Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Noticed, finally
The Cuban Embassy is about five blocks south of our house. I never noticed it before. That's probably because the building is little more than a lifeless edifice of concrete surrounded by an iron fence. It's so hideously non-descript that I assumed it was an electrical substation or something. But today I read the tiny sign by the door and there it was, in three languages, "Embassy of the Republic of Cuba." Huh. Go figure. I'll post an alert if I ever see Fidel strolling along the canal.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving, Part 2
Wow--I'm really sad to be missing out on American Thanksgiving (as it's called up here)! The funny thing is, for the first few years I was down in the States, I didn't get it at all. I didn't understand what a big deal it was and why people flew all over the country to celebrate with family. I didn't understand why my students at Wisconsin thought I'd be okay with them missing an entire week of class for a one-day holiday. Sheesh--throw a turkey in the oven and be done with it, I thought. But then I started getting into it and finally realized it truly is the Best Holiday Ever. It's inclusive (i.e. not religious), it doesn't involve anything but eating, and it's for grownups. Sure, Canada has a Thanksgiving, but it pales in comparison. It doesn't have the buzz. It's not the kickoff to the whole holiday season because it happens so early in the fall. It has nothing to do with "Peak" (for my friends in retail). After being immersed in that, it feels strange to be preparing for just another weekday tomorrow, knowing that my American friends are looking forward to the day more properly called the Annual Festival of Unbridled Gluttony.
So if I'm feeling sentimental, I'm sure it feels even stranger for Tom, since he's actually American and stuff and this is the first time in his life he won't be celebrating. Since he's missing out on his national holiday and even has to teach tomorrow, I'm going to roast a whole chicken for dinner and whip up some garlic mashed potatoes so we can get in the spirit a bit. It won't be on par with any of the great meals we shared with the UR folks over the previous five years, but hopefully it will be better than the frozen pizza we're having tonight (Tom teaches late on Wednesday evenings, so I do Henry's dinner-bath-bed gauntlet alone, leaving me with no energy for cooking).
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating. I'm jealous!
So if I'm feeling sentimental, I'm sure it feels even stranger for Tom, since he's actually American and stuff and this is the first time in his life he won't be celebrating. Since he's missing out on his national holiday and even has to teach tomorrow, I'm going to roast a whole chicken for dinner and whip up some garlic mashed potatoes so we can get in the spirit a bit. It won't be on par with any of the great meals we shared with the UR folks over the previous five years, but hopefully it will be better than the frozen pizza we're having tonight (Tom teaches late on Wednesday evenings, so I do Henry's dinner-bath-bed gauntlet alone, leaving me with no energy for cooking).
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating. I'm jealous!
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Community activism
Today the three of us attended a meeting hosted by our community association about future development in our neighbourhood "village" (their term). We heard some people speak about the vision and looked at architectual renderings of what could be, and generally came away feeling that it sounded good, but that it's a long, long way from fruition. The primary issue is what's going to happen with Main Street, the major artery that runs through the neighbourhood. Right now the street's kind of a mixed bag: a few convenience stores, a health food market, a vegetarian buffet restaurant, a few offices, one new age book store, and a lot of vacant storefronts and underutilized space. The area seems like it could be on the cusp of becoming a really great urban neighbourhood, since the location is prime in relation to the city's major amenities, and the other cool areas are now very expensive. All the signs look promising to us. But we learned that there are also some significant barriers that could drive things the other way.
The major problem is that traffic is fairly heavy and fast moving on Main Street, which is four lanes, and apparently City Hall sees the area primarily as a traffic corridor. That perception is changing, but there's still a lot of work to do in terms of making the strip more hospitable to foot traffic by slowing down and thinning out vehicle traffic. A related issue is that for more businesses to be viable, they'd probably have to pull in customers from outside the immediate area, and street parking is limited. So the plan seems to be, fight to keep Main Street's commercial zoning whenever possible, increase population density in an intelligent way, improve green space, draw in businesses, and do something about the speeding cars. Not the kind of stuff that happens overnight. But that's the Big Idea.
On the other hand, I think there's a broad consensus in the 'hood that our quality of life would improve exponentially if someone would just open up a damn coffee shop. I tell you, if I wasn't a survivor of many years working in such establishments (and therefore all too aware of what it takes to run one, not the least of which is the 6 a.m. start time every day), I'd be tempted to open one myself. I think the neighbours would throw flowers at my feet every time I left the house if I did that, so strong is the expressed desire for a local java hut.
What I would really like to do to make the neighbourhood more vibrant is open a wine and beer store like the one we had down the street from our house in Richmond. But that kind of business is illegal here in Soviet Canuckistan, so, never mind. I'll just keep going to community association meetings instead and throwing in my 2 cents here and there. At the very least, it's good to know that there are so many people around who care enough to actually hold meetings like this one and try to make the area better.
