Beckett and Dandelion Wine

Back from Winnipeg and a visit I'll always remember as Beckett's Snow Sanity Weekend. I've posted some pics from the weekend below. You can see the full set in my Flickr Winnipeg photo set.



Photo above: Athena is the Bhigg House cat, and immediately gravitated to Beckett during the weekend. She gave me a couple of attempts, but I'm allergic to cats and had to ignore her.



Me in the kitchen, pretending to help with dinner prep. In reality, I only cut up some garlic...Beckett and Dave did the bulk of work, making Dave's famous homemade chili recipe.



I love this picture of Beckett, wrapped in Dave's parka, a long way from the balmy climate of California. :-)



That's Tom in the rear view mirror. Note the temperature: 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 degrees Celsius)! Definitely colder than Toronto.



David Rivers (who also lives at the Bhigg House), Tom, and Beckett. We had Saturday lunch in a revolving restaurant at the top of some tall building in Winnipeg. Sorry, can't recall the name. Great to finally meet David R. in person! I had chatted with him several times before when calling the Bhigg House for Dave.



Al Thomson (another Bhigg House tenant) and I go through some Irish tunes in one of my Sullivan tunebooks. Al performs in Curraugh with Dave and Tom, and also with Marty's Party.



I really enjoyed meeting Al's girlfriend, Nancy, also a talented singer and musician. Al and Nancy might be coming to FilKONtario next year! Al's playing his Northumbrian pipes in this photo.



Al and Nancy.



Dave and Beckett, jamming on Tom's accordions. We hung out at Tom's place on Saturday night, watching a Kate Rusby DVD. Beckett and I also had fun snooping through Tom's stuff. :-)



The drawing above was made by one of Tom's 4-year-old fans during one of Dandelion Wine's performances.



Poster from when Dandelion Wine opened for Great Big Sea in Winnipeg. Tom also had another poster from when they opened for the Irish Descendants! Very cool.



Tom, wearing a leather jacket he bought at a garage sale, trying to look tough. Sorry, Tom...you're too much of a sweetie to look mean. ;-)



Above photo: back of the jacket. Tom asked me to post this for our American filker friends out there.



Above photo: Hanging out at the Bhigg House on Sunday morning.



Dandelion Wine on Sunday morning.



Me, on flute, while Dave and Tom went through songs for Beckett.



Tom let me borrow this Manitoba Hydro coat during the weekend, then let me keep it (!). It's SO cozy warm and very light. Thanks, Tom!



Kylea Fulton, whom I haven't seen in quite a few years, dropped by on Sunday afternoon. Kylea gave me my VERY FIRST PENNY WHISTLE, by the way: a Generation D whistle which I still play. I should probably also mention that for those who own Urban Tapestry's Myths and Legends CD, Kylea played the whistle on The Lady. Dave and Tom were the male voices on Sex and Chocolate, and also did instrumentals on The Lady.

Anyway, Kylea gave me a CD called Sorority Girls Sumber Party MASSACRE: The Musical. Wow, what a great title! Can't wait to listen to this.

Many, many thanks to Paul, Jeff, Dave and Tom for making this special weekend possible on such short notice. But most of all, thanks to Beckett for inspiring it in the first place.

:-)

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Friends

The other day I opened the front door to get the mail. And stopped.

It had snowed during the night and a blanket of white lay over the ground, the front walk, the trees. If I had taken a photo, I'm sure most of you would have thought, "Pretty, but nothing special."

Yet I found myself struck by the incredible beauty of the scene, the stillness of the morning, and the realization that this was OUR front walk covered in snow, our Japanese maple tree branches delicately etched in white, and I was standing the doorway of OUR HOUSE. In the condo, we had to go down 24 floors to get outside and by the time we did, any newly fallen snow had turned grey. :-)

My friend Andy.

Flying to Winnipeg tomorrow morning to visit with Dave Clement, Tom Jeffers and Beckett Gladney; it still baffles me that Beckett is WILLINGLY leaving the comfortable climate of California for Winnipeg's, but then again I understand the lure of Dandelion Wine myself ;-). Many thanks to Jeff for letting me use his frequent flyer points for the trip, the sweetie. He knew how important it was for me.

Thanks to Allison for her healing vibe wishing stars. I thought I might have to opt out of this weekend, but looks like those stars did their job...though I still have a cough, I'm not contagious anymore and I'm well enough to travel.

