one blog, two blog, three blog, ore

annnnnd..........

2006-02-23T23:58:00.000-05:00

I'm officially a graduate of Mary Baldwin College. I hold a BA (cum laude) in History with minors in Leadership Studies, Theatre and Education.

I'm also officially a TEACHER!! I recieved my teaching license in the mail today!! :)

I'm off to Egypt for the week. I leave tomorrow and will be back 5 March.

I hope that everything is going for everyone! :)

and life continues

2006-01-26T21:06:00.000-05:00

Life has been rather nice for the past month or so.

I have spent most of december and january pulling together job applications. I sent applications to several new england boarding schools. Most boarding schools have teaching internships which are one-year appointments that involve teaching, coaching and supervising students. I really want an internship next year-so I'm hoping something is going to work out. I have also applied to two schools for full-time positions: fountain valley school (boarding) in colorado springs and henrico county public schools.

Besides working on applications, I have been lifeguarding and swim-instructing. Most of my time is spent sitting on the stand watching the early birds swim. I guard during the 500 - 800 am shift. The YMCA opens at 0500, so I get there about 0440. On Wednesdays and Fridays, I work from 500 am to 12 noon. Its a pleasant 20 hour job that keeps me busy.

I'm also helping a soccer coach with his team's preseason. St. Gertrude's seasons is about to start and I will either be the junior varisty coach or the assistant varisty coach. Coach Chavez is the head coach and he runs pre-season with the team on Friday afternoon. So after I get off work at 1200, i run my errands and then appear at St. Gertrude's. Cocah Chavez also coaches a rec soccer team as well-so on monday and wednesday evenings, I help with those practices as well.

And lastly, I'm taking an adult tap class for fun!

I'm still waiting for my BA to arrive in the mail. I am supposed to graduate with the honor of cum laude. I pulled a 4.0 for my last semester which boosted my gpa just enough. :)

new email: acforsythe@comcast.net Keep in Touch!

Christmas Card Blog

2005-12-19T14:05:00.000-05:00

Season Greetings!!

Welcome to my blog (or on-line journal)!!! I have tried to keep this updated-but the semester was amazingly busy. So this spring, I’m going to try to do a better job.

I hope everyone has a safe and successful year. 2005 has flown by rather quickly and has definitely been a year to remember.

I expect to graduate from Mary Baldwin College in January 2006 with a BA in history and minors in leadership, theater and education. After putting off graduation to complete my student-teaching in Staunton, graduation is on the horizon! Once official word comes through-I’ll post it.

I moved back to Richmond to live with my parents and my brother John. This spring, I’m working at the Tuckahoe YMCA (lifeguarding and swim-instructing) as well as substituting for St. Catherine’s, Collegiate and Henrico County. I hope to gain some more classroom time and experience substituting. Also, I’m going to be coaching St. Gertrude’s School junior varsity soccer team. I’m really excited about coaching.

My student teaching this past fall was adventurous. I taught two classes: regular American History (with juniors and seniors) and regular World Geography (freshman and sophomores.) I had a blast with my American History class. They were a fun class. I had fun creating simulations based on the Constitution Convention and the Hamilton-Burr Duel, because I knew they were going to have fun. World Geography class was very different. It was a challenge. It might not have been a challenge I enjoyed very much, but it was a challenge that made me grow as a teacher and as a person.

I also played soccer during the fall. I had planned originally not to play for various reasons. However, I decided to play because of having a bunch of extra energy and adrenalin after a day at school. I had a good season. I started all but one of the 13 games I was able to attend. I joined the team the Tuesday before the first game which was against Randolph-Macon Women’s College, and expected to chill on the bench. I played my first 90 minute game that day. I had been playing forward during the previous two seasons on the team. However, Coach Chavez moved me to left fullback. I started in that position for the rest of the season. Left fullback definitely kept my hands full and my feet busy. I think I ran more as a defender than as a forward.

This past summer, I worked for Encore! Theater Company, who presents the Richmond Shakespeare Festival at Agecroft Hall. I was part of the technical crew working with lights and props. One highlight of the festival was when PBS (public broadcasting station) taped A Midsummer’s Night Dream to air it on TV. The show caught the station’s eye during the 2004 Shakespeare Festival. A Midsummer’s Night Dream aired recently on PBS.