The major problem is that traffic is fairly heavy and fast moving on Main Street, which is four lanes, and apparently City Hall sees the area primarily as a traffic corridor. That perception is changing, but there's still a lot of work to do in terms of making the strip more hospitable to foot traffic by slowing down and thinning out vehicle traffic. A related issue is that for more businesses to be viable, they'd probably have to pull in customers from outside the immediate area, and street parking is limited. So the plan seems to be, fight to keep Main Street's commercial zoning whenever possible, increase population density in an intelligent way, improve green space, draw in businesses, and do something about the speeding cars. Not the kind of stuff that happens overnight. But that's the Big Idea.
On the other hand, I think there's a broad consensus in the 'hood that our quality of life would improve exponentially if someone would just open up a damn coffee shop. I tell you, if I wasn't a survivor of many years working in such establishments (and therefore all too aware of what it takes to run one, not the least of which is the 6 a.m. start time every day), I'd be tempted to open one myself. I think the neighbours would throw flowers at my feet every time I left the house if I did that, so strong is the expressed desire for a local java hut.
What I would really like to do to make the neighbourhood more vibrant is open a wine and beer store like the one we had down the street from our house in Richmond. But that kind of business is illegal here in Soviet Canuckistan, so, never mind. I'll just keep going to community association meetings instead and throwing in my 2 cents here and there. At the very least, it's good to know that there are so many people around who care enough to actually hold meetings like this one and try to make the area better.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Rain, rain, rain
Yesterday we had our first bona-fide snowfall. There was enough accumulation to shut down the schools in Richmond, but around here, it was no big deal at all. Today we're back to pouring rain. I must say, the weather this fall has been consistently crappy. Nice days have been few and far between since the beginning of October. I was prepared mentally for a long, cold winter, but I wasn't expecting fall to be so gray, wet and miserable. It's more like Vancouver than what I imagined Ottawa would be like. My coffee consumption has crept up to four cups a day as I struggle against the urge to curl up in bed and hibernate until spring. I miss the bright, crisp fall days we enjoyed in Virginia, where autumn is by far the nicest season. I think things will be better once winter is fully underway. It will be freezing cold, but I'm looking forward to playing in the snow with Henry.
In other news, I lined up two days a week of daycare with a woman who lives a block over. Tom and I have done a pretty good job juggling primary responsibility for watching Henry, but we decided we needed more time to get things done. Now Tom will be able to spend more time on campus, and I gain the time I need to really concentrate on my job search and do more freelance work. My friend Chris has been feeding me a steady stream of work from his new employer, amazon.com, so I'm making some money. Most of what I'm doing is anonymous product descriptions, but here's an article I did on MP3 players, if you're curious.
And maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to get some housework done every once in awhile. But no promises. . .
In other news, I lined up two days a week of daycare with a woman who lives a block over. Tom and I have done a pretty good job juggling primary responsibility for watching Henry, but we decided we needed more time to get things done. Now Tom will be able to spend more time on campus, and I gain the time I need to really concentrate on my job search and do more freelance work. My friend Chris has been feeding me a steady stream of work from his new employer, amazon.com, so I'm making some money. Most of what I'm doing is anonymous product descriptions, but here's an article I did on MP3 players, if you're curious.
And maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to get some housework done every once in awhile. But no promises. . .
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Henry at 18 months
The kid's officially a year and a half old now. Language skill improvement continues to be the most striking aspect of his development at this stage. It seems like he adds new words every day. Some good ones include "tak-ta" (tractor), "tuk" (truck), "beeeer" (bear), "tschoo" (shoe), "jeee" (jeans) and, finally, "Da-da." And if you prompt him with a "Henry, can you say (whatever)," most of the time he'll give it a try. If the word is over two syllables, he'll make it easier for himself by turning all sounds after the first one into a kind of tongue-rolling "blahlala" sound. So "banana" is "balalalala" and "balloon comes out as "baloloololo." Very funny stuff.
He's also becoming really affectionate, both with us and his stuffed animals. Big hugs and even kisses.
Unfortunately, there's also some bad news that we've been dealing with over the last few weeks. Henry's developed strabismus in his left eye. I noticed soon after we moved here that it looked like his eye was crossing in at times, but it was subtle. I couldn't tell if it was the way his eye was moving or if it just looked that way because his left eye is set in a bit deeper than the right one (apparently it's not uncommon for young kids to look cross-eyed until the bridge of their nose develops). Tom never noticed it until I pointed it out, and our pediatrician in Richmond never said anything about it, either. But last month we took a few pictures of him where it was very obvious, so we knew it was time to get it checked out. Since then we've taken him to an optometrist for an initial exam and are waiting (and waiting and waiting) for an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist for a definitive diagnosis and course of treatment. Apparently there are only two of these specialists in the entire Ottawa metro region, so the waiting list for appointments is agonizingly long. In the meantime, our copious Internet research taught us that the problem usually develops either because of farsightedness (eyes cross in while trying to focus) or a problem with the muscles controlling the eyeball. The optometrist thinks it's the latter in Henry's case, as he is not farsighted. She said the ophthalmologist would have to confirm the diagnosis and decide the best treatment, but her guess was that Henry will need surgery to correct the problem (if strabismus isn't treated correctly in childhood, the brain will eventually start ignoring what it sees with the bad eye, and the result is a loss of depth perception).
