December 11, 2009 · 7:32 pm

Not Yet

So, I am kind of bummed out tonight.  The midterm I have to write did not arrive today and I was hoping to write my midterm this weekend and get that out of the way so that I could get on with Christmas preparations.  Instead the studying will continue till I get it written and I guess I’ll just have to start the preparations for Christmas in the midst of studying and see what comes. 

Who would have thought that it would take more than a week for something to arrive in the mail – to northern Saskatchewan – only from the south of the same province. 

On the bright side, I have all this extra time to study. 

However tonight it feels as if my brain is stuffed with cotton and not Greek.

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December 9, 2009 · 12:37 pm

Things a Grandmother should not have to do

Among other things – sedate and do dental work on a grandchild.  He  did not like it at all.  He drank the juice fine but from the time we got him to the dental chair and started the work it was downhill.  We had to hold him down and then the cavity was deep enough to need a nerve treatment.  So much for a small and easy job.

One more of those sessions to go.

When he came to the office this morning he asked his mom why he couldn’t visit Grandma at her house rather than her office.

I guess I will survive.  As long as he forgets the fight to get the work done and as long as he still likes coming to my house.

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December 6, 2009 · 2:56 pm

Zaka’s Party

This Friday I got a call at noon just as I was sitting down to dinner out with the School Dental Program staff, I got a call to tell me that Zaka was having a daycare Christmas programme at 3.  Luckily for me, we had finished up at both schools early and I was free for the afternoon. 

So, I got to attend my first school programme for one of my grandchildren.  The kids were ready when I got there and they had to wait for the parents to arrive to sing their songs.  They were getting restless and Zaka ended up having to sit off to the side away from the friend he was pushing off the chair.  And then he kept peeking in through the door of the room behind him where I suspect a bag of toys was being assembled. 

There were a few tears – par for the course at a preschool programme and then some very enthusiastic singing as they got into things.

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And the highlight was a visit from Santa of course.

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December 4, 2009 · 6:51 am

So it ends

I made a decision last night to end my participation in the local orchestra.

“End my participation” sounds so much better than “drop out of”, eh?

We were playing last night at one of the care homes; what Dean calls an open rehearsal. I have been trying very hard to find some practicing time over the past two weeks and thought I was not doing too badly but last night it was just too obvious that if I can’t practice more, I can’t contribute much to the orchestra. I’m still an early stage learner not an accomplished bassist who can take the simple songs we have and play them well without a lot of practice. I came home very frustrated and disappointed with myself after our rehearsal since even for the songs I thought I had prepared fairly well, I played way too slow to keep up.

So, I guess that’s it for now. For this year. For the bass.

I now will use the practice and orchestra time to work a bit harder on my Greek and see if that extra time helps me out there. Christmas is always a busy time for family so the extra freedom to enjoy the kids and grandkids will be good too. And then in January I go to Chicago for another class and start an online class in February. So, I will not be bored with nothing to do.

I’m the kind of person who adds things to my schedule with enthusiasm but lets go of things with reluctance. But there comes a point when reason prevails.

I will miss playing my bass with the orchestra. Very much.

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November 29, 2009 · 7:59 am

Caging the Beasts Otherwise known as Babysitting

Last night we were babysitting for Kimia so her parents could go to the law society’s Christmas event.  We enjoy this and thought we’d share some babysitting wisdom with you.

How to keep the kids out of trouble –

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keep them in the pet kennel.  And send in a friend to play with.

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(actually, keeping them out once they discovered it was impossible.)

And then you wear them out so they insist on getting their coat and shoes on and stand by the door until they are too tired to stand and just pass out on the rug.

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What a girl Kimia is.  She is going to give her parents a few challenges I think.

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November 27, 2009 · 6:53 pm

Seeming endless

Today was one of those days that just seemed to have no clear starting point.  Yesterday went on late into the night as I drove back from Saskatoon and the endodontic course, arriving back at my house around midnight, some 18 hours after my morning alarm woke me to start the day.

Then, tired but still alert from coffee on the road, I finally was settling into sleep when Leo’s phone rang.  He is on call but of course did not hear the phone – I did.  Back to sleep again.  At least I think I had fallen asleep when the phone rang again – 2:30 am.  This time it is the security people that monitor my office. Dragged myself out to check the office out.  It was fine and I was back into bed within half an hour.  But I was not asleep again – that took a lot longer. 

I had the sense to set the wake up time on the alarm back a couple of hours and didn’t wake till it rang at 7. 

Today was a very busy day at the school dental program.  I saw 40 kids and stayed alert enough to do that, have an interview at noon and participate in a staff meeting after school ended. 

But now my eyes feel like lead and I doubt that I will do anything productive.  So I shall try and sleep – till my kids and grandkids arrive from Saskatoon around 8. 

Tomorrow is another day.  Less demanding I hope.

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November 24, 2009 · 6:03 am

Connecting

In theses days of Advent, I receive a series of devotional posts from Goshen College.  In today’s devotional was a story I can identify with.  It goes like this:

A Hasidic story tells of a rabbi’s son who used to wander in the woods. The rabbi asked his son, "I wonder why each day you walk in the woods?" The boy replied, "I go there to find God." "That’s very good, son. But, don’t you know that God is the same everywhere?" "Yes," the boy answered, "but I’m not."

So, I likewise find myself needing to wander in the woods.  I think that is what my excursion to Anglin Lake was about.  Sitting inside studying my heart out may make me know some Greek but it does not connect my heart with God.  That connection with God is what I need the most.

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November 22, 2009 · 6:25 pm

The Lake Sings

It was such a beautiful day today that I just had to get out of this place – out into a place with trees and water and sky.  So, in spite of the CFL big game which I do enjoy watching, I went for a drive to Anglin Lake.

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The lake is frozen quite solid.  But it was singing to me.  Honestly.  I’ve never heard the ice sing like that before.  A strange haunted noise as if something were trapped in the lake below the frozen surface. I wonder how the sound is produced.

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I am glad I went. My spirit needed some fresh air and clear skies.

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November 21, 2009 · 5:12 pm

Wonder-full.

I spent part of this weekend doing dental things – a trade show where I succumbed to the temptation to purchase a air/electric highspeed handpiece that has the ability to maintain an even torque.  Now that might not mean much to most of you but it means my drill won’t stall out when the going gets tough.  Also picked up some stuff to help motivate young people with braces to brush better through self assessment of their oral health status – in other words are their teeth covered with yuck or not. 

Then we interviewed a person since we need a second hygienist and ate lunch at Earls.  The salad I had was delicious.

But the best part of the weekend so far was eating pancakes and bacon prepared by my son and eaten with his family and shopping with David, Annette and kids.  It is hard to find truly meaningful gifts for the kids and grandkids.  They do not need more junk.  Neither do I.

But then we stopped at the World Vision Kiosk and my son’s family signed up to support a child from the Congo, finding a boy about the same age as Kieran so they would be able to write to each other.  Kieran thought he would like to give some of his chore money towards supporting him.  That is one of the best gifts they have given me and they are probably not even aware that it blessed me so much to be there as they chose to do that. And one little boy and his village will be blessed and perhaps will understand some of the wonder of love offered across the huge span of distance that separates them; the wonder of what Christ really came to set in motion at Christmas.

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November 19, 2009 · 8:04 am

Happy Birthday Little Namesake

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Isn’t she a cutie – and very full of mischief and energy.  Her smile is truly infectious

Nea was born two years ago today.

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