A trip to the Conservatory on a rainy morning

  Playing a video game with uncle.

 An afternoon with my mom and Bob.

 B on our lovely deck.

 Raclette

Saw these beauties on my way home while everyone else was looking at their phones.

This semester I am teaching full-time at the University 🙂 It’s a lot of exciting and challenging work and I am finally starting to realize that this isn’t a dream but my life! A pretty busy life… earlier in the semester my coworker got very sick and she has been on a medical leave since then. All of us have taken on some of her workload, which means I can teach in my sleep now 🙂

My mom and I took the ferry over to Vancouver Island to visit Kerstin and her family at Qualicum Beach. What a beautiful day with my nephews!

Though I can’t believe that summer is really over, I am in love October. I love the smells, the chestnuts, the colours, the crisp early mornings. Vancouver is so beautiful in the fall.

Last weekend was Thanksgiving. On Saturday we celebrated with our best people Amie and Jared, and on Sunday we went over to mom and Bob’s house. Both nights I was surrounded by wonderful company and I am so very thankful for my friends and family!

This weekend I presented a workshop at the North Shore ECE conference. My colleague Vanessa and I submitted the proposal to present together, but unfortunately she has been quite unwell and had to cancel. Even though I was on my own and missed Vanessa, the workshop went quite well! I know of at least one person who walked away inspired. And now I am glad to be sleeping again. All that worrying for nothing 🙂

Here is our workshop proposal:

Opening up Community Through Material Practices 

In this workshop participants will be invited to actively explore a material provocation. Ideas will be shared throughout to support you in your own practice for presenting materials in ways that might challenge the typical organization of the childcare space into designated learning centers. The way materials and ideas are presented and explored in this workshop are intended to open up spaces for community and dialogue to rethink the ideas that are possible in the early childcare space. Entering into spaces in this way provokes living with uncertainty and vulnerability, requiring us to work together in collaboration. We embrace an image of the child and teacher put forth in the BC Early Learning Framework as participants in learning, adding to it the relationship of co-construction and ways of being together.

Mareike, my sister’s former roommate from Hamburg, came for a visit 🙂 For the next 4 months Mareike and her boyfriend Johannes are travelling from Canada, through the states, down to Mexico. Great stories, great company, great food – our recipe for a fun night!