Julia Hitting the Slopes! Hershey Semi-Finals 20th Feb 2005 

Ups and Downs

Another spate of birthdays - Tom, Simon, me. I am beginning to see why people stop counting! I remember Dad at this age and never imagining I would get there. But the great truism really is true - I don't feel any different from when I was 21 - creakier, a little intellectually slower, and less stressed by worries of career etc by no difference of consciousness.

Julia continues the ups and downs. The school boys ski team won GBSSAs and so are going forward to the Provincial Finals at OFSSA next week. Julia has gotten through as an individual so next week we all decamp to Collingwood, OFSAA is fun.

The Hershey team won their semi-final - let's be accurate, they crushed the opposition. Julia had the fastest single run but missed a gate on the second run!! All very exciting.

Meanwhile she achieved an 84% average last term including an 86 in the dreaded Grade 10 Math - despite missing a third of the classes at least. So we have another straight A student! Wow!!

On my business, we have had a good couple of weeks visiting the people who attended our first session. All so far are interested in something - but everything takes time. We now have a second course - an action learning coaches course - that we will pilot in early May. We run the revised first course again in April.

Isabel was sucked into the club gala again - doing brilliant decorations with a celtic theme - kilts and swords. The party was a great success though I am told that the wine sales were down because all the Hershey team parents had to get up at 5.30 to drive to Milton. Bad timing!!

Cottage in Winter

We keep getting asked for a picture of the cottage in winter. Well here it is, out of timing I know, but here nevertheless

Julia meets Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a 'man', my child!

Last week Julia skied at the Ontario Hershey All-Stars
an honour she won by gaining the most points on her team
over the season.

At the end of the morning after two super slalom races
she was lying second by 1/10th of a second.

Then in the afternoon in a picasecond she hit a patch of ice and
fell in the Grand Slalom. All hope gone.

The joys and trauma of racing skiing. Ski to the edge and
take the chance!

Well, on the Tuesday she skied in the Gooch Cup and came
fourth behind 3 17 year olds in conditions that were so
dangerous they had to cancel the second run.

On Wednesday she came in first in the High School races

Back on the horse!

Congratulations Julia, we're so proud of you!

Kim Gets Prestigious Job

Kim has landed the job at The Board of Trade Golf Course for the season. This is one of the most prestigious courses in the City and a triumph for her. Congratulations Kim, we're all really proud of you

Meanwhile, Julia has won a place at Hershey All Stars. Last weekend she managed not only to stand up when her teammates fell, but to come in with the best combined time. Fast breaking news on her love life. It looks as if CJ may have bitten the dust...the drama unfolds!

Isabel is turning into a bridge player, She held her first bridge party last week, a great success. I can feel the pressure to play coming on!

A Business Launched

Action-by-Design is now in business. Larry, Gareth, Caroline and I held our first Seminar on the 2nd and 3rd. It was a great success. We had about 15 attendees for our "pilot" session representing about 10 organizations in the public and private sectors.

The session was held at the St Andews Club on the 27th floor of one of the Sun Life buildings and the facility was excellent with a light filled room and good food.

Everyone attending had personal connection to the Web using either their own lap top or one supplied by me. I had upgraded the game machines - 9 of them - with internet access and key programs and they worked perfectly. Amazing for technology!

The two day session was focused on Action Learning - its context, key approaches and the coaching issue. Gareth took them through NewMindsets and showed its power in the Action Learning context. The participants had a ball and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. In the part of the workshop devoted to practicing the techniques the problems people brought were truly deeply interesting.

At the end of the session, people supported the idea of creating a community of interest around action learning and in using the techniques.

All told it was a great launch for the business