Lisa Stokes

Tuesday September 2 – First Day of School

Trystan and Owen started back to school today. Alun just had to go in to have his picture taken and to pick up his timetable. Megan did that last week. It was back to elementary school for Trystan.

When we opened our front door this morning Owen’s friend Emma was walking by with her mother.

When we first moved to our current house one of the reasons we chose it was because it was within walking distance of one of the few K-8 schools in the Brampton public school system. However, when Megan was in Grade 4 the school board decided to create a middle school for Grades 6-8 to relieve crowding. They held a parent meeting which was advertised as a consultation meeting and every parent in attendance was against the change. The superintendent had no significant arguments to convince parents the move made sense. Weeks later it was announced that the change would take place.

The new middle school was overcrowded. The elementary school continued to use portables. The one concrete goal stated for the change was not met.

Megan attended Grades 6-8 at the middle school. By the time it was Alun’s turn the crowding was so intense at the middle school that the city would not give the school board permission to put any more portables on the property. Alun stayed at the elementary school for Grade 6. He then went onto a different middle school for the Middle Years International Baccalaureate program. When it was Trystan’s turn he stayed at the elementary school for Grade 6 then went on to the middle school for Grade 7. However, the new school board director (who was the superintendent at that meeting all those years ago) decided to change the schools back to K-8. Thus, Trystan has to return to his old elementary school. For Trystan and his friends it feels like a bit of a backwards step. Owen will be our only child who spends all his K-8 years at the one school.

Additionally, their elementary school is only this year, in the final year possible, implementing full day Kindergarten. All these changes have led to the school needing an addition.

Now onto my second story of the shortsightedness of the school board. The school was opened about 1998. By the time Megan began attending school there in 2001 there was already a “portapak” addition – a section of classrooms attached to the school so the children didn’t have to go outside to get to them, but the rooms were cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Several years ago an addition was planned for the school because in addition to the portapak there were at least five portables. The portapak was to be removed and a two storey addition added. In the end the portapak was bricked over to make it more permanent, and a Kindergarten class and an elevator were added.

At some point last year someone at the board realized that the school needed to be expanded. It has been known for years that full-day Kindergarten was coming. It has been known for almost a year that the Grade 7 and 8 children were coming back. Yet construction didn’t begin until late May. I can see the school from my bedroom window. I rarely saw anyone working on the school all summer long. It is still a construction site and will be for months.

Getting the children to the correct place this morning was a disaster. I didn’t get a picture of Trystan before he left the house, but we caught up with him at school where he was trying to get around the construction fence to where he was meant to line up.

Here the construction fence was place so closely to the Kindergarten fences that there was only about a metre of room to get to a temporarily, due to the construction, dead-end part of the playground. There were about seven classes along with parents trying to get into and out of this area. People were going in, finding they were in the wrong place and having to come out again. Some were making their way in to be told they were in the wrong place to later be told to go back. It was a disaster. The first morning is always busy and confusing, but this is the worst I have experienced.

The other change we are experiencing this year is a switch from short morning and afternoon recesses with a one hour lunch to two forty minute nutrition breaks. One of the reasons we wanted to live close to the school was so that the children could come home for lunch which they have generally done. They still can, but it is quite rushed in just forty minutes.

Trystan decided to stay today; Owen decided to home for for the first break. I went for a 15km bike ride to test my knee, which is still swollen, but not painful to move. I got back just in time to go to the school to meet Owen. Unfortunately, we missed each other. I came through the valley and he went across the school yard. I looked all over and couldn’t find him. Alun had to come fetch me to say Owen was at home as I had not taken my phone. Fortunately, Michael was home and made Owen a grilled cheese sandwich so he could eat and get back to school on time.

It’s going to be a mucky fall until the construction is done. The multi-use path is blocked and we have to go across the grass playing field or take the longer route through the valley. It was pouring rain after lunch and when I met Owen so we decided to go through the valley. However, there had been so much rain that the path was covered deeply enough that the ducks were swimming on it. We turned around, went back to the school and cut across the field to get home.

Get busy construction workers!

Sunday September 1 – Last Day of the Season

Today we went to Wild Water Kingdom for the final time this summer. The adults hung out at Caribbean Cove for a bit and then Michael and I took a revolution around the Lazy River. Boy was it lazy this morning.

