on shakey ground

Hi folks:
Well it was a crappy night. The volcano real started putting up a ruckus and the kids, the dogs and I said, time to leave. So off we went to Puyo for the night. But I couldn't sleep all night for fear of having the house robbed. All that I could think about was my paintings, the tv, the stove, the fridge etc. An frankly, that was rather stupid as the most important things of my life were all safe, the kids were safe, Rob was safe, my friends and family are safe and I have photos of my paintings. Oops that was rather superficial of me...... So because I am a worrier, I packed up our bags at 5 or 6 in the morning and left for Banos only to see clear skys and the volcano still going att'er... Man, nature can be a mighty powerful thing. I understand that the other side of the volcano has been evacuated. As I have said before the cone has moved from the volcano to point to the other side to Riobamba. I don't get the feeling that it will change its mind and decide to point here. In honor of the Volcano Tungurahua, Rachelle made volcano cupcakes. That is basicly a chocolate cupcake with hot carmel and chocolate n the center. Yum. I decided to have one if we came back to an intact house as a reward. I had my reward, it was yum but rich. We may still have to go to Puyo tonight if the volcano keeps up her song and dance. I am told that the volcano in Guatamala has started acting up and causing havoc. Tungurahua is a real indicator of other activity. She gets a crackin' just before other major earth changes take place. So there you go, she may just be givin' everyone the heads up to be aware of earth changes. OK, I am pooped, I am going to bed and catch up on my sleep but it is kind of hard with Mama Tungurahua kickin' it up.
Talk with you all later, livin' on the edge.....
Robin
please.....Be wonderful to each other.....

the volcano

Hi there everyone
Well, we started off this morning hearing from a friend in a completely other city that Banos is on red alert for the volcano. I was dumbfounded as when I looked to the volcano there was nothing going on, no sound, no rumbling, nothing. Then about 2 hours later......THERE SHE BLOWS...... The rumbling is coming every 5-10 minutes. They had closed the roads coming into Banos, and people were getting edgy. The other side of the volcano, that points to Riobamba is where they evacuated people. We all made sure our bags were packed and ready to go in the hall way. They are still there now. Rachelle and I went to the city center to find out what was going on. There were first aid police, television crews and so on. Everywhere we went and asked how things were,... we heard the same thing NO pasa nada, vamos haber, tranquilo. It is hard to listen to when you hear and feel rumbling under your feet. We were fully prepared to leave and were wondering if we should hire a truck to exit stage right. But as it turns out.....no pasa nada horita. So life is ticking on again. The problems so far is that Guyaquil is choking with the cenisa (ash). So there we go, at this point there is nothing to worry about, right now. My neighbors have told me that the alert in Banos is really yellow alert and if there is a problem that they will ring the bell and let us know. So for now we are still here. It looks like that they opened the roads again, as there are busses passing the house again. These little Ecuadorian are hardy and resiliant people who are very flexible and not that easy to rile up. I understand thought that once they rile up, they can be quite the panicky people. Hopefully, we won't have to witness that ever. Anyway relax everyone we are fine and all is well here in Banos Ecuador.

Praying Mantis

Yikes
Those praying mantis are.... I don't know....just scary. There are alot of bugs, weird bugs, in Ecuador. There I was last night getting ready for bed, actually had hopped into bed and tucked myself in when I looked up to the lamp to adjust it so that I could read when there sitting on the lamp was a 4 or more inch praying mantis. Yuck, these bugs look like aliens...... ewwww. So I called for Rachelle to bring a glass and a plate to remove it to live outside. When she got into the room I said something to her. The damned thing rotated its head and looked directly at me. Both Rachelle and I were freaked out. It was creepy. It looked like it was plotting my discomfort. Yuck. They have the ability that other bugs don't have they can turn their neck. Other bugs are not able to do that. Which kind of gives more human connection with the mantis. They also do this weird movement which is a kind of rocking bug walk that is hard to explain. It is like they are tentative about moving or it is a bug dance. I would be feeling better if it were a bug dance then at least you would live with the funkiness but the other thing is just creepy. Needless to say Rachelle captured the creature and let it go into the neighbor's yard. It is only a garden. Maybe it is a she and she can eat the head of her mate there. Only to create more of them. It is a bad thing when you know too much biology to let your imagination go wild. Ewwww. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

It was her time....