For nine days in August, my sister Aimee and I went to Prince Edward Island. Our parents actually let take a trip by ourselves. You can read about the details of our trip in the two blog entries titled: Prince Edward Island I and Prince Edward Island II. We biked around the island for 6 days looking at the different historical sites associated with Lucy Maud Montgomery, the writer of Anne of Green Gables. My sister and I have always been fascinated with her books and wanted to see the places that inspired her writing. The biking part was fun but exhausting.

The spring of 2005 was highlighted by three events: the VWIL 10-year anniversary celebration, marching the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and producing a 10 minutes one-act play. The first two events were in the span of three very busy days in March. The corps went to New York on the 16th of March, marched down the streets of New York on the 17th and celebrated the 10-year Anniversary on 18th of March. We were exhausted but both of the events came off with very few glitches and were very memorable. I took a directing class during the spring semester to complete my theater minor. The class involved a practicum which was all about producing a 10 minute one-act play. I selected a play called Body Shop, by Phil Caputo. The one-act was about two women exchanging their views on death. As the director, I was able to cast, design the set, costumes and lighting as well as direct the show. It was lots of fun, but a ton of work.

My family is doing well. My dad works for Kubota Tracker Company. He travels all over Maryland, Delaware and Virginia counting trackers and making his reports. My brother John is currently taking classes at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is really interested in glass-blowing and French right now. Aimee, my younger sister has just completed her first semester at William and Mary and is having a blast!

I have posted pictures of the Prince Edward Island Trip and soccer (I’m #14!) http://community.webshots.com/user/mallard720 Also on the page are pictures that I took of the fight call for Romero and Juliet (Richmond Shakespeare Festival) and photos of the technical work I did for the festival. I hope you enjoy the photos.

To all my sister nULLs: I missed you all semester-still do. We definitely trained our nULLs well. They are rock! I hope everyone is doing well. Keep in touch.

I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday season and New Year!!

Quick Update II

2005-12-09T16:26:00.000-05:00

-moved back home to live with my parents and my brother for the spring and summer

-finished!!! at MBC (yes, i'm done ALL my coursework, student teaching, everything)
-I'm waiting for my grades and for faculty approval of my graduation application

-going to be a substitute for Henrico County Public School system
-substitute orientation on Monday!!!

-going to be a substitute as well for St. Catherine's School and Collegiate (go cougars!)

-assistant soccer coach for St. Gertrude's this spring - working with MBC coach, Juan Chavez

-lifeguarding and swim instructing at the Tuckahoe YMCA
-yes, this is when a part time job becomes a full time job! :)
-got a RAISE!!!! wahoo!

-hanging around Richmond and having some with my life now, that school is OVER!!! :)

Quick Update I

2005-11-27T19:40:00.000-05:00

its been awhile....but.........my student teaching is OVER!!! I'm DONE. I'm going to GRADUATE from Mary Baldwin College........finally.

student teaching was a wild ride. i barely had to time to breathe during it because of the constant go-go-go. it was a rough 12 weeks. it almost tops my list of things never to be repeated-the nULL line and student teaching definately start the list. the whole experience was a good one. if it had been really easy-meaning two nice and docile classes-i really wouldn't have gotten a crash course of effectively maintaining a learning atmosphere and all. 3rd block put me through hell...but i'm better for it. :)

now, that student teaching is done!!! i'm bascially finishing up stuff at baldwin (filling out paper work and such) and looking for some sort of a teaching job. my goal is to find a teaching internship at hopefully, a boarding school in new england. i've heard about the increasing popularity of teaching internships as a way to gain experience and work in a private school setting. i'm not sure if i want to be in the private or the public school system so i'm gonna see if i can intern at a private school and see what happens.

right now, at least until january, i'm celebrating my completion of my college career and the holidays.

Back to School: Student Teaching Begins

2005-09-11T10:41:00.000-04:00

15 August was the magic date. i moved back to baldwin and into my room in kable hall. to my sister nULLs-its purnell's old room. it is now a blaring fresh white instead of the brown she painted it. move in sucked. aimee helped move my stuff in and then we went to lunch at the pullman.

17 august was my first day of student-teaching. it was teacher's work week and i was there attending faculty meetings and working on my lesson plans. it was boring and i really wanted something else to do beside sit at school and read textbooks all day.

22 august was my first parent's night. i go to met my student's parents along with some of my students. it is going to be an interesting 12 weeks. some of the parents were really intense about what their child was going to learn and everything. parent's night wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be. but there were definately looks of dismay or distrust when mr. terry told the parents and students for the regular am history class and the world geography class that i was going to be teaching for the bulk of the semester. i inwardly winced when i saw those looks but you know, things are going to fine.

