Thinking Back

When I read Vicky's blog, which among other things, mentioned that very few undergrads now choose English as the major, I saw that I had stumbled across a blog topic pour moi.

No, I didn't choose English as my major, but I come very close to wishing that I had.

I did choose geography because I liked it and did well with it.

While I took a few English courses, I didn't opt for many. That was partly because I didn't have timetable room and partly because I didn't do quite as well in English. I didn't do badly, but I could likely pull off an A in geography but only a B in English.

When I got to College of Ed, I circled English as my teachable minor, but because of my lack of courses, when the English instructor interviewed me, she steered me toward the elementary option.

I never taught elementary school, but I did teach some high school English. Eventually.

It turned out that I loved teaching English and always seemed to be competent at it. In point of fact, I probably received more positive feedback from students and even parents in those years than I did for geography. Teaching English just seemed to suit me even though I was not certified in the subject.

I only taught English for six years before I found myself, through my own and possibly misguided choices, teaching geography exclusively again. 

While I wouldn't actually say that I regret how my career went, I think that I would have liked it even more if I had both taken and taught more English courses.

But that is in retrospect. I didn't really know it back when I made the decisions that I did.

Miffed

Yesterday, I remembered a comment from Ed from a month or so ago. I didn't actually remember the exact comment, but I remembered the general idea. It had to do with checking a box to enable Blogger comments on the iPhone or iPad. Why it took a month for it to recirculate in my brain, I cannot say. What I can say is that my brain, or lack of same, operates in mysterious ways.

I did not go back to the comment (perhaps I should), but I did do a search. I found that if you turn on a certain switch that I should be able to comment.

So, I did and it worked.

This morning I got all comfy womfy in my chair, to read your blogs. Would you believe that I can't comment today?

So, I won't even bother to tell you exactly what I did because it ultimately didn't work for me.

I use Chrome as my browser, so I tried the Apple browser (forget its name right now), but it didn't work either.

To say the least, I am miffed.

Why are some things so hard?

Blowin a Hoolie

The winds came, then the rain, and finally the snow, but the winds never ceased.

It was picture time, but we had to be quick because the winds were significant with gusts up to 50k/30mi.

This poor man had to turn around at the park entrance because between the wind and the active dog, he could barley keep his balance. I'm glad that he left because I am not sure if we would have been able to help him up.

We didn't venture even that far in the gale. We stayed nearer the entrance. Sue took her potd photo, and I squeezed off a few quick snaps.

I scooted back to the car but decided to hop back out to take a very short video clip to try to capture the sound of the wind.

Sue photographed me taking the video.

This storm was on April 04. We had out last storm of last year one day later on April 05. There could have been some additional light snowfalls last April, but I can't recall. This ↓ was a photo from the day after that storm, April 06 23, last year. It's a photo that I like.

I wonder if we're done yet with winter, snow and hoolies.

Windy Photoshoot

Sue had a prompt having to do with a movie scene. A local church had a kind of round tower. I guess the round part is actually a turret on top of a square tower.  She thought she might be able to work it into something to do with the theme. Spoiler Alert: she couldn't and went in another direction for her potd.

However, I used the opportunity to take some shots that I hadn't before. So here we go, all in monochrome.

We parked on a back street. We could see the tower from there, so the shooting began.

We crossed the street. I could see the tower over the garage. I have always liked this garage and have taken one or two photos in the past.

Continuing along the left side of the garage, I liked the porch at the back of the house to the right, above.

We crossed over to the property to get a closer look. The house was occupied by a lawyer, one with whom we had done business in the past. We thought he had moved across the street, and indeed the move is in the works.

It seemed like there were still files of some sort in the window.

I moseyed along, but Sue was taking more pictures when the lawyer came out wanting to know what we were up too. Sue engaged him nicely, but I didn't feel like coddling an old, rich man guarding his property. I understood, but I wasn't in the mood to make nice. Sue is always nice.

I walked along the side of the church.

When I got to the front, I took a few more photos.

I think this qualifies as a tower and turret, but I am willing to be corrected.

By the way this had been St Andrews Presbyterian Church for a hundred years or so. It is now an All Nations Church, whatever that might entail.

The church fronts on the main street. We had originally thought to continue walking up the street, but the wind was so ferocious that we turned tail after making a few purchases in the shop next to the church.

This took place on Tuesday. The wind was even worse yesterday, so after grocery shopping, I stomped my feet and refused to go walkies. By afternoon, rain was pelting against my den window. By evening, snow was covering the window. Early this morning, at 6am, we have a light covering of snow with, perhaps, more on the way..

