About home design,,,, Kimber brought up a good subject though I haven't read it myself, it sounds fascinating.
"We begin with that part of the language which defines a town or community. These patterns can never be "designed" or "built" in one fell swoop- but patient piecemeal growth, designed in such a way that every individual act is always helping to create or generate these larger global patterns, will, slowly and surely, over the years, make a community that has these global patterns in it. "
"Give the house three distinct parts: a realm for parents, a realm for the children, and a common area. Conceive these three realms as roughly similar in size, with the commons the largest. "
Interesting idea here: "Every child in the family needs a private place, generally centred around the bed. But in many cultures, perhaps all, young children feel isolated if they sleep alone, if their sleeping area is too private. Place the children's beds in alcoves or small alcove-like rooms, around a common playspace. Make each alcove large enough to contain a table, or chair, or shelves- at least some floor area, where each child has his own things. Give the alcoves curtains looking into the common space, but not walls or doors, which will tend once more to isolate the beds too greatly. If children do not have space to release a tremendous amount of energy when they need to, they will drive themselves and everybody else in the family up the wall. " Neat insight, eh?
Apparently there are more to the series....
The Timeless Way of Building.
The Pattern Language
The Oregon Experiment
And I found this site based on the principles... http://www.patternlanguage.com/ and an interesting summary too... http://downlode.org/etext/patterns/
3.31.2006
3.27.2006
What is it with me and House Plans?!
It's an addiction as real as shopping therapy or smoking... I am a house-plan junky!
The good news is it hasn't cost me too much yet. House magazines once in a while, a house plan book occassionally and hours on the internet at "coolhouseplans.com" or any of the 100s of sites that let you peruse the low resolution houseplan samples. I also have folders full of newspaper clippings and more sketches of my own than I can keep track of!
What's the appeal? I really don't know to tell the truth.
But I get a wonderful satisfaction imagining wandering through these drawings as real homes, visualizing the furnishings, living, cooking, relaxing in the rooms. Decor, finishings, what kind of lots I would put them on, etc, etc. It really does bring me pleasure! Maybe I should have married a residential contractor? Or maybe it is just engrained in me from my childhood. I really did love watching the homes being built from bare earth and some drawings! Maybe if my dad had survived I may have taken over his business, that would have been different eh? A woman general contractor? Steve Ford (& Daughter) Contracting-- What a handle! I see what Dad loved about it though. It is really wonderful to build something beautiful, and in his case something real and useful too. (That is a very empty part of my business. It's pretty and constructive, but very temporary. Soon the style changes and the ads are done and the catalog is obsolete. Not so much with houses. ) Maybe I should look at a career shift? I did very very well in drafting in High-school. Top of the class! Completed 2 years in one year! SO why didn't I take it farther? No clue. I'm not sure it ever occured to me. I really thought I wanted to be a teacher. Then 2 years into college I KNEW I wanted to be a Graphic Designer.
But for recreation, I look at and modify house plans. I have a lot of my own too. One of my favourite things to draw is friendly multi-family complexes. The challenge is drawing them as townhouses that FEEL like detached homes. Maybe I believe that I will be a real-estate developer one day. I keep buying lottery tickets!
I have spent hours and hours and hours wandering imaginary homes.... and I love it.
The good news is it hasn't cost me too much yet. House magazines once in a while, a house plan book occassionally and hours on the internet at "coolhouseplans.com" or any of the 100s of sites that let you peruse the low resolution houseplan samples. I also have folders full of newspaper clippings and more sketches of my own than I can keep track of!
What's the appeal? I really don't know to tell the truth.
