Saturday 31 March 2018

March 2018 weather


March 29 – more rain: 17mm!


March 27 – no rain for days. 

Something on its way, again. We ended up with 1.8 mm.

March 20 – sunny but still cold...something is on its way.


March 18 – a cold one: -17˚C.


It's a shock as it has been around 0˚C.


Mar 14 – 5 cm

Mar. 13 – snowing all night: 4 cm

It's spinning counter-clockwise, bringing precipitation from the ocean.

Mar. 10th – the stone in the river

March 8 – 3.5 cm

March 7 – 5 cm



March 6


March 3 – 2 cm

March 2 

UK weather: Almost 10,000 homes without power as Storm Emma ...


Meanwhile, here on this continent.
It started with a skiff of snow! This rolled counter-clockwise, so it missed us.
Intellicast weather map

Daytrip March 26th – part 2

Monday, March 26th

It was going to be a lovely day.  Photo series 1: Athens, Front of Yonge Township.

In this post:
Mallorytown, Rockport.
I chose some of these photos, mostly drive-bys, as I might want to sketch some.

(Ganonoque, is post 3.)

Here we were at Mallorytown.





Some Easter decor.


We drove under Highway 401, not along it!

Rockport

We took a drive around Rockport. We've been here in summer. The place was closed as we are here before the season begins. The black line, on the lower corner of the map, is the border between Canada and the USA.
It's a lovely little spot, bursting at the seams in summer with tourists, including bus tours, which stop. Both restaurants were closed, however!
I'm trying to imagine what happened to this house.


There was ice fishing nearby. It's quite a popular winter sport.


Here is the same region in summer! In the meantime, we anxiously await SPRING!





Ice fishing from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Friday 30 March 2018

hot turkey

It's that time of year. They think they're hot stuff! The males strut around, dragging their wings on the ground, while the females ignore them! This is through the kitchen window, which has now been cleaned!!!



Hooper can be heard in the background, whining for food.
Hot turkey from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thursday 29 March 2018

Book Review: Amira Can Catch

This is a timely book. My late parents' adored ball team, the Blue Jays, had their season opener today, Thursday, March 29th in Toronto. Baseball is fun for both young and old!



A delightful book!
In these times of increasing reports of racism, violence, immigration issues, and the Syrian refugee crisis, this is a timely book for kids.

I taught in many multicultural,  ethnic schools. We had many kids of diverse backgrounds. Some, refugees of The Gulf War, and Vietnamese Boat People, and others :economic immigrants, with wealthy, gainfully employed computer techies, who taught us so much in my classrooms.

The story opens with Amira talking to her classmates about the refugee camp, where she lived. This is a great way to teach youngsters, if they cannot speak to actual immigrants.

The illustrations are excellent. It is inclusive, and features both boys and girls, as well as a mixture of ethnic students. There is a vocabulary list at the end, as well as questions for readers.

Also, there is an explanation on "What it means to be an American." My only issue with the explanation is that it states that Christopher Columbus 'discovered' America. Our First Nations had cities, nations, regional empires, and governments, and this isn't a politically correct statement.
Considering that Indigenous people have lived on this continent for over 20,000 years, this isn't true. Not only that, but Columbus never actually set foot on North America. He monetized it, and exploited it, and was a pirate, funded by Spain! (By the way, the Norse arrived much earlier, in eastern Canada!)


Author Kevin Christofora 

 Christofora, a father and little league coach, hopes his books will inspire children to play outside more often. A devotee of America's pastime, he aims to teach young people about baseball and the habits of a healthy lifestyle in the form of a fun and educational bedtime story.