JUDY'S
JOURNAL
Judy continues classes in
painting (water colours), and as can be seen above, is really doing
well!!! She has produced many fine works which she has had framed and
now adorn our abode.
Of course painting in
water colours does occasionally present some problems as depicted
below!
And, "Beauty is in the eye of
the beholder!" Or, "Different strokes for different
folks!"
And here's how she gets
cooperation ... it definitely works!
And then there is spousal
constructive criticism ...
Plus comments from the kids
...
And what about english
phrases???
Judy also is our
resident
gardner
and does a remarkable
job at beautifying the grounds! In fact, she is so intense with
keeping things perfect, she stands in as the scarecrow to fend of
noxious critters as depicted at right ...
When Judy was still teaching, Report
Card Time generated unimaginable activity levels for
Judy the Teacher. The mere mention caused immediate
visible dismay in this otherwise calm, cool, and collected
professional. Such is the stress level that Judy preferred to prepare
the student reports in a private and secluded spot, well away from
the hurly-burly of everyday life. However, her choice
of venues often boggled the imagination! One of her favourite
hideaways was a castle near Shannon, Ireland - back to her
ancestral roots? In the fall of 1998 however, she plummeted
to new depths in her never-ending search for solitude.
But the big news - No
more reports!!!!
Judy
officially retired at the end of June, 2000! As might be expected for
so dedicated a teacher, she was appropriately feted by friends and
family even though she made this as difficult as possible. (As she
repeatedly told anyone who would listen, "No, I don't want any
parties!"). Regardless, I presented this tireless professional with a
suitable (?) retirement
certificate.
The picture
at left best sums up Judy's post-retirement attitude!
For Christmas '98 Judy received a unique gift from Wendy. It is an
antique sewing machine (pictured at right.) I did some extensive
checking on the web (would you believe there are numerous
organizations and clubs totally devoted to antique sewing machines?),
and was able to determine quite a bit about its history. I received
an e-mail response from one individual as follows:
"I know a little about the
Goodrich Sewing Machine Company. They manufactured machines in
Chicago Ill. from 1880 until 1895 when they were absorbed by the
Foley and Williams Sewing Machine Company. They still manufactured
machines under the Goodrich name right up into the
1950's."
"The Goodrich Model A was made
between 1890 - 1910. I am unsure of the period the Model B was
manufactured but I would have to estimate that your machine probably
dates from between 1910 - 1925. Most of these machines were made for
mail order and catalogue companies and had a variety of different
names stenciled on them. It is quite possible that your machine was
sold by one of these companies that dealt in machines in
Canada."
Early November '97 saw the two week Ontario Teachers’
Political Protest. Judy was up early (4:30 - 5:00 AM) each day to
man (person?) the picket lines. She felt
very strongly about this unjust bill, and fully supported the
teachers' attempts to avoid a two-tier (haves & have-nots)
education system! Our sentiments were published in the Ottawa
Citizen, Letters to the Editor, a portion of which is quoted as
follows: “Bill 160 is nothing more than a money grab by the
Harris Government in its frantic attempt to slash and burn to achieve
hopelessly optimistic financial savings in an equally unrealistic
time frame.” ‘Nuff said!
![[image]](j-purple.jpg)
Judy has taken up roller blading. In particular, she enjoys
getting out with the "kids" who are all avid bladers. Garry doesn't
partake as he feels that if we were meant to have wheels on our feet,
we would have been issued them at birth!
Judy's Comment:
"When I am old, I will still wear
purple - but only when I'm roller blading."
Here is a picture of Judy and Wendy
lacing up prior to an outing.
For Valentine's Day a few years ago,
Garry made up a card for Judy using a turn
of the century post card, and our picture from Dan & Cyndy's
wedding. For 1999, Garry surfed the web
for ideas, and came up with this graphic
which he embellished to adorn the front of the Valentine's Day card.
On St. Patrick's Day, he gave her a
"Viking Leprechaun" greeting. This photo
showing three generations of our family
was part of a card Garry gave Judy for Mother's Day. Corel Photopaint
made this all possible when coupled of course with his inventive, but
severely underutilized mind.
