Year: 2008
-
She’s alive!
What a sweetie — she got herself some internet time and posted just enough to let me know that she’s fine. I will be shocked out of my tree if she actually spends any more than the required travel & accommodation money, but she’s right about having only 0.01 clothes at home and I would […]
-
New paper craft toy
Someone who makes as many music theory manipulatives, violin practicing aids, gift tags, booklets, books, nametags, forms, recital invitations, programmes, brochures and sheets of origami paper as I do ought to have had one of these years ago. It’s a paper cutter and you can see it beneath and behind the gift tags in the […]
-
Asia-bound
It was a rather epic journey getting Erin and her compatriots dispatched to Bangkok — three days of driving back and forth over various mountain passes and through various snowstorms — but at 10:30 last night I took this photo and then left them to their own devices in the International Departures area of the […]
-
Cuisenaire Discovery Book
Someone recently brought to my attention (thank you Christine!) that when I changed ISPs and retired my old website last winter my Cuisenaire Activity and Exploration Book disappeared from cyberspace. So I’ve uploaded it again. It’s a booklet I made back when Sophie was 4 and begging for a math book of her own like […]
-
Christmas Games
Several new games and activities showed up under the tree this year, all of which are very enticing. So far the one that’s got the most play so far is Colorku. I’m a Sudoku fan from way back and love my pencil & numbers, but this game has tactile, social and aesthetic appeal to recommend […]
-
Merry Christmas
-
Flammable pyjamas
What Sophie wanted for her birthday last month was pyjamas. I didn’t think it would be that difficult. She wanted nice loose-fitting sleepwear in natural fibres. Something looser-fitting than the Hannas we’ve been buying for years. I think the Hannas are great, but Sophie prefers a looser fit. Alas, it seemed that everything, even “long […]
-
Holiday lights at the Kohan
Every year sometime over the Christmas holidays we load up the big thermos with hot chocolate and head down to the Kohan Reflection Garden late in the evening. The garden is volunteer-maintained — we’re usually part of the spring and fall work-bees — and in December a bunch of stalwart volunteers spend hours putting up […]
-
Tight quarters
These days our house seems really small. There are a few factors. We’re (yay!) taking the week off from our regular out-of-home commitments, so we’re here a lot more than usual. Erin is not at school during the day. She’s inside the house, rather than lingering in her cabin, because the temperatures are so frigid. […]
-
Winter driving
We bought our minivan back when we had three kids in car seats and before Erin’s previous violin teacher’s husband got cancer. Back then we needed the seating flexibility of an 8-seater, and we were certainly not anticipating driving through the Rocky Mountains on a monthly basis all winter long. And so the front-wheel drive […]
-
T minus 6 days
This is the beginnings of Erin’s packing. Carry-on pack only, because they’re travelling light. So far inside the pack … mask and snorkel for end-of-trip snorkeling in Thailand, malaria pills, modest clothing for warm weather, travel hammock for camping in, waterproof case for valuables when kayaking.
-
Grinching
It’s been at least five years since we’ve watched “The Grinch”. Fiona had never seen it. Sophie and Noah had hazy memories. We’re not very good with TV here. If there’s something we want to watch we rarely remember to turn the TV on. But we remembered tonight. The Grinch was very much enjoyed.
-
Working out okay
I’d have to say that Limpet is working out okay in our family. Ya think?
-
Reading music
At her last piano lesson before the holiday break Fiona’s teacher suggested we look at the Royal Conservatory of Music Introductory (pre-Grade 1) album for a piece for Fiona to learn in preparation for an end-of-January recital. A “challenge piece” that she can work on learning over the three weeks’ break and polish up through […]
-
Blogging addiction
I just glanced at my blog archive numbers over the past few years. For the first few years I wrote HTML pages from scratch, which was very time-consuming. But look at what begins to happen in 2003, the first year I used blogging software to streamline my posts. 1997 – 5 posts1998 – 81999 – […]