My friend Mustang has passed. Apparently, she passed in her sleep gently and quietly. I am happy for her that her transition from this life was gently and calm, both for her and her son and daughter in law and their kids. Apparently, Mustang's mother passed just several days before her and she found out and felt it was her time as well. The two of them were able to be quite close in their time. I don't know what exactly happens "after", but my scientific mind and my spiritual mind work together, I try and find harmony between my heart and my mind. Especially after studying the laws of conservation of matter in Dane's schooling, grade 10 science, where no matter is lost or gained in reaction, as well as understanding the various alpha, beta and gamma reactions where energy is created through energy. I believe that our energy is never lost only changed or moved. I beleive so strongly in this thought and have no real worries of most of my actions in this life, and after studying a variety of different spiritual philosophies and after comparing them and realizing the commonalities of them, I know to transition from this life there is nothing to fear. I beleive it is important just to beleive and try an live your life to the best of your ability to live your destiny, knowing it will all work out in the next phase of life. I beleive in Kharma, this philosophy repeats the scientific Newton's Law "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". I also beleive that even if this law was not identified and reinforced in a variety of religions that I would still try and do my best to live a good life with
out having to be "told" to. I know that we all mess up and do things that we regret and that others and ourselves have had things that are done to us but the thing that I think is important is to have compassion and forgiveness. I am working on the forgiving thing, it is really not that easy for me to forgive, especially when someone has done something to someone that I love. My son is the biggest lesson here. When some boys who were involved in a bullying incident with my son, and it was my son that ended up in the hospital and in a wheel chair for 3 months and a cast for 4 months, it was my son who taught me forgiveness. He was lying in the hospital in sever pain with a fractured leg is 5 peices almost shattered, by the look of the xray, and his first words were, "I forgive them". I was dumbfounded and so was Rob. I have never witnessed such a huge heart.....ever. He is my lesson on truly forgiving someone and then moving on. Even after by the suggestion of his wonderful teaching supervisor to visit a psychologist so that he would not remain a victim and that Dane would not carry that baggage with him for his life, the pyschologist felt since he had such a huge heart and had a good self confidence level that he had just forgave and moved on with no sad attachments. Wow, hey???
On to the next thought.... Dane is now well over 6'4" and his head is beginning to hit the door jams if he is not careful. Now for the first time in my life I actually feel short. All my immediate family are tall. Here in Ecuador, where some people are lucky to hit 4 ft, we are monsters. Sometimes when we walk down the streets people just stare. I have to say that I am proud of them. They are tall, lean and graceful. Except for when Dane runs, he still runs like Bambi, he is all legs and doesn't know where his body is in space. Dane says that he is more of a giraffe, I have to agree.
It is also Dane's birthday and also our friends in Puyo. We will try and get together and celebrate... We will have to do the dinner thing and maybe a cheese cake, no one make a better cheese cake than my kids. They make killer cakes that you know that you are going to have to work hard to work off. But they are yummy.
I will light a candle on the cake in memory for Mustang and say a little thought for her.
Well, Rob has been gone to Canada to bring up the coffers for some time. We both cognitively know this is needed to be done but it is still not always nice. I have to admit I don't laugh nearly as much when he is not here and I become far more serious that is probably good for me when he is gone. I Especially don't laugh as much when I am focused on teaching, I can get very intense, it is the OCD in me. When the kids and I go back to Canada, the kids will be going to the leap program in Powel River, and Rob and I will have 8 days of just us. I know that we will have a great time and we probably will spend alot of our time just laughing.
It is a fabulous opportunity for both kids and the fact that both kids got accepted into the program is awesome. They had to apply for it, like one would a job, resumes and letters of intention the works. That alone took the kids and I a whole day. The program is environmental studies etc and it includes school credit. I think that they were accepted partly because we are coming from Ecuador and the kids can bring alot of insight from another part of the world. I would like to take the kids to Cocoa, before we go as this is the area where the worlds largest oil spill is in the world. It is where Texaco was irrisponcible with their oil extraction and it contaminated a large area in the amazon. We will see, it is very depressing to be there, but there are alot scientists in the area researching how to solve this problem or atleast reduce the problem. It sounds like there are people who live there who are very sick and the cancer rate is very high. It would be good for our kids to help bring to light how important it is to be responcible. We also have friends in Quito who could help the kids be informed even more who work with environmental studies world wide.
Anyway, I will go back to my morning coffee and back to English, as that is the only area left really that needs completing.
Talk with you all later
I would love to hear from you
Be good to each other and keep up the faith
Robin

The sun is shining.

