Back from FilKONtario

Got home from FilKONtario last night...dead tired but happy. What a wonderful weekend!



Allison, Jodi and I had a fantastic time at FilKONtario, where we were the Toastmasters (a.k.a. "Filk Waifs"). It was our first time in this role, so we were a bit nervous but we got helpful coaching from experienced Toastmasters like Tanya Huff ("Hey, once you have the microphone, you have THE POWER!") as well as concom encouragement.



Sadly, I forgot my camera for the first part of the convention. When I told Allison, she thought I was kidding ... I'm NEVER without my camera, after all. Things were crazier than usual right before the convention, however, plus I was distracted trying to prepare more props than usual for our concert and Toastmaster duties.

Below: Walter prepares a box for some of our Neurotic Love Song props. HUGE thanks to Walter for helping out on that song, by the way. You'll find out more in Allison's con report soon.



As you can see from the photo, between the rollaway cot, suitcases, craft stuff, our instruments, music and props, our hotel room usually looked cyclone-hit and navigation was sometimes a challenge. Happily, however, we always managed to find what we needed for each event.



(Above: Phil Mills fends off an overly avid fan.)

Walter, by the way, was kind enough to pick up my camera as well as a prop I had forgotten at my house. He also gave me a ride to and from the convention, along with all my gear (and there was a LOT more of it this year than for other conventions). These kindnesses, however, are not going to be enough to exempt him from Urban Tapestry's revenge from what he (and others) inflicted on us later in the convention. Again, you'll find out more in Allison's con report soon.



Many thanks to the concom for all their hard work. Whenever Urban Tapestry is invited as a guest, we get more of a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes work. I am deeply grateful to the volunteers who help run FilKONtario...without them, the event would simply not be possible.



(Above: A Squirrel Voodoo Kit from Carolyn Brown)

I'll write more about the convention later, but I have a ton of work and e-mail to catch up on first, plus I still haven't finished completely unpacking from our California trip (!). With FKO over, I'm going to be spending the next couple of weeks FINALLY CATCHING UP with everything I've been letting slide.



Meanwhile, please do keep an eye on Allison's Livejournal and Flickr photos.

Feel free to browse my small set of FKO photos; thanks to Walter for going back to my house and bringing my camera to the hotel for me. I also took far fewer pics than I usually do because I figured I needed to focus more on my Filk Waif duties. If you've posted FKO photos online and don't mind me using them in my future FKO posts, please do let me know! I'll include a credit and link, of course.



Below: one of the personal highlights of the convention for me was seeing some of my German friends again, and meeting baby Talea (pronounced "Ta-LAY-ah", I believe).

Allison, Jodi and I would wander down to seek breakfast companions each morning, and we were delighted to find Ju, Eva, Rafael and Talea doing the same.

Urban Tapestry's Interfilk package for FilKONtario

Allison, Jodi and I are off to FilKONtario later today, but I wanted to post about our donation to Interfilk, for those attending the convention. Our package includes:

Above:

- Silver aluminium chainmail bracelet handcrafted by Allison.

- A CD version of Urban Tapestry's very first album, Castles & Skyscrapers, which was originally released as a cassette tape in 1994 and (I think) is no longer in print. The CD version (kindly donated by sound engineer Gerry Tyra, who did the conversion) is NOT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE. We will be donating one copy to the FKO Interfilk auction, and one other copy to a convention we attend in the future. Cover artwork is by my sister.

This album was recorded at Sound Techniques Studio, and includes the following tracks: Donna's Song, Two Voices, I'll Be Fine, The Ancient Yearning, Urban Lullaby, My Jalapeno Man, Monica's Flight, Desert & Forest, Cuz He's A Guy, Margaret's Lament, This Is For You, Overdrawn Credit Card Blues.



Above and below: part of Jodi's contribution for our Interfilk package at FKO. A pen holder filled with strawberry cream candies and a classy burgundy pen with her Voiceovers and vocals logo.