The good news is that there's a very high success rate in treating this problem in really young kids like Henry. The bad news is. . . surgery. Ugh. It's not something we like to contemplate, but I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes. Other possible treatments include patching his good eye to force him to use the weaker one, and/ or glasses, but the optometrist wasn't sure if those will be effective for Henry's condition. Obviously, we will do whatever we have to do to help Henry preserve his vision.
It's been stressful for Tom and I to have all this on our minds, but it's not impacting Henry at all. His sight is perfectly fine (although the optometrist says he's definitely favouring his right eye), and he's the same happy, busy little boy he's been all along. I'll keep everyone updated as we learn more, but it could be awhile (like, months) before we get to see the ophthalmologist and get the definite diagnosis. In the meantime, I'll keep up with my regular posts and try not to let too long go by between entries.
He's also becoming really affectionate, both with us and his stuffed animals. Big hugs and even kisses.
Unfortunately, there's also some bad news that we've been dealing with over the last few weeks. Henry's developed strabismus in his left eye. I noticed soon after we moved here that it looked like his eye was crossing in at times, but it was subtle. I couldn't tell if it was the way his eye was moving or if it just looked that way because his left eye is set in a bit deeper than the right one (apparently it's not uncommon for young kids to look cross-eyed until the bridge of their nose develops). Tom never noticed it until I pointed it out, and our pediatrician in Richmond never said anything about it, either. But last month we took a few pictures of him where it was very obvious, so we knew it was time to get it checked out. Since then we've taken him to an optometrist for an initial exam and are waiting (and waiting and waiting) for an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist for a definitive diagnosis and course of treatment. Apparently there are only two of these specialists in the entire Ottawa metro region, so the waiting list for appointments is agonizingly long. In the meantime, our copious Internet research taught us that the problem usually develops either because of farsightedness (eyes cross in while trying to focus) or a problem with the muscles controlling the eyeball. The optometrist thinks it's the latter in Henry's case, as he is not farsighted. She said the ophthalmologist would have to confirm the diagnosis and decide the best treatment, but her guess was that Henry will need surgery to correct the problem (if strabismus isn't treated correctly in childhood, the brain will eventually start ignoring what it sees with the bad eye, and the result is a loss of depth perception).
The good news is that there's a very high success rate in treating this problem in really young kids like Henry. The bad news is. . . surgery. Ugh. It's not something we like to contemplate, but I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes. Other possible treatments include patching his good eye to force him to use the weaker one, and/ or glasses, but the optometrist wasn't sure if those will be effective for Henry's condition. Obviously, we will do whatever we have to do to help Henry preserve his vision.
It's been stressful for Tom and I to have all this on our minds, but it's not impacting Henry at all. His sight is perfectly fine (although the optometrist says he's definitely favouring his right eye), and he's the same happy, busy little boy he's been all along. I'll keep everyone updated as we learn more, but it could be awhile (like, months) before we get to see the ophthalmologist and get the definite diagnosis. In the meantime, I'll keep up with my regular posts and try not to let too long go by between entries.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Axeman
The instructor brought her acoustic guitar to music class today. Henry was into it immediately. None of the other kids paid much attention to it, but he marched right over and started strumming the strings while the teacher was trying to play. When class ended he made a beeline for the guitar again, so we stayed behind for a few minutes and he played it some more.
I found Henry's enthusiasm especially amusing because, as many of you know, my brother Dave is a vintage guitar fanatic. He bought his first serious guitar at age 13 with savings from his paper route and has been collecting them ever since. One of our favourite family pictures shows him at about age 2 with an acoustic guitar across his lap, playing away while I sing. Henry really reminded me of that picture today. Maybe there's a guitar fanatic gene somewhere in our family line.
Evne though I can't play, thanks to Dave and my guitar-obsessed friends Jon and Mark, I actually know a fair bit about guitars. It's this random body of knowledge I carry around with me. Anyway, when the time comes, I'll be able to advise Henry on what he should buy. Maybe Dave will sell him something out of his personal collection.
I found Henry's enthusiasm especially amusing because, as many of you know, my brother Dave is a vintage guitar fanatic. He bought his first serious guitar at age 13 with savings from his paper route and has been collecting them ever since. One of our favourite family pictures shows him at about age 2 with an acoustic guitar across his lap, playing away while I sing. Henry really reminded me of that picture today. Maybe there's a guitar fanatic gene somewhere in our family line.
Evne though I can't play, thanks to Dave and my guitar-obsessed friends Jon and Mark, I actually know a fair bit about guitars. It's this random body of knowledge I carry around with me. Anyway, when the time comes, I'll be able to advise Henry on what he should buy. Maybe Dave will sell him something out of his personal collection.
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