joy and chocolate and Edna

Created for Illustration Friday. This week's topic: "Fragile."

I have to say that I've been thoroughly enjoying my participation in Illustration Friday, a weekly collaborative challenge for illustrators. I've been experimenting more with Corel Painter 8 and my Wacom Artpad over recent years, trying out different virtual media and techniques. I have no formal training, and I would never call myself a professional artist. Occasionally someone will pay me for something I draw, and that always surprises me.

For me, these doodle sessions are the adult equivalent of fingerpainting: therapeutic and pure fun. I tend to approach my doodle sessions the way I often approach songwriting; most times, I sit down and start doodling without a clear idea of how the piece is going to turn out in the end. I'm sure a psychotherapist would have a field day analyzing these glimpses into Dark Debbie but for me, I just enjoy the ride. You can see more of my doodles here.

Speaking of joy, on a recent visit to the St. Lawrence Market I found myself (after wandering through what seemed like a maze of twisty little passages, all alike) in a claustrophobia-inspiring aisle of a small shop I had never seen before and made the ecstatic discovery that they carried Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate (!!!).

(Insert an image of Debbie doing the Snoopy dance here.)



In my near-orgasmic delirium of discovery, I neglected to draw a map of how I got to this mysterious little shop. I can only hope I'm able to find it again.

Without being eaten by a Grue first, that is.

I bought the Incredibles DVD yesterday. Jeff said I shouldn't be buying anything for myself just before my birthday, but HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO WAIT?!? Besides, I made several not-so-subtle probings of family members to find out if I was going to be getting the DVD for my birthday and was told each time, "No, I'm not getting it for you; I figured someone else would for sure."

Speaking of which, must stop typing now. Edna is calling.

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sick survey

I've been sick the past few days. I was actually sick with a fever the day we did some recording at Allison's earlier this week, but I knew we only had the one day opportunity so loaded up on cold medication to get through the session. Today's the first day I've felt half-human.

A survey: What kind of sick person are you? Do you like being pampered? Left alone? Do you tend to ignore your symptoms and keep working until you're REALLY sick? Or are you good about taking care of yourself?

Learned a few new tunes: Maggie in the Woods, Rakes of Mallow, Harvest Home. Here's a list of tunes I've learned so far. Discovered that the Tranzac version of Miss McLeod's Reel is different from the one I learned from my 121 Session Tunes book, so have to relearn that one. Also received an update from the Tranzac mailing list letting us know that we'll be learning The Butcher's March and Sixpenny Money at the next session, along with the sheet music for those songs.

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meltykisses

Had a wonderful time hanging out with Allison yesterday (though we both missed Rand and Erin). I gave her a tour of the condo and then we had lunch, raspberries with a bit of vanilla sugar sprinkled on top for dessert. And MELTYKISSES! Many thanks to Joey Shoji for the early birthday gift. The package included several flavours I had never tried before. Yummmmm.

We did some music together, worked on a new song I've written, then went through some Irish session music with her on guitar, me on whistle...I enjoyed this tremendously, hope we get to do some at FKO. The rest of the afternoon was just as relaxed: saw Bride and Prejudice at the Paramount, dinner at Queen Mother's Cafe (I introduced Allison to the delights of ping gai) and then some book browsing in Chapters before we both headed home. 'Twas a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. You can see some photos Allison took in her Flickr photo page.



Today, Jeff and I visited Nicholas Hoare's (my favourite bookstore in Toronto right now, right around the corner) and then walked over to the Distillery District to have a cup of the world's best hot chocolate. Soma's Mayan Hot Chocolate is truly to die for; ingredients include chili peppers, ginger, orange peel, Madagascar vanilla and a bunch of interesting spices. Drool.

I'm finding that all the listening to my iPod session recordings is making it much easier to learn new tunes. This past week I memorized Paidin O'Raifearta's (jig), The Maid in the Meadow (jig) and Green Fields of America (reel). Thrush in the Straw, Maid In the Meadow, and Green Fields of America are often played as a set at the Tranzac. My next goal is to memorize Lord Inchiquin and The Red-Haired Lass, the two tunes we learned at the last session.



So in theory, I know 20 tunes by heart so far:

Apples In Winter
Austin Barrett's (Dusty Windowsills)
Ballydesmond #1 (polka)
Ballydesmond #2 (polka)
Boyne Hunt (reel)
Cooley's Reel (reel)
Donegal Reel (reel)
Drowsy Maggie (reel)
Dunmore Lassies (reel)
Dusty Miller #2
Egan's Polka (polka)
Galway Rambler (reel)
Green Fields of America (reel)
Green Groves of Erin (reel)
Maid in the Meadow (jig)
Ms McLeod's Reel (reel)
Paidin O'Raifearta's (jig)
Sligo Maid (reel)
Swallowtail (reel)
Thrush in the Straw (jig)

I'm keeping a penny whistle by my desk and tend to pick it up at random times throughout the day and practice a tune or two.

