Chill

I took this photo this week.  It's a "sleafie"

It illustrates what happens to my face, my skin, when the mercury hits the minuses and the furnace starts to blast.

No amount of oil of anything would combat the total exodus of every moisture particle in my face, hands..... any exposed skin.

It's been very chilly this week and bathing in moisturizer is expensive I would imagine so I do what I can to combat the dry, redness...... I should have shares in chapstick..... but there are days I feel like my face is a crunchy leaf about to crumble into pieces.

But on these days where my red nose could be employed if Rudolph falls ill if it were not for my watery eyes as my contacts try not to freeze onto my eyeballs ...... on these days, this chapped face and these chapped hands are a small price to pay........ for bright, sunny days.

Oh the bluey blueness of the cloudless sky, the final end of Fall colours, the crispy, smoky, night air, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the snuggling down under the covers ahhhhhhh at the end of the day......

It has been lovely.

And in our house....very busy...... The Fall has blurred by and now December is staring me down.

Last week was as zooey as short weeks always are.  Always.  I had grant deadlines and the system kept crashing.... I taught an ECE evening class for a friend on Thursday and Friday I helped Allan prep for a Robotics competition on Saturday that all us Byres were at......all day.... except when David left to play a cup soccer game (which they won 3-0) and Lindsay went to work.....and then both kids babysat last night!  I became one with my Mazda booting back and forth across the City - Mom's taxi is about to start charging!

David's robotics team made the quarter-finals and in a total heart-stopping heart-breaker lost by one point!  So close.  I was so impressed with how far they have come and how good their robot is at playing the game and also how well they conducted themselves after the loss.

How cool is their school gym?  Go Wildcats!

Allan  with David's teams robot

Programming the bot

We are so very proud of Miss Lindsay who got a new job in a tightly contested application and interview process and will very happily be working in an Out of School care program with early elementary kids two afternoons a week.  This is great experience for her as her future goal is to be a child psychologist.  Speaking of which we continue trying to navigate the post-secondary application process - I am thinking there is a niche market for a post-secondary broker service....like a mortgage broker..... you go in... state your goals, marks, budget and the broker finds the best places, submits the applications which then come in their droves and we simply pick the best fit and Voila! Anyone want to step up?  Anyone?

Fisher Allan was out at it again today while the kids and I went to Church and then I cooked up another big batch of bolognese sauce to help get us through a couple of dinner times in the busy week ahead.

Lindsay has her first 4 shift week of work while keeping school work going, Allan has dog class with Spanner, David has soccer and I am off to see Fleetwood Mac with a good friend on Tuesday.

Before another week arrives we will have a quiet, cozy night in, start up the gas fireplace and have pancakes and sausages for dinner.

The temperatures are rising and the rain will be back and while my face will be happy we will be eagerly awaiting the return of the cold and the bright and the sun, chapped faces and hands be damned!

Wordless Wednesday - Steveston Harbour

Standing there..... a reflection from Juno Beach

David, you were recently in France and as part of your journey there you visited the coast of Normandy..... Specifically you visited Juno Beach  and the Canadian Centre there...

What were your first impressions?

At first it seemed like just another museum......but as the guide started telling us the story of what happened, the bunkers etc....I realized that this, this war, had been a much bigger deal than I had ever thought.

What specifically made you stop and think?

When the guide told us first about the defences the Germans had made, their fire power and their confidence in their ability to repel any invading forces......Incredible that any invasion succeeded.

When I started to listen to the numbers of people who died on Juno beach coming into that first rush....It was so shocking.

Obstacles littered the landing beaches

How did it feel to stand on that Beach?

It felt surreal.....it was such a "normal" scene.... there were ,fishermen, people walking and yet so much history was all around, it was a battlefield, so many died.......hard to wrap my head around that.  

There is a new movie at the Canadian Centre at Juno Beach.... how was that?

It was impactful, such vivid footage of people rushing onto the beach and being shot down.  Hard to imagine what those young men, who had been trained for this invasion must have felt as they were told to jump off the landing craft into the water and told to run......

