Here Fishy Fishy

So today I got a call from my neighbour and coworker to see what trouble I was up to. I was a little worried because I was trying to learn a new strumming pattern on my guitar and it sounded like someone was dying. I thought that maybe he had heard the cacaphony and decided to call to see if everything was all right. But no that wasn't it at all. He and his wife were heading to Sucker Creek to catch some fish and were wondering if I wanted to come and since the sky was blue and it was such a glorious day, I decided to go. So I got on my fishing gear - yellow rubber boots and capris - and we were off.

Now this was not your typical fishing adventure because we were on foot and had no fishing rods. We were going to catch the fish with our bare hands. I am not making this up.

On our walk downstream, I caught alot of fins that wiggled away. But on our journey back upstream I started to learn the trick. The trick is to go to the river banks and feel under the banks for slimy fish backs and then slowly tickly your fingers alone until you feel the head. Then you put your other hand underneath the fish - slowly, slowly - and SQUEEZE and hold on to the fish with all your might.

Now I HATE putting my hands in places that I can not see. I am always scared that another dead hand will reach out and grab my hand. Completely irrational I know. BUT I CONQUERED MY FEAR. I felt along the dark places for slimy fish backs and I actually cought some.

Then my cruel streak set in. I would put the fish in the water but wouldn't let go (because we were catching and releasing the sucker fish). I would tickle its sides and stomach and try to relax it a bit. Then I would slowly let go. If it didn't swim away right away, I would catch it again.

Fishing with your hands was super fun. By the time we were done, my boots splashed water out of them everytime I took a step and my capris were wet from top to bottom. My feet and fingers were numb because at some parts of the creek, where the sun doesn't shine, the ice was still about 6 inches thick. BRRR.

How does your garden grow?

This weekend I sat in the sun and played in dirt. I felt like a toddler exploring new worlds and getting very dirty in the process. I had forgotten that grass had such packed root systems. I had forgotten that there is a whole mysterious world underneath my feet.

Gardening gave me hope. It reminded me that even when things appear dead and dry on the surface, there are life giving roots underneath what we see and with a little transplanting or watering or sunshining, the dry dead looking plant springs back to life.

I think people are like that too. So I am typing this in order to remind myself to dig deep into people's lives and get a little dirty in hopes of reviving and restoring life.

Owa tagoo siam

I had a meeting this past Tuesday for the math professional development thing that I have been leading all year. This was our rap up meeting. I recieved the e-mails for the meeting - skimmed them, because I thought I knew what they said. Got a hotel room confirmation from head offfice after they booked it for me. Monday at about 7 pm I was ready to go. But first, I thought, lets check my email and make sure I have the correct hotel. Yep The Sawridge. OK let me check the other e-mail and scan for a start time. Nope no start time. They always forget these things.

7:30 pm and I was really ready to go now. I get in my car, drive to Slave Lake, grab some MacDonald's, arrive at the hotel and lo and behold, they have no reservation for me and no rooms. My first thought was, "AHHH I am in the wrong place." So I phone a fellow teacher in Trout and get them to check my e-mail for me to see where I am supposed to be. A half hour later they phone back. "Yeah it says the Sawridge Inn but no town name." Crap. (although I was thinking in stronger language) The helpful desk staff make a few phonecalls and discover that there is a reservation for me. It is at the Sawridge Inn but in Peace River not Slave Lake.

So it is now about 11:00. I am exhausted and I realize that I still have a two hour drive ahead of me. Tears start filling my eyes and then I think, "You might as well start laughing." So I started laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation and how assuming what the e-mail says is not the same as knowing what the e-mail says. I started to realize that this as a testament to how stressed out I am right now. I don't even have time to read and process e-mails. Then the stress started to be relieved. I am going to make stupid mistakes. But most mistakes are fixable. It just might take a little more time. People will forgive me and I am going to have to forgive my self.

Then the forgiveness started to come. Of all the stupid things I have done, this is probably one of the least stupid. Owa tagoo siam.

Finally Spring

I wondered if it would ever come but I think that finally it is here. The question is, is it here to stay? Last week, as I mentioned in my blog, winter hit with a vengeance. April snow brings May . . . what? April snow brings May "nos". April snow brings May groans. April snow brings May lakes where they aren't supposed to be with mud and mud puddles. That's what. Anyways here is a link to some pictures of the snow last week. For those who already saw them on Facebook, they are the same pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48123&l=f60bc&id=554811322

As for the principal thing, I am coping. I cleaned half of the office now and feel like maybe I could actually do some work.

I wish that I could just talk about the snow

Really it was the snow that started it. Or rather the melting and freezing cycle that had created a huge patch of ice (otherwise known as the school yard). It was that slipperyness that has created a new direction in my life that I am reluctantly turning in. Although honestly it just feels like I am turning around in circles.

Two Monday's ago, my principal slipped on the school yard ice. She couldn't get up. The whole staff worked together to put her into her vehicle. Someone drove her to Slave just to check and make sure that all was OK. It wasn't. By that afternoon, she had been air-vaced to Edmonton and the next day she underwent a hip replacement surgery. The school was leaderless.

So who did they put at the helm? Me. It is different than last year's stint as a principal. This time they hired another teacher temporarily and made me THE principal. I sit in my office and shuffle papers. Literally. I feel like I move them from one pile to another. Every time I get something accomplished, that act of accomplishment creates 3 more things to do. My list grows instead of shrinks.

I almost cried when I told some of my students. Even though they are putzes, I am going to miss teaching them and bugging them everyday. I think that they may even miss me too. I hope that I can make some improvements in the 6 or 8 weeks that I am at the helm (or longer). I don't think that it is long enough to complete destroy the school.

And yes about the snow. We got a dump. A veritable storm with drifts that reached the top of doorways. One morning, I had to squeeze out of my door because I could only open it about 10 inches. Walking to the school was a workout with snow filling my boots. The buses couldn't run because they were snowed in. It is April in a week or so isn't it? Oh right, it is actually May in a week or so. My bad.

Deleted

I just wrote a long blog about the travails of having a school review. Then I deleted it - maybe verging on unprofessional - could get me in trouble. So it is gone. Now I have nothing to write about.

The Stress

I am now back in Trout Lake after an extended vacation. The time in Ottawa was great, even though it was bittersweet. It was good to see family - my cousin before she gets married, my other cousin who I haven't seen in like 15 years, my other cousins who are growing up to be beautiful young men and women of God, my aunts and uncles, my grandmother etc. The only person missing was my grandfather, who we honoured with a beautiful ceremony. It was good to sit and hear stories about him and to hear his life celebrated.

But now I am back in Trout Lake and the stress is returning with a vegeance - another week of school lost , because I know that some students did nothing while I was away. The end of the year looming with so much to be done and to be accomplished. A school review right around the corner and all of the teachers stressed out about it. I refuse to change anything and make anything prettier than it was before. So I am trying hard not to get caught up in the stress of it all.

There is still snow on the ground. I think that Ottawa and Trout are now tied for the amount of snow on the ground. The difference is that Ottawa started out with a whole lot more and still have piles of snow in the places that the snow was shovelled to. But there are signs of spring - sunny days and pussy willows.