Morning in late February

Winter lingers here. On Friday we were to have had 20 cm of snow, which didn't materialize. However, that morning when the Bloor/Danforth subway broke clear of the earth to cross the Don Valley through the Bloor viaduct the weather was a sight to behold. A dense mist had pushed up the valley from Lake Ontario. It was filled with snowflakes flying before the wind. So instead of the brightness that snow usually reflects, the air itself seemed grey, suspending the subway car in an atmosphere dim and mournful. It lasted only a few minutes before the train plunged underground again. However, I could feel it with me for the rest of the day, making it difficult to clear my mind and fully focus on anything.

Jack is at rest

This is the obituary of our dearest friend, Jack. I have removed last names for family privacy. Those who know Jack will recognize him here. Those who do not should know that he was a wonderful friend. We will miss him always:

Jack passed away on Friday February 18. He was predeceased by wife Valerie and his father, Frank. And his faithful companion, Ebony. Survived by mother, Dorothy (Dolly), daughter Heather, son in law, Randy, son Craig, sister Connie, nephew Michael, nieces Alexandria and Marjorie (Jorie) and life long friend/brother Jan and his wife Catherine.

Jack was a great friend and a surrogate brother, uncle, father, and grandfather to many. He was a straightforward man and although he was happy with simple things, he was also very complex. His friendships span decades and the jobs he had over the years gave him the opportunity to meet different people from all walks of life. Many of them have remained close friends with Jack. He loved to camp and be outdoors. Jack was 'in touch' with nature and one of his favorite places to go was 'the valley' where he would walk and throw sticks for Ebony. He was crazy about animals and as well as having dogs and cats for pets, he also harboured snakes, lizards, and even spiders at times!

He loved his plants, both indoors and out and it was never a surprise to find some kind of a flower or unusual herb show up in one of his salads when you had dinner at his house. He was an avid coin collector and was searching out information on his ancestry and genealogy.
Jack loved music, especially rock and roll, and read science fiction voraciously. Jack's love for his family and friends and his passion for life will be missed by all of us who love him. Rest in peace.

There was a memorial visitation at Williams Funeral on Sunday February 20 from 2:00-5:00 pm. At a later date, there was be a celebration of Jack's life. In lieu of flowers, donations were made to the Y or to Animal Aid.

2010 Annual Letter

Herein find the dreaded annual letter. Enter at your own peril...
2009 ended with me submitting my M Ed thesis for publication. I had defended it Nov. 1, 2009, and it was accepted as written (but with a few minor edits). However, this was immediately followed by the gruelling process of preparing an application for the Vice-Principals pool for the Toronto District School Board. It was due and submitted January 15, the day before Jan's 65th birthday.
This meant that, while I managed to contact and gather together a wonderful roster of family and dear friends, because he chose to celebrate at home, the cake was a rather garish Costco creation – with thick colourful icing balloons on top. The weather cooperated so the sun porch was open to accommodate the crowd. No dinner – drinks & snacks & birthday cake. A good time was had by all.
The interview in March went well, and I made it into the VP pool. However, the school year ended without an appointment. Jan taught in May and June, so both of us were able to take the entire summer off, a rarity.
We had a great trip to England in perfect weather in July, while Ontario baked in heat waves. Although it was one week in London and one B&Bing the South West, full of cultural adventures, we still had some lovely visits with family and friends. Highlights included our trip to Salisbury to visit our cousin Sheila, her brother Brian and his wife Brenda. We toured and visited with Sheila during the day. Then off she went to prepare for the evening. Brian and Brenda visited while they fed us tea – our first taste of scones with strawberry preserves and clotted cream – yum! We ended the visit at a concert given by Sheila’s choir in a Wren designed country church. Sheila brought us to the train and we were off to London again.
We had a lovely evening with Erin’s friend Jamie & saw him again at the fantastic play, Money, presented by the theatre company he assists. We also shared a pint or two with our cousin Yvonne in the impressive neighbourhood where she works – looked like embassy row! We set off to B&B in a rented car and did not too badly with Jan driving and me navigating. After our first night in a (real!) castle, our travels included Tintagel. There we spent a delightful dinner at an old mill where we met up with nieces Joanne, Sandra, Kathy and Joanne’s dear friend Trish. Many adventures later, we arrived for our last afternoon in Oxford. There we visited Joanne at her home and met her cute dog, Ledaq(sp?).
Once back on this side of the pond, we spent a week at a cottage on a tiny lake in the Muskoka district which turned out to be a real treat. Jack came up, as did Meghan, Mike, Sophia and Karl. The weather was fantastic once again & the water fine. Jack taught Sophia to fish and she caught a BIG big-mouth bass. Truly grand.
We also had time to pop out to BC and surprise our friend Gloria for her 70th birthday party. We stayed with Zac, Cara and Fiona for those few nights, which gave us another memorable moment – a glorious day trip to Salt Spring Island market by ferry. We red-eyed back to get to Mom’s 97th birthday party.
Erin was working all summer so our visits with her were here and there. All good, her work led to a job offer this fall at Proctor& Gamble. A great new full-time job! And we did meet her new beau, Spencer.
The big surprise for me was an unexpected appointment to a VPship on Sept 7 – and I really haven’t come up for air yet. City Adult Learning Centre houses 2 high schools, the Adult one for 1800+ over 21 year-olds (new Canadians, upgrades, etc) and CALC Secondary Ed-Vance program for 600+ highly ‘at risk’ 18-21 year-olds. I am the new VP for Ed-Vance. It’s been a slice – every one of the students have had huge obstacles to overcome to get their 30 high school credits such as crushing poverty, legal issues, single parenthood, chronic truancy and every heartbreaking story imaginable. It is proving a powerful and rewarding challenge.
This fall Jan taught 3 days per week of very large classes of Psychology as usual. He is well and ticks along looking after the house, yard, car and books, leaving me to commute happily by GO and TTC. One nice thing about the new job at CALC is that there are no night events. However, I do have to stay to catch up for one night most weeks.
Well, that’s about it for this year. The snow came and stayed, so we had a bit of white for Christmas. And according to the walnut harvest and activity level of birds and squirrels scavenging in our back yard, it promises to be a snowy winter. And here we stay in our little house. So you always know where to find us.