24 august was my first day of classes. it went relatively smoothly. both classes are going to fun in their very different ways.
1st block regular am history is going to fun partly because the class is rather tame. however, they have lots of character. there are students who have very strong and colorful personalities but are willing to learn and listen during class. they are very honest and straightforward about everything-learning, coming to class, etc.
3rd block world geography is going to a nightmarish-hell sort of fun. the class is mainly high school freshmen-with a few sophomores and juniors sprinkled in for fun. these students have eithered failed geography or haven't taken it. the class is very loud and full of personality. its going to be fun b/c of all the variance in student ability and the classroom dynamic they create. both mr. terry and i are pulling out our hair during the class and at the end, but we do have fun it. the teaching variance is going to be fun-b/c it won't be straight lecture-it will be fun activities that will teach the students and still have them moving. this class can't sit still for their lives

6 September - 9 September: i have officially taken over the role of lead instructor for this class. mr. terry is now my teaching aid. my first week was rough. i got through my mini-unit on the revolutionary war alright. it wasn't the best-but it wasn't the worst either. mr. terry was very positive about how the week went and the weeks to come. he told me that i had gotten the class moving so to speak. they didn't seem to know what to expect or how to react to the activities that i gave to them to do. i'm definately a fan of not-lecturing now. i used to be all about lectures and stuff-but no longer. giving the class activities to do makes for a much eaiser class teaching wise. the students are teaching themselves with the use of a graphic organizer and their books with the teacher and aid there as resources. i'm not talking at them, i'm sort of connecting with them-being able to work with one-on-one is so much more rewarding than lecturing a class of 17 students.

Prince Edward Island II

2005-09-11T09:42:00.000-04:00

Prince Edward Island II

Day #6: Cavendish and Green Gables

aimee and i got up and got out the next morning. we were a bit sore b/c of the burns we had sustained the previous day. we had both wanted to get some sun, but we got more than enough since we were both red. aimee had the worst burns on her legs. my back and shoulders were splotchy burned. oh well. we biked to cavendish. it was a pleasant hilly ride. we passed more bikers going into cavendish than we had passed the entire trip. i had no idea what to expect cavendish to look and feel like. cavendish is situated along the blue heron highway. It seemed longer than wide. we stopped at the tourist mart on our way to get some cash. we rode down hill passed the Avonlea (the creation of the fictional town from the book Anne of Green Gables) and contiuned onward to Green Gables. we could not check into our rooms until around 300ish-so we had plenty of time to burn. we wanted to go to green gables first. it had been something that we had been looking forward to the whole trip. suddenly, we were getting ready to see something that we had wanted to see for soo long.

we reached green gables at the end of the peak time of visitors. it was crowded and a bit noisy. however, we both wanted to walk a bit after spending about 3 hours on a bike. we walked through the haunted wood and lover's lane to stretch our legs and let the crowd lessen. the haunted wood was creepy. if you were quiet you could hear the spruce trees creaking when the wind blew through the area. aimee and i were really impressed with the walk and the quietness of it. at one point along the path you could see the site of a school house where lucy maud montgomery went and you could also see the graveyard where she and her husband were buried. after the we walked through the haunted wood, we walked the lover's lane path. aimee and i were disappointed with the lover's lane path. we expected a romantic path in partial shade between the edge of some woods and a field of some sort. well, what we walked through was a nature path through the woods, that were really different from the haunted wood. it was a nature path and really didn't have the ring of romance of anne shirley. although, both paths were used extensively by montgomery, lover's lane was not very inspiring. after our walks, we got lunch-chicken salad sandwiches and of course, raspberry cordial. raspberry cordial is the infamous drink that got anne shirley in trouble with her friend dianna berry. raspberry cordial is basically raspberry flavored soda that is sold on pei in honor of anne shirley. aimee and i drank it whenever we could-so it was fitting to drink it at green gables.

after lunch, we walked through the house. the green gables house actually exists-it was the home of two of montgomery's cousins, who were the basis of mathew and marilla's characters. the house was really small. aimee and i both had very different mental pictures of the house and the house in reality. we were somewhat disappointed with it. it was set up as though, anne, mathew and marilla lived there. it was nice. aimee and i recognized a few pieces of furniture that reminded us of forsythe pieces. the house was not quite the thrill and amazement we expected. we were both sort of let down by it. we both concluded that we had seen the movie way to many times and built it up in our minds too much, that we were bond to have been disappointed. but, even though, we enjoyed walking around the grounds and imigining what it would have been like when montgomery would visit her cousins.

