hard disk still sick

No blatherings pics yet...my hard drive is still in the data recovery shop (it doesn't look hopeful), and there's no graphics manipulation program on my temporary drive (or scanner software).

Jodi and I are going to see The Road To Eldorado at Yonge and Eglinton tonight...looking forward to that! Has anyone else seen this? Allison is home sick today; please do send her get well e-mail.

To Rafe: thanks for the Didgeri-Douze photos!!! I haven't seen them yet (Allison still has them with her) but I've heard they're great. I'm picking up my FilKONtario photos today...two rolls' worth. I won't actually be IN any of the pictures, of course. :-) Do any of you have a similar situation (being the photographer in your family, and therefore missing in your photo albums)? I remember happily showing a friend some photos from when Jeff and I stayed up in Algonquin Park all summer, building our cottage. I happened to mention that I was the one who put in the wiring. My friend looked surprised and asked, "Oh, you were there too?!" :-)

Selfish request: If any of you have FKO photos with me in them, I'd be happy to pay for a copy (or copies), so I can add it to my album.

Bought some new DVDs on Tuesday at HMV with Scott Murray (it was his BIRTHDAY)...The Abyss and What Dreams May Come. Jeff and I took Scott out for sushi at Fune for his birthday, and then we came back to our place to watch What Dreams May Come. Great movie. We have to figure out a way of easily hooking our VCR...right now it's a bit of a pain, rearranging connections and having to move the TV to reach behind...watching a video is a bit of a production. Still didn't stop me from watching the Brady Bunch Sequel video that Amanda was kind enough to lend me a while ago. :-)

A FKO Highlight Diana Huey: Enjoyed seeing Diana again at FilKONtario! Her concert was great (first concert on Saturday), and she passed around an album of photos from her visit to Ecuador. Her new little boy, Gustavo (apologies for the typo before!), is adorable (he wasn't there, but many photos were :-))...I'm crossing my fingers very hard and am hoping he's at OVFF! Diana was the one who ended up buying our Interfilk package (toys, instruments, kids' songs on tape, lyrics, song writing certificate). I can't wait to start writing a song for Eduardo! :-)

my aunt :-(

Apologies for the lack of Blatherings...I've been in a sort of limbo lately, dealing with life.

I had to fly to Seattle for a business meeting on Thursday afternoon. Shortly before boarding my flight, Jeff called my cellphone to tell me that my Aunt Agnes had died. :-( I've mentioned my aunt before...she's been battling cancer for years, and we all thought she had beaten it. Jeff said he had agonized about whether to tell me or not until after I got back, but I'm glad he told me when he did. After a few hasty phonecalls to my dad and sister, I realized there was nothing I could do until after the weekend. Started bawling in the airport lobby, but I had a magazine carefully positioned so that hopefully people couldn't tell.

I had visited my aunt a few days before. She was at home, hooked up to an IV and a morphine pump, drifting in and out of consciousness. My dad held her hand and talked to her, about their childhood, about their visits to Algonquin Park. Ruth and I talked to her a bit, too, and I played a Japanese flute. A few times, my aunt seemed to come up out of the haze and recognized us, exchanged a few words, smiled at our jokes. Whenever she smiled, we felt wonderful...each was like gold to us; we would have done or said anything to make her smile. When it was time to go, we kissed her and told her we loved her, and said good-bye. She smiled at us, clear-eyed at that moment, and said good-bye.

I decided to go to FilKONtario on Saturday more out of a need for a comfort than a need for distraction. Didn't feel much like making music myself, but got tremendous comfort from just sitting and listening, being with close friends, having the occasional good shoulder-cry (thanks, Beckett!). I kept in constant touch with my father and sister via frequent phonecalls on the weekend.

Got quite the surprise on Saturday morning. :-) I took a cab straight from the airport to the hotel (took a red-eye from Seattle and only got about 1/2 hr sleep on the flight). Gabbed with Allison and Jodi in the hotel room, then we all went to Dave Clement's room to meet Dave, Liz, Dave's grand-kids and Tom for breakfast.

