A Woman's Place ... is in her union

We spent last week at ETFO's Annual Meeting. This gathering of delegations from every local across the province is held each August in Toronto, alternating between convention centres; this year it was at the Westin Harbour Castle. Trish and I have been attending AM as Waterloo delegates for several years and look forward to it every summer. It is an amazing opportunity to see our union in action and be part of the decision-making regarding policies, procedures and priorities for the upcoming year. This was also an election year for positions on the provincial executive, so there was extra buzz in the building as we headed into the Wednesday votes. It was a great week, once again - a week of meetings, hours of debates on resolutions, passionate conversations - all in all, it's exhilarating and exhausting, but it is an annual experience of which we are proud to be a part.

Trish and I decided to go down a day early this year to give us a chance to enjoy some time in the big city. That was a great decision! Check-in was smooth on Sunday (unlike the fiasco of last year!) and we were floating in the pool by mid-afternoon! We walked the boardwalk in the evening and had dinner at a lovely casual Italian restaurant right on the water. The smile on Trish's face reflects how we both felt!
The first meetings of the AM are Caucus meetings for special interest groups during the day on Monday. We attended the Equity Caucus (an annual event for us) and I decided to attend the 'Black Members and Supporters' Caucus for the first time. My involvement as a presenter for the 'Rethinking White Privilege' workshop this year is what inspired me to attend. The White Privilege workshop arose out of a discussion at this caucus 3 years ago, so I was very curious to meet the group and listen to their discussions. I took a few notes; here are some of my take-aways from the Black Member caucus:

• the energy and passion of the members of this group are second to none - very impressive and inspiring!
• white privilege affects how our lawyers, accountants and other professionals advocate (or don't) for our members - many of us in the majority group haven't really considered the implications of this
• there is a disproportionate number of teacher allegations toward racialized members and the vast majority are dismissed - this was shocking to hear
• it is so important that the members of our executive, and ideally all attendees to AM, and educators in general, are able to examine issues through a cultural lens - this is something we can all become more sensitive to 
• many women's issues and resolutions have implications for racialized members
• in discussing the upcoming election, we were reminded that equity work is a life-long passion - not a quick statement on promotional materials or in a speech - we were encouraged to question candidates on their commitments and action toward equity issues

Obviously, I was in the minority group at the Black Member Caucus. There is a lot for any of us to learn from being in that position. It is so easy to get lost in your own perspective and to see things through your lens of privilege. I really valued this opportunity at AM. In retrospect, it was that hour during the week that had the most impact on me this year. I was thrilled to meet so many passionate and articulate members and will certainly hold close many of the aha's that I experienced during that discussion. I am also very excited that Karen Brown earned a released position on the provincial executive that Gail Bannister-Clarke gained an executive position seat. These are two strong women members who will bring a lot to the team! This is also historic for our black members and is reason to celebrate ETFO's commitment to equity and inclusion.

Wednesday was election day and we were all thrilled that Sam Hammond's position was not contested, so he will remain our provincial president. He is an amazing leader - strong, motivating, kind, equity-minded - I continue to be so impressed with the unique ability Sam has to be a caring and compassionate human being alongside demonstrating great strength and commitment as our leader. Our local president Greg Weiler was elected to the provincial executive - you can see we had a little celebration party in our hospitality suite that evening! He will make a great addition to this group, along with Nathan Core, President of our local OTs, who also gained a position on this provincial team.

Wednesday evening's banquet was great fun - look who shut the house down at the end of the event!!

On Thursday, all of the delegates wore red shirts for solidarity with our union as we listened to Sam outline the particulars of Phase 2 of the job action for September, as well as share his perspectives about the upcoming return to bargaining. There was energy in the house!!

As the week came to an end, I felt a little ache coming on as I realized that this was my last ETFO Annual Meeting. My place in the union has been a valuable and rich experience and I will miss this involvement tremendously. Sam gave a shout-out to 'last time attendees to AM'. Here I am trying to keep it together as the group applauded us.
As a young teacher, I threw my passions into family and music teaching, and my connection with my union was from the sidelines. That has certainly changed. Over the past few years, my ETFO involvements have been front and centre. And they will leave a hole - not only in my calendar, but in my heart.

The birds and the bees

Reservation for .... 7?

Both Trish and I love to sit in the chairs in the backyard and watch the birds. Trish maintains 2 feeders and at this time of year (early August), the birds are very busy and she fills the feeders almost once a day! They are so much fun to watch.

