toronto island, dragon boats, and firefly

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I'm hanging out with my Dad and Mabuta today; my father has asked if we can go see the new Zatoichi movie. My friend Ray had introduced Jeff and me to one of the Zatoichi flicks, which we both loved.

I spent most of yesterday on the Toronto Island; I've always wanted to explore Ward's Island and Hanlan's Point. So I packed some water, a sandwich, my iPod and a book, set off for the ferry to Ward's Island.





Centre Island is an amusement park area and way crowded, so I spent most of my time at Ward's Island and Hanlan's Point. Strolled along the boardwalk along the south side of the island, which was remarkably empty:





GORGEOUS weather: not too hot, not too cold, and it was breezy along the water's edge. I wandered around the island, stopping when I felt like it.

Discovered that it was the weekend of the Dragon Boat Race Festival! Here's one of the Dragon Boat teams warming up at Centre Island:



One of the Dragon Boat teams warming up.


Sat on the bank, read my book, had my lunch and watched a few races:





A rather odd sign on the door of the women's restroom/changeroom area:





When I got tired of the crowds, I set off for quieter areas of the island again.

The photo below is of a flower I saw on the boardwalk along the south side of the island. To you gardeners out there: is this some kind of rose?





When I got tired later in the afternoon, I took a short semi-snooze in a grassy picnic area, with my knapsack as a pillow and my hat on my face, dozing a bit from the warmth of the sun, listening to the wind in the trees.

Wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of falling fully asleep by myself in a public area, so I eventually got up (still much refreshed) and continued on my walk.

Saw this cool picture tied to a tree with string:





Followed this path:






To this beach:






Just kidding. I went to another beach, honest.

Anyway, there are few sensations as wonderful as shedding shoes after a long walk then sticking your sore feet into hot sand and wiggling your toes around. (*happy sigh*)

Sat for a while, watching the boats in the distance, waves lapping up on the beach as the sun gradually sunk lower on the horizon. Very few people about...I guess they were all at the Dragon Boat Races.

And here's the view from the ferry back home:






Was dead tired (in a good way) when I got home, and incredibly relaxed. In the evening, I watched the pilot of episode of Firefly. HOLY COW, is this a good show. Wow. If the other episodes are as good as the first one, I'm floored that they would cancel the series so early. Thanks again to Parki for lending me the DVDs.

Anyway, 'twas a wonderful day. I'd like to go back and explore Hanlan's Point more thoroughly, perhaps this time with a friend. :-)

For those interested, here's more info about Toronto Island Park.

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whistles!

The very cool whistle holder that my friend Teddy
made for me. I store my rosewood flute in it as well as my recorder.


I've been really enjoying getting back into penny whistle playing again, and try to play a bit every day; I've been learning tunes from "120 Favorite Irish Session Tunes", published by Homespun Tapes, and I just bought "Deluxe Tinwhistle Songbook" for $10 on eBay. One of the wonderful things about penny whistles is that you can get them cheap (about $10-12). They're also extremely portable, so I've followed Chris Conway's lead and now carry one around in my bag most places.

I've already given away two: one to a student from Japan living with my father, and one to a niece...both were enjoying some tunes I was playing; we started talking about penny whistles, and that led to an impromptu lesson and the gift of the penny whistles. I remember getting a whistle in a similar fashion from Kylea Fulton, a Winnipeg filker who sometimes plays with Dandelion Wine and who also performed on our "Myths and Urban Legends" CD.



What the whistle holder looks like rolled up.


I've also started exploring online resources. There are some VERY cool penny whistle resources available, many with soundclips and sheet music. Here are just a few:

The Whistle Workshop

Whistletutor.com

Chiff & Fipple

Anyone know of others?

I've started lusting after a low whistle, but I've heard they're physically hard to play (holes wide apart, for instance). For those of you unfamiliar with low whistles, here's a description from the Chiff & Fipple site: "Low whistles are twice as long and play an octave lower. They're the big Freudian models. This is the kind of whistle seen by a zillion people in Riverdance. They're good to own because, in a pinch, you can use one to defend yourself in a pub."

The first two photos in today's Blathering are of the wonderful whistle holder that Teddy made for me. I already have more whistles than whistle slots, so I bundle them up in the middle whenever I travel with them. THANK YOU, TEDDY!!!



Teddy at FilKONtario in 2001


Going to a housefilk at Sally Headford's in Richmond Hill tonight, held in honour of Chris Malme, a filker from the UK who's in town. You can hear samples of Chris's music here. My favourite songs of his include "The Boy In The Room" (inspired by "Ender's Game") and "Elektra's Song" (inspired by the Elektra Saga by Frank Miller with Klaus Johnson).

