School Trip

I accompanied Dylan's class on a school trip by streetcar.
His class has been studying bridge and building structures and stability. So, it was only appropriate that we start our journey at Toronto's most famous structure, the CN Tower. My fear of heights came back as I watched my son playing on the glass bottom floor 583 m in the sky.
Later we went on a walking tour of some beautiful structures such as the Union train station, BCE place and Skywalk.

The trip concluded with a visit to hear the Toronto Symphony at Roy Thomson Hall.

Lunch with my Father

My father recently returned from a vacation in Cuba (he was there when Fidel Castro announced his retirement). He took me for 2 1/2h lunch at a nice Italian (of course) restaurant. It was good to catch up as I have found the post-Christmas time to be very hectic....everyone is busy hibernating and working and I have not seen many people that I normally see. This was a nice interlude from life's craziness. The next day my sister called and we agreed to make a point of getting together over the next couple of weeks.

Collingwood Dinner

We have been travelling to Collingwood to ski every weekend. This weekend we had a fabulous dinner at a resort restaurant, within our own private dining room equipped with bigscreen TV and audio system! We dined with "old" friends which I say in both a figurative and literal meaning as these are people with which we have been teaching Track 3 for over 12 years.
Dylan Entertained Himself with his Book

Winterlude in Ottawa

We had the good fortune to spend WINTERLUDE in the city of Ottawa with my in-laws. During this winter festival we visited the beautiful (but melting) ice sculptures.

We skated Canada's longest skating rink (i.e. canal) with Grandma.

Our tradition is to always eat a hot beavertail (pastry) after our exercise and have a maple syrup taffy dipped in the snow.

In the evening we had a lovely dinner at an avant garde restaurant with our (always photogenic) friends Daniella and Bill.

The next day we got together again, this time with our children to play their new Wii game, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). This is an energetic game where you compete in dancing contests. This was even more fun for the adults and I was surprised to see even the men dancing to Madonna!

Andrew and Bill in a Dancing Battle!

The Next Generation Also in Dance Battle!

Baby Dylan Does Karate

This is one of my favourite videos of Dylan as a baby. His Aunt Arleen is helping him learn some karate moves. Press PLAY for this 20 sec video.

Don't Worry....my Mom's a Nurse!

A Nurse Practioner has started orientation in our Palliative Care Unit. I realized that she and I had worked together at St. Joseph Health Centre, Emergency Department in 2003. Dylan would have been 4 years old. She began to laugh when she saw me and said she wanted to share a vivid memory of me. During the summertime, all the emergency department physicians and nurses were invited to an outdoor bbq, along with our families. Our children were being entertained by jumping on a bouncy castle when one child fell off and began to cry.

Casey clearly remembers my son Dylan running over to the boy, putting his hands up to calm the adults (i.e. emergency doctors and nurses) and shouting out, "DON'T WORRY EVERYONE, MY MOM IS A NURSE!!"

SHROVE Tuesday (Pancake Tuesday)

Today was SHROVE Tuesday or PANCAKE Tuesday and we were invited by neighbours to their church for a pancake supper.

Shrove Tuesday is a term used mainly in the U.K. and Canada and comes from the word "shrive" shich means to confess. Since the middle ages people were encouraged to confess before Lent began. In the french language it is MARDI GRAS (grease or fat Tuesday). Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent (and the the day by which time all fats and cream had to be used up, hence the making of pancakes). It is a time for celebration and penitence before Lent begins.

Lent begins on ASH Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday. Lent lasts for forty days (not including Sundays) and ends the day before Easter Sunday (March 23, 2008). The forty days marks the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering through the desert and the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert.

During Lent Christians would fast as a way to remember the 40 days that Jesus spent alone while fasting and facing temptation by the devil.

School's Out! Snow Day!

A snowstorm dumped 25 cm of snow on Toronto this past Friday. At around 11:30am Dylan's school decided to close and the teachers began to call parents to come and pick up their children. This was highly unusual because the last snow day called by the Toronto District School Board was 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, I had just come off several night shifts and I was asleep with the phone ringer off and my white-noise machine on. The school called our home, my cell phone, and finally they contacted Andrew. Andrew phoned and phoned but could not rouse me. Finally, he called our neighbour who came pounding on our front door. I finally made it to the school around 1:30. Here is a photo of Dylan, heartbroken, as he was lead away from school (NOT!)

