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David has had a busy week. In addition to school, he started work this week for Toys-R-Us in MicMac Mall, having evening shifts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. On Monday and Friday he had soccer games with the Dartmouth High School team and would have had another on Tuesday if he was not working. They tied the first game, against Sir John A. Macdonald, 2-2 after being down 2-0 with about ten minutes to play, but it was a game they really should have won as they were by far the better team. They lost the second 3-1 against a strong team from Queen Elizabeth High School, including Ann's godson Alex. The first two goals against them were on questionable penalty shots; they pretty much took the wind out of the team's sails for most of the second half.
On Thursday and Friday I had meetings in Halifax with an international cooperative research group that I am involved with. On Thursday evening we all went out for a meal at Opa!, the Greek restaurant close to Neptune Theatre. Unfortunately that was the evening of parent-teacher interviews at both Emily and James's school and David's. Ann had to handle meeting the teachers on her own, dragging Emily and James around with her as she went.
Yesterday Ann, Emily James and I were invited to go sailing from the Armdale Yacht Club with our friends Cathy and Rodger. We motored out most of the Northwest Arm, then hoisted the sails as the breeze came up nearer the harbour mouth. Once we were out in the harbour approaches the wind was fairly strong. There was also a significant swell, caused by Hurricane Helene to the south of us, which caused some dramatic breaking waves over some shoals. Emily seemed content to spend most of the voyage reading a book in the cabin, but James was quite interested in sailing and was allowed to take the helm for ten or fifteen minutes. When we came back in I stuck around to help Cathy and Rodger step the mast for the winter while Ann took James for an appointment to have his hair cut.
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This week, at the risk of sounding immodest, I get to toot my own horn a little bit. On Friday night Ann and I went to the Mic Mac Aquatic Club to attend an evening of appreciation for the Dartmouth United soccer coaches. I came home with a plaque as Coach of the Year in the Mini Division (age 10 and under). I suspect that it has more to do with perserverance than actual coaching skill, but it was still nice to be recognized, especially as there is a large number of coaches at this level.
On Monday I flew up to Ottawa for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got to stay in Kanata, in the wasteland between a suburban develoment and an industrial park. The hotel itself was fine but there was nothing nearby. It was a good thing that I was only there for a couple of nights. I was back home again by late Wednesday afternoon, in plenty of time for the Dave Brothers practice.
David is playing for the Dartmouth High soccer team again this fall. They were in action against St. Pats, a high school in Halifax, on Friday evening, winning easily 4-0. They are playing a lot of their games on the new artifical fields in Burnside (the industrial park in the north end of Dartmouth), a nice change from the windswept fields on the Mainland Common in Halifax.
Katy arrived home for the weekend at dinner time on Friday. She made a little money by driving the Saturday run to Mahone Bay for Dolphin Village, the company she worked for this summer, but she has spent most of the weekend keeping on top of her homework in electronics, quantum mechanics and philosophy.
This afternoon, after church, all six of us drove to Lunenburg and met Ingrid, Alex, Jocelyn and Puxley at Big Red's, a family restaurant. After a nice lunch outside on the patio overlooking the harbour, we all went to the Bluenose Golf Club to play nine holes. The boys went first, with James as caddy, followed by the girls with Emily as caddy. David probably did the best of the boys; he had a par and at least a couple of bogeys. I got no closer than a bogey, my chips letting me down on many occasions. After the round we crossed the province to take Katy back to Acadia before driving home again, arriving very late for the little kids.
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School started again this week. James is in the lower grade of a split Grade 4/Grade 5 class and Emily is in the lower grade of a split Grade 5/Grade 6 class. Emily's situation is a bit unusual as she was also in a split class last year and the school board policy is to avoid placing kids in splits two consecutive years. We were consulted and decided that it would be better to be in the bottom part of a split this year than in the top part of a split next year. The main down side is that none of her friends are in this class. Moreover, her best friend, Darian, has dropped out of French Immersion altogether, so it may be a rough year for Emily. David is in his last year at Dartmouth High. This term he is taking Music, Pre-Calculus and Physics.
As you all may or may not know I have been away all weekend at Acadia with Katy. Katy invited me for a double sleep over and we had lots of fun. We made muffins, played games, went swimming, watched movies, went shopping (for groceries) and cooked a big four course meal for four. (Activities not listed in order.) -- Emily
Ann drove Emily up to Wolfville on Friday afternoon, helped Emily getted settled in Katy's dorm, and took them out to dinner. I drove up again this afternoon to pick her up.
Yesterday I performed my final coaching duty by going to the "Mini Fun Day" to pick up the jerseys from all the players. There were hot dogs for the kids and several of the large inflatable amusements that they can bounce in or slide down, but for the coaches it is not much fun at all since it simply involves waiting around for an hour until everyone has arrived. Of course, one or two never do arrive so there is never any chance of getting off early. Neither Emily nor James went, Emily because she was in Wolfville, and James because he wisely decided not to have to wait around for an hour.
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Soccer finally finished this week. Emily and James both had a couple of games, but Emily missed hers on Wednesday because she, James and Ann went to stay at our neighbour Linda's cottage for the night (Linda is also the granny of Emily's best friend Darian). I am looking forward to some time free from having to organize practices.
My friend James was in town for a couple of days this week. He and I go way way back, though we don't see one another very often these days. He has business that brings him to Halifax a couple of times a year, so we usually go out when he's in town. This time he treated me to dinner at Salty's on the Halifax waterfront and then we wandered up the street for a beer at the Old Triangle. As always, it was good to see him again.
Last night the girls (Ann, Katy and Emily) went out for dinner at Piccolo Mondo, an Italian restaurant in Halifax, leaving the boys to fend for themselves. James and I spent the evening looking at stuff through the microscope that he got for his birthday.
Today Ann and Emily drove Katy back to Acadia and helped her to get re-settled. Her living arrangements will be the same as last year: a shared room in Dennis House with her friend and fellow physics major Krista. Before she left she opened a letter from the university that had lain unopened in our mail basket for several days. It was from the Physics Department to let her know that she had won two scholarships worth a total of $3500. They will go a long way towards easing the financial burden this year and certainly helped contribute to the general air of excitement as she prepares to buckle down to her studies for another year (quantum theory this year; lots of fun!).
This evening Ann, Emily, James and I went to Carl and Roxanne's for coffee and dessert in celebration of the visit of Carl's daughter, Abby, from California where she is trying to break into the Hollwood scene as a writer of screenplays. We hadn't seen her for several years, though she does keep us abreast of the cultural divide between Nova Scotia and southern California in e-mails.
August 2006 Archive
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