Cleared for take-off

My dad is no longer a high school teacher; he retired in June, and it was one of the reasons Michael and I went home for a visit a few weeks ago. My mom pulled off a wonderful bbq with some friends and colleagues, and everyone had nice things to say about my dad's career. I knew that I would be saying a few words before I gave Dad a couple of treats, but I was stumped. Thankfully, Shannon had prepared a little speech, which she emailed to me. I presented it with added flair by blubbering through the whole thing. It was a happy occasion, but I guess I was emotional because, like Shannon says, my dad was one of my favorite teachers of all time. Have a look at her words, below.

Today you are all here with my dad to celebrate his retirement. Thank you! My dad truly deserves to be honored on this day for being one of the best teachers so many students ever had; I know this because he was my teacher in high school too, one of my best teachers.

Even in his last few years of teaching, my dad was still learning, teaching new material and inspiring his students to learn. He didn't become one of those teachers we have all had: the ones who are done years before their retirement, boring their students to death with their sheer lack of interest in their profession. I know my dad was present right till his last day of teaching.

I am really happy that my dad had so many rich and diverse teaching experiences in his career: Spruce Lake, Cudworth, Saskatoon, Regina, South End, Saskatoon, Rosetown and finally Saskatoon again. If anyone knows the different kinds of high school kids in the large geography of Saskatchewan, it's my dad!

And his range of subjects always fascinates people; I love telling people aviation studies and drama in the same sentence. Wowee. He really got to teach what he loved and I believe that the students he taught knew that too.

Dad, you will have the opportunity now to do many different things and teach in many different environments, but you may end up back in a high school, and that's ok too! You're at home in that environment and your amazing connection with high school kids will never change. Thank you for inspiring so many people to keep learning.

Prepare yourselves

From this day forward I will only give gifts that have some sort of embroidery component:

Jenn and Tim's beautiful baby (Kaden!) received my first complete project, and I think he likes it. I think he'll like it even more when he grows into it. Shannon was wondering about the practicality of giving a baby a white bib. I see her point. I hear babies can be messy.

Embroidery has proven to be the perfect summer craft. I was looking for a portable option that wasn't knitting - something I could bring to coffee shops, beaches and crafting dates with ease. I considered cross stitch, but I don't have the patience for that right now. I visited Sublime Stitching after seeing an ad in Bust, and, after only a few days of hemming and hawing, I ordered some start-up supplies. Jenny Hart has starter packages to get you off the ground, but I opted to create my own package because I desired her brand new fancy book over a simple instruction manual. You can borrow it if you want.

It's good that I have a new craft on the go because I have a backlog of presents to address. Next up: baby gift number two. This one is for another Saskatchewan baby: Camron belongs to Angie and Ray. I hear he likes primary colours.

Luck be a lady

I have many things to write about - a baby nephew named Kaden, a new embroidery hobby and a recent car co-op directorship, to name a few - but no time to give these topics their due (check my flickr account for evidence of the first two). I do have time to tell you about the success of a tentative plan that I've been pursuing for months: I've been entering my name in every draw that comes my way, trying to reconnect with the luck of my youth. It finally proved fruitful at the Victoria Car Share Co-op barbeque last night, when I won two tickets to the Organic Islands Festival this weekend. I know the tickets are only worth $15 combined, but I have to start somewhere, right? If you live in Victoria, let me know if you want to join me.

Ode to local strawberries

On Saturday morning, Sarah, Michael and I tried to make it to the Moss Street Market in time to hear the start-up bell. We didn't make it (because of a coffee detour), but when we arrived shortly after 10, we joined the first line up we saw. Why? Local strawberries! It turns out that other vendors were selling strawberries too, but we're sheep. We saw a line-up and we stood in it. And the strawberries were worth the wait (even though this vendor would only sell one basket per customer).

Friends, I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I don't think there is anything better than local strawberries (this includes those picked from your own garden, obviously). Lydia, I know you're with me on this. Sometimes I think I'm exaggerating their goodness, but when I have my first local strawberry of the year (those underripe ones from 2 weeks ago don't count), all doubts disappear. They are so good that I was actually sad while I was eating them: the seaon is too short! How much longer do I have? Should I eat a basket a day? Can a person eat too many strawberries? Will I ever be satisfied? I feel a little short of breath thinking about it.

I'm going to Saskatoon on Friday, and my dad has promised me strawberries from the garden. Combined with the fact that Michael and I are going home to meet our new baby nephew (Jen and Tim's son Kaden), this vacation is going to be hard to top.

Hey everyone!

My blog is one year old today! In my first post, I didn't think I would be able to make it happen: I make many tentative plans that never come to pass. But I persevered! Also, I succeeded in completing several of my original tentative plans: notably, making perogies and using my camera more. I still only use my sewing machine to hem pants though. Coming soon: curtains!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the folks who comment on the posts and those who appreciate my musings anonymously, but mostly the ones who comment. I love the comments more than you can ever imagine. On that note, the response to last week's post made me so happy; there is so much knowledge to share, and I love that people wrote long, thoughtful responses. Do that again. I have tentative plans to prepare a follow-up to that post in the near future.

BABY! GET IN MY BELLY!

There was this one Urban Politics class. During a group discussion, we were supposed to develop a feminist form of urban design, so we focussed on co-operative living. We felt that, among other benefits, co-ops make having kids easier; it's that whole it takes a village to raise a child thing. I remember my teacher said it was interesting that we focussed on child rearing as the number one feminist issue, rather than, say, violence against women. I thought it was interesting that he thought it was interesting.

It's certainly topical right now.

I was just at a press conference where this guy says to the TV cameras: I've been thinking about grandchildren more and more lately. I hope my daughter-in-law is listening to this.

A week earlier, I did a double-take when I saw the cover of Maclean's. It read: Hey Lady! What will it take to make you breed? Your government needs to know. You can read the main article here. It brought up some interesting points, although I found the title crass. I especially liked the bit about France. That country has some great incentives for parenting, which don't try to get women to stay home; in fact, almost 80 per cent of French women work. This is why:

There is a calibrated income-tax rate for families whereby the more children a couple has, the more money they keep in their pockets. The state offers a monthly allowance of roughly $400, which is bumped up when the child reaches the age of 11. Parents are entitled to a tax deduction for in-home child care help (which Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who stepped down this week, recently announced will be doubled). There is an extensive state-run crèche system, where parents can leave their toddlers at a moment's notice, for free. Families with three or more kids are deemed "famille nombreuses" and are eligible for zero income tax, heavily subsidized rent and transportation, and state-funded parental leaves that can extend for years. They also get free access to many public amenities, and about $325 per year toward extracurricular arts and athletics programs for the kids.

The response by the Tyee is also worth a read: So you want me to breed?

I want to know what my lady friends think about the pressure to bear children! Also: let's move to France!