But I get a wonderful satisfaction imagining wandering through these drawings as real homes, visualizing the furnishings, living, cooking, relaxing in the rooms. Decor, finishings, what kind of lots I would put them on, etc, etc. It really does bring me pleasure! Maybe I should have married a residential contractor? Or maybe it is just engrained in me from my childhood. I really did love watching the homes being built from bare earth and some drawings! Maybe if my dad had survived I may have taken over his business, that would have been different eh? A woman general contractor? Steve Ford (& Daughter) Contracting-- What a handle! I see what Dad loved about it though. It is really wonderful to build something beautiful, and in his case something real and useful too. (That is a very empty part of my business. It's pretty and constructive, but very temporary. Soon the style changes and the ads are done and the catalog is obsolete. Not so much with houses. ) Maybe I should look at a career shift? I did very very well in drafting in High-school. Top of the class! Completed 2 years in one year! SO why didn't I take it farther? No clue. I'm not sure it ever occured to me. I really thought I wanted to be a teacher. Then 2 years into college I KNEW I wanted to be a Graphic Designer.
But for recreation, I look at and modify house plans. I have a lot of my own too. One of my favourite things to draw is friendly multi-family complexes. The challenge is drawing them as townhouses that FEEL like detached homes. Maybe I believe that I will be a real-estate developer one day. I keep buying lottery tickets!
I have spent hours and hours and hours wandering imaginary homes.... and I love it.
Mom's Home!
Well, they finally let my mom go home!
She sounds much more relaxed.
She says the hardest part is nightime. Every time she drifts off, the tiniest noise fills her with panic that the alarms are going to sound!!!!! I can't imagine!
I hope time fixes it.
She sounds much more relaxed.
She says the hardest part is nightime. Every time she drifts off, the tiniest noise fills her with panic that the alarms are going to sound!!!!! I can't imagine!
I hope time fixes it.
3.25.2006
Good People
Well, it was a day of meeting really wonderful people.
I needed to go to the bank, so I took Cami and off we went to my local branch. After sending a package off to the newest person in my life (Zoe!) I did my banking and then we wandered over to the local TimH's for a doughnut. There we chatted with a very nice couple of grandparents with a talkative 7 year old, and on the way out I saw a parent of a child that Cami really likes. As I got back into my car, an older fellow approached my car at a bit of a jog, waving at me. I was a little alarmed, but rolled down my window to see what he wanted.
"Somebody hit your car" he said.
"You're kidding!" I exclaim, and jump out to see what he means.
He was a very nice guy, and he gave me the licence plate and a description of what he saw. Then he left me his number and we shook hands and off he went. He is a hero!
The damage is a dent below my tail light and above my bumper. The paint is coming off, so rust is inevitable. If there was no witness, that just would have to be that. I came home, called into the RCMP that there was a hit and run, and then called ICBC to get a claim number.
It's the principle of the thing. You don't just damage someone's car and leave! It's not right, and I can't even call the person to settle it without ICBC because he didn't leave a number!
So a short while later a truly charming police officer comes out to see the damage and get the details (what a big cuffuffle over such a small dent!) she was charming (did I say that already? Well she was!). She let Cami climb around in there, turning on lights, wearing her hat and using the car speaker to blare "come out with your hands up" into the neighbourhood in his cute little 4 year old voice. Then she let me take a picture or 2. That was so much fun!
On Wednesday I have my appointment with ICBC (not so much fun), we'll see what that means. According to the policewomen, the owner of the offending vehicle is a 90 year old! Aaack. Silly old man, but he did get out and see what he hit before he left... so he can't plead ignorance on that one.
3.23.2006
not much to say -- I just wanted to write
No crisis, no complaint, I just feel like reaching out into the cyberworld and depositing a few words today.
I am going through my old pictures wondering why time is getting faster, baby pictures of Steve it seems like forever ago. We look so young, our home was a patchwork of hand-me-down furniture displayed as best we could, the walls had less marks, and I had less wrinkles and T had way more hair! Chubby little knees and dimpled cheeks of Steve (and of Cam) as babies, THEY WERE ADORABLE! And now they are little psuedo-men, scrambling faster towards adolesence than I prefer to think about.
Oh! Newsflash! My mommy just called while I was typing this.