Other items in the package:

- Painting by me, in acrylics on stretched canvas. Here's a close-up.

- Set of my letterpress cards from Blush Publishing in the UK.

- Selection of my self-published cards.

- A copy of my "Snowdreams" print.

- A copy of my nonfiction book, The Writer's Online Marketplace, published by Writer's Digest Books.

- A poster from Ad Astra 2001, when both Urban Tapestry and Robert Sawyer (the author guest at FKO) were both guests.

- One-of-a-kind blue totebag with a hand-drawn Urban Tapestry cartoon by me.

Hope to see some of you at FilKONtario this weekend!

Giant Squirrel Invasion In Toronto!

So I woke up this morning and sleepily went downstairs to get some breakfast, but something caught my eye as I passed the living room, so I turned....and then saw THIS:



At first I just stood there, blinking like a cartoon character, wondering if I was still asleep.





I went into the kitchen, where two more Evil Squirrels peered in:



And another as I headed down toward my office:



Jeff's still asleep, so I'm here trying to figure out who was responsible. Hmmm....someone who knew our house well enough to cut each squirrel picture to fit our windows ALMOST EXACTLY. Someone who rarely sleeps like a normal person so was able to drive up to our house and sneak around at 2 or 3 am when everyone else is asleep.

Someone who has played April Fool's and other scarily well-planned jokes on us before, maybe?

And someone who is, without a doubt, unaware that my capacity for seeking creative retribution is unmatched...

See LJ comments here.

The Red Balloon

Thanks SO much for all your responses to my Birthday Post. They meant a great deal to me. 

I received some wonderful gifts from friends and family for my birthday. Part of Jeff's gift, for example, was focused on my obsession with tea. 

And my friend Walter made me cry.

Walter's gift

The photo above is of The Red Balloon DVD and children's book adaptation. The 34-minute movie by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse was one of my favourites from childhood; Dad had rented it from our public library and brought it home. I loved the book.

The story itself is very simple; if you don't mind spoilers, read this Wikipedia entry. The film won a bunch of awards, including an Oscar for Lamorisse for writing the best original screenplay in 1956 and the Palme d'Or for short films at Cannes.

One of my many early Red Balloon doodles
I had no idea that it was available on DVD until I opened Walter's present. I cried for somewhat complicated reasons, but partly because I was so touched that Walter knew how much this gift would mean to me, and that he had taken the time to track down the DVD and book.

I painted a Red Balloon on my office door!
Plus, ever since I saw that movie and read the book, red balloons have always been one of my very favourite things. It's not just about the children's story for me, but about the innocence and joy of childhood.

Another early Red Balloon doodle. You can tell my early drawings because I signed them "ohi" instead of "d.ohi".

I've told the following story in Blatherings years ago, but I can't seem to find it for linking, so am going to re-tell it here:

Shortly after graduating from university, when I was living on St. Patrick St. in Toronto with friends, I was feeling a bit down (I can't remember why). On impulse, I bought a red balloon and tied a little note to it with my address and a cartoon drawing of me.

I wouldn't do this now -- sending a balloon out into the wild isn't exactly environmentally friendly, and attaching my home address is just crazy. Anyway, some months later I received a letter in my mailbox from a little boy in Lockport, New York, where his father had found the balloon in one of their fruit trees.

Gift from a friend familiar with my Red Balloon obsession

We became penpals, and wrote for quite a few years before the correspondence finally stopped.

But my obsession with red balloons continued. :-)


Thank you, Walter, for your gift and your friendship.

I'm getting together with Allison and Jodi tonight for our last practice before FilKONtario. Only a few more days!

Yet another Red Balloon doodle from years back.

Birthday post

Above: Jumping on a frozen lake in northern Ontario this past winter. Photo by my sister.

(UPDATE March 30, 9:22 am: Thanks to those who have posted birthday greetings here, Facebook, e-mail, phone and in my Livejournal comments. Jeff took me to Mildred's Temple Kitchen and I loved it. You can see photos of some of the lovely gifts I received from friends in my Flickrstream. Including a gift from Walter that made me cry.)