The first person I glimpsed inside the room was Lissa Allcock (her first name is pronounced "Lisa", by the way), except my befuddled brain couldn't absorb this. I clearly remember going through something like the following:

That's Lissa.

No, of course that's not Lissa, she's in England. But wow, that woman looks a lot like Lissa.

(pause)

HOLY TOLEDO, THAT'S **LISSA**!!!!

Then I saw Phil, Tim, and Annie. For those of you who don't know, these four talented musicians (members of the group Phoenix) are from across the pond, and we had much fun hanging out with them during our Didgeri-Douze trip in early February. I was missing them terribly, and didn't expect to see any of them for ages. Apparently they had arrived on Thursday! Dave and Tom had managed to correspond with all of us e-mail about plans for FilKONtario without letting on (and Annie never let on in her Witterings either, the sneak! :-)). Allison and Jodi got their surprise on Thursday night (I was in Seattle until Saturday).

I was stunned, delighted, incoherent, and went through the next six hours spontaneously hugging the Brits while saying intelligent things like, "I can't believe you're actually HERE!" :-) They had a surprise mini birthday party for me on Saturday morning in Dave's room...I got lots of tea and chocolate and a personalized mug and other cool stuff.

More on FilKONtario in future Blatherings, plus Allison will be writing a report. I left the con earlier than usual so I could spend time with my family on Sunday. I look forward to reading other FKO reports so I can find out what I missed...please let me know so I can mention them here.

A FKO Highlight We were honoured to be asked to perform " Home To FilKONtario" as the last song in the closing ceremonies. I remember looking up during the last chorus and seeing the entire room singing along ("Bring me home to FilKONtario / Stay...sing with me / We'll be all right, sing all night / with our friends at FilKONtario."). It was a mistake to look up, of course; I immediately got choked up and could barely finish the song. :-) But I was again reminded of the uniqueness of the filking community, and how glad I am to be a part of it.

garrison ridpath

Woohoo, I just found out I'm even more of an aunt than before!!!

Jeff's brother Case and his wife Debbie had a baby boy a few minutes ago...John Garrison Ridpath, He weighed 5 lb, 15 oz, and was 19 inches long. I now have one nephew and four nieces. :-) :-)

I've always been fascinated by the weight thing re: babies. Perhaps you parents can explain...WHY is the weight so important, exactly? I'm curious. It's always struck me as a bit weird, like weighing in a piece of produce at the supermarket. On the other hand, we aren't really able to discern a lot of other useful info about the baby at that point, so I guess there's not a lot else to talk about (Debbie ducks as all parents within range, including her own sister, start hurling things at her). Once he/she starts developing a personality and other non-produce-like qualities, we start talking about them instead. When Tiffany graduates from university, for example, we don't say, "Wow, did you hear about Tiffany's graduation? She weighed in at ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE POUNDS!!!!"

(Later note: HA! I called Ruth to let her know the good news about my new nephew, and one of her first questions was 'So what did he weigh?' HA! HA!)

Anyway, I'm super-happy about my new nephew, and can't wait to start corrupting his wee mind with Hockey Monkey Songs and obnoxiously loud percussion instruments and chocolate. :-) Congrats, Debbie and Case!

Other family news...

Jeff and I saw his mom (Virginia Ridpath) being inducted into the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame on Saturday, and I found out stuff I didn't know before, like the fact that she was the first female swimmer ever to score points for Canada in an Olympic individual swimming event. She still swims at Masters swimming events, and has broken a bunch of records. Cool mom-in-law!

Because I was at the induction ceremony, I was unable to attend a local housefilk in Toronto, which was honoured by the presence of UK filker Paul Bristow. Jodi and Allison report that it was a great filk, lots of fun. :-) Hopefully one of them will post a report soon.

Yesterday, we went to our niece Brittany's 4th birthday party. She's very much into Barbie these days. Barbie balloons, Barbie tablecloth, Barbie serviettes, Barbie cups. No, we didn't get her a Barbie. :-( But we did get her tattoos and a water gun. :-)

MY FIRST EBAY PURCHASE

Hey, I made my first EBAY PURCHASE!!! A copy of The Borrowers for $3. Does anyone remember this children's book?