The twelve (plus) days of Easter

On the first day of Easter,
the boys and I flew
to lands grey, cold but true


On the second day of Easter,
M sung Brahms great in Perth
dear friends welcomed us
with glad smiles and mirth


On the third day of Easter
it was cold and wet
Grandpa bought a Wii
and our children haven't let up yet

On the fourth day of Easter,
to Toronto we drove
to see old dear friends
our house, our treasure trove

On the fifth day of Easter
Back to B'ville we went
after haircuts and dinners
a concert and sorting
our stuff in a basement
my energies spent

On the sixth day of Easter
formal photos were taken
Great Grandma and all
had a good Friday feast
(a bit too much whiskey
meant to bed did we crawl!)


On the seventh day of Easter
the girls all went shopping
for clothing and dinner and
more booze, some champagne
all the better for popping!

On the eighth day of Easter
M sung for Christ's service
a crisis was averted
for baby's illness
that sent him to the ER
all made us nervous

On the ninth day of Easter
we went up to my lake
to play with a cousin
and catch rays on the dock
it was bug free and peaceful
and long naps did we take


On the tenth day of Easter
Back to Perth did we go
Shevelyn got a visit
lots of laughs and a meal
Return to the cottage,
M & M late that night
saw the stars brightly glow

On the eleventh day of Easter
monopoly was played
but we worked for our supper
wood chopping and raking
firewood for dinner
was a grateful trade

On the twelfth day of Easter
our journey near done
we celebrated our family
with a Rita visit,
another GG chat
and a party for fun.


And on the last day of Easter,
we packed all our bags
how come when you travel
luggage multiplies
but not the moments
nor minutes or days
except in the airport
those hours do drag!

It Ain't Rocket Science!

...or maybe it was...?


(for the geeks among my readers, notice M's name of the rocket is ENTERPRISE...)



Younger M and I just spent a weekend with a handful of other St. John's families at Euro Space Centre--what a trip it was! (AND let me leave that sounding as ambiguous as it is intended)!

In a nutshell here were our activities:

• human gyroscope participants
• space shuttle simulator pilots and Houston ground crew staff
• moon walkers/flag planters
• satellite technicians in 1/6 gravity
• centrifuge trainees/guinea pigs
• rocket engineers
• rocket pilots and recovery operations technicians

so now to the details...

It started with a very early Saturday morning ride in the teeming rain, sprinkled liberally with sleet, sheering winds and a good dollop of hydroplaning for 1.25 hours down the E411 towards Luxembourg. We didn't experience the hydroplaning ourselves, but the Mini Cooper right in front of us who swerved to take over a BMW was not so lucky. The Audi I was in manouvered gracefully to avoid being part of that tin crunch. Thankfully I wasn't driving: Peter, another parent accompanying his 11 year old volunteered to pick me up from my home and take all four of us. His child (A) is a student of another grade 5 teacher, and very (shall we say carefully...) active...M was a gem dealing with the antics of this only child of a very busy family with privileged status. We got to the location right on time, but the Centre wasn't ready for us...this was the beginning of a host of mis-communications and culture clashes for our (mostly north American and UK) troupe of 7 dads and 2 moms.

As we arrived, we got in, had a cup of coffee and then hunted the building for someone who looked in charge. When we found the individual, she said we had come in the wrong door, and to go out, around the construction site and down the hill to the lower doors. Of course, since it was raining still the adults sent the kids on ahead, and what did my little guy do, but wail about how A was beating him in an unfair race and then because he was doing more whining than navigating, slipped in the puddles and went ass-over-teakettle...right into the soaking wet grass. Not a happy kid! (I'm pretty sure I heard the SH_T!! word...).

We were the same number as they expected, but a few substitutions occurred since the documents had been received by the Centre--namely boy children for girls and dads for moms who had originally signed up. This meant that there were 10 boys overflowing two dorm rooms, 7 dads sharing a 5 bed dorm and one teen girl on her own while the two moms also had a dorm to myself. The hostess was beside herself when after that was dealt with (I volunteered the two women sleep with the 13-year old girl), she asked, "so, where are your sleeping bags?" to our blank stares and sputtering replies. It turns out our information said to bring nothing, and the centre's information had said "nothing will be provided". The joke was on us when with borrowed sheets and with handed-down towels we found there wasn't so much as a soap shard available for a shower in the morning. Five-star accomodations, these were not. If this activity happens again, I'll be sure to let the organizers know what lists of things we should carry to make the comfort of our cushy expatriates predictable (starting with the travelling mini-bar, a soccer ball or frizbee and a score of DVD's).

