B is for BREEZY

Round 9, Fifth Year, Letter B this week! I love ABC Wednesdays as it keeps my creative juices flowing. Thanks to Denise Nesbitt and the ABCW team for keeping things going this long!

As I explained last week, my theme for this round is a form of poetry that combines a feeling or emotion with similes and metaphors. It's something I taught my 4th grade students years ago, something they picked up on very easily and with great creativity. Hope you enjoy this week's B word.

BREEZY

Breezy is bright yellow.

It looks like waves on the seas.

It sounds like lambs on the leas.

It smells like honey from bees.

It tastes like sweet herbal teas.

It feels like wind in the leaves.

Breezy is a huge hug and hello!

Boys and their toys

It was a lovely Friday today (for a change) so I met a friend for a mini picnic down at Garry Point in Steveston. It was a nice couple of hours watching all the boats going in and out and watching little boys play with sticks in the water. Here's a little slideshow of what I saw. Enjoy.

A is for AMAZEMENT

And away we go again - Round 9 of ABC Wednesday, courtesy and brainchild of Denise Nesbitt! Last round, I focused on "destinations," ones that I had actually visited (except for the letters X and Z).

I took my time thinking about what to do for this round, and last night I had a brainwave. I hope you enjoy what I'm going to do. Let me explain.

When I taught Grade 4, I had to teach Grammar. Now, most people will groan when they have to study parts of speech, sentence structure, and writing paragraphs and essays. I, however, LOVE grammar and wanted to make it fun fun fun for the kids. So after we learned about nouns being a person, place, or thing, I explained that nouns can also be words that express a feeling or an emotion. I also introduced them to the literary devices of similes and metaphors and then incorporated the entire thing into a fun exercise of writing a poem about a feeling or emotion.

We used the 5 senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to make up similes. The beginning of the poem needed to have a colour and the end had to be a metaphor. We practised in class before I gave the go-ahead to the class, and I was absolutely AMAZED at the creativity from each student. To incorporate other aspects of their learning experience (using the computer, learning to type plus Art), each child was allowed to choose a font and typed up their poem before gluing it to an appropriate piece of coloured construction paper. I then had them laminated before displaying them in the hallway outside the classroom.

One parent was so impressed with this exercise, she wrote her own poem of thanks to me as her child's teacher using this same format. I have that note to this day. I hope you enjoy my attempt at doing what I taught all my fourth graders:

AMAZEMENT

Amazement is white light.
It looks like fireworks lighting up the sky.
It sounds like a baby’s first cry.
It smells like fresh-baked apple pies.
It tastes like the fair’s French fries.
It feels like a hug from my favorite guy.
Amazement is the aurora borealis at night.

To view other contributions or to join in, just click here and you'll be taken to the homepageof ABC Wednesday.

Z is for ZULU

Here we are at the end of another round of ABC Wednesday (courtesy of Denise Nesbitt) and I think I did pretty well this time. I chose "Destinations" as my theme and I managed every week (except X) to post the name of a place where I have actually been. However, now at the letter Z, I have to detour a bit. I've never been to any place beginning with the last letter of the alphabet so I had to have a real hard think about what to do this week. I decided to do a post about the movie "Zulu," which happens to be one of my favourite old (from 1964) movies. Michael Caine landed one of the starring roles in this movie after having played only bit parts up to this point in his career.

The film depicts the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January, 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War. I'll never forget one night when I was in bed almost asleep when suddenly I heard a haunting and frightening chant: ZULU! ZULU! ZULU! It turned out my parents were watching the movie on TV and I heard the chanting of the Zulu warriors before they attacked the British.

It's almost unbelieveable that the few British soldiers were able to hold off the Zulu warriors for as long as they did, but it was because of their use of the redoubt system when the British formed into three ranks, shooting volley after volley into the stunned Zulus, who eventually withdrew after massive casualties.

