Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Easter weekend
Despite the weather and its deleterious effects on my mood, we had a pretty great Easter weekend, with just the right balance of social fun and accomplishment of necessary household work.
We had a visit from our friend the lovely K. and her little boy A. on Friday, a visit we all enjoyed very much. In the evening we went out to a favourite restaurant for supper and then I went (alone) to the Good Friday service at our church. It was a beautiful service, mostly music and meditation and the right mood, sombre and moving. I came home to my tired husband hanging laundry on racks in the living room (our dryer is on the fritz) and we had a nice evening together.
Saturday was good too, with some shopping and clearing away of clutter and a little bit of fun and bike-riding, but mostly gearing up for Easter Sunday. I bought treats and spent the evening alone, arranging said treats just so for the big egg hunt in the morning.
Sunday was a lovely day in spite of the devilish cold. The morning egg hunt was very early but all kinds of cute. The littlest one couldn't believe her luck at finding eggs and chocolate hidden all around the house. After the church service (nice but sooo long) in the p.m. we went to the big Easter meal at my mom's and ate so much good food it was kind of disgusting, and then had the traditional annual jarping competition, which is described here if you're wondering what the hell that is. It was good, as always, to see my family. My mom spent about 45 minutes telling us all what she wants us to do with her body when she croaks, which was a bit of a downer, let's face it. But all in all, a good ol' time.
Yesterday was relaxed. D. had the day off and we just did some housework, I went for a long walk and bought a few things at the Goodwill, and we had a delicious stir-fry for supper. We also watched The Amazing Race on tape, a fun family show that we all enjoy (except for the little one, but hey, if I play Batman she can put up with this). We also like to watch Pimp my Ride ( "Pimp mon char" in French, with subtitles).
I felt tired at the end of it all but not exhausted, and happy. Now if it would just get warm, I'd be a'ight.
Despite the weather and its deleterious effects on my mood, we had a pretty great Easter weekend, with just the right balance of social fun and accomplishment of necessary household work.
We had a visit from our friend the lovely K. and her little boy A. on Friday, a visit we all enjoyed very much. In the evening we went out to a favourite restaurant for supper and then I went (alone) to the Good Friday service at our church. It was a beautiful service, mostly music and meditation and the right mood, sombre and moving. I came home to my tired husband hanging laundry on racks in the living room (our dryer is on the fritz) and we had a nice evening together.
Saturday was good too, with some shopping and clearing away of clutter and a little bit of fun and bike-riding, but mostly gearing up for Easter Sunday. I bought treats and spent the evening alone, arranging said treats just so for the big egg hunt in the morning.
Sunday was a lovely day in spite of the devilish cold. The morning egg hunt was very early but all kinds of cute. The littlest one couldn't believe her luck at finding eggs and chocolate hidden all around the house. After the church service (nice but sooo long) in the p.m. we went to the big Easter meal at my mom's and ate so much good food it was kind of disgusting, and then had the traditional annual jarping competition, which is described here if you're wondering what the hell that is. It was good, as always, to see my family. My mom spent about 45 minutes telling us all what she wants us to do with her body when she croaks, which was a bit of a downer, let's face it. But all in all, a good ol' time.
Yesterday was relaxed. D. had the day off and we just did some housework, I went for a long walk and bought a few things at the Goodwill, and we had a delicious stir-fry for supper. We also watched The Amazing Race on tape, a fun family show that we all enjoy (except for the little one, but hey, if I play Batman she can put up with this). We also like to watch Pimp my Ride ( "Pimp mon char" in French, with subtitles).
I felt tired at the end of it all but not exhausted, and happy. Now if it would just get warm, I'd be a'ight.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Luck
Yesterday morning as I was taking F. over to the babysitter's house I stopped in the middle of the busy street and shouted -- shouted! "Well look at that!" I was the lucky finder of 50 smackeroos. There were 2 twenties and two fives, folded over and lying there in the rain, getting run over repeatedly by cars. Being a kindhearted soul I adopted the poor wretches and offered them the shelter of my backpack (specifically my agenda, where they could dry nice and straight between the pages). Whoever lost the money, I'm sorry for your misfortune, and I'm not being ironic. It found a good home with me. Until I spent it. At least it has fulfilled its moneyish destiny and hasn't ended up a soggy pulp in the street.
Yesterday morning as I was taking F. over to the babysitter's house I stopped in the middle of the busy street and shouted -- shouted! "Well look at that!" I was the lucky finder of 50 smackeroos. There were 2 twenties and two fives, folded over and lying there in the rain, getting run over repeatedly by cars. Being a kindhearted soul I adopted the poor wretches and offered them the shelter of my backpack (specifically my agenda, where they could dry nice and straight between the pages). Whoever lost the money, I'm sorry for your misfortune, and I'm not being ironic. It found a good home with me. Until I spent it. At least it has fulfilled its moneyish destiny and hasn't ended up a soggy pulp in the street.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
More notes on a life
The opera was fun. It was a rather obscure opera by Haydn, and it was a lower-budget, smaller-scale production, with the atelier de l'opera rather than the principal singers. It was a comedy, and as a first opera experience it was very nice, but not the spectacle I was imagining or hoping for. It whetted my appetite... and it was nice to dress up and be downtown and sit in a beautiful theatre. Unfortunately I had to come home right after because of the babysitter; I would have liked to have gone out for a glass of wine somewhere.
Work is heating up, as we approach the festival week. I've just had a meeting with the technician who will be doing the recordings for us, and man did I feel stupid. My French sucked (and all techs are francophone) and I didn't have a whole lot of, er, knowledge about the technical, er, stuff. Fortunately the 2 guys at the meeting were very nice and told me that it's okay to be ignorant about this, that's what they're there for. Still, it would have felt good to look like a real, and really bilingual, professional. Sigh.
Speaking of bilingualism, my sister has snagged a great job with the federal government and guess what? She gets to have an entire year of full-time French courses before she even starts the job, fully paid by your tax dollars. Isn't Canada wonderful? Congratulations, A! They are totally getting our money's worth.
The opera was fun. It was a rather obscure opera by Haydn, and it was a lower-budget, smaller-scale production, with the atelier de l'opera rather than the principal singers. It was a comedy, and as a first opera experience it was very nice, but not the spectacle I was imagining or hoping for. It whetted my appetite... and it was nice to dress up and be downtown and sit in a beautiful theatre. Unfortunately I had to come home right after because of the babysitter; I would have liked to have gone out for a glass of wine somewhere.
Work is heating up, as we approach the festival week. I've just had a meeting with the technician who will be doing the recordings for us, and man did I feel stupid. My French sucked (and all techs are francophone) and I didn't have a whole lot of, er, knowledge about the technical, er, stuff. Fortunately the 2 guys at the meeting were very nice and told me that it's okay to be ignorant about this, that's what they're there for. Still, it would have felt good to look like a real, and really bilingual, professional. Sigh.
Speaking of bilingualism, my sister has snagged a great job with the federal government and guess what? She gets to have an entire year of full-time French courses before she even starts the job, fully paid by your tax dollars. Isn't Canada wonderful? Congratulations, A! They are totally getting our money's worth.