The day improved from there and we enjoyed engaging with the simulators, exhibits and models for the rest of the morning. Have a look at the video I've provided here of M in the gyroscope that simulates the freefall experienced by the Apollo 11's re-entry, July 1969.

creative, but not with taffeta or truffles...

Ah, the luxury of time. I've been off for a week of Carnival (a.k.a. mid-winter break), and have actually been very busy without leaving the house. I'm back to my "Becky-home-eckie" routine of cooking, baking, sewing, refinishing furniture and claiming domestic bliss on a budget...

It all came from reading a book at the same time as seeing a movie of the same story. Last Saturday afternoon, M the boys and I went to see the latest Bill Murray film called "The City of Ember" (La ville du l'ombre en francais) about a post-apocalyptic town underground that is past its best-before date...the city is dying, the supplies are running out and the generator has seen its best 200 years ago. Everyone is in patched clothing, reclaimed yarn sweaters, eating varieties of potato dishes and making do with pencil stubs, paper flattened from soup can labels and wondering when the lights will go out for good. The 12 year old heroine discovers the "instructions for egress" in tatters and she with the help of a friend find the way out to the surface. The book (of course) was better, but the movie was stunning in its cinematography and accuracy to the essence of the original story. Bill Murray was creepy as the villain, and having watched his career over the decades, has certainly done only films that he wants and will give him a chance to portray a variety of characters...in this one, think "Ground-hog day" meets "Lost in Translation"...

So back to the "living like its the depression" theme of this blog entry and my holiday:

What embarrasses me about my life-partner? No, its not his speedo or the ear-hair length contest he's having with himself--its his penchant for brocantes (yard sales) and gleefully pausing on Tuesday nights outside large piles of garbage... picking through for the diamonds among the nuggets...but this time I have to bow at the foot of the sensai. M found three really (no, I mean REALLY) dirty and broken down chairs of which he saw alone the potential--being Danish Modern. They only needed new seat covers, foam and some waxing and "wham-O!" 17 Euros later for supplies, we are the proud owners of three new chairs that have new black "leather" padded seats, polished bentwood backs and a new lease on life. They match perfectly with our other chairs as well (who have the same colours, but in reverse--black backs and legs, wood seats). I owe him an apology: I scoffed and walked away from them, and he wouldn't let me..they came home and now I welcome them since they're actually more comfortable than our originals (that I bought). If you recall, this is M's third success: the other two being the mirror and his lamp find...check out his blog history for more on those!

To continue on the patch-and-repair theme, D also is the beneficiary of 6 pairs of jeans snatched back from the goodwill bin by patching, stitching and fusing over the knees for just a few more months until the shorts come out of the bottom drawer. He's so hard on clothes: if it isn't chewing the cuffs of his shirts, its "break dancing" on cement or practicing his slide to third base through gravel. I hope he grows out of this, it costs me a lot in thread and time.

Ah, but the frugality isn't over: the sewing machine isn't just for mending, as I've been excited to sew again and all while learning more French...there's no greater incentive than a fab pattern in a french fashion magazine to get me to crack open the translation dictionary and fabric stash at the same time. The results this week have been a box-pleated skirt (shin length, perfect for boot wearing, since its still the season in this part of Europe until May for boots and scarves--two essential Belgian fashion accessories) and a yummy cranberry-red Faux suede blouse that is half finished.

Now the kitchen hasn't been ignored in all this family studies renaissance: this week its been chocolate chip cookies and banana muffins from scratch, a meatloaf and a really hearty red pepper soup also without any boost from Knorr or Kraft. To top it all off, a decadent (not dirty-thirties version, though) pan of brownies that took 400 grams of chocolate (noir du noir Cote D'or) and six (yes, I said 6) eggs along with the requisite cup or so of flour and the same of sugar. Suffice it to say that the batch is very intense and we're slowly nibbling our way through it. This is the kind of brownie that actually NEEDS whipped cream to cut the richness...yikes for our cholesterol levels!



Ah, but one can't live by oat bran and water alone, right? I'm just doing my part to show Dalton, Steve, Barrack and the those world leaders who had stocks in the the World Bank of Scotland...making sure I am comfortable with my frugal side from student living still.

And on a related note as to why I've not blogged in a while--my computer time has been taken up with other more pressing activities: a six week online course on how to use interactive whiteboard presentation software--a serious challenge to my creative skills!

The weekend is almost upon us. I have marking still to do and the final assignments for this online course that has taken me four weeks so far. The main thing I've learned from this is that I am not very good as a virtual student. I either work too hard at the task/assignment or not enough without the support, encouragement and guidance of a real-live instructor and classmates. This course really put M out: most weeknights in the past month I've been glued to the computer creating interesting activities for maximizing this technology...now is it my company or his laptop that he misses the most? I dare not ask!