fleece and hammocks

LOTR update




Graeme Hammon was kind enough to give me permission to reprint the article about my LOTR project, for those interested. Thanks again to Julie Clark for sending me the text!


Back at the cottage. -1 degree Celsius according to the thermometer this morning. :-) The temperature difference between here and the city is amazing; I was in shorts and a t-shirt yesterday. Now I'm in fleece pants, a t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweater, and fleece vest.


Really nice sunrise this morning. I sat outside with a steaming mug of banana hot chocolate (an office-warming gift from my sister when we opened up the Inkspot office on Mowat...does THAT ever seem like a long time ago!) and watched the rising sun gradually burn the mist off the lake as a single loon drifted slowly past, eyeing me curiously.









Doing the final proofreading of my article today and sending it off to Writer's Digest. Each day, I get more of a hankering to get back to my own creative writing.


Yesterday morning, I decided to surprise Ruth on Mother's Day with a visit. 'Twas an impulse decision; Jeff was still sleeping and I figured I could get back before he woke up (I was right). Picked up a bouquet of flowers along the way.


Annie and Sara were still in their pajamas when I arrived. Delighted, they jumped on me and both snuggled in my lap (this is a rare thing for Sara these days...she must have been -really- glad to see me :)). Both were immensely disappointed when I had to leave after about 20 minutes; Sara wanted me to help her plant her garden. Giggling, they both wrapped themselves around my legs as I tried to get to the front hall to put on my shoes. Ruth finally had to use her "serious" voice to ask them to let me go.









Last time, I had brought a suet cake for the birds, tied to a tree with a mesh bag. By the next morning, some animal had torn it down, leaving only a fragment of mesh behind.


This time, I brought a steel frame to hold the suet, and used three nails to secure it to the tree (see picture below). Jeff says the animals are going to take it down anyway, so I've taken this project on as a challenge. Let them try now! I will report on my progress in upcoming Blatherings.


I brought up our 4-track recorder so I could try out the two part harmonies in my new Harry Potter song and see if they work. I hate how my voice sounds (especially since I have to sing out of my range when working on Jodi's part), so I always tell Allison and Jodi to destroy my scratch tapes after they've gotten what they need from them.


Unfortunately the 4-track seems to be going a bit flakey...not surprising since Jeff's had it for quite a few years. Sometimes it will record, sometimes it won't. Jeff and I are starting to research simple home recording equipment and software (Jeff's starting to play guitar again...yay!). Does anyone have any advice about hardware and/or software? Software must be Mac-compatible. I was thinking of Cubase, but am open to other suggestions.


I'm also working on a new Technonerdboy-type of song (face it...the old one is pretty outdated now :)) and a song collaboration with Andrea (hey Andrea, I'm experimenting with an alternate tuning!).









Today's Blatherpics:


- Sunrise this morning.


- With Sara and Annie yesterday morning, when I gave Ruth a surprise Mother's Day visit. Jeff was still asleep by the time I got back to the apartment. :-)


- Jeff, only minutes after arriving at the cottage.


- My suet set-up.


Today's Poll:

Are both your parents still living?

culture shock

LOTR updated

It's bit fun but a bit of a culture shock, coming back to Toronto for two days. On Thursday morning, I was watching the sunrise over a mirror-smooth lake. Only hours later, we were fighting our way through a tangle of downtown Toronto traffic amidst honking cars and dodging cyclists.


Had sushi with Bryan, Reid, Ian, Frank, and Jeff last night at Fune, then went to see "The Mummy Returns" at the Paramount. Warned by several friends, I went in with pretty low expectations so wasn't disappointed. :-)









Hey, check out my sister's new picture book above and below! It's the first book she's written AND illustrated, and it looks great. It should be on the bookshelves any day now.









This afternoon we had brunch at Milestones with David Barker, Luisa, Reid and family, then saw "A Knight's Tale" at the Paramount. I went in (like for The Mummy sequel) with fairly low expectations because of the bad/tacky trailer but found myself enjoying the movie more than I expected (and definitely more than The Mummy Returns). Had fun doing cartoon wars with Ronnie and Michael at Milestones.


