toronto romance! :-)

Last night at Jodi's party, Sheryl Gere and Gary Ehrlich
announced that they are engaged. Gary proposed to Sheryl at the top of
the CN tower on Monday. Congratulations, Sheryl and Gary!


(updated 12:15 pm EST)

Torcon starts today! Had a wonderful time at Jodi's place in Newmarket last night. Thanks for hosting a great party, Jodi! If you'd like to post congratulations to Sheryl and Gary on their engagement, please post in my Livejournal page (you can post as an anonymous guest if you're not an LJ member, but be sure to sign your name if you want them to know who you are)...I'll print out the messages and bring them to Sheryl and Gary at Torcon.

Don't be thrown by the user picture of the attractive young blonde who is definitely NOT me...Livejournal is having problems, and somehow my userpics got temporily switched. Pretty bizarre, makes me curious about who has MY userpics. :-)

I'll be at a family birthday celebration at my sister's place later today (Happy Birthday, Dad! :-)), so likely won't be spending much time at Torcon until tomorrow, tho I might check out the Spider Robinson concert this evening after we get back. Jodi and Allison arrive here tonight; they'll be crashing at my place throughout the long weekend. I did drop by the Metro Convention Centre this morning (a 3 minute walk away, how cool is that??) and picked up my membership package, came back to my place to do more work. I think I passed Connie Willis on the street on the way back.

The program book apparently has a lot of errors, so they're going to be printing a daily corrections/update sheet every day. Pre-reg line-ups were pretty short at 10:30 a.m.

I am -so- hyped, can't wait. :-)



Playing "Apples to Apples" at Jodi's place.

August/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

screaming at the cne

Lissa and I ride The Wildcat at the CNE
(click on image to see a larger version)


Allison, Sheilagh (Allison's sister), Phil, Lissa and I visited the CNE yesterday. It was Toonie Tuesday: only $2 for the entry fee! Surprisingly (and sadly, for the CNE), it wasn't that crowded. It's been years since I have attended the Canadian National Exhibition, and even longer since I've been on a roller coaster. Have to say that I'm glad I let Phil and Lissa convince me to try one again...I had a great amount of fun (though my throat was raw for a while after from all the screaming :-)).

Here is Allison's Livejournal entry about our CNE visit. Here's Lissa's.

I just received my Torcon progress report. Isn't it a bit late to be mailing out something like this? Members who have left for Torcon early won't be seeing it (Allison still hadn't received her copy as of yesterday, Paul & Lissa & Phil hadn't seen it yet). The back cover advertises a convention that already has already taken place.

Only a few days until we see our new CD! Bill & Gretchen Roper are bringing them to the convention.

Going for a hike today, then to Jodi's place in Newmarket for a pre-Torcon party tonight.

Speaking of new CDs, Andrea Dale's new CD, Zen Cappuccino, will also be released at Torcon. See her Livejournal entry announcement.

Torcon starts tomorrow!



Allison, Lissa & Phil line up
for the ferris wheel.




On the ferris wheel.




Lissa, Phil and Sheilagh about to face G-Force.




Lissa gets a henna tattoo in the Arts & Crafts building.
I got one, too!




Munching on beaver tails in the Food Building.



On the way out of the CNE, Allison and Sheilagh decided
to try their hand at a pinball game. Allison's holding a prize
she won.



Paul (who arrived today, yay!) and Allison.

August/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

lissatime

Lissa, Phil, Sheilagh (Allison's sister), and Allison
having dinner at the Pickle Barrel at the
Atrium on Bay last night.


Congratulations to Tim and Annie Walker on the birth of their daughter!
Eleanor Margaret Walker was born 7:10pm (UK time?) 25th August, weighing 7lbs 1/2oz.

After lunch with Lissa and Phil yesterday, Phil took off to do some shopping while Lissa and I went back to their hotel. We had intended to have a swim as well as visit Greg's Ice Cream, but ended up chatting and munching Leonid chocolates in her hotel room for the rest of the afternoon instead. :-)

It was an absolutely marvelous way to spend a day; it's been a long while since Lissa and I have had a chance to spend any real time together. As fun as conventions are, they aren't the best place for having one on one chats. Having Lissa all to myself for an entire afternoon was a real treat.

And Paul arrives today, woohoo! (ok, so he was supposed to arrive yesterday, but that's a story you should ask him yourself when you see him at Torcon...)

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torcon visitors

Phil and Lissa, at breakfast yesterday morning.


Phil and Lissa (two members of the UK filk/rock group Phoenix) are in town; we're going to be hanging out all day today. Sadly, Lissa and I can't carry out our plan of eating chocolate truffles in the hot tub since the hotel has shut down the tub, perhaps as a result of the recent power outage and energy conservation measures. :-(

However, we're going to Greg's Ice Cream (200 Bloor W.), Toronto's best ice cream parlour, so that should help help satisfy our desire for decadence today. The 22 year-old shop makes all its own ice cream in a kitchen at the back of the store. Flavours vary each day, from Candied Ginger to Grape Nut to Guinness Stout to Roasted Marshmallow.

I continue to work on learning German for our trip to Vienna. I'm currently boggled by noun declensions. But overjoyed to discover a great source of German language learning materials right in my neighborhood... turns out that the boring-looking building around the corner that I've been ignoring four years now is the Goethe Institut, a nonprofit organization wanting to promote the German language and culture with (get this) a FREE LENDING LIBRARY of books, CDs, and audiovisual materials, open to the public. I'm going to register for a borrower's card next week.

August/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

wedding anniversary

Jeff and me, just after getting married.
(click image for larger version)


Jeff and I have been married twelve years, friends for twenty.

Jeff Kesner took this photo of Jeff and me being showered with flower petals at our wedding. I like this photo better than any of the professional photos (thanks, JeffK!).

August/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