a Veritable Hodge-Podge of Things

 Guys, I have been off the radar here because I have been out doing lots of stuff.  My friend Sonja was visiting from BC and that was a good time.   I reconnected with a ton of people who got shelved due to  life being busy and the days are getting colder and shorter and the big tree is up at Queen’s Park.
I have been spending a lot of time in the distillery, in old town toronto, at the archives and in Corktown for research for my lovely new book that I am SO enjoying writing.  A lot of writing happens at Artisano and I love the King West staff for their multiple outlets and great wireless internet.

I have had numerous social butterfly shenanigans and have been enjoying my gorgeous city in the fall

I’ve also been writing and at the gym a lot ( the last time I wrote a book I put on 5 lbs. That is not happening this time ) and I have been--- oh yah! --- at my real job.

So blogging has been on the back-burner somewhat and I apologize. BUT WHO AM I TO KEEP SOME OF THE THINGS WORTH NOTING FROM BEING NOTED?

On the theatre front: I saw Les Miserables again ( YAY! )

I also saw Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio as performed by the always-amazing Opera Atelier accompanied by the always-amazing Tafelmusik. I really noticed the clash between the cultured Europeans and the “uncivilized”  Turkish moors this time around: Konstanze is reading complete with specs

from the beginning while Blonde is seen to write.  The primitive moors on the other hand, especially the torturously-minded Osmin are instead perpetuating the stereotypes so rampant in Commedia dell’ Arte of ultra comedic violence and exaggerated movements.

The Seige of Turkey by the Viennese propelled Mozart’s 1782 piece: the opera being the most widely performed of Wolfgang’s in his lifetime.  There is a ton of historical resonance here and puts one in mind of that gorgeous little scene in Amadeus where the Emperor proclaims that there were just “too many notes”

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair!  Went Friday! Had a blast! Tried some good beer, ate a yummy Italian sandwich, held a three month old Nigerian dwarf goat named Daisy.

Daisy and Rachel

I went to the New Zealand/Canada Rugby game yesterday which probably woulda made a lot more sense if I knew anything about Rugby.  The best part was the Haka: the traditional Maori tribal dance performed by the New Zealand team at every game ever.   Besides that, it’s a lot of huddle-huddle-huddle-fall over- huddle-huddle-huddle-fall-over. Sometimes they pile on top of each other.  I don’t get it . We lost. But the company was good.

Last week’s White Collar  was stupid

Does anyone watch Reign? I am thinking of watching an episode so I can laugh myself silly at its inauthenticity.

Oh! MADE FOR TV MOVIES Time

When Calls the Heart complete with screenplay by Michael Landon Jr. is a sappy, kinda-retelling of the Janette Oke book by the Hallmark channel. This might have been a LOT MORE FUN if it actually stuck to Wynn and Elizabeth’s story. But, guys, it doesn’t: a lot of it is framed by this new girl—Elizabeth’s niece, who tosses her Edwardian curls over her Edwardian gown and holds her chin up defiantly and wants to be an INDEPENDENT WOMAN ( even though she is scared to hysteria by a mouse).  As is,  there’s no Wynn-in-red-serge on the prairies, no Elizabeth and Wynn surviving a fire… basically it coulda been awesome ( as in awesomely cheesy) but it wasn’t. But Wynn and Elizabeth looked the part.

Haka!

Celeste in the City was on ABC Family late one night on the weekend ( but earlier because we set back our clocks ) and it is pure tv movie GOLD! In fact, it is really gearing me up for all the crappy Christmas movies I anticipate watching. So, this girl Celeste who is pretty in a “I am wearing glasses and hiding under baggy sweaters a la She’s All That” kinda way moves to New York to start a job as a writer for some magazine and upon arrival learns that her apartment is a hovel but she has a CUTE neighbor who is played by Ethan Embry, whose dimples and receding hairline should be in everything.  She also has a gay cousin ---Xander from Buffy who helps her find herself in several makeover montages with his ultra stylin New York friends.  Meanwhile, Celeste thinks Ethan Embry is cute but  (I AM SERIOUS ) because he likes champagne and is an interior designer she thinks he is gay ( even though he wears overalls with nothing underneath, sings karaoke badly and rides a skateboard which make her generalizations a little odd to her). Ethan helps her decorate her apartment with leftovers from this studio and it is LE AWESOME.   She repays him by setting him up on a date with Xander.   Ethan Embry is all “WHAT! How can you think I am gay?  I am so into you!”  -àthis is an actual plotline

Anyways, she starts trying to move her way up the corporate writing ladder by fraternizing with this slimy boss while the typical Hallmark keyboard soundtrack clangs mournfully in the background.

I mean Ethan’s cute, Xander’s helpful, CELESTE IS DUMB!

She ends up with the right guy and well….. there it is .

I bought the new Sense and Sensibility by Joanne Trollope and mean to read that soon. Guys, my reading. Holy Cow! So behind.  Umm, I have also been dipping into the Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Everything: which is like an early 20^th Century how-to and is quite delightful. I am also wading through a ton of CBA book reviews I am behind on.

I was on Novel Crossing with 10 Works of Classic Literature Every Christian Should Read 
Wrote about Horatio Lyle for Femnista
Feature Review of Melissa Tagg's Made to Last for Novel Crossing 
Vienna Prelude for Classics of Christian Fiction

I am too lazy to provide links for these things.

Next week I am off to Halifax for a Rachel-cation and cannot wait to be back in my favourite province.

My new book ( the one I am ploughing away on ) is  quite a lot of fun!