Hot

Having moved to the tropics without having moved I still feel guilty about my neglected blog. Now of course I actually spent several days on Vancouver Island without my trusty computer and my main goal the last few days has been staying cool. Yesterday we beat all records for heat-33.8 degrees centigrade in Vancouver. Now if you were in Port Alberni where I was last week it was over 40 degrees yesterday. Too strange. Heaven yesterday was being in the Mount Pleasant pool and in Oakridge movie theatre. I think lots of people were spending quality time anywhere that was air conditioned. So strange that much of the year we complain about a lack of sun and now we are suffering from too much! Too lazy to slog down to Kits Point to see the fireworks a friend and I watched from her rooftop deck overlooking Douglas Park and were almost cool. I resorted to buying another fan yesterday partly because Kerrisdale London Drugs actually had some. Normally I never need even one fan on my main floor. Today seems better but that may be because I am sitting here in a damp bathing suit. Hope you are finding your own cool solutions! I am enclosing a cool picture from Salt Spring. Stay tuned for the West Coast of Vancouver Island...

Way Behind

Yes, I will post again-it's just too busy not working! This is the deck where I stayed at Salt Spring. Off to Vancouver Island today after being a Vancouver tour guide!

New Teachers and not so new teachers

Just found a wonderful resource-100 Helpful Websites for New Teachers
As I take a closer look, there are great resources for not so new teachers as well. Thanks again to Choice Literacy for this great resource! Now just for fun, I think I will include another lovely picture from the mountains! Hmmm... a picture like this could be a good image for the value of reflection, don't you think?

Summer at last

Well I have had a respite from the temptations of blogging. The first week of the holiday wasn't quite a holiday as I did a high school literacy institute Thursday and Friday morning with a small but enthusiastic group of people. Needless to say I was doing some prepping Monday and Tuesday. Now my office (of course not yet all packed) really is a mess!
Saturday morning bright and early a friend and I hit the road. Our first night was in Revelstoke then three nights at Panorama, a ski resort situation well above the Columbia Wetlands and near all those famous spas on the eastern side of the Rockies. Then we were off through Kootenay National Park to Banff. After a night there we meandered with a side trip to Canmore to Lake Louise via a scenic route complete with a sighting of a grizzly bear. Our last night away we were in Golden and then we journeyed through the Okanagan hitting a few wineries and now I am home. So much gorgeous scenery! I have a zillion pictures although my camera decided to stay at Quail's Gate Winery and is journeying home via Canada Post!
This has been my longest western road trip for a long while and I really enjoyed it despite some run ins with the weather! It's also been a week without any academic reading! I did read a few non-serious books along the way.
I hope you have all been able to do some relaxing as well!
I am planning a much shorter road trip to Salt Spring Island Wednesday for a few days so stay tuned for a book review soon!