Back to Normal?

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. not quite yet

The library has been weeded of 1300 damaged and outdated books, hundreds of new books have been processed and added to the newly organized shelves, and the cases from the book fair were picked up today.

The book fair was a huge success. Over $6700. worth of merchandise was sold and 60% comes back into the library in the way of new books. I had a crew of student helpers that drove me crazy at times with their enthusiasm but I couldn’t have survived the week without them. Today I rewarded them with some of the merchandise from the fair (pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners and treats).

I thought the day would be somewhat normal but our caretaker kindly started to assemble my new desk in the middle of the library and a group of students helped me put the books back into one the carousels that had to be emptied last week before we could move it in the first place. I still have a little bit of paperwork to do before I find out exactly how much money I have to spend on books.

Tomorrow I have to assemble over a hundred peace banners designed by the students to string and hang in the gym for our Remembrance Day assembly on Friday. I also have to get lessons ready for a supply teacher who is going to cover my classes for three days while I’m away. I have to undergo minor surgery and hopefully there won’t be any complications. I foolishly thought I could go back to work the next day but my doctor said I could be off for as long as a week. I’ve booked 3 days which takes me into the weekend.

I have a few more report cards I have to proofread before I can go to bed so I’m going to sign off. Hopefully my new desk will be assembled tomorrow and I’m hoping to share some of the peace banners that my students designed. Till tomorrow. Cheers!

Friday Drabble: The Visitor

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Mama Cormier

She just stood there by my bed, completely shrouded in white. I couldn’t make out her features but I knew instinctively who she was.

It was late at night and I had been asleep for hours. Her presence woke me from a deep sleep. She didn’t make a sound but her appearance startled me and I screamed.

My husband rose from his sleep and tried to console me.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s someone next to the bed.”

She was gone but the cold air lingered and caused me to shiver. My mother had come to warn me.

‘Don’t let him go.’

A drabble is a very short story of exactly 100 words. Feel free to join in and write your own drabbles on Fridays and tag them with “friday drabble” and on Twitter with the hashtag #fridaydrabble.

Happy Hallowe’en

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. tired but not tempted by all the treats

Cupcakes, cookies, Rice Krispie squares, chips, chocolates, candy….. all these treats were in front of me today and I didn’t consume any of them. Well I did lick the icing from the cupcake and then threw the rest away. In years past I would have eaten a bag of chips, at least one cupcake, two or three mini chocolate bars and probably a cookie or two.

I find it difficult to say no to students who offer up their special treats. This year I said yes and graciously accepted their gifts and then put them in the staff room for others to enjoy. At home this evening I had a huge bowl of chocolate bars and another bowl with potato chips to shell out. Didn’t touch any of it.

I always buy too much candy for Hallowe’en and invariably end up with lots of leftovers. This year was no different but I actually had more kids come to the door than I anticipated. It’s been raining all day and I really thought the turnout for Trick or Treating would be lower than normal.

So what am I going to do with the leftovers? My husband would have helped me with this problem in the past but he too is trying to eat healthier. I’ve decided to make up gift bags for my student helpers at school who have helped me with the book fair this week. I’ll throw in some pencils and erasers to balance it out so it’s not all candy and chips.

At school I’ve taken a lot of pictures of the staff and students in their costumes. I’ve selected a few that I’m able to share with you. Enjoy!

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By the way, I’m still down 32 pounds. I’ve been up and down the last couple of weeks but I feel that my weight is on its way down again. After the weekend I was surprised that I was back down to my 32 pound loss. I also bit the bullet and joined the health club I used to belong to. I have 6 sessions with a personal trainer and am looking forward to seeing how much my fitness level has improved and where I can go from here. Stay tuned!

Signs That Winter is Close at Hand

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. the rain finally let up for an hour or so

Plans to go to the cottage were put on hold today because my husband has done something to his arm that keeps him from lifting anything heavy. A quick visit to the clinic this morning confirmed that the pain is probably due a sudden yank on the arm that took place when K walked the dog earlier this week. Doctor’s orders …… no heavy lifting and keep the arm still. So moving the fridge and BBQ at the cottage are definitely out of the question.

