sick

Sick today, ugh. Jeff and I are going to the cottage for the Canadian long weekend, leaving tomorrow afternoon (hopefully I'll still get a chance to blather a bit in the morning).

Rand sent me a bunch more birthday postcards that arrived at the Inkspot P.O. Box. I scanned and posted one of my favourites above. The blurb on the back reads, "National Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum, St. Louis, MD..."This imposing erection, built by carpenter-bowlers from 50 states and Puerto Rico, houses the greatest collection of bowling memorabilia ever assembled." In total, I received about 180 postcards from people wishing me a happy birthday, and this latest batch included cards from India, Argentina, and South Africa. As cool as email is, I do miss getting snailmail sometimes.

I signed up for boxing classes at my health club yesterday...this way I'll be able to keep Allison and Jodi in line when they get too rowdy at practices! :-D

babysitting - dropped necklace

Arg, am sicker today. Jeff and I are going to the cottage for the long weekend, back Monday night.

Allison, John (Allison's hubby), Jodi, & I watched the last Seinfeld episode last night. What did you all think of it? We were pretty disappointed, I must confess.

Did some babysitting yesterday. I love being an aunt. I took Sara to the local market where I bought her an orange popsicle. Then we went shopping at The Children's Bookstore (bought Beauty & The Beast (Jan Brett version) picture book, and a make-your-own-necklace kit) and then got an icecream cone at Laura Secord's. She got strawberry, I got orange sherbet. I don't often get Sara sweet treats because I know her parents aren't keen on that sort of thing, but *I* felt like getting an icecream cone, and I couldn't very well get one for myself without getting one for Sara, could I?? As we sat at an outside table, licking our icecream and admiring our purchases (I bought an air pump for my bike from Sporting Life), I asked what her favourite season of the year was. She thought for a minute, then said, "Summer." I asked her why, and she said, "Because that's when all the flowers are growing and there are popsicles and icecream." Which is a very good answer, I think. After icecream, we went home and Sara worked on her necklace. She was very patient threading the colourful plastic beads onto the plastic lace. I kept telling her to be careful, that the beads would slide off if she let one end go. She was very careful, and when she was done, she passed it to me so I could knot it into a necklace. And do you know what I did?

I DROPPED THE NECKLACE!!! Half the beads slid off the lace and went rolling across the floor, beads that Sara had just spend about twenty minutes laboriously threading onto the lace. AAAAUUUUUUUGGGHH! I FELT LIKE THE WORSE AUNT IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! As I scrambled to collect all the beads again, I told her how sorry I was, how it was an accident and I wasn't careful, how I would help her put the necklace back together again so it wouldn't take too long. I felt really, really awful. And then Sara, my wonderful 3-year-old niece, came over to kneel beside me and said, very gently, "Auntie Debbie, you're putting them on in the wrong order. Here, let me do it." She wasn't mad, didn't chastize me, didn't cry. She just started threading the beads onto the lace string again. I felt like hugging her to pieces, of course, but I didn't in case I made her drop the necklace. Anyway, this time I added knots on either side of the line of beads right away even before I picked up the string to tie into a necklace, which Sara wore proudly to show Mommy.

:-) I love being an aunt.

Thanks to Phil Allcock, who responded to my guitar blatherings a couple days ago with the following advice: "As an alternative to doing it with barres (which is a Good Thing to learn anyway, especially if you start playing electric guitar in the future!)
one trick we've used in the past to give 2 guitars different sounds is simply to capo one of them up a few frets and then play it in the
corresponding transposed key e.g one plays in Dm, the other in Am capo 5. This will achieve much the same effect as the barres but with
less strain on the fingers (and probably clearer notes if fingerpicking). Also, try using different picking patterns, half-speed patterns on one
or for that matter different sounding guitars (steel, nylon, 12 string etc)."
Check out the website of Phil's band, Phoenix.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

p.s. I'm very behind in email, and I humbly apologize if I haven't answered yours yet.

gary anderson

As some of you may already know, Gary Anderson was diagnosed nine months ago with brain cancer. For any of you who know Gary, his wife Janet has been enjoying the "Gary stories" people have been sending and asks that people please keep sending them. Cat Devereaux says, "They don't have to
be big (but those are good too). Just share a moment of Gary with
everyone." Janet reads all cards, good wishes, etc. to Gary.

You can find out more info at the
Gary Anderson Support Page.

gary anderson :-(

Gary Anderson passed away yesterday. :-(

I did not know Gary well, but enjoyed meeting him several years ago. He was on the Interfilk Board of Directors, and was partially responsible for sending Urban Tapestry to Conchord as Interfilk guests, a wonderful experience for which we will always be grateful.

Cat Devereaux writes:

"They say that when a king dies, a comet streaks the skies to announce it to
the world. What is a more fitting tribute to the passing of a techno
wizard, than the satellite that currently tumbles in our sky?"

babysitting

Congrats to Scott Snyder, who just got a job at Accolade, woohoo! He and Amanda will be moving to California.

Fun at Allison's place last night...we decided to get together even though Jodi wasn't able to make it. Gabbed a lot. Allison showed me the local Crafters' Marketplace, which is full of cool-looking craftstuff. Worked a bit on Mark's bio (he is foolishly allowing Urban Tapestry to write his bio for the Contata program book! HAHAHAHAHA). Introduced Allison to mangoes. She likes them!

Did some babysitting yesterday. Sara must have seen me coming up the walk, because even as I was reaching for the front door I could hear her yelling excitedly from the other side, "AUNTIE DEBBIE! AUNTIE DEBBIE! AUNTIE DEBBIE!" I opened the door, and she hurled herself at my legs, hugging my knees (that's as far as she can reach). At the same time, I could see Annie toddling out of the living room towards me with a big grin on her face...first time I've seen her walking unassisted!!! Wow, Annie can walk. This means she's going to start running soon. Look out, world...

Went biking for two hours with David this morning. Windy and cool weather, but very sunny. This time we went east and headed up the Don Valley River trail a bit (sorry, am too lazy to look up the proper name for this trail right now). VERY pretty trail, lots of trees and nature and wildlife. We stopped by a pond at a spot where the river widened a bit, and I gave a bit of my granola bar to a goose. It looked a lot like a Canadian goose, except the head markings were different...I'll have to find out exactly what kind of bird it was. Saw lots of red-winged blackbirds. I brought my camera along, too, so hopefully I'll have some pics to post on this page in a little while. On the way back, we passed another cyclist...with a bunch of chairs strapped onto his back! Have to wonder. Anyway, got back home at 9 am.

Staying the city this weekend, though I'm going to be visiting my niece Brittany out in Orangeville for a bit on Sunday. Have a great weekend, everyone!