Half Magic

Op-Ed Contributor - Playing to Learn - NYTimes.com

THE Obama administration is planning some big changes to how we measure the success or failure of schools and how we apportion federal money based on those assessments. It’s great that the administration is trying to undertake reforms, but if we want to make sure all children learn, we will need to overhaul the curriculum itself. Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.

via www.nytimes.com

Great article on learning

Half Magic

I asked my sister to recommend a cooking show on the website and she forwarded one that seemed to ring a bell. It was the Tamra Davis cooking show, a director my sister and I both worked with on Half Baked ( think Dave Chappelle, Beastie Boys wife/director, Jon Stewart, Willie Nelson etc. and it is all about getting high), my first big show as a 2nd AD- a wild time- PK of course. http://www.tamradaviscookingshow.com/

via halfmagic.typepad.com

10 Things I Love About Goderich.

A handmade purse we bought at the market- Jill Butler fabric.

Gifts of our hands, spelt chocolate chip cookie mix I also bought at the market and they were delicious.

10 things I love about Goderich :

1. The walking bridge over the Maitland river- use to be for the salt mine freight trains but the town converted it.I have a great running route that takes me past all the stately homes and over that bridge. It is breathtaking.

2. Tiger Dunlop- in the museum they have a glass jar that is called one of the Apostles. It was filled with whiskey as were the other Apostles and taken with him everywhere he traveled. The one called Judas was filled with water. His history and the history of the Attawandaron are always in the back of my mind as I explore this town.

3.Celtic Festival being held Aug 7. An amazing gsthering of Celtic artist and a great kids camp where they can learn to play the harp.

4. The markets on the square- actually a hexagon. Keeps the old part of the town thriving especially when it has to compete with Walmart and Boston PIzza.

5. Eating at the Park House while my kids sit on top of cannons or run around the park. Other food delights are the Beanery- my kind if food and I finally tried the infamous Culbert's Bakery and now understand why their donuts are famous. I hate donuts but my mouth is watering thinking about theirs.

6. The Musesum and jail. We can spend hours here, such an excellent display of life and the birth of a town. Even the jail represents a thrill for my kids mainly because of the old dummy slepping up in the top cell- scares the lights out of them everytime. Last time we let them have the phones to listen in but weren't expecting stories about the crazy woman who tried ot saw off her neck with a piece of wood!

7. Reuben Sallows . This photographer is a national treasure. Thank Godhe captured life before the plastic revolution took over. I look at the apple pickers with their wooden ladders, wooden bushels, the cotton clothing and think how little thier impact was on the environment compared to our oil dependent world now. My favourite is of the woman snowshoeing- she is my model feminist. Oh, I do like the old woman trimming her husbands beard.

8. The beach of Lake Huron. We spend hours collecting our own special obsession. I collect rocks with fossils one day but on another smooth round white rocks for painting and on another driftwood. It  usually stays on the beach in a pile. Of course sitting on the beach one gets to view the sun sinking into the lake every evening.

9. Shopping: Irresistables- a little clothing boutique that carries Sandwich, Mexx and Espirit and I seem to hit it everytime there is a sale. I usually hit the shoe store with my kids as it is nice to get service and their foots properly measured. If only they carried leather Mary Janes instead of GEOX. And of course the market always has treasures

10. The Berry farm and Bayfield. I love supoprting local farms, and small business initiatives especially for locally grown and cooked foods such as the Berry farm on Hwy 21 on the way to Bayfield. Bayfield always makes me happy. I love to just browse the shops and the occassional time have lunch at the Little Inn.

The farm

A rare sighting in Goderich- a family owned farm.     The tree farm- the old laneway

I was hoping to take our family wwoofing, farm work vacations, but it was hard to know what farm would be best for a family and not filled with young twenty year olds. So I will continue my research and figure that one out for next year. We did stay at my mother's tree farm, basically 80 acres of forest in their small loft above the garage. It has a composting toilet and we bring in water. We managed two nights before we hightailed it to their cottage. Sleeping and eating together in one room has its challenges but it was so much fun. The kids couldn't get to sleep with us reading. I would tell them to be quiet and go to sleep, there would be silence then a whisper," do you have a 4?", "No, fish. Do you have a 7?" They were playing cards!
The fireflies and the stars were worth every trip to the composting toilet; a sky you would never see in the city. We ate black raspberries and had wonderful hikes. We went to my favourite restaurant, the Port Albert Inn , we explored the jail, the museum and even a cemetary. Goderich is a really lovely town that makes you think, could I live here?
 

