Greetings one and all! I'm back from PEI, got back Sunday night. Drove 12 hours on Sunday and got home at 5pm. Then on Monday and Tuesday I attended a conference - nothing like getting right back into the swing of things! The picture above was taken while driving Hwy 108 (Plaster Rock-Renous) in New Brunswick, well actually I did stop the car while I took the picture!

Michael is still in PEI - his son Dane is helping out with the airshow - he's a firefighter with the military and he volunteered to work the airshow - he helped install the giant "elastics" that stop the jets when they land at tiny Charlottetown airport and he'll be on hand "just in case". So Michael and Dane have been spending lots of time together while I'm toiling away here at home. The last two days have been spent sitting with my laptop on my lap putting together lesson plans and resources for BACK TO SCHOOL!

As far as school goes it looks like we should be back in the classroom on September 4th. Our provincial premier, Dalton McGuinty is bringing parliament back early from their summer break to initiate legislation that will force us to be in the classroom - the Bill is called "Putting Students First".  So contract or no contract we'll be in the classroom. I'm sort of OK with that as I'd rather be at work than on strike BUT we have a union meeting on Sept. 10th and our union is up in arms because our school board won't sign off on our agreement with the gov't. No progress there whatsoever!  So the first few weeks of school will be rather unsettled and I can only hope that everything gets resolved amicably! HAH! That's probably asking for too much!

My apologies for neglecting you recently. I look forward to getting into routine and being able to  read your updates on a regular basis. It's always hectic at this time of year and my only focus is on preparations for school.

My nephew continues to mend. I spoke to my sister for a couple of hours on Tuesday and she is feeling very strongly that Jon will be able to walk  again someday. He is having daily physio and when the nurse moves his legs apart he is able to bring them back together (with great pain). The bad news is that right now he is blind. One eye was badly damaged and cannot be repaired while the other has a detached retina. Surgery will help reattach the retina but can't be done while he is in the halo brace which he will wear for another five months. Hopefully he will regain some vision in that eye after surgery but no one knows how much. Due to his diabetes his eyesight was already becoming poor. He'll be in hospital/rehab centre for probably up to a year (or more).

And now I must get to work - I leave you with a few more photos from my trip home:

 Sometimes I just hold up the camera and shoot while I'm driving - that's why the horizon line is kinda tilted in some of the pictures - I don't aim I just shoot!

Last Week in Prince Edward Island

Why oh why does summer pass at a much faster rate than the other seasons of the year?? The million dollar question. The weather has also taken a turn for the worse - reflecting my mood??  I'm not really complaining though (yuck yuck!) as I am ready to work my way through another school year with my ever eternal optimism firmly in place and we REALLY NEED RAIN!! Though the THREAT of rain seems to dominate the day rather than the actual stuff!

So yes, I am gearing myself up for the first day of school - I just don't know for sure what day that will be...huh? (insert monumental sigh here) In spite of my best efforts I cannot control a) my teacher's union b) my school board and c) the provincial government of Ontario. I'll back up a little: I was very pleased to hear that my union had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the provincial gov't by working within the gov'ts mandate of freezing wages for two years among other things. Yay - potential strike/lockout averted!

Oops, spoke too soon. My school board has rejected the deal and has asked for conciliation which means involving a third party to work out a contract which would then be forced on the union and the school board. Confusing no?

So currently we have a couple of school boards that have agreed to work within the Memorandums of Understanding, two large unions who reject the MOUs, school boards rejecting the MOUs and the gov't who just wants everything resolved by August 31st to avoid paying out huge pay increases (old contracts roll over as of Sept. 1st) and to avoid lockouts by the school boards and strikes by the teachers' unions. In other words things are in a great BIG MESS!! 
I just want to go back to work....I want to see my students....I miss them.....

So next Saturday I'll be headed back to Ontario and will get ready for my students. Hopefully my professional development on Aug. 20th and 21st will still be a GO and hopefully on August 27th I'll be allowed into my school to ready my classroom for a new year.

I haven't mentioned the financial aspects of this yet because I'm hopeful (there's that word again) that everything will be resolved and I won't have to live on strike pay and walk the picket line. I've never had that experience in 20 years of teaching and would really like to finish off my career in the classroom, NOT on the picket line.

Stay tuned.....

 some folks digging for clams, quahaugs perhaps? (Sorry about the sideways pictures - I don't know how to change them - they are right side up in my picture files but when I upload them to the blog some of them turn sideways?????)

We spent some time the other day in the most magnificent garden - more photos of flowers to follow in another post...( just to warn you!!)

 I'm really not laying on my back in this photo.....

or this one...I'm showing off my new bracelet made of safety pins and seed beads...

 Did I tell you I was a swinger?

 well....now you know!

And you thought Michael was the only playful one!!