While K was at the clinic I decided to get out with Frances. The rain had stopped and she was complaining loudly about not being outside. I put on my scarf and rain jacket, pocketed my camera and phone and fastened Frances into her Buddy Belt. The sky was grey, the wind chilly and my pace was quick. It became very apparent, quickly that winter isn’t far off. I documented the signs with my camera.

At the yacht club….empty boat slips.

As Frances and I walked into the wind the I could feel the odd drop of rain on my face. I had walked farther west than we normally do. I decided to abandon my plan of walking north before heading home and headed east instead. I hadn’t gone very far when I realized that I probably should have made that decision 10 minutes earlier. The drops turned into a drizzle so I started to run, walk, run. Bonus on the exercise front. Thank goodness that I wore my running shoes.

It’s a sure sign that winters coming when you see all the boats in dry dock.

By the time I got home the drizzle turned into a steady rain and shortly after getting inside it started to pour. I guess we can look forward to a few more days of this weather as hurricane Sandy makes its way up the eastern seaboard.

Even the sign looks tired.

Afternoon Tea at The Windsor Arms

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. a birthday gift from my friend D

For years I’ve wanted to experience a real ‘afternoon tea’ and one of the best places in Toronto to do that is at The Windsor Arms Hotel located downtown at 18 St. Thomas St..

Tea at The Windsor Arms Hotel

For my 60th birthday D told me that we were going to have afternoon tea together. We set a date, Saturday, Oct. 27th at 3:30. It turned out to be a great day to do an indoor activity. It’s been raining non-stop all day. When we left the hotel there was so much water on the ground that the bottom of my trousers became drenched. I didn’t notice it at first but while I sit here typing I’m very aware of my wet cold ankles. Excuse me while I change.

Rain, rain and more rain…..

That’s better! Where was I ? Oh, yes …. afternoon tea.

I knew that the menu would include tiny sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, preserves, berries and cream and pastries. I ate a sensible breakfast consisting of freshly pressed juice from carrots, celery, spinach and an apple and a bowl of steel cut oatmeat with stewed plums. For lunch I had a bowl of vegetable soup. I didn’t want to worry about what would be put in front of me at the hotel so I made sure I wasn’t starving when I left the house.

Salmon and caviar roll-ups.

Small and elegantly presented 1″ x 1″ morsels of delight.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of afternoon tea. We had dozens of freshly brewed teas to choose from. I passed on the sherry and I only had a half a scone. I did enjoy the salmon roll-ups, the goat cheese puff pastry and the tiny (and they were tiny) chocolate pastries.

D’s plate of gluten free delights.

What wasn’t eaten was ceremoniously packed in containers and placed in beautiful Windsor Arms gift bags. Would I do it again? Definitely, but maybe after I’ve lost another 20 pounds. Thank you, D for the wonderful gift.

Aren’t these the most elegant ‘doggy bags’ you’ve ever seen?

Friday Drabble: Ikea

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

A drabble is a very short story of exactly 100 words. Feel free to join in and write your own drabbles on Fridays and tag them with “friday drabble” and on Twitter with the hashtag #fridaydrabble.

Ikea

Did I need two new coffee mugs? Could I’ve lived without those rye crackers? Who needs, not one but two new bud vases?

What is it about merchandise at Ikea that makes it so appealing? Is it the price, the design, or maybe the strange name that each item carries?

In one week I’ve made three trips to Ikea. Did I really need any of the items that I ended up purchasing? Maybe one.

The new desk for my library was delivered today. It sits in eight boxes waiting to be assembled. Ugh! Time to get out the Allen key.

A Word a Week Challenge – Dog

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. a new challenge

Once a week Sue, from A Word in Your Ear will dip into her old English Oxford dictionary and pick a word on the page that it falls open at. The challenge is to post a photograph, poem, story – whatever the genre you like best to describe what that word means to you.

This week’s word is ‘dog’.