Joe and Michael went to the driving range next to Wild Water Kingdom. The boys played mini-golf and I tried to get Owen to show off his newly acquired golfing skills from camp last week, but he was irritable about school starting tomorrow and the putter provided was now below his standards! When the boys arrived back from their adventures we had lunch at Subway.

The rock climbing wall was free today so Ryan and Owen gave it a try.

Uncle Joe bought the kids a traditional end-of-season BeaverTail on our way out.

The weather wasn’t the best and at one point it actually poured rain, but the adults stayed dry under the table umbrella and the kids were wet anyway.

Thursday August 28 – Culture Day with Alun

A couple of weeks ago, Owen, Trystan and I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario. The Frank Gehry addition is quite stunning and Alun has expressed an interest in architecture so I invited Alun to go to Toronto with me to check it out.

After dropping Trystan and his cousins at Canoe and Kayak camp and Owen at Golf Camp, Michael dropped Alun and me at the GO station. I am not sure if I have ever been on the GO Train before. If I have it was certainly a long time ago. The train arrived on time and was fairly empty as it was the last train into Toronto from Brampton for the day. All day, two way GO Train service from Brampton to Toronto has been talked about for many years, but as yet is still a pipe dream.

We decided to visit the Bata Shoe Museum first. It is a lovely little museum on Bloor Street at St. George. It is also of interest to someone interested in architecture as it had to fit on a small, oddly shaped, corner lot. When viewed from across the street it resembles a giant shoe box. We got off the GO Train at the Bloor station and transferred to the subway station on Dundas West. One of the sights I love when walking around Toronto is the exuberant street art. We saw this on construction hording at the train station.

We have been to the Bata Shoe museum several times over the years. When we were there I told Alun that I used to get my shoes at the Bata Shoe stores when I was young, but that Bata no longer operated in Canada. He asked me what had happened but I wasn’t sure. I googled it when I got home and found that although Bata doesn’t operate in Canada any more it is still a large international company with over 30,000 employees operating in more than 50 countries. When Thomas Bata left Czechoslovakia in 1939 because of the fear of war he came to Canada and continued in the family business of shoe making. The town of Batawa was named for this family. Shoes are no longer manufactured there. Thomas’s wife, Sonja, collected shoes for decades and realized her dream of creating a world-class shoe museum when the family built the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

We had lunch at Over Easy which is across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum. Alun had French toast and I had a wonderful wrap with bacon, avocado, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, mixed greens and goat cheese. Yummy.

Across from the museum was a condo with wonderful balcony boxes of plants across the front from bottom to top.

I took Alun to Yorkville to show him the controversial (in 1993) Muskoka rock that weighed 700 tonnes and cost a million dollars. The first thing he wanted to do was climb it. It’s a great little park and would be very different without the rock.

After that we walked down Philosopher’s Walk between the Royal Ontario Museum and the Royal Conservatory through the University of Toronto and then onto the Art Gallery.

I love the Henry Moore sculptures out front and the fact that one can touch and climb on them.

The glass front of the Gehry addition makes for great reflections.

Alun loved the south staircase and took photographs of the details to add into a design project he is doing for his IB program.

We both enjoyed the Group of Seven galleries. I particularly like the frame on this painting. We asked for the gallery trading cards and found four of the five including one that Trystan, Owen and I had missed.

Once we finished inside we headed outside to Grange Park so he could see the original brick home that housed the Gallery and the massive Gehry addition as well as the wonderful Ontario College of Art and Design building adjacent to the Gallery.

On John Street the northbound lanes were temporarily blocked off for a linear park. Great idea.

We walked south so I could show him Shangri-La, the Trump building, Commerce Court and Brookfield Place. By then we were quite hungry so we grabbed dinner at Marche in Brookfield Place. We missed all the afternoon GO Trains so grabbed a GO bus home. Michael met us at the station.

What a great day.

Sunday August 24 – Back to Wild Water Kingdom

Today, as we have been doing on many Sunday mornings for the past few years we headed to Wild Water Kingdom. My sister and her husband and two boys gave us passes for Christmas. Today Victoria and her family joined us. Victoria is my sister’s sister-in-law.

I stayed out of the water because of the wrap on my injured knee but helped out with the smaller children, something I haven’t had to do for a while. Mine are old enough to go around the park unsupervised.

Olivia

Hunter and Shawna

Owen and Ryan

Ariel

Ryan and Lara

Saturday August 23 – Nostalgic Play Day

Today we didn’t plan an outing. Michael and I cooked a big breakfast of waffles, sausages, bacon and eggs. Our friend’s children always ask for it when they visit us. It has become a tradition.

