St-Jacob's roadside spring and this time of year

professionalism

fair & park

kill time, show no mercy

Spring again

Second winter

I got the spring time blues

The summer I came back from Rome

The eternal city had rocked my teenage world. And then I moved back to Canada. I lived downtown where all the government offices are, therefore after 5 pm it was a ghost town. I spent a lot of time at Tech wall; the park across the street from Central Tech High School. The park boasted a patch of grass and a square slab of pavement which butted up against a 20 foot high retaining wall. The wall was an infamous graffiti spot and also, we played basketball there.

I used to shoot hoops with my boyfriend at dusk in the middle of the summer and watch the city buses go by. Sometimes other people would be there to talk to, homeless folk or artists setting up to paint. A well-known graffiti artist was often there and I became good enough friends with him that we hung out beyond the wall. His work was widely considered untouchable and it was faux-pas to cover up one of his pieces.

Sometimes in the middle of the day I would bring my guitar there and watch pick up games of soccer run by local Brazilians or something.

You are the best

Wash your car

Winter is a natural disaster in the city

I suppose when spring comes I'll miss all the warm nights huddled around tables; there won't be nobody to plunk on a piano or guitar to lure people away from their conversations as they focus on a separate harmony, or a doubling up on the melody. I'll miss nice girls hosting with eats and unceasing warm wine. I'll long for reading F.Scott Fitzgerald to each other and staring out the window side by side, wistfully, at what could be, and what is going on: construction, an ambulance, nothing at all...

Gone will be my winter nights of cutting through the park, homeward, crosswise, and upon reaching the middle, being brave enough to throw my hood back and soak in the stark landscape as it romances me with fresh snow.

My peripheral vision is a luxury in the cold dead of the season. A small window surrounded by coyote fur is usually all I can afford. Sometimes the wind is so icy and burns my skin so that I hate it, I hate it, but I stand straight, I don't care and I think, God, I love it.

Who's with me?

Mornings in my house

Mornings have a special kind of stillness that evenings do not.

I like looking at the dog-walkers in the park out of my living room sliding doors while I drink coffee and absorb some magnified winter sun. In the morning, I check the plant known as Yvonne the wandering Jew; I didn't give her either of those names and one of them is practically scientific. She is tough and can make it no matter what.

I've penned some good songs in the morning too and in the summer I can play on my balcony again while I wait for my ride and best friend to take me to work. Work is materials like mahogany, brass, felt, steel, maple, leather, shellac, hide glue, etc...

I like sitting on this rug. It was swallowed by a flood two Christmases ago and was rescued by my father. He paid to have it cleaned and kept it until a year later I asked if I could have it and I got it. I like this rug the way children grow older and hold onto things like blankets and plush animals. It reminds me of my good life, it protects me.

It's still winter, still.

small things

Winter retreating

This very weekend I spent in a house called Ruth with about 2 dozen different people.
We studied a passage from Malachi, but the thing I will remember most is when just 3 of us read a John Steinbeck short story to one another called "the flight". The thing I will also remember is drinking copious amounts of tea by firelight, and at one point, there was an outdoor fire and we stood around shin-deep in heavy snow warming our hands.

On the last day, I took a short walk in the woods alone.

best piano & roses photo contest

TERMINATE WINTER IMMEDIATELY.

Wear the heart on the sleeve on the wall

countryside manners

Icicles

old-fashioned derogatory

I'm reading a book which boasts the title: The Immortal Piano.
U got aversionz? Beware, this is a true-life tale that would eat any heart-wringing war story for breakfast.

Song. titled: Shalom, Hannaleh


You learned of your grandfather awaiting trial in Damascus
You traveled by train and, with your harp of David, charmed us
When the first war broke out, no one spoke of Israel
They took our fathers and our brothers, and our sisters were ill, And still,
I was feeling like I ought to
And God is my witness to how good I feel

Taking refuge in a mosque, they offered shelter and a mattress
Asking only in return “with your harp of David, charm us”
By the light of day, you remembered why you came
Grandfather in jail, and them, everyday were hanging spies, And I
was awaiting your return
And God is my witness to how I yearned

The unfortunates were bold, oh king of beggars will you have us?
The merchants shower gifts and praise “this harp of David well has charmed us”
Your reign was just, your generosity was loved
Oh the hungry fed, you slipped off your crown and left, And if,
you come back to our village
We can marry, by the eucalyptus trees

the kids table

We made this! eat it!

UK update rebuttal

Toronto lost its snow. It had a little one the other day which was magic in the morning but it left later in the afternoon.

I didn't visit Nottingham but 20 or so friends secretly drove out to the dark suburbs to surprise our pal on her birthday. I think it was so successful that everyone was surprised. Indeed.

I haven't applied for any visa but I spent 4 hours at the library alone studying early recordings of Canadian folk and country music; it was awesome.

I have had no chats with anyone's brother's fiance BUT I am going to make a gingerbread house with friends in the shape of our church.

Gosh I wish there was snow...speaking of which, I've recorded a song with some cool guys I know and I'd love to send it to folks.

Ahem: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/891761/sdav2.mp3

What else haven't I done?

I sure am not volunteering anywhere but I am going caroling on Thursday with like 20 best friends and can't wait. I might also play with less, but equally best, friends at the drop-in center that my pal runs.

I read The Lion, The With, And The Wardrobe, because I never have. Go figure. Love that lion.

Well that was for Sarah G-J, whom I miss dearly.

Paris, je t'aimes

moon and tree and fog

abduction with dog.

A long weekend

Some planets are magnets

Just a little further

Patience here