Quote

Bernard Shaw, chauvinist pig that he was (could I say Shawvinist?), knew how to throw words together:

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. –George Bernard Shaw

Negatives

Shoplifters BURN IN HELL!!!
Today it was a woman.
And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Positives

* Sitting on a dock under a large brimmed hat, the sun out, the wind in the willows, the lake swishing around and a mystery book at hand.

* Summer holidays are here, no more homework.

* Warm nights in the city, when the moon is up and all you wish for is good Italian gelato.

* Walking around a city you know well, still discovering things, such as Sugar Beach - fake sand but fun place by the waterfront, with silly waterspouts and lights.

New Quote - for no good reason

Writing is easy. Just put a sheet of paper in the typewriter and start bleeding. –Thomas Wolfe

If you like the image above, take a little peek here. Talk about recycling, puts us all to shame.

3 Positives

1. Rush tickets to see the Twyla Tharp dance "In the Upper Room" with the National Ballet. They had some difficulties as it is a challenging piece but the dance is uplifting, interesting, mesmerizing. The Balanchine and Robbins pieces, although technically well done were not as compelling. Still, This is a great way to see performances that normally would be out of my reach.

This next one is just a bonus, I did not see it in reality, I wish they'd do it here - Enjoy! The older way of ballroom dancing, with a Twyla twist, as she is known to do:
2. Cabinets in the kitchen. Not operative kitchen yet but progress made.

3. Summer outings in this vibrant city, on the bike and on foot, with hats and fun dresses.

Alice In Wonderland - NBC

We stood in line this morning at the crack of dawn to get rush tickets (they are too pricey otherwise) and got them, two and a half hours later.
It was a great spectacle, great staging, costumes, sets and even the music was fun.
It is a busy show, lots going on, and the dancer who does Alice is greatly challenged - she is on the move constantly for the entire 2 1/2 hour production.
We got tired from clapping after a few minutes - imagine the output of energy she goes through each show.
My son just finished reading the book, perfect timing for this show to hit Toronto. Our favorite characters in the book are of course the Cheshire cat and the caterpillar. Oh, the wonderful sparkly pointe shoes of the caterpillar at the end of those legs - to die for!
We loved the dance sequence of the cards. We loved the gruesome Duchess house scene, bloody and crazy. We loved the little porcupines and the pink flamingos. We were not bored for a minute, which is a hard thing to say about most classical ballet. I love doing it, but usually not crazy about watching it, contemporary is more my preference. But - we had so much fun tonight!

The Goods

We've been without a proper kitchen for over a year now.
A solitary sink on stilts, box for a counter. Everything in boxes in the living room or the basement. Almost like camping in your own home. It's quite a lesson what little we actually need to have there for daily use. It can be liberating.
But we didn't have a Passover or New Year celebration this year - we can't invite people over for a dinner. Not much cooking has been going on.
It all started with a flaky kitchen floor. We thought the tiles were breaking due to old age - they must have been done in the 70's - ugly dirt colour linoleum tiles I never liked. We decided it was time to replace them. Sounds simple, right?
Wrong.
Any project you start at home always turns out to open a whole can of worms. In our case they were termites. Tiny white little buggers.

Months of work, mountains of expenses, decisions, waiting.
The kitchen floor had to go, and the sub floor - 120 year old wood removed. New termite resistant sub floor, new wood floor. New windows for the basement to block them.
Then to build a new kitchen from scratch: a new set of cabinets, sink, counters... the list goes on. And on. And on. More waiting, more decisions. Money...
I never thought it would take so long, and I dare say - if not the termites I'd have never done it.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? yes. Somewhere.

3 Positives

Beaches, Roses, Shoes:
We visited the beach at the Harris Water Filtration plant on Sunday, it was open to the public on Doors Open day.
The roses I got from my not so secret admirer here at home, they are particularly beautiful.
The shoes - my ghost shoes, always look interesting, and more so on a foggy day in the sand.

A Man After My Own Heart

Bill Cunningham is the subject of the wonderful documentary of his life, named Bill Cunningham, New York.
He is a street fashion photographer since he stopped making hats when he was drafted to go to war in Korea. His hats were good. His love of fashion is the love of his life, and he spent his 80 years immersing himself in the images of what women wear.
It's a fascinating story.
He lives his life in a monastic way, tiny studio at the Carnegie Hall (until very recently) without family, or a kitchen or a closet. He wears the same clothes all his life, by the way.

