So now my kids are drawing analogies?!

I've always known Alex and Simon are more connected to their dad than they are to me.  Not because they don't enjoy me and love me, but because Trevor is just generally a better "dad" than I am a "mom", in terms of doing the stuff one is "supposed" to do as a parent, I guess.

Today Alex said something funny, though...

We went to a show this evening to see an old friend of mine, a Christian musician who was playing a jazz gig at the Glenn Gould.  Interestingly, the drummer was also an old friend, albeit not a Christian.  It got me thinking about sharing the message, so to speak.

Several years ago in Strasbourg, Trevor and I came across a little “shop” on a busy street

Who says 4 and 5-year-olds can't be artists?!  I painted today with a Kindergarten class, and was amazed at their joy as well as their professionalism.  Not only did they delight in discovering that an infinite number of tints can be created by combining two primary colours (check out the variety of purples in the painting on the right, or the diverse greens and mud colours surrounding the rainbow in the painting on the bottome left!!), but they also took great care to clean each brush before using a new colour, just as I had taught them. 

 At the end of our session, two boys volunteered to strip the desks of all the newspaper, and others happily rinsed out the water buckets.

What an amazing adventure!

In a few weeks, Alex and Simon are joining me on a grand adventure.  We'll be heading to Honduras for 5 days (including two full days of brutal travel arrangements involving early mornings and midnights, two planes each way, layovers and 2-hour truck rides through

As I consider my current position as an "Assistant Professor" in the Dept of Education at a University this year, I ponder the way different institutions percieve the value of their employees, especially when those employees teach or train others.

In public education, we value teachers' depth and breadth  of experience - many years in different classrooms, at the Board and in Ministy of Ed positions are considered the makings of a "valuable asset" in terms of the educator.  University Professors, on the other

God paints not only with colour, but creates with texture, space and form as well:  This morning’s walk along the lake revealed a magnificent sky castle, rising out of the water. 

Rounded, billowing turrets were surrounded by stately “walls” of cumulous clouds. Preceding this portrait lay a protective moat, wispy  mists dancing like specters across the icy waters in front of the cloud castle. 

Who knew that grey could be so beautiful?!

Doing my usual 50 jumping jacks didn’t seem quite dignified before such majesty, so I only did 20 before continuing on my morning walk along the Lake!

We all have our vices.  One of mine of late is salted caramel.  I'm not picky about fomat -- liquid or solid is lovely, so long as it's quality. 

I discovered this delicacy while in ground school last fall; the chocolate shop at Union station was giving out samples one afternoon while I was on my way to class, and instantly, I was hooked!

Tonight, I devoured a salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks on the way to band rehearsal.  I'm not sure the 20 sit-ups I half-heartedly cranked out after practise will do much in the way of counteracting the bulge-inducing calories from this most delectable drink. (I can only hope the heart and liver effects won't show up before my aviation medical next week; I need to "pass" so I can be one step closer to soloing!)

One of the questions we ask applicants to our teacher ed. program is "What attracts you to teaching?"  The answers vary, and are often reflective of our own pull to the profession.

An experienced applicant today responded with endearing honesty:  "I like teaching because I have my own stage", she confessed. 

A career teacher in her home-country, this seasoned veteran really "got it", as evidenced by the depth of her responses to the other questions, and by the photos in her portfolio, of students working in small groups on differentiated tasks in her clearly constructivist classroom.  And yet, she knew herself well enough to admit to that self-centred satisfaction we all inevitably get from being the star of our very own daily reality show!!!

Her honesty was refreshing.

So the thing about living in two places is that half your stuff is constantly "lost".  Case in point, we have company coming tomorrow, and for the first time since the move, I am inspired to make my fantastic vegetarian lasagna.

Do you think I can find a single lasagna pan???!!!

I know where they are -- I just remembered that crazy weekend last June when I singlehandedly unpacked over 70 boxes and set up our house in St Pete's Harbour... only to discover we had packed and shipped 6 lasagna pans to ourselves there, and kept none for the apartment!  WHO NEEDS 6 LASAGNA PANS??!!  I meant to take one back home to Toronto when I left, but I must have forgotten, and then the rest of the summer, when we went back, who's thinking about lasagna?!

Arrrghh!

Picked up the boys from German school this morning with a friend of ours we wanted to take to Krispy Kreme.  (He had never been to a "donut" factory before, being fairly new to Canada.)  Sadly, the donut machine was off when we got there, so in an effort to not lose the fun of the whole afternoon, we decided to head to the Airport instead.

I wanted to park on the side of the road and watch the planes land and take off, but Alex and Simon preferred to ride the mono-rail.  (What 6-year-old doesn't love to watch big airplanes up close??!!  What is wrong with these kids?!)  So, we parked for pay and rode back and forth between terminals a few times, watching the various passengers come and go.  Kind of exciting to see some pilots heading off to work, too.

Then our friend rode the moving sidewalk with the boys, racing them from one end to the other -- they all laughed and laughed.  It was good to see; this friend has not laughed for a long, long time.