FKO Saturday

I was offline during FKO, but thought I'd share a few photos from the weekend instead of my regular Blathering. One of the big surprises of the weekend was the surprise attendance of Paul Kwinn, from California (see photo of Allison and Paul, above). Beckett, we missed you!

The photo below was taken in the main lobby of the FKO hotel and is of Paul, Melissa and Andrea.





One of the con highlights for me was getting to meet Mary Ellen's and Ed's young son, Corwin (see photo below). VERY cute and cuddly. He had obviously passed "Baby Cliche School" with flying colours...he cooed and gurgled, squirmed happily when being held, smiled at perfect strangers without reservation. There's nothing like a baby's devastatingly open and trusting (and toothless) smile to make one turn into complete mush inside:





Thanks to Tom Algeo for volunteering to take the picture!

The photo below is of Terence, asleep in the con suite on the first night of FKO. Probably recovering from his flight from Singapore! There is a rumour, by the way, that Terence may be moving to Toronto. Fingers crossed...





And the last photo is of Ellen Weingart, who became my favourite photo subject on the weekend, mainly because of her highly entertaining reaction whenever I brought out my camera. :-)

pre-fko

Major snow in Toronto right now. Guess the weather is making up for the mild winter up to now. To those of you making your way to FilKONtario right now: drive carefully!

Went to the Sheraton Four Points last night with Allison and Jodi and had dinner with Tom and Dave (whose Web site will be moving to dandelionwine.net soon), Rika, Katy and Ju at a nearby Kelsey's. Martin, Andy and Glenn arrived soon after and took a nearby table...very cool to see them again.

Allison asked to see some Euro coins, so Ju obliged with a sampling from her purse:





We dropped by the con suite afterward for a brief visit. Things were just getting set up, but it's pretty clear everyone's hyped for the convention.

For those interested, Jodi, Allison and/or I will be participating in the following concerts or panels (times are tentative! check your program book when you get to FKO):

Canadiana panel - 9:30 pm tonight

Tanya Huff request concert - 11:30 pm tonight

Joey Shoji concert - 4:30 pm Saturday

Dave Weingart concert - 1:30 pm Saturday

Filk Hall of Fame concert - 2-4 pm Sunday

Last jam (?) - We've been asked to sing "Home To FilKONtario" at the end of the convention again this year. :-)





Got back home in time to hang out with Scott a bit (he and Jeff went out for his birthday), though I probably wasn't very entertaining; I fell asleep on the couch. Scott was amused.

I'll be leaving my laptop at home, but will catch up on entries on Sunday or Monday.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and hope to see some of you at FKO!

---

Today's Blatherpics:

	Jodi, Allison & I clowning around with Tom Jeffers at the FKO hotel. We've always been big fans of Tom. Here's the Tom tribute I wrote a while back (we performed it on his radio show, much to his embarrassment :-)).
	Euro coins from Ju's purse.
	Howard Scrimgeour decorating the con suite.
	Dave Clement & Katy Dröge.

Guest Blather: Andrea Dale

Happy Birthday to Scott Murray today!

Blatherpics were taken yesterday. The top photo is of Andrea, who stayed over last night. In the bottom photo, Jeff is talking to Allison and Jodi, Graham is cooking in the kitchen, Andrea is on the couch reading an article I wrote about Ruth for the April issue of ArtCalendar magazine (which came in the mail yesterday).

And here's a...

Guest Blathering from Andrea

Well, once again I am at Jeff and Debbie's apartment in Toronto. The sky is a clear, light blue outside, and the morning light is seeping through the blinds of Debbie's office.

I arrived around 2:00 yesterday afternoon, driving from Lansing, Michigan. When I stepped into the apartment, I found Debbie and Graham :-)

For the rest of the day and evening I caught up with those two, as well as Allison, Jodi and Doug (a friend of Graham's who came to dinner). Graham cooked up a delicious chicken stir-fry meal, which we inhaled . .And the rest of the evening was full of conversation and music :-)

It's great seeing Debbie again. She is as spastic, uh energetic as the last time we visited together (before OVFF last fall).

It's time for me to take a shower, before meeting Graham at the Royal Ontario Museum . . .

See ya!

Andrea

---

Debbie again...

An explanation of Andrea's "spastic" comment. When I get excited or enthusiastic, I don't tend to hide it very well. I would majorly suck as a poker player. Andrea was highly amused during a music session yesterday when we were working out an arrangement of a song we recently collaborated on.