She sounds so TIRED, not much sleep in the last little while! She is still in a bit of denial, the whole thing is so sudden. Everybody's ID is gone, and some people were moving so all their belongings are at the bottom of the channel. The missing couple are still unaccounted for.... but people remember seeing them getting off the life rafts. Hopefully they just carried on in their travels, maybe they wanted to catch their flight to their Mexican timeshare or some such thing? We can hope. The crew sleep below the waterline -- ! -- so they were the ones that had the scariest time trying to get out of the water before she sunk. The spot where the hull was smacked was right in someone's cabin! He had one heck of a time trying to get his cabin door open to get out while the sea water was rushing in. Keep in mind pitch black, under the water, in a tiny enclosed space with North Pacific seawater rushing in and a nasty cut on his head.
Well I say HOORAY to all the crew for keeping their wits and making sure everyone was safe and accounted for before getting off the drastically listing boat themselves.
So I guess I did have something to say after all.
I am going through my old pictures wondering why time is getting faster, baby pictures of Steve it seems like forever ago. We look so young, our home was a patchwork of hand-me-down furniture displayed as best we could, the walls had less marks, and I had less wrinkles and T had way more hair! Chubby little knees and dimpled cheeks of Steve (and of Cam) as babies, THEY WERE ADORABLE! And now they are little psuedo-men, scrambling faster towards adolesence than I prefer to think about.
Oh! Newsflash! My mommy just called while I was typing this.
She sounds so TIRED, not much sleep in the last little while! She is still in a bit of denial, the whole thing is so sudden. Everybody's ID is gone, and some people were moving so all their belongings are at the bottom of the channel. The missing couple are still unaccounted for.... but people remember seeing them getting off the life rafts. Hopefully they just carried on in their travels, maybe they wanted to catch their flight to their Mexican timeshare or some such thing? We can hope. The crew sleep below the waterline -- ! -- so they were the ones that had the scariest time trying to get out of the water before she sunk. The spot where the hull was smacked was right in someone's cabin! He had one heck of a time trying to get his cabin door open to get out while the sea water was rushing in. Keep in mind pitch black, under the water, in a tiny enclosed space with North Pacific seawater rushing in and a nasty cut on his head.
Well I say HOORAY to all the crew for keeping their wits and making sure everyone was safe and accounted for before getting off the drastically listing boat themselves.
So I guess I did have something to say after all.
3.22.2006
She's gone
I need to take a moment to remember her, the finest ship in the Ferries' service. She was really a ship, not a floating bus as we are used to on the southern runs. I did get to cruise on her once when I went to Prince Rupert to visit my mom many years ago. It was neat being on a REAL ship, though the trip itself was intensely boring (thank goodness), I mean the scenery was stunning, but the same scenery hour after hour does lose its glamour.... 18 hour boat ride after all!
My mommy was Chief Steward that last run, so she was responsible for the safety and welfare of all the passengers. Thank goodness it went well!!!!!! If it had been during the Summer or even just last weekend coming back from Spring Break it may have been a whole lot different with hundreds more passengers to worry about!
She called for a very brief time this morning. She sounded shaken (which in itself is alarming to me) she NEVER gets ruffled so it must have been traumatic!
Something surreal though -- I just saw mom in the background during a news cast of a "live" interview.... she was on the phone, all red in the face (as she gets under stress, not angry) shuffling some papers as she talked. She was wearing her civillian clothes, so maybe she was off duty during the sinking. I will talk to her as soon as I can, I hope she's okay.
As for the ship, she is no longer with us, nothing left but a grease strip on the inside passage. Interesting to see how the story develops. I hope there were no pets on board.....
3.21.2006
Day 4 and all H3LL breaks loose
Okay, its not fun anymore.
Didn't take long did it?
The boys were horribly pesky today! from climbing on furniture to uprooting mattresses to bouncing on the footstool to sneaking into the pantry and grabbing all sorts of inapropriate snacks, locking themselves in closets, taking toys out of the crib, etc, etc, etc....
Its been challenging, and I am at a loss what to do to enforce their cooperation. They are getting along and no one has got hurt (except the drywall from a wayward dicast metal car!). Its not good clean fun. Oh and the noise! Its enough to drive mother theresa into a bad mood I tell you! If its not yelling, its whining. Ick.
The baby has been cranky too. She is getting her top teeth. So trying to chase the boys down while entertaining a short tempered infant is not a stressless scenerio!
grrr...