Dylan was able to spend the day making a wonderful snow fort in our neighbour's yard and enjoying some decent snowfall.

Winterlicious

Our city tries several things to help make the winter months pass quickly. One such event is the three-week long dining extravaganda named "Winterlicious". For a "prix fixe" of $25 one can dine on a three-course meal at some of Toronto's top restaurants. Reservations can be obtained from Sun - Thurs only.

I had the opportunity of dining with three ladies from my street on Sunday. We had a very unique ceasar salad, Tandori salmon and a trio of creme brulees. Since we had booked our reservation during the heart of SuperBowl Sunday we, along with several other ladies and a handful of gay men, had the pick of the seats at a fine restaurant.

Bon Appetite!

New York, NY

I went to New York City for a workshop with the agency that I hope to volunteer with: ICEHA (International Centre for Equal Healthcare Access). For those of you who do not know, I am hoping to volunteer in Africa this year with a healthcare professional mentoring program that assists with AIDS education/treatment. I was introduced to this program by a colleague who also spoke at this workshop.
Martin addressing the workshop group

This workshop was a prerequisite prior to the next step of pairing me up with a country/program match.

I arrived in New York City for the third time in my life. I was fortunate to find a downtown reasonable-priced hotel....with the caveat that I share a bathroom with the other hotel guests. This hotel had character! It was like a neglected grand dame sitting among a party of social inferiors. After I checked in I was happy to find an old-fashioned elevator equipped with a metal sliding door, and, what I thought was a doorman. An elderly man was in the elevator when it arrived at my floor. Right away he said "Welcome to Hotel 31" and proceeded to grab my suitcase and asked for my roomkey. As we rode the elevator up I took a good look at him. He was wearing a pair of worn slippers and an old wool vest. Now, I know I may be Canadian, but I wasn't born yesterday. As he showed me my closet-sized room and pointed to the bathroom down the hall, it became apparent that he was a resident of this building looking for a little extra cash...my inauguration to NYC began.

Hotel Elevator

My hotel was in walking distance to so many attractions. Every morning and night I would walk past the Empire State Building.

I discovered the way to avoid lineups was to do all the touristy things late at night. Below is the lineup to go up the Empire State building at 10:30pm.

And this is the view from up top (with me gripping the side of the building as I point and shoot the camera in a random fashion).

I LOVED New York City at nighttime (and hated its dismal, dirty appearance in the daytime). I wandered through Broadway and Times Square on a Friday night and this city was ALIVE!

However, it was annoying to see an army recruitment station set up right in the middle of Times Square (desperate times means desperate measures)

As I meandered around the city I noticed some neat items such as this elevator parking lot...

......this underground conveyer belt (underground shipping area??)

....this gold-leafed building ediface.

.....the sheer number of Orthodox Jews.

....the BLADE RUNNER style subway plasma TV screen.

.....plasma TV screens inside every Taxi Cab.

Overall I had a great experience and I'd love to return again someday as I barely scratched the surface.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

I will let you in on a little secret about me. I LOVE Ripley's "Believe it or Not" cartoons. I love his strange bits of trivia and I especially love his museums. So, I HAD to go to the Ripley's museum in NY.

Leroy (Robert) Ripley was an artist and explorer born in 1890. He travelled the world seeking bizzare and unusual items to put into his international cartoon.

You tend to see the same stuff in every museum....but I still like the old classics. There are his shrunken head collections from South America. I found this one to be interesting because it is negroid and therefore was a poor African slave who had been unwillingly brought to that continent and then had the further misfortune of being beheaded by Indian natives.

Of course you must see the coiled-neck women and their X-rays which reveal that the "stretched" necks are only an illusion. It is the clavicle bone and ribs which have been forced in a downward position which gives the appearance of an elongated neck.

Of course no exhibit would be complete without the African exhibits of self-mutilation with the lip and ear pearcing. Of course, now it popular to see middle-aged women with tattoos and piercings which only goes to show that what is old is new again!

My Home Cooking

I have been trying to improve my home cooking now that my mentor, Kelly Peckham, is back in town. Tonight I tried to may homemade cookies...all on my own. The recipe stated to freeze the cookied and to eat directly from the freezer.

Dylan took one bite and out popped a tooth (which had not been loose prior to this event). I give up!