This is my favourite picture of my daughter’s basset hound, Lucy.

Frances loves the water and dives to retrieve her frisbee.

Frances posing for a picture?

Playing with Paint

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. when it rains it pours

Literally it was pouring rain today and the kids were indoors all day. That’s tough on the kids and the teachers.

My friend L and I left school earlier than we normally do and headed for Art Junction hoping to find some free materials for my art classes and for her dance and music classes. The posters I was hoping to get weren’t accessible today because of a flood they had earlier in the summer but I did find these great banners that can be cut to size. The back side of these banners are blank and white and will work well for painting projects. L found lots of interesting materials for making instruments with the kids and she picked up some very funky costumes to use for her grade 5 opera production.

When I got home tonight I checked out a lot of art blogs and was so inspired that I finally pulled out my paints and had a great time. I created 3 mono prints on yupo paper and worked on making 3 examples of peace banners (using the recycled banners from Art Junction). This year for our Remembrance Day assembly we decided to decorate the gym with peace flags created by the children.

When I said ‘when it rains, it pours’ I was also referring to my obsession with painting. Once I start I don’t want to stop. It’s now 1:50 in the morning and I have to get up at 6:30 to go to work. The good thing about doing art is that I don’t snack….hmmm, maybe I should do more of this but stop at a more reasonable hour.

Here are the pieces of art that I was working on. The yupo prints are 6″ x 8″ and the flags are 14″ long.

: Abstract monoprint

The Visit is Over, the View from my Room and a Project for a New Week

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. my son is on his way back to the Netherlands

When I woke up this morning I was in awe of the beautiful golden colours from the crabapple tree outside my bedroom window. It was a sharp contrast from the cool fuchsia pink blossoms of the spring.

Despite the beautiful day It was somewhat sad. I had to say good bye to my son. His short visit was over and it was time for him to return to the Netherlands. There is a possibility that he’ll be back at Christmas.

Heading out for the bus station. B had to get back to Montreal to catch his flight back to Europe.

After dropping B at the bus station I did some shopping for school and home. Sunday is my least favourite day of the weekend because I always find I’m getting ready for school or trying to complete chores in the house that I didn’t get done earlier in the week.

Friday night I did work on a sample for one of our next art assignments. We’re working on how dark and light tones of colour add depth and dimension to objects using chalk pastels. I’ve already introduced the concept to one of my grade 3 classes and they’re very excited about drawing pumpkins.

There are many variations of this theme on numerous art blogs. I needed to move away from paint and have the students experiment with a new medium.

The blog that I used for this project belongs to Gail Bartel. She does some amazing projects with her students. Check them out at A Faithful Attempt

It’s going to be a crazy week. The library is going to be shut down for 2 days so that library services can come in and ‘revitalize the space’ (weed outdated and damaged books) and Scholastic Books is dropping off the cases for next week’s Book Fair. We also have to sit down and organize the Remembrance Day assembly, write report cards for the progress reports and get ready for our big district review (all classes will be inspected to see what kind of learning takes place).

Of course that means there will be more stress in my life and we all know how stress affects my weight loss. I’m thankful that I’m at least maintaining my weight loss. I’m contemplating joining a gym again. The one I used to go to has just reopened in a new location, closer to home, and is cheaper and offers more for less. I’m tempted. What do you think?

Mokuhanga

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. I learned about Japanese wood block printing

In Japanese ‘moka’ means wood and ‘hanga’ means print. Mokahanga is literally the art of making prints from carved wood blocks. Today I took a workshop on this art. Elizabeth Forrest is the artist who taught the class and it was held at Articulations in the Junction.

Elizabeth Forrest

We learned about the history of mokuhanga and then were shown how to carve the wood to make our blocks.

Carving the wood block.

Students hard at work. Everyone was so focused on the task that you could hear a pin drop.

Half way into the three hour workshop we were instructed on how to apply the ink and create our prints on specially made rice paper. Elizabeth has her own paper maker in Japan who makes these special papers. Articulations has signed on to become a distributor for her papers.

Here are a few examples of the finished projects.