The Big Wind

Our neck of the woods - nay, the entire province - was blown to bits this past week, and the debris is everywhere. We were without power for a few hours but some neighbours are still powerless almost 48 hours later. A pine tree came down (well, almost down) as a result, and P had to pull it the rest of the way. He loves any opportunity to use that chainsaw!

Do Bunnies Lay Eggs?

In true Easter fashion, I hard-boiled some eggs (which I can never seem to do perfectly) and the kids dyed them in spring-like colours. I'm not sure where this tradition originated. Is it to entice the Easter Bunny to visit? To make the house smell sulfurous? Or to ensure there's egg salad for lunch next week? Happy Easter to all!

Cycle Hula in the Driveway

Do You Need a Reason?

Do you need a reason to bake a cake on a damp and cold spring afternoon? No! Says J, baker extraordinaire. He whipped up a dee-lish cake with chocolate icing just in time for dessert. Yum!

Spring Spheres

In my search for an Easter-themed Visual Art project for my class, I came across some seemingly simple yet interesting eggs made of heavy thread (or light yarn) and coated with liquid starch to help them hold their spherical shape. I had my guys at home test drive the process, and after much mucking about with gobs of gluey paste and sticky yarn, we determined that the yellow yarn/thread would work the best. Cross your fingers! I'm teaching it tomorrow to 24 much younger artists who have a combined attention span of about 11 minutes.

A Box to Put Things In

In Tech class, S was at it again, making something neat with all the handy machinery they have there. This time it's a tool box, splashed with a jaunty red that will provide excellent camouflage should anything untoward happen with a power tool, severing an artery or a limb.

Zoom Zoom

What sounds more like spring than J's motorbike being warmed up, followed by the sight of him zipping around the yard, whooping and yahooing with delight? He and S had taken the bike apart in the basement, cleaned and prepped it, stuck it all back together (without any leftover parts), and it works like a charm!

Spring cleaning

This Saturday is brilliantly sunny, so S & J are cleaning out the cars, vacuuming and windexing. Their primary motivation is the thrill of moving the cars around the driveway.

It's excellent practice for driver's ed (or for a future career as a valet?)

And Scooby is helping by tracking dirt and black fur tufts (is he shedding?!) in the van as soon as they've cleaned it up.