our next stop, was the site of montgomery's cavendish home. the house is no longer there-all that remains is the well and the root cellar. the site was quiet and cool. the land is still in montgomery's family. they actually own and operate the site. it wasn't until after she died and her journals were published, that her family realized how much she loved and cherished her home in cavendish. at this point the site was overgrowned and was cleared. it is a garden with a path that winds arounds the grounds. the path is marked only with quotes about the home from montgomery's journals. it was pleasantly refreshing after the hustle and bustle of green gables. we walked two short paths-the birtch path (from the book, which was the path that led to the front of the home) and the path montgomery used to walk to church. it was inspiring to walk down both paths knowing that montgomery had actually used both paths in her lifetime. more inspiring than the haunted wood or lover's lane at green gables. we had fun just sitting under the old apple tree, walking around and taking more pictures of each other. it was so calm and quiet. as we left, one of the museum workers commented on aimee's nice red legs with a smile.

we checked into our hotel and stowed our bikes after leaving the site. our hotel was right across the street which was nice. after we checked in and cooled off for a bit, we walked up the hill towards the Village of Avonlea which we had passed earlier in the day when we rode into cavendish. we spent the last hour of the opening time in the village. we walked around and drank raspberry cordial. we stopped by the raspberry cordial bottling company to get a bottle and a cool t-shirt. we saw the school house where montgomery actually taught and an actual manse. the village had three buildings: the school house, the manse and the church that were actual buildings moved to the village for preservation. we were able to see the last show of the day: the grand finale which was held in the church. costumed players that were anne shirley, gilbert blythe, prissy andrews, etc sang and danced to old island and nova scotian tunes. it was a nice close to the end of the day. after we left the village we went to the tourist mart which was a bit more of a walk to get aimee's aloe since she was dying without it. then we walked back to the hotel (down hill and then up hill). our last stop of the day was montgomery's grave in the cavendish cemetary. it was the end of our journey to find montgomery. we both spent a silent moment of reflection as we looked at the double grave where she and her husband were buried. after the cemetary, we walked to the cavendish beach to enjoy the sunset, the red cliffs and the scenery. aimee and i played around with our cameras again-expermenting with light and pictures w/ and w/out flash.

Day #7: Cavendish to Brackley Beach

our trip was basically over-we had found and seen the life of lucy maud montgomery. there was really nothing more to do than to head back to charlottetown. we were going to do the trip in two increments. cavendish to brackly beach and then brackley beach to charlottetown. we spent the morning very leisurely since checkout wasn't until 1100 and check-in at brackley wasn't until 300 pm. we ate breakfast at the restaurant next door and ran into the couple that we had met at the Stationhouse in Keningston a few days earlier. we then walked back to the cavendish home site to buy several more books to be gifts and then we packed. we headed out around 1100. the first part of our ride was through the national park along cavendish. since we were on bikes-we got into the park free. aimee rode up the window with a bill clutched in her hand and the guy just smiled and waved us through. the park was beautiful and flat. the scenery was again breathtaking and inspiring. we reached north rustico in no time only discover the hilly adventure that lay in front of us. these were possibly the worst hills of the trip. they were up and up with very little downhill. the uphills were getting increasingly hard and long. i had to walk my bike up several of them b/c my knees couldn't take it. however at the top of one hill we ran into the couple from the stationhouse and we sat on the roadside together and took a break. as we pushed forward, we realized that we were going to get to brackley much earlier than we had anticpated. so we went to the national park along brackley beach. we rode about 10 kms to see a house that reminded aimee of the white sands hotel in the movie, anne of green gables. it was a pleasant ride along the beach. the road was flat like a pancake. it was a enjoyable ride until the very end. the wind started to blow like non-other. we were literally blown off the road because it was blowing so hard. aimee and i had a tough time finishing our ride in the park-but we made it through.

finding the hotel was a different story. the receptionist didn't really know where the hotel was located in relationship the beach. we rode up and down the highway looking for the hotel until we stopped at a bakery in absolute desparation. we bought cookies while the lady called the hotel and got better directions. so when we finally got there, things sort of got worst. aimee and i had our first argument of the trip and dinner looked like it was not going to happen. we walked to millstream restaurant and enjoyed a hearty meal at a local family restaurant. i had a shrimp dinner b/c i was told i couldn't visit pei without eating some of the seafood. aimee enjoyed her chicken fingers. the rest of thenight was spent peacefully in the room watching tv. it was nice.

