Books I've read:
Mindscapes of Montreal: Québec's urban novel, 1960-2005. Ceri Morgan
Helpful for all Quebec literature scholars, an academic love-letter to Montreal. I'll be reviewing it for a journal so that's all I'll say here.
Signs and Wonders by Alix Ohlin. The title story I found fantastic, which drew me in. However, this collection of short stories I found a little tiring and not as engaging as Ohlin's novel Inside, published on the same day in 2012. Some stories share some plot details with Inside (theatre festival in Edinburgh). There are so many sad divorce tales that it is best to read these stories separtely, not in a rush, thus I haven't finished it yet.
Handbook of Cultural Geography by Kay Anderson. Thick. Helpful. Glad I still had student assistants in September to make copies.
The History of Montreal: The Story of a Great North American City by Paul-André Linteau. A thorough, concise overview of the history of Montreal (translated from the French), giving a very readable account to anyone who wants to understand the city, its roots and engage culture.
Movies I've seen:
Les Miserables - I finally got to see this beloved movie! Yes, I would have preferred to see it on the big screen with big sound, but some advantages to watching it at home is that I could sing along, loud and proud, as I have had all the lyrics memorized since I was 10. The songs emanated through our childhood bedroom walls as my sister wore out her dubbed tapes of the Original London musical. I later bought the CDs and have kept up the Les Mis love. My husband and I loved this movie, one of the few I would consider actually owning to rewatch over and over. Seeing the actors perfectly portray the lyrics I have long known helped me to understand the story in a new way. Victor Hugo's timeless tropes of mercy, redemption, forgiveness, poverty, human trafficking...breathtaking.
Silver Linings Playbook (German: Silver Linings) - Watch. This. Movie.
Unexpected. Funny. Touching. Expanded my heart a little more towards understanding people.
TV Show:
Downton Abbey - Season 4! I was very angry at you at the end of Season 3. How could you do this? But now, I love you again. England? Yes. Historic? Yes. Drama? Yes. My husband loves it too? Bring it on.
Things I love:
Warning, here comes the mom-blog part...
Kinderbasare
Seriously, there is no high like the I-got-a-good-bargain-on-something-my-kids-needed! high. Since having kids, I am a full-on lover of the "children's bazaar." Every spring and every fall in our city there are about 10 different Kinderbasare one could go to. These are kind of like mom-to-mom sales I have heard of in North America. Here, these are organized by the Kindergartens, a biannual sale on a weekend. All the parents who want to sell gently-used clothes, toys, books, carseats, prams etc. register and get a number. They label all their stuff with that number and a price. We had some stuff to downsize (I do not want to become that family with a basement and toy boxes full of stuff we don't use), so I spent about a total of 6 hours sorting and labelling stuff to sell. I actually loved doing this.
On the day of the Bazaar, there are tons of parent volunteers who help set up tables, organize and lay out all the items, all the clothes neatly sorted by size, category and so on. Others bake cakes to sell, there will be Butter Brezeln (buttered, soft German pretzels) on sale and filtered coffee. All the proceeds (along with 20% of what the sellers sell) goes to the Kindergarten for new supplies and toys.
Since moving to our part of town, where there is only one big Kindergarten, I have helped at the Bazaar. It is a great way to get to know other parents and you get to bypass the mayhem of literally hundreds of parents storming the tables and shop an hour before the general public is let in. This is amazing. Pristine, new or almost-new clothes for 1 or 2 Euro per item. Great like-new Thinsulate mittens for 50 cents. Thus, no need to run to 2-3 bazaars per weekend for the rest of the fall, I can get everything on my list in one place. And when I see all the books and toys sold for about a tenth of what they cost new, I wish no relative of mine would ever feel obliged to give my kids new toys again. (Full disclosure: we made 68 Euro by selling our stuff.)
I mentioned the German Kindergarten/Krippe system last month. I spent a good portion of this month going through the acclimatization period with both of my kids. In Germany, you don't just drop your child off the first day, but ease into it, which is great for both kids and parents. This meant that I sat in the room passively observing my child play, meet people and get used to the structures and routines. If my child needed me (hug, eye contact, talk to me), I was there, but the parent's role is to not be directly engaged in what is going on.
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| Little bird ready for her first day, with her big brother fireman to protect her |
My son is 3 and just started Kindergarten, which is large, active and full of great opportunities for him to try things out in a 3-storey building with 4 groups of about 20 kids. He played and went with his Erzieherin (Early Childhood Education worker. One is assigned to accompany your child through the acclimatization period and build a relationship with him/her) right away, leaving the room to play in the Building Room for half an hour. It is fun to observe your child and hear the funny things they say, watch as they get to know the other children. But it does get boring after sitting there for 2 days, and when he was out of the room I read or wrote emails on my phone. The parent stays in the room with the child the first 2 days, in which the child only stays for about 2 hours, so as not to get overtired and leave on a positive note, still wanting to come back. If all is going well, the parent can leave for an hour the next day (I sat downstairs and worked on my computer) and increase that time incrementally, all individualized to your child's needs and how he or she is doing.
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| On his 4th day he was so busy playing with these cool magnet-building things he refused to leave. |
I then did the same with my daughter (1, at Krippe/daycare). The Krippe is much smaller and calmer, with only 2 groups of up to 12 kids (ages 1-3), with 4 Erzieherinnen per group. (Right now there are only about 6 or 7 kids in my daughter's group, making it a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio!) She absolutely loves it at Krippe where there are so many state-of-the-art Pikler climbing structures and wooden toys, all her size and nothing she is forbidden to climb on or do! So this acclimatization process took about a week per child til they were staying for the full time (extended mornings, til 2 pm) we have registered them for. This asks a lot of a working parent (or a parent with another small child in toe), missing work for a week, (in my case, making up for it in the evening hours or just getting behind on deadlines!) but the gradual transition is definitely helpful for the kids and this mama's soul. Its great to have no-tears goodbyes and know that your kids love where they get to play every morning.
My husband and I started a Whole30 4 days ago. Not sure if we love it yet, but its going well.
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| Patriotic Canadian blueberries. Many Whole30 smoothies coming up. |
My most-read blog post:
I am from snow boots drying upside down
A little retrospective on where I am from. It was fun to write, thanks SheLoves magazine!
Linking up with Leigh Kramer today.