The film ends with this simple touching statement by him:
He who seeks beauty shall find it.

Consuming Culture

I was at the AGO last night - oh, the crowds! a line up after line up, to see the American Expressionist show. It is a good show.
It was, shamefully, my first time at the AGO after it's famous face lift. I bulk at the admission price, having been spoiled living in NYC for a while and being able to see the best of the best on a PWYC basis (pay what you can). I've heard so much about the new face of the museum, and I found that the exhibit rooms are still quite small, compared to the size of the halls leading to them. However, this exhibition is well put together, informative without being heavy and most of the selected artwork is worth seeing (all but the very last room). Here is a picture I took:

The Rothko room was particularly lovely, his large colourful images calming and beautiful.

And here is a glimpse into the studio of another true artist - our friend Alex Moyle, an exceptional sculptor:

Rain on the Brain

It's been raining constantly for many days, pissing rain, relentless rain. It's the end of May and I still wear a coat over a sweater and boots. I can't sit in my garden under a blooming Lilac and smell the fragrance. All we do is work and stay home. This can't be good for the economy.
Somebody do Something!
My son informs me that the world is ending this Saturday, according to internet mavens. We should all have sex this Friday just in case the prophecies are right this time.

Accentuated Positives

For the weeks past:
*) Jazzy mother's day outing at the Rex, with Club Django.
*) 2 films at the TJFF: Leonard Cohen's pre-singing days, and a nostalgic "Intimate Grammar".
*) Fabulous Sat. night dinner with great company and excellent food at Asian Legend.
*) Hard fun ballet classes with the fab Ballet Bob.
*) We'll have to see about this one: joining the age of constant technology - a cell phone. So far I still say - I can do without. But it's here and it works.
*) Blooms in gardens around the city and in mine, sunny days and warmer nights, winter is over at last.
This is my most favourite song of L. Cohen. There were no songs in the film, only early poems. Still, this is him at his best:

Mother

I am one. I have one. I'm lucky.
Both states of being are a lot of things:
A great blessing, and a joy, and a source of stress, resentment, love, regret, hard work, emotional outbursts, lessons in humility, beauty, tenderness, harsh words, tearing your hair out, crushing your teeth at night, anticipation, surprise, angst, eternal bond.
I wouldn't give any of it up for anything.
This is one of my favorite images - a few years old now.

New Qoute

It's been a while - I stopped the weekly quotes a while back. Time to resume, perhaps not as regularly as I once did:

When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you are drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life. Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole world revolves—slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.
Thich Nhat Hanh

The National Parks Project

Good idea, bad, bad result.
Last night I narrowly got in to see this film at Hot Docs, after standing in the rush line for an hour and a half and then whisked in by an industry insider, I thought myself lucky, until the film got on.
It's a collection of 13 short film which were supposed to bring together filmmakers and musicians to be inspired by some of the most remote and wild and exquisite places on earth.
What we got instead, save for very few, was what one spectator called bravely during the Q & A which followed, an abomination and misrepresentation of nature, and ultimately produced the worst crime of entertainment - a bore.
The brave nature lover who stood up at the end and told the producers and director what he thought about their films was right.

The opening film was good - it was about Gwaii, and it had sensitivity to the splendor and wildness and ancient environment, it had love for the softness and sensuality of what makes that area so special, it had inspiration, and it had humility before nature.
The film about Mingan was also quite beautiful, as were the ones about Waterton and the remote arctic parks.
In parts it was embarrassing to watch. One director admitted he felt no connection to nature, which was clearly evident in his piece, Misty Morning. This one was particularly offensive.
The absolute worst was about Gros Morne, which I was looking forward to, since we are planing a visit. The park itself was nothing but a backdrop - we sat there looking at a red headed girl masturbating on her guitar on some rocks, not inspired by the nature abound her, drowning the sounds of nature in screeching electric guitar while her hair is blowing in the sunset. We also got quite a long glimpse of the computers the musicians used to mix their music on the shore.
The end result is a provincial, self indulgent and mutilated version of a good idea. What a shame.