Amy Pike

Me: Doom scrolls TikTok every night My 11yo: writing truths in his writing folder about why social media is terrible. Eek.

Things my brain wants to do at 2:00am while I need to be sleeping: -laundry -dishes -eating -anything but sleeping Things my brain wants to do at 2:00pm while I need to be working: -sleep

My dream karaoke duet is Farmer Refuted from Hamilton. Happy to play either part. Too bad I haven’t done Karaoke since University.

The Starbucks in Miramichi is closing tomorrow & I feel unreasonably sad about it. I know the company is problematic but it’s been my favourite third-place in my end of town. It’s accessible by bike & I have spent a great deal of time there working, cross-stitching, or playing games with my kids.

I’m starting a new job in a few weeks and I was asking a colleague for some advice on how I should prioritize work as he has had more experience in this line of work (albeit in a different role). His answer was straight up AI. If I had wanted advice from copilot, I would have asked it myself.

14 Sept

This weekend, my family and I were camping at Fundy National Park. For logistical reasons we ended up having to take both of our vehicles there. The cost in gas to take our compact SUV there and back? ~$100 The cost in charging to take our EV there and back? $0 ICE cars are the pits.

12 Sept

In Canada, national parks are for: 🔲 🚶‍➡️🚲 people ☑️ 🚘 cars (Infuriating new sign at Fundy National Park)

12 Sept

I’ve been to all 10 provinces, but no territories. I am currently tending to visit half the provinces (NB, NS, PEI, QC, ON) ~yearly, and Nfld semi-regularly. But having the prairies & BC on my list is only thanks to my parents taking my sisters & I on a cross-country trip when I was a kid.

Andrew Kurjata@akurjata.ca

I wonder how many Canadians have been to more than five provinces. I’d bet it’s less than half. Fewer still if you included even one territory. It’s a fascinating thing to think about when you compare to other countries: we are hundreds — thousands! — of kilometers away from our fellow citizens

7 Sept

J’aime le métro.

Amy Pike reposted

ℳatt

@matttomic.bsky.social

4 Sept

I've seen everyone sharing that US Dialect Quiz so I decided to make my own, much crappier, CANADIAN DIALECT QUIZ to guess where in Canada you're from

Amy Pike reposted

Urban Truth Collective

@urbantruth.bsky.social

2 Sept

No matter what they claim, the REAL “war” that’s been going on in our cities has been a WAR ON WALKING. And it’s been going on for a century. #UrbanTruth

27 Aug

So far on this trip, we’ve taken the following forms of public transit: 🚂 Via Ocean ⚜️🚏 QC bus (RTC) 🚆 Via Corridor 🚇 Montréal Metro (STM) 🚌Montréal Bus (STM) 🚊Montréal REM (STM) Anyway, I think some people take their kids on normal vacations and not just transport sampling. More to come!

We got word this morning that my kids’ grade 6 homeroom teacher passed away. This really hit me hard and if you’ll allow me, I’d like to tell you a bit about her (🧵), and how much teachers can mean not just to students, but also to parents.

I never had a teacher who took particular interest in me as a kid. I always felt jealous of kids who had made those connections. But as a parent, Mme. Breau was that for me. She took an interest, she cared. And I know it wasn’t just me/us. I know she was like this to so many kids/families.

The world feels a little sadder today. I’m so lucky that all three of my kids got to have her as a teacher. I’m so lucky that she was there when I needed her. While I thanked her many times for her investments in my kids’ lives, I wish I had thanked her more explicitly for her investment in mine.

We talked about their schoolwork, yes; but it was so much more than that. She listened, she encouraged, she cared. As a parent I never really truly know if what I’m doing is good/right. It’s a series of judgment calls and very rarely does someone encourage you in that. But Mme. Breau did.

When she received her diagnosis 1.5 years ago, she told us but asked us not to tell the kids. She took 6 wks off for treatment, then came back for the last few weeks of the school yr. She worked this entire past year but the cancer had returned & she was planning to take next off for treatment.

She replied that it was but how she’d been thinking earlier that this would be her last parent-teacher with the Pikes so we decided to go in. I’m so glad we did. She spent three years of parent-teachers encouraging my husband and I as parents, and this last one was no different.

She regularly told us how much she loved hearing all about our trips and outings as a family, how rare family time is now for most families, and how much she felt it helped our kids development. She always hyped up our kids to us, telling us how kind, respectful, and polite they were.

… especially sensitive to feeling like people are disappointed in him or like he let people down. So I sent her an email to explain that it was my fault & he had asked me to do it but I had put it off. Well, didn’t she take that to heart. She adjusted her whole approach with him over the year …

… knowing what a sensitive soul he is. We met with Mme. Breau at every parent-teacher over the three years. In fact, we almost skipped this last one. After having met my kids other teachers, I was running late for a work meeting so stuck my head into her room to see if all was good & we could skip.

…made her enjoy/interested in math. I don’t know how she taught it, but she was a miracle-worker for E. At the beginning of this last school year, when my youngest (C) was in her class, he asked me to sign a permission form one day, but I was running late for work so I told him I’d sign it later.