How did you feel after that movie?

We all felt shocked and surprised.  Somber......sad.

The next day you moved on to the Canadian and American cemeteries.  How was that?

The Canadian cemetery we walked in to was surprisingly just on the side of the road, nothing very showy or remarkable but once in it it was striking just how big it was.... it took forever to walk across.

Reading the tombstones and their messages was hard .....the hardest part was the ones with no names...that said "Known only to God"....they fought the war and no one knows their names... that is so sad.

The American cemetery was also huge but more official, had a parking lot, signs, a proper museum with security.... it felt over done at the beginning.  But once in the cemetery,  in the park,  it was again shocking and terrifying how many crosses there were covering acres and acres.  Even though it was grand and huge, here it felt personal and about the graves, about the soldiers represented.

As this part of trip ended what did you take away in your heart?

I took away a new understanding of  what was sacrificed for the freedom of a country other than our own.... what sacrifices were made for people far away from Canada by Canadians.

How is this Remembrance Day different for you?

I have something different to think about...... "Lest we forget" has a new meaning..... all we have is some graves on the side of the road in France and there really should be more. They gave their lives as a sacrifice for the greater good of the world.  I feel there should be something closer, here in BC that is a better memorial.

As we were talking it was 11:11am....... we paused...... David is clearly moved by this experience.

(all photos by David)

Yes indeed.......

Well I should have written a grant but the sun was shining and it seems to be the last warm sunny day for the rest of the week (there has been a cold weather advisory issued)...... So after a little lie in listening to the CBC (yes....I still listen despite the current fiasco).... I donned my walking shoes, mittens and sunglasses and headed out.

I had heard an item on the radio about "social isolation" in Vancouver and surrounds and how lonely people feel...... so I determined I would hail every person I saw with a heart "Good Morning" or "Hello" and a big smile.  Mostly I was met with cheery replies and smiles.... felt good.

I started with a quick errand and then headed to a coffee shop for a delicious coffee and a decadent chocolate croissant......sitting with a good people watching vantage....sipping and munching and feeling warm and toasty.....I think I could have had a nap but I was itching to get outside into the fresh air and take some photos.

What a glorious day it was....the ol' iPhone was getting sun flares galore but I didn't care.....the sun was warm on my skin......and I was happily wandering through my village, along my river, a photo project in mind......I saw a few people I knew, had some little chats..... found some usually closed gates on the harbour open and snuck in close to the big boats..... watched the fishermen bundling up their nets , the season over, all the boats docked and being cleaned.

I did a good walk around Garry Point and home along the dyke....snow geese, a heron, lots of starlings, a hawk or two, snow dusted on the far mountains......

A thoroughly delightful 3 hours of recreation and restoration.

This afternoon was consumed with David's annual eye exam at Children's Hospital which is always a trial of long waits in a crowded kid filled waiting room... today an extra long wait but finally we see the Resident, the eyes are dilated, we have our traditional Starbucks and split an oat fudge bar and then back to see the Ophthalmologist, our beloved Dr. Lyons...... 12 years we have been seeing him.  A careful check today as David's vision is down a bit in his "bad" eye.....and also the revelation that David's vision issues are very rare.  New glasses prescribed and an appointment made for a year from now.  As always I feel lucky we get to see this great Dr at this amazing hospital and that in the grand scheme, though rare, David's vision can be and is corrected by glasses!

I am feeling mellow tonight knowing tomorrow is another day off....a day to Remember..... David will be writing the blog tomorrow with his reflections of having just been to Normandy and Omaha and Juno beaches and stood in those vast cemeteries..... his thoughts and photos.

Wordless Wednesday will be a study on boats from today.......

Off to make sure the winter woolies are pulled out as I may just get up with my Fisherman at 5:30am and go watch sunrise somewhere...... or then again....I may just snuggle right down again and doze.

Work, work......good work

Work was crazy this week......dealing with all the fall out from the events of my "shamcation" week, emerging issues, a large conference in the final week of registering and preparing to do a workshop at that same conference......

And in the middle of the week a very important staff meeting with ALL my staff.