To top it all off in ultimate frustration, my bank account is in overdraft for the first time in over a year, and it just does NOT feel good at all.
So what can I do?
Nothing!
I am helpless in this particular pickle. Me and my big mouth. SO far its one out of 4 days, not horrible right?
Didn't take long did it?
The boys were horribly pesky today! from climbing on furniture to uprooting mattresses to bouncing on the footstool to sneaking into the pantry and grabbing all sorts of inapropriate snacks, locking themselves in closets, taking toys out of the crib, etc, etc, etc....
Its been challenging, and I am at a loss what to do to enforce their cooperation. They are getting along and no one has got hurt (except the drywall from a wayward dicast metal car!). Its not good clean fun. Oh and the noise! Its enough to drive mother theresa into a bad mood I tell you! If its not yelling, its whining. Ick.
The baby has been cranky too. She is getting her top teeth. So trying to chase the boys down while entertaining a short tempered infant is not a stressless scenerio!
grrr...
To top it all off in ultimate frustration, my bank account is in overdraft for the first time in over a year, and it just does NOT feel good at all.
So what can I do?
Nothing!
I am helpless in this particular pickle. Me and my big mouth. SO far its one out of 4 days, not horrible right?
3.20.2006
Day 3 as Aunty Nanny
Happy First Day of Spring! Wasn't it BEAUTIFUL?!
From a babysitting perspective, it was almost boring!
I mean other than dragging my 2 kids to Sis's house at 6:45AM and then having to feed them and get themall ready for school from there. After the boys were at their respective schools, I had 1 1/2 hours to myself as the baby napped. So I set up my hotmail, MSN and blog connections on my own ID on her computer. And webbed for a bit! Then I had to get the little ones from Preschool (waking the babe from her nap -waa) and we went to my house for lunch where I did some work as they played in the family room (Baby was tearing up the papers on my floor -- what fun!) Then back to Sis's and they all played outside while I entertained baby and then she went for her afternoon nap at 3. Next thing I know Steve is there (walked from the school) and John is home from work. 5 pm! Honestly I could have napped too, except thats not very good with a 3 and 4 year old playing outside! It was a lovely sunny first day of Spring!
(PS Still ne signed contract and no deposit).
From a babysitting perspective, it was almost boring!
I mean other than dragging my 2 kids to Sis's house at 6:45AM and then having to feed them and get themall ready for school from there. After the boys were at their respective schools, I had 1 1/2 hours to myself as the baby napped. So I set up my hotmail, MSN and blog connections on my own ID on her computer. And webbed for a bit! Then I had to get the little ones from Preschool (waking the babe from her nap -waa) and we went to my house for lunch where I did some work as they played in the family room (Baby was tearing up the papers on my floor -- what fun!) Then back to Sis's and they all played outside while I entertained baby and then she went for her afternoon nap at 3. Next thing I know Steve is there (walked from the school) and John is home from work. 5 pm! Honestly I could have napped too, except thats not very good with a 3 and 4 year old playing outside! It was a lovely sunny first day of Spring!
(PS Still ne signed contract and no deposit).
3.13.2006
Day One
It went fine.
I got up to Sis's house on time. She showed me where everything is and the average schedule.
The contract had been "misplaced" so I couldn't get her to sign it. I gave her the invoice and she laughed. I said, "Hey YOU want me to take this seriously, so I am".
She said its good that I do.
And she left.
Boys got along famously and the baby was a sweet little angel. We even went for a walk!
AND I had time to read while the baby napped and the boys played. I wraote the details down for them in a little spiral bound notebook that I brought along. Sis feels awful that she is going to miss so much. Lunch was a bit of a challenge finding things, but not too hopeless. It was interesting being away from the computer, my phone, my housework, my garden for the day, not quite a vacation, but less to distract me away from the actual kids so thats good right?
John got home right at 5, much to my happy day!
Tomorrow will be a little more of a challenge as I need to be there (with my boys) at 7am! The boys don't usually get up until 7:30 so that should be fun! If the weather cooperates, we may go to the park!
I got up to Sis's house on time. She showed me where everything is and the average schedule.
