Share Your World – 2014 Week 38

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….thank you Cee for four more thought provoking questions

If you could be a tree or plant, what would you be?

I think I would be a grand old sugar maple. I would provide shade in the summer, beautiful colour in the fall, shelter from the wind in the winter and in early spring delicious maple syrup.

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for one hour, what would you have them do?

I would love someone to come in and wash my floors and clean my bathrooms.

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

It would have to be cheese. All varieties.

What was one of your first moneymaking jobs (other than babysitting or newspaper delivery)?

At 14 I worked in my parents’ milk store. I did that until I was held up and forced to empty the till. I was 16 at the time. Soon after, my parents gave up the store and opened up a fabric and sewing machine store.

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 spending time with my oldest daughter and getting out for a run with her last Saturday.

This week I’m looking forward to going to the cottage for the last time this year. We’ll be closing up the cottage because my husband is making brunch for the kids the following weekend and soon after will be going in for his thyroid surgery. The following weekend we’re hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner.

I’m also looking forward to the Railpath Fun Run this Sunday.

For more Share Your World posts check out Cee’s Photography

A Word a Week Photograph Challenge – Hole

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….Sue Llewellyn has reached into her dictionary pulled out the word ‘hole’

For more photos of holes check out Sue Llewellyn’s challenge.

Mystery of the Fallen Bird Feeder

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….the hummingbird feeders are often empty after I’ve been away for a few days but I’ve never seen them on the ground

When we arrived at the cottage last weekend I found one of the hummingbird feeders lying on the forest floor and of course it was empty. In fact all the feeders were empty but the rest of them were still hanging where I left them.

I quickly filled all the feeders and rehung the fallen feeder. It wasn’t long before I discovered what caused the feeder to fall. I think the following photos are pretty self explanatory. Enjoy!

New Flower (Aug. 27, 2014) – Lily

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Another beauty from my neighbour’s garden at the cottage.

Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge – Week 26

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….playing around with my daughter’s fabulous camera this weekend

I was shooting anything and everything. For more wonderful odd ball photos check out Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge

Back to the Cottage for a Couple of Days

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..hope this fog lifts and the rain stays away

Next week I’ll be returning to school to get ready for the kids who start back on Sept 2. I know I’ll have a lot of work to do so I’m hoping I can get in a couple more days of relaxation up at the cottage. We’re picking up our oldest daughter and her partner and will be heading up in a couple of hours.

While we’re there we’ll have to make the decision as to whether we’ll partially close the cottage or make plans to go up for a few more days before school starts. I don’t traditionally like going up on the last long weekend but I might choose to do that this year, at least for a couple of days. I always like to be back in the city for a day or two before heading back to work.

So I won’t be posting until Sunday. See you then.

Cheers!.

Sunday Trees – 144

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..the beginnings of a pine tree

For more Sunday Trees check out Becca Givens site here.

Two Different Ideas of a Good Time

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..this weekend my husband and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary

Last Friday we loaded up the car with our doped up little dog in the back and headed up north for a nice quiet weekend at the cottage. When we arrived it was slightly overcast but the rain held off until later in the evening. The next day (our anniversary) it poured rain for most of the day.

We decided to not let the weather interfere with our time together or prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. My husband was bound and determined to get out on his mountain bike this weekend and come rain or shine he did. As it turned out it rained on Saturday but he enjoyed his soggy trip through the woods anyway. He returned covered in mud and his clothes were drenched with rain water. Today it didn’t rain but when he returned he was still covered in mud from all the puddles he rode through and he came back with some new scratches from riding next to the thimbleberry bushes. This is my husband’s idea of a good time.

Look who’s wearing a helmet. Yeah!

Scratches from today’s ride.

Look how happy he is.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love to ride my bike as well but I’m more of a city rider.

My idea of a good time is baking in the rain. As you may or may not know, we don’t have electricity at the cottage so all my cooking is done on the BBQ. Every once in awhile I like to bake and seeing I had 5 very ripe bananas and it was our anniversary I decided to create a new recipe using what I had in my cottage kitchen. I really wanted the recipe to be gluten free because I wanted to share the banana bread with my neighbour (outhouse hole digger) who has a gluten intolerance problem. The final product turned out quite well and I will share the recipe with you later this week.

Baking in the Rain.

The finished product. Yummy, oatmeal banana bread.

As you can see our ideas of a good time don’t always go hand in hand but we both enjoyed the banana bread and after 39 years we’ve learned to let each other pursue our individual interests and hobbies. Later in the day my husband played his mandolin and then read his book while I sat down at the table and worked on some drawings of birds. I’ve never done this before but it was part of an assignment for the on-line summer art camp I’m taking. I really enjoyed the process and I think I will work on my drawing skills some more. I honestly didn’t think I could draw birds. The second assignment was one I’ve done with my own students and it’ll be nice to have a couple of samples to show them if I decide to do this with them again.

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.