post-Christmas

I'm sitting in Jeff's home office, which I'm sharing until we move in a couple of weeks. It's nearly 8 pm and pretty dead outside in downtown Toronto. White Christmas lights drape the trees in Metro Square, and I can see the lights of the Paramount Imax/Chapters corner beckoning. I'm half-considering going to see a movie tonight, but I'm more tempted to stay inside where it's warm and cozy, curl up on the couch with a good book (Ruth bought me Jonathan Stroud's The Golem's Eye) and a cup of licorice tea.

A Christmas compilation CD is playing on my laptop (thanks, Parki!) and I find myself a bit melancholy this evening, looking out the window and knowing that no matter what house we end up buying, we'll never be able to have a view of the city like the one we have now.

At the same time, I'm looking forward to the change of a residential neighbourhood, a bigger home office, maybe even a small garden where I can inadvertently torture innocent herbs and occasional flower.

I had a good Christmas, enjoyed familyholidaystuff. I've uploaded a few photos to Flickr, and you can also click on the photos today for more info. I'm enjoying reading over blog reports of other people's holiday weekends, finding out about different family rituals.

I am way behind in e-mail, by the way, thanks for your patience. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

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Happy holidays!

Off to do holidayfamilystuff.

Have a safe and happy holiday season, everyone!

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doodles, UT xmas, first whistle lesson

The first two pictures in today's Blathering are part of The Flying Fire Hydrant collection, which are basically Corel Painter experiments I've been sending to my friend Rand over the past year as my Christmas present to him last year; he had made the mistake of expressing interest in seeing these experimental doodles earlier on :-). Originally I had tried to do this every weekday but it ended up as several times a week instead. A few days ago, I printed up all the pictures I've been sending him and sent them to him so he'll have a hardcopy record. It was a selfish gift since I likely enjoyed it more than he did (some of the pieces I sent him were VERY experimental), plus it motivated me to be more adventurous in trying different styles instead of sticking with the safe and familiar.

I've had great fun playing around with Corel Painter this past year, especially as my tendinitis improved and I was able to properly use my Wacom Artpad. The first image was created using the "Reed Pen" and gouache brushes with the "Multiply layers" turned on. The second was done with a "Croquil Pen" brush. You can click on any image to see a bigger version. I find that trying different brushes inspire me to experiment with all kinds of styles.

I've been posting some of my experiments in my Flickr Doodles Page, if anyone's interested. You can always find the link by clicking on "PHOTOS" in the lefthand navigation menu on any Blatherings page.

While browsing the Flickr Illustration group, I came across a weekly collaboration project called Illustration Friday, which challenges artists (of all different levels of experience) to post an image with a particular theme. The picture I posted for the topic "Home" is at the bottom of the page. I find the project lots of fun, and the images don't tend to take me more than a couple of minutes to draw.



Did a bit of Christmas celebrating with Allison and Jodi yesterday at the Frog & Firkin, where we did our Christmas gift exchange. Thanks, Allison and Jodi, for the lovely gifts! I got some chocolates, teas, a jingle bell snowman ornament and HMV gift certificate from Jodi; Allison gave me a firefly notepad, a sampler CD of Tolkien-inspired songs she's been putting together, and a blue plastic envelope containing a wonderful personalized calendar full of photos that she and I have taken over the past year. Afterward, Jodi went home; Allison and I decided to go see "Kinsey", which we both enjoyed.

Also had my first whistle lesson yesterday! Wow, I learned so much in an hour. Karen Light had me play through one of the tunes I've learned (I chose the Swallow Tail reel), then told me what things she can tell I already know, what things she's going to help me work on. She explained some of the different whistle-playing styles, said that she teaches in the style of Mary Bergin, but that in the end I should play in whatever style with which I'm most comfortable. I learned about where to tongue during whistle tunes, two different types of "cuts" (kind of ornamentation), how to do a roll (another kind), where to take a breath during a tune. Also found out that I've been misprouncing the word "Comhaltas"; it should be pronounced as Coltis.

My posting for this week's Illustration Friday. Topic: "Home."

She also strongly suggested I get a hand-held tape recorder to tape lessons. Some of the people at the Tranzac session suggested I begin recording sessions, so this has made up my mind. However, I have no idea what type to get; I'd like to spend as little money as possible but I'd also like a handheld recorder that has decent enough quality that I can pick out a tune. Size is also an issue; ideally, I'd like it to be as small as possible.

Any suggestions?

By the way, several of you have expressed interested in the "Black Book" for sale at my Tranzac session. Once I get my own copy, I'll write up a brief description so you can decide whether to buy one or not. I'll also have to check whether it's available to those not attending the session.

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12 Days Of...

Today's Blathering is a collaboration for Wordgoddess. Topic: "12 Days of..."

12 Days of...

12 people you were grateful were in your life this past year

Jeff. My sister and her family. My dad. Luisa. Parki. Allison. Jodi. Rand. Cathy.

11 things from the past year you'd put into a time capsule

Irish session at OVFF.
Visit to Arizona & Nevada, esp. Briar Patch Inn.
Wrapping up my Waiting for Frodo comic and reading the Farewell Guestbook. Hey, just noticed that people are STILL signing it! How very cool.
A cottage sunrise.
Cottage stargazing with Jeff.
My first GAfilk! Enjoyed it so much that I am compelled to go back. Only a few weeks away, woohoo! Can't wait.
Our trip to Austria.
Going to the Christine Lavin & Tom Paxton concert with Allison.
OVFF brunch with Rand.
Orkut scrapbook wars with Jeff Bohnhoff.
Snuggles and hugs.