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the myth of writer's block

My friend Ray.


Arms a bit sore today so haven't got much left for a Blathering. DID reach my daily writing quota, though, so that's a good thing. Total thus far: 9380 words.

Instead, read this wonderful page about writing by Philip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials trilogy), which I found through Liam O'Donnell's blog.

LOVE what Pullman says about "writer's block":

"I don't believe in it. All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don't get plumber's block, and doctors don't get doctor's block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it?"

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urinetown, diarist.net awards

Allison and John yesterday afternoon.



Urinetown was one of the most entertaining musicals I've ever seen, and was nothing like I expected. I hadn't realized how much satire was involved, and how self-referential the writing would be; the opening number, for example, is called "Too Much Exposition", and admits that the name "Urinetown" is a terrible name for a show.

It pokes fun at Broadway musicals in general; the more experience you've had with musical theatre, the more you'll appreciate this show. It was fun trying to identify musical quotes and styles; I'm sure I missed quite a few. I definitely recognized Les Miserables in the first act finale (which is literally called "Act One Finale") and West Side Story in another number, for example.

Though Allison might disagree, I have to say that the show will likely not be as appealing to someone who hasn't seen many musicals; I would suspect those people who tend to see Urinetown as a rather silly and over-the-top production without being aware of the underlying irony. It might also be a disappointment to those who are looking more for "heart" than clever writing, though I'm usually one of those types and enjoyed Urinetown tremendously.



For those who aren't aware of it, the Diarist.net awards are a quarterly special series of awards given by web diarists to web diarists, "highlighting the best and brightest the genre has to offer." Anyone with an online journal can nominate sites, a jury picks finalists, and open voting determines the winners. In order to nominate and vote, you have to have a web journal, diary, or personal weblog. I've volunteered to serve on the Diarist Finalist Selection panel in the past because I was curious about the process, and was impressed by the amount of work and effort that goes into the selection process.

The current round of voting is now in progress. For those interested, here are the current site award nominations, and here are the current nominations of individual entries.

If you have an online journal of any kind, please consider casting a vote. Like the Pegasus Awards in filking, the more people that participate, the more representative the awards will be.



Came across this harpist on my run yesterday morning.


Interesting links:

Ultimate folding technique: I watched this a few times but I'm still not sure how she does it. This refers to shirt-folding, not origami, by the way. Thanks to my friend Ray for the link!

Some AMAZING examples of origami from Hojyo Takashi. Be sure to check out the "My Works" section. Thanks to Jeff for the link!

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more libraries

Driven by library lust, I went to the University of Toronto yesterday and got an Alumni card for $20. This gives me access to browsing access to 34 cool specialty libraries, including the Faculty of Music Library, Criminology Information Service & Library, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, Astronomy & Astrophysics Library, Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies Library, and the Robarts Library stacks. I was shocked to realize that I still have my student number memorized (and I haven't used it for nearly 20 years). Got my photo taken, waited a few minutes for my card to get printed and laminated. Spankin' new alumni card in hand, I checked out Robarts to see how much has changed since I was there. The stacks are basically the same, but the basement has definitely changed since the days when we used to fill up Michelle Sagara's boots with pennies while she slept in one of the study carrels; the room is filled with computer terminals now. Worked on novel writing while I was there, on my laptop. Felt very strange to be in that environment again. I was also forced to admit that I need to buy a new laptop battery or resign myself to only working near active power outlets...my laptop battery lasts less than an hour now. :-( Only six weeks until Confluence! Urban Tapestry has a concert on Friday night at 10 pm. We'll also be participating in a children's concert during the weekend, and in Chris Conway's concert. Jodi and I (possibly Allison as well, we're keeping our fingers crossed) will be attending OVFF Oct.29-31, where our pals Rand Bellavia, Adam English and Scott Snyder are guests (Ookla the Mok: Guest of Honor, Scott: Toastmaster). Heather Dale is Interfilk guest; if you haven't heard this talented Toronto singer-songwriter yet and are going to be at OVFF, you're in for a real treat. Jodi and I will also be attending GAfilk in Atlanta next January. Allison and I are seeing Urinetown this afternoon! Looking forward to it despite the odd name. :-) Horses at my mom-in-law's place in the country. Photo taken last weekend June 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments Debbie Ohi | Post a Comment | Share Article | Permalink tagged Uncategorized Page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 21 Next 5 Entries » Copyright©2021 Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Base URL: DebbieOhi.com. Contact