bike maintenance

In my usual pre-Inklings panic today, though it looks like things are coming together remarkably nicely this time. I also confess I took a few minutes yesterday to put together a few new headers for my Genres page so I could use my new Litterbox font (and snazz up the business writing section, which was mentioned in that magazine I mentioned earlier).

Took my bike to the Urbane Cyclist at John & Queen this morning. The gears need adjusting, and I'm also having mud guards, a rack, and a woman's saddle installed. Also bought an air pump to replace the one Jeff stole from me. The woman there was extremely helpful, gave me some advice about coping with the downtown traffic, told me about courses I can take to help me get more confident about riding in traffic (unfortunately the next course takes place on summer weekends when I'm not likely to be free). Both she and the tech guy there warned me (as have many cyclists!) about the dangers of bike theft in Toronto. She even advised me to buy a very cheap bike (e.g. second-hand) for riding around the city if I planned to park it anywhere. I see her point, but then what was the point in me getting a new bike in the first place if I don't plan on using it? I figure I should be okay as long as I'm careful where I park, and lock both wheels and the body of the bike to something immoveable with both my Kryptonite and steel cable locks; can't do much more than that.

I've decided to go to the annual SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference in Los Angeles this August. I figure it's about time I start going to some writers' conferences. Anyway, I'll be going down a few days earlier to visit with some California folk I didn't see during my last visit (Puzzlebox, Beckett Gladney, Scott & Amanda Snyder) as well as my friend Lee, who has been encouraging me to go the conference for a number of years now.

To Annie:
I'm pleased to hear that Phil Allcock is as sadistic an uncle as I am an aunt. :-)

fune

Had to cancel this morning's bike ride with David, unfortunately, because of an abnormally hectic schedule today. Going to York University this afternoon; my dad-in-law is being awarded Professor of the Year. Going out of town for a couple days after that (details later). Possibly no blatherings until Monday, but we'll see...if I can find a way to get online, I will.

Jeff and I went to Fune (our favourite Japanese restaurant in Toronto) late last night. We were sad to find out that Chris, the assistant manager there, is leaving in a few weeks. :-( Fune will not be the same without him. After dinner, Chris made me a special drink which he christened "the Ohi drink" which was REALLY REALLY yummy. It had cranberry juice in it, but he wouldn't divulge the other ingredients (though I suspect one of them is booze of some sort). Jeff and I were the last ones in the restaurant at closing time, and Chris made "Ohi drinks" for all the sushi chefs. :-)

Our programming at Contata (July 10-12) has been confirmed: we'll have a half-hour concert as well as a 20 minute children's concert.

welcome olivia!

Back home! Was in Michigan for a couple days last week to be around for the Birth of my new niece, Olivia Margaret Ridpath (5 lb, 9 oz). I got to see her about 15 minutes after she was born...very pink and wrinkled and slightly cross-looking (can't blame her, really, having been put through the indignity and discomfort of being Born). I got to hold her for a while the day after, and she was in much better spirits. Debbie and Case were both happy and relieved and tired (and Case didn't faint in the delivery room!!). I'll post a photo of my new niece when I pick them up my pics later this week.

I got to spend a fair amount of time with my 2-year-old niece Brittany during this time, and she seemed to latch onto me pretty well. :-) I don't get to see Brittany nearly as often as Sara/Annie, so it was nice to be able to get in this extra time. She still calls me "Dobbie" and insisted on sitting beside me, going where I was going, was very concerned whenever I left the room. At first there was some minor confusion when she asked me about the baby in my tummy. I told her it was her OTHER Aunt Debbie who had the baby, and she seemed to grasp that all right.

After I came back Friday, I picked up my bike, then had an hour or two to unpack and pack for the cottage. Jeff and I heard foreboding forecasts (severe weather warnings, tornadoes, etc.) but decided to go up anyway. Glad we did! Fairly good weather the entire time we were up, and we had a wonderfully relaxing time. Not many cottagers on the lake...they were probably scared off by the weather forecasts. We went biking and had a picnic at Joe Lake dam, saw a pheasant and other wildlife along the way. Later on we went canoeing. Had a romantic candlelit dinner (Jeff made his famous scallop-and-pepper salad).

Came home yesterday evening, took off right away to see The Truman Show. Both of us quite enjoyed this movie, though I do wish I hadn't found out so much about it ahead of time through trailers.

Came back to a zillion email messages, will probably spend most of the today trying to catch up. Hope you all had a good weekend!

swamped

Swamped with work!

36,000 subscribers

Happy birthday to Scott Snyder!

Went biking this morning with David. David's going to Halifax on Friday, which means he won't be around for our cycling sessions for two weeks!!! Of course, I could go biking on my OWN of course, but it's a lot easier getting motivated to wake up at 6 if I know I have to be meeting someone
...ah well, we'll see what happens. :-) Anyway, this time we rode out to Ashbridge's Bay Park in Etobicoke (past our usual stop at Palace Pier Park). VERY nice park. We sat near the scenic lookout and watched the fog gradually lift off the lake.

Got confirmation of our Contata programming recently: we'll be doing a half-hour concert at 1:30 pm on the Saturday as well as a 20-minute children's concert (time still to be determined).

Inklings is over 36,000 subscribers! Many many thanks to Fox for helping me out with answering my voluminous email these days. Please do check out his webpage (esp. the comics he did with Talis Kimberley!).

Hey, my niece Sara just phoned. She wanted to show me a marble over the phone, as well as tell me about her day. She's a lot easier to understand now, but I still have to listen really carefully sometimes to hear past the toddler accent. Sara's 4th birthday is coming up, and she's very excited about putting things on "her list". Contents of her list change radically from day to day, so I think I'll put off buying her gift until closer to the big day. :-) A few days ago, for example, she was in a store and apparently really wanted Mommy to put a can of Pringles on her list (to those of you unfamiliar with Pringles, they're potato chips). Ruth looked at what Sara was pointing to and asked her if she knew what it was. Sara didn't...she just liked the idea of putting the can on her list. :-)