10 of the best books you've read and/or movies you've seen from the past year

MOVIES: Return of the King (Extended Version), The Incredibles, Finding Neverland, Hero, Shrek 2, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

BOOKS: The Amulet of Samarkand - by Jonathan Stroud, Good Poems - by Garrison Keillor, Jasper Fforde Eyre Affair books (I'm on the third!).

(Note: ARGH, I can't remember the books I read earlier in the year...)

9 gifts you'd like to receive (be selfish)

Creative stuff made by the giver, like: poetry, music, stories, arts, crafts. Incredibles/Ednastuff. Interesting teas and soaps. Bookmarks. Amazon wish list stuff

8 things from the past year you could have done without

Tendinitis. Freezing rain. Sprained elbow. Detached retina. Laser surgery to fix the previous (ok, I couldn't have done without it but I'd rather have done without it, if you get my drift). Stress / blues. Heartache. Real Life.

7 little things you've done to make the world a better place

Stopping to help lost-looking tourists. Donated to Goodwill. Expanded the Filk FAQ to help newbies. Given money to buskers. Whenever I encountered unusually good customer service, told them so. Tried to be more polite with bad customer service. Tried to keep my temper.

6 things you'd like the New Year to bring

A house. Tendinitis to completely heal, or heal enough that I can type normally. Be able to write as much as I'd like to (will depend on previous). A healthy, happy baby (for my sister-in-law, not for me :-)). Fresh start to old friendships. Being able to actively participate in Irish sessions.

5 people you'd like to plan to get in contact with again during the next year

Ok, I found this impossible to answer since I honestly couldn't think of anyone. There are people I wish I had more contact with.

4 people online you'd like to get to know better

Erin, Robyn, Holly, Crawford.

3 habits you'd like to break in the new year

Insomnia, skipping my physio exercises, checking e-mail before doing anything else in the morning.

2 things you learned about yourself this year

I'm not as much of a hermit as I thought I was.

I have more courage than I thought I did.

1 thing that surprised you the most about this past year

I had figured this year was going to be the first Normal Year we've had in ages, a chance to finally settle into a routine. Didn't happen. Some badstuff (sprained elbow, detached retina) but also lots of goodstuff (Irish sessionstuff, condo-selling).

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we're moving!

One of our nephews at the Ontario Science Center on the weekend.

A while back I mentioned that something exciting was happening in our lives but that I couldn't talk about it yet. Well, it's official: Jeff and I are moving! Final address still to be determined, though it will still be in Toronto.

We just sold our condo, and the closing date is Feb. 1st. We'll be putting most of our stuff in storage and moving to a temporary living space in January (thanks, Ginny!) while we look for a house. I have no idea how long it will take.

Mini-grocery store at the KidPark.

Last month I mentioned that we were getting my office repainted. Well...it was somewhat more complicated than that, really. Those who have seen my small office know how cluttered it was, pretty much every flat surface covered with books and papers and musical instruments. Ironic, really...I originally started renting office space outside of home because my home office was too small. Yay, lots and lots of storage space!

Then the whole Inkspot thing happened, and I ended up moving to Philly and working in a corporate space for six months. Ok, I worked in a cubicle, but I didn't have to worry about storage space there either. Then back home; no wonder I've felt somewhat claustrophobic in that room since returning. Can't blame my real estate agent for turning a sickly shade of green when she peeked in the first time after we told her we wanted to sell. To her credit, she did not run screaming.

"This middle room might be a bit of a problem," she said carefully, obviously trying to be polite.

Jeff and a nephew near the end of our Science Center visit. Both were pretty tired. :-)

Anyway, we took her advice and cleared my office out. And I mean REALLY cleared it out...took down the shelves, the built-in desk, the filing cabinet, EVERYTHING. Jeff sanded and replastered, and we hired a painter, got the carpet stretched and cleaned. Several people have commented on how much bigger the room looks now. And you can see out the windows!

We put most of my office contents in a storage locker blocks away.

There's quite a lot of unspoken baggage loading down that simple sentence above. Like experiencing a setback in my tendinitis because of all the sorting, packing and cleaning despite the fact that Jeff did all the heavy work. Like the stress in not having an office anymore, though Jeff has been kind enough to let me share his home office space. Like other life stresses going on at the same time.

Anyway, more about the condo-selling experience in future Blatherings; I've been learning a LOT about the whole "fluffing" process. :-)

h Jeff's sister and brother.

Several friends and family members have asked what areas in Toronto we're interested in. Truth is, we're pretty flexible right now (in terms of types/personalities of neighbourhoods, though obviously there are areas we won't be able to afford), though I'm sure we'll narrow down the search quickly as we start looking. Meanwhile, if you have any interesting neighbourhoods in Toronto to recommend, please do let me know. We're looking for a 3-bedroom detached house in a fairly quiet area within 15-20 minutes' walk of a subway station, with non-street parking (parking pad is fine), two full bathrooms, preferably with a finished basement that I can turn into my office / music studio / workshop.

Wish us luck. :-)

Today's Blatherphotos are from the weekend, when Jeff and I spent time with his brother and sister and their families. Click on any photo to see a bigger version.

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