I love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life!

Not a bad Saturday night!

2008-07-21T00:27:00.007-07:00

Who'd a thunk it? A girl sends out an invite for a "Gahden Pahty, Dahlink" (said in pretentiously snooty accent), and every girl on the invite list but one declines, and every boy who replies can come. (And no, we're not in the garden. We were, till it cooled off and the bugs came out!) Karen. Me. Ten boys. Not bad, eh? Tee hee hee! (Click to embiggen) It was actually pretty great to have

Inspired by a sink of dirty dishes

2008-07-17T18:10:00.009-07:00

It's tough when you don't feel like posting a lot So I decided to sit and write all in one shot. Eight posts all at once to entice and amaze But sheer volume of words just might leave you dazed. So come back every day to read one or two Or sit down in one shot and read them all through. Come visit, leave comments, clickity click To help you, this link just might do the trick. You can start with

Choose Your Own Adventure

2008-07-16T23:53:00.002-07:00

There's lots to catch up on, so let's do it "Choose your own adventure" style, shall we? Click the links to all the posts I should have written over the last few weeks to find out more! (They're not all just below this one, some are hiding among posts that actually WERE written. It's a game, or sorts. Maybe only fun for me, but hey...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A hot summer Saturday is the perfect

A tastebud extravaganza

2008-07-13T22:42:00.006-07:00

Smack dab in the middle of a somewhat seedy industrial area in Vancouver is perhaps the BEST gelato shop EVER. That's right. La Casa Gelato on Venables. I hadn't been down there in years, so I had forgotten quite what a spectacle it is. I should have known we were in for a not-just-your-typical ice cream shop when every surface in the parking lot except the ground was painted pink! (Yes Sarah!

CATS!

2008-07-12T23:54:00.001-07:00

Just because this tickled my funny bone. I wants me one!

That's one heck of a soaker!

2008-07-12T22:14:00.001-07:00

We got a LOT of snow this winter, and we have had an exceptionally cold and rainy spring (but it's ok, it's been hot and glorious for over two weeks in a row now, so all is forgiven). All of this means that there is still a lot of snow on the mountains. If you plan on going hiking, don't be surprised if you have to do some of it in the snow. Now this is normally not an issue. It's fun on a

I have seen the effects of the wind, but I have never seen the wind

2008-07-11T16:33:00.009-07:00

"Miss Hillary! It's snowing!" "Aaaah! It's gonna get on me!" "There's someone knocking at the door!" "Ouch!" These are a mere smattering of the excited, distracted comments the kids were shouting out all day today. The wind picked up last night, and it was blustery all day today. Goooood and windy. Branches down, power out, waves pounding - you name it. But it was also blazingly hot, so I tried

Rabble-Rouser

2008-07-09T23:03:00.003-07:00

Summer time. Hot weather, long days, miles of sandy shore, downtown bathed in evening light, sun setting through hazy mountain range after hazy mountain range... there's nothing better than heading down to the beach for a picnic and an evening swim. I've been getting down to Kits, Jericho, Locarno, Spanish Banks - you name it - as much as I possibly can these days. After hikes, after work,

Summertime slacking

2008-07-09T06:15:00.003-07:00

Well how's about that? Post every day, post every day, post every day, then BOOM! Nuttin'! For a week! I'm even trying to think of what I've been up to... lots of random summer stuff, which is awesome! (Well, and having to go in for two days of my week off before summer school to finish packing up my classroom - not so awesome, but hey, it's done!) Beach, hikes, Playland (an amusement park here

Walk the Wall

2008-07-03T14:32:00.008-07:00

photo courtesy of International China Concern Niki asked in the comments yesterday why I reposted my "Shabby Green Door" post at this point in time. Well, I'm glad she asked! :) It's because International China Concern has been on my mind a lot lately since attending a benefit concert at my church a few months ago. It's because I have a few friends who have gone or are going to work at one of

The Shabby Green Door, revisited

2008-07-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last night* I listened to a talk by David Gotts, who is the director of International China Concern, an organization who works with abandoned babies, children, and young people in China. It left me rather overwhelmed. There are over one million children abandoned in China every year. Eighty percent of them die. Dave described the scene at a particular orphanage in China... One worker caring for

Wow, that was messed. up.

2008-07-02T08:07:00.004-07:00

I had a dream last night that I had a blind date, but I had to go to this dinner first, and it was a big ol' party. Two of the guests were Dooce and her husband, Jon. I was sitting beside Dooce, and was telling her that I wanted to buy some postcards to send to some friends. She told me she should give me one of her post cards, but I said no thank you, I already had some and had sent them to

Happy Canada Day, eh?

