I am Embarrased!

I was a member of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) for 33 years. Recent reports have revealed that the Ontario government has been reimbursing OSSTF for costs incurred during recent negotiating sessions: OSSTF received $1,000,000, French teachers garnered $500,000, and English Catholic Teachers scooped $1,000,000, according to The Globe and Mail. The government felt that the new procedure for contract negotiations lasted longer than anticipated, and, as a result, the unions should be compensated for their extra costs. The optics are terrible, as OSSTF actively supports the government during elections. A cynic might say that the expense reimbursements are a payback for the assistance given by OSSTF.

I find this embarrassing, and I would go so far as to suggest that the OSSTF say: ¨Thanks very much, but we have decided to return the expense money. Please spend the money on items that will benefit students.¨ Let´s put the kids first and put this bad practice out to pasture.  
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Why Goose Grease?

One of the joys of having grandchildren is the opportunity to act silly and entertain them.

I act silly by standing on one leg, making faces, stuffing a napkin up my nose and leaving it hanging [Warning: children enjoy this, parents not so much.], and by talking a lot about goose grease and plucked duck. I do not recall how I got on to this, perhaps it was divine intervention?

If they were pretending to operate a store, I would ask if they had any goose grease for sale. Usually, they would respond in a negative fashion. I would then ask if they had any plucked duck in the store and once again the response would be, "There he goes again, ignore him."

Goose grease became a sort of game that I would use, and I even wrote a story about the magical powers of goose grease. In the story, we all applied goose grease to our fingers. Next we joined hands in a circle. Amazingly, we rose into the air and floated over Santa's Village and watched the elves at work. Suddenly we spotted a young child caught in the spokes of the ferris wheel. A miraculous rescue ensued, all due to the power of goose grease.

However, the story was none too popular with the grandkids, as was the frequent use of goose grease, and I have reduced the use of the words considerably.

However, my son-in-law suggested that I use Goose Grease for the title of my blog, and so, here it is.

If nothing else it has nice alliteration and falls trippingly off the tongue (sorry Shakespeare).

Try it with your grandchildren, and enjoy the fish eye looks you will receive.

By now you are probably wondering if goose grease is real.  A distinguished history of the stuff and its use by the Egyptians, the Romans, and Nigella Lawson resides at http:/www.goosefat.co.uk/page/history.