The Politics of farming in Goderich:

20 years ago we would have easily found a farm to have a family vacation but more and more of the farms have been bought up by Maple Leaf or other big food industries. The farmhouses are there but a manager lives there. Then there are the closed in pig and chicken barns that you can smell but you never see the livestock which always creeps me out  especially when I dip my toes into the clear, coolness of Lake Huron aware of the water run off from these farms. Despite this the Goderich business association is amazing. Goderich known for its hexagon town center is always hosting events. Every Saturday there is a market, there are antique car shows, kids fest, artist festivals and the huge Celtic Festival. The other amazing aspect of Goderich are its citizens. When the town wanted to open a YMCA they needed to fundraise additional cash and believe me individuals donated $10,000 towards it because they feel this is their town and they invest in it. The salt mine is another interesting feature. Currently they are a mining at depth that is equal to the CN tower. The water breakers to the harbour have sunk down quite a bit and according to locals it is the nature of salt mining. They mine 'streets' but eventually the pillars supporting it will collapse so naturally what is above must cave down.

Summer cottage

Since my husband was  little he has been visiting this old family cottage in Honey Harbour. We take a water taxi over because they have a new boat with an inboard and is much too big for me to drive when I am not sure of the way. But I do drive it and now understand why you need bigger boats on Georgian Bay- the swells are huge and would have washed over our tiny motor boat we had up on Lake Muskoka. The cottage was built in 1906 and much of the original paintings, furnishings and even journals are still there.

The children always create an art gallery for us.

The dining room is my favourite place.

The girls read a journal and created a play based on the events about two cousins, one who would do cannonballs from the boathouse and shoot a rifle and another who was a writer but didn't like the cottage much. The writer dies after childbirth and the cousins takes care of the baby. The girls made themselves cry. It was a beautiful weekend.

My favourite napping spot- every screened in porch needs a swing couch.

Birthday Party- commercial free is hard work!

I admit I was a bit ambitious in creating this party for Piper.
1. It was during the week so I was on my own in terms of David helping out
2. I was determined to not be commercial
Realizing I wouldn't be able to safely look after that many kids I had to cancel half of them- due to a thunderstorm primarily.

So the idea was to create a nature diary and provide tools to collect/draw/observe nature. From my Nature Book I have on my book list- I decided we would make worm farms- so the girls collected 35 worms from my neighbours compost. I bought mason jars and I already had new soil, mulch and sand. That would be an activity plus a loot bag item. Then I bought eco journals from Staples, pencils, mini containers, envelopes,post its, string etc. and photocopied a class photo and cut out each child's face to glue on to cover of book. I also printed out pages from a great website in the UK called Nature Detectives and glued a nature activity in each book that we would do on our Ravine walk. Then I planned  for them to roll out their own pizza dough and add toppings and end with swimming.

Result: Well, that is why there are only photos of the night before and a photo of when they were leaving- CRAZY!!!!!! Nature crafts went well except for three of them tearing around the house including my own daughter. One mom offered to stay for ravine walk - probably terrified for safety of her child. Her older son also stayed who was a great help- that had been planned.

Worm farm was interesting because the only two kids that would touch the worms were my daughter and the only other girl at the party. The ravine was fantastic with the nature activities such as follow a mini-beast trail, blindfolded in nature, collecting leaves for a sundial etc. Making their own pizzas- not a chance- I sent them to the basement for safety reason so they wouldn't jump in pool and I could make lunch. By this time a gr.6 student arrived to help lifeguard swim session.
So pizza in oven, kids were able to go swimming but many did not know how to swim- no problem- three lifeguards and one small freezing pool. However, my eye was on one boy who seemed to not understand where the deep end was- I was on high alert watching him, saw him veer to the deep end, told him to get closer to the ladder- too late, he slipped, I went in- clothes and all. He didn't get a chance to swallow a drop of water. Okay so moving on, pizza time- I didn't make enough- next cake- next presents, next ... finally they settled and there was a wonderful calmness and great play. Half of them played basketball in driveway with the gr.6 girl, the other half played with knights in the living room. I sighed... this was nice- calm, happy children, I could have had another hour - oh well, parents came- thank you- goodbye- I lasted 4 hours with no casualties but for the next 2 hours I lay on the couch while a sympathetic friend/mom tidied up my kitchen and Theo  cleaned the basement. I survived, it was good, honest!

