Remembrance Day at John McRae House

Musical Instruments with the Adventure Club

Tin whistles, and guitars, a drums, Oh My!

Lest We Forget

William, along with the rest of his Beavers' troupe, took part in the Remembrance Day parade in town on the weekend. It was wonderful to see such a turnout, even in a small town. It was also heartwarming to see all of the kids, some as young as 4yrs, standing and listening so respectfully. Hopefully, at that age, their understanding of war is minimal, but they all understood that the ceremony, and the veterans in attendance, were very important. As proud as I was of the kids, I was horrified when I driver, annoyed that they road as being held clear for the ceremony, yelled "B#%ch" and gave a poor woman watching the ceremony from the street the finger as he drove by. It saddened me to no end that he either A) did not know what the ceremony and parade might be for, or B) knew but didn't care. Thank goodness for children who are able to put aside for a few minutes their own worries and cares in order to be thankful to others. And God forgive the adults who think that their own lives are too important to be stilled for a few minutes to remember those people who gave their lives.

Brotherly Love

Sung passionately by Charlie this afternoon after a little tiff with his brother:

"Old MacDonald had a knucklehead and William was his name-oh......"

Fun in the Sun

As we hit the beginning of November, I have been feeling more and more that winter is on our door step. I know that it officially doesn't start until December, but who are we kidding? Once the leaves change from red and gold to brown, and once the crisp weather turns cold, winter is here no matter what you choose to call it. I do enjoy the winter, it's just that I like it in a curl-up-by-the-wood-stove-with-a-book-and-a-cup-of-tea sort of way. So William, Charlie and I have been getting outside to enjoy the last bits of autumn as often as we can. Today especially, was glorious - a balmy 17 degrees, beautiful warm breeze, and lots of sunshine. We lapped up every second of it. We even had Grammy up for a visit to share in the sun.

I'm Sorry, So Sorry...

I have a rather complicated relationship with my house plants. I love them dearly...the peacefulness they bring to my home, the clean(er) air that they provide, the splashes of color. And yet, I kill them - ruthlessly, and regularly. With the possible exceptions of my Great Aunt's fern that is a family heirloom at almost 90 years old, and the huge potted tropical that I spent too much money on to stomach offing, the rest of my lowly house plants really live in horrible conditions. I water them when I think of it - which means too often for those living over the kitchen sink, and not often enough for the rest of them scattered throughout the house. I fertilize them rarely, and too intensely when I do, leaving them either starved or burnt. As for remembering which particular type of care any given plant needs as compared to its neighbour, well, we won't even go there.


So every 6 months or so, I try to put aside some time to plead forgiveness, and shower my little pots of green with some tender loving care. New soil, larger pots, dividing and trimming as needed, a good watering, and some words of kindness. I have also found that succulents and cactus go along way to turning my black thumb green.

Ahhhh... much better.

Star Light, Star Bright

Tonight the boys and I were off on a much anticipated field trip to the local University Observatory to take a look up at the starts. William in particular has always enjoyed looking at the night sky, and we have all been fortunate enough to be invited over by a neighbour who has her own high quality telescope to learn more about the night sky. After a wonderful slide show and talk, we all headed up to the roof of the University (which was exciting in itself) to the telescope. It was wonderful to see Venus, Mercury, Uranus, the Owl Cluster, and another galaxy...to see those spots of light through the telescope and try to grasp how far away, how big, they really are. What a great way to put our own everyday troubles into better perspective.

(This last photo is just because, well, I am just so thankful that my kids did not ask me to explain the numbers on this blackboard in the astronomy lab.....)

NASA Photos

Kids Astronomy

NASA Kids Club

Amazing Space