Gawdessness, I loved the maples in the Mohawk Valley (foothills of the Adirondacks) in central New York where I grew up. We had a lot of oak as well as birch, locust, katalpa (anyhow all kinds of trees). We had breathtaking fall foliage. We don't get so much of it here and I miss the change of seasons. I don't, however, miss the snow. Everything's a tradeoff.
The prairie to me means Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. I used to think you were in Vancouver until I noticed the time difference. I know you're anonymous but am I at least hitting the right part of Canada from your little hints?
Re CPS - it seems to vary widely here, even county to county. When Elcie went into foster care in SF, I wasn't even allowed to visit, let alone apply for custody. They never met me and never gave a reason. The court appointed lawyer tried but no one was listening. As soon as her case was transferred here, that all changed. She went into foster care here for less than a month before she came to us where she stayed.
They are overworked and frustrated and I think have seen so much horror that some workers are inclined to think the worst of everyone while others have just become numb and turned into paper pushers. Their caseloads are far too large for individual attention and I'm not sure how well any are trained. I don't know when we will wake up and realize we are throwing away our kids.
I do know my small, financially strapped county did a better job in this particular case than the large City and County of SF (who may be financially strapped as well).
Pumpkins were a success. We ended up with five kids and only four pumpkins but Rebecca shared the painting job with the little girl from across the street. Elcie did a simple smiley face, Rochelle put abstract designs all over hers (she's the artist of the crowd), and Rebecca and friend started out with some attractive designs. I went away in when I came back they were finishing up painting the entire pumpkin, themselves, their clothing, the table, and the floor purple. I put the pumpkin outside to dry, put them in the tub together to get the paint off, and then my friend and I started in. I did the table and surrounding areas and then the sink, she did the floor. The girls picked up after themselves but that kind of cleaning requires an adult, I'm afraid. My whole floor would have been purple had I turned them loose with a mop. We will put the pumpkins, including Mr. Purple, on the front stoop tomorrow.
My daughter said "do you know she's painted her whole pumpkin purple"? "Yes, it's her pumpkin". She may look at it tomorrow and decide to add a little contrast or she may just leave it purple. You notice I mention purple a lot. I read a survey once that said kid's favorite color is red. That may be true and I may have strange kids but around my house it's purple, purple, purple. How about yours? New survey to replace the over/under toilet paper discussion. Incidentally over the roll won in a landslide.
Uncle Roger just popped up with a recipe source called, of all things, http://recipesource.com/ . I have it on my list of "favorites" and had forgotten it was there. Thanks Roger. He's correct, it's a good site.
Spelling drives me nuts and I used to win "bees" back in the day. I think our founders and even beyond spelled many words the way each individual thought they should be spelled. Also, so many of our words are borrowed from other languages. There is no rhyme nor reason to tough, though, through, thought, and trough. All "ough", all pronounced differently. And what about "throw"? No "ough" there. And then there's supersede which turns up in the papers all the time as supercede. Nope, it's a different root - I looked it up to make sure.
If anyone except me is still up, don't forget to "fall back". We gain an hour tonight, sort of. I end up just staying awake longer and lose it right back.
Good night all.
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4 comments:
I thought blue was the universal color of choice. I agree with your girls though, purple is much better than red. It's been my favorite color since I was six or so. In second grade I would only wear lavender - or at least that was my goal. I guess I just think there's more depth to it.
I too am concerned about the social worker to child ratio and the inevitable problems. As a CASA I saw this a lot - the workers have good intentions, but the combination of being overworked with limited resources leave children with inadequate services. It's really a sad situation. I know your girls will be so thankful for the loving home you've provided them with.
We did our pumpkins last night -- we (I) carved them on the kitchen floor. I wanted to roast the seeds but the kids wanted to save them all for planting next spring -- so Mama didn`t get her snack.
The oddest thing I hear from the people in social services is that there is enough money in our system.
I guess that means different things to different people though.
There are not enough social workers and that to me says not enough money.
I may pick up a pumpkin for my daughter to do tonight. She did one last week for our Halloween walk so she has not been pining for another.
You are very close on your guesses.
The anonymity thing has to do with my kids but it also has to do with preventing any of the social services staff from stumbling across my site and getting pissed at me. That wouldn't likely be fun or do anything to speed up our process!
Red. That is and has been my boy's very favourite colour for ever and blue is my daughter's. And mine. Except that to be honest, now red is one of them too!
I think I would love to live on a coast. All that water appeals to me. I consider it quite an exotic location.
Also I think I like falling back best!
We didn't carve pumpkins this year---but the kids got little bitty ones :)
My daughter's fave color is purple right now--just repainted her room that color.
And I was the winner of the school spelling bee when I was in 5th grade ;)
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