Sunday dinner

Had fun at my sister's place last night. Andy & Christine (who recently found out she is cancer-free, yay!) & Elspeth, Luisa & Ronnie & Michael, Ruth & Kaarel & Sara & Annie, and Jeff & me. Reid's at the Macworld conference in California right now.





Very cool to see all the kids playing together. I can still remember when Michael was born...and he's 12 now! It blows me away that Luisa is going to be the mother of a teenager next year. I feel like I've been in a time machine lately.





Everyone got introduced to Stripe and Fluffy, Sara's and Annie's new pets. Stripe pooped in Jeff's lap and then fell asleep. Nice life, eh?





Dessert was "make your own sundae". Ruth and Kaarel set up four different types of ice cream, chocolate and candy sprinkles, chocolate syrup, cut-up fresh fruit. Luisa had also brought yummy homemade almond-banana muffins. I pigged out on everything, of course. :-)





Back to digging up invoices and other paperwork for my audit today, oh joy. Jeff and Helen are off to the cottage this afternoon. Jeff wanted to stay around and be an emotional support, but I've told him that it would make me feel better knowing that at least one of us is enjoying themselves at the cottage.

Today's officemusic: Ron Hawkins.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Ronnie, Reid's and Luisa's son. He can also make each eye move independently of the other. He was delighted when he first discovered that this freaks me out. :-)
	Annie in her soccer uniform. She had her first soccer practice this morning and didn't want to take the uniform off. I've asked Ruth if I can attend one of the Sunday morning practices sometime...I find the idea of a bunch of 5-year-olds chasing around a soccer ball is incredibly appealing. :-)
	A note I saw on the fridge door, from Sara about Ruth. "My mom is so great my mom is so nice and she cooks very nice rice but sometimes she wakes me way to early for school! Sometimes I feel like I'm in a big wet pool" (hey, I didn't realize this was a poem until Rand pointed it out, duh)
	Andy bonds with Stripe, with Sara supervising.
	Sara climbs Jeff, Annie tries to climb Jeff.
	Annie took this photo of me just before bedtime.

poll: solitude

Had a wonderfully lazy Saturday yesterday. Did a downtown Toronto walkabout in the morning, dropped by The Running Room at Yonge and Wellington, bought a hat and a neoprene belt that would hold my water, camera, and Walkman so I won't have to keep borrowing Jeff's cycling backpack every time I go running.

Went to a restaurant in BCE place for breakfast, had a decadent plate of Belgian waffles with strawberries and maple syrup and whipped cream, finished Tami Hoag's Dust to Dust (a fast mystery/suspense read), read some more The Discovery of Poetry by Frances Mayes, did some people-watching.





As I get older, I come to value solitude more and more. Not sure why this is, exactly. I enjoy hanging out with Jeff, with friends, with family...but I start going nuts if I don't get regular time by myself, apart from work. This is another great thing about running, I'm finding; I can do it anywhere, outside of the crowded gym.

I've never been a social exerciser, really. I'll do it from time to time (Larkin & I used to go to aerobics class together when I lived in Orangeville), but I tend to prefer being antisocial when it comes to working out. The people at The Running Club were encouraging me to come out with their beginners' running club, but I think I'll stick to being antisocial for now. :-)





TODAY'S POLL:
How much do you value solitude? Is it something you seek out or avoid? Have you ever gone to the movies by yourself by choice? Do you have any solitude rituals? Are you more comfortable by yourself or with other people?

Answer here.





In the afternoon, Jeff and I drove up to Orangeville and had lunch at my mom-in-law's newly re-opened restaurant, then hung out at her house afterward. I read my book on a recliner chair in the deck and fell asleep in the sun. So did Jeff.

A very relaxing weekend. :-) Tomorrow, I plunge back into CCRA audit research.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Jeff and Larkin in Oasis. Larkin is waiting for Jeff to decide what he wants to order.
	Oasis cups.
	Oasis.
	My lunch! I ordered the special, which was penne with smoked mozzerella, grilled vegetables, artichokes, and Italian vinaigrette. VERY yummy.
	Jeff snoozing in the sun at his mom's place.

spider-man

So I saw Spider-Man yesterday. If you're the type that would rather not read anything about the movie before seeing it, you should probably skip the rest of this Blathering. If you're responding to this Blathering in Blatherchat, please avoid posting spoilers, thanks.

