A few days ago, we were in Toronto...
... visiting our daughter for the weekend.
Driving to her downtown apartment...
... we are suddenly surrounded by tall buildings... (And more under construction.)
But when evening comes, the view changes.
With all the lights on, everything looks so festive! The CN Tower changes colors daily. Even the construction cranes are lit up!
Several nights ago, around 3 AM, Terry and I were wakened by the sound of sirens...
Police? Fire engines? Both?!
The following day, we discovered that there had been a house fire in our neighbourhood - only a few blocks away. Neighbors had seen flames and called 9-1-1. Two people had been taken to hospital.
We drove past the house to see...
How awful! I wonder what happened. Did they not have smoke detectors?!
The last fire I remember in our community was on a sunny but windy afternoon when someone was barbecuing on an apartment balcony. The balcony caught fire.
Just a year ago, the sister of a friend made the mistake of going downstairs instead of leaving the building when she saw smoke coming out of the basement. I wonder if I'd have done the dame thing...
As a teacher, I used to appreciate Fire Prevention Week at school when we were all taught - or reminded - what to do in case of a fire.
Some of the tips I still remember were:
I usually park away from tall light poles with seagulls perched on them.
But it's even more disconcerting to see animals ON a vehicle!
(Maybe I should just move to a different spot!)
One of the oldest thing we own is this steamer trunk of my mother's.
She took it "up north" by train when - at the age of 19 - she started her teaching career at Preston Lake, in Alberta's Peace River country, the first woman to teach in that one-room country school. That was in the fall of 1938. If I remember correctly, her annual salary was $300.
What courage and determination, saying goodbye to her family in Edmonton and heading off on a 10-month contract.
Her home, while there, was a small "teacherage" next to the school. Her duties included teaching the assigned curriculum to grades one to eight - all together in one classroom - as well as arriving early to start the wood stove in the morning, so that the classroom was warm when the children arrived. At end of the day, she was also responsible for tidying up and sweeping the floor.
How did she carry that trunk? my son asks. It's heavy!
Porters - at the train station - carried it. Then local farmers, who had been tasked with picking her up at the station took her to her new home. It would have been extra heavy, full of teaching supplies, as well as personal items - everything she needed for her 10-month sojourn in the north.
Did her family use this same trunk when they came from Ukraine to Canada in 1928?
I don't know - I never thought to ask!
... trim their roots, and put them in the basement, in a paper bag, to lie dormant for several months, before repotting them in fresh soil.
One website suggested repotting them several weeks apart - to lengthen one's enjoyment of the flowers. I may try that, even though last year, only two of the four bloomed...
But for now, I'll just put reminders on my calendar - to remind me when to repot them.
