And Now Retired

Wenda retired yesterday. It was an unplanned event after more than 20 years working with this board. We spent the afternoon clearing out her materials from the classroom. It will come as quite a shock unfortunately for the children when they arrive on Monday to a stripped out classroom and a new replacement teacher.
Wenda had planned on retiring in June, this just moves those plans ahead somewhat.

Our Son Terry Visits

Our son Terry Eames dropped by today to share gifts with our grandkids. Terry lives about 2 hours to the East and has not been back to see us much since starting his work. The kids really were excited to see him and from the looks of it, Terry was happy to see them as well.

Bears for the Kids

My grandson and granddaughter visited the Bear store today. Aiden got to dress his bear up in western gear as a cowboy.
Amber got her birthday present in the form of a bear of her choice that she made. You stuff it with special ingredients, including a heart of gold.

Steam Engine Driver's View

I went to Lindsay today to visit Wenda's parents. Ken, my father in law and I went to see the historic Engine # 40 as it sits on display in one of the parks. Unfortunately it is not well looked after and the kids have broken the windows of the engine.

Here you can see what the engineer saw as he drove trains like this one across this vast country of ours. How many of you know that the "Steam Engine" was the invention of the last century. Certainly, it is the single most important factor that contributed to Canada being what it is today. Without the steam engine, we could not have united the territories to make this country, prior to the great annexations that were taking place South of the border in the 1860's. Imagine the freight that could be hauled by a train compared to what was traditionally carried by Red River Cart through muskeg roads of Northern Ontario. It was then what the internet, cell phones, and personal computers are to us today - the high tech wonder of transportation and communication all in one smoking belching beast.

A Day At The Beach

It was +9 C downtown so Aiden and I decided to go to the Oshawa harbour to see if any of the big boats that he had seen last summer were still in the harbour. With the Seaway shut down for winter, there were no big boats.

Still, there were birds on the beach an a pirate ship play equipment that he loved to play on. It was a great day to get some sun. We have never seen it so mild in January.

Newcastle Polar Bear Swim

For the last couple years I have been taking pictures of the Polar Bear Swim at the waterfront in Newcastle, Ontario. Up until this year, I have been the only serious hobbyist there, but this year there were guys with bigger and better gear than me. The difference was I wore my rubber boots and got closer and into the action.

Last year they had to cut a hole in the ice for them to jump into, but this year has been so mild that it was about +7 C outside and the water was about +1C.

I always find this a real cool event to be at. The participants are doing it for charity as this raises a fair bit of money for organ transplants. It is all done for a worthy cause.

Allan