Day #8: Brackely Beach to Charlottetown

our last day on the road started on the right foot but quickly to the wrong foot. we had found a restaurant along the highway that served bfast, however, we couldn't find the restaurant when we looked for it. we had gotten up and out in the morning, so we could stop for bfast on the way. however, we rode and rode and rode until we realized that we weren't going to find it and the only thing we could do was to push onward to charlottetown. so we pushed onward. we found the confederation trial and got on it. the rest of the trip was along the trial that we had started our journey on several days earlier. the ride from brackely to charlottetown was tough-it was windy, a bit rainy and we were both starving. we were discouraged and tired because we really wanted bfast. our spirits lifted when we got back on the trial-the end was in sight. we were really going to complete our crazy idea of biking around pei for six days. aimee and i were giddy beyond belief when we got back to McInnis Bed and Breakfast.

the rest of the day was spent walking around charlottetown, eating cow's ice cream, shopping and attending the musical: Anne of Green Gables. we did the rest of our shopping. our shopping was really limited on the trip b/c of the fact we were biking and not driving around. so we saved most of our shopping until the last day. we finished our shopping and walked back to the bed and breakfast to start packing. we made sure we had covered everyone on our lists and started the chore of getting ready to go home the next day. our packing process was slow b/c of all the stuff and lack of motivation to pack. we ate an early dinner, and walked down to the wharf for cow's ice cream and then walked back up the Anne of Green Gables store where we bought a few more items and then we went to the musical.

the musical was beyond beleif. it was incredable-the dancing, singing and acting were outstanding and highly polished. the musical seem to go on and on but it was an enjoyable on and on as we sat there and watched it. aimee and i were so happy we went to see it and could not stop talking about it on the way home. we were somewhat disappointed that we couldn't stay longer, but we were happy to be heading home. we had bought a 12-pack of raspberry cordial to take home with us. we couldn't wait until we saw our parent's faces when we got off the plane with it.

Day #9: Homeward bound

we left charlottetown on a 830 flight. it was an early start-we got a taxi from the b&b to the airport and then got bfast. the check-in clerk sort of gave us a funny look as we check in with our paniers and the case of raspberry cordial. we both had breakfast that consisted of milk and a chocolate bar and then got on the plane. there is nothing longer than the plane-ride home from a trip. you just want to be there-you don't want to be on the plane and you wait impatiently for the time pass. it was long. the lay-over in detroit was unbearable. aimee and i were bored to tears. so by the time we actually got on the plane bound to richmond we were exhausted. we got home safely and met our parents at the airport.

pictures of our trip can be seen at: http://community.webshots.com/user/mallard720.

i hope you enjoy them!!

aimee and i had a blast on our trip. we really got to spend time with each other. time we had never really spent with each other. and it was nice because she was at the beginning of her college journey where i was ending mine. it was pleasant and nice to spend time with her without the parents around. i hope we can go on another bike trip summer 2006.

Prince Edward Island I

2005-08-21T20:30:00.001-04:00

Prince Edward Island I

after finishing with encore! theater on 1 august, my sister and i headed to prince edward island for eight days.

we departed richmond on 3 august. we flew from richmond to detriot and then from detriot to charlottetown. charlottetown in the capital of prince edward island. prince edward island is one of the smallest canadian provinces. it has the second smallest province house with the one of the longest running assemblies. we stayed in a bed and breakfast that was just around the corner from the historic district. aimee and i enjoyed walking around the historic district during our day in charlottetown. we took a tour of historic st. george street. historic st. george street in one of two historic streets in canada (the other being in ontario.) the beginning of st. george street is at the harbor and it goes up the hill to the province house.

in 1864, the charlottetown conference was held. the conference was held between four colonies: new brunswick, pei, nova scotia and the colony of canada (see map.)

the four colonies decided to form a confederation. the confederation was the basis of the country we call canada today. the canadian delegation invited themselves to the conference that was originally between pei, nova scotia and new brunswick to discuss a maritime union. the confederation contied to grow as more provinces were added, just like states were added to the united states. between the tour and founder's hall, which is a museum about the story of canada, aimee and i had a crash course on canadian history.

we both came to the conclusion that canada is a young country. their confederation was formed under the fear of northern imperilism. there was apparently sufficient fear that the us was going to march northward and take over canada.