2008-07-01T12:32:00.006-07:00

Here be a little overview of Canadian History for y'all to celebrate this great nation's 141st birthday. Hold on tight and enjoy the ride! (Oh watch it... it's FUNNY! It's more like "history." Heh.) Aaaand, cause a few of you have mentioned it to me already today, here be my Canada Day YouTube debut from last year. Sans sound. Avec mucho ridiculousness. Because my camera has no sound (dumb

Mooooovie night!

2008-06-30T22:34:00.002-07:00

See? This is how committed I am to NaBloPoMo. I'm not even at HOME and I'm posting, cause really? To skip the last day would be LAME. So, hooray! I made it! 30 posts (ok, more than that) in 30 days, all (ok, most - challenge me, I'll tell you how it relates!) around the theme of home! Aaaaand, now I'm gonna go watch a sappy chick flick with Strudel! Woohoo!

And I thought I was reading it for them

2008-06-30T10:12:00.011-07:00

On the last day of school, I felt the weight of sadness so heavily on my heart. I wasn't just saying goodbye to these kids, to see them in the halls next year as they moved on to their new classes, I was saying goodbye forever. I was saying goodbye to the wide welcoming hallways, to the staff I have grown to love so much. I was saying goodbye to my support network, to my community, to five years

It's summerrrr!

2008-06-29T22:48:00.006-07:00

Yesterday was GLORIOUS! Glorious and wonderful and beautiful and HOT and awesome! Summer FINALLY decided to kick in, and what better way to enjoy it than a hike high above Indian Arm, then a swim and a BBQ with a big gang of fabulous people??? NO better way, that's what! I did this hike last year, too, and I seem to recall thinking that it was a brutal hike for the first one of the season.

The packing process

2008-06-27T23:13:00.005-07:00

Five years of teaching stuff + a whole lot of inherited stuff + stuff not yet dealt with from a recently-finished school year = one very giant mess of stuff requiring a day and a half next week to finish packing up. Wow. Click any photo to embiggen (that's for you, Katrina! ;) ). *Sigh* I liked it better when it was full of the anticipation of a new year ( <--- click for newly posted pics)

Through a lens darkly

2008-06-26T21:32:00.008-07:00

Folks, I. Am. Sad. And kind of irritated. And disappointed. My camera is sick. My beauteous lovely wonderful camera that I love. Taking photos is no longer fun. In fact, it's a royal pain in the patootie. On the last day of school, I was setting up to take a photo of my class. I wanted to be in it, so I got it all set up on the bookshelf facing the carpet area in my room. It was perched quite

Last days

2008-06-26T20:49:00.001-07:00

Last day with the kids was today. Last day with the staff is tomorrow. I'll blog more later. Right now there's too much to do, too much to say, too much to feel...

SO blessed

2008-06-25T23:49:00.005-07:00

See these three people? They have SAVED MY LIFE. And they are AWESOME. And selfless and wonderful and helpful and fun and did I mention AWESOME? I emailed a few friends to see if anyone would possibly be interested in helping me pack up my classroom one evening this week. I kinda didn't expect anyone to reply, cause, hello? Not exactly the funnest proposition in the whole wide world. But

Daily Post

2008-06-24T22:52:00.007-07:00

This is the lamest excuse for a post I've ever seen, but there are some days when you just don't care. I'm tired. I'm going to bed. The end. ... ok, not the end, cause twenty minutes later I totally feel like I'm cheating. So here's some youtube awesomeness. Enjoy! "It's hot, steamy food in your face right now..." And also? My whole house smells like skunk cause one sprayed just outside my

Life at MySchool...

2008-06-23T23:15:00.004-07:00

It's been a beautiful life Oh I've been along for one hell of a ride And even though I may be fallin' apart, oh It's been a beautiful life* Three more days, plus one more admin day where we'll all have breakfast together, then go off our separate ways for the summer. Except I won't be coming back in the fall. This week is so jammed full of stuff I have to do... packing up my classroom,

Around the house...

2008-06-22T23:29:00.005-07:00

There are so SO many things I want to get done around my house. I rent, so it's not like I'm renovating, just year end organizing and general make-nicer-izing. Summer's coming (four more teaching days... though I'm not looking forward to the end this year, that's for sure), which means I'll have more TIME to actually get anything DONE around here. * Sort and file paid bills * Re-organize

Work Day!

2008-06-21T20:07:00.002-07:00

We painted floors and primed and painted walls in the cottages today. I decided to paint the "I *heart* Kawkawa" message on the wall first. Um, it still shows through the paint. I'm hoping a second coat will take care of that. Hehehe... whoops!

Breaking the news

2008-06-20T22:51:00.005-07:00

I wasn't sure how or when I was going to tell my kids that I wasn't coming back next year, but about twenty minutes to home time I saw that the newsletter that was going home had a list of the teachers who were leaving the school front and centre. I didn't want the kidlets to find out from the newsletter, so I sat them down just before they ate their lunch... "So boys and girls, I have something