Scotland

Mum and I just spent the afternoon booking our '2nd annual' trip to Scotland. For 2 weeks in September, we will be spending time in Aberdeen, where mum and dad grew up, and where many in our extended family still live. As well, we will be visiting family and friends in the Bristol and London areas of England. How exciting!

Mum started talking about and planning this holiday about 2 days after we returned from Scotland Part 1 last fall! Last year, the trip was inspired by an invitation to a Thanksgiving weekend family wedding in Edinburgh. We had a wonderful time at Kirstie and Andy's wedding and really enjoyed reconnecting with family - many of whom I had not seen since we were all little kids! It was such fun! While we were there, we spent time with my cousin Pat, Alan and Fyvie at their home in Larkhall, did city tours of Edinburgh (Edinburgh Castle above) and Glasgow, and thoroughly enjoyed a three-day tour of the Isle of Skye. Mum had never been to Skye and this was one of her wishes for this trip. It was amazing! The weather was gorgeous, skies were blue and the sights unbelievable! We had a such a great time on the holiday that, like I said, this year's trip became a topic of conversation about 2 days after we returned home last year!

Our timeline was a little tight last year because I was still working, which meant taking some time off in order to make the trip happen. This year will be a little different, given the anticipated freedoms of retirement! Mum is pleased that we can take more time, and has plans to do all the things we didn't really have time to do last year. Aberdeen is her childhood home - many family are there so we have lots of people to connect with. There are also plenty of sights and side-trips in that area that we are both looking forward to. Mum and Dad took us there as kids; I have really vivid memories of month-long summer holidays when I was 8 and then again when I was 11. Aberdeen for me is memories of family visits, giant plates of mince and tatties at the Scott home in Portsoy, rowies at Aunt Chris' (YUM - I am already dreaming of these and plan to have at least one a day while I'm there!), frigid water on beautiful North Sea beaches, visiting elderly aunties in lovely stone cottages in country villages, and much more. Those were definitely happy times and I look forward to seeing this part of Scotland again. I have never been to England so that will be a brand new adventure.

Mum says this will be her last trip to Scotland. I'm not so sure of that. She's 83, in great health, and seems to have lots of adventure in her yet! I'll do my best to be a good travel companion once again, which means carrying heavy stuff, handling the mess of documents and bookings, pretending like I know where I'm going in airports, and generally doing my best to keep up with her!

I am really grateful for this opportunity, for so many reasons. I'll be retired - yay!! I'll also be travelling again with mum, and to the place of our family roots. I am so lucky. What a way to spend my first retired September!

Art is Life; Life is Art

About 15 years ago, Trish bought me a beautiful set of artist's pencils and a sketch book and challenged me to sketch every day while I was away on a summer vacation. Trish was the art lover. I was the musician. Our shared love of the arts made gallery visits one of our favorite pastimes in our early days. Trish saw and felt things in art that I had never really experienced before. "Art is Life; Life is Art" was one of her favorite phrases. She opened my eyes. And that's what inspired her challenge - for me to not just look at the art, but to become the artist. Like so many adults, somewhere along the way, I had come to believe that I was not artistic, that I had no talent for drawing or any other type of creative expression. Trish felt otherwise and convinced me to accept her challenge. So I did, and I managed to fill that little sketch book that summer - hands, fingers, chairs, flowers, books, album covers, all kinds of things - I still have it and it brings me right back to that magical summer every time I look at it. It was a new world for me.

That fall, I took my first painting lessons in a group class at the then new Cambridge gallery in downtown Galt. It was a beginner acrylics class and I was very nervous to start but I was instantly hooked. I bought an easel, my own paints and brushes and claimed a spot in the house and time in the day to do my 'homework' and experiment. One of my McQuarrie colleagues who was herself an accomplished artist told me to frame my new creations and hang them around the house. She said don't worry if they're not good - if you don't like them, paint something better and replace them! I took her advice and put a couple of paintings on display. They weren't good, but they were my art and I loved them!

