Travels and Travails Part 2

I mentioned some travels in my last post, and didn't get around to the October travails.  The first one was that the 16 year old dryer decided to konk out on me.  Bob, aka Mr. Fixit, took it all apart, ordered new parts online, and got it all back together again.  I have no idea how he does this sort of thing, as there were a million pieces all over the floor.  (And I had to get the house cleaned up for the German's visit).  

It worked nicely...for a couple of weeks, and then the motor went.  No fear, he will get more parts ordered and take it all apart again.  I really like this unit, it was built in an era where these things were actually manufactured on our continent, and seems to be pretty solid, for the most part, if you compare it to recently manufactured equipment.

So for the moment, I do the washing at home and either drape everything all over the house, or take the damp clothes to the laundromat.  Evie and I did this the other day, a first for her.  She was quite excited to see the clothes rotating around in those huge dryers (that I swear are the same ones that were in that laundromat when I was a kid...my mother used to go there in winters sometimes).  She was also keen to help me take the dry clothes out and help folding.  A little boy came over to help too, which was quite funny.  Between keeping him from dropping clean clothes on the floor and getting the work done so we could get the heck out of there, I was kept on my toes.

Travails continued with Skyler and his Physics class.  He was really struggling, and berated his Dad for encouraging him to take it.  He was barely passing, and my suggestions of getting a tutor were going nowhere.

Then a Montessori dad stepped up to the plate; he is the perfect tutor, as he has a great rapport with kids, he used to teach the subject, and has a lot of education to back him.  Needless to say, Sky is getting a lot more out of his course, and is slowly getting the marks back up.  They meet about twice a week.

I have to compliment our boy too, on his persistence in studying.  After his very social summer, where he was out almost every night with friends, I thought we'd have a hard time getting him to knuckle down.  But, he does sit down to do the work without prompting.  He seems very determined to make a go of it, even though he says he will be through with Physics after this term!  We hate to have him close potential career doors (applied sciences usually require some Physics) but can't force him.....or can we?

This is my eternal dilemma with the Teenager...how much do you "make" him do, and and how much do you let him fly on his own?

Back to travels....

So a week after the Niagara visit, Sean and Evie and I headed north for another family gathering.  The leaves were at their peak, I think, and it made for a scenic drive, even if the weather was not so cheery.

It's not the best photo, but it gives the idea.  

We did some good for the environment (or made up some carbon units) by picking up aluminum cans along the road for recycling.  Our Sunday school at one of my churches (I am the schizophrenic Christian, with 2 churches that I attend) gets the proceeds from any cans brought in to the local metal recycling depot, so I have been scouring roadsides on any of our secondary road journeys.  We scored 40 of them on this trip, more seen but not in a particularly good position to stop for.  It's totally disgusting how much garbage people litter the roadsides with.

And here are pictures of the family with my German uncle and cousin also.  Above are my siblings, my eldest bro looking more and more like a particular opa of ours.  That white thing in my pocket is Sean's French homework, which I had brought along to consult with my niece's French Canadian husband about...je suis desolate.  I didn't even know Sean knew much French (other than "la poubelle" , a garbage can, which he kept talking about last year) but they are obviously drilling some of it into him.

More cousins and relatives.  We all spent the night up in the cabin there, really a good sized building designed for camp staff.  The rooms were comfy and Ingrid's snoring didn't even keep the three of us awake...her room was across the common room, and Sean's habit of a fan on for white noise probably saved us there!

I would normally end October's discussion with Halloween tales, but there really weren't any!  After going through the process of selecting costumes, (see a previous posting) both Sean and Evie ended up not going out at all!  Sean just decided he didn't want to, and Evie had fallen asleep, so that made life a bit easier on me.  Sean did help hand out treats...he'd hide behind the door and hand out something with a mechanical claw type thing, and use a scary voice..."how many do you want?"  Thankfully we didn't get too many kids  arriving, and some were kids he knew from school.

So wraps up October.

Oh yes, there was that little milestone birthday of mine, one of the F's, but I'll save that for another posting.