If I could go back to my 20-year-old self and asked myself what image came immediately to mind upon hearing the phrase "47-year-old woman," I like would have responded with a heartlessly unflattering description involving polyester pants, wrinkles and hair curlers.

Now that I'm 47, I have to be amused at how wrong I was. Well, at least about the polyester and curlers.





I find that the older I get, the further way the concept of "old age" shifts for me. I suppose I've always associated "old age" with a certain atrophying mindset, when a person convinces themselves that they're no longer capable of taking on challenges and seeking out new experiences. In that context, I never want to reach old age.



In terms of simple numbers, however, I sometimes get tired of the tiptoeing done around the idea of getting older, as if it's something one is supposed to be embarrassed about, like using the wrong fork at the dinner table or accidentally wearing a t-shirt inside out in public (not that I'm, ahem, guilty of either).



I do admit that I usually don't broadcast my age on social networking sites, partly because I'm worried about identity theft but also because part of me is (probably overly) worried that editors might be negatively influenced while considering my manuscripts.



But overall, I don't tend to be overly self-conscious about how old I am. I'm happier now than I was 20 years ago. Physically, I may not be able to do everything I could back then but I was never a super-jock anyway, and I find other ways to push and challenge myself.



Back in school, I thought I had all the time in the world. Now, I know how easy it is to try to do too much and spend time with too many people. One of my favourite quotes, from Esther Bucholz: "Others inspire us, information feeds us, practice improves our performance, but we need quiet time to figure things out, to emerge with new discoveries, to unearth original answers."



These days, I guard my time jealously. I'm more selective about the friends I spend time with. I don't invest time in friendships in which the other person doesn't value the friendship as much as I do.

Jeff and I gave up cable tv about five years ago, and neither of us have regretted it. We still watch some recorded tv shows and rent movies, but it's always a deliberate choice rather than "just because there's nothing better to do." Instead, I do more reading, songwriting, painting and other creative activities.



Photo by Gord Gibson.

I'm happier in my relationship with Jeff than I was 20 years ago. We've been through the hearts and flowers "honeymoon" stage early on and several rough bits since. The rough bits, as horrible as they seemed when we were going through them, have helped strengthen our relationship.

The honeymoon stage was like an appetizer. Yummy while it lasted but for me, it's all about the main course. :-)



I'm more in love with Jeff than I've ever been. We'll have been married 18 years come this August, yet I still find myself swooning a bit inside when he walks into the room or smiles at me.


Photos by our niece last year.

We recently chatted with a couple who has been married nearly twice as long as we have, and I asked them what was the main factor that helped make their marriage a good one. They told me that they had learned NOT to try to change the other person.



In our case, I'd like the add the following advice: Treat your partner like your best friend. Sounds obvious, I know, but I've really had to remind myself of this over the years. "Would I be treating my best friend like this?"

I've also found that spending time pursuing our own interests away from each other is important. Jeff and I spend much of our time together, but we've each found it just as important to also have our own time as well. We've never been one of those "joined at the hip" couples who do absolutely everything together.


Photo by Sibylle Machat.

Today, however, we're spending the whole day together. Jeff's taking me out for brunch. He won't tell me where because he wants it to be a surprise. This afternoon: whatever I'd like to do. I haven't decided if I'd rather see The Watchmen or just hang out at home, reading and snoozing and maybe playing a boardgame. I'm going to my sister's tonight for a family celebration.


Photo by Beckett Gladney.

I already feel pretty spoiled. My friend Luisa took me out for my birthday on Friday night, and my friend Cathy took me out for lunch yesterday. I've been receiving phone messages and e-mails from friends -- one of my favourites is the musical message left by Tom & Sue Jeffers & Dave Clement. :-D

I'm going to spend the rest of my birthday offline, to enjoy the day with Jeff. Hope you're all having a good day, everyone! Especially my friend Katy, who is celebrating her birthday in Germany today.