the pain

It's still a death trap out there.

Last night we moved into the Capitol Theatre after months of rehearsing at the firehall theatre- Opening night for Northumberland Players' presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar is just 4 days away. While we were there I pointed out a rug that had been taped to the floor in the green room, " a few years ago during Sweeny Todd, one of the girls slipped and broke her elbow during the show... now there are rugs." We chatted about how terrible it would be to have to quit after so much work went into the show.

On the drive home I was talking with another cast member about how the dog was suffering the winter "we're not walking as much, he gets one short walk each day but I'm just so nervous with the ice on the sidewalks". Her neighbour just doesn't walk his dogs all winter and they go insane.

When I got home I got Rueben ready for his evening walk- long line and harness at night, no need for a short leash.

Two doors down from my house I stepped onto the sidewalk and landed firmly on my hip, my wrist taking a jolt. The dog trotted over, sniffed my face and walked away.

Nothing's broken thankfully, my wrist is tender, my hip bruised... my pinky finger is not broken (I thought it was in the moment last night)... and the dog isn't going for any more walks till this show is over.

Eve of a new year

My friend Lynnie's family has a second home/cottage outside of Owen Sound. The past few years our little circle of girfriends has gone up for a weekend in the winter.
This year, Lynnie is still living out West on Gabriola but she arraigned for us to make a visit there without her.

There's a lot of lazing around when we go out there. Woodstoves, too much food, naps, trashy magazines, too much food, old movies, knitting, endless CD sharing... but there are also kitchen dance parties, art making, hikes, and snowshoe adventures.

New Year's Eve we were feeling pretty wiped out from our long drive in, and the residuals of holiday excitements .. but one of the ladies had a great idea for an art project and we set to work on creating.
Cut, snip, paste, sketch, colour, snip, write.
We each created a piece that let go of things from the past year, forgiveness extended to ourselves and others, intentions for the next year... and then, at our decided "midnight" time, we strapped on our snowshoes and headed out into the dark with our pieces and some matches.

Build it.

In the past couple of months, two of my neighbours have built new garages.
Not the "attached to the house" kind, like in subdivisions, but the grand "coach house" style that they park their cars in front of and store random crap in.

Because, they still need us to be able to see what their cars look like.


I love my neighbourhood.
It's this quirky combination of giant century mansions tucked into corner lots, with tiny century homes (those built for the servants and children of the "big houses") scattered between tiny war time houses and a hodge-podge of 70's mid-sized homes.  THIS. This weird jumble is why I love downtown small towns.

Some of those giant homes have been turned into multiple family dwelling units (read: ghetto apartments), while some are B&Bs, every other is a single family home...

I realized today that both of those new garages are significantly larger than my home.

And I'm SO ok with that.

(photo credit: the lovely Jerry, taken moving day 2009)

eye spy: I scent edition

All the smells are heavy in my nose, in the air...

wet dirt

wet pavement

a poplar's buds, dripping sap

a cigarette

wet dog

laundry

wet grass

tonight's one of those nights where walking the streets feels like the right thing to do. The air is still a novelty after winter, but heavy like midsummer. Fog is clouding the street, my hair jumps to ringlets the moment I walk out the door. If my eyes could stay open I'd walk all night.