Killbear camping trip

From Los Feliz to Nepenthe to Dr.Bruce Lipton

  

The Interview Pismo- feeling the    The Santa Barbara 

recession Law Library

  

Charred remains       Cafe in Cambria Pacific Coast Hwy 1

on Griffith Park very nice town

First of all, I love the area my sister lives in in LA called Los Feliz. I could walk everywhere and find a french bistro, Figaro's , a baker, a bookstore-Skylight (awesome), vintage clothing shops, healthfood store, coffee shops and on and on without ever getting into a car. The architecture is just as interesting with art deco apartment buildings, California bungalows and odd sections of modern and hidden hamlets of tiny cottages. 

But then again there is Santa Barbara, another beautiful town, where we had to get out and explore the courthouse and then there was Cambria and Moonstone Beach at our favourite Cambria Shores Inn- dogs are welcome, thread count high, breakfast delivered in a basket at door, wonderful owners and a view of the ocean with a boardwalk for a jog.

 

Cambria Shores, breakfast delivered-Yum!

Nepenthe Cafe- looking for whales! Big Sur

 I felt guilty passing by Hearst Castle but at this point I knew we had screwed up and that Santa Cruz was still far ahead- but little did I realize what I would be driving on to get to Big Sur- as you can see- no photos, my knuckles were bone white. We did of course stop at the famous Nepenthe cafe but were disappointed to discover the Henry Miller gallery was closed. Next, we whipped by Carmel, Monteray until we finally hit Santa Cruz- anticipation high-even though we kept glancing at highway to Salinas, and then our dreams of a beachfront motel vamooshed with the sight of that horrendous amusement park on the main beach- tear it down, the place had such a seedy feel to it, that we quickly veered east as far as we could to a most delightful B&B called Babbling Brook.

But of course it was also the stress of driving for a purpose- an interview with a visionary, a scientist in an area called Boony Doon where cell phones don't work. Arriving half an hour earlier, and one pee break in the woods( a forest of redwoods) - I mean you didn't want me pulling to his house and making a run for the loo? Still, what would he be like, what was his house going to be like, would he be happy to see us? And where the hell was my camera guy???

Bruce is incredibly warm, funny, generous and he loves a good conversation- and I mean he is willing to listen. His house blew me away - it was a small footprint, not an ounce of arrogance but simply this is what we need and we have solar heating, our own water, we have gardens, we are self sufficient in these mountains but there are a lot of neighbours. Case in point; the neighbour's dog who kept walking and wheezing through our interview- not a bad thing if you can actually see the dog in the footage!

Yes, the cameraman got lost, yes cell phones don't work, yes we got the interview and yes, it was worth it!

Green Parenting Documentary and Mother's Day

I finished filming an interview with Kim John Payne that went really well. I was thrilled that the sound operator was equally enthralled with the subject and asked his own questions after the interview. Now I am heading off to Santa Cruz via LA to film another interview on his ranch. 8 months ago I was granted 2 hours to film him and now what seemed like an eternity is arriving with lightening speed. The sad part is I am driving up Highway 1 with my sister from LA to Santa Cruz through the most spectacular coastal drive in the world over two days- seems criminal I have been told to stay in Carpinteria and eat at Nepenthe and check out this classic beach hotel in Santa Cruz Sea and Sand
I unwittingly or wisely depending on your point of view booked my flight to depart on Mother's Day. Very exciting- nervous about technical glitches- new camera operator- straightforward - but lately have been facing tech hurdles that are causing endless delays.

10 Reasons to take your family to Flagler Beach, Florida

We just got back from a family holiday in Florida and it was wonderful. We went to Flagler Beach which is between St.Augustine and Daytona. A 90 minute drive from Orlando airport. It is located on the East coast and is beside a National Park.

1. Roger Gamble National Park

2. The massive and empty Beach

3. The Flagler Fishing Pier

4. HIgh Tides- Crab shack

5. The Taco Shop

6. The Halifax Plantation Golfcourse and Old Dixie Road

7. Marineland

8. St.Augustine and the Old Mill pub

9. The St.Augustine Fort.

10. Pirate Cove mini Golf

Of course it helps to have family there with a condo to crash at! A condo that does rent and is the nicest in the area.