Best Halloween ever

Last year we spent Halloween in Dubai. You can imagine Kassie's dismay trick or treating during Ramadan. (Fortunately we stuffed a load of candy into one of our suitcases.) Spending the second-highest rated North American holiday in England also paled in comparison to tonight's festivities. (A formerly pagan ritual to some Brits, certainly in our old neighbourhood, apparently smacks of anti-Christian sentiment.) This Halloween not only did Kassie have a ball but her parents too, as we took her and her younger cousins around, ran into old friends chasing after their little ones, finally ended up at friends' houses for wine, pizza and cake, and rounded off the evening with a beautiful walk home in absolutely perfect autumn weather. A glimpse of a smiling former Canadian Prime Minister exiting his house amid excited ghosts, goblins, and various television characters made quite an impression too.

Raising daughters

A little while ago I attended a talk at my daughter's school entitled "Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Courageous and Confident Daughters" led by Dr. JoAnn Deak, an educator, school psychologist and author. It was a lively discussion which the speaker began with a series of true/false questions designed to identify common misconceptions about physiology and intelligence, as well as gender differences between boys and girls. It was novel approach to a subject that might have taken days to discuss rather than two hours.

What new piece of knowledge did I glean from the meeting? Much of what we practice as a parental unit was confirmed: to push our daughter in areas she finds difficult, ensure she gets good, productive sleep, drinks plenty of water, and is encouraged to excel but without effusive, and therefore eventually meaningless, praise. I did not know, however, that current brain research indicates that adolescents (10-20) need a good long time to fall into productive sleep and therefore should be permitted to sleep as late as possible. How I will remember in two years' time to allow Kassie an extra few moments in bed on school mornings is beyond me; and rather than to pester her to eat her cereal or bagel (which we do now), instead shove a Nutri-Grain bar and a bottle of water at her as she exits the house.

Mass exodus (or flying south)

Two days ago on the 401 between Montreal and Toronto we were amazed to see disjointed ribbons of geese dotting the twilight sky. Anyone who has made the trek between the two cities at this time of year will remember seeing one, two, perhaps even three flocks of birds cross the highway. To see several flocks, however, flying more or less in a straight line over our heads, mere miles separating them, was not only a source of amazement and wonder but also a fitting tribute to the long, hot summer.

Switched on

Our makeshift office in our temporary lodgings is finally set up. We've had difficulties installing broadband, and particularly with its effect on the other, mainly outdated cordless phones in the house, but the worst experience had to do with our shiny new laptop. The wireless setup just wouldn't take. Finally, after at least an hour on the phone with a technician, we discovered that all we needed to do was to flick a tiny little switch on the right side of the laptop. Duh! Sticky labels for dummies ought to come affixed.

Grass is always greener

When we lived in England we took note of trends we imagined Canada would never adopt. For instance, upon arriving I thought the Brits overly fond of sweets, to the detriment not only of health but of oral hygiene as well. Barely two weeks back in Montreal, I read in the local newspaper of the alarming growth of tooth decay in children and of Canada's willingness to adopt a program similar to Jamie Oliver's to ban junk food from school lunches. Also upon arriving to the UK, I despaired of finding lactose-free dairy products, which are commonly available in Canada. When I recently decided to cut gluten from my diet as well, I found it an easy task thanks to UK labelling practices. I figure it's only a matter of time before Canada follows suit in this regard as well.