Mutualism Monday

mutualism ~ belief in mutual dependence of society and the individual

It’s the March Break. For kids it’s a whole week of freedom from school. For parents it’s a chilling preview of what summer vacation is going to be like. LOL

But even if you don’t have kids you can’t help but be affected by March Break. There are hoards of them everywhere. Need to drive somewhere? Watch out for the swarms of children who’ve decided that yes, they really can ride their bikes in the melting snow. Want a quiet walk in the park? Not likely. Planning a trip to Costco and looking forward to the free samples? Go early, before the March Breakers descend on the store like a plague of locusts. There are kids everywhere

When I was a kid, I used to spend the March Break up in Owen Sound with my aunt and uncle. I honestly can’t remember being driven all the way there, but I’m pretty sure my parents drove me part way and then my aunt and uncle would meet us at a pre-determined place and I’d be handed off like a football.

When I was older, early teens, I would take the bus from here to Toronto and my uncle would meet me and we’d go to the Sportsman Show before continuing on to Owen Sound. I loved looking at the boats and watching the fly fishing demonstrations and the sporting dogs being put through their paces.

There was one particular March Break that stands out in my mind . . .

I was probably 13 or 14 years old. It was raining when I boarded the bus at home and I was dressed appropriately for the weather. I met my uncle in Toronto and we spent the next 5 hours at the Sportsman Show. Now the event took place in one of the big buildings where the Canadian National Exhibition is held, which means it was a closed in space with no windows to see what was going on outside.

What was going on was the biggest snow storm of the season. We missed the express bus we were supposed to take, and ended up on the one that stopped at every little village and town along the way. Which turned out to be a good thing because we heard later that the express bus had been involved in an accident.

By the time we got to Owen Sound, the snow was so heavy that the ploughs had given up trying to keep up with it and were concentrating on keeping just the main roads open. My uncle’s car at the bus station was literally buried under a hill of snow so we ended up hitch hiking to his house, catching a ride in a TV repair van.

After all of that, the rest of the visit was pretty anti-climatic although I do remember my aunt had turned on the electric blanket on my bed so it was all nice and warm. :-)

This March Break I have a niece coming from Hamilton to visit. She’s older than I was when I went visiting, so I’m pretty sure we won’t be doing the crafts my aunt always had waiting for me. But I think it’ll be a good visit all the same.

Meliphagous Monday

meliphagous ~ feeding upon honey

Okay, I’m over the whole time change thing now. It’s safe to talk to me again. At least until the fall. :-D

It was March Break last week, so not only was there no pre-school for the grandbaby, but there was no way I was going near any the playgroup at the local YMCA. It’s busy at the best of times and March Break is definitely not the best of times.

So instead it was up to me to entertain her during the extra time we would have spent at playgroup. Or rather, it was up to Grappy and I. She and Grappy had a great old time just playing, but I had to work at it a little more.

So I pulled out Grammy’s secret weapon - crafts. And the craft of the week was painting. I vaguely remembered doing bubble paint with the daughter and since the grandbaby loves to blow bubbles it seemed like the perfect choice. Now the idea of bubble paint is to mix paint and dish soap and water, and then use a straw to blow into it to create bubbles. And once you have the surface of the pan covered in bubbles, you take a clean sheet of paper and lay it over them to make a print.

I have no idea what I did wrong, but we were unable to get the soap mixture to bubble. We both blew into it and .... nothing. Pretty disappointing. But we discovered that paint mixed with soap is a great texture for finger painting, so all was not lost.

The grandbaby was a little heavy handed with the paint, so when I hung the finished pictures from a line I’d strung up, they kind of dripped a bit. But at least with all that soap mixed with the paint clean up was a snap. ;-)

I’ve done it before, so I know it works. I guess it’s just a matter of finding the right mix. We’ll give it another try sometime, maybe when the weather is warmer and we can try it outside.

In the meantime, I guess it’s back to markers and stickers.