mushy peas & dd

You will all be overjoyed to learn that Amanda has told me that mushy peas ARE available in Toronto, though they are probably not nearly as good as fresh mushy UK peas.

Doug's Smarties tower has still not toppled.

I actually remembered to water Parki's and Helen's plant today. Perhaps it will survive another week after all.

Amanda, Jeff, Parki, Helen and I all went out to the Liberty Cafe tonight to plan this summer's canoe trips in Algonquin Park. The food at the Liberty is great, by the way! I had mussels for an appetizer, grilled vegetables with garlic mashed potatoes for the main course, toffee apple cheesecake for dessert. Yummmmmmmmmmmmm. Amanda has been going to the gym almost every morning at 6 am. I have not been to the gym in over a month...I am so bad!

If you want to see a highly embarrassing picture of me, please see Scott's Scribbles. (I am going to kill him, by the way :-))

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour Fox's chocolate shop During my visit with Fox, he took me to a great store. Lots of interesting things from children's toys to wrapping paper and cards...but best of all, there was a whole ROOM full of all kinds of chocolate! I picked up samples of as many types of chocolate as I could (including a chocolate pizza). The woman in the store was very happy with me as I staggered to the counter, arms loaded with chocolate...I bet Fox gets kickbacks. :-) My favourite of all my purchases was a white chocolate produced by a company called Green and Black (or something like that; I foolishly threw away the wrapper); VERY yummy stuff.

cooking & dd

I'm trying out a new chat environment, and may add a "filk chat room" if enough people like it. When you have a chance, please check out the Inkspot Chat Room, thanks!

I was out of town on business mid-week; when I came back, there was a big basket of goodies on my desk...yummy shortbread, strawberry candies, peanut brittle, pretzels, jam, caramel popcorn, chocolate-covered cookies, more...all wrapped up in cellophane and a bow. And a short note from Andrea...thank you, Andrea!!! :-) Doug and Amanda and Jeff thank you, too (I've been sharing :-)).

Doug has built an impressive tower out of the boxes of Smarties he brought to the office last week....there must be at least 30-40 boxes. Then he opened a bottle of white wine late Friday when Amanda and I were there; he also offered some to the Camp Creations people from across the hall (who visit and often say, "You guys always have such great snacks!"). I don't tend to drink a lot of alcohol, and was already feeling a buzz after half a glass. I don't think I got a lot of work done after that, but I definitely felt less stressed. :-)

Went home and microwaved a pork loin roast. It's a new product line offered at Loblaws; fully cooked main course dinners (meatloaf, beef roast, etc.) that just need a few minutes microwaving. I'm sure the processing sucks out any vestige of nutritive value in the meals, but they're great when Jeff and I are both too exhausted to cook and too hungry to wait for food delivery. After dinner, I stretched out on the couch while Jeff surfed TV channels...and the next thing I knew, it was morning and I was in bed! Jeff says I fell asleep on the couch and had to be coaxed to go to bed; I don't remember any of this, of course. I guess the week was catching up on me.

Jeff and I worked all day yesterday, then went out for sushi with Mark T. and Scott M. We had forgotten Fune was having their monthly all-you-can-eat buffet night (and was therefore full), so we opted for Yamase, our old hangout back in university days. Sadly, Yamase's service and ambiance has degenerated. Instead of comfortable booths with low lying tables where you had to take your shoes off, traditional-style, they had switched to cafeteria-like tables which were crammed together (obviously to get as many people into the room as possible). Service was incredibly slow, but it was obvious that they were grossly understaffed. After dinner, we went back home where I fell asleep on the couch again (I am so rude to guests!) while the others talked and played games.

Jeff and I had been planning to go to the cottage this weekend with Sara and Annie (and their parents), but gloomy weather forecasts convinced us to postpone the trip. :-(

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour Lissa and Phil's fish and chips place During our visit, Lissa and Phil took us to one of their favourite fish and chips places (I can't recall what it was called, sorry). We had spent the day exploring the Tower of London area, checking out the Millennium Wheel (huge! sadly, not open to the public yet), touring on one of the famous London doubledecker buses. At the end of our day, we had fish and chips. It was wonderful to crowd into the warmth of the small shop (it was getting COOOLD outside!), inhaling mouthwatering fragrances, removing layers coats and scarves, excitedly discussing the days' events. The shop people obviously knew Phil and Lissa quite well as regulars. :-) Lissa ordered her usual, which was egg and chips. I copied her, of course, and also ordered mushy peas, a side dish that the others mocked me for. Mushy peas are GOOD! Hot and filling and wonderfully comforting on a cold day; I only wish I could get proper mushy peas in Canada. Maybe I should write a mushy pea song; then the Mushy Pea people might send some to Canada!

impending brain explosion & dd

Brain Explosion Prevention Warning: Incredibly, this week looks even more work-stressed than the week before I left for the UK. To keep my brain from Exploding in a very messy way, I am hereby forcing myself to go into Anti-Social Online Seclusion to stay sane until next week. There is way too much going on in my life right now, and I am in desperate need of Time and Chocolate. :-( Lacking the former, I am going to resort to the latter (sadly, my UK chocolate supply has nearly expired).

Something in our office is killing all the plants. I think it's neglect. We were horrified to find that my mom-in-law's tree (xmas gift) had died and we hadn't even noticed. Jeff only realized it when he touched one of the branches and it immediately fell off. Doug's Chia head never survived, but we've put it on display in our front lobby area anyway...it kind of looks like Elmer has a buzz cut, with all the tiny atrophied chia seedlings still plastered over his skull, even sticking out of his ears. The last living plant in the place is the tree that Parki and Helen gave us as an officewarming gift last October. Some of the leaves are starting to turn brown, though, and we can't figure out why...