He was insistent that Mme. Breau wanted it that day but I reminded him it wasn’t due until the next day so it would be fine. While I was tucking him in that night, he started to cry about how Mme. Breau had “growled him” for not bringing it in that day. Now, C is very sensitive, and he is …

We took our kids to Disney that year, which meant they missed 2 weeks of school. We weren’t concerned about the boys, but were concerned about E catching up. Mme. Breau was not cross with us, in fact she told us how happy she was to see us take family trips together, and how important that was.

She also told us she’d make sure E did not fall behind: and she stuck to her word. She stayed after school with E many days to make sure she could get caught up. She was the FI homeroom teacher but her specialty was math. She has been the only teacher in my daughter’s 9 years of school that has…

… drastically overshared with her. Told her that school was very easy for me growing up, that I was frustrated that it didn’t come easily for my daughter, and that I wanted to advocate for her but didn’t know how. Mme. Breau did not judge me. Instead, she guided me, and encouraged me.

That fall, my daughter (E) was in a community musical production. Practice schedule meant she didn’t always get her homework done. Mme. Breau encouraged her to keep doing what she enjoyed. And when it came time for the production? She bought tickets, and her and her sister showed up to support E.

First, some context. My kids are born 3 years in a row, and for K-8 they have gone to a small school with (generally) 1 FI and 1 E class per grade. So, since grade 3, each homeroom teacher has been stuck with the Pikes for three years in a row: first my daughter, then middle son, then youngest son.

She just taught my youngest this past year (until June) so memories are fresh. The first parent-teacher I ever went to with Mme. Breau was right after my daughter started grade 6. We had just received her diagnosis of acute dyslexia and I was scared. I didn’t know this lady, but I went in and…

24 Aug

Day two QC highlights. We spent more of the day inside so I snapped fewer pictures, but still managed to check out these spots!

Amy Pike@amykpike.bsky.social

I really miss vacationing in New Hampshire - a place I used to visit yearly. But we’re choosing to spend our vacation dollars in Canada now, a decision that feels more right than ever. Some highlights from our day in QC yesterday.

23 Aug

22 Aug

Truly can’t wait to read this.

21 Aug

Bring back Crystal Palace! (This picture is brought to you by the Miramichi Via Rail Station, my home for the last 2.5 hours because the train is never on time).

9 Aug

Have a few hours to kill in a NB small town. Found a school playground for the kids to play at. A lot of things are prohibited at this playground and (while I think it’s overkill, ) I understand most of them but am stumped as to why sneakers are prohibited? This playground is outside on pavement.

8 Aug

Very curious to know how much bribery was involved in Moncton getting the closing show in the Jonas Brothers tour. (In other news, I don’t listen to the JB, but I do think my parents’ house might be close enough to the show that I might be able to hear it from their back porch tonight. 🤞)

8 Aug

Good morning, world.

6 Aug

I love a city. I love a non-car commute. I love an old elevator with exceptionally tactile buttons.

24 July

Nothing will change my mind on how great it is to take the bus (and all public transit, really)… but this bus driver is quite aggressive with their stops and my dress is very slippery against this seat so I’m spending this whole ride trying not to slip right onto the floor.

19 July

Another reason to cheer for Spain.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. Cut off all trade with Spain, please. Including visits. We don't want anything to do. They're hopeless. Bad people."

19 July

I’ve been a football fan for about 24 hours. My commentary based on today’s game? Messi seems overhyped.

@thewaroncars.bsky.social

18 July

How do I get an Atlantic Nationals but for bicycles? But also we wouldn’t gatekeep Moncton’s largest park behind a paywall for the weekend.

Amy Pike reposted

The War on Cars

18 July

Nobody disputes that having access to a car in a car-dominated society is good. It gives one access to jobs, healthcare, food, education, social opportunities and more. All we're asking is for people to go one step deeper and ask why access to such basic rights requires buying and operating a car.

Romeo Kokriatski@vagrantjourno.bsky.social

I grew up in Jackson Heights in Queens and we still had a car, and our lives got measurably better when we did.

15 July

Every time I ferry/walk to work, I’m reminded that Miramichi built this entire stretch of street with a dropped curb and that has, of course, resulted in vehicles parking in the sidewalk. This was preventable.

14 July

New shirt, who dis?

@rachelgilmore.bsky.social

12 July

I used to hate summer because it was too hot for me and I always felt uncomfortable. Now that my body runs cooler, I have a newfound love for summer and heat. My favourite way to soak up the sun? Laying on the trampoline and watching the clouds go by.

Amy Pike reposted

Rachel Gilmore

9 July

It's kinda crazy how all world leaders seem to have just decided to give up on fighting the climate crisis and let the poor and middle class burn/drown/starve or whatever while they race to see who can make the most profit off that dystopia for the next decade or so

27 June

It’s actually wild that the City of Moncton is fine with the fact that there are no sidewalks leading into its primary family tourism area. No sidewalks into the zoo, no sidewalks into Magic Mountain, no sidewalks to the boardwalk, no sidewalks to get Beaver Tails.

25 June

Unlocked a new non-car commuting method today. #miramichi