Some of you may think this personality trait of mine endearing, but you should remember it also extends to everything else as well. If I'm mad about something or at someone, I don't hide that very well, either. And when watching horror movies, this trait often manifests itself in a tendency to dig my nails into the arm of the person next to me. :-)

guest blathering: Graham

"Graham, here. Debbie asked me very nicely to write a guest blather, here, so I'll do what I can as I untwist my arm. Debbie's been working out! I must first express my gratitude to Debbie for her gracious hospitality, wonderful cookies and limitless capacity for good humour. Also to wish her a happy belated fortieth birthday. I have about four months of seniority on Debbie. I guess that puts me at the front of the toboggan we now ride screaming into old age. I suppose when you think about it, turning forty isn't so bad, especially considering the alternative. Some of us achieve great goals by that time, others of us look back on a trail of unfulfilled dreams. I just watch myself become more and more like my father. All those strange quirky things he'd do and I used to shake my head about suddenly start to make sense. I understand why I have to keep the refrigerator door shut. I know why I shouldn't leave my jacket hanging on a door handle. If you're reading this Dad, understand this... Now I get it.

I suppose as I see myself strolling blissfully through my middle years, I am supposed to come to terms with my aging. But, I don't think about it as being forty. I am twice twenty. Debbie's playing her harp in behind me as I write this. She is really getting good with that thing. Not at all bad for forty."

---

Debbie again...

The photo below is of a piece of music that John had in his archives called "The Poslfit Blues" that I apparently wrote 20 years ago. You can click on the picture to get a bigger image.

Very short Blather today, sorry. Graham Leathers just called; he's in town, woohoo! We're going to have lunch, which means I should probably get some work done before he gets here. Andrea arrives between noon and 2 pm. Maybe I can get both Graham and Andrea to do Guest Blatherings while they're here.

Thanks for all those who sent good thoughts to Bryan's mom yesterday. Bryan reports that she came out of surgery fine, and that things are looking good so far (yay!).

Possible Virus Warning:
Andrea reports getting an e-mail from "Ohi@inkspot.com" with an attachment. She wisely has not opened the attachment, and I advise anyone else receiving e-mail from this address not to open it, either. I no longer have any e-mail addresses at inkspot.com. For more info, please see Andrea's message in Blatherchat.

highlights

Bryan's mom is undergoing open heart surgery today. As most of you already know, Bryan was largely responsible for the survival of Inkspot and Inklings in the early days, and currently hosts this site as well as all the Electric Penguin message boards.

To all: Please do take a moment and think good thoughts in the direction of Bryan's mom today.





Looks like I'm going to be doing some work for Moira Allen at Writing-World.com. This makes me very happy, since Moira used to be the Managing Editor of Inkspot, so it's only fitting that I be working for her now. :-) I'll be helping out with some site administration as well as writing a regular column.





Today's Blatherphotos were all taken at my birthday party on Sunday. Some personal highlights from the party:

- Hearing Jonathan (Peter & Laura's son) sing "Happy Birthday" to me. :-) Incredibly sweet voice. Here's a photo that Reid took of Jonathan, Peter, and Laura.

- Going through the old icbooks from the poslarchives.

- Jennifer Kesner's grin.

- The helium balloon choir.

- The cake (I still can't believe Jeff baked and decorated this by himself!)





- Seeing Justin again.

- Being greeted by Charlotte (Harald and Micki's young daughter) with a "Happy Birthday, Debbie!" and a hug.

- Looking towards the back of the restaurant at one point and seeing all the younger kids seated at the table by themselves (they weren't put there; they just naturally congregated), talking about secret things.

- Having Jonathan eagerly thrust a picture book into my hand and ask me to read it (I did, of course). I'm a major sucker for kids who love books that much, especially Jonathan.





- Salmon and hamachi sashimi! Spider rolls!

- Blowing the candles out on the cake with all the kids.

- All the red balloons.

- Holding Megan (Jeff & Gail's baby). Then taking her over to Jeff and saying brightly, "Hey, look what someone gave me as a birthday present!" and watching his expression.





Ah, who am I kidding. The whole party was a highlight for me. :-)

FilKONtario in three days!

---

Today's Blatherpics:

These were all taken at my birthday party on Sunday.

	Bryan and Elizabeth.
	Kristen and John.
	The cake that Jeff baked and decorated for my party. The text and picture on the front are from my Blatherings page. :-)
	Me blowing out the candles on my cake with the assistance of the children at the party.
	Scott (in Elspeth's hat) and Bronwyn.
	Doug and Jennifer.
	Justin and me, outside of Fune after the party.