Category Archives: Family

Sweet

Our older daughter turned 16 this week. She is pictured above on Broadway, but no we did not go to New York for her birthday. The picture was taken in May when Stellae Boreales were there on their 5 day tour. She actually worked on her birthday, because you see 16 is old enough to have a summer job, even if it means having to work on your birthday. After she was finished for the day Andrew cooked a delicious crab dish, as requested. We also enjoyed a Curtis Stone dessert in front of MasterChef. Although MasterChef has finished in Australia, we have yet to watch the grand finale…hopefully tonight.

Birthday girl

May, June where did you go?

2 Replies

May is long gone and June is fast disappearing.

May is always a crazy month, May madness is not an inappropriate name for what goes on around here. In May many of our activities come to an conclusion. They do this with end of year concerts, projects and get togethers. While this is happening spring and summer activities are starting meaning that for a few weeks at least two, but usually three members of the family were out every night of the week except Saturday. ( So naturally we had to squeeze some MasterChef into Saturdays, but that isn’t the point of this post!)

The girls had several concerts and a five day whirlwind tour of New York. I hope to get them to choose some of their favourite photos to share on the blog soon. B9 had soccer two nights a week with Andrew as one of his coaches. They both enjoyed it and did not miss a single game because of rain. May drew to a close but the madness carried into June. All three children worked hard on their various academic tasks in order to finish earlier rather than later. B9 has wrapped up and the girls are almost there. We closed our Geography course for the year by holding an Asian feast. Each member of our group brought a dish from one of the countries they had researched and the spread was impressive and delicious.

Our final art class occurred on a very pleasant afternoon spent at the arboretum, drawing whichever vista took our fancy. Outdoor education was scheduled to finish with a camp out but as the bugs were very bad it was postponed and replaced with a soccer game and potluck. We also squeezed in the last literature discussion, covering a Canadian book, Bifocal, and then met to plan for next year. We are going to run two groups next year for Junior and Senior highschoolers so I have been reading quite a few books in preparation for that. B9 participated in a read-a-thon where he had to set himself a goal for 7 weeks of reading. Each week he was sent a riddle to solve and the culmination was a party last week where Ray’s Reptiles brought along some animals native to Ontario. His favourite was the impressive turkey vulture. He had no trouble completing his target number of chapters each week as he is totally engrossed by the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

We have been playing tennis a few times a week and everyone is improving. A13 has signed up for a Track and Field program this summer which began a week ago is held three times a week. She ran in her first meet on Saturday in the 100 and 400 metre sprints. She is hoping to get the chance to try hurdles and high jump also.

So life has been full but much has been achieved. In the next week we should settle into our summer routine which will involve a bunch of tasks and activities which we have not had time for through the year… but at a more relaxed pace, I hope.

Sprung

1 Reply

Some years we have skated during March break and worn our winter clothes on Easter Sunday, but not this year. Apparently Ottawa has broken a record by having no snow in March. Even our yard which retains its snow piles longer than most is now showing a little green grass and some daffodils.

During the Easter weekend we had warm temperatures and plenty of sun. On Good Friday Andrew, B9 and I went on a bike ride following the Rideau River from all the way to where it meets the Ottawa River. We were able to stay on a bike path nearly all the way. We then rode into the Byward Market which was packed with people enjoying the sunny weather. We had to wheel our bikes through the crowded streets and footpaths until we found a place to have a drink before taking the bike path which runs along the canal all the way home. Andrew called it a “warm up ride”. Maybe for him, but for me 20km was a pretty decent ride. Apparently it didn’t tire B9 out because within half an hour of getting home he was out playing street hockey and roller blading!

The weather continued to be beautiful on Saturday and Sunday so we pulled out B9’s slackline and put it up. He received it for his birthday in October so really only enjoyed a month or so with it before it was put away for the winter. When he got back on yesterday he was a little shaky but I don’t think it will be too long before he can make it from one side to the other, probably about 7 metres.

Birthday business (part 2)

1 Reply

As I write this cool things are still happening in the kitchen. We need to head off to worship team practice before too long so we are going to have half a birthday dinner before we go. We did the same thing last week when it was Andrew’s birthday. The girls asked if they could cook his birthday dinner and of course I agreed. L15 did cherry tomatoes stuffed with goat’s cheese for starters followed by fettucine in a creamy seafood sauce. After we arrived home from worship team A13 had a carrot cake with cream cheese icing ready for us.

It is now night and we have done all our eating. A13 did the starter and main tonight and L15 made dessert. A13 knows I love Chinese and she did a spectacular job; we had Pork Wontons followed by Hunan Chicken and Stir-fried Bokchoy on steamed rice. Once we got back from music practice we ate the delicious Lemon Meringue Pie that Laura had made, but not before the younger two children had sucked helium out of a birthday balloon and sung “Happy Birthday”.

While much of this wonderful food was being prepared this afternoon I was indulging in my current favourite pastime, watercolour painting. I have been teaching art on Friday mornings to the Group of 3, so I have had the watercolours out along with a huge pile of books on watercolour painting from the library. Today I sat down to try something a little different from the paintings I have been doing, but ended up doing yet another snow scene. Now is the perfect time to mention the gift my children bought me. The first thing I pulled out of the gift bag was a flyer for a sale at Wallacks art store…the other thing I pulled out was a gift card to Wallacks art store. Sale ends Saturday. Here’s this afternoon’s art. ( you can click to see actual size)

This account of birthday business would not be complete without a peek into the world of a sound technician. My job doing sound for the worship team Andrew and L are in has recently gained a higher profile. Instead of being tucked away in a room off in the back left hand corner of the church I now get to sit in a booth at the back of the church which is raised a couple of feet higher than everyone in the congregation. No hiding now when some unexpected and inexplicable technical hitch occurs. That is not the only change; gone is the 16 channel sound board which used to surprise me in many and varied ways. In its place is a pretty new thing with a few hundred gizmos and thingamajigs to do any number of clever and exciting things. I know that is fairly technical jargon, but I think you get the idea! All went smoothly tonight and L15 snapped a few shots to show you the cool new board and my equally cool new travel mug.

