April 1/06 - Welcome Spring

Starbucks coffee, of course, with white chocolate blueberry scone. Back to blogging bedlam. Had worried a little that without the “disease” focus, I’d be at a loss for words. However, it seems verbosity is not my weak point and blogging continues to feel comfortable.

The last month has flown by and has been so busy, it’s difficult to pull it all together. Phil went on his school Europe trip for eleven days. Returned the same young man, but with some new perspective. He told me of how in Delphi, Greece, he sat on a rock in front of the Temple of Apollo while people moved around him, and was so overwhelmed by how immense and how old it was, how different it was from anything he’s ever experienced, how “awesome” it was. Trip worth every penny spent, if just for that moment.

Ostara, the equinox, was a little cold here in Toronto, but that weekend we went down to the city harbourfront for the No Ruz Iranian New Year festival. It was lovely, with examples of traditions associated with the celebration, including the set table. Many artists from the Toronto Iranian community had exhibits of their work, and there were imported wares on display and examples of cultural cuisine. Very fun and interesting. Ron, Sally and I walked down to the harbour from our home, about a 45 minute walk, through the centre of the city. We went to the festival and then walked along the harbourfront, checking out the skating rink and going over to the high end touristy shops, before heading home on the subway. It’s been a few months since I’ve been down to the lake and I’m floored by the development there – there are a lot of new condos. This city is becoming condoland. It will be a very changed lakefront soon. Now that the weather is warming, we’ll be down there more frequently and I’m determined to get over to the Toronto islands at least a few times this summer.

Work has been, as usual, an insanely busy, but incredibly satisfying place. There are more and more developments I’d like to become involved with and zero time to dedicate to them. Very frustrating! I am going, with a colleague from another hospital, to a conference down in New England at the end of the month. I’ve only briefly been through that part of the North Eastern U.S., quite a long time ago, and am looking forward to it. Hopefully, the weather will be quite nice by then. Hysterical – the travel agent phoned me after booking my flight online to verify that it was, indeed, Manchester, New Hampshire, I really wanted to fly to and not the location in Britain. Sadly yes. The conference does sound very good, work is funding me and the woman I’m traveling with is terrific. We’re going to rent a convertible, put the top down, wear scarves and large dark sunglasses and hit the New England highways. Am confident we’ll have a great time and expect to have some good info to bring back from the conference.

The music world has been pumping out lots of new alternative cds and I’ve been spending tons of time listening to new tunes. Each week there’s different music. This week listening to: Mogwai – Mr. Beast; Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones; Raising the Fawn – The Maginot Line (another good Canadian band!); The Orb – Okie Dokie It’s the Orb on Kompact; The Knife – Silent Shout; and Nightmares on Wax – In a Space Outta Sound.

Pictures this month are Toronto, very local for me, from College to the Lake north-south and Yonge to Bathurst east-west. Mostly detail and pattern focused, small details have been catching my attention, shadows on walls, patterning within the visual events around us.
Sue