We have lots and lots of house sparrows who usually eat in large groups, then head to the tree branches to clean themselves. The blue jays try desperately to fit their large bodies on the small rungs of the feeders and are often successful! They usually eat alone or with one partner. The cardinals are the shyest, especially the females. We often see them waiting in the evergreens for their turn at the feeder. In the past week, I think there are 2 new little cardinals - one male, one female. They are quite small and she is still a little fluffy. So sweet. The goldfinches love the heads of the coneflowers, so they seem to have just arrived as the flowers have opened. We also have lots of doves, a few starlings, and some chickadees. I'll have to do another post at a later date and feature some of the ones I didn't capture here!
Enjoy these pics - they were all taken in the first week or so of August.

He has such brilliant colour!

The shy female cardinal.

Goldfinch.

Who me??

Female sparrow.

Standing tall and proud :)

Trying desperately to reach the feeder!!

The male and female sparrows have different colouring, as you can see in these pics. The females are lighter brown and tan with a very pale chest. The males have darker colouring in general, with more of a reddish hue. They have a black mark under their beaks. I've read that the males' colour darkens during mating. We have noticed that with 'our' birds. Trish especially loves the close-ups where you can see the seeds in their mouths!

The bees have arrived in the last couple of weeks. It's wonderful to see them! There is such a variety of flowers in the garden at this time of year, so the bees seem very happy and busy buzzing from one to the other. We love to see them in our garden!

Renoir

Sadly, we lost our dear sweet Renoir earlier this summer. One morning in early July, after an outdoor overnight, Renoir did not come home. We waited and called and searched and hoped and did it all over again, but he did not arrive. We never saw him again.
There had been fox or coyote sightings (we're not really sure) in our neighbourhood in the days and weeks preceding - we had even seen one right in our backyard. Our suspicion is that he fell prey to one of these. We will never know for sure of course, but there has

been absolutely no sign of him. Losing Renoir and not knowing for certain what happened has been quite heartbreaking.

Vincent and Renoir have been outdoor cats most of the years we've been here on Coventry Drive. When they were younger, we tried to keep them indoors, but they were much more content cats when they were prowling and exploring in the outdoors. Although we knew the risks, it was pretty much impossible to keep them, and especially Renoir, indoors. Particularly at night, Renoir would pace around, howl at and scrape the door until you let him out. Once outside, he was gone - out to his happy place. 

Today is Vincent and Renoir's 12th birthday. A happy sad day for us. I've spent much of the day snuggling with Vinnie (he loves every minute of course!) and although our kittie grieving is mostly over now, today is different - I am really missing Renoir. I suppose that's why I'm finally writing this post.
Luke, Dan and I adopted our 2 adorable babies in the fall of 2003 when they were 9 weeks old and they have been a big part of our family ever since. Although Vincent is gray and Renoir black, they are both solid in colour with only tiny tufts of white on their chests and are very alike. August 9 was their birth day - it's exactly one month before our niece Alana's birthday, so it's always been easy to remember!
Vincent and Renoir have been cherished kitties right from the start - they've been loved by everyone in the family. They have always been very cuddly with us and with each other. I've never been able to resist this, as you can tell from the hundreds of adorable pics of them snuggled up together - both here and that I've posted over the years on Facebook, etc.
They have, however, also had a fairly competitive relationship - particularly regarding food and litter. I suppose that's not uncommon with brothers, but it was quite a challenge when they were younger. Renoir was, as many people who knew him would agree, a difficult cat. He peed everywhere, and on everything. There were a couple of years when I lived at Hohner, when I cleaned up cat urine and threw out damaged goods pretty much every day after work. Although I tried hard to understand and find patterns, it was tough. We even consulted a cat shrink! (and that's a great story, to be told only in person!) In the end, I think he probably outgrew it, but I still choose to believe that love won out :)
As he got older and was able to spend more time outdoors, he definitely became more contented. The cat pee issues had almost subsided. The last couple of years have been pretty good.
Things are certainly different in our one cat family. I have been quite nervous about Vinnie being outside, under the potential threat of wild animals close by. However, I'm getting better and we are all adapting. Vinnie craves attention, love and snuggles, so given the choice of prowling outdoors or lying on a lap, he pretty much chooses the lap every time. Thank goodness! During these lovely summer days, he goes outside, but he has become quite a homebody. He sits on or under the lawn chairs, on the deck railing, or on one of our laps, and either naps or watches the birds at the feeder contentedly. It's a lovely way to spend days. At night, he has enjoyed lying around with us watching Netflix and there has been no howling to go out. Hardly even a meow during the night. We are very grateful. I know he senses something was very wrong in the beginning and I believe he still misses Renoir but he's adjusting. As we all are. Today, Vinnie, we wish you a happy 12th birthday and hope for many more. xo

But a sad farewell to our beautiful Renoir. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Love.

So adorable.

Outdoors - even in winter!

'Playing' with Alana!

Kittie Love :)