May 29, 2003
Wasting Away
Has time stopped?
Did the elevator drop me off on the dying_dog and two week multiple bathroom_rennovation floor?
No photos either?
email accumulating still?
:::no response:::
Maybe it was lilac induced epilepsy... a floral grand mal seizure...
Is there a doctor in the house?
May 23, 2003
Blossom Dearie
Finally the lilacs are in bloom... but they haven't made it into the house yet, and the forecast for the weekend is tedious, steady, cool and lingering rain.
The significant other has retaken to blogging after a long hiatus. And while he was online I was commanded to take pictures of the apple blossoms as they rained over the front yard. The stiff breeze was blowing the blossoms off the tree as fast as they opened, and blowing them past his studio window like popcorn/flower/rain. Not suprising for this year, full of surreal and sad surprises.
So there they are, all white and pink with the tumesence that will bring a juicy apple, or a wormy turd on the lawn in August. Thank you Mother Nature. Now get a rake and work it bitch.
On the edge of our neighbor's property is this tree full of vibrant red blooms. All this beauty to be photographed on our little piece of suburbia today. It's almost worth six months of deep freeze...
Ode to Joy and Cash
What would be on the top of my wish list if I had the gaul to create one? How about the final manuscript of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with handwritten annotations by Ludwig himself... calling the copyist a damned fool. Ha!
Who knew it was actually available at Sotheby's auction house yesterday? I should have notified in advance so that I could empty out my Swiss bank accounts...
The winning bid wasn't a record amount, but it was still over 4 million CA$.
Now what I am going to want for my birthday present?
May 22, 2003
Happy Johanna Day
Here we are at a special birthday dinner held in honor of Johanna tonight. Her friends and family were there. We ate. We drank. And extra points for no acrimony! Despite ourselves...
But the lilacs aren't ready for cutting just yet.
May 19, 2003
Lilacs
Countdown to cut lilacs in the house... a couple of days at most.
May 18, 2003
Other Puppies
We took the sick hound for a walk in a lovely park. The attraction was other dogs, which was supplied in spades.
He is very sick. The raw food, the enzymes, and soon the chanting at rocks will probably not effect the course of his illness. It hasn't up to this point. I am heartsick already in anticipation of his loss.
May 16, 2003
Rain Dance
Dismal, steady and cool rain here today... halting spring in it's tracks yet again. Our meager triumvirate of tulips growing in the backyard are completely confused. They have been getting ready to bloom. But, like nervous prodigal school girls, keep having to grow stems instead of blooms for the lack of attention.
What to do on such a crappy day?
Pick away at my contact list, email old friends and clean up the in box. I have become a terrible correspondent over the past three years or so, and it must change. There are 387 items in my in box right now. Drown me in a bucket.
I feel like a potential candidate for an Oprah show make over. You know the routine... a TV crew swoops down and tapes segments of your disaster of a basement or bedroom. There are boxes of clothing and tottering piles of old mail clogging the hallways. Somebody holds up a denim jump suit that HAD to be bought in 1975 after Bowie wore one...
Wait, that last comment was way too close to home.
In any case, don't be shocked to hear from me in the next few days. Help me reclaim my past. There might be a nice lunch in it.
May 15, 2003
Niagara
Yesterday I went to the falls... with my parents. They had planned a trip up for next week, but moved it up and arrived Monday. And the timing couldn't have been better.
Of course I appeared to be a wreck... furtively cleaning, shopping and nagging. But that is typical for anybody expecting their parents visiting from out of town. Isn't it?
In any case it was great to see them... and for them to spend some time with Mark and his mother. Welcome to "in-laws" for the over 40 crowd. My god I am freeze dried coffee I am so old and adult...
We had a wee dinner party, where I managed to cook. And then off to Niagara Falls for a ride.
Executive Summary:
* 6 Million cubic feet of water a second goes over the falls
* $12 CA to park
* Smoking is permitted in the Casino
* You can never love your parents too much
It was a nice break and reality check for me. Now on to the changes at hand...
May 10, 2003
Cuff Links
Leaving a job is bittersweet... especially when it is your decision to leave. Yesterday was my last day at the agency.
There was spam to send to thousands in the morning, and then a half hour with the CFO who managed to make the conversation about him too frequently. After that we moved to cleaning off the laptop and backing up data on the servers... and eventually to slurping shooters at the nearby pub at lunch.
People kissed me on the lips who wouldn't be expected to. I received gorgeous Tiffany cuff links... and a handmade card. I was called classy. There was lots of hugging and making of dinner plans.
The drive home was filled with reflection and anxiety about the future. I was a little sketchy.
Turning into the driveway I broke into a smile. During the morning, the pool in our backyard was opened. I could see it from the car. After months and months of looking at a grimy blue tarp spread dotted with dirty leaves... the annual pool opening brings a little Beverly Hills into our lives.
Entering the house brought another surprise, as the boyfriend had given himself and the hound haircuts. This isn't so much of a big deal for him... but the poor canine unit has gradually become the equivalent of an overgrown dust mop. After three hours of clipping and snipping, we now have about half the dog by volume, but the same amount of love.
Without them in my life I fear I might be lost...
May 8, 2003
May 7, 2003
Sorting Season
Part of the process of changing jobs is the sorting and resorting of information. Emails, contact lists, login and passwords, server addresses, ftp accounts, accounts payable, contracts negotiated. The list goes on.
I have managed to compound the work by taking on a reciprocal info clean-up process personally. You have to love a palm pilot when it can transfer a couple of hundred contact records in a couple of minutes, even though later I am cursing when looking at triple duplicates it created... even more to sort now.
Another part of the sorting is also going through older digital pictures from the last couple ofyears. Look at me in NY mode... all business and conviction, not to mention over-dressed. Or here... pale, puffy Canadian landed immigrant about two years later. At least I have managed to hold onto my hair past 40... you can't take that for granted cupcakes.
May 6, 2003
Checking Out
So, the goddess in my life... Tina, has bought a new car that fits her to a T. That was a joke... but even I barely got it just now typing it. See, her nickname is T... for Tina. Joke. Laugh. Right.
Forgive me... but spring fever is boiling up and making my already short attention span divide unto itself.
New cars...
new jobs...
a new season of light and air and green.
May 4, 2003
Springing Lessons
Lovely day. Why do we have to be so surprised by this? Probably because it was a hellish winter, full of long gray, bitter days and anxious nights. Spring is sprung alright. We have goddamn WEEDS already. Just one month ago we were encased in a thick coat of ice.
I spent an hour doing yard work at noon which only proved to myself what lousy condition I am in. Grunting and wheezing when simply trimming shrubs is not good.
The three of us went for a morning walk earlier. The park was bursting with life compared to just weeks ago. Willi met a young lady, alas she was fenced in...
Two interviews this week already... with one prospect sounding both challenging and perfect. When the recruiter read me the details in her office, a grin spread across my face. She couldn't help but notice it. Sometimes the timing just feels right. And it feels nice to kick off this summer with change in the air and looking forward to it...
May 3, 2003
Spring Walk
Too long again between posting here... and it isn't because I don't have anything to say or show. I am busy with changes, but there is some spring fever laziness evident as well.
Looking for a new job is not producing anxiety, but a refreshed sense of confidence in myself and what the world has to offer. It was a little gutsy to resign my position. It took a measured leap of faith.