by a tent but our conductor/music teacher and the staff working with the children were exposed to the elements.

It rained for about an hour and stopped for the last few acts. Despite the soggy conditions the show was a hit and no one complained about getting wet. The teachers were glad that we didn’t have to come back the next night to continue the show and I think a lot of the families were glad as well.

Share Your World – 2014 Week 24

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Mama Cormier

……this week’s answers are all about family, friends, comfort, big city experiences and language

What makes you feel the most secure?

I am most secure in the company of my family and good friends. I don’t have a special blanket or chair. It’s not even about being in my home. Where ever my family and friends are that’s where I feel most secure.

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If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?

I have to admit that I’m all about comfort and a little bit of style. This time of year I’d be a sport sandal. Lots of support, comfortable and cool to wear on hot days. I love Ecco and Naturalizer shoes. They cost a bit more but their worth it. They also come in lots of bright colours and interesting styles. Who says you have to give up comfort for style?

Getting our feet ready for sandal season.

How many languages do you you speak?

Sadly I only speak one language well and that’s English. I understand German very well and can get by when push comes to shove. I know only a little bit of French. This is probably my biggest regret in life. Living in a bilingual country and having taught in French Immersion schools for over 25 years I really have no good excuse for not learning the language. My only excuse is that I’m a very visual learner and when it comes to learning another language which is mostly auditory I struggle to remain focused. Some people, like my children, have a gift and can pick up languages easily.

What was the largest city you have been to? What is the one thing you remember most?

The largest city I’ve been to is right here in Toronto (4th largest city in North America). If I had to choose outside of my hometown I’d have to say Montreal in Canada and San Francisco in the U.S.. In both cities I love the diversity of the cultures and the mix of old architecture with modern structures. When I think of San Francisco I think of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Wharf and Alcatraz. Montreal brings to mind Old Montreal, Expo, and great bistros.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for time with my Dad on Father’s Day. I feel blessed that I still have him at 87 years young. I’m also grateful for time spent with my children and husband on Saturday and for the phone call from my son in the Netherlands.