Jacob was excited to visit his old teachers--well, not his Kindergarten teacher who (of course) was unavoidable since she was directly across the hall. Awkward smiles and hellos were exchanged. We said hi to his second grade teacher, who now teaches Kindergarten, and she remarked how tall he's gotten (which was a constant refrain earlier in the day when Jacob came with me to my office). We said hi to the school counselor, who he spent a lot of time with, and the principal, who I finally got to thank in person for the teacher switch. She was as thrilled as I am that it has worked out so well! We finally visited his first grade teacher, the woman I credit with saving his educational career after such a rough Kindergarten run. She was so sweet and willing to work with him, and couldn't say enough good things about him, which was such a switch from the previous year. She was so happy to see him, and when we talked about Carter being in Kindergarten, I said that we're crossing our fingers for next year. She said, "I think we can make that happen!" So let's hope she's right!
On Friday morning, I headed off to work and the boys drove west. They stopped in NT to drop Carter at my parents' house, then Craig and Jacob continued on to Toronto for Jacob's first Raptors' game, a preseason match against an Australian team. He was so excited! I'll share more about that soon, I hope, assuming I can get pictures from Craig. In the meantime, I had a very busy couple days ahead. It was our big homecoming/reunion/family weekend at work, which meant a jam-packed schedule. Unlike most years I had no late shifts, but the shifts I had were non-stop action!
I worked an hour at our annual giving table, then three hours checking people in at registration. That shift was particularly busy and went fast! Then I had three hours working a general information table at registration, at which point I took this picture of the flags above as the sun blinded me...
Because the boys were out of town, I was having a hard time deciding what I was going to with my evening. I could eat anywhere I wanted! I ended up hanging out for an extra hour just because the company was good and I was indecisive. At that point I stopped back at my office, checked my email, grabbed a delivery, and finally headed out on the first part of my evening adventure. As I was on my way, I noticed that the sunset looked promising and made a last second decision to head up to Cobbs Hill to see if I could catch a pretty sunset shot of the city. When I was about four minutes away, the sky was breathtaking. Purples and pinks and oranges! But by the time I got up the hill, it looked more like this:
As I drove away, there was a spot on the way down the hill where the sky had this amazing orange glow, but it was a single lane and a car was behind me so I couldn't exactly hop out and take a picture. But it was a fun little attempt, anyway!
My next stop (and original destination) was the Memorial Art Gallery. This wasn't my main attraction, but I had to take a shot of it anyway--because how could I not?
But that was just en route to my actual destination, the Meliora letters! Multiple campuses around the University had their own versions, and I'd never seen these in person. They were worth the trip! So pretty.
I continued my walk to go see a new addition to the sculpture garden. I've taken pictures of the giant sculptor girl before, but apparently her stone was breaking apart so they replaced her with a new bronze version that matches a lot of the smaller sculptures in the park.
It was actually pretty magical as I walked around in the early evening light. It was rather chilly (low 50s) but it was peaceful and pretty. The walkway back to the parking lot--a favorite of mine since the time Carter and I visited--was sort of dreamy with its strings of lights.
Despite big plans to grab dinner out somewhere, I was tired enough to just head home, make leftover tacos, eat an IKEA cinnamon roll (from my frozen stash), and drink a glass of wine in front of the TV. That was just fine with me!
I had to be up bright and early the next day, and woke up to a dreary morning. I packed up a poncho, umbrella, and a change of clothes, then headed to work with an iced cappuccino in hand. As I got on the shuttle to campus, it absolutely downpoured. That is not what you're looking for in the middle of Meliora Weekend, that's for sure.
My first event was the keynote address with journalist Soledad O'Brien. I was manning the handicapped seating and later ended up scanning tickets. I wish I got to hear more, but duty called! As we waited through the event, the rain miraculously cleared, and the temperature jumped about 20 degrees! By the time I took a minute to step outside and appreciate the architectural details of the building we were in, the sky was clear and blue.
After the address was finished, I headed over to the staff hangout room to grab some lunch and change my clothes for my next shift, and by the time I finished that, the clouds had moved back in and looked threatening again, just in time for my outside shift on a golf cart!
My three hour shift was a little better than last year's, with far more riders and far less downtime. I met some lovely people, and even got kissed on the cheek by a grateful Indian mother who spoke very little English. She could only tell me "Computer science", and after a look through current events I determined she just needed to go to the computer science building. We ended up taking a rather roundabout route there, but when she saw and recognized the building, she was so happy she grabbed my head and kissed me on the cheek! She then thanked me profusely with her limited English. It was cute and definitely gave me a laugh. I did one run with an entire cart wedged full of musical instruments for a band that was performing, and took one family whose little girl was in tears because her cart ride last year was a highlight and she wanted another one. You just never know what you'll get!
Once I finished up--dry, thankfully--I had a goal: I needed to ride the ferris wheel. Two years ago they had a ferris wheel for the first time and I really wanted to ride it. But between my assigned shifts, the weather, and whatever else, it never happened. And it didn't happen last year either. But this year, darn it, it needed to happen. I had a half hour to get on before it closed for the night, and by luck my boss--who had also been trying to ride it--found me just in time and we got to go on together.
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| Heading up! |
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| At the top! |
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| Looking out over the food trucks and big tent |
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| Looking at I.M. Pei's Wilson Commons |
The ride was fabulous and marked a great way to end the day! I walked over to the Eastman Quad to get my requisite picture of the Meliora letters there (new banners in the background this year)…
...and then it was time to head home to my boys. I only had one day to enjoy my weekend, and boy, was it going to be a busy one!
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