Posted on October 23, 2014 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

Take a hike, Mac!

 

 

I was really desperate for a picture to go with today’s post so I went right to the bottom of the barrel and found this one. It was taken on the Cape George hiking trails awhile ago. Expect some different pictures shortly as Betty and I sojourn south, by car, for a vacation.

Yesterday’s events in Ottawa are very sobering for all of us. We all know that the world changed radically after 9-11 and terrorism has now found our shores. We all pause to reflect on lives lost and the loss of innocence.

Someone asked me the other day if I ever considered writing something more serious, with a bit more heft, as it were. I could,  and I have,  but choose not to. There are enough bad things to write about. Hopefully, the appeal to my stories is that I look on the brighter side of things, or at least find the humour in everyday life.

We all know ( unfortunately ) , that Nova Scotia’s greatest export is people. We have been sending our best and brightest abroad for a very long time. While we think the mass exodus to the oil patch is unprecedented, it is just another part of a cycle. I haven’t done an exhaustive study on this but I think the export of teachers would rival that of pipefitters and welders. I was mulling this over the other day after writing the story about my first paid day of substitute teaching. ( you liked that one, BTW ).

I decided to expand upon that theme and have just finished a new story about Maritime teachers plying their trade in other parts of the country. Let’s just say that teachers from the Maritimes are a spirited lot and have occasionally found themselves in some unusual circumstances. In “ Trouble in Paradise,” there are two teacher “incidents” that have come under the microscope. This story will appear in The Casket next Wednesday and also on my website.

My Halloween story is scheduled to be published this coming Saturday. It is called, “ The Case For Halloween.” As mentioned in an earlier post, the “joyless curmudgeons of political correctness” have tried to remove as much fun as humanly possible by calling this “orange and black day.” And don’t even get me started on Christmas. If I go sideways one of these days and start calling it something weird, please feel free to march me down to the lagoon at the end of Main Street and toss me in.

Three “never heard before stories” will be launched at the fundraiser in Heatherton on Sunday. Ticket sales are very good. Hope you can make it. I still have a few to sell so give me a shout .

Have a great weekend.

Posted on October 21, 2014 under Storytelling with 2 comments

Something to cure the first day jitters in the classroom

 

 

“Everybody’s working for the weekend …”

Working for the Weekend – Loverboy

Time has a way of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Some events from our past are a distant memory; while others, even those more than fifty years old, can be recalled in vivid color.  Most of us over the age of sixty know exactly where we were and how we felt after hearing about the shooting of President Kennedy in Dallas on a Friday afternoon in November ‘63.  My wife can recall the phone number for the daycare our children attended 25 years ago.  Certainly we remember our first kiss, even if it may not have been memorable for the person on the receiving end.

Our parent’s generation, by and large, stayed in one occupation for entire work careers, often for the same employer. Baby boomers all over the world have begun to retire or semi-retire en masse.  Many of us who form this large, post-war cohort have tried our hands at a variety of jobs.   However, some of my friends bucked the norm and worked their entire lives educating young minds as school teachers.

I was a school teacher for three years.

Admit it. Just about everybody craves Friday.  After a long week of work, it is not uncommon to blow off a bit of steam.  Not surprisingly, teachers have been known to congregate at the end of a school week to compare notes.  Sometimes the new substitute teacher is the topic du jour.

I remember my first day of paid work as a teacher as clearly as my wedding day. It’s bad enough suffering first day jitters, but when the job is substitute teaching, it is particularly nerve wracking.

Unless you don’t have time to get nervous.

The sun was coming up as several of my fellow education students sat in the top row of the grandstands at Oland Stadium the morning after our graduation celebrations. We clinked our glasses one final time and I wandered home through the field and climbed in to bed at my mother’s house.  I glanced at the clock.  It was 6:30 a.m.

Exactly one hour later my mother was shaking me violently. I thought the house must be on fire.  “Get up!  You just received a call from the principal of the junior high school and he wants you to come and substitute.  I told him that you would be happy to go.  He wants you there at 8:00 sharp.”

You have to understand my mother’s work ethic. I was going to teach that day.  Full stop.  I tried to process this information but my neurons were definitely not firing on all cylinders.  I staggered to the shower and tried to regain consciousness.

I retraced my steps through the very same field that I had trodden only a few hours earlier to get to the school. I decided not to drive as it would have been very embarrassing to fail the breathalyzer on my way to my first job as a full-fledged teacher.  No amount of toothpaste or mints could disguise the tell-tale signs of the party that lingered on my breath.  I wondered if I should teach my lessons using sign language.

I survived the day and for some yet unknown reason was asked to come back again. Maybe I was causing uproarious hilarity in the staff room.  Having learned the fine art of lesson planning during my own tutelage, I went home and crafted one for the next day.  It consisted of exactly one sentence.

Never again party on a week night.

“Everybody’s goin’ off the deep end Everybody needs a second chance …”

Posted on October 20, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

It’s almost show time

 

 

The big fundraiser for the Heatherton Development, Culture and Wellness Association is happening this Sunday, October 26^th. at 7:00 p.m. in the former Rev, H.J. MacDonald Elementary School. There will be a silent auction starting at 6:00. It should be a great evening of story telling and music. The MacDonald family has been working on their set lists and I think you will recognize most of the tunes.

What were you doing last Friday at 4:30 a.m.? I was sitting at our kitchen table with a two year old. I was doing an airport run and had to be on the go early. Our granddaughter was spending a few days with us and she decided that this was as good a time as any to get up. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, she drilled me with these four questions in rapid fire succession: “ What is an oval? What’s a rectangle? What’s a triangle? What’s a diamond?”  I guess they must have been discussing shapes at daycare last week.

I thought you might be interested to know that the Thursday Hot Meal program at St. James United Church is going extremely well. Five of our seven teams have already seen duty and we have been serving somewhere between 40-60 people . All of the teams have embraced this project with great enthusiasm.

The response to Celtic Colors Celestial Choir struck a chord with my readers ( pun intended! ). Several hundred read the piece and many of you weighed in with your comments. It is hard to believe that the five musicians in the story are no longer with us.

I have been exchanging e-mails with a new reader of Week45. She is a retired teacher who lives in Ontario. As a former Antigonisher, she is getting caught up on the news from today and 50 years ago. She shared a very funny story with me about her teaching days that I hope to re-tell one of these days. It caused me to think back on my short and fleeting teaching career.

So,  early this morning, I dashed off a story recounting my first day of paid teaching. I got called to substitute teach the morning after my grad party. At 6:00 a.m. on that fateful day, a number of BEd. colleagues and I,  were sitting in the grandstands at Oland Stadium, watching the sun come up. And yes, to quell your insatiable curiosity, there was alcohol involved. I climbed into bed at 6:30 at my mother’s house and at 7:30 I was woken to violent shaking from my mom. She informed me that the principal of St. Andrew Junior High had called and I was to appear in school at 8:00… to teach. Thinking that she had done me a great favor, she said yes. Coming soon, “ Lessons Learned –  The Hard Way.”

Have a great week and hope to see you Sunday evening in Heatherton.