Summer Holidays Coming to an End

So here we are closing in on the end of August. And I have been on vacation for 2 full months - the first real holiday I have taken in 4 years. I am still going to finish my stories of our English holiday in July, if only as a great way to edit and share our photos, with text to explain them. However, those and the other stories about what I did on my summer vacation may have to wait for the time I spend commuting to work. I start back on Wednesday, September 1. Tomorrow, Tuesday August 31, I have a lot going on. It is my mother's 97th birthday, but the annual family celebration was held yesterday and it was a blast. I have an appointment in the morning for a minor medical procedure which shouldn't take more than half an hour. Then I am going for a pedicure with Pam at Soleil Salon and Spa, a monthly treat. http://www.soleilsalonandspa.ca/contact.html
For the rest of the day, I will just enjoy my last day of freedom. There are cucumbers waiting on the garden wall for a deep watering promised for tomorrow morning. I'll get them in and maybe I'll have the energy to make a plum tart or peach pie - I was just too hot and breathless after today's harvest of tomatoes and beans, and after planting a few seeds for a fall crop of mesclen mix, carrots, radishes, and peas. As long as the weather stays this hot, the new seeds will need water every day. But that is a change. In spite of our long absences this summer, everything has remained green and the garden has yielded wonderful crops.
Well, I must to bed to be ready to leave the house by 8:30 tomorrow. I'm really not too nervous but the test on my thyroid involves an endocrinologist sticking needles into my neck. Fun, eh!? I'll let you know how it goes. 'Night now!

Taking the Train to Salisbury

Saturday, July 10
Day out of London

The highlight of our trip, in fact, my very reason for making the trip in the first place, was our visit to cousins Sheila Thompson, her brother Brian and his wife Brenda. Got up early, relatively speaking. I set the alarm for 7 and asked for a 7:10 wake-up call. Took me until around 1:00 am or a bit later to get to sleep. Might have been as late as 1:30. Well, we hadn't arrived back at the hotel until well after midnight after seeing Money, and I had to put my feet up for 30 minutes or so before I could sleep. I pulled a chair up beside the bed and rested my legs from the knees to feet elevated above my butt to simulate my recliner at home. Not the least bit elegant, but it did the trick. A bit of reading or TV distracted from leg, knee, and feet discomfort long enough for me to unwind and prepare to sleep. Jan didn't like the light or TV on as he was ready to sleep much sooner than I. On the other hand, he was up closing the windows and fiddling with the curtains at 6:15 in the morning. I sat up and checked the alarm clock then went back to sleep until the 7:10 wake-up call. The clock had stopped at 6:45! What gives!?! Anyway, we were showered, dressed, and finished breakfast by 8:00, out the hotel door and off to catch the tube to Waterloo station. We got there at 8:45, stood in line to get tickets combined with our Oyster cards (like TTC passes) and made the 9:15 to Salisbury - a lovely compfy fast ride with 4 seats to ourselves, facing pairs, with a table between. The porter brought a cart of refreshments - how civilized! I had a cappucino and a candy bar.