Sara and Annie and parents came over for dinner last night. When they left, our apartment looked like a whirlwind that descended upon it....do other people experience this with children as well? Fortunately, both Sara and Annie are past the "grab and destroy" phase, but still manage to move 90% of all liftable items in the place to a different location during their brief stay. Annie was scared of the blue dog on my piano...we ended up having to hide it behind our bedroom cabinet. Jeff introduced Sara to Wallace and Gromit (Helen and Parki gave us a W&G DVD for Christmas)...she loved it.

Dan Bennett, by the way, gets this month's award for "Most Unusual Photograph Of A Filker". See his homepage for x-ray pics of his neck while he was singing!

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour Morningtown train in our children's concert As we've mentioned in our report, our children's concert was a blast. The main reason was because the audience (composed mostly of adults, ironically) was having so much fun! During our Morningtown Train song (I'm blowing a train whistle in the picture), several audience members leaped up (lead by Annie, I believe), and formed a human train that wove its way around the room several times as we sang, gradually picking up new "passengers" as it moved. During appropriate pauses in the chorus, everyone yelled, "CHOO CHOO!!!" We sang the last chorus a couple of extra times just because we couldn't bear to see the train end. :-) Thanks to Godfrey for the photo.

talis & simon

Many, many thanks to Jodi for putting the UT trip report into HTML format! I'll be gradually scanning and adding photos over the next few weeks.

I was sorely tempted to go to Ad Astra last night (local sf convention) to hear Charles de Lint in concert but resisted because of work and the fact that I'd likely have to pay a full day's membership fee just for an hour concert. Sigh.

Bought some DVDs yesterday...I hadn't bought *any* since my mom-in-law gave us a DVD player for Christmas. I bought Tarzan, Titanic, and a set of the three Next Generation Star Trek movies (on sale, woohoo).

Yay! I finally finished unpacking today and found a small package of chocolate from Talis that I forgotten about!! Yum.......

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour Staying at Talis's and Simon's I stayed with Talis and Simon near the end of the trip. I'd hang out with Fox during the day, then crash at Talis's and Simon's at night. Just before going to bed, we'd have tea from Talis's library, chocolate (of course), and just talk. Sometimes Talis would be doing needlepoint while Simon twiddled with the computer. I enjoyed browsing through their wedding photos (and it was very cool to be able to point out people that I remembered meeting at the convention). I got to hear some rough mixes from the new album, and a never-to-be-released album. A couple of times, Talis and Simon would pull out instruments and start playing (did I tell you I'm absolutely nuts about the harp? I -do- so want to play harp someday...). It was a wonderfully quiet and restful period of the trip for me, much needed since at that point I had caught some kind of cold bug (which kindly waited until AFTER the convention to strike) and felt like doing nothing but sitting in one place. I mostly felt like sleeping, but didn't want to waste the last part of the trip unconscious! Typical pattern: (Debbie comes back to Talis's and Simon's place after gallivanting around Bristol with Fox) DEBBIE: I'm really sorry, but it'll have to be an early night for me. I'm really tired. TALIS: Of course, you poor thing! Would you like a cup of tea first? DEBBIE: Oh sure, thanks... (Debbie ends up going to bed two hours later after much tea, chocolate, music, and talking :-)) Looking forward to seeing them at OVFF...

dd & end of an affair

Urban Tapestry con report (with a few additions/modifications from the version that was posted on the UK filk list, mostly as a result of corrections and extra info we've received since then)
and Erica's report are now both online. The UT report will be HTMLized and enhanced with Lurid Photos when I get some more free time (warning: may be a little while...this report is looooooooooooong!).

Yay, got my UK pics back from the film shop! I showed Godfrey's concert photos to Jeff and he flipped through them, saying, "Hey, you're SINGING!" (He's never seen Urban Tapestry perform before). :-)

Thanks to Sherman Dorn for the following URLs about the health benefits of chocolate:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000218/ts/health_chocolate_1.html

http://cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/02/18/health.chocolate/index.html

Went to see "End of the Affair" with Cathy last night, then browsed through Indigo Books. Cathy and I decided to splurge and try the "V.I.P. theatre" for the first time. These have been around for a while in Toronto...you pay about five bucks extra for your movie ticket. In exchange, you get a coat check, more comfortable chairs, roomier seating, small coffee tables on which to set your refreshments, and can order your popcorn and drinks from your seat. It was fun trying it out, but I probably won't do it again...the roomy seating is nice, but I really find it worth the extra money. Plus the theatre and screen is much smaller...it's more like sitting in someone's living room than in a movie theatre, and you don't get the full "crowd response" experience.

I'm working all weekend. Amanda's loaned me tapes of the Partridge Family pilot episode as well as the Brady Bunch movie sequel, though, so I'm going to reward myself with a little 70s-VCRfest tonight.

Tea of the Day: Twinings Ginger, Orange & Honey.

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour moose truffles: Does anyone know the name of the very kind person who was passing out mouth-watering truffles at the convention? He had a stuffed toy moose. Mmmmmmmmmmm.... Chris Conway sing "Furies" Chris's concert was fantastic throughout, of course, but I especially enjoyed his version of Andrea Dale's "Furies". Great song, great version, and I just thought it was so cool that Andrea's song was being sung by someone all the way across the pond! By someone she has never met, no less! For me, this helps crystallize what filk's all about, really...the sharing of music and friendship, no matter what the geographical boundaries. I love the musical grapevine.