By the time breakfast was prepared, consumed and cleaned up most of the morning had passed. Instead of heading out with the kids we got out toys like Duplo Lego and Rokenbok which we haven’t used for years. Victoria and I had a ball building for the kids.

Chinguacousy Park

This morning I rode my road bike to physiotherapy for my wrist. The round trip which normally takes just over an hour took 43 minutes. I love how much faster I can get around on my new bike. What I don’t love is the learning process for riding with clipped in shoes. I had my third fall today.

On Wednesday, Owen and I were riding on the bike path in the valley near our house and there was a Parks operations truck parked on the pathway. We went around on the grass and I was going quite slowly, glanced down momentarily, looked up and saw lamppost right in front of me. I braked quickly, forgot that I was clipped in and fell over onto the grass. I realized what was happening and managed to fall quite gently and without hurting myself, other than my pride.

My physiotherapist took a look at my knee. He thinks I probably banged the tibia causing it to bleed and create the large bruise and swelling. He wrapped it up for me.

He thinks I should still be able to do the Tour de Mississauga on September 21, but I am supposed to stop running for a couple weeks and ride only short distances until the rest of the swelling goes away.

On the way home I had Fall #3 as I approached a light. My habit has been to put my right foot down when I stop but I find it easier to clip in my right foot first so I have been only unclipping my left when I stop. Today I unclipped my left and then tried to put down my right. Duh. Fortunately, I didn’t really hurt myself. I’m getting good at falling.

This afternoon we went to Chinguacousy Park. They have a lot of activities for kids this summer. The petting zoo and the pony rides have been there in the past.

New this summer, or at least new to me, is train rides and a merry-go-round.

We also played at the splash pad and playground.

Aren’t Owen and Olivia cute walking hand-in-hand with Hunter?

It was all too much for Hunter who is three and fell asleep on the short drive home.

Victoria and I tried to get in on the picture action at a stoplight. I really need to get better at selfies. Actually, I just learned that a group selfie in called an “usie”. I’m not very good at “usies”, either.

Great Summer Day

My friend Victoria and her children from St. Thomas are visiting us this week. One of the activities we always do when they visit is go for a bike ride. Here we are about to head out. It always surprises me how long it takes us to get going. Sunscreen needs to be applied. Shoes and helmets found and put on. Bike seat levels adjusted. Tires pumped up. Finally we are ready to go.

After returning home for lunch we headed to Professors Lake for a beach afternoon. It is a filled in quarry with a man made beach, water slide and boat rentals.

Beaches just bring out the inner kid.

Beach selfie.

Good thing we brought an umbrella. We didn’t need to for the sun, though.

Best picture of the day.

My nephews were are summer camp at the Lake today and we invited them to join us to play with their cousins at the beach after camp.

Day Out At Wild Water Kingdom

Today Trystan and his friends Edmund and Zack, Owen and I went to Wild Water Kingdom for the day. It was the warmest day we have had lately, although I wouldn’t call it hot. The kids were fine, but I wore my short wetsuit to keep me warm in the breeze when I was wet.

My sister gave us season passes for Christmas. This is the third or fourth year she has done so. Wild Water Kingdom offers a reduced rate for pass holders to bring a friend. We usually go with my sister and her family on Sunday mornings. It hasn’t been very busy this year. Each year it seems to become a little more rundown and the weather has been cooler than normal this summer. So I was surprised to see how full the wave pool was when we arrived, particularly given the number of cars in the parking lot. It soon became apparent that there were many, many daycare and camp groups that had arrived by bus. Fortunately, most of them were young and didn’t cause large line-ups on the slides.

Trystan, Edmund and Zack headed off to the slides and Owen to the Lazy River. I read a book at the Caribbean Cove until they arrived back for lunch. After lunch we all had a round of mini-golf. Owen is playing much better than last year, but not nearly as well as he is likely to be playing in a couple of weeks since he is off to golf camp next week.

It was a fun day. Zack and Edmund are both polite, talkative teens and it was a pleasure to have them join us.

We headed home in time to pick up Megan from work and have a quick dinner before I loaded my bike into the car and headed off to Cyclepath to have the tube replaced in the front tire. The mechanic thought it has been pierced by a small piece of glass not by my fall. He charge $7 for a new tube and $9 to install it. He did it while I waited. Next month I am going to take a course to learn to do some basic maintenance on my bike by myself including how to change a tire. In nine years I never had a flat on my hybrid. On day two I have had a flat on my new road bike. I know that flats are much more likely with the narrow, high-pressure tires of road bikes, but I didn’t expect to have one quite so quickly.