Sheila met us at the station and took us on a whirlwind tour of the old central part of Salisbury accompanied by all sorts of interesting bits of history and story. We walked through the marketplace that has held a charter for markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays for hundreds of years.
We took a picture at the butter cross ( or was it the cheese cross?), looked at the guild hall, the old china shop that is now a chain store,

and had a cup of coffee in the Red Lion pub which we entered through a beautiful old carriage driveway and a courtyard hung with vines and flowers. There was a typical British lion near the door enamelled Chinese red. Sheila proudly showed us a map and explained that the village had a grid of streets that created 6 square blocks, which were called checkers, and each one had a name.

Our walkabout was followed by another hair-raising trip down narrow roads, twisting and turning through the countryside until we came to the Black Horse country pub where we stopped for lunch.

This was a great old place, a couple of guys with their dog sitting outside, trees and fields falling away around it, and terrific food, of course: beer and cider for Jan and I, the prawns for Sheila and I, fish pie for Jan (potato and cheese topping rather than pastry), and sticky toffee pudding for dessert - mine with custard and Jan's with cream. Ah!

It was time then for Sheila to take us home to Firsdown where she shares a house with Brian and Brenda. Its back yard sloped up to a wonderful view over the top of a hill where far below we could just make out the cut of the old Roman Road. It was one of the few remaining chalk meadows in the area, covered with lichens and wildflowers and rabbit scrapes. Brian was having a rabbit fence installed - the same tough wire grid that surrounds our vegetable patch at home. We could see how hard it must have been to dig into the chalk and flints through such a thin covering of vegetation.

Sheila showed us around the house, the family memorabilia. We had a good visit with all three, and Jan gave them the USB drive full of old Thompson photos that he had assembled. Sheila had to leave early to meet the choir, so Brian made us tea - our first taste of scones,strawberry preserves, and clotted cream. Oh, my, god!!! Too good to begin to describe. Brian and Brenda were not going to the concert so a lovely friend of Sheila's picked us up for yet another white knuckle trip (we were beginning to get used to driving conditions) to the old red brick and stone country church, reportedly built under the direction of Christopher Wren. There was an old almshouse across the road. The choir of about 20 entertained the audience with a great selection of standards and show tunes, interspersed with solos by a guest soprano and the choir master himself. At intermission, refreshments were served on the lawn (I had expected tea and a plate of biscuits, but there was wine, and both sweet and savory snacks), door prizes were drawn, and Sheila introduced us as having interrupted our vacation to attend. No way!

Seeing her was the very reason I had wanted to make the trip in the first place. It was just great. We really enjoyed the day and the concert. Sheila got us back to the station in Salisbury on time to make our train. We got into London on time to catch the last subway to Earls Court. It was the best day.

Goin' to the Shunt Yard

Friday, July 9
London, Day 4
This may have been our longest day. We did a lot and loved every minute of it.
My first choice was a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Glenys, our petite guide was extremely knowledgeable about the theatre and its history. The backstage and upper reaches ended up off-limits due to an unexpected rehearsal to replace one of the actors. Not a problem - Glenys filled in the time quite nicely and led us into the seats to watch some of the rehearsal. I bought a few souvenirs in the shop before we left, very happy with the tour.

It was too hot a day to linger on the river bank,


so we hopped onto one of the fast river ferries for the trip down the river to the London Eye.












That was really fun, providing unexpected views of the city.













We grabbed a bite to eat at the (anything but) Zen cafe, a noisy and hectic tea room.

Refreshed, we managed the walk across the Milenium Bridge to Westminster Abby.






















At the far side of the bridge was a wonderful bronze of Boadicia in full war regalia. Got a few good shots of her.














Westminster Abbey was truly awesome in it's age and burden of history.























The building itself felt almost overpowering with footsteps echoing on the marble floor and arches towering above. After the opulence of St. Paul's it seemed austere but the grandeur of the burial sites and memorials was unmistakable. So many of the greatest of British figures were buried or commemorated there. We visited the graves of Queen Elizabeth and Mary, of all the many kings and nobles, of the great scientists like Darwin, of explorers and politicians, poets and authors. Too many to relate - it is something that must be experienced in the moment. Facinating to see and to read. Another thing that I loved is that momuments and death masks that survived the great fire in the 1660's were there to see in their scarred state. We stayed until visitors were ushered out for the start of a service. I should also mention that the docents at Westminster were particularly kind and accommodating, helping us to find Darwin, for instance, to make sure that we were able to visit him before that section closed. Lesson learned from previous sites that closed down by sections.
I had been in touch with a cousin, Yvonne Sell, who agreed to meet us at the end of her workday on Grosvener Street so we hopped on the tube and headed for Belgravia. Woo-whoo! Another amazing part of London! Wasn't I just keen on looking her up at the brilliant white building that we found at the end of our journey, and thinking how much fun it was going to be walking in all grubby at the end of a touristy day to an immaculate foyer and asking for her. Ack! As luck would have it a text arrived just as we mounted the stairs, instructing us on where to find her at a pub tucked away in a mews 2 blocks further along.

