Swimming...in Circles it Seems

If I just pay close enough attention to what's going on around me, I can always find something interesting to blog about.

Rumour has it that the Newmarket Parks, Recreation and Culture department is increasing some of its fees. The one that struck a chord with me is the Aquafit program at the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex. My mother quite enjoys their program, and she's there just about every day. The senior's pass cost is being increased to $91.85 per month. That works out to $4.59 per visit if she participates 20 times in a month - which works out to each weekday in the month of June.

The cost of an individual senior's admission is $6.25, so buying a 30-swim pass is a definite savings. Buying the $91.85 swim pass is a good 'deal' if you plan to participate more than 15 times in a month.

I have taken part in the Aquafit class a few times in the last few years. It is really a good workout, and seems to be very well attended most days. The thing that bothers me, is that the fees are supposedly increasing to cover the 'costs involved in the new Magna recreation centre' - or at least that's the word on the street.

Most seniors are on fixed incomes, and to jack the cost of something that's so good for the population just doesn't make sense to me. Too bad Newmarket can't add it's own municipal tax on tobacco and alcohol, and other unhealthy things. Leave the swimmers alone.

Evelyn mentioned to me once that there are a lot of 'non-Aurorans' participating in the Aurora Youth Soccer League. If the fees for soccer are comparable to the fees for swimming, it's no wonder there are residents of other municipalities participating in programs in Aurora. Right now Mom can join the Aquafit program in Aurora for $63 per month.... or $2.10 per visit. Mom's car won't use $2.50 in gas to drive to Aurora and back when she wants to swim... so I think that Aurora is definitely the place to be.

It just makes sense to me.

Birthday Meme

My birthday is finally here! I've been waiting to post this blog because the rules said that I should wait till the actually day of my birthday. So, here it is!

The instructions:

1) Go to Wikipedia

2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.

3) List three events that happened on your birthday

4) List two important birthdays and one death

5) One holiday or observance (if any).

Here are my answers:

Three Events that happened on my birthday:

1906 - Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying Machine".

1967 - Mister Roger's Neighborhood, the longest-running children's series on U.S television, airs its first episode.

1998 - Lewinski scandal: A federal judge rules that U. S Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.

Two births and one death:

1622 - Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France (d. 1698)

1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British physician and writer (d. 1930)

(I skipped over the death part because nobody that I've heard of died on my birthday.)

One holiday or observance:

Victoria Day!

Bits and Pieces

I've been neglecting my blog lately - for several reasons. The weather has been quite pleasant and we've been working on the yard and gardens over the last couple of weeks. I've discovered Facebook and have reconnected with friends from high school and elementary school, and enjoy looking through everyone's pictures and comments. I've also been working on revamping Evelyn's website - it's not done yet, but we're making progress.

Chris was away for a few days, and I spent most of 'spare' time sitting on the couch reading books. A guilty pleasure, because there is always something else that I should be doing besides reading, but I really love to read. I was going to post a review of a book that I read just recently, but I've since moved on to another book, and the first one is now filed away in my head. Maybe someday it will come to the surface again - but for now it's gone.

This week has been an interesting one. I am not sure if Logan has spring fever, or if he's just testing his limits, but for every comment I make, he's got a response. For everything I ask him to do, he's got a rebuttal, and for everything that I say he has to do, he's got a whole slew of angry responses and facial expressions. I can't imagine what he's going to be like as a teenager.

I certainly don't want to extinguish his thirst for knowledge or his tendency to ask lots and lots of questions, but he certainly needs to learn that there are times when questions and comments are welcome, and there are also times when I'd like to just tell him to do as I say! Every day I sound more and more like my father. How scary is that, for a parent?

Today Logan's father and I met with Logan's grade two teacher. Logan is experiencing difficulties with his reading and writing. He's in the french immersion stream, but I can only assume he'd have the same issues if he were in an english only program.

Last week was his academic assessment which showed that his reading, writing and spelling are still in the low/mid grade one range. What to do? What to do? We all read to and with Logan at home. He does his homework diligently, and seems to understand what he's reading and writing. We'll continue to work with the teachers and other members of the 'education team' in Logan's best interest, of course.

One thing mentioned in the report was that Logan shows some signs of distractible behaviour. Instead of putting his head down and concentrating on the task at hand, he sometimes plays with his pencil, doodles in the margins of the page, or looks around the room. I think that what he's got is a bad case of "Eight Year Old Boy Syndrome", really. During the time it took me to type this paragraph I've opened a pack of gum and stuck a piece in my mouth, picked my pen lid up off the floor, doodled on my desk blotter (an amazing rendition of Humpty Dumpty!) and tied my shoe. I have no idea where Logan gets his 'distractibility' from. Where's my stapler?

The assessment wasn't all lower than I anticipated. His oral expression is in the 88th percentile rank. He's got the math skills of a third grader, and everything else came back average.

We shall see how it goes. More testing has been scheduled - this time more in depth, apparently.

I went through similar testing when I was Logan's age. The school determined that although I was reading at a level three or four grades above my own, I couldn't add two numbers together twice and get the same answer. I like to think that I turned out alright in the long run, and I know Logan will too.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I love to laugh. Laughter is the best medicine. It brings people closer together, and is a language unto itself.

It helps that I'm surrounded by comics and clowns, and people who can explain their humorous situations so eloquently.

Everywhere I go, there is humour. Most of the childhood memories that I have involve some aspect that is humourous...and even if the situation wasn't meant to be funny, after the fact, well, all I can do is laugh.

Grandma got stuck in the pool one day. She got in to have a swim with us at my uncle's insistance, and when it came time to get out, she wasn't able to hoist herself over the edge of the pool. Instead of asking for help - she simply stayed put. In the water. For most of the afternoon. Eventually someone got a stepladder, dropped it into the water, and she was able to get out.