Hope you're all having a good weekend.

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Mate Chino, thyme and gaming

Mate Chino, my current favourite tea.

With the market only a few minutes' walk away, I've started cooking with fresh ingredients much more often. Since we moved into my mom-in-law's place about two months ago, I haven't used the freezer once, and I've preferred cooking from scratch than using processed foods.

Even though I tend to focus on low-prep recipes, it does take somewhat more time than, say, sticking a frozen dinner in the microwave. But for me, the act of cooking food from fresh ingredients has become much more of a sensual experience I value on its own as much as (or sometimes even more than) the final result.



Take cooking scrambled eggs, for example. This morning I added chopped up fresh thyme, dill, and parsley as well as some white cheddar from the market. I love fresh herbs: the fragrance of the leaves drifting up from the cutting board, their different textures, how they can change an ordinary dish into something extraordinary.

I'm determined to try growing herbs in the garden or in our solarium when we move into our new house (you know I had to mention our new house somewhere in this post, right?).



So last night I went gaming with Jeff. I haven't played any roleplaying games since my university days, and was curious to see what the experience would be like now. Jeff's group usually plays board games, but will occasionally do short roleplaying campaigns.

And y'know, it was fun. :-) Not just because of the roleplaying aspect (hey, my character plays the lute! And sings!) but also because of the group dynamics. The guys are used to me occasionally showing up with Jeff, but spending the evening on the couch with my laptop and Wacom Artpad, doodling and surfing until I inevitably crash until it's time to go home.

Only a few knew that I was going to participate, so last night it came as a surprise to most when my character was introduced and Hrach (the DM) turned to me and asked what I wanted to do next.

Today, Rand and Erin were supposed to come visit. Unfortunately Rand isn't feeling well, so they had to opt out. Allison and I are going to hang out anyway; I made some soup yesterday (from scratch!) and we're going to make sandwiches with bread I picked up from the market this morning, then just hang out and probably see a movie in the afternoon. Really looking forward to it...it's SO nice to not have to reserve weekends for househunting anymore.

Hanging out with a good friend is much more fun. :-)

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Urban Tapestry DVD

Went up to Richmond Hill last night to work on the Urban Tapestry DVD with the help of Allison's videographer husband, John. The DVD won't be for sale, but will be donated to upcoming Interfilk auctions.

I also practised playing tunes from memory for Allison and Jodi, to help me overcome my session performance jitters. Here's a photo that Allison took. You can see other photos that Allison took last night by browsing her Flickr photostream.



What the Urban Tapestry DVD will include:

-- Video footage from some of our concerts and performances over the years, including the very first time that Allison, Jodi and I performed together (BEFORE we became Urban Tapestry!).

-- Our Jelly Belly video. Very silly and likely not to see the light of day except at Interfilk auctions, believe me. Includes an cringe-embarrassing scene of me parading around in a bathrobe with mud on my face. And worse.

-- New footage of us practising songs in Allison's living room, including stuff not on any of our albums.



Last night, we went through old video footage that Allison had found. WHOA, some of it is pretty old. I still have my seventies-style pop bottle glasses and short hair in some of the clips.

Interesting also to see the gradual change in our performance style. We were SOOOO nervous in the beginning, and did an early concert sitting on chairs. We still get pre-show jitters (we've found the adrenalin helps our performance, so figure this is a good thing) but stand for our concerts now because it enables us to move around more, gives us more energy to work from.



Also very cool to see various other filkers in our concerts. Mary Ellen Wessels and Dave Clement providing vocals and instrumental backup on an early performance of "Urban Lullaby", for example. Graham Leathers doing his Guy thing on "Cuz He's A Guy." And Paul Kwinn's memorable performance as our Technonerdboy, complete with taped-up glasses and nerd dance.



Watching all the footage got me all nostalgic; I can't wait to get a copy for myself. :-) On Monday, Allison's husband John will be making some videos of us practising some songs in their living room, and also recording some audio intros to each clip that will be included on the DVD.

Blatherphotos today are all stills taken from the Urban Tapestry video footage archive. Click on any image to see a bigger version.

Only three weeks until FilKONtario, woohoo!

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