No mistaking Yvonne - we recognized each other immediately as Cadeaus (my mother's family) and got on like a house afire over a couple of ales for her and Jan and cider for me.

So much fun to meet Tim's little sister, youngest of the Sell brood and another strong independent female member of my extended family. She is a management consultant by trade and a rock climber for fun. Neato! We kept it brief as she had to pack for a weekend of climbing and we were due at the Shunt Yard by 9.
Jamie worked the box office for the Shunt Theatre and had invited us to see their play Money, highly recommended by Erin. So off we went on the tube again to Tower Bridge station. We had to walk a number of blocks through questionable underpasses beneath the tracks. But the twilight and the lighting kept us feeling safe and comfortable. We arrived in time but with no time to eat so we grabbed seats at a atable inside and waited for the show to begin. What a show it was! A contemporary piece of collaborative experimental theatre, Money challenged audience members to go along for the ride, to trust and cooperate through scenes of repetitious und loud machine sound, darkness, characters whose lines and actions were not entirely obvious, but were intriguing nonetheless. The main theme was one of greed, the recurring question "what do you want?", and while the answer appeared to be "money" there were suggestions re love, belonging, family as well as references or swipes at corporate corruption, Nazism, and indidelity. And probably much else that I can't recall at the moment. Great fun! Thoughtful, clever, provocative and along with the astonishing machanistic tri-level performance space and set,completely brilliant. We were exhillerated and exhausted by the time we emerged at the end. Too tired and too late to buy Jamie a drink. So we said thank you and good night and headed backl to the Ibis. With the trip to Salisbury demanding early rising the next day, we were anxious to turn in and get a good night's sleep.

Finding Harry at the National Museum

Thursday, July 8
London, Day 3

Well, memory of exactly what we did every day is becoming a blur, but our photos tell me that on Thursday we went to the National Museum. We took it easy that morning, ate late, and returned to our room to call Sheila in Salisbury to confirm arrangements regarding visit there on the 10th. She seemed thrilled about it and agreed to meet our morning train and get us back to the station in time for the last one that night. On our way for the rest of the day, we stopped for lunch at the local pub and chatted with the Australian waitress a bit. We have noticed that most people who serve us at the hotel and restaurants are from elsewhere. She followed a boyfriend home to Engand and he is in school.
After checking the tube map we set out for the museum. Ooooh and aaaahhh!!! Free. Accessible. Remarkable artifacts and splendid exhibits.
We concentrated on the ancient Sumarian,
Greek, and Roman pieces on the first floor,









saw the Rosetta Stone,














and marvelled at the age, beauty and detail of the art.
However, I got a bit sad after awhile about something to do with the distruction that preceded these exhibits.

Many of the sculptures were torn from ancient ruins, or had been vandalized on site. Some important bits and pieces were missing from their body parts.
Still, a wonder.
After a tea break we went up to the rooms of ancient British finds. The Time Team had been busy!
One neat thing was the tile floor from one of the turrets we had visited at the Tower of London.















Another was that among some ivory carvings, I found Harry, the Viking mascot for Wexford Collegiate Scool for the Arts, which is where I work.
We ended our visit in the reading room, which was air conditioned and a blessed relief. It was really a very hot day!
I convinced Jan that the bus would be faster, but this time I was proved wrong. Just because a bus was at a street corner did not mean we could board it. So we gave chase and probably got half way to Piccadilly before we finally got on.

Jamie was waiting for us there and we walked to China Town to eat dinner - excellent food! - and had a great visit with him. He is working temp jobs and volunteering at the Shunt Yard theatre box office so he was able to plan to do the festivals for the summer, working or volunteering at many of them. Hope he has a blast! After dinner we walked back to Trafalgar Square to check out the Sadlers Wells installation called Slow Dance.
I knew there would be projected images because we had seen the technicians setting up three big screens on our first visit. However, I was hoping that there would be actual dancers as well. No such luck. Three synchronized films were being projected, each a single image of a dancer performing jumps and turns in various genres of dance, like ballet, modern and hip hop. After awhile one of the images would fade out to be replaced by different dancer and style. We could only watch for so long, but two things happened before we finally turned away. I offered my cane to a one-legged man in a wheelchair to assist him in standing at the rail above the square to watch the films. Also a young boy down in the square began to imitate some of the movement in the films. When we were done, we said goodnight to Jamie and headed for the hotel. We stopped back in at the neighborhood pub for one drink just before last call. Had to laugh. One tourist couple didn't take them seriously and ended up finishing their bottle of wine and beer out on the sidewalk. When they say 'closed' here, they mean it!