First Day of School

After my birthday retrospective, it's time for a look at the first day of school. Better late than never, right? Right?

I am posting many more photos than usual, for the record; it makes a convenient place to look back on in future years.

We begin with solo snaps.

Then, everybody had to get into the act.

Shauna

Sue

Some other person

Off to the bus stop

JJ was a little apprehensive

All aboard

Day is done

Birthday Retrospective

Somehow, I overlooked posting my birthday pics from two weeks past. Call it hubris if you like, but I would like to observe the day(s) now.

The day began with me getting a new winter plaid shirt from Sue which Danica helped pick out. Did I say "helped?" I mean insisted according to all reports.

In the photo we are at Dionysos for breakfast. This Greek restaurant is named after a deity who was born of a liaison between a god, Zeus, and a mortal woman. After being killed as a child Dionysus was reborn to another woman. Anyway, we like breakfast there; they do their hash browns in a way that I would like to emulate, but I am too dumb.

The next day, by my request, we headed to the chip truck where I indulged in poutine  for the first time in 11 years. It's a concoction of fires, gravy and cheese curds. The dish came out of neighbouring Quebec, but I have even seen a poster from Minnesota showing a food stall featuring poutine at a fair. I know it looks like a killer, which is why I went a decade between noms, but I did satisfy myself with the small plate, so I deserve some credit.

The weekend also included a trip to the Hummingbird Chocolate factory. It's small plant in neighbouring Almonte in a little industrial park. It recently won a global prize award award, so we had to try it out.

Here I am holding the prize-winning golden bean.

The bar was good enough, I suppose, but give me a Mars bar or a Caramilk any day: a Canadian bar which may be sold as Caramello in the USA, but ti may also be a bit different.

Back to Hummingird, here is the bar that we chose.

There were other noms, like a fine pizza from Mr Mozzarella, and fajitas and cake at Shauna's for birthday supper.

After all of that food, I guess it's good that I got a Misfit exercise tracking watch as a gift. It has spurred me to do a little more walking, which is supposed to be good for the body and soul if not the foot and sole.

Minor Job Shifting

I have been asked how my work/career may have shape-shifted over time. The answer is that it didn't shift or at least didn't shift much in the sense that I was always a secondary school teacher. However, the place and subject did shift about.

I taught secondary school for 30 years, and while I changed schools a few times, it was always between the same 2 schools. I was at school A for 10 years, school B for 6, A for 1, B for 6, and finally A for 7. There were other secondary schools in the system, 6 others at the height of enrollment in the early 70s, but I was always between those two, school A being a somewhat affluent suburban school and school B being a country school. All but the first shift were strictly my choice.

Back in university, I had majored in geography and took enough English courses, so that I would have a teachable minor, which was required, or so I thought. I specialized in geography mainly because I found it enjoyable and could also do it well. I could always pull off better marks in geography than English or even other subjects.

When I went to teachers college, the English prof  who interviewed me, advised me to switch my second teachable to Elementary rather than English because I had only taken the bare minimum of English courses. As it turned out, I should have stuck with English, for in my 11th year of teaching, I was transferred to not only a different school in a different environment but also asked to teach some English. After that from years 2 through 6 at that school, I almost exclusively taught in the English department.

Amazingly, I loved it. Something about my personality seemed to do even better in an English class than in geography. I think it was because there was more discussion of ideas and not so much disseminating of information. I was a pretty good listener and liked to hear the students' opinions, and they seemed to like my way of encouraging them share.

I taught English to grades 9 through 11, but despite my enjoyment, I always had the suspicion that I was a fraud because my background in the subject wasn't as strong as it could have been. This is despite being spoken of highly by students, department heads, principals and supervisors. In fact I got more positive feedback in those years than in my geographical years. Go figure.

Without fussing over the details, I ended up back in geography for my last 14 years, 12 of those as a department head. But in retrospect, my favourite years were the English years and I certainly had never seen that coming. That was my personal career shape-shifting although not as dramatic as many people experience.

If I had seen back then what I see now I would likely have made any or all of the following choices:

1. taken a few more English course in Uni;
2. insisted on taking English as a second subject at teachers college;
3. and/or chosen to continue teaching English rather than switching back to geography in the last half of my career.

Or at least I think I should have made those choices, but it is what it is. I had a good 30 years on the job after all, but the best were those 6 years as a English teacher.

Mommy I Can't Do Art

Danica has entered grade 4. It brings to mind myself in grade 4: the year when I learned, much to my chagrin, that I couldn't art.