Went to Chapters afterward and bought The Golden Compass (I borrowed it the first time I read it, and want my own copy) by Philip Pullman, The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket, Flash 4 Bible by Robert Reinhardt and Jon Warren Lentz (IDG Books), and some magazines to take to the cottage: Home Recording, Outside, and Acoustic Guitar. Yes, I know I have LOTR reading to do, but I like having other reading material as well. :-) I had a tough time getting through the "Council of Elrond" chapter...reminds me a lot of the Prologue in some ways. David and Jeff are LOTR fans, however, so gave me a pep talk to get me through this bit. Reid tried to convince me to give up. :-)


Looking forward to going back to the cottage tomorrow!









Today's Blatherpics:


- Having "cartoon wars" with Ronnie and Michael.



- Ruth's new picture board book, "Pants Off First", published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside.


- Inside spread of "Pants Off First".


- Our friend Frank.


Today's Poll:

If you found a spider inside your house, would you kill it? (as opposed to putting it outside, or having someone else kill it)

surprise toronto visit

So Jeff and I drove down to Toronto yesterday. I couldn't Blather about our visit because I didn't want my dad-in-law finding out. The reason for our brief Toronto visit in the middle of our cottage stay: my dad-in-law, John Ridpath, gave his very last lecture at York University this morning (he's retiring after a 34-year teaching career at York), and the family wanted to surprise him by attending the class. Case and Debbie drove in from Windsor, Ginny & Larkin & Rick came in from Orangeville, Karen and Lindsay drove in from Toronto. Jeff actually called his Dad last night from our apartment, pretending we were still at the cottage, to wish him luck on his last lecture...I insisted on leaving the room; I was worried that I'd say or do something that would give things away (like playing my harp, which JBR knows is NOT at the cottage :-)).


We arrived about 15 minutes before JBR's economics class began...and got some curious looks from other students (one year old Garrison looked a bit young for this course, I guess). I drew a "CONGRATULATIONS ON A GREAT CAREER" across the front blackboard and also a quick sketch of my dad-in-law. When I finished the sketch, the whole class applauded. :-)


A few minutes later, JBR entered the classroom (through the doorway at the top of the stairs in the picture below):









He didn't notice us right away. He handed out some papers to students as he came down the stairs, walked right past us up to the front of the room, gave a doubletake when he saw my drawing on the blackboard (he said later he recognized my drawing style right away, but it took his brain a few confused seconds to integrate the info). Then he turned and saw us in the front two rows and did another doubletake. As the realization sunk in, he got all choked up, and his students clapped as Olivia and Brittany ran up to the front (totally unprompted) and gave his knees a big hug.


It was a special moment, and well worth the drive from up north. :-) :-)


Congratulations, JBR!







Today's Blatherpics:


- My dad-in-law, giving his very last York University lecture at 9:30 a.m. this morning.



- Waiting to surprise my dad-in-law. From left to right, from the back row: cousin Karen, Jeff, me, first row: my sis-in-law Debbie, Jeff's brother Case holding Garrison, Rick holding Olivia (Olivia is Debbie's and Case's daughter), Jeff's sister Larkin holding Brittany, and mom-in-law Ginny.


- Standing ovation at the end of the class.


Poll:

Do you still have dreams about school?

copacetic

Finished writing my Harry Potter song yesterday. 'Twas fun writing it, though it started out as a serious lyric. My songs tend to do that a lot...start out as one thing, and then start twisting themselves around. :-)


Jeff and I hiked to Rainbow Lake yesterday afternoon. Very pretty; I opted to snooze in the sun while Jeff went on an exploratory bushwhacking expedition to a nearby campsite. We got back to the cottage at around 5 pm, had a sauna, and I took a shower. Jeff installed a new showerhead on the same day that he activated the water system. Here's me enjoying the outdoor shower. Outdoor showers are wonderful, but at this time of year it's somewhat of an acrobatic act, especially if it's breezy -- you tend to jump around a bit to stay in the hot spray...it's COLD in the open air! :-)