later that day we rented two bikes that would be our main mode of transportation during our trip. aimee and i were going bike all over the northern section of the island for six days. each day we would cover a new bit of island. the main reason for our trip was to explore the life of lucy maud montgomery. lucy maud montgomery is the author of the world famous book, anne of green gables. she published 23 novels which all but one is set on pei. she grew up on the island until she married and moved to ontario. she and her husband were buried on the island in cavendish, her girl-hood home.

day #3: charlottetown to kensington

we rode about 63 km that day. it was a rough ride. we started out after a hearty breakfast of eggs and ham. our entire ride was on the confederation trail which is an old railroad grade that stretches from tip to tip on the island. since it is an old grade there is no hill that has more than a 15% incline. well, we began to notice the slight inclines towards the end of the morning. we ate lunch in a cafe that was around the trail. lunch was good, since it was sandwiches on thick slices of homemade bread. aimee and i were a bit weary of getting back on our bikes. but we did and we continued onward. it was a fun, long, ride. the day was dedicated to getting to kensington. we knew it was going to be one of our longest days. it was grueling especially towards the end. we made it kensington to find that our bed & breakfast, the victoria inn had overbooked. the people at the victoria inn found us a room at the station house, another bed & breakfast. aimee and i were exhausted. we ate dinner at a local restaurant and then went back to the station house and wrote postcards. we wrote and wrote and finally we were finished. :)

day #4: kensington to new london via park corner

we again enjoyed a hearty breakfast before setting off on our second day. during breakfast we met a couple who were also biking around the island but only on a tandem bike. aimee and i were impressed-but that would never work for the two of us. we set off towards park corner which was about 13 km north of kensington. we set off in pretty good spirits-we were enjoying our ride along highway 101. highway 101 was a back rode that provided wonderful scenery and hills for us to enjoy on our ride to park corner. our host at the station house told us to expect some good hills around irishtown-well, lets just say those hills were not fun to get up, but the downhill was a thrill. the wind whistling in your ears and you are just flying down that hill to gain enough momentum to get up the next hill. once we got to park corner we went to two musuems:

1) the Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush: was the home of montgomery's campbell cousins. she got married in this home. montgomery loved to visit her cousins at silver bush. what was neat about the house was that it was still taken care of by montgomery's cousin's family. the peices in the house are the ones used when montgomery would visit. it was really neat to see it all. you could montgomery's presence in the house. you could hear the family running up and down the stairs and rushing in and out of the rooms. there is a mirror that hangs on the landing of the stairs that montgomery used when she was getting ready for school. it was fun to look in a mirror that montgomery had looked into years before.

2) the Lucy Maud Montgomery Heritage Museum was the home of her paternal granparents. the house is almost across the highway from the musuem at silver bush. some of montgomery's earliest memories happened in this house. one of them being a campout in the dormer window in the front parlor. she went on a campout with the cook's daughter. the house is full of family peices as well. the room where montgomery stayed is still together just like the room she slept in at the other museum. pieces kept together. in this musuem we saw the famous green-spotted china dogs , the fruit basket and the rosebud spray tea-set. all three of these peices were featured in at least one of her novels. it was neat to see these objects. they come to life in the pages of her novels, but there is nothing like seeing the real thing. after walking through the house, we walked down the lake of shining waters using the alpine path. we found an old rowboat so we renacted the poor lily maid chapter in the book.

our next stop was the woodleigh replicas and gardens. a canadian wwi soldier fell in love with the beauty of english archectiture so he brought the beauty back to canada by constructing replicas of places like: glamis castle, york cathedral, st. paul's cathedral, and the tower of london. it was fun playing in the replicas and taking goofy pictures of each other. it was a time to relax and have a bit of fun. we ate lunch at woodleigh. we got to woodleight using a shortcut. we had back track a bit from park corner but we told about a short cut using a hertiage rd so we took it and had fun riding on one of the famous red roads of pei. after we were finished at the replicas we cont. onward to new london. new london was our destination since that was where we had made reservations.

getting to new london was a bit of fun. we were riding along the blue heron highway which is about an 80 km highway ....but those cars zooming past us were not going 80 km...they had to been going faster. we had some downhill periods, som uphill periods. the downhill before the new london warf was steep and it curved around to a flat bridge. you gained soo much momentum going down the hill, but you lost it on the bridge. then there was a steep uphill after the flat bridge. aimee didn't have a problem but i did with my knees, so i ended up walking up the hill with my bike. once we got up the hill, we managed to find our b&b and got situated.

mrs. irving is a sweet lady who met us at the door. she knew excatly who we were because of what we were wearing . she showed us in and to our room. we took showers and pulled ourselves together and went back downstairs to find out where we can eat dinner. she told us about the new london seafood restaurant at the wharf. we walked down the hill, we had just biked up and had an enjoyable meal. we walked back up the b&b and enjoyed several movies and then fell asleep.

