A typical Spike look: "Yeah, and???" 

Ode to Spike (17 years , 2 months) August 25, 1988- October 28, 2005

I wanted a cat

Most of the kitties

were stretching their paws out

to me

to get my attention

Not you, little one

And you sat in your Humane Society cage

staring right at me, calmly

with a cocked head

and all of the dignity

a 3 month old kitten could gather

"You're a funny little guy arenn't you?",

I thought

I took you out

And

it was love

at first cuddle

I took you home

and

you were playful

but

a real lover

I'll miss that

In the city, I'd take you to the park

and we'd together read in the shade

We even went to the beach together

You saw me through the most difficult times of my life

You were the thread in my adult years

You could retrieve as good as any Lab

You loved a good dinner party

You were a good traveller

More importantly

You were my baby

Thank you for all of the good years

Spike getting a whiff a clean winter air. 

Spike taking a break between flowerbeds. 

Spike flying economy between Amsterdam and Montreal. 

Spike lounging in our living room, Brunssum, Netherlands. 

Spike on top of the piano. 

Byebye piano teacher

My friend Gaétane has been me helping learn the piano for the last few summers. She's awesome. You see, she spends her winters in Florida so I'm teacherless for 6 months out of the year and the last couple of years, I've been less that diligent about playing and going for lessons. Last night, I went for my last lesson. And I made a commitment about catching up this year. I need my friends and anyone who cares to nag me to go ahead and tell to get off my behind or rather to get my behind on my piano bench and play.

All I am right now is a big lump of potential at rest.

So call me , email me, yell at me!

Happy birthday to me!

I had the best intentions yesterday. I got up early and went to help clean the village flower beds and arrange bails of hay and pumpkins into tasteful displays on the main street. Then, I went home and decided to clean one of my own flower beds which I call "la plate-bande des oiseaux" because it has fruit shrubs and bird feeders. My friend, Nicole, had given me 150 bulbs (mostly tulips, which I have loved since living in the Netherlands). I cleared out the bed, added earth and planted my bulbs.

As I worked outside, I had thoughts such as "gardeners are an optimistic lot when they plant bulbs in the fall" and " Wow, what if something happened to me and I wasn't there this coming spring".

I turned 43 at 10 to noon. I was digging a whole and soaking up enough sunshine to last me through winter.

I finished working outside around 1pm and decided to dust and clean the bathroom just in case J. had decided to invite people over for dinner. My first clue was the boeuf bourguignon he prepared yesterday.

I had just showered when my buddy Hélène called for a walk. We were accompanied by her 16 year old daughter, Catherine, her friend, Annabelle, and Princess, the little nervous dog. We walked up to the log hotel and Cath stalled chatting with the lifeguards. I went back outside with Hélène and Princess because we were getting too warm. We walked a ways when I decided to play a joke on Catherine. I called one of the lifeguards from my cell and told her that we had left the dog tied to a flag pole. Catherine came running out in a panic.


I have hiked on 3 continents, I have whitewater kayaked, I have skied in the Alps, the Rockies, the Adirondacks and the Laurentians, I have cycled in major cities, I have thrown myself on stage floors doing improv, AND I do guard duty every other day in the school yard.

Well, nothing had prepared me for what happened next.

I believe that I was severely punished à la My name is Earl for my little pratical joke.

As we walked back, my ankle twisted on the village's uneven sidewalks. I had just bought the Ottawa Citizen which was tucked under my arm and my hands were plunged into the pockets of my leather jacket for warmth...no protection left at all.

I fell face first right into Main street. She asked if I was ok. My face felt moist and I wasn't crying. "No", I answered. And she saw the blood in my mouth, under my nose and dripping from my chin. My glasses were bent crooked. "Get up and walk", she says. I'm still stunned but my buddy was protecting my reputation. The last person who had fallen on main street was a drunk junkie. We couldn't have a grade school teacher lying on the 148.

Hélène called J, to come pick us up. I knew looking into the mirror that I needed to see a doctor. We drove 20 miles to the nearest hospital and waited 3 hours for the doctor to tell me "I usually see this kind of injury in small children!" I could feel the thread laying loose on my face which was mostly frozen as the doctor stitched the fat back into my chin. Maybe I'll wind up with a cleft.

The triage nurse had told me that I was the second woman to come in with an injury from going for a nice leisurely stroll.

It had been a fine fall day.

When we got home from the hospital, my friends, bless their hearts, had waited for us all evening. This was a wonderful and welcome surprise in this eventful day.


Thank you all for making my birthday memorable and bearable!
love you all
j.

I'll spare showing what the stitch looks like without the band-aid. Notice the fat lip. I'm lucky to have my teeth intact. 

Nicole made this incredible rich choco cake and decorated it with a hibiscus flower!!! Thank you. 

Kitty saga

Spike is sometimes stuck in the cellar. Tite-Minou and Souris cut him off from the stairs.

Sometimes, Tite-Minou gives Spike a wide berth.

Most of the time, Souris is the boss of everyone in the house.

T 

I'm so proud!!! 

first pair of mittens

I started one of these mittens in the waiting room at my doctor's last August but I got stuck because I didn't understand what it meant to knit in the front and the back of the same stitch. So last night, I went online and got unstuck. I got up at 5:30 this morning to finish the second mitt so that I could wear them to school this morning.

The kids and I will be starting a knitting club soon.

My students get a blog!!!

My grade 6 students have their own blog. Two students have already published their articles.

Here's the link:
http://blogo6stmichel.blogspot.com/

a test

I want to see if I can publish this message because I'm trying to publish some texts written by my students on our class blog and ti's not working.

Webpage back online

Well, I'm really enjoying this new laptop. I'm slowly getting the software installed that I need to do all that I do like my webpage which I managed to update for my students.

www3.sympatico.ca/julia

wireless freedom at last

I'd been dreaming and researching getting a laptop for months. This weekend I bought a laptop and after 2 frustrating days trying to set up a network through my old desktop which I finally figured didn't have a network card, I managed to go wireless. I'd like to thank the good folks at Sympatico and Linksys for their patience with me. I went from a 1997 PC with Windows 98 to a Compaq Presario with Windows XP.

This is my early birthday gift to myself. Last night, I experienced total freedom surfing wireless outside on our veranda.