I woke up at about 5 a.m. this morning, sat on the dock to watch the sunrise. UNBELIEVEABLE how noisy it is at that time of day. Well, perhaps "noise" isn't the right term. It sounded like a zillion lovesick loons were calling to each other across all the lakes in the park. A duck obviously felt he had to join in as well, and his call was a clearly defined "QUACK". It was sort of funny, actually, how much it really sounded like the word "QUACK", as if a very good duck hunter was giving the call (though I couldn't help feeling sorry for him, because no other ducks were answering). Other voices joining the morning cacaphony included owls, nuthatches, ruffed grouse, and an assortment of songbirds. I half-expected Jeff to stumble sleepily out of our cabin, complaining about the noise.


And then at precisely 5:12 a.m., almost as if on cue, the morning choir stopped. Or at least most of them did; the songbirds remained (sounded rather smug about the fact, too). Maybe the others found something else to do. I'm curious about whether this timing remains consistent every morning. The sun finally peeked over the trees at around 6 a.m.


One thing that I love about early morning is watching the light change. The light at 5 a.m. (moonlight edged by a hint of impending sunrise) makes everything look and feel much different than an hour later. It's amazing; everyone has to try it at least once in their life. Morning people have a slight edge over night people in this case. :-)







Today's Blatherpics:


- Snoozing at Rainbow Lake. I put my windbreaker over my head to keep the sun out of my eyes and the bugs out of my face.


-Jeff spotted this garter snake on the trail.


- These wet footprints were on the steps coming up from the dock at 5 a.m. My guess is a raccoon.


Poll:

Have you ever gotten up early specifically to watch the sunrise?

to the moon and back

LOTR updated

A wonderfully gloomy and drizzly day yesterday. Wonderful because the weather provided incentive for me to stay inside and work on my article...which is pretty much finished, yay!! Just need to proofread it before sending it off. Jeff and I both spent yesterday indoors, working and reading and eating and playing music. It was an "apart but together" sort of day, where both of us spent most of the day in the same room together but were absorbed in our own activities.


After I finished working on my article, I took out my guitar and did some practising. I've been going through "Chords & Progressions for Jazz and Popular Guitar" by Arnie Berle (Amsco Publications, 1986). I'm still working on barre chords, and have been going over and over a few exercises in the book involving several widely used chord progressions, going through all the major keys. The point of the exercise is to develop some facility in playing the chords all over the fingerboard and avoiding making jumps from chord to chord.


At first it was absolutely agonizing...it took me eons to figure out which of the two barre forms of each chord should be used (or if the regular open chord was more appropriate), and where they were. And it's -still- somewhat agonizing, but not as much. It only takes me days to figure out the barre chords now instead of eons. :-)


Pretty liberating feeling, though, not being restricted to the first three frets. For you non-guitar people, an analogy would be having a top-of-the-line computer and a DSL connection, but using it only for word processing. Fine for some, but others may want to check out the Internet. :-)















Hey, apparently there's a new version of Into My Mother's Arms (author Sharon Jennings, my sister was the illustrator) on bookshelves as part of a Mother's Day promotion. The book has been packaged with a Mother's Day card inside, and the card has one of Ruth's illustrations from the story (a mother brushing her daughter's hair). I WANT A COPY!!!


And finally, here's a recent Sara/Annie conversation overheard by my sister:



Sara and Annie are playing in Annie's room. Annie is listening to her music doll chime "You Are My Sunshine". It is making her sad, so Sara sings it to her in a cheery way.



Sara: "Is that better, Annie?"


Annie: "Sara, I love you to the moon....and back."


Sara: "I love you too, Annie."


Annie: "To the moon and back?"


Sara: "Forever, Annie."



Today's Blatherpics:

In the boathouse, doing some songwriting.

Emma Powell.

Jeff driving the boat.


Poll:

On average, do you spend more than 40 hours a week online?