A milestone moment...... and how delightful it was...... how very proud I was of these women who are so committed to their work.....to their own professionalism and to the families and children they work with.

The story is here Communities of Practice

And then my colleague Jenn and I presented on our work at the conference yesterday and it went so well.

Perspective is a gift....... despite all the cr*p that so often lands on my desk, or in my inbox, the number of times I get thrown a curve ball or get knocked down...... don't compare to the moments I see the WORK we do triumph.  

Progress is slow.

But it is STILL progress.

It's a journey of a hundred setbacks but we choose to continue moving forward and the investment of time and effort in people is SO worth it.

The other stuff will likely continue this week but I will hold in my heart the knowledge that we are headed in the right direction.

 "May the work we do, make the world we live in, a little more worthy of our children" (Tom Hunter)

Picked up

As soon as my vacation was over and I let go all the frustrations and worries of the week......

things picked up!

Saturday was sunny with some lovely fog in the morning along the river.  I snapped a few shots on my way to Jazzercise and they turned out great!

I came home to a rushed breakfast of fresh baked croissants and then hit the road for a very busy 4 hours of work and conference prep, feeding roboteers and bringing caffeine to a friend.....in the midst of which I managed to have a pedicure......t'was luverly.

We headed downtown to meet friends to celebrate a 50th birthday at a trendy Japanese tapas place.   What we discovered was very interesting and some delicious food and....that we are rather old to sit on the floor cross legged for two hours....it was pretty hilarious how our end of the table managed to arrange our un-bendy bodies to be comfortable......but a fun time was had and a great man and friend was well toasted by all.

Sometime in the night Time fell back....... I don't like it....... I don't like coming home at 4pm and it being dusk.....I think this daylight saving gig needs a re-think.

Seeing as I wasn't consulted it fell back to standard time anyway.

Robot boys were up at the crack of dawn and headed to the first competition of the season.....so Lindsay and I made a break for it.....Starbucks in hand we bolted for the border and onwards to Bellingham.

We had our favourite brekkie and headed to the Mall........ about 2 hours before it opened..... #oops.

A couple of stores were open and we browsed around and downloaded every coupon we thought we could use from retailmenot.com.    Folks this is a real revelation to me......open the website or get the app and then screenshot the coupons and voila they scan them at the checkout.... awesome!  We saved over $16 just with the coupons at three stores today!

And.... drum roll....... wait for it....... I......Nicola Lesley Byres.......bought.......not 1...... not 2..... but.....................THREE pairs of shoes!

Allan had to be resuscitated when he got my text.

I actually managed to extend the golden half hour of retail for me  by getting a great chair massage in the mall as I was starting to fade..... $20 for 20 minutes and an excellent back and neck massage from a great masseuse while half of Vancouver and Bellingham walked on by...... felt awesome!

Revived and fortified with coffee we finished shopping including a gorgeous red dress for Lindsay's winter formal, boots for her 50% off and a sweater for me and a good start to my Christmas shopping and ......I repeat...... 3 pairs of shoes.  For me.

And then Trader Joes......as one must...... a quick sandwich at Avenue Bread and we turned for home as the rain came.

Easy-ish border although some concern we might have been in contact with Ebola??????

Boys arrived home and we had a Trader Joes appetizer buffet for dinner...... because we are cool like that.... and now everyone is pursing their relaxation of choice..... David is watching UTube videos on his phone, Allan is watching a new episode of "The 100" with Lindsay while she snap chats a mile a minute.....as soon as this blog posts I will sip the last of my chardonnay and head to bed with a new book I bought today......because it's been dark for hours already.

So if you were keeping account of how I did with vacation TO DO list I almost made it...... I am one defrosted chest freezer from complete but really seeing as I got 3 pairs of shoes its like, almost, the same.....right?

Back to work at work tomorrow and a very full 6 day week ahead.....but not to worry.....I have 3 days off after that....oh who am I kidding...... obviously you SHOULD worry!

Thanks for being on this "vacation" with me and for all the encouragement, chiding and love..... ya'll are good people.