Ubalblog

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
Yup – 10 to 15 cm. If you need me, I’ll be in my house.

The good news is that it’s not going to stay. Should be all melted by Thursday.

[  Mood: In Love ]
[ Currently: Guess ]
Simon Scarrow has turned in an excellent second entry in his historical fiction series about the Roman legions. By focussing on the three main characters of Cato, Macro and Vespasian, Scarrow gives us a look at how a legion works, as well as Roman warfare and politics. He also weaves in Vitellius, the sneaky, backstabbing tribune for colour.

This is a riproarinng, fun piece of literature. Cato’s development as an optio and man is particularly good. This is a particularly gritty, realistic and engaging book. Go get it.

[  Mood: In Love ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
This is another one of Janet Evanovich’s "Between the Numbers" Books. This one finds Stephanie trying to track down her wacky Grandma Mazur who has apprently absconded to Atlantic City with a bagful of cash. The cash belongs to a leprechaun who is being chased by the mysterious Diesel. Stephanie has to get her grandma and the money before the gangsters, who are after both, find them.

Thia is better novel than the previous entries in this mini series. It is funnier and more believable. Worth the time.

I wonder which holiday she is turning her attention to next. I predict Easter.

Spetimus Heap is the seventh son of a seventh son, and therefor, possesses huge magical talent. Because of this, he has been apprenticed to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. Quite a transformation from being an orphan and boy soldier.

But not all is happy in his world. His older brother Simon thinks he should be the aaprentice. Simon is also not convinced that Septimus is really his brother. He has apprentice himself to the almost back from the dead DomDaniel and has kidnapped his adopted sister Queen Jenna.

Author Angie Sage has turned in a solid second book that continues to develop the story, without too much repetition of the first.

Good read.

A beautiful book by David Wiesner that tells the tale of a boy who finds a camera on the beach. The camera is full of surreal and fantastical images, including one of a little girl holding the picture of another child holding a picture of another child . . . you get the idea.

What makes this book spectacular is that all of this is told with out the use of text. The pictures are beautiful and tell the reader all they need to know about the story. It is easy to see why this won the Caldecott in 2007. It may also be in the next After Harry.

Get this for the child, big or small, in your life.

[  Mood: Angelic ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
This is an interesting book that starts with the very familiar "mother with young children moves to an old house that has been in the family for years" plot. This move has been caused by the death of the father in a car accident. In this family home, the children find a mysterious room full of secret artifacts that belonged to an ancestor. One of these artifacts opens up a portal to another world. The children and their mother are sucked into this alternate world – and into a mysterious quest and destiny.

Nice illustrations, easy to follow dialogue, this is one for the reluctant readers.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Getting ready for bed ]
Husband Unit took today off to spend some quality time with Geeklet and I. Part of our activities was voting in the Canadian election. We went to our local poll and dutifully voted. We took Geeklet along to show him how important it was to vote.

As Geeklet’s grandfather says, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

And since I vote . . .

Pundits are saying that we are most likely going to have a minority government. Again. The only question is what flavour. Liberal or Conservative. We have a Conservative minority goverment now. So it is possible that we went through this election for no reason.

I swear, if that happens, I am going to look into transfering to the school where the PMs kids go and fail them. Better yet, I will make them write tests that have no bearing on their marks.

Or maybe I will just leave a flaming bag of dog poop on the front door step of 24 Sussex on Halloween. Sort of a trick for the treat the PM has given us.

[  Mood: Evil ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
So the Husband Unit and I took the boy to Saunders Farm today to run some mazes. Okay walk, cause a stroller doesn’t move that fast.

Apparently Saunder’s farm has the largest collection of outdoor mazes in North America. And it was one of the only places a family can gather on Thanksgiving Day Monday, so the place was packed. The weather didn’t hurt either as the day was unseasonably warm.

Geeklet really enjoyed the Cedar maze and the Grapevine Maze (although it is really a labyrinth) in the Baby Bijorn. He’s at a stage where he can face forward and look at the world, and all the kids were cool. So were the leaves.

The Mile Maze lived up to its name, especially as you twisted and turned through the ten foot hedges. Geeklet loved it so much, that he slept through it while in the carriage.

(The Mile Maze is at the top. The Cedar Maze is in the bottom right corner. The Grapevine Maze is bottom centre.)

But what about the title, Ubal? Well the best thing I saw that day was a set of parents resting outside the Mile Maze. They were yelling encouragement to their kids, that were in the maze. "Keep going straight!" "You can do it!" came out of their mouths. I knew what they were doing, and I told them that. The mom put her finger to her lips and said "Ssssh." The dad said, "they don’t know that" and pointed at the maze.

Smart people. And funny ones.

[  Mood: Silly ]
[ Currently: Getting ready to go to Thanksgiving Dinner ]
The boards and blogs are back!

And I am not pregnant!

Cause one of the last times a happened, b happened.

(And Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend.)

[  Mood: Fed Up WIth Life ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son – Situation Normal ]
On Saturday a woman in Ottawa tried to get on a bus with a stroller. The bus driver denied her access. The two argued and then the driver shut the door and drove off. One problem (of many), the woman’s two year old had climbed on the bus before her mommy, as she has been trained to do so for safety’s sake.

This has exploded in the media. The driver has been assigned to retraining and the driver’s union is blaming the mother.

The problem with OC Transpo and strollers starts right at the top. Witness Alain Mercier’s (OC Transpo’s chief) backhanded insult to mothers with his “SUV of strollers” comments in July. With this kind of attitude eminating from their leader, and a lack of a clear policy, it is no wonder that a classist and sexist culture has developed among the rank and file.

Let’s be blunt, the women with strollers who are using OC Transpo are doing so because they have no other option. Why else would they be waiting for a bus on a busy street like Innes Road on a Saturday night in October? Given that these women are generally working class or recent immigrants, they are less likely to speak up for themselves in these types of situations. This makes them easy targets for the ignorant comments of those who have probably never had to use public transit to take small children to appointments.

Another issue that this raises is safety. Abandoning a woman with small children at the side of a busy road on a cold October night seems to fly in the face of OC Transpo’s Transsecure program. Aren’t bus drivers supposed to be keeping an eye out for citizens who are in distress and not be the cause of distress? I am certain that Ms. Pacey is not the first woman to be denied access to the bus due to a stroller. She is the first, however, to speak out and is to be commended for that. Given that there are many others who have gone through this experience, we are lucky that none of them, or their children, have become a tragic statistic.

Since senior leadership at OC Transpo has proven to be less than enlightened on this isse, it is now time for the city’s transportation committee to step in and make a decision. This policy should extend to anything that might block an aisle, be it strollers, walkers, shopping carts, suitcases or wheelchairs. Some of those are larger than they really need to be, but they have not drawn the ire of the bus company the way the stroller has. What else is a scooter, but an “SUV of wheelchairs”, but Alain Mercier would never dare say that, would he?