Birthday business has been very sweet indeed today, I received a lovely collection of calls, emails and cards from very special people and was totally spoiled and blessed by my family.

Birthday business

1 Reply

On account of it being my birthday today I thought that I should not do any school so that gives me time to document the whole day for your reading pleasure. The day started very early this morning when, although I was tucked up in bed, there were still noises coming from the kitchen. My girls were making preparations of some sort.

At a much more reasonable hour I came down to breakfast: pancakes made by L15 with a pile of presents on the side. The presents are all lovely and some will be featured in this post as I put them to use during the day. One such present was just crying out to be used straight after breakfast. Although it was my birthday and I shouldn’t really be doing the dishes, my children kindly allowed me to try out my new rubber gloves, not ordinary rubber gloves but cool ones with pretty “business” on the ends.

My kids are good like that, after I had washed the dishes they also let me clean the stove! Rubber gloves with business are a big hit.

The morning progressed with the girls getting down to work, it’s not their birthday after all, but not B9. He is under the impression that my birthday is like the Queen’s birthday, a public holiday for all. That being the case I decided to put him to work helping me bake Butterscotch Chip Dreams.

While I was at the computer updating the birthday business, B9 was setting out yet another edible treat. The jelly turtle has always been a favorite of his, but this time it took on a new look becoming instead the jelly lagoon complete with kiwifruit flotsam and jetsam.

I was planning to head out around midday to do my birthday laps at the pool but time got away over lunch and next thing I knew the window of opportunity had closed. Despite what one of my children suggested I do not yet qualify for the 50+ Vitality swim! Had I swum I would have put to good use another of my birthday gifts. Whenever I swim I usually return home wearing the alluring fragrance of chlorine. That is about to change.

I received a delightful selection of potions from a very pretty store. It came wrapped very prettily also. Apparently business was rather slow when my husband made the purchases and the woman who helped him was only too happy to gift wrap for him. The contents of the box came in a cute little bag (with ribbon) which lay amongst scads of tissue paper in a beautiful silver box (also with ribbon) which was placed in a gorgeous silver bag, which would have been topped off with more tissue paper had not my husband put a stop to it! I think she would have even written the card if asked.

Serious business is going on in my kitchen right now and I am not a part of it. Children who are happy in the kitchen are a very wonderful thing. (Birthday business part 2 coming soon)

Skate

1 Reply

As well as skating on the rink in the local park (above) we took Luke to a nearby outdoor speed skating rink (below) with a couple of outdoor hockey rinks next door.

I mentioned in another post that he and the girls skated on the canal as soon as it opened, the following day Ben joined them when they skated again after a visit to the Art Gallery. Unfortunately the weather had warmed up considerably so the conditions were not great.

And, just so his skating experience would be complete, we took him to an indoor rink also (below). Ottawa is full of indoor rinks, well Canada is full of rinks, indoor, outdoor, they’re everywhere. It’s like swimming pools in Australia.

It’s in the details

1 Reply

Stellae Boreales is touring this year, so the girls will be going to New York in May. We were told back in September to make sure we have passports. Well, I know we have passports so I didn’t think any more about them. It turns out that our passports do not have the mandatory six months left on them so we need new ones.

Even though Stellae Boreales is made up of violinists of many nationalities it turns out that my girls are the only ones who are not Canadian citizens. That means they need extra documentation to get back in the country. And, yes, those cards have expired too. Details.

We went to get photos first. For Australian passports the photos have to be a different size to those for Canadian passports, not the usual for the photographers. Forms next, a guarantor, witness, supporting documents, details, details.

Today I took it all to the High Commission only to find that I had failed to get some signatures…the passport owners’ signatures! Also it turns out that A13’s photo was not the right size as we had measured from chin to top of head instead of chin to crown of head. Mere details.

Despite the missing details I quite enjoyed being downtown on a pleasant winter’s day. The air was not too cold, the sun was shining, preparations for Winterlude were evident and I fantasized about being part of the corporate world. I imagined myself eating lunch in the atrium that I had walked through, listening to the jazz band playing, wearing nice boots and a classy long winter coat. A job? The children at home? Details.

I found it odd that the times the buses arrived did not coincide with the times advertised on the timetables. Perhaps that’s just a minor detail. We’ll see when I wrap up the last details with another trip tomorrow…

Early skaters

… is this cold?

1 Reply

My nephew, Luke is visiting from Australia at present, one of the brave visitors, happy to come in winter. We have been explaining to him that anything above -10° C is not really cold. It is actually perfect winter weather, not too cold to go out but cold enough that the ice on the rink isn’t melting and the snow isn’t turning to slush. Yesterday, however, when he was standing in the wind at the top of our local toboganning hill he asked whether the temperature there was actually cold? We assured him that yes, with the wind chill making it -19°C it was cold!

Since he arrived he has skated on our rink in the park a few times, and is waiting for the canal to open so he can experience a canal skate complete with “beavertail” at the end. Yesterday we met a few friends at the hill and spent an hour or so tobogganing. Once they found the icy patches on the fast side they did away with toboggans and mats and just slid. Luke managed to take the record for distance on a toboggan.

Start:

Finish! He is that little dot between the trees, which is actually quite close to the now frozen water’s edge.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31