Apparently, there were many historical inaccuracies in the film regarding characters, the regiment, weaponry, the Zulus, and the ending. However, in 2004, the magazine Total Film named "Zulu" the 37th greatest British films of all time and it was voted eighth in the British TV programme The One Hundred Greatest War Films. Take a look at this short section of the film and tell me you wouldn't have been scared sh**less had you been one of those soldiers!

A New Bucket List

Three and a half years ago and as one of my life's goals, I wrote "One thing I thought would be awfully nice would be to meet and marry a wonderful man who would give me the freedom to live as I dream..." Well, I did meet someone whom I thought was wonderful but who turned out to be someone with whom I could not live the same sort of life of which I dream. I'm a planner, and I like to think about what I want in life and then set about to make it happen. So I got to thinking about exactly what I do want in life and remembered that movie "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In the movie, these two characters realize just how short life is and decided to make a list of goals they wanted to reach before the end that would inevitably come.

I took a look at the goals I had 3 1/2 years ago, and saw that I can cross some out, revise others, continue to work on the ones I haven't yet achieved, and add new ones. Here's my new list:

*Tour the coast of Wales, visit friends who live there, and visit Llandudno where my paternal grandmother was born
* Finish the renovations in my house
* Ride in a helicopter
* Take a Mediterranean and/or Caribbean cruise
* Go back to England and meet all the wonderful ladies I've met blogging and on Facebook
* Spend a week in Paris absorbing the culture
* Take a photography course in Tuscany
* Go on an African safari
* Get a dog, preferably a boxer

Now how on earth am I going to be able to do all that? There are two problems: money and health. First, since I'm gaining a good reputation as a private tutor, I'll keep on with that until my brain no longer works. Second, I'll try to keep mobile as long as my back holds out and if I end up in a wheelchair, I'll get to go to the front of all the lines at the airports, train stations, and cruise ships. Hah! So there!

Things NOT on my bucket list because I have no ability, desire, or guts for:

* get a tattoo
* go sky diving
* go scuba diving
* run a marathon
* learn to pole dance
* take cooking classes
* go camping ever again

I noticed that one person put on their bucket list that they wanted to be in two places at one time! Now how could you do that? Well, I've done it! When I went up the Pyrenees from the French side, I had one foot in France and one foot in Spain! And I have the photograph to prove it.

I love to dream, yet I understand that some prefer to fly by the seat of their pants. However, I think the dreaming and the planning is like preparing for Christmas! I've decided that I deserve to be happy and to enjoy my life to its fullest and if anyone wants to join me (on their own dime, naturally) I'd love to share the moments.

What dreams/goals do you have? Or are you the spontaneous type?

Y is for YALE

Sorry I missed last week's letter X, but my computer was in the shop. Of course, I really didn't have a destination beginning with that letter (that I'd actually visited). Anyway, I'm back this week with YALE, no not the university town, but a historic place right here in British Columbia.

The town is located at the southern entrance to the spectacular Fraser Canyon and is one of BC's oldest communities, having been the steamship navigation capital during the Gold Rush. Before the Coquihalla Highway was completed in 1986, we always travelled this route to get to our cabin at Shuswap Lake. The famous explorer Simon Fraser camped here in 1808 after his horrendous trip down the river that now bears his name. Why was it a horrendous trip? The Fraser River is famous for its rapids. Hell's Gate is a narrowing of the river where the water roils in a tremedous maelstrom. It's a sight to see and a "hellish" experience for the more than 2 million spawning salmon who need to get through this part of the river every year. You can safely experience this area by hopping on the Hell's Gate Airtram in nearby Boston Bar OR you can experience it "hellishly" by riding the rapids yourself. Other things to see and do in YALE:

* step into the past when you visit the Church of St. John the Divine, the oldest church in BC, built in 1863 to serve those seeking their fortune during the Gold Rush.
* the Pioneer Cemetery has headstones dating back to 1862. * hike the Spirit Caves Trail with fabulous views of the Fraser River Canyon and the Cascade Mountains. The caves emit an eerie whistling sound when strong winds blow. The views are fabulous once you reach the summit of the Mount Lincoln Trail.
















