sara's kiss

Okay, I lied when I said that my next Blathering would be from my new place. I'm in Toronto right now, flying back to Philadelphia tonight. The past week has been a mixed bag. It's been exciting, but there have been wrinkles. Some of the wrinkles have been bigger than others. A kind person from the new company had picked up my furniture from IKEA for my new apartment, but then his car was stolen (with all the furniture in it). Things are a bit crazy at work right now because the company is growing so quickly. I have no Internet access at home yet, which is driving me nuts (hopefully remedied this week). The Inkspot site was hacked, but luckily an alert Inkspot employee noticed it before too much damage was done. There's a problem with my cable access, so I have no tv (though that's probably a good thing :-)). The final edits for my book are due tomorrow. And then my flight home to Toronto was cancelled because of weather; I ended up having to taking a Saturday p.m. flight home (the morning flight had already been sold out by the time I found out about the cancelled flight), giving me about 24 hours before I have to turn around and go back again. :-(

On the other hand, I got a bit of time at Toronto Trek...many thanks to Scott Murray for picking me up at the airport! He even came to the convention for a short while, and met Allison, Jodi, Lissa, Phil, and Ruth Sanderson. 'Twas great seeing them all again, and very tough saying good-bye. The open filk on Saturday night was lots of fun...highlights for me included hearing Lyanne Quirt do "Rippy The Gator" and another song (what was the name of that song, Lyanne?) and hearing Ruth do "The Rattling' Bog".

Leaving in a few minutes to spend a few hours at my sister's this afternoon, then flying back early this evening. I'm hoping this week is a bit calmer; I will likely be spending most of my evenings putting my IKEA furniture together.

Update 10:12 pm

Sigh...my flight back to Philadelphia was cancelled because of weather, too. I'm going back tomorrow instead of tonight. This is crazy...the airlines seem to hate me!!

I spent a couple of hours earlier on Sunday afternoon at my sister's place, spending most of my time with Sara and Annie. *My Annie highlight*: Annie and I lying on her bed after playing hide-and-seek. Annie is in need of a nap but doesn't WANT to nap. We lie on our sides, facing each other, not saying anything as Annie tries desperately not to fall asleep. Then suddenly she reaches out and pats my face, very gently, a half-smile on her face. I am melting all over inside. *My Sara highlight*: Saying good-bye on a playground near the house. Sara knows I've just moved. She asks me for a kleenex; I give one to her and am surprised when she lifts it to her face and kisses the middle of it. Then she folds it up carefully and hands to me. "This is for you to take with you to Philadelphia," she says to me seriously, then runs back to the playground where her father is waiting.

I have put that piece of kleenex in a small ziploc bag and will keep it safe with me until I move back home.

major life change announcement

Some of you may already be aware that things have been extraordinarily hectic in my life. Because of complicated reasons, I haven't been able to talk about them in my Blatherings up to now. Basically, the news is:

I've sold Inkspot.

I'm moving to the U.S.

I'll be an employee instead of owning my own business; it will be a bit weird at first, I think. :-) Inkspot will become part of the other company's site, but will remain a separate section. You can find more details on the main page of Inkspot right now.

Anyway, I'm in the midst of packing and will be moving this weekend. Sadly, I'll miss seeing Lissa and Phil, who arrive this weekend to visit with Allison, but at least I'll be seeing them at Toronto Trek.

Just finished packing up the office. Amanda gave me homemade chocolate chip cookies to take with me on the trip to Philadelphia. :-)

Packing up my personal gear now...next time I Blather, it will be from my new apartment.

Allison, Jodi and I are going to continue to collaborate via email and snailmail until I move back to Toronto next year; it'll be like the old days, when I lived in Orangeville.

Wish me luck!

p.s. Hey, the bookstore a few blocks away is going to be open until midnight tonight for the big launch of the newest Harry Potter book, which is being offered for 30% off. I'm rereading the third Harry Potter book now; I'm amazed at the number of adults who have come up to me in the past week while I've been revisiting the series to say how much they've enjoyed the books, or asking me if my book is the newest Harry Potter title.

p.p.s. Yes, of course I'm going to take my harp with me. :-)

canada day report

Saturday was fun. :-) Allison, John, Jodi, James, Paul, Rand and Tanya came to visit for lunch. I showed them my harp, fed them sandwiches, we hung around and talked. Jeff had other plans that evening, so we said good-bye before taking off for Center Island and Canada Day Festivities.

The island was pretty crowded, but we eventually made our way to the quieter side and settled on a long strip of beach as evening approached. We gathered firewood, started a bonfire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Orange smudges appeared all along the beach in the darkness as others started bonfires as well; from time to time some would come to admire our fire (which was the Best, of course) and ask to borrow John's lighter or part of our fire to start their own. We used a cellphone to call Beckett, who had been unable to accompany Paul on this trip...we missed her!