Day 5: French River

we scheduled a rest day in new london. it was supposed to be a day trip to park corner but since we had seen all that yesterday, mrs. irving suggestd a trip to french river's beach. aimee wanted to go to the beach since she wasn't going to get to go with jessie. we went to the lucy maud montgomery birthplace for a bit and looked around. we saw the waterloo stove that was featured in anne of green gables. we also saw her scrapbooks where she kept the copies of her published poems and short stories. the birthplace was cool, but it wasn't as inspiring as the museums at park corner. we saw the room where she was born and a replica of her wedding dress. after the birthplace we headed to french river. it was a nice ride, several nice hills, but it was pleasant. the beach was covered with chunks of sandstone. there was a lighthouse on the shore with long grass. it was very pleasant, calming and peaceful. there was a mom and son looking for crabs along the shoreline and a french family have fun on a jet ski. aimee and i laidout a bit and wrote in our journals and got burned. we didn't find out the extent of our burns until we got back to the b&b. we again had a pleasant and slow evening that was getting us in gear for our ride to cavendish the next day.

to be continued........

Encore! Theater Company

2005-08-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

my work with encore! theater company is complete! we finished strike on 1 august (a whole day ahead of schedule!) strike consisted of taking all the lighting and sound equipment down as well as taking apart the stage and cleaning the costume/prop room. we also had to return rented equipment to the renters and then clean, clean, clean. we managed to get all the equipment taken down before noon monday morning and then spent the afternoon delivering equipment and cleaning. it was great to be finished early. it was a hard day's work though because it was really humid and hot. will, grant, cynde and i celebrated the end of the festival by getting milkshakes at brusters next to richmond camera on patterson.

encore! did three shows this summer. it was definately an undertaking. i got the job as the light board operator and props master late may. i emailed the company about the possibility of theater work and they happened to have an opening. the opportunity just sort of fell into my lap. it was a great experience working with the three different casts, will, grant, sharon and joseph. i spent thursday - sunday nights at agecroft hall setting all the light equipment up, running the show and then taking it all down. very time consuming, but fun.

Comedy of Errors: was the first show of the season. the props for the show were simple until you get to the money bag. the director wanted to have a big brown money bag. the costume designer helped me make a pattern and find some material, but after that it was all me. mom helped me out a bit, actually a lot. we spent the afternoon making the bag and it turned out great!! the director was very pleased. the show went really well. the two sets of twins were played by four increble male actors who displayed never-ending energy for their roles. the rest of the cast as well was able to keep the energy flowing on stage and the show moving. the audience turn-out was great. towards the end the house was selling out and they were getting semi-standing ovations at the end of the show. t

A Mid-Summer's Night Dream was the second show of the summer. unlike Comedy of Errors, the show only ran for a week. it was performed during the 2004 festival and was enjoyed so much, that PBS wanted to tape the show and air it this fall. the actors were amazing. it was cast with 5 actors who ran here and there changing characters. they would exit as one character and then come like 5 seconds later as another character or just change characters on-stage. the pbs crew was around for two nights. the first night they taped it as a dry-run and the second night was for real. i was able to hang around a bit after they taped for the first night to watch them tweaked their set-up and the lighting. they added lights to our inital set-up to create more light and put project patterns on the wall of the house. mid-summer was very successful. it sold out for all 6 performances and standing ovations every night. the taping went very smoothly.

Romero and Juliet was the last show of the season. it ran for most of july. again it was casted using 5 actors, who changed roles on-stage and then off stage. however, the performance was very moving. the last two shows had been comedies and now encore! was presenting a tragedy. the actors were very much into their characters and making them come alive. richard and his set crew added a balcony to the stage area complete with a ladder on the side for romero to climb up during the balcony scene. the emotion on stage was wild. and it increased during the latter performances of the play.

i really enjoyed my summer working with encore! i had a few bumps in the road but what job doesn't? will asked me at the end of the festival if i would do it again..and i would...but only two shows NOT three. three techs weeks are not fun. there were weeks where i would 14 nights in a row at agecroft hall setting up the light board and all and then taking it all down. i definately enjoyed monday, tuesday and wednesday nights during the non-tech weeks. the crunch for the season was mid-summer because of the filming.

after i finished with encore! my sister and i embarked on an 8 day trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada to complete the summer. more about that in the next post.

