weather

Dear Dragon and Pegasus – April 2024

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Dear Dragon and Pegasus,

I wrote this letter already and it was eaten by a server problem. I’ll do my best to recreate it.

The weather in April, as it is now who knows what climate change will bring, has been pretty erratic in April. Two weeks ago we had a snowstorm and less then a week after we had several days above twenty. It’s interesting to see. Hopefully will have a nice May and summer. I look forward to gardening with you, especially now that Pegasus is old enough to help more so I get two helpers.

The school year has been fraught with sickness. We’ve all caught so many colds I’m not sure I can count them all. Hopefully next year will be better but with Pegasus going to in-person school, I doubt it.

This year has been quite the transition for you, Dragon (also for us), going to school full time, in-person. You’re excelling academically and you have friends. You’ve been dealing with bullying, nothing enough to call the school but its still bothering you. You have a very strong sense of what’s right. That’s a good thing but it means you’re really bothered by what’s happening. You’d think with the amount of bullying I survived in grade school I’d be better placed to help you. Unfortunately, I feel completely out of my depth. If it gets worse we’ll contact the teacher. The only advice I have is to ignore them and not let them see it bothers you.

It’s been a big year for you too, Pegasus. You’re being homeschooled by Mum and you’re doing great. You’re still resisting French but so did Dragon. I worry about how you’ll do at school with other kids. You’ve almost exclusively played with your sister and haven’t really played with kids your age. Hopefully, you’ll adapt as well as she did. You’re in your boundary pushing phase. You’re lying for silly reasons and stubbornly say no for silly reasons. Your sister went through it and it’ll pass (I hope). You’re also chewing your fingernails and putting toys in your mouth again. At this age, your sister was biting so I consider us lucky, however it makes me nervous about sending you out into the world.

Last week was an eclipse. Ottawa only got 98% I think, but we were nervous about the two of you so we watched it on TV. You weren’t super interested and both of you argued that it wasn’t getting darker despite the fact that it was.

There won’t be another total eclipse in driving distance of Ottawa in any of our lifetimes. Maybe we can all head to Disney World in 2045, that could be fun.

I love you Pegasus and Dragon,

Papa

Autumn Approaches

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

Brace yourselves; autumn approaches!

In my little part of the world, the weather has turned and for the time being the 30+ Celsius temperatures are over (I live in Ottawa which means there’s a good chance we’ll get another bout of 40 before real Autumn). Pumpkin spice is just around the corner, my squash are growing in the garden (let’s hope some of them survive the cursed squirrels), and my mind turns to Halloween.

I’m looking forward to introducing Dragon to some classic monster movies this year. Maybe the original Mummy or Frankenstein. Hard to go wrong with Karloff.

Inexorably linked to fall in North America; school is starting, or started. It’s a different kind of year with many changes and a lot left up in the air. I don’t envy students and I really don’t envy teachers. We’ve decided that Dragon should be home schooled for her first year of kindergarten. See Jen’s post about that.

Because of the How I Taught my Dragon posts, we’re moving the JenEric Movie Reviews to Saturdays. So you’ll be be getting 6 days of content until I run out of Saturdays, then I’ll have to add some movies to Sundays. (I like only having one thing per day.)

I’m still struggling with my writing, but I’ve managed to write more in the past few weeks than I had in the 6 months before, so that’s a good thing. I wish I could write as fast as I come up with ideas, but unfortunately I’ve slowed down and I’m really happy I’m not a famous author right now. I’d love to be a rich author that people recognize the name, but not famous. (S.M. Carrière has a good post about this.)

This is how most of my meetings go. If I put him down, he screams to be picked up.

I need to stress less about productivity. I constantly feel like I have to be producing for work, writing, FADDS, this blog, and fixing/optimizing things around the house. I need to do what I can, relax and enjoy the time with family.

That’s about it for me.

Be Kind and Be Safe!

Éric

Is it autumn yet?

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I have a secret to tell you… Come closer… Closer… Ok that’s good… I HATE HEAT!!!

This past month has been torture for me. Like alternating between a sauna and an oven. As much as walking in snow is a pain, it’s much more comfortable than walking in the rain. As much as I hate shoveling, I’d rather do that than mow the lawn (I’m literally allergic to mowing the lawn).

There’s only one thing that I like about summer and that’s when it’s not too hot… I love the cool evenings were it dips below 20 degrees Celsius. That I can stand, but this… arg.

Added onto that, Baby Dragon has been sick since mid month and I’ve caught the cold. For her it was a sore throat, cough, and fever. For me it’s a head cold. I feel like someone is trying to inflate a balloon inside my nasal cavities.

Being sick sucks. Being sick and overheating sucks X1000.

I should be writing, beta-reading, or writing, or editing… sigh.

Is is Autumn yet? I want hoodies, pumpkin pie, cool nights, and Halloween movies.

 

How’s your summer going?

Éric

Mark Robinson

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The StormHunter Mark Robinson was the Science Guest of Honour at Can-Con. He had just returned from shooting footage in the Arctic, which will be playing the week of November 10-15 on The Weather Network, so check it out when you get the chance! He was an incredibly dynamic panelist, so to any teachers in the Toronto region, email him because he does presentations at schools and he’s totally worth it!