major life change announcement

Some of you may already be aware that things have been extraordinarily hectic in my life. Because of complicated reasons, I haven't been able to talk about them in my Blatherings up to now. Basically, the news is:

I've sold Inkspot.

I'm moving to the U.S.

I'll be an employee instead of owning my own business; it will be a bit weird at first, I think. :-) Inkspot will become part of the other company's site, but will remain a separate section. You can find more details on the main page of Inkspot right now.

Anyway, I'm in the midst of packing and will be moving this weekend. Sadly, I'll miss seeing Lissa and Phil, who arrive this weekend to visit with Allison, but at least I'll be seeing them at Toronto Trek.

Just finished packing up the office. Amanda gave me homemade chocolate chip cookies to take with me on the trip to Philadelphia. :-)

Packing up my personal gear now...next time I Blather, it will be from my new apartment.

Allison, Jodi and I are going to continue to collaborate via email and snailmail until I move back to Toronto next year; it'll be like the old days, when I lived in Orangeville.

Wish me luck!

p.s. Hey, the bookstore a few blocks away is going to be open until midnight tonight for the big launch of the newest Harry Potter book, which is being offered for 30% off. I'm rereading the third Harry Potter book now; I'm amazed at the number of adults who have come up to me in the past week while I've been revisiting the series to say how much they've enjoyed the books, or asking me if my book is the newest Harry Potter title.

p.p.s. Yes, of course I'm going to take my harp with me. :-)

canada day report

Saturday was fun. :-) Allison, John, Jodi, James, Paul, Rand and Tanya came to visit for lunch. I showed them my harp, fed them sandwiches, we hung around and talked. Jeff had other plans that evening, so we said good-bye before taking off for Center Island and Canada Day Festivities.

The island was pretty crowded, but we eventually made our way to the quieter side and settled on a long strip of beach as evening approached. We gathered firewood, started a bonfire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Orange smudges appeared all along the beach in the darkness as others started bonfires as well; from time to time some would come to admire our fire (which was the Best, of course) and ask to borrow John's lighter or part of our fire to start their own. We used a cellphone to call Beckett, who had been unable to accompany Paul on this trip...we missed her!

Later that night, Allison pulled handfuls of sparklers out of her knapsack and passed them out. We waved them around, jumping like children as we danced around the fire, grinning at each other through sparks and smoke. Afterwards we settled down around our bonfire, huddled together for warmth, to watch the skies explode with the Benson & Hedge's Symphony of Fire (Australia was hosting that night's display).

I will never forget the images of that particular evening: bonfires scattered in the night, fireworks pinwheeling across the sky, firelight flickering across the faces of my friends.