The contract had been "misplaced" so I couldn't get her to sign it. I gave her the invoice and she laughed. I said, "Hey YOU want me to take this seriously, so I am".
She said its good that I do.
And she left.
Boys got along famously and the baby was a sweet little angel. We even went for a walk!
AND I had time to read while the baby napped and the boys played. I wraote the details down for them in a little spiral bound notebook that I brought along. Sis feels awful that she is going to miss so much. Lunch was a bit of a challenge finding things, but not too hopeless. It was interesting being away from the computer, my phone, my housework, my garden for the day, not quite a vacation, but less to distract me away from the actual kids so thats good right?
John got home right at 5, much to my happy day!
Tomorrow will be a little more of a challenge as I need to be there (with my boys) at 7am! The boys don't usually get up until 7:30 so that should be fun! If the weather cooperates, we may go to the park!
Aunty Nanny!
I start my babysitting gig today.
It makes me nervous as I have never particluarly LIKED very young kids. But my sister needs me and her kids are exceptionally mellow so it shouldn't be too bad. I think honestly I may be more nervous about the damge my own children may inflict on their home (but it should be okay).
My darling T thinks it will end badly. He respects that I am willing to help out my sister and that I will get closer to my neice and nephew, BUT lets just say my sister only respects agreements if it's not too inconvenient for her. As her bankrupcy that screwed our Stepdad out of almost $40,000 that he co-signed a loan for will attest. She said he knew the risks and then she shrugged and let him pay it off on his own. I simply couldn't live with myself if I did that!
Already I am edgy.
I drafted a "Child Care Contract" based on the one that licensed daycares make parents sign. I did it 3 weeks ago.... outlining available hours, techniques for discipline, expectations for meals and excercise all the basics so there would be no misunderstandings. ALSO that I expected to be paid in advance 2 weeks at a time.
Today is my first day. The contract has not been signed by either parent and I don't have a cheque.
How can they expect me to take my committment to caring for the kids seriously if they aren't?
'Tis not boding well.
It makes me nervous as I have never particluarly LIKED very young kids. But my sister needs me and her kids are exceptionally mellow so it shouldn't be too bad. I think honestly I may be more nervous about the damge my own children may inflict on their home (but it should be okay).
My darling T thinks it will end badly. He respects that I am willing to help out my sister and that I will get closer to my neice and nephew, BUT lets just say my sister only respects agreements if it's not too inconvenient for her. As her bankrupcy that screwed our Stepdad out of almost $40,000 that he co-signed a loan for will attest. She said he knew the risks and then she shrugged and let him pay it off on his own. I simply couldn't live with myself if I did that!
Already I am edgy.
I drafted a "Child Care Contract" based on the one that licensed daycares make parents sign. I did it 3 weeks ago.... outlining available hours, techniques for discipline, expectations for meals and excercise all the basics so there would be no misunderstandings. ALSO that I expected to be paid in advance 2 weeks at a time.
Today is my first day. The contract has not been signed by either parent and I don't have a cheque.
How can they expect me to take my committment to caring for the kids seriously if they aren't?
'Tis not boding well.
3.08.2006
Motorcycle School RECAP
Okee Dokee,
Here we are during class........ on the drier of the days we rode! Yes that's snow, I am so glad that part is over!
And here is the whole class..... with a little clue of who passed and who will need to take another run at it!
3.07.2006
My mom is in town
Well, I don't have a close family on my Mom's side..... and honestly I didn't know a darn thing about how she grew up until yesterday.
sigh...
maybe I was afraid of what I heard?
My sis and I conspired to get some answers before she went back to the Charlottes, so we took her out for lunch and sat in a big booth with lots of food, no kids and time.