Matt's Visit to Toronto

Matt came to visit us for 5 days over the new year. We had a fun family ski day.
The boys took in a MARLIES hockey game.

We had several rousing games of Laserquest.

Over the holidays we rented both Star Wars trilogy DVD sets (approximately 14 hours of Star Wars viewing). As a result, we have created a new Star Wars GEEK --- Dylan. Matt was very patient while playing the Wii Lego Star Wars game over and over and over with Dylan.

New Years Eve

I was amazed to find a nurse willing to work my New Year's Eve shift and so I found myself available for (2) parties in our neighbourhood. We had the added bonus of picking up Matthew from the airport who arrived to spend one week with us.

Our hosts Bal and Sean provided entertainment until the Midnight countdown.

Afterwards, Dylan and I went to bed while Andrew and Matt left for party number 2 at Brad and Julie's house.

Their hosts just had a baby 4 weeks ago! However, they are committed to hosting the New Year celebration on an annual basis.
Brad and Julie
Andrew and Matt danced and sang until 4:00am!

Two Peas in a Pod I leave him alone for one minute.........
Belting out the Blues

Christmas in Antigua (tis the season of illness)

Mum Thomas had spent a whole year planning our Christmas vacation in Antigua. She had planned the vacation spot, the flights, the meals, the gifts, the activities....everything was perfect. Unfortunately, what we discovered, was that you cannot plan for illness.

The first week of the vacation was Andrew's brother's family time in Antigua and the whole family came down with gastroenteritis, including their toddler. Fortunately, they were on the mend by the time we had arrived for our Christmas photo.

Proud Grandma with Grandsons
Greg, Arleen and Kai

The day after we arrived Dylan came down with fever, headache, extreme malaise, and then laryngitis. Poor boy, he couldn't talk and could hardly drag himself to the beach just to rest. He had no appetite and and twice he VOMITED while in a restaurant (he ran out sobbing both times over the embarrassment). I must admit, by Day 3 I became very concerned about Dylan....his behaviour was sooooo atypical and the fever had not abated, instead it was worse. I began to doubt my abilities as a nurse and especially as a mother. During a sudden panic attack with visions of endocarditis dancing in my head, I suddenly bundled him off to see a pediatrician. She also did not think he had a bacterial infection and so it was back to symptomatic treatment for a viral infection.

We still managed to squeeze in a few normal activities during the first 4 days of Dylan's illness.

Opening presents on Christmas Day

Santa came to visit Antigua via a rubber dingy.

Andrew and I managed to spend a morning visiting St. John and saw the cruise ships in port.

At nighttime, Andrew and I made the most of the evening entertainment. I must admit, they put on great performances with a Carnivale Parade, Antiguan dance numbers and great bands. One night we had a beach bonfire with fire dancing.

Andrew and Dylan went sailing on a Hobie Kat.

Everyday we had scattered showers. But, they were brief and refreshing.

Since this was a mainly British tourist destination, there was CRICKET on the beach instead of football.

Arleen made a magnificent sand and seashell sculpture of a mermaid.

We relaxed on the beach to watch the "suitcase head" ladies sell their wares.

This was the first year that we had an all-inclusive meal plan and we LOVED it. No worries about grocery shopping and meal preparation. The meals were great and we were shocked to see Mum going back for seconds at mealtime. Furthermore, Mum would enjoy her cucumber sandwiches at High Tea and then still be able to eat a full dinner at the late hour of 6:30pm. Tee hee hee....it was very entertaining to see Mum enjoy her meals this much!

By Day 5 Dylan had 50% of his energy level back and we were able to go ZIP- LINING through the treetop canopy of the rainforest.

Dylan coming in for a landing while yelling like TARZAN

By Day 6 Dylan had 60% of his energy level back and we were able to go sailing on a KATAMORAN to Bird Island where we say thousands of migrating butterflies.

Dylan was allowed to steer our dingy back from snorkeling to the KATAMORAN

Day 7 and Dylan finally felt like socializing (slightly) with other children on the beach...

....and playing pool.

Andrew did not escape the gastroenteritis. Three hours after we returned from our vacation he was up all night with severe abdominal cramping and vomiting.

Ah yes.......Christmas 2007.....the year of illness. May we be truly grateful to God for our health and wellness.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and a HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL!