alison & jeff wedding

Went to some friends' wedding yesterday in Rockwood...Alison and Jeff, our canoe trip pals from a couple of months ago. Amazing food (Alison's brother was in charge of those arrangements; he's a chef at 360, a restaurant at the top of the CN tower), touching ceremony, wonderful speeches.

Between the ceremony and the reception, we met briefly for a drink with our friends Frebis and Duane, Nahanni tripmates; they lived only a few minutes away from the reception hall. So great to see them again! We went through each other's photos and compared post-trip experiences. I was going to stay over at their house and go to a writer's festival tomorrow with Frebis, but sadly had to cancel out because of work commitments. :-( We plan to get together again soon, however!

Earlier in the day, Jeff and I dropped by my mom-in-law's restaurant, Oasis, in Orangeville. Hung out with my nieces Olivia and Brittany for a while, feasted on pickerel and salad, and then went to visit Al Pace's pottery store on Hockley Road (our old neighbourhood). Al and Lin were two of the guides on our Nahanni trip. Unfortunately they weren't home, so we left a note for them instead.

Going to the Toronto Film Festival again tonight with Jeff, Doug, Craig, and Helen. Saw Five Senses on Friday night...an okay movie, intriguing characters. Craig's Film Festival Report (now an annual tradition) is available on the web, thanks to my friend Reid! You can find an ongoing report at: http://tnir.mef.org/~rae/tff-cjw.html.

Starting to look into furniture for MY NEW OFFICE (woohoo!). I'll be sharing it with my friend Doug, who does computer consulting.

too cold!

Toronto is WAY cold, -45 C. with the windchill factor. 10-20 cm more snow expected later today. Four hundred Canadian soldiers have been called in to help dig the city out of the snow. Apparently this is as much snow that Toronto's had since the 1880s! Announcers on the radio keeping warning us (with unnecessary relish) that exposed flesh can freeze in two minutes. The subway seems to be working, but the TTC says it may have to shut down part of the line again. If they do, I'm not going to be able to get to UT practice tonight.

Update: not going to practice. All GO trains in Toronto have been cancelled (bummer for those already at work and who rely on the train), the TTC is saying it may have to shut down the subway this afternoon, all schools/universities are closing, Toronto hotels are filling up.

See this Toronto Star article for an idea of what Toronto is going through right now...

funeral

Worked most of yesterday, then went to see "Limey" at the Toronto Film Festival, starring Terence Stamp. Terence Stamp gave a brief speech just before the showing, and the audience went wild.

This afternoon I'm going to Jeff's grandmother's funeral. I did not know Charlotte Ross Grant very well, but she showed me several kindnesses when Jeff and I first began seeing each other. I was working on my ARCT at the Royal Conservatory of Music, but could not afford my own piano; I would rent practice rooms at the Conservatory and nearby churches. Mrs. Grant encouraged me to come by whenever I wanted, to practice on her baby grand.

I remember those afternoons clearly; the hours of scales, studies, going over a particularly difficult bar of Rachmaninoff over and over again. After I was done, Mrs. Grant and I would sit in her living room and drink tea, talking about everything from music to travel to her childhood. I remember she had an absolutely incredible dollhouse, with working lights, built to look like a house that she and her husband used to live in. Everything in miniature, created in intricate detail. At Christmastime, she would bring out a tiny Christmas tree along with miniature wrapped presents.

A year or two before Jeff and I were married, Mrs. Grant took us on a cruise and vacation to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand. It was the only time I've ever flown first-class. :-) Flying first-class on Quantas Airlines (Australian airline) was an unforgettable experience...computer-controlled reclining armchairs with so much room you could recline nearly horizontal if you wished. Gourmet dinner served with silver and china, snow-white cloth napkins instead of paper serviettes. And dessert...wow! Dessert was a make-your-own sundae, with all the ingredients wheeled out on a silver tray. You could pick which types of icecream you wanted, along with the toppings, served in a crystal bowl with a long-stemmed spoon.

I will always be grateful to Mrs. Grant for these experiences and memories.

ice cream

Jeff's and my favourite ice cream flavour these days is CARAMEL by Haagen Dazs. Anyone who hasn't tried this unbelieveably decadent taste sensation MUST GO OUT AND BUY A CONTAINER RIGHT NOW. Pricey but worth the occasional indulgence.

My second-favourite ice cream flavour is TIGER TAIL (orange sherbet and licorice) by Baskin & Robbins.

Third is a tie between CHUBBY HUBBY and CHUNKY MONKEY by Ben & Jerry's.

The worst/best ice cream I've ever had is the vat of chocolate ice cream we devoured near the end of our canoe trip near Nahanni Butte village, our first contact with civilization in almost two weeks. Two many mosquitoes in the village, so we took the icecream out in the middle of the river in our canoes and chowed down. The ice cream was the textureless kind with only a hint of chocolate taste, but at the time, it was ambrosia. :-)

My favourite ice cream parlour in the world: GREG'S ICE CREAM on Bloor St. near St. George in Toronto. They make icecream from scratch there, with all kinds of interesting flavours.

chirpy the cricket

Have you all heard about the new molecular motor? Pretty cool, with shades of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

Many congrats to Jinny and Andy Eigel, who were married on September 11th!

Apparently there are a ton of movie stars milling about Toronto these days, particularly across the road; sadly, I haven't seen any because I haven't been paying proper attention. Stars in town supposedly include William Hurt, Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Priestly, Forest Whitaker, Lawrence Kasdan, Alec Baldwin, Dave Foley, Peter Gallagher, Ethan Hawke, Daniel Baldwin, Minnie Driver, Catherine Deneuve (sp?), Susan Sarandon, blablabla (sorry, I got tired of typing).

More significant news: My nieces Sara and Annie are coming to the cottage this weekend! They are bringing their parents. Apparently Sara asks every day how many days are left until the cottage visit. Last year, Sara went fishing for the first time in her life and caught a fish.

Apparently Sara really enjoyed going to Bug Camp this past summer. The camp's theme was bugs, and children learned a ton about insects (more than I know, anyway). Sara brought home a bottle with a snail and a cricket in it, covered with netting. She named the cricket Chirpy. Chirpy was very Loud. Sara asked to keep Chirpy in her bedroom. One day Chirpy escaped, having chewed through the netting. Apparently Chirpy had made a home for himself somewhere in the walls, chirping very Loudly late at night and waking up both Annie and Sara (Sara was delighted; her parents were not). Ruth says they are never getting mice.

I am astounded that Flounder the Fish is still alive.