Here are the highlights:
My Grandmother's family had political connections, as an 18 year old girl taking a train in German-occupied Croatia with her brothers, herself and her boyfriend, they were attacked by soldiers. It was there that she watched her boyfriend get shot dead and her brothers were taken (never to be seen again). Her mom and dad (my great grandparents) searched for them exhaustively, and my Gandmother was essentially forgotten. My Great-grandmother left Croatia as communism was taking hold, to settle in NewYork.... her husband stayed to continue the search (and remarried) and my Grandmother joined the Red Cross. It was through the Red Cross in Belgium that she met my Grandfather, a British Soldier. As a British citizen they could move to Canada without any trouble, and so they came to Toronto to stay.... it wasn't too far away from New York where Great-Gran had found some good fortune through having successful business people as friends - she was a Victorian Order Nurse, and bought a 20 acre estate in Sleepy Hollow which turns out to have been a very good idea. Grandma wasn't quite so gifted with financial decisions.
They lived in tiny homes and apartments in Toronto to raise their 2 sons and one daughter (my mom). Apparently the old European thing of "sons are everything" ran strong in my Gran. According to my mom, her brothers could get away with anything and she was pretty much ignored by her mom. BUT she was he Daddy's princess and she loved her dad very, very much. When mom was a young teen, Grandma started up the first rehabilitation house for traumatic brain injury patients, called the "Ashby House", and she was getting her doctorate in Neurolgical stuff. Grandpa got Throat Cancer and died when my mom was 16. My mom was devistated.
She would hitchike out to the Muskoka's as a teen. It was one of these wild weekends with her friend that she met my Dad. 10 years older at 27, he had already been divorced from a lady named Jean, his dad ran a commune in Ontario somewhere..... ( a whole other history) .
Three weeks later (and still 17) she married him on a snowy Ontario day in January. My gran was in Barbados at the time. [Somewhere along the course of my young life, Gran got the Order of Canada for here work and another Doctorate and had tea with the Queen (twice) and learned 7 languages (though English was not her best). My mom didn't tell me these details, my uncle Tom did].
My dad was a drinker. And he had a generous heart of gold.... the result of which was he would get very drunk and give everything away and hire "good-for-nothings" for his contracting business. They had me and my sister before she was even 20. When we were still in diapers my mom went off to work in Ottawa for 6 months (apparently that didn't make dad happy and he burned her wedding gown). One March when I was in Kindergarten and Sharon still in Preschool.... Dad drove out to visit his mom in Courtenay BC. Well, the sun was shining, the crocuses were blooming and the economy was booming, so he called my mom and said "Sell everything and come out West!" He was amazed that you could build houses ALL YEAR LONG out here and saw it as a wise decision. So mom followed us out here. Not long after that she moved to Nanaimo for work and left Dad and her daughters in Courtenay. They were married 8 years.
I am not sure how I feel about my mom's history. After we got our questions answered she started raving on about all the things she "gets away with" at work because they are all so stupid. Ick. It made me feel sick.
She hates her brothers and never forgave her mom. She left my dad and me and my sister.
She cheated on her second husband and said some very mean things to him when she left. She married a way younger man with a "smoking" habit that costs them a lot of money.
She will still be dishonest for her own gains at any opportunity. It hurts me to see my own mother be someone I wouldn't be friends with. She isn't evil, but she isn't nice either.
I am going to mope about that for a little while.....
3.06.2006
3.05.2006
beautiful poems by Emily Dickenson
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied."
And I for truth, -the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
*
MY cocoon tightens, colors tease,
I ’m feeling for the air;
A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear.
A power of butterfly must be
The aptitude to fly,
Meadows of majesty concedes
And easy sweeps of sky.
So I must baffle at the hint
And cipher at the sign,
And make much blunder, if at last
I take the clew divine.
*
LOOK back on time with kindly eyes,
He doubtless did his best;
How softly sinks his trembling sun
In human nature’s west!
*
THE CLOUDS their backs together laid,
The north begun to push,
The forests galloped till they fell,
The lightning skipped like mice;
The thunder crumbled like a stuff—
How good to be safe in tombs,
Where nature’s temper cannot reach
Nor vengeance ever comes!
*
AFRAID? Of whom am I afraid?
Not death; for who is he?
The porter of my father’s lodge
As much abasheth me.
Of life? ‘T were odd I fear a thing
That comprehendeth me
In one or more existences
At Deity’s decree.
Of resurrection? Is the east
Afraid to trust the morn
With her fastidious forehead?
As soon impeach my crown!
