New normal

The "new normal" has begun. Well, come to think of it, it won't really start until next week when the kids go back to school. And then we will have to deal with the dreaded "HOMEWORK"! Mom (aka Mamoo) is watching the kids this week for me. We all love Mamoo. She will be watching wee Nicole in the afternoons too. As I said to her, this is probably the last grandchild that you will be able to spend a lot of time with. My elder sister, Aunt Nicole, has pretty much decided "no kids", not to mention, she lives in Scotland. Kind of hard to pop over for the afternoon. My younger sister and her husband live in the Ottawa area and aren't looking to procreate just yet. And both my brother and I, who live near my parents, are done. As in DONE! All the way done. No more grandkids from us. No way. No how. So it all works out for the best.

So what did I do at my first day back at work? Classes don't start until next week, so, thankfully there were no students to deal with. I say thankfully because I have done my fair share of organizing and cleaning around others and it is not fun. So that is what I did. I cleaned and organized. Students are pigs. Today, I get to do more cleaning and then go to two meetings. One is for the technicians and staff (as opposed to "faculty" which are the "teaching staff") The funny thing about this meeting is that it was organized because we, as "staff" don't get to go to "faculty" meetings. All I have to say is that I really wasn't missing them in the first place. The other is a Fibre Studio meeting and I am actually looking forward to this one because I will get to see a few people that I haven't seen in a few years. Like a reunion. Unfortunately, we will have to do some business but that's the price you have to pay.

And here is one for Mia.


Me in "my" tree. I am crouched down a bit so as to avoid the rather large spider web that is about three inches above my head. Unfortunately, this year she, the tree, not the spider, is mostly dead. It just doesn't feel the same. I don't thing that she will survive the winter. The tree will still be there until she rots away. That is what they do in O'Dell park. Let nature reclaim it's own. If a tree falls so that it blocking the path, they chop it up into manageable sized chunks and haul it off the path, or if one falls onto another tree and looks like it may, at some point, continue onto the head of some unsuspecting hiker, they knock it all the way down. But these trees don't become fodder for someone's stove or get turned into board feet or chip board. They act as tree nurseries. So even after she falls down in 5 or 10 years, the essence of this wonderful tree shall remain and will have grown into other trees. In fact it has already started, seeing as she lost two of her three large limbs a few years ago. And why, you ask, do I keep referring to a tree as "she"? It is because years ago, when she still had her limbs, if you stood at her back and looked up, what you saw looked like a being with it's arms spread wide and face up to worship the sun. I always fancied that this tree was a woman. Kind of nice when you realize that you could crawl into her "womb" and relax. I have a picture of the tree from the angle of which I speak, but it was taken, well, we'll say a few years ago, before digital cameras, and on slide film, and I still haven't figured out which slot to put it in on the computer. Someday, when I'm bored, I'll get it transferred into pixels and bits and share it with you.

In the mean time, I must get ready for day 2 of the pre-new normal.