* go on a guided walking tour of YALE, where you'll see the original Fort Yale, founded in 1847, on Front Street. Down on the waterfront, look for the old rings embedded in the rocks to moor the old sternwheelers at the riverboat landing that was here between 1858 and 1885.

For tourists, it's absolutely de rigeur to travel the Trans Canada Highway along the Fraser Canyon! The views are spectacular and you'll be travelling the same route as those men of old who went seeking their fortunes by panning for gold.

ABC Wednesday is the brainchild of Denise Nesbitt, from Yorkshire England! Some of her mighty assistants are Yankees, others might be Yodelers, some are Young while others may just be Youthful in spirit like Moi. Regardless, we all Yearn for a connection with others via this very popular meme. I enjoy it because it challenges me to come up with something original each week - I'm already thinking about what theme I'll use for the next Round. To join in the fun, click here. The more the merrier.

W is for WINNIPEG

The first time I visited Winnipeg, in the prairie province of Manitoba (which, by the way, has over 110,000 lakes)was in 1972 when I travelled by car with my best friend and her family. They were living there at the time, so I was able to stay with them and see all the sights. I still have the photos I took that summer, but remember those old sticky-type photo albums? Well, they are well stuck so I can't use them here. However, the internet has lots of great photos, so thanks to Google and Yahoo, you can see some right here.












The name "Winnipeg" comes from the Cree for "muddy waters" because it lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. It was a trading center for Aboriginals before the arrival of Europeans, the first fort being built by the French in 1738. Many of these French traders, and later British, married First Nations women and their mixed-race children were called Metis. It was one of these children who grew up to become Louis Riel, the leader of the famous Red River Rebellion, which paved the way for Manitoba to become the fifth province in Canada. You can read more history at Wikipedia here.
I remember our visit to the Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, which has been named as one of the top ten national historic sites in the country by Canada's History Magazine. It was a lot of fun watching costumed interpreters recreate life in the early 1850's. It was interesting to see original walls and buildings, participate in hands-on activities and view original furnishings. You can read about the fort's history here.

When I visited in 1972, we went to the Assiniboine Park Zoo and I clearly recall seeing polar bears there. Other animals you can see there now include deer, bison, elk, bears, lions, monkeys, koalas, yaks, camels, and zebra. There is also currently a "Boo at the Zoo" and a Pumpkin Patch, both Halloween events.
















An interesting story that comes out of Winnipeg is the fact that Winnie the Pooh was named after a Canadian black bear that Christopher Robin, son of A.A. Milne, used to often see at the London Zoo. The story goes that this particular black bear had been purchased from a hunter for $20.00 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in Ontario and named it "Winnie" after his hometown Winnipeg. Colebourn sneaked Winnie into England during WW1, and left him at the zoo in London while he went off to fight the war in France. After the war, Winnie was officially donated to the zoo, where Christopher Robin saw him. Of course, the toy bears have been practically every child's favourite toy from then until now. Below are the original Winnie the Pooh bear (left) and the one we know today and the one my children had when they were small (right).














I hope you've enjoyed your little virtual tour of Winnipeg, Canada's 7th largest municipality. And if you like perogies or cabbage rolls, be sure to visit Brandon, just 132 miles or 212 kms west of Winnipeg. We stopped there on our way from Vancouver to Ottawa in 1987 and had the most delicious perogies ever! It's because of the high number of Ukranians living in the area. Yummy!
ABC Wednesday is the brainchild of Mrs. Nesbitt who is now assisted by a whirlwind of wonderful assistants, moi included. Check out the ABCW site and join in!

V is for VANUATU and VANCOUVER

I cannot believe we're almost at the end of Round 4 of ABC Wednesday. My theme this time is "Destinations," in case you haven't noticed, and I've been saving Vanuatu for some time now. So far, I've used destinations that I have actually been to, but I must admit I'd never even heard of Vanuatu until a few months ago.