So, let's back it up and unpack it a little (unpack being a newish expression that is probably being overused and will soon fade).

I don't often listen to the radio in the car, or anywhere else for that matter, but Danica does, and she had had me tune the radio to her music station. Later, instead of turning it off as is my habit, I flipped it over to CBC and became totally absorbed by this program about Aphantasia, which you can also hear if you click this link. The program is about 20 minutes in length.

So, what is this thing, this Aphantasia? And why did the program grab my interest so? And what the heck does it have to do with me and art in grade 4?

OK, time to back up some more and do some more unpacking.

Back in grade 4 art class, I became frustrated with the fact that I couldn't actually art. When the teacher said, "Let's draw this," or "Bring some soap to class so we can sculpt it," my results were pathetic. I didn't even want to art anymore. I complained to my mother who even mentioned it to the teacher on parents night, but she had no solution, so I kept on having to participate in the damnable class. In my own way.

My problem was that I couldn't draw from my imagination because there was something missing in my head although I didn't really know that for a long time. Oddly enough, however, there were times when I could draw, like that time in woodworking class in grade 7. We were instructed to carve out a ring toss toy. I didn't know what to do until I realized that I had a Mighty Mouse comic book with a picture on the cover. He had his arm extended upward, and I figured that would make a decent landing for a ring toss toy.

So, I got out the comic book and drew it. Yes, I did, and it was reasonable copy or at least good enough. It was one project that worked. How come?

I will get back to this, but for now, let us fast forward to the present.

It has taken me much of my life to realize that I don't have the same pictures in my head that others do. For example: when I take my afternoon siesta and see a strange face and want to examine it, I can't capture it. When I try to freeze the image and have a good look, I can't manage. It fades away.

Going back to Mighty Mouse, I was able to draw a facsimile relatively well because I could keep looking at the original which wouldn't fade away. But mention something to me, like a mountain scene with a babbling brook, and I will see a flash of something vague, but even the vagueness will soon fade.

When this program, Quirks and Quarks, came on the radio, I was hooked. I had caught it in progress with an interview with a fellow who was worse off than I, for he had no pictures — at all, ever! He was bright and successful but had no images in his head. I have dream images, and I have images when I read. They fade right away when I try to hold onto them, but I have them initially. That gentleman didn't have any images, period.

I learned that the condition is called Aphantasia. It seems like it would be a crippling handicap, but this man lives a successful and productive life. He even reads fiction and learned that one author that he reads, his friend, Michelle Sagara, also has this condition. Yes, she also has Aphantasia but is still able to write descriptive passages.

Certain famous people have identified themselves as having this condition: neurologist and naturalist, Oliver Sacks, for example; and Blake Ross (developer of the Firefox browser); and Craig Venter (known for being one of the first to sequence the human genome).

Dr Adam Zeman of Exeter University has identified two types or degrees of Aphantasia. There are those like the interviewee, John, who have no images at all: no mind's eye as it were. This, he terms as Involuntary Aphantasia. Many others can dream visually or experience images when they read; they/we experience Voluntary Aphantasia where they/we do experience images but can't summon images at will.

Obviously, this is a condition that affects a minority of people, especially those who experience Voluntary Aphantasia, but Dr Zeman has 10 000 subjects available for his studies, and I wonder how many more, like me, haven't been formally identified. I did read elsewhere that some degree of the condition may affect 1/50 people.

I have been saying that I have this condition although I can't officially verify if I qualify clinically, but the test at this website confirms to me at least, that I do. In fact, I can't force myself to finish it because it frustrates me, and I give up very quickly.

• Conjure up an image of a familiar friend or relative. How clearly can you see the contours of their face, head, shoulders and body?
• Still imagining that friend or relative, how strongly can you see the characteristic poses of their head and body?
• How well can you envision the way that friend or relative walks, the length of their step, for example?
• How vivid are the colors of that person's clothes in your mind?
• Visualize a rising sun and look carefully at the details of that mental picture. How clearly do you see that sun rising above the horizon in a hazy sky?
• Imagine the sky clearing and surrounding the sun with blueness, how vivid is that image?
• Clouds appear in your sky and a lightning storm erupts. How well can you see it?
• A rainbow appears in your sky. How clearly can you make it out?

