Category: Old-Rainwater

Braces: Round 2 and Fractured Fairy Tales

Today we started round two of braces. I took Angela this morning to get braces on her top teeth. She was pretty excited about getting them on. Here she is before we left.

Angela pre-braces

And here she is with them on. She gets her bottom ones on at the beginning of April.

Angela with braces

Tonight all three girls were going to Gillian’s Pathfinder meeting. Gillian’s group was putting on a play for all the area Sparks, Brownie and Guide groups. Gillian and the other third year Pathfinders put the show together as part of ther Canada Cord requirements. That’s Gillian in the middle. Their play was called “Fractured Fairy Tales”.

Gillian

It was a good show and they put a lot of hard work into organizing it for the past couple of months.

Pathfinders

Guide, Pathfinder, Guide

The Girls

What’s the chair about? At the school we were at, they had boxes of new folding chairs. As Chair of our school council, one of my goals is to do a fundraiser to help purchase new chairs for our school. Our school still has the wood seat and metal leg chairs that most will remember from their days at grade school. They are wobbly, they have cracks and are all round uncomfortable. My idea is to have families donate a chair and then recognize them by creating a plaque with names. Originally I thought we could put the plaque right on the chair, but it probably wouldn’t last that long. I’ll let you know this goes.

A chair


Did you see the Tanabe’s? Takao Tanabe: A Work of Art

We all watched Uncle Tak’s special on Bravo TV tonight. The girls like his special location for all his awards and degrees. We were able to see them this past summer when we were at his place on Vancouver Island. They also liked seeing themselves in the show. If you watch closely at the end you’ll see us at the McMichael Art Gallery with Uncle Tak.

If you missed it there is an encore presentation Friday, February 5 at 7e/4p. Download the show by clicking on the link Takao Tanabe: A Work of Art. You can watch the show by clicking on the image below. (114 MB) If you need a Flv standalone player try the FREE Wimpy Desktop FLV Player (for both Windows and Mac).


A Quiet Month?

There hasn’t been much activity on the blog this month. We have been busy with the usual things, work, school and more work and school. Gillian had her first set of exams last week and she is confident she did well. Angela and Claudia have been working on their speeches for speech arts. It is Claudia’s first time doing a speech, her topic is “The World’s Fastest Things” and Angela is doing “Genetically Modified Foods”.

It would be nice if we had some snow, at least the girls would be out there playing, that’s usually good for a few photos.

Blog cartoon

I have been busy at work with a hiring process, we have been trying to get everything done and offer letters out before the pro-rogued government comes back and puts on a hiring freeze as part of their deficit cutting. An indication of the job market, for an entry level technician position, we had multiple candidates with their Masters degree, one with a double Masters, a PhD, and a double Bachelor’s degree . One of the abilities we test is “the ability to assemble and disassemble equipment”. This might be the test we use next time.

Interview cartoon

A reminder that Takao Tanabe: A Work of Art is on Bravo tonight at 8:00 EST.

Bravo reminder


Uncle Tak’s Opening

We headed downtown today to see Uncle Tak’s show at the Mira Godard gallery. We parked at Yorkdale and took the subway down. That’s still a good deal, $10.00 for the Day Pass, that would have got Grandpa 2.5 hours of parking. Here are the girls outside the gallery in Yorkville.

The Girls

It looked like all the paintings were sold. Even the one that the girls recognized from his studio this past summer. We were there before the rush, so we got a chance to visit with Uncle Tak and Anona. He’s waiting for Claudia to start growing.

The Girls and Uncle Tak

We waited around for Grandma and Grandpa to show up, but there was no sign of them so we headed out. As we walked out the door, they came walking up. It turned out Grandpa couldn’t find a parking spot, so he finally broke down and parked in the paid parking. While we were standing outside a couple walked up to Dad and it turned out to be Nori Tanaka, Bobby’s daughter.

A couple of galleries down was this sculpture, from the way the Leafs have been playing, he could probably help.

Angela

We headed down to Bloor Street in search of a Starbucks.

ROM

Found one, but couldn’t sit down, so we had to sit in the Winners entrance.

The Girls at Starbucks

On the way to the gallery we were waiting to cross Bay Street at one of the lights and this old lady started talking to no one in particular, but mainly towards Gillian, about how she should have a hat on and she shouldn’t be wearing a spring coat in the middle of winter. It was a red light, so she went on and on about it and was still going at it while we crossed the street. It was pretty funny.

winter hat cartoon


Angela on Streetview

Angela discovered that she and some of her friends were on Googlemaps Streetview. Of course my first response was why she wasn’t walking on the sidewalk?

Angela on streetview


Happy New Year!

We headed out to Mom and Dad’s for New Years. There wasn’t enough snow this year to go tobogganing. Here is Angela and Chloe in front of Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They received a certificate from the office of the city councillor for Ward 43 for their front garden this year. It was in recognition of beautifying the neighbourhood. I asked if they had a picture of it, but they didn’t, so this is the best I can do.

Front garden

Angela and Emi.

Angela and Emi

Almost dinner time.

The food

Mom and Dad putting out the food.

Dinner

Brad was in Montreal, so Melissa was taking pictures of his favourite foods and sending them to him.

Sea Bass

Dessert time.

Dessert

Melissa and Angela playing Wii.

Angela and Melissa

Happy New Year and wishing you a healthy, prosperous 2010!


Uncle Tak Update

Uncle Tak is having a show in Toronto next month at the Mira Godard Gallery. It runs from January 30th to February 27th, it covers “The Early Years 1951 – 1965”. This one is from 1957 called Interior Arrangement with Red Hills.

1957 painting

Takao Tanabe: A Work of Art premieres Sunday, January 31 at 8e/5p only on Bravo! There is an encore presentation Friday, February 5 at 7e/4p. You can watch a preview clip or click on the image below. (7 MB)


Waiting for the Snow

The girls got snowshoes for Christmas, but no snow to go with it. Here are Angela and Claudia trying them out in the backyard.

Snowshoeing

Claudia and Angela with Claudia’s marble race.

Claudia and Angela


Boxing Day

The Swan’s were over for Boxing Day turkey soup and sandwiches. Susan had made a turkey earlier in the week, but we weren’t allowed to have any (She did let me have enough for a turkey sandwich in my lunch on Christmas Eve). Claudia had a hard time figuring out why Mom had made a turkey, but we weren’t eating it. Here is Grandma and Claudia playing triangular Blokus.

Grandma and Claudia

Ready for dessert.

Swan's


Christmas Round 2

Once we were back from church, the girls were right into their presents. Claudia behind her giant box of Lego.

Claudia

Gillian with her hair dryer, I think this is the one Santa was asking her about when they went to see Santa.

Gillian

Angela with her very own camera.

Angela