Here is the story. My friend Cathy was on disability for several months while she underwent some medical treatments. She regularly received her cheques from our provider in Michigan, USA. One month when her cheque didn't arrive, she phoned long distance to have a new cheque made up. Many months later, what should arrive in her mailbox but the missing cheque. It had been sent to none other than Vanuatu, a group of islands off the northwest coast of Australia! I googled the name and saw that it's a gorgeous tropical place full of white, sandy beaches and palm trees - a veritable paradise for honeymooners and tourists. I'm sure Cathy's mail had a wonderful voyage, but she would have preferred it to arrive in a more timely manner. Here's a copy of the enVelope.


Now I must use VANCOUVER this week because it is my home town, a place where I was born and where I've live most of my life. I'm sure you all remember only a little over a year go when we were hosts for the Olympics and the town went wild with excitement when both the Men's and Women's Canadian hockey teams won GOLD medals! Well, let me tell you about the excitement raging in the streets, restaurants, bars, homes, and - well, EVERYWHERE right now as the VANCOUVER CANUCKS hockey team vie for the STANLEY CUP. If they win, they will bring the cup back to Canada, where it originated and where it belongs!

We are vieing against the Boston Bruins, who last won the cup in 1972, but since the Canucks entered the league in 1970, they have never won it. You can read about it here on Wikipedia. Tonight is Game #6 and the Canucks are leading 3 games to 2. If they win tonight in Boston, they win the cup and will fly home victorious! If not, the final game will be on Wednesday here in Vancouver. Both teams desperately want the cup and both teams have been playing hard, forcing the two goalies to stay alert to their utmost ability. You can be sure that whichever team wins, there will be victory parades and victory parties while the other team will go home to drown their sorrows.

BELIEVE IN BLUE!
GO CANUCKS!

Update: They're gonna win at home on Wednesday!

Weather means more when you garden.

We've had the wettest and coldest April and May in 50 years! It's been absolutely miserable with furnaces on full blast, rain pouring down, the wind blowing, and everyone's temper flaring! Unfortunately, magnolia blossoms were destroyed by frostbite and the cherry blossoms were literally washed off their tree branches, with the result that it looked like it was snowing pink snowflakes. The last few days, however, have been fairly sunny and fairly warm bringing us hope for a reasonable summer. Gardens are blooming late, but I did get some tulips in the back garden while only a few in the front garden appeared. The azalea and rhododendrons finally bloomed, but the flowers died off within a few days. The English poppies are doing well, though, and my irises (which didn't bloom last year) are blooming like crazy right now. I have a little "school" birdhouse nailed to the side of the house just outside my patio doors. Two years ago, some chickadees made a nest inside and raised a little family there. I was on the lookout last summer for them, but they didn't appear. But just the other day, I started hearing loud cheeping in the patio area and yesterday, lo and behold, there was a baby chickadee on the fence waiting as the mother flew back and forth feeding it. Any time I got near to the window, though, the whole family flew off into the tree by the fence. I'm glad the little school/birdhouse has become of more use than just being decorative. It makes it feel alive somehow. As I was saying good-bye to a student this evening, I glanced at my rose bushes in the front garden. Two of the three planted last year have survived and are doing very well, but the last one seems like it's gone. I guess I shall have to go and see about buying a replacement and hope it catches up with the other two. I already see lots of buds on the bushes and one particularly lovely red one just beginning to open.
We have been waiting impatiently for our weather to improve and finally, we're seeing action. Let us pray ....

U is for UNIVERSITY

Our destination this week is the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Click on the photos to enlarge - you'll probably be tempted to do so for the last few!

I entered the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia in the fall of 1965. At the time, I didn't think about the university's history; I was only concerned that this campus would be an important factor in my future. I had wanted to be a teacher from the time I began school and had never hesitated in my life plan.

