Pies Men Like

Hallelujah!

Thanks to the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, I have fulfilled a life-long dream: to sing in a Messiah sing-along! We didn't do the whole thing, but it was still genius. The soloists were lovely. Caveat 1: we only did a handful of the choruses, which did put a damper on my hope of doing the whole thing. Caveat 2: none of the soloists had prepared "But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming," one of my favorites. Still, it was decidedly better than singing along to the CD at home.

I'll get you, Ralph di Bricassart!

Genius folks at Oxygen had a miniseries marathon yesterday. I am thankful for stumbling across the Thorn Birds: the Missing Years right after it started. Richard Chamberlain looks really weird in it - too much plastic surgery? I have only watched the first tape and a half of the original - up to the the scene on the beach. It just got too disgusting for me - not because he's a priest, but because he was her father figure. But a person who reads the ends of books first couldn't bear not to know what happened, so I had a long conversation with a co-worker who filled me in. But on a snowy Thanksgiving morning with a pile of knitting, the sequel was just the right thing. Trash-tacular!

Does "ASCII" rhyme with "turkey"?

" " " " " " " "
" " " " " " "
" " " " " "
" " " "
( o o )
( V )
88
( )
^ ^

Okay, you can see that my ascii art won't work here, but trust me, in an email earlier today, it was breathtaking, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Get out of my head!

Thank you, Mssrs. Gershwin and Duke:

Settled revolutions in Spain
The North Pole I have charted
But can't get started with you
And at the golf course I'm under par
Metro-Goldwyn wants me to star
I've got a house and a show place
But can't get no place with you

You're so supreme
The lyrics I write of you
Dream, dream, day and night of you
Scheme just for the sight of you
Baby but what good dose it do
I've been consulted by Franklin D.
Even Gabel had me to tea
But now I'm broken hearted
Can't get started with you

You're so supreme
The lyrics I write of you
Dream, dream, day and night of you
Scheme just for the sight of you
But what good does it do
I've been consulted by Franklin D.
Even Basic had me to tea
But now I'm broken hearted
Can't get started with you

why museums are necessary

Who says it was about nothing?

the glamorous life, east campus style

Having late, leisurely lunch with beloved coworker at cafe, lingering over yummy soup and creamy pumpkin pie: glamorous.
Walking back from said lunch holding to-go coffee in one hand and, as tights have started to fall down for no apparent reason, clutching waistband of tights through skirt in other hand: rather not glamorous.

On the other hand, some things finally come home.

I looked at this poem three times a day, every day, for two years, and I never really read it. But this morning, when I saw it gracing the bottom of the pages of the Massey newsletter, it just lept up and grabbed me.

Happiness is impossible, and even inconceivable, to a mind without scope, and without pause, a mind driven by craving, pleasure or fear. To be happy, you must be reasonable, or you must be tamed. You must have taken the measure of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world and what things in it can really serve you. To be happy you must be wise. - George Santayana

Aha! I knew it! I just knew ignorance wasn't bliss, that happiness isn't simple. This is happiness for people who have been through something (or somethings), for people who think, for people who try. Maybe that's why I didn't really get it in grad school - I hadn't learned enough yet. And, looking back, my experiences at Massey are the ones that taught me the most about myself and my place in the world. As a friend and former don wrote in the current newsletter, "What a gift to take with us."

v g

Am just organising top flight summit of the girls to see Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason on Friday. Super. Have taken all website quizzes and have discovered that, if were a man, would be Mark Darcy. V g. Have also discovered, however, that based on my name, my scientifically matched romantic partner is Uncle Geoffrey! Urgh! Do often seem to end up attracted to gay men, though, so perhaps is bang-on.

Would really much rather be at home with movie and knitting. Silly work, always getting in the way.

oopsy-doodle

This morning's web radio station of choice was playing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and I was about to really wail on that high part at the end ("Ah-ah, a radio sta-y-ah-y-ah-y-ah-ar") when the director walked into my office.

It is also very unfair to miss the end of "Radio Star" and then be confronted with "Eternal Flame."

Who knew the Cumberland Terrace loo was so photogenic?

the girls in TO, originally uploaded by bethwatkins.

Three intrepid Illinois travelers pause in a Toronto shopping plaza restroom, en route to more interesting destinations.

You can't go home again, eh?

Trip to Toronto with Luci and Tamara, November 3-8

Obvoiusly I know that I don't live in Toronto anymore, but this trip made me feel it. I knew three people in town, my regular breakfast place is now a bar, I forgot which level of the St. George station was Bloor/Yonge, I didn't have a Remembrance Day poppy.... But the flip side is that I really do very much live here, in which I rejoice. So there you go.

