Where’s Hugh?

Here’s the best line that I’ve read in a while:   “Restaurants get eulogies. Airlines get bailouts. Shakespeare gets kicked when he’s down.” It’s sooo true. Sure says a lot about what we value as a society. I walk a lot with a friend- we start each day off with a 1 hour walk in Earl Bales Park. It’s gorgeous and energizing and I cannot do without it. One morning my walking partner asked me “Is Covid-19 is God’s response to human kind’s hubris?” This is a deeper topic than we typically cover in our morning walks. We usually discuss distance learning/teaching challenges, why dogs should be on leashes, and how gorgeous the forest looks today... But hubris? God? Wait up! It’s too early for this... But as you can tell, the question has stayed with me, because I think it is true: not the God part- but the hubris part. I’m partial to Greek philosophy and the concept of our creating our own circumstances, and I often teach the nature of humankind as seen through literature. So I was d...

The world feels new today; young, and hopeful. It is a gorgeous May Day - but it should have happened earlier- it is a perfect Spring Day and we wonder at it like villagers emerging from our hovels after hiding from marauding armies - we wonder that the earth remembers how to heal and grow.  I went to the Island today, and the wildlife there looks at us visitors as interlopers of their land. That we are. It seems like the winter kept its nails dug in for much longer than normal, but nothing about 2020 is normal. Winter lingered- thankfully so - because it gave us a chance to flatten the curve and the dreary days did not inspire social behaviour distanced or otherwise.  But today! Oh what a day! Today is pathetic fallacy reflecting our hopes,  and we bask in it - afraid we will have to go back inside. Let me stay out just a little longer please... I’m relieved winter is done. I turn, like a sunflower, to warmth to heal me and help me grow.  The final stanza of my son’...

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                                                                             ...

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...

These are strange times indeed. Working from home or not working at all... eating in all of the time. Fighting off boredom, panic, fear... As an extrovert social distancing is terrifying! So what can we do? Well strange times require strange measures so here's the plan! Make a daily schedule. Here's what mine looks like: 8:30am Socially distanced walk through ravine with neighbour/friends. We chat, watch squirrels chase each other, try not to face-plant in the mud on the embankment and make our way around the hood all the while maintaining our distance from each other. 9:30 am Breakfast and phone calls. I have elderly parents who require checking up on. So I call George and Effie and find out what's on tap for dinner and find out how my aunts/uncles are doing and then I'm told off for not feeding my son properly... the usual. 10:00 am I trek upstairs to the "office" which I share with my husband who is stressed to the gills and I remind him to use h...

I love my son. I love my husband. Both are driving me crazy. My husband is retreating into work - my son into his online world leaving me staring around the room saying “where is everyone?” Yes, I’m the extrovert and I’m going nutters! So I was really happy to come across this article on wired  https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-surviving-quarantine-without-killing-partner/ The gist? Extroverts will have a harder time with isolation(Obvs) and couples will need to approach this time as therapy. Well, that said both need to do so- not just one person saying what she needs as she does the dishes and he stalks away.... ooops sorry about that....  So in the spirit of keeping it together (and your marriage together too) take a read and then hunker down for some work to keep us all together, happy, and healthy! 

7 Things to Consider If You Find Yourself Working From Home Check out the  story  from  houzz.com I am thinking of getting a yoga ball chair:  Anyone use one b4?