Friday, January 11, 2013
Trading High Park for a high park
We've got big news, friends. Our family is moving to Banff, Alberta in just over a month. It's a huge change for us, and one that we think is going to be incredible in many different ways.
This week, after taking us on a virtual tour, two of my new colleagues sent this picture to me, saying "Look who dropped by to introduce himself!" We can't wait to be this close to nature on a more regular basis, and we hope you will come and visit us in the mountains in the near future. I'll post whatever stories come to us on our adventure soon...for now I'm a bit overwhelmed with details and dissertation writing...onwards and upwards!
Can you help us predict how many boxes we'll need to move the Lovett Hammel Family to Alberta?
This week, after taking us on a virtual tour, two of my new colleagues sent this picture to me, saying "Look who dropped by to introduce himself!" We can't wait to be this close to nature on a more regular basis, and we hope you will come and visit us in the mountains in the near future. I'll post whatever stories come to us on our adventure soon...for now I'm a bit overwhelmed with details and dissertation writing...onwards and upwards!
Can you help us predict how many boxes we'll need to move the Lovett Hammel Family to Alberta?
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Overdue Pics and Post
My friend N. took some shots of Morgen and Lillian outside of Morgen's Junior Kindergarten class last week...and since these photos weren't then trapped on my broken camera, or mysteriously warped by my quirky computer, I've been able to post them here.
The little Lovett Hammel girls are getting bigger every day.
The little Lovett Hammel girls are getting bigger every day.
Monday, August 27, 2012
To the lost crew of the Intrepid Tank
God speed.
Or, as Morgen says "Awww. That's ok. Now we have a nice bowl of water to look at."
Time to clean and test the water again, and then ready our hearts for the rookie crew.
But first...does this seem suspicious to anyone else? When we purchased our first three, healthy looking platies, the pet store guaranteed them for 14 days. One died while we were on vacation...and so, feeling guilty, we didn't pursue a replacement. Two went belly up on day 15. Coincidence? Evil plot? Or am I simply a very bad fish whisperer?
Complete my survey, if you dare.
Or, as Morgen says "Awww. That's ok. Now we have a nice bowl of water to look at."
Time to clean and test the water again, and then ready our hearts for the rookie crew.
But first...does this seem suspicious to anyone else? When we purchased our first three, healthy looking platies, the pet store guaranteed them for 14 days. One died while we were on vacation...and so, feeling guilty, we didn't pursue a replacement. Two went belly up on day 15. Coincidence? Evil plot? Or am I simply a very bad fish whisperer?
Complete my survey, if you dare.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The "Poor-Substitute-for-a-Pony" Tank
Before Gavin and I were married, I moved into a bungalo in Mimico and bought, of all things, a very small fishtank. I called it my "three gallons of liquid happiness." I filled it with beige stones, a plant, and seven neon cardinal tetras that I named after the Borg (one-of-seven, two-of-seven, three-of-seven...you get it).
If we were speaking in person, this is where I would tell you to stop me if I'd already told you the story about the tank's evolution from "three gallons of liquid happiness" to "three gallons of liquid deathtrap." And this is also where I'll stop telling that story now, and tell you the one I logged in to write about.
Ever since my friend shared the news on his blog about his son's idyllic daycare, where they have hamsters and fish, and bring in actual ponies to entertain and enlighten the children, I've been stewing about the lack of animals in the otherwise nurturing, empowering, and safe daycare that my children attend and for which we are very grateful. (I mean, COME ON! Is it fair to the rest of the pony-starved children for some to get rides at preschool, and not others? I'm happy for him, I really am...but the sheer number of animals at that preschool was amazing to me.) I started asking other parents whether they have pets in their preschool classrooms.
And eventually I decided that our daycare needed a fish tank. Or to be more accurate, I decided that it needed a second fish tank. One for fish. The preschool room already has a tank, but it is filled with plants.
I did a bunch of reading about what kinds of aquariums are good for an educational setting. I asked a teacher in the toddler room if she would care for some fish if I provided the tank. I weighed the benefits of really big tanks (harder to kill fish) with the benefits of really small tanks (easier to fit into small spaces). This morning I brought my donation into daycare, while Morgen and Lillian bounced around begging the teacher if they could take it out of the box and play with it. It's shatterproof, of a medium-to-small size, and soon, once we've washed it and filled it with faux river rocks and water plants, and waited for the good tank bugs to grow, we'll introduce a few, hopefully hardy, fish into the environment....
While we were picking out our daycare's new tank, we also bought a new tank for our living room. I'm not sure what to call it yet. Maybe the "Intrepid." Or maybe we'll call it the "Poor-substitute-for-a-pony Tank." Thanks for the inspiration, friends with children in super-cool daycare programs...and please wish those daycare fish luck.
If we were speaking in person, this is where I would tell you to stop me if I'd already told you the story about the tank's evolution from "three gallons of liquid happiness" to "three gallons of liquid deathtrap." And this is also where I'll stop telling that story now, and tell you the one I logged in to write about.
Ever since my friend shared the news on his blog about his son's idyllic daycare, where they have hamsters and fish, and bring in actual ponies to entertain and enlighten the children, I've been stewing about the lack of animals in the otherwise nurturing, empowering, and safe daycare that my children attend and for which we are very grateful. (I mean, COME ON! Is it fair to the rest of the pony-starved children for some to get rides at preschool, and not others? I'm happy for him, I really am...but the sheer number of animals at that preschool was amazing to me.) I started asking other parents whether they have pets in their preschool classrooms.
And eventually I decided that our daycare needed a fish tank. Or to be more accurate, I decided that it needed a second fish tank. One for fish. The preschool room already has a tank, but it is filled with plants.
I did a bunch of reading about what kinds of aquariums are good for an educational setting. I asked a teacher in the toddler room if she would care for some fish if I provided the tank. I weighed the benefits of really big tanks (harder to kill fish) with the benefits of really small tanks (easier to fit into small spaces). This morning I brought my donation into daycare, while Morgen and Lillian bounced around begging the teacher if they could take it out of the box and play with it. It's shatterproof, of a medium-to-small size, and soon, once we've washed it and filled it with faux river rocks and water plants, and waited for the good tank bugs to grow, we'll introduce a few, hopefully hardy, fish into the environment....
While we were picking out our daycare's new tank, we also bought a new tank for our living room. I'm not sure what to call it yet. Maybe the "Intrepid." Or maybe we'll call it the "Poor-substitute-for-a-pony Tank." Thanks for the inspiration, friends with children in super-cool daycare programs...and please wish those daycare fish luck.
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