One of my favourite quotes from Jane Austen is: “What dreadful weather we have! It keeps one in a constant state of inelegance.” Engraved on a tile, it made the perfect gift for my friend in Houston. I’ve applied it a number of times to the sauna that is Toronto this summer. I imagine it […]

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The days keep passing and outside things change, at least somewhat. In the last month I’ve had a massage, acupuncture, and an MRI. I’ve taken the subway (four times), the streetcar, and an Uber. I wore a mask. I sanitized my hands. I’ve met a friend for iced coffees and sat in a park on […]

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In the vast scheme of the pandemic, having to cancel a long-planned trip to Spain is not a major loss. But it was still a loss. I love planning trips (because it eases my quite ludicrous levels of travel anxiety) and I do lots of research. We had a trip booked to go to Madrid, […]

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Ok, my husband does, with my help. Success was achieved through a electric clipper set purchased online, a few videos, a stepladder (to put the mirror on), a hair clip (to keep the sheet around him), and a bit of fussing. I’m perfectly happy to let my hair just keep growing. The last time I […]

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How is your sheltering-in-place/isolation/social distancing going? That well? I can’t really complain (though, of course, sometime I still do). I’m sitting on my couch listening to “Tentacles!” from the truly amazing musical A Shoggoth on the Roof, which manages to combine the music from Fiddler on the Roof with H.P. Lovecraft. It works quite well […]

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Or at least before the COVID-19 pandemic. I think I’ve started to forget what day it is. Or, at least, more than I used to forget what day it was. We miss the gym and our friends but life is otherwise not that different. My mail-order seeds arrived and my garlic has started coming up […]

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Well, of all the things I expected 2020 to bring, a pandemic was not on the list. I’m lucky. I live in a country with good government healthcare and in a city that went through SARS and learned from the experience. I don’t have to worry about missing work and a good number of things […]

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Next show: May 2nd. I have not been deterred by hip problems, muscle tears, rather hideous photos from the last show, and my general acceptance of the fact that I’m not that good at the thing flamenco is known for, i.e. footwork. Maybe I just figure it’s easier than writing. Below is the only decent […]

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My relationship with romance novels (or romance in novels) is complicated. Among my favourite books I count Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. My comfort viewing is the 1995 BBC production of the former. My SF and Fantasy reading really began with Andre Norton whose books often followed an arc of heroine and hero learning […]

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Through the miracle of modern technology (otherwise known as the history feature of the Toronto Public Library website), I actually have a record of which ebooks I borrowed. If I add the physical books and ebooks I either purchased or downloaded from Gutenberg, I come up with roughly 130 books read this year. I will […]

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