I did take the occasional class and painted casually for about 3 or 4 years. The image in this post is a small painting I did from a photo I took at Victoria Park one 'school snow day' in January about 12 years ago. It may have been the last one I finished. I didn't intend to stop painting - it's just one of those things that happens. I have blamed my new technology job a bit for that - I was so excited in my new role that it did kind of take over my life for a while. Painting, sadly, fell by the wayside.

But, this is one of the thrills of my upcoming retirement. I can hardly wait to sign up for a painting class in the fall! It'll be a beginner class and I'm just going to start all over again! Already, when I'm out shopping or in restaurants, I find myself looking at giant canvases covered in brilliant colours and thinking "I could try that!".  I've started taking pictures of fabulous abstracts and crazy wild flowers. I have a little collection of things I want to paint! It won't be long now!

Come for tea next fall and I'll show you what I'm working on.

Early Bloggery

One of the great teaching gigs I've had was working at The McQuarrie Enrichment Centre. The amazing staff, the most fabulous students EVER, and a job that allowed for creativity and spontaneity made these years unique and unforgettable.

The job offered many varied experiences, but I think my favorite part was teaching Gr. 7 and 8 Area Classes. The students who attended these programs came to McQuarrie one day a week for either a full or half year (depending on numbers and politics), then attended their regular classes at their home school the other 4 days. These Area Class days were some of the most engaging in my career. The students bonded in their one day together and became a supportive, caring community of true friends. They shared many issues and concerns; I adored their passion for engaging in deep discussion about anything and everything.

It was at McQuarrie during these years that my passion for technology took firm hold. In the mid 2000s, social media was just beginning to evolve as a tool which might offer some new opportunities for communication and collaboration in education. I experimented a bit with a classroom website first. I remember learning to code for the first time at CATC Camp in 2001! Yuk - not for me. I decided I would wait until a tool came along that didn't necessitate the use of code! Sure enough along came Dreamweaver a couple of years later with its option for code or design view and it became my favorite software for quite a few years. I used DW for building my first classroom website and hosted it on a server we had at McQuarrie. Hey, and guess what it was called? WATTSUP!! Geez, I wish I still had access to those files - I'd love to peek back at those eariest efforts! Sadly, no such archive. I did classroom websites with every class I taught from that point on and had students of all ages using Dreamweaver and using their new-found skills as authors and editors on our sites.

Blogging came next and the students and I were almost immediately hooked! When I offered blogging as an option to my Area Class students as a means to continue our engaging discussions and stay connected during the 'other' days of the week, it was instantly popular.

Just for fun - here are some links to my earliest McQuarrie Blogs - from 2006 - 2008.

• http://mcq2006.blogspot.ca
• http://mcq-gr7.blogspot.ca
• http://mcq-gr8.blogspot.ca
• http://mcq-alumni.blogspot.ca (This group didn't want to lose touch at the end of Gr. 8 so they made me create this 'Alumni' blog for them!)

So, I've gone from 'wattsup' in 2005 to 'wattsup next?' in 2015. Great journey so far. And I wonder what's next?

Changing Gears

I'm heading into my last term of teaching ..... after 35 years.

A few months ago when I told my colleagues about my retirement, I was pretty adamant that they understand my plan to work til the end of June at my usual pace - no winding down, slacking off or daily countdowns for me! For the most part that's the way it's been however, I have come to realize that it won't quite be 'business as usual' for the next couple of months. My mind is increasingly preoccupied with thoughts of what's next - I am definitely feeling the changing of gears.

So, although I've blogged on and off over the years, I've decided that this unique and wondrous time deserves a fresh start. 'wattsup next' is going to be my place to share all these swirling thoughts, ideas, reflections, plans, start-up possibilities and so on.

I'm in the driver's seat, hand on the gear shift and heading out. Won't you join me and see what's up next?