And Andrea, thanks for the CD. It's the only music I've been listening to since your package arrived. :-)

I'm grateful for the friends I have, and am very much looking forward to spending this weekend with a few I don't get to see all that often.

Some random quotes I came across recently and liked:

"Beware the barrenness of a too busy life." - Socrates

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." - Anonymous

"Live life today. This is NOT a dress rehearsal." - Anonymous

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It Takes Two

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend Luisa today. :-)

I dare anyone to name a fouler-tasting liquid meant for human consumption than Buckley's Cough Syrup. For those of you who haven't yet had this unforgettable experience, imagine dumping a bottle of Vicks Vaporub into a bowl. Add a dozen pine-scented car fresheners, Muskol, some cold rubber cement, and a pint of nail polish remover.

Try to imagine how this might taste, and you have not yet come close to the vile and soul-gagging horror that is Buckley's.



And this is the part where I'm supposed to say but HEY, it worked, so it was worth it! The truth is that I'm still coughing. But at least I can tell myself that I'd be coughing a lot more if I hadn't taken Buckley's.

I guess.

Saw my doctor last night. She says I have a mild viral infection that's been going around, but that I'm not contagious right now. I'm glad to hear this, since I'm going to see my friends Beckett, Tom and Dave this weekend.

Yay, my It Takes Two literacy calendar arrived! The calendar features twelve children's picture book author-illustrator partnerships, including my sister and Sharon Jennings (they're on the October page).

I have such a cool sister. :-)

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NeoCitran daze

Today's the first day I've felt half-human since my cold began. Still veryvery tired, like a Star Trek redshirt whose life essence has been sucked out by a hungry alien, leaving only a dry whimpering husk behind. I've spent most of my time sleeping or lying half-comatose on the couch watching rented movies and borrowed tv shows, living on NeoCitran and tv dinners.

Lovely image, I know.

Viewing update:

Finished Season 5 of SG-1. Because of what happened in the 2nd last episode of the season, I suspect I won't enjoy later episodes as much, but we'll see.

All That Jazz. Andy was right...it's not really a comfort movie. I'm going to finish watching this some other time. :-)



My Fair Lady. This is THE perfect comfort movie.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Okay, but I liked the book much better. Gene Tierney seemed a bit spaced-out to me. Rex Harrison, playing a much different character than he did in My Fair Lady, was quite hunky-looking in this flick.

The Door in the Floor. Interesting and sometimes compelling, but too depressing to be a comfort movie of any sort.



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Feel free to add yourself (no registration required). If you feel uncomfortable about using your real name, a nickname will do. I've added my map link to the navigation bar on the left.

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Kevin Bacon, fried green tomatoes and thermometers

The doodle above was created for for Illustration Friday. This week's topic: "small."



Happy birthday to my dear friend Dave Clement today! Dave is a member of Dandelion Wine (Web site by Beckett); he and Tom are Guests of Honor at GAfilk this January. Here are some things I love about Dave.

Still sick, ugh. Watched "Footloose" yesterday and regretted it; I think you had to see this movie at the right time to appreciate it. I also have trouble taking Kevin Bacon seriously. :-) Liked "Fried Green Tomatoes" much better and yes, I did bawl at the end. I also have a terrible craving for fried green tomatoes. Where does one get green tomatoes? Are they just unripe tomatoes? I'm suddenly hungry.

I also rented the first few episodes of Alias, Season 3. Still enjoying it, but I'm getting a wee bit tired of Sydney (sp?) bursting into tears at the drop of a hat, especially at the office.

I hate being sick. I don't make a very good sick person. I'm generally good about resting lots the first day or so, but then I get restless and feel like I'm wasting time, especially when there's a lot to do.

When I was back in grade school, I remember being overjoyed when I got stay home because I was sick. If I wasn't feeling well, my mom would take my temperature and, if it was high enough, say I should stay home. When I got old enough to know what this threshold was, I used to check the thermometer myself before Mom came back.

If it wasn't high enough, I'd sometimes hold the thermometer up to the lightbulb in my bedside table to crank it up a few degrees. The trick was not to hold the thermometer TOO close to the bulb, or the mercury shot up way too high...Mom would know I was faking it. Then I'd try shaking it down, but then sometimes it would go way too low. It was an art, really.

Kids, don't try this at home.

Thanks to those who have added their locations to my map! If you haven't already, feel free to add yourself (no registration required). If you feel uncomfortable about using your real name, a nickname will do. I've added my map link to the navigation bar on the left.

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