2005-07-28T16:55:00.000-04:00

Camp is DONE!!!!

today was my last day of swim instructing for camp tuckahoe (ymca summer day camp.) it was sort of sad to see it end, but at the same time, i was ready to be done. the kids had their good days and their bad days but oh, the memories. kids take things very literally. i told my group to put their kickboards up (meaning, put them away) and they held their kickboards up over their heads and looked at me. also the practicalness of some of these kids...one kid told me that i couldn't go underwater b/c i was wearing my glasses. if my glasses got wet, then i couldn't see so what was the poing...i just smiled and shook my head.

we had five different groups.

camp tuckahoe jrs were the little campers. their ages were five to eight. oh, wow. talking to these kids is like talking a brick wall into moving. but unlike the brick wall, these kids were all over the place doing everything but what they were supposed to be doing. the first session kids were awful..we had 33 invade the pool area at once. sessions two and three were a bit smaller, but the same kids. dalton, katie, caleb, carly, darien, tyler and libby were definately a handful by themselves.

camp tuckahoe srs were the campers who were ages 8 to 12 (i think.) they were the big kids. we saw them twice a week. the first session group was really good-calm and the group was small. however two and three were different stories. both groups for these sessions were big. we worked on canoeing skills and water games skills mainly with this group. every now and then we would do a group lesson which would give us a gage of their swim ability. the hardest thing for this group to do was again listening and being respectful.

summer journey is a one week day camp. this group came in three days a week. we would combine what we did with the tuckahoe srs and jrs for this group-so they got to do a bit of everything. what was fun with this group that it was small so playing games and doing the boating skills was much, much easier...and they listened better.

camp adventure was the oldest kids in a ymca day camp. they spent their time doing everything and anything it seemed like. we saw them twice a week and worked on boating and water games skills with them as well. they really didn't get any formal lessons. the counselors for this group were always willing and ready to get in the water.

bright beginnings is a local child care center that paid for swim lessons during the summer months. so we definately had a 5th grader who had never taken swim lessons before. i was a bit shocked. we taught two 30 minute lessons. the group of kids were divided into two groups based on ability. one group was the beginner swimmers and the really little ones, while the other group was the older swimmers and generally the more experienced swimmers with the exception of a few.

i'm not quite finished with the richmond shakespeare festival...romeo and juilet will close on sunday and then strike will happen monday and tuesday and the on wednesday my sister and i are off to prince edward island for 6 days of bicycling around the island in our quest to find lucy maud montgomery and anne shirley.

2005-07-26T00:52:00.000-04:00

Hi! so you have found me yet, again.

so far this summer, i have been rather busy doing all sorts of stuff. by day, i have been a swim instructor and a lifeguard at the tuckahoe ymca in richmond. i have worked with kids ranging from ages 2 - 14 with all different types of swimming abilities. lifeguarding has beeen a welcome change from the hustle of the day. for three glorious hours i get to sit and watch watch people swim laps and do water areobics. it is inspiring to swee a 95 year old lady swim a 100 individual medley with no problem. yes, she does swim butterfly. and my shift is from 0445 -0800 in the morning. so i have my entire day in front of me and i have already worked for three hours!!!

by night, i'm the light board operator and props master for the richmond shakespeare festival. the festival is held at agecroft hall in windsor farms. it normally produces two plays, but this summer it produced three. comedy of erros and romero and juilet were the main productions, but the festival staged a revivial of last year's successful production of a midsummer's night dream. a midsummer's night dream was filmed by PBS and will air in the fall sometime. can't wait to see the production on tv, since i got to see the filiming process and work with the film crew. props is a new area of theater for me-until may term 2005, i had done very little with props. however, suddenly, i was doing props for two professional shows. it wasn't that bad. i think the worst props were: lysander's glasses, the vials for romeo and juilet and the money bag in comedy of erros. ::shudder:: the horror, the horror.

if i'm not at the ymca or agecroft, i can usually be found at home relaxing and doing nothing. actually, since my mom's cancer last summer, i've been doing a bit more around the house. we are embarking on a mass clean up and 52 pick-up of the house right now. i think we are about 3/4 of the way through.

i'm returning to mary baldwin college in the fall to complete my student teaching and then i will graduate in december 2005. i can't wait. i will be student teaching with a teacher, mr. terry for 12 weeks. mr. terry teaches AP us history, geography and regular us history. next spring is still up in the air. i could be anywhere doing anything!