The university is the oldest in British Columbia with the first lectures being held in September, 1915. Currently, there is an enrolment of 41,000 students on the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. You can look up the facts and figures about UBC by clicking on the green name above, but I'd like to tell you about some of the lovely places you can visit on the campus. First of all, it's only about 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver and is near many beaches and has gorgeous views of the North Shore mountains. The Pacific Spirit Regional Park serves as a green-belt between the campus and the city.
The campus is the home of the Nitobe Memorial Gardens, built to honour Japanese scholar Inazo Nitobe. This garden has been the subject of more than fifteen years' study by a UBC professor, who believes that its construction hides a number of impressive features, including references to Japanese philosophy and mythology, shadow bridges visible only at certain times of year, and positioning of a lantern that is filled with light at the exact date and time of Nitobe's death each year. (from Wikipedia)

When you visit the UBC campus, you must take a look at the Chan Center for the Performing Arts. Surrounded by evergreens and rhododendrons, this state of the art venue has 1200 seats in the concert hall, the flexible seating Telus Studio Theatre, the 160-seat Royal Bank Cinema, The Great Performers Lounge, and a glass lobby. I've had the pleasure of attending several concerts and plays here!

The university campus is almost like a small town unto itself as it offers not only lecture halls and seminar rooms, but also dormitories, apartments, non-student housing, clubs, restaurants, pubs, art galleries, an aquatic center, a hospital, and various churches. It was great for me because I lived on campus and seldom had to leave its environs. This is Dene House at Totem Park residences where I lived.

Although I didn't join a sorority during my years at UBC, I was secretary of the student council at Totem Park and I was "involved" with one particular fraternity. Yes, my first long-term boyfriend was a member of Sigma Chi and we went to many many parties and outings. I particularly remember dressing to the hilt for the "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" dance in a long green chiffon dress complete with elbow-length gloves, Mardi Gras, and one other dance where we dressed up as pioneers. Good memories. I wish I could find my old photo album that has the pictures from some of these events...but it's probably packed away in the crawl space under the stairs.

Here's an old scanned photo from Totem Park Residence's "The Wall" from 1967-68 - I was secretary of the council that year, here with the president leading a meeting.

And here I am acting in an all-too-familiar type of collegiate behaviour - swigging a beer! And one last one where I had the role of a "Playboy Bunny" in a skit. (can you spot my ears?)













I just KNEW you were curious as to what my life at UBC was like! And yes, I did get a well rounded education, including a teaching degree, believe it or not!

ABC Wednesday is the brainchild of Denise Nesbitt who now has an ultra-terrific host of assistants, including MOI. Click here to see the contributions this week.

T is for Taormina and Tuscany

Taormina, a small town on the east coast of Sicily, was the ultimate of my Italian trip in 2006! Our guide saved it for last in order to give us all the most splendid of memories to take home with us. Situated on the Ionian Sea, it boasts warm beaches and spectacular views of Mount Etna, which kindly gave us a display of smoke and fire on our first evening. Also, the Teatro Greco is one of the most celebrated ruins in Sicily, still used today for opera, theater, and concerts. You may have heard of the author Truman Capote...He wrote of his stay in Taormina between April 1950 and September 1951 in his essay "Fontana Vecchia." Tuscany, a region in central Italy, is known for its beautiful landscapes, its rich artistic legacy, and its influence on high culture. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I arrived in the fall of 2006 and kept my camera at the ready for all the photo ops that popped up everywhere I turned. The people are welcoming, the food is scrumptious, the wine flows, and views are incredible. Cities and villages are equally exciting wih all their stories of times past, especially of the Etruscans, who created the first major civilisation in this region. Our group stopped at a vineyard for some photos ops and we were lucky to have our own picture taken by someone passing by. We visited a winery and sampled several varieties, to the point where we were all feeling a tad tipsy. This is one of my favourite shots of me wine tasting.

Without a doubt, the region of Tuscany and the town of Taormina were the highlights of my trip to Italy in 2006. I wouldn't hesitate to return some day, preferably renting a villa and car somewhere so that I could feel a real part of the country and the people. There is also a place where I'd like to take a week-long course in photography. And although I do not consider myself a cook by any means, it might be fun to take a cooking course for a day. Finally, I'd like to see more of the museums and art galleries and absorb as much of the culture as possible. Never been? It's a must if at all possible!