Later that night, Allison pulled handfuls of sparklers out of her knapsack and passed them out. We waved them around, jumping like children as we danced around the fire, grinning at each other through sparks and smoke. Afterwards we settled down around our bonfire, huddled together for warmth, to watch the skies explode with the Benson & Hedge's Symphony of Fire (Australia was hosting that night's display).

I will never forget the images of that particular evening: bonfires scattered in the night, fireworks pinwheeling across the sky, firelight flickering across the faces of my friends.

happy canada day!

Happy Canada Day!

Saw Paul Kwinn on Thursday night...he's in town visiting Allison. I met Paul, Allison, Allison's husband John, & Jodi at the Pickle Barrel (where else?) and then hung out at Allison's place before. I had been up working since 3 a.m., so was pretty braindead, but Paul didn't mock me too much.

Today, the same crew above plus Rand, Rand's wife Tanya, Jodi's hubby James, and Jeff are all meeting here for lunch, and then we're off to the island for Canada Day festivities.

Today's blatherphoto was taken just now by our new digital Canon Elph camera, which is very cool. My only camera seems to have died, sadly. I'm going to take the new camera along today, and will try post a picture or two later tonight or tomorrow.

I had my first harp lesson last week! Sharlene Wallace is amazing. And of course, my technique wasn't quite on...I had figured as much. I had been holding the harp and my hands incorrectly; no wonder I was having so much trouble with some of the chord reaches (yeah right...NOW I'm going to be a stunning harp virtuoso :)). I bought her two CDs, which are really, really good. You can find out more about her at http://www.sharlenewallace.com.

GUEST BLATHERER: ALLISON DURNO:

Hi everyone! We're just about to head off to Centre Island to wander around, build a fire on the beach and watch fireworks. We've been having fun here. Debbie and I played "Heart and Soul" as a duet on her harp! How cool is that? Rand brought me a book to read called "The Big Book of the 70's" :). Whoo, he knows me to well. It'll keep me going 'til Harry Potter comes out next week :). Played EverQuest with John, Jodi and Paul last night- got to be a female rogue named Rianne. I've been having fun with the games instruction Paul has been giving me since he got here. Tomorrow there's going to be a filk at my place! Everyone in commuting distance come to my filk!

GUEST BLATHERER: PAUL KWINN:

Yahoo, I'm in a strange land called Canada. Contrary to rumors, there is no snow here. It's rather warm here today, in fact. Everquest: yes, I felt guilty because Jodi was hoping to get to converse with characters in the game, and then as soon as she tried to talk to somebody, she accidentally atttacked him, and he killed her. Jodi didn't care for the game much after that. On the flight here, I wrote a new song (from an idea John Durno, Allison's husband) named "Let's Get the Monkeys to Do It". Rand said he won't include it on the new Ookla album, though (in spite of the fact that it's all about monkeys). I've been enjoying myself a lot, unless you're my wife Beckett, in which case I've spent all of my time pining for you. (Hi Beck!)

GUEST BLATHERER: TANYA BELLAVIA:

This feels like my virgin blathering experience. And you know, maybe its slightly overrated. Still, if you get the chance, you should try this. Like all things, I'm sure that this gets better with practice. Just not quite living up to the fantasy. Anyways, I have no idea what the rest of today holds for me. something about Australian fireworks. So, I'll find out the answer to that deep mystery, a quest for knowledge that haunts all of us . . . just what do the Australians know about fireworks? Supposedly there s a musical score to accompany this grand spectacle. Well, the gang is now leaving.

doll party

Dinner at my sister's place last night. Annie and Sara have decided to hold a surprise birthday party for Dolly-Kajolly, Sara's battered doll given to her when she was just a baby. As I mentioned before, Dolly's skin is now a dark grey, her hair is knotted with grime, and one of her eyes has gone crooked (horror movie style). We all sense that she's on the verge of losing a limb (or her head), and Dolly has now been semi-retired to prevent that dreadful occurrence; we all deserve to die with dignity, even dolls. Sara now has a new doll, but often goes to look at Dolly, who is spends her days lying in comfort, no longer an active participant in Sara's day-to-day play activities...does this remind you of Toy Story 2 or what? (Cue Sara McLachlan...)

Anyway, in celebration of the occasion, Ruth let Sara and Annie choose a chocolate cake for dessert. Sara and Annie prepared elaborate loot bags for everyone. Mine included a self-portrait by Sara (I'll post this soon), a puzzle by Annie, a handmade placemat. During the festivities, Annie and Sara started tickling me and I toppled over onto a beanbag chair. Annie suddenly burst into a wail, and I was horrified to realize that I had fallen over onto Dolly-Kajolly, the guest of honour!!!! After quick inspection, however, we were all relieved to see that Dolly was still intact.

After dinner, we had a watergun fight out in the backyard. I had no extra change of clothes with me, and the girls managed to spray me in all kinds of awkward places -- I'm sure I got a lot of strange looks when I got on the subway for the ride home -- but I didn't care. :-)

Helen stayed over last night and watched a DVD...extra "making of" featurettes on the City of Angels DVD.