Where’s Hugh?

The Toronto Public Library is now offering Digital Library Cards to anyone who is without a card. Here's the link: TPL Digital Cards Why get a card? Because the TPL has TONS of audiobook, ebooks, films, Magazines, etc. you can borrow for FREE and it is TOUCHLESS!!!! You can also try the SimplyE APP . Borrow from a vast catalogue of Fiction, non-fiction, and Literary books or short pieces of fiction for every taste. You can Download for free at Apple Story or Google Play. It is an Open Source Library Platform that will satisfy every reader without costing a cent!  For Teens there is Tumblebooks.org - free for rest of school year! Great collection of classics as well as Audiobooks! Well Curated for all tastes/levels. Here are some recommendations: If you have wanderlust:  Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert An Embarrassment of Mangos  by Ann Vanderhoof If you need inspiration: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb...

This furniture painting hobby is a blast! I received a new colour I order from Amazon: Laurentian. I wasn't sure when I opened it up. It looked really hospital Green. Fusion Chalk Paint: colour Laurentian The pieces I painted are both Aberfoyle Antique Market Finds I picked up in the Fall. The market is famous and a short drive from Toronto. It been running for almost 60 years and has over 100 vendors making it a great spot for finding pieces to paint. The table with the magazine racks was in need of a good cleaning and one of the racks was missing a bottom which was easily fixed using a few tack nails and a discarded piece of trellis I had in the garden shed.  Tables pre-paint                                                                             ...

Many people have taken on projects at home that were previously put off and so have I.  I have started painting furniture. I really like working with Fusion Chalk Paint. It doesn’t require a base coat and covers well. It is not water proof however. To address this you can get a Fusion sealer if you want a less mat look and a protective coat on your piece.  This is a pic of the chair I took on as my first project: I began with two of them in fact which I brought back from England where I bought them at a thrift shop. I love the shape of the legs, and the back, but hated the colour and the seat material. All was easily fixed, however, as the seat nicely lifted off and I could simply staple a new material over the old- done! Here’s the result: The material is from Ikea - bought sometime ago. The paint colour is fusion: Coal Black.   It’s a new hobby that is extremely satisfying. I’ll show you more finish pieces tomorrow once they dry... A Attachment

Today I taught my courses online for the first time. The learning curve is steep for teachers and students.  Kids, though always on tech, are not used to taking 4 to 6 courses online,. with spotty wifi, on a smartphone. I am amazed and impressed by these young people. They show up and are counted. They miss each other, miss school, and miss the ROUTINE. Today wasn't about teaching and learning content - it was about reaching out and reconnecting with kids who are isolated and confused and scared.  We laughed together through Video Conference: they laughed at me a bit as I stumbled through the presentation view of my screens... and it felt SO GOOD to be back in their company. I managed to get back to my classroom to collect my computer and some resources and I took photos of the room which I shared with my class. And they responded via chat with "Ah - good times" and #nostalgia. Nostalgic indeed.  So I told them that every generation had its challenge: WWI, WWII, the Great...

     Every morning as I pour myself a coffee I ask my husband “ this is so bizarre isn’t it?” His usual reply is “Yes; strange times...” but this morning his asked me, “What’s so bizarre?” thinking I was referring to some new tidbit of sensational news, and a chill ran through me.       You see, I ask the same question each morning to make sure that our new reality of living in a society in quarantine does not become normal. I count on the discomfort of living in this way to remind me of better days, and better days to come. But this morning the answer to “Isn’t this bizarre?” was not as clear cut as that.       We have fallen into a new reality of work/school from home with no traffic, no commuting, and no socializing face to face. Millions are without income: professionals and laymen alike. Hair is going uncut, nails unpolished, bras unworn... now some of this is welcomed for sure! I hate bras - but much of it is borne in a silen...