It has taken me much of my life to figure out that I don't have the same imaging powers as most other people. I can remember my friend, Ron, drawing a cartoonish rabbit character out of his head for my daughter and me marvelling that he could do it, but life goes on and I didn't think about it much until recent years. Now I find that it is a recognizable condition and that I am in good company. Somehow, it helps to know that there's a name for it and that I am not unique or alone.

In short, I am Aphantastic kinda guy.

Back to School Photos

Edit: This was supposed to post on Tuesday, the first day of school, but I clicked the wrong date in the schedule.

I have always taken back to school photos: well not always, but ever since Danica started JK. After awhile I came to realize that those first day of school morning shots were problematic. Oh, I will still take those shots later this morning, but last year I decided to make a special effort in the last week of holidays.

Last year, we shot at our local Riverside Park, so we headed up to Blakeny conservation area one day last week. I just shoot in natural light, which isn't always the best, but one does what one can. I ended up with some decent shots although I guess none equivalent to studio shooting. Nevertheless, with a bit of post production work, I came up with a umber of keepers.

These were some of my faves although I could easily post as many others. You will perhaps see that I am drawn to the more environmental portrait. I try some more traditional tight shots, but they don't usually seem to appeal to me as much.

Her turn.

Townhall and Fence

Just clicking around and I realized that it is Fence Thursday. I also remembered that I have a few in the queue. I remembered two things in less than one minute. I feel proud. lol

This is our townhall with a fence along the bridge over the river.

The Deadly Sins

Hmmm ... so now I am to write of the seven deadly sins: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.

First, I should try to figure out the difference between covetousness and envy ... OK ... Google is my friend, and it seems to tell me that the former is about wanting more goods, and the second is about wanting what someone else has. It seems like a fine distinction to me.

Anyway, now that that is sort of sorted (see what I did there?), let me say that I think  that I (and assume everyone) has suffered from all of these sins. But mildly in most cases, I also assume.

I mean to say, if you haven't experienced a hint of pride in some accomplishment or possession or your grandchild, then you aren't terribly human in my opinion. In other words, you have inded experienced this because you are human. But I think for most of us, it's a good sort of pride. You persist in some task and eventually succeed at it, and you experience a healthy pride. It doesn't mean you are proud as in haughty and disdainful.

I go through the list, and I have committed each one of those supposed sins — multiple times. But they are really all in passing. They are little sins if indeed they are sins at all, and not necessarily deadly or besetting sins.

There are some in the list that I have to think about a little more deeply: lust, for example. Is my appreciation of a pretty woman, which entails a longer than usual glance, lust, or is it just only that — an appreciative glance? Is something beautiful not to be appreciated? You look at art or hear a piece of music, and you appreciate it. You don't call that appreciation lust.

What about gluttony? Of the list, I may be closest to this. My belly is too big, so, therefore, it would follow that I eat too much. But do I? I don't think so, really, for I am dispositioned to not like veggies and to love fatty and fried foods. I wish it weren't so, but it is so. So, I don't think I overeat so much as I eat the wrong things. And these days anyway, I can't really exercise the calories away. It's not as if I eat plateful after plateful of fried chicken or a whole box of chocolates at a sitting. (Although, should I choose to blog about my birthday weekend, you might see that food is greatly involved.)

Of course, the sin list comes from a time past when certain religionists were obsessed with trying to emulate whatever their theology told them that Jesus was like and how to find heavenly favour with him. There were those who agonized over their grave sins, even going so far as to self-flagellate although I am not sure how useful that would have been.

However, the emerging scientific consensus seems to be that free will is an illusion; every predilection and decision springs from a combination or our genes and our experience. In other words, if you were to go back to that bad decision that you made and now wish that you hadn't, you would do it again. It would be groundhog day. We like imagine that we would make a different choice, but that is wishful thinking from our retrospective viewpoint. Sure, if you could bring your present brain, experiences and thought back with you, you'd likely make a different decision, but if you could be placed back in exactly the same circumstances as you were then, you would always make the same decision.

If that's the case, and I think it is (or nearly enough anyway), the concept of sinning is dead wrong. Sinning implies choice, and it seems that we don't have choice. I know that it sure seems that we have the ability to choose because we can think and reflect, and that makes it seem as though we have choices, but we probably don't. Yes, when certain bad actions affect society harmfully, then there needs to be behaviour modification, even if the perpetrator couldn't help himself (more often than not a 'him' it seems). You need to forfeit your allowance, serve a detention, or go to jail. That changes your experience and may hopefully result in improved behaviour in the future. But it should also change our view of crime and punishment ... which is another story for another day.