WEE WILLIE WINKY

      As I was cleaning up breakfast this name came into my head from out of the blue. I tried to remember something about it. 

    First, it was part of a children's rhyme or song. But where did it come from? Could I think of a line. The only line I got was wrong. It was, "Wee Willie Winky went to bed with his underwear on."

    Later in the morning when I had time I looked it up on the internet. It is of Scottish background from around 1841. It was meant as a rhyme to get children to go to sleep. 

    Then I remember Mom used to sing or recite this to us very often when she was putting us to bed. Here's the first verse. 

 Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,

Upstairs and downstairs in his night gown.

Tapping at the window, crying at the lock, 

Are the children in bed, for it's past  ten o'clock. 

      There are 5 more verses.  There are many versions in the original Scottish accent. When I play them I can't understand them. 

    I remember how my Mom was excellent in reciting and reading things to us. 

      So it was a morning with a pleasant memory. Did any of you have this nursery rhyme sung or recited to you? Did you use this nursery rhyme with you're own children.

    For sure I'm going to be in bed by ten o'clock. But then I'm old!

MEMORIES OF A STUDENT

      Some kids we remember well and some kids it's hard to remember them at all. 

     One kid who's memory quite often pops into my head is Norm.

     Norm had severe epilepsy. He had grand mal seizures at any time. His seizures knocked him out and he was so exhausted that he did very little for the remainder of the day. Sometimes his parents came to school and took him home. Kids who had gone through elementary school with Norm were used to Norm and his seizures. They sat or stood quietly with him until the seizure was over. They seemed to know exactly what to do. The teacher could carry on with the class. I had other students with epilepsy and fellow students supported them as well. It's embarrassing for a teenager to have a seizure. The kids handled it well. They didn't make an issue of it. 

    Norm went to high school and did well. 

   Norm was not able to get a driver's license. We had a few talks about the driver's license. 

   At the back of Norm's epilepsy was brain surgery that might stop the  seizures. Some how the surgery couldn't be done until he was 18. I'm not sure if this was a medical rule or the parents did not want to decide on  the surgery without Norm's consent. What I know is that Norm looked forward in anticipation of the surgery. 

   When Norm turned 18 he got the surgery as soon as possible. The seizures were under control and Norm got his driver's license. 

   Norm went on to get his B.Ed and became a counsellor. 

   He is now in a doctorate program. 

   So other than a head with many surgical scars, life is good. Norm has been a leader in his field. 

   Since I had juvenile epilepsy , I had some knowledge and understanding of seizures. I certainly had sympathy for any of my students who had epilepsy. 

    I had juvenile epilepsy which ceased when I went through puberty and some forms of epilepsy do not cease. 

THE MIXTURE OF SPRING

      I like to be able to just stand outside for a while on these pleasant March days. 

     Small flocks of Canada geese are flying over. You can hear the honking and after a while the small flock comes into view. These early flocks are probably not going to stay here. At this time of year these flocks are probably going to end up some place in the Arctic. They arrive in the north long before the ice melts. There's enough debris on the ice for food. 

     Aboriginals do a lot of goose hunting in the spring. They can sneak up on the birds and make their kill. 

    Then, strangely enough , I like spring storms. We had one two days ago. I looked out at midnight and the air was full of swirling snow. We had about 6 in of snow by morning. I had some good exercise shoveling snow. 

   We get most of our snow in March.

    I was enjoying the geese and forgot about photos. I was shoveling so hard I also forgot about photos. 

DAY LIGHT SAVINGS

      Here we are on that special day that most of us like to bitch about. Time change!

     We've had day light savings time for a very long time. At first it was rather sporadic. Some areas or cities had daylight savings time and the next town or city didn't have a change in time. 

     Lately, there were very few areas that did not change time. The province of Saskatchewan has not changed time for a very long time.

    The rest of us just complain about time change. Some want us to go on standard time permanently. Some want us to go on day light savings time permanently. Then there's the province of Newfoundland Canada which goes by the half hour. 

   At one time, time change did not bother me. Now it takes me  few days to get used to the time

    This year there's a new wrinkle in time. Trump keeps saying he will change the time. What it will be changed to , we don't know. When it will be changed is probably not decided. So with Trump , time change is a moving target. 

    Some day, time change will have to be decided. It seems that too many people are unhappy with the spring and fall time changes. 

GOOGLE CHROME

       By  now you will be tired of my whining about computer problems. You will be saying, "Red , go out and buy a new computer." That is in the works.

      But I'm going to tell you my story with Google Chrome.

     Four or five days ago google chrome disappeared on me. I tried a few amateurish methods to get it back. Nothing happened.

    So then I'm off to my "go to guy", my son. He told me to install chrome again but, look and see if chrome is still on my computer. I couldn't find google chrome on my machine so I installed. It didn't work. So I've cussed and swore for a few days.  

    So this morning I said I'm going to fix google chrome or bust. I looked at how to uninstall and sure enough google chrome was there . So I uninstalled google chrome and then installed google chrome. 

    There are a few wrinkles to iron out such as sound and camera.

    It improves life a great deal once you get your computer back in business.

CHILDREN

     I listened to a talk show the other day about people who have children and don't want them. It's a topic that touches me greatly.

     Having spent my career working with children, I've seen it all. There are many reasons why people may not want the children they have. Parents may try to keep that issue private but kids know what's going on. 

    It is very cruel to kids when they are not wanted. Rejection influences every part of a kid's life. I've seen kids struggle in school performance, behavior and socialization.

    My children were adopted. I often think of the procedure we had to go through. 

    We had to have a serious discussion with each other if we really wanted children. My view was that I could have a happy satisfying life with children or without. We chose to adopt. 

    Now we had just moved to a new area so we thought we'd get an application in. 

   First of all, there was an extensive application form. We had to get number of references. Then, there was a two hour interview. We were really made to think about things. 

   We were told that there could be a two year wait so the clock started ticking. A placement was made in three months and it took us completely by surprise. We did not have any baby clothes or  furniture. We had to ask for extra time to buy things.

    They show you the baby and then they ask a number of times if we want the child. That was hard. I wondered what they were doing. 

    So what I'm thinking is that if all people had to go through this procedure that there might be fewer problems of parents not wanting the children they've got.  

    It's a much different world than when women stayed in the home. Now both parents are out of the home and care is shared by other organizations. 

   And yes, both my kids will be reading this post and they will make comments to Dad. 

A VISIT TO THE OPTOMETRIST

      Today was my yearly visit with the optometrist. Here, seniors get one appointment with an optometrist each year. 

      My optometrist is a former student Dr. D so that is a pleasure to be with someone I'm familiar with. I also taught his two brothers and a sister. Dr. d was an all round good influence in the school.  And he was a very able and competitive basket ball player. Smooth!

    But I'm getting off my topic. 

    I joked with Dr. D about one test and the possibility of cheating! However, my real concern about that test is that I do it correctly so that the measurement is correct. It's a peripheral vision test. You are told to look at a little black square in the center of the diagram and notify them when you see any movement in the diagram. I find it hard to concentrate on the little black square. My eyes wander around the square. However, they are satisfied with the test results. 

    However, after the examination , I was told that my prescription had changed very little and that I didn't need new glasses. I was told that I had two very healthy eyes. I had cataracts done on both eyes two years ago. I only need reading glasses. I realize that I am a very fortunate senior to not have visual challenges. 

    I also enjoyed the little visit where we talk about old teachers and students.