There are living, breathing loops of news in this community, which we check into and out of regularly, just to make sure all is well. So an so had a stroke but is recovering well. Someone else will have her baby today after three days in the hospital. The gig went great on Saturday; the […]
I look forward to this shift to Schedule every year – a good time to set clear intentions. Here goes 2012-2013, Part 1: 1. I will learn the Brahms by March. 2. I will learn the Faure by December, tape a performance and send it down to Guelph, for application as a Suzuki teacher up […]
We hit the road a week ago yesterday for London Ontario for a quickie overnight visit. This was the fulfillment of an idea that we should mark the last week that my niece would live in Canada before she left on an extended Rotary trip to Germany. We did so – there are new […]
One of my best teachers gave us a good daily practice. This came out of a discussion about the idea of when one is truly ‘finished’ with something – in this case a painting – but it could be a poem, a novel, practise or rehearsal of a piece, a song, a cleaning project, a […]
inspired inspired by all the input these past few days – New Zealand, Ukraine & the Balkans (via Toronto), Russia, Romania, Rwanda, Scotland – folks from all these places gathered here to talk, play and sing about change & re-volution. All of it a huge call to collectively change the way we think. Well, I’m […]
The sense of openness continues long after Irene has gone to bed and been piped out of the park. It’s as though the parade brought them home here through our house – Sarah Slean, Royal Wood, Oscar Lopez, the Lemon Bucket Orchestra, The Rwandan guys, The Powerful Women from New Zealand, The MacKenzie Blues Band […]
There are good things happening here in my hometown. Last night the streets were full of us as we venue-hopped through the downtown core to see a large and motley crew of excellent musicians & performers in the 3rd year of Otherfolk. This happens twice a year – February’s Lupercalia has the same marvelous effect […]
…if the nose & claw of a big hammer could be hung from the ceiling of the space so that it seemed as though it was coming through the building to hit a giant nail embedded in the floor….. … if one section of the installation was a series of small paintings all connected by […]
Kol Nidrei (arranged for cello & piano) on the stand beside The Bach Suites. Above and to the right, a clock and the first viola John Newton made as a student (no bridge or strings – I’m honoured to keep it safe here). Then the big black hanging fish, then my sewing machine, then the […]
On January 10, 1983 Ken writes, Today is Mike’s birthday… and all the while the Benedictine monks chant “kyrie eleison” in the background and I can’t get Psalm 51 out of my brain nor the Spanish Civil war… Ken wrote pages and pages for years and years. In another letter he quotes bits from Ken Kuhl […]
I’m about to leave for a long-awaited trip to Lake Superior. We’ll take the kayaks, a lovely new tent & good camping gear (the best wedding presents ever); the bikes, some tomatoes from the garden since the plants are now overflowing, books, cameras, and my own cluttered mind, in hopes that the latter can be […]