Whew!

Had the piano recital tonight. Both Bram and I were in it - we both did all of our pieces. Did ok; not great, but ok. Now I'm essentially done except for the exam - a week from tonight in Regina.

Happy Father's Day

We had a good day today. I had got two presents for Lloyd. One was a new car key. (Not a new car - just the key). We had lost one over the winter somehow, so we were down to just one car key. However the key won't work unless it's been programmed at the dealership, so it's not just a matter of getting a new key cut. So we have his and hers keys again.

The second present we got him was a tiny picture frame key chain. It stores 69 photos and cycles through them. They're only about 1.5" square, but you can show off a photo album and carry it anywhere. Lloyd likes it.

We went to the community barbeque for lunch - had hamburgers and whitefish. Then in the late afternoon we went to Long Lake for kayaking, paddle boating, and just visiting with friends. We had met our friends (one of my former students and her family) at the community bbq and planned to meet at the lake later. They had met us there yesterday and we had had a good time together. Unfortunately this time, Jun Ha rolled the kayak and lost his glasses somewhere on the lake bottom. It wasn't very deep there, maybe 3 feet; but you couldn't see the bottom, so he and Lloyd were feeling around with their feet for a long time, trying to find his glasses. Finally they gave up (they were starting to feel cold) and came in. I suggested I could drive back to town and get a couple of rakes. So I did, picked up KFC on the way back to the lake and was back in 40 minutes. So we ate supper and they decided to go back out and try one last time. By this time, everyone was pretty tired, so they went out in the paddle boat and started raking again. In less than 5 minutes, Lloyd had found the missing glasses. And great was the rejoicing thereof. It didn't take long to pack up and cart the two kayaks and paddle boat back to the van, tie everything on and drive home. One of the things I love about YK is that we're only 10 minutes from a lake. We're 5 minutes walking distance from another lake.

Red Letter Day

I started today off with a job interview. I think it went pretty well. It's the first time in about 15 years that I've interviewed for anything other than a teaching position - and I'm definitely of two minds about that. I love teaching - it's just that I've taught for 20 years and I've never not had a term contract. I'm really tired of going from term to term and never knowing what I'll be doing in the fall; if I'll have a job or not; if I'll be full-time or part-time, etc. If I get this job, I'll be doing the same thing for at least two years. That would be a big plus. It would also be full time (another plus), and I'd be able to start thinking about collecting a pension. However, if I don't get it, I can still teach from term to term.

Bram finished his English today. He's completely finished it; will write the final exam on Monday. Then the rest of next week will go towards finishing up his Social Studies. We're planning on having him finish up his Grade 9 math on our trip south, as he'll have a long time sitting in the vehicle, so he might as well do something constructive. It's about 30 hours to our destination, and that's just driving time. Then he has to get back north again; another 30 hours.

We received Rose's latest report card today in the mail. She still has an A average (just); and we're still proud of her. Her marks have dropped a bit, but she's been taking a really heavy load this year, and doing one course by correspondence, and she's still holding her own. Keep it up kiddo!

The last step

Bram's on his last assignment for English - his Novel study project. Now, unfortunately, that's about 6 assignments; but when he's done that he's done except for the final exam. Sounds good to me. My goal is to get all of that done this week, so he can write the final early next week; and then work all next work on Social Studies.

Strange and stranger

For my entire life, I've always had very straight hair. If I curled it, it would curl, but naturally, it would be as straight as could be. Now I know that people with naturally curly hair always want the opposite, but I've always been fairly satisfied with my hair. However, recently I've noticed that it's started to be wavy. Not actually curly (no ringlets here), but there's a definite wave to it. Too weird. I'd think that after living with the same body for over 40 years, there wouldn't be many surprises, but then something goes and changes. Maybe grey hair is wavier than blonde hair? I dunno. If that's the case, then I should have ringlets by the time it turns totally white. We'll have to wait and see.

Words and Music

I woke up this morning with Thomas Ken's words going through my mind - not the Doxology, but his "All praise to Thee, my God this night" - the Tallis Canon is the music. Now, that may be a bit inappropriate to wake up with that, as it's obviously an evensong, but it is a beautiful hymn nontheless. And it's wonderful to wake up with praise to God on my lips. So then I segued through "Be Still, my Soul" - with Finlandia as the tune. I started in the late 1600's and jumped 200 years to the late 1800's with those two hymns. When I got to church, I was informed that we were going to sing some "golden oldies" - songs from the 1980's. No, I was singing the true golden oldies before I even got to church. It's all a matter of perspective.

Scott started a new sermon series this Sunday - "Don't forget the lyrics" - on how the music in worship isn't worship. We can worship God through music, but worship is far more than just music and we shouldn't limit ourselves to that tiny portion of our lives. It's interesting because I was listening to some sermons by Patrick Mead on instrumental music and the church (here's the link if you're interested: http://rccaudio.christianwitness.us/?page=19); which was also very a propos.

Have you ever noticed?

I nearly always have music running through my head. However, I have just recently noticed that I actually only "hear" the melody - there isn't any harmony. Try it for yourself; pick a song or hymn you know really well, that has harmony that you also know really well - try O Sacred Head - and run through the music in your head. If you're like me, you actually only "hear" the melody, and you can only hear the harmony at places where the note is held so you can switch to hearing another part. Isn't that interesting?

Summer cold

Bram had it first. He was really sick for about 3 days. I thought I must have been immune because I didn't feel anything for at least 10 days after he was over it. Nope. Yesterday and today I've been laying around, moaning and feeling pitiful. I've cancelled out of my sewing lesson for my student yesterday, my piano lesson for me today and the closing ceremonies at school for this afternoon. Just not feeling up to it. Not to mention that I also have laryngitis and can't talk at all.

Mr. Brown can Moo; can you?

Do you remember that Dr. Seus book? Well, our dog, when sleeping, occasionally moos. It's really weird. It's definitely not a howl or a moan, it's a strong moo sound. At 3 am it's really disconcerting to hear that kind of sound coming from Bram's bedroom. However, I've been informed that however disconcerting it may be, Lloyd really doesn't want to hear about it or discuss it at 3 am. It can wait until morning. I just assumed that if it woke me up, it would have also woken him up. Apparently not.

The End is Nigh!

My students wrote their final exam on Friday. I don't have it marked yet, because I was on course all day yesterday and today. However, I will have it marked tomorrow and have their final marks calculated before Friday, when we have our end of year celebration at school. Then I just have my final reports to write. I'm nearly finished!

Bram is on his last unit in English. He's nearly completed his Social Studies and Math as well. He will have his grading in Karate next Thursday. Yes! We can say he's nearly done.

Rose will be finished school June 27 - we're planning on driving down to pick her up. I'm supposed to take my piano exam in Regina while I'm down there. We're all so looking forward to being finished and having a bit of a break.

Bram went camping the weekend before last with a group of teens from church. Unfortunately, he rolled his kayak when shooting rapids and lost his glasses at the bottom of the Cameron River. However, the eye clinic here was very good to him and squeezed him in Monday and he picked up his new glasses today. For the past ten days he's been wearing a pair that was two years old, and much too small for his face as well as being not a strong enough prescription. He had fun camping though.

Lloyd is out tonight planning a Search and Rescue training exercise to take place on Saturday. It's a beautiful cloudless evening to be out on the Ingraham Trail. The sun isn't due to set until 11:30 pm, and right now at 9:30, it's still really high in the sky. However, even though it's still broad daylight, it is time to send kids to bed; they have to do school work in the morning.