ONE PROJECT I KEPT

       In most ways I travel pretty light. I don't keep many things. I keep photos but not much else. I don't keep books or papers like programs, invitations or small newspaper clipping.

      What I'm about to tell you is something that has followed me and is still with me.

      From 1967 to 69 I taught in the small , isolated community of Wakeham Bay Quebec. The school had only ben open for five years when I got there. So for the older kids , they'd only been in school for five years. So in my class of 14 I had students from age 12 to 19. These kids were working at a gr 4 to 6 level. It was all English which was wrong. 

     However, I did what the powers that be told me. One of the projects I did was to have the kids write a friendly letter. Not a letter to be handed in and graded, but a letter sent to a real person. At that time my youngest brother was 13. I had these kids write to my brother David. I can't remember if David wrote to all of them or if kids from his class wrote them. 

     So when David was about 50 , he brought all the students letters out and asked me if I wanted them. What a shock! I'd forgotten about this project. 

    So I have these letters from Feb. 8, 1968. What do I do with them? 

     So I scanned Nuluki's letter for and example.

MORE SUMMER WALK

      In my last post I wrote about the trails in our city and how lucky we are to have them. Along with paved trails we have lots of shale or gravel trails. Along with this goes thousands of acres of native parkland. There's old growth forest. Spruce forest. Poplar forest and mixed forest. There is even a bit of grassland. 

     So last week I went through some solid spruce forest. the rest of it is a big mixture. Most of this area is old gravel pits. About 100 acres. It's surprising how much of the old quarry has a variety of various trees and shrubs. 

     There were many, many butterflies. I took many photos...all of them poor, but you're going to see some butter fly photos anyway. 

SUMMER WALK

        This week I decided to take a walk and find some of my favorite flowers. It was hotter than I thought so the walk was slower than I thought. Part of the trail consists of about 150 steps where you go up or down the escarpment. The steps have never been a problem before but this week I had to take a few breaks. 

      This small city has many trails. There are about 100 km of upgraded paved trails for easy walking and cycling. There are trails improved with shale or grave. And then thee are unimproved trails.

     So I enjoyed my walk. I found the wild flowers I was looking for but there were many butterflies around. 

THE RELLIES

       I knew that many of my family read my blog. My blog comes up on Face book and many are Face Book friends so read the blog. So thanks to all my relatives who read my blog. 

      Many people in town read me. In fact, I'm always surprised when someone says  "I read your blog." Why am I surprised. They read and leave no trace because they do not have a blog. They are also not aware that they can leave comment. Many other people read from time to time and do not leave comments.

     So if you want to leave a comment , go to the bottom of the blog post and click on anonymous. Write your comment. I rarely publish anonymous comments so leave some kind of clue as to who you are. For example leave your town and name. You can mix these up so that the bad guys won't come around. You can make up some name that I will recognize. 

    So I hope I've made it easier for non bloggers to make a comment from time to time. 

    This doesn't work for all blogs as some blogs are on a different platform. Some bloggers have not set up the anonymous option. 

MORE UNCLE ANGUS

       Two former colleagues gave me their stories on Angus. 

        Bob, the art teacher, had a huge mounted bull elk head in his room for a looong time. I was surprised to find that it came from Angus. Bob moved to another school and when he retired returned the elk head to Angus. Angus would have been at an auction sale and the head may have been very cheap or else Angus just wanted to have something very different. 

     Rob, a French teacher had a clipping about something Angus bought. Angus found some metal with reverse writing. At first Angus wondered what it was . Then he wondered why someone would write backwards and then he wondered how someone could even write backwards. It was explained to Angus that this was a printing plate used in presses. The Art teacher had a little press and they printed a page. It was of a wedding invitation from 1910. Then Angus wanted to find the family whose ancestors were involved with the wedding invitation. 

    Things like that made Angus curious.

    For the odd day in the summer I would go to the school to do some work in my classroom. I would take my two kids when they were preschoolers. Angus always had a package of life savers in his pocket and gave them a life saver. They always wanted to go to school and find Angus. 

    Now I left out some information on the last post. the guy standing beside a pile was me on the last day of school. I don't have a photo of Angus. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA

 Happy 155th birthday Canada!

UNCLE ANGUS

       Well, it's the end of June. I didn't need to tell you that. The year is half over. You don't need to know that. 

     Since I was a teacher the end of June was a very important time of the year. The kids had been " finished" for about two weeks. They were just waiting for the year to be over. However, where I taught we had to teach in the last school day of June. 

    Now to add to the mix the caretaking staff were getting ready for their summer work. Some painting would be done. Repairs could be made to plumbing, electrical systems , wood work and floors. Much material was being delivered to the school. The caretakers were ready for the kids to leave so that they could get on with their work.

    I always think of one care taker in particular for the end of year. Angus was a character. He was a great story teller. He liked to have an audience so the school was his audience. There was always somebody around to talk to. 

    Angus was not always a school caretaker. He was a farm hand in his younger days and the stories just flowed from that part of his life. 

    Angus finally settled down and had an acreage and small house. Angus liked farm auction sales and knew a bargain when he saw one. So Angus had acquired a large number of odds and ends that he would freely loan to any teacher who wanted something. All his possessions where in good order. He knew what he had and where to find it. 

    So a number of the young teachers who were getting established did lots of work on their houses and yard. Where did you go for special tools? Angus. He loved to let you have his equipment for you to use. 

   So some of us started calling him Uncle Angus because he took an interest in helping us. 

    So at the end of June I think about the smell of wax  and Uncle Angus.