I wasn't disappointed; I really liked this movie! I saw it with Parki, Jeff and ScottM; none of them liked it as much as I did.

I thought Tobey Maguire made a great Spiderman, and managed to convey the right amount of angst from the original comic without overdoing it. His yearning for whats-her-face (can't remember her name, sorry) was entirely believeable even though the situation itself was (by necessity) so cliched. I'm such a sucker for romance.

My second-favourite character in the movie was J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the editor of The Daily Bugle. He played the character exactly as I remember him to be from the comic. Those who saw Cider House Rules (in which Tobey Maguire starred) might also recognize Simmons from his role as Candy's father. He also plays Dr. Emil Skoda in the television series, Law & Order.

I liked the fact that it wasn't one of those non-stop action flicks (though I wouldn't have been surprised it had turned out that way), that there was attention paid to character development and interesting personal interactions, adding an unexpected level of complexity to what I had only figured was going to be a fluffy, superhero action flick.

Today's Blatherpic: Parki and Scott, at Fune last night.

ccra meeting

My contributor's copy of "The Country Connection" came in the mail recently, with my article, "Leave No Trace". I got paid for a cartoon as well as my article!

Selling cartoons could be another source of freelance income for me, hm...





My CCRA meeting yesterday went better than I expected. Two people from the CCRA showed up at my tax lawyer's office: the fellow who had originally contacted me, and his supervisor. The interaction was much more courteous in person than it had been over the phone, much to my relief.

As I figured, questions mostly focussed on the sale of Inkspot and my work in the U.S. I have to dig up some more documents and invoices, but so far (knock wood), everything seems to be going smoothly.

Instead of going to the cottage with Jeff early next week, I'm opting to stay home and do more audit stuff. I'm hoping to get this all over with as soon as possible so I can get back to my writing (which I've had to put on hold for now).

Our friend Helen (who writes as "Anton Lerchner" in Blatherchat :-)) stayed with us last night; she'll be going up to the cottage with Jeff. She brought me a very cute Whistling Clanger to match the one on the t-shirt she bought me for my birthday. When you squeeze his tummy, he gives an eerie little tooting whistle:





I'm finding that running is helping me deal with the frustration of putting aside my writing to do audit stuff. I've started to do it in the mornings; I suspect this time of day will be cooler once summer hits, too. I've set myself a time limit of about an hour, and turn back (no matter where I am) when I reach the halfway point. This morning I ran pretty much the entire way since it was colder outside than I had expected, and running kept me warm. :-) This morning, my halfway point was the beginning of the Martin Goodman Trail on Stadium Road:





Jeff and I are seeing Spiderman this afternoon! I was skeptical when I first heard about the movie, but the trailers look pretty good. Plus I like Tobey Maguire. Have a great weekend, everyone!

joseph

Went to Allison's school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last night with Jodi. Allison was one of the music directors; Jodi and I had been hearing about the progress of the musical since September and were aware of all the hard work she and the others had been putting into the show.

The Blathering at the top is of Allison conducting the choir.





We met Allison and her husband John before the show at Swiss Chalet, then headed over about an hour early. Jodi and I wanted to get good seats! (see below)

While the parents rushed for the seats near the front of the stage, Jodi and I grabbed the seats as close to Allison's conductor's stand as possible. We actually ended up moving one row ahead of the photo below:





I could have reached out and poked Allison in the ribs anytime if I wanted!

But I didn't.

Within a short time, the gymnasium was packed (see photo below). Allison said that both evening shows had been sold out, plus the school had added several daytime shows for schools in the area.

The play was great! Great costumes, sets, and of course the choir was fantastic. 'Twas very cool to see Allison directing the choir. As one of her choir members says, she rocks!

Can you see Jodi in the photo below?





I loved seeing Allison in teacher mode, and hearing parents and students call her "Mrs. Durno". Also cool to hear all the parents thanking her after the show, saying it was fantastic, asking if she could do it every year (also fun to watch Allison keep her smile intact at the casual requests for an annual event).

I think I want to start calling Allison "Mrs. Durno", too. :-)





I have my first meeting with the CCRA today; wish me luck.