I swear this happens every April, and sometimes even late in the month. This pleases no one.

Fun was Prohibited

On FB, I regularly see recent historical photos from Montreal. Since I was a kid in that city, mostly in the 50s, they interest me. Some photos I recognize, at least in part. The following photo rang a bell.

A stream of vehicles makes its way to Belmont Park in the 1950s.

Belmont Park was an amusement park fairly near where we lived, perhaps a 10 minute bus ride if I recall correctly.

My parents never took me there, but just before we departed Montreal for Toronto in 1962, I visited the fun park a few times with my friends. The rides I most remember were the Roller Coaster and the Wild Mouse.

Once we got to Toronto, I visited the Midway (rides) when it was open for two weeks when the CNE (Canadian National Exposition) was on in late August and early September.

I was raised Pentecostal, which, at that time at least, had a distinct Holiness flavour, basically defined by eschewing a whole lot of activities. Those things pretty well boiled down to avoiding what were fun things for others with dancing and movies holding prime places on the  list. And amusement parks too.

While I was not rebellious, when I tried these sorts of activities, my experience and common sense told me that they were all harmless fun.

Mother let me know that she disapproved of my errant ways that in her mind included not watching tv on Sunday afternoons between the morning and evening church services. Then there was the time that my father chastised me for throwing a football with a friend on a Sunday afternoon.

I didn't fight them about it, but I believed what I believed. By the time she passed on, mom and dad would happily watch tv on Sundays. In fact, we and the kids would often drop over on Sunday evenings to watch Road to Avonlea with them.

Back Problems Then and Now

Shauna had quite a back attack over the weekend, and it lingers on. We trust that they are just muscle spasms that will pass. Having said that, I do know how painful spasms can be, for I have had my share. The good news is that they usually subside within a few days.

The kids drove into her workplace on Sunday to bring her laptop home, so she could get some necessary work done yesterday, as difficult as that might be.

The thought of working at home with a bad back takes me back thirty years, and it was at this exact time of year in '94.

Except at that time, I was suffering from bulging discs that sent significant pain shooting down my leg. While spasms usually resolve themselves in a few days, this disc episode endured for two months. I pretty well lived life on the floor for much of that time. I can remember getting up to eat at the table before rushing back to the floor as the pain built up. I slept on the floor at night because we had a waterbed back then, and that would have been all wrong for my condition at the time.

I remember working on the floor. It was exam time, so I set exams while lying facedown on the floor with the computer  in front of me. Once the exams were written, I marked them from my recumbent position. Then, when the new semester started, the teacher who was to take my place for the first few weeks visited me on the floor as I passed on to her various materials that she could use.

From the partial numbness in my leg and foot, I know that these three decades later the discs are still out of whack. Said numbness has persisted in my leg for thirty years. Sometime along the way, especially in the past decade, it spread to my foot.

However, even though the back is weak, at least I haven't had another major attack since early '94. Of course, I have had a few spasm episodes such as what Shauna is currently experiencing.

I have just learned that she needs to go into work today to get a payroll completed. It's an unusual one due to the Easter holiday and extra pay for those who worked the holiday. I have offered to drive her there, but in the past, I have experienced that I could be comfortable in the car although getting in and out can be problematic.

Where She Stood

Sue's potd on Friday was Where I Stand: the 'I' being Sue, of course.

She had seen on FB that the town has new light displays downtown, and she thought they would make for a unique photo. In her third year of following daily prompts, unique is not always easy to find. 

We hadn't seen the projections or where they were located, but we found our first splash of light on the sidewalk shortly after the 7:30 sunset. This was her first photo and the one that she eventually posted to the group.

Here is another using the same projection.

We ended up finding several other projections, Here are two of them.

Finally, we came to one with town hall in the background. It was her photoshoot, but when she can't take pictures of herself, she will use me as her tripod. So, she positioned me to see what composition she might like for herself.

We switched places, and I took a similar photo.

There are things that one doesn't notice at the time, but despite it remaining the same scene, her photo of me was the better composition. My pose had a gap between me and the lamppost, which was better than her being right next to it in my opinion. She also got the apex of the projection centered better, for I had been concentrating more on the town hall part.

This setting has potential, and I'd like to try this again sometime with my camera and using the tripod, for it was too cold for me to want to fiddle with tripods and settings on that evening. I think that I would have to eliminate that horrid streetlight in post. As long as I were to keep it over the sky and not the building that shouldn't be too hard to do, but perhaps we shall see.

We walked around and looked at the bridge lights once again, and of course I took a shot.

I was just passing-by this time, so I knew that it wouldn't be my best result, but sometimes you take the shot regardless.