On the way home I stopped at two grocery stores and spent $300 on groceries. Our friends from St. Thomas, another family of six, are joining us for the rest of the week. Sometimes when they visit it seems we barely finish clearing up from one meal before we have to start serving the next.

My leg still has a lump under the knee and the colour gets worse by the day. I hope to ride my rode bike in the morning without my knee being problematic.

Day Out in Brampton

Today, I ventured out after a few days of resting my injured leg. Owen and I decided to go to the relatively new Mount Pleasant library branch and to run some errands.

We drove to the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood in northwest Brampton which is a planned neighbourhood which includes: a transit hub for GO Transit and Brampton Transit, a library, community rooms and elementary school sharing a building, a public square between the transit hub and library containing a large fountain/skating rink, playground and public art, live-work buildings (retail on the main floor with living area above) facing the square, streets with on-street parking around the square, but no large parking lots within the community, some bike lanes and a mix of low-rise apartments, townhomes and single family homes. It is quite well thought-out and pleasant.

Our first errand was to tap Megan’s Presto card to activate the contract we have set up on it. Unfortunately, the first post we came to and tapped was for fares, not activation, so we purchased a GO Train ticket inadvertently. This evening I called GO Train to have it reversed and was told we could have just pressed the cancel button. Oh well, live and learn. Michael, Megan and Alun have Presto cards and it has proved frustrating getting them set up and working properly due to the way the system has been designed. Updates take 24 hours. One has to go to the terminal to buy a card, go home to register it, go back to the terminal to have it set up as a student card, go home to load money onto it, go back to the terminal to activate it. Each time a change it made it takes 24 hours to take effect.

We took pictures of ourselves using the Presto card to submit to this months Let Your Green Show contest. We could win a $100 Presto card.

After that we explored the square and then headed to the library. It turns out it doesn’t open until 2pm so we ran a couple other errands nearby. We had lunch at Pizza Pizza, got some groceries at Fortinos then returned to Mount Pleasant where we had a coffee and cheesecake at the R&R Cafe. I think we will go back in the winter to skate followed by a hot chocolate at the cafe.

By then the library had opened and we were able to explore the bright, airy, two level space. At the front of the library is a reconstructed Brampton train station (the former downtown CPR station) which has been beautifully incorporated into the building. Owen picked and read a book, I read the paper. It was enjoyable.

On the way home we signed Owen up for golf camp the last week of the summer at Turnberry Golf Club where Alun enjoyed a week last year.

This evening I decided to give my road bike another try but after getting my shoes on discovered that I had a flat front tire. I was unable to pump it up so rode my old bike. When I got home I did a little research and found out the tires have a Presta valve which needs to be unscrewed to allow the air to enter. I’ve now pumped the tire, which was challenging. The range is 87 to 116 PSI. I couldn’t get it past about 90 pounds with my hand pump. Hopefully it will still be full in the morning and I can try out the shoes again and NOT fall over.

Boring Recovery Weekend

My knee swelled up alarmingly as the evening progressed on Thursday after my fall from my bike. I had a physiotherapy appointment for my wrist on Friday morning and consulted about my knee. The therapist suggested I rest, elevate and ice it for 48 hours. I was also advised to use a tensor bandage when I had to walk around.

The swelling had somewhat subsided when I awoke Friday but came back within minutes of getting out of bed.

Today, I have one large hard swelling below the knee cap and a large bruise reaching most of the way down my shin. It really didn’t hurt much when it happened, but it has put me out of commission for days.

Megan and Alun have been telling me I should watch Parks and Recreation so I used this time to start watching it. I’ve gotten through three seasons. I didn’t find it very funny to begin, but it is improving with time. I can identify with the character Chris who shows up at the end of season 2 who runs every day, has a resting heart rate of 28 and believes he will be the first human to live to be 150.

Trystan returned today after a week at the cottage with family friends. They had cold wet weather, but managed to have fun anyway. All of his clothes smell like wood smoke as they had a lot of fires to keep warm. The Williams’ stayed for dinner before heading home to St. Thomas. They are coming back to stay with us for a few days on Wednesday.

Owen and I played the Game of Life this evening.