Of note: most of the people I chatted with in Canada, whether old friends or perfect stranges, said "How 'bout your election, eh?" and I said "Yeah, I know, I voted and got the heck out." They are so sad. And I don't blame them one bit. I'm sad too. On the positive side, I have signed up at Marry an American.

We kept seeing the name Val Kilmer graffited up and down Queen West, and I am happy to say that other people are as mystified as we are. See here and possibly the creators.
Then breakfast at a Second Cup and a nice long chat. We had decided against our umbrellas that morning but were not too deterred by a late-morning rain as we splashed merrily down Queen, in and out of stores. Hit Romni Wools and dropped a bundle. Then Tamara tried on some gorgeous dresses and twirled about.
Dinner at the Duke, a Massey favourite. Couldn't for the life of me recall an appropriate beer, since I didn't drink beer when I lived in Canada, so had an Alexander Keith's IPA, which I did remember being big on my trip to Halifax and was quite yummy. Instituted the rule of the "talking french fry," which you must be holding in order to speak. Then largely ignored said rule.

Friday
A trip on the Queen and Spadina streetcars, plus some wandering in the Annex, led us to the Future Bakery for breakfast.

Future Bakery in the Annex, originally uploaded by bethwatkins.

Future is my very favourite Toronto eatery, and I think I could spend a whole day just sitting and sipping and watching the world go by on Bloor. (And Brunswick, of course. One cannot forget Brunswick. Although one can forget theBrunswick, which is skankity-skank.)
We walked back down Robert Street to the Harbord Bakery where I scarfed down a nanaimo bar, the food of les dieux canadiens. On to Kensington Market to browse seasonings in bulk, real butcher shops, and second-hand clothes.
Tam headed back to the hotel to meet Luci for lunch and I wandered up to campus to the UT bookstore. Resisted hoodies but got a drooled-over book The Museum Called Canada - with a name like that, how could I not buy it?
Met Stephanie at the ROM, where the staff door clerk was the same guy as when I volunteered in 1997 - refreshing sameness. We had Vietnamese and caught up. V g.
To Massey to meet Chris. We looked at an exhibit of Picasso's ceramics and were not inspired. But were cheered up at SpaHa for fries and a foofy coffee.
Dinner at the Queen Mother with Alex and Sven. More hugs and catching up. I love visiting!

Saturday
Breakfast at Fran's, where Tamara finally found a smoothie and got tea with not one but two pots of hot water. I don't know how we ever got her out of there. In honor of one of the many fine things I learned while living in Toronto, there is finally a photographic record of my coffee cream cow trick.

cow trick, originally uploaded by bethwatkins.
Adventure on the TTC to the Distillery District, a complete surprise to me, becuase the last time I heard it was just an abandoned distillery occasionally used to film not-particularly-good movies and episodes of Due South, but is now full of art studios and restaurants. Tamara rented the "audio wand" self-guided tour and did a brilliant job at repeating the tour for all of us to hear, although she was missing the Canadian accent. Which is definitely not her fault and is no strike against her.
Then to our cute little B&B in the Annex, the Admiral St. George. We chose this B&B for its location in the Annex and for its name, in a tribute to one of our favorite characters in Persuasion.
For evening entertainment, I inadvertently sent Luci and Tamara on a wild good chase for movie theaters in Yorkville, not knowing that whatever the theater in the bottom of the Bay at Bloor/Yonge was gone and forgetting to tell them where the Manulife building was. But they wound up at Hemingway's in Yorkville and had rave-worthy chocolate mousse cake. Meanwhile, I met Chris and Tatiana for dinner on Roncesvalles and then got to meet their lovely dog Huxley.

Sunday
After an amazing breakfast of fruit salad and croissants, we wadered through the Annex and campus and back up to Yorkville for sock shopping and the Bay at Bloor/Yonge. On the way we cut through Queen's Park and ran across a Remembrance Day ceremony with bagpipes. Strangely moving to watch. I was most jarred by the heavily Christian language, which didn't resonate with the "cultural mosaic" Canada I know.
Went to the Bata Shoe Museum and the Super G grocery store for Cadbury and maple-themed souvenirs.
Dinner at Hey Lucy and then on to the theatre! The Royal Alexandra is lovely but it seems that in 1909 the people in the upper balcony didn't have knees - or certainly wouldn't be expected to use them after sitting through a show.