*
THE SUN kept setting, setting still;
No hue of afternoon
Upon the village I perceived,—
From house to house ’t was noon.
The dusk kept dropping, dropping still;
No dew upon the grass,
But only on my forehead stopped,
And wandered in my face.
My feet kept drowsing, drowsing still,
My fingers were awake;
Yet why so little sound myself
Unto my seeming make?
How well I knew the light before!
I could not see it now.
’T is dying, I am doing; but
I ’m not afraid to know.
*
Somber topics, but they are so peacefully written! I think it was Emily Dickenson that first introduced me to the idea that death could be a peaceful, natural, even welcome part of life. I can't express my gratitude to her for the quiet strength that gave me during my Dad's illness and the deaths I have known since.
She wrote on so many topics, on everything she saw and thought. Her rhythm was relaxed and fluid, and I "see" what she saw through her words. How did she think so beautifully about every tiny detail? From watching the tiny bumblebee work, to questioning the very meaning of God.... I get inspiration from her words to see the beauty in everything, and rejoice in the details of life.
3.01.2006
TA-DA!!!!!!
I did it!
The bathroom Gods were lenient (thank you!)
But the weather Gods were malicious and ill-tempered.
It was so NICE yesterday for Sister's test! (She passed by the way.... not bad for less than one week's experience on 2 wheels). BUT today it got nasty pretty quick.
Wind, rain, chilly (but not really cold).
I met the instructor for the one-on-one lesson before the actual test. I was soaked in the first 5 minutes. We had those radios on again, and occasionally he would holler some instruction in my ear as I lead. It was fine. He picked out some critical errors that I was making (bad habits honed over 16 years of driving I guess). And I was able to consciously correct them for the test. Traffic was actually much heavier than I thought it would be, but I guess it was lunch hour at the NORTH end of town (read: shopping district).
The lucky testing folks were in a toasty car. One driving, the other with the radio and a clipboard. I think when they know you have been for lessons, they are much happier to start with. They had to fail one of my fellow students today (the old guy) but not the one right before me so that's good. So I zoomed around in the rain being totally obvious about shoulderchecks and really anal about the rules of the road everywhere.
I won't kid you it wasn't a "prefect ride" but is was good enough.
And as we came back, I got a handshake from the tester, and my instructor that came back to see how I'd done. (He told me ahead of the test that he wasn't worried about my skills.... but that doesn't mean bunk until they issue the license does it! ) Then I went to my car, changed my socks and boots into something dry and went into the office to finish the paperwork.
****WARNING****
I have helmet hair in my new license photo, really, really bad helmet hair (and a goofy, relieved grin)
The bathroom Gods were lenient (thank you!)
But the weather Gods were malicious and ill-tempered.
It was so NICE yesterday for Sister's test! (She passed by the way.... not bad for less than one week's experience on 2 wheels). BUT today it got nasty pretty quick.
Wind, rain, chilly (but not really cold).
I met the instructor for the one-on-one lesson before the actual test. I was soaked in the first 5 minutes. We had those radios on again, and occasionally he would holler some instruction in my ear as I lead. It was fine. He picked out some critical errors that I was making (bad habits honed over 16 years of driving I guess). And I was able to consciously correct them for the test. Traffic was actually much heavier than I thought it would be, but I guess it was lunch hour at the NORTH end of town (read: shopping district).
The lucky testing folks were in a toasty car. One driving, the other with the radio and a clipboard. I think when they know you have been for lessons, they are much happier to start with. They had to fail one of my fellow students today (the old guy) but not the one right before me so that's good. So I zoomed around in the rain being totally obvious about shoulderchecks and really anal about the rules of the road everywhere.
I won't kid you it wasn't a "prefect ride" but is was good enough.
And as we came back, I got a handshake from the tester, and my instructor that came back to see how I'd done. (He told me ahead of the test that he wasn't worried about my skills.... but that doesn't mean bunk until they issue the license does it! ) Then I went to my car, changed my socks and boots into something dry and went into the office to finish the paperwork.
****WARNING****
I have helmet hair in my new license photo, really, really bad helmet hair (and a goofy, relieved grin)
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