Well, it is a lovely shining day, but we are studying for exams.... Dane seems to have found something called tenacity. Tenacity is a wonderful thing when it is motivated by the fact that if the goal is met there will be a period of rest. I am looking forward to summer vacation as well. I have some serious painting that I want to do. I have a night jungle scene made of 3 panels complete with jungle plants and wildlife. I also have the Blue Footed Boobies doing the night club scene. I also want to do a 4 panel painting of life outside the cathedral of Banos. I would like to do that one as I would be poking fun at the tourists. I am thinking that I would do it in the tradition of "People that I have Know" series but also follow it up with writing a short book about how I get the painting done. It is often that people ask where I get the inspiration and want to know how I think. I also think that this will be a very abstract and silly book as that is how I think...... Doing this painting would take a good break from doing the animal paintings and have a little bit of fun. But this would be a giant project. I am thinking that it would be three panels on the bottom of the front of the church and courtyard and the third above the middlish 2-3 to show the spires of the Cathedral. I am also looking at getting more exercise. I have been playing hermit and rarely going out. I would like to feel my muscles working again. The dogs would like us to be exercising in the mountains again too.
I have been looking and researching and buying acrylic paint off of Ebay. I have done this for several reason. A) I don't want to spend tons of money on art supplies and B) I don't want to spend my time in Canada shopping. Oddly enough, the only places that I like to shop are in second hand stores. I like second hand stores as it is a great place to get new ideas and find inspiration to create more. The kids also love shopping there. Going to second hand stores are like having an adventure. Hunt and seek and create.
Speaking of second hand stores,...... a dear friend of our family is in transition, she is going to leave the planet soon. We were just informed the other day that she has cancer and that it has spread through her entire body. We were all heart striken at first and then decided to remember to honor her life with the fond memories of sharing time with her. She is a wild, and wonderful individual living life totally by her own terms. She loves intensely but also lightly. She is crazy fun and is living with passion. She is also a wild card. We lovingly and admiringly nicknamed her "Mustang....." I learned so much from her, especially: accepting people for what they are, calling a spade a spade and they either are in your life or they are not, Don't cry over spilled milk, because life is meant to be lived not sobbing about the could have been. She has done things in her life that no way, things that I could have done, and that is awesome. She has intense bravery and ballsiness that if you knew her you would totally understand admire and sometimes be shocked. She is. Thank you for letting us be apart of your being here and kicking me in the butt to open my eyes to other possibilities and not to be so closed minded.
On that note, I am looking forward to my choice of teaching the kids but also having a summer break. Yipeeee. For those of you who don't teach you can never understand the releif of summer holidays. I don't even understand it, but it will feel so good but also very strange.
I will go back to my Ecuadorian coffee, and my schooling and studying on a Sunday for Science exams. Dane has a much different way of thinking than I do. For one thing he thinks almost compartamentally, and does really well in boundaries, but he also NEEDS the freedom to have free thinking and exploring, hey wait that is like me.....ooops. He totally understands chemistry (never me, as he explains it to me and corrects me) and physics. I don't really worry about the outcomes of tests as I see him understand the concepts and use them in daily life. Tests often don't show how much a person learns for the most part but how much they memorize. I focus on having the kids learn to think and figure it out. But here in this moment, when memorizing is important, we will focus on memorizing. I also love tests that are confusing with their wording, they make you think and often I fall for that trap. I am dyslexic and ADD so I already have issues about reading with confusion. I would have loved all my tests, when I was young, to be done verbally. I would have aced them. But that was not so. Often in school when I finally figured out what was going on, I totally got it and could also apply it to my life, and often it stayed with me even now how many people can say that they remember concepts from highschool?????. Dane also thinks that way. I remember one time in my youth, (there were many times where my symptoms of my learning issues were more prevelent than others), this time a so called friend of mine, who was taking teaching in university, came over to my house to help me study. She said that her teacher felt that people with learning issues like me, were just lazy and that is why they did badly in school. This is just after I said an entire sentence,,,, backwards.... I remember the feeling of rejection and shock and praying that those people like me would NEVER end up in her classroom where she would be a part of the destruction of those whose self esteeme was already damaged just by not learning like everyone else. I am so thankful that I can be here to help my kids who both have learning issues, and will not ever have to be victims to that kind of person. I am also thankful that both Dane and Rachelle are now in a school system like Heritage Christian Online School (plug for my friends) where they are for the first time helped and encouraged through school and are helping me too, with kindness, patience and understanding. I thank you folks for being there, if you are reading this. Normally I never drop names for plugs but these people changed our lives for the better. So for those of you who are thinking of doing homeschooling, look their way and they, I am sure, will try to help you find your way. So nuff said, back to my coffee and chemistry and studying.
Try to live your life inspiringly not only to yourself but to others, love well
Robin