Day 237. Purring Engines

What a difference a day makes. On Friday, Toronto was a ghost town. Yesterday, it was a total zoo. People everywhere. Young people. Old people. Couples. Singles. Parents. Kids. Men. Women. Boys. Girls. With dogs and without. City dwellers. Suburbanites. Tourists.

There wasn’t a square inch of space without someone sitting on it. Standing on it. Driving by. Walking past. Or waiting in line for it. Sure, stores being open again probably accounted for some of it. This being a long weekend also probably accounted for some of it.

But mostly, it was the weather. It had to be.

Yes, indeed folks. You heard it here first. I am here to report winter is over. Pack up the shovels and the skates.

Day 236. One Day

Much as I love photography, and taking photos, I am here (at WordPress) to write. So I don’t often read the Weekly Photo Challenge on The Daily Post. But I did yesterday. The challenge was to capture a day in your life in photos.

One of the suggestions was to shoot once an hour, in order to give readers a real sense of how you spent your time. It was also suggested you include captions.

The author of the post went through the exercise, herself. And although this would probably be considered blasphemy coming from a writer, the photos told the story in a much more arresting, compelling and interesting way than words might have.

In truth, Sara had an ordinary day. But somehow, it seemed less so, simply by virtue of having been captured visually. It was dramatic, as opposed to a bunch of entries on a daily calendar. Or even a recitation of activities, starting with getting out of bed and ending with getting back into bed.

Day 235. Feels Deserted

I’m not used to this. Having absolutely nothing to do. Nowhere to go. No, no, no. Don’t feel sorry for me. Everyone’s in the same boat. At least they are, here, in Toronto, where I live. It’s Good Friday. And everything is shut tight.

Banks are closed. So are liquor stores. So are all stores, for that matter. Big, small, mom and pop. Pretty sure lots of restaurants are, as well. We can still get a coffee and convenience stores are probably open. I haven’t checked.

Traffic will be non-existent. But since there’s nowhere to go, most people won’t get to take advantage of it. What a bummer for commuters who have to deal with monstrous traffic, all the time. Day in. Day out. Ugh!

Think about it. Wouldn’t you be pissed as hell, if you could finally get from ‘A’ to ‘B’ in record time, but nothing

Day 234. Fight Club

This isn’t the first time I’ve said, in my blog, I’m not a fan of our Mayor.  Rob Ford is his name.  And if ever there was a polarizing human being, it is him.  You are either a staunch supporter, or you just cannot stand him.

There is absolutely no middle ground.

I fall into the latter category.  But like it or not, he got elected.  Nothing more to say about that.

Don’t worry, I am not about to put you to sleep with a diatribe about his politics.  It wouldn’t mean anything to you.  Much as I would love to, I’m not even going to vent about his character, which leaves a lot to be desired.  Or his personal ‘issues’, of which there are many.

If you’re curious Google him.  There won’t be any shortage of information.

What I want to talk about is how acrimonious the discussions are, about him.  And trust me, I am using the word

Day 233. Speaking Up

There’s been a major hullabaloo for months over Sheryl Sandberg. She’s the 44 year old Facebook COO (Chief Operating Officer), and their first female board member, who is championing the cause of women. Well, she’s championing and blaming. Sort of. But not really.

This week, her recently-published, first book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead” tops BOTH the New York Times and Amazon bestseller lists. It’s being referred to as a manifesto for women.

Her accomplishments are so many, if I tried to list them all here, this post would take you a half hour to read. To give you just an inkling of her popularity I just tried, for twenty minutes, to link to Sheryl Sandberg on

Day 232. The Pilgrimage

Last night (at sundown) was the first night of Passover; and Jews the world over gathered with family, extended family and friends to celebrate the first of two Seder meals.  The cooking goes on for days and the night goes on forever (if you’re observant).

It is a night of much food and much prayer.  It isn’t unusual to still be sitting at the table at 10:00 or 11:00 pm.  It’s also a time of major, and I mean MAJOR, clean up.  All food not designated kosher for passover MUST be disposed of.  Every pantry, every cupboard has to be emptied.  Same with the refrigerator.

The kitchen has to be scrubbed, from top to bottom.  As in, pretend it’s an operating room, kind of scrubbed.  And everything in it, as well.  As in the stove, dishwasher, refrigerator, Cuisinart, mixer, you name it.  Lots of families (not mine) have separate china, cutlery and glassware for passover.  And the ultra orthodox even have separate kitchens.

Oy!

Like I said, my family was not, and is not, observant.  We did always gather together for a huge, family meal.  One night at my maternal grandmother’s, the second at my father’s.  Which was wonderful.  It was always tons of fun.  But that was it.

I went to art school with a girl whose family were ultra, ultra orthodox.  Her parents used to make a pilgrimage of a

Day 231. More Celebrating

I seem to be having the birthday that keeps on giving, this year. Yesterday more friends invited me out, for brunch. They live pretty far outside of the city, in an area called Milton, but they sweetly offered to come into Toronto. Like me, when it comes to food, they prefer simple and home made to shi shi.

So I suggested we meet at a cute neighbourhood restaurant, in an area called The Annex. The place, By The Way Cafe, is tiny. In the summer they open their terrace, which is huge, but we’re not there yet. They don’t take reservations for brunch, so there’s usually a line-up. But it never takes long to get a table.

The food is very vegetarian friendly, totally right for the neighbourhood. It’s all healthy, organic, tasty and reasonably priced. The wait staff are great and seem to really enjoy working there.

Day 230. Seize It

Very interesting post on Book Peeps the other day.  It was Friday, I think.  All about ‘seizing the day’.  

Then yesterday Pete Armetta mentioned, in a post he wrote about volunteering at the Virginia Festival of the Book, how he’d brought a manuscript along, because he knew a particular publisher would be in attendance.

Carpe diem.

A subject close to my heart.  And the way I choose to live my life.  Can’t say I’ve always embraced it with the ease and fervour I do now, but I have at least always tried to put my fears or discomfort aside and just go for it.

And the older I get, the less I worry about it.  It’s a benefit of aging, I think.  You start to develop a to-hell-with-it

Day 229. Sleepless Night

You all know I went out Thursday night.  For dinner, and to hear some live music.  It was fabulous.  But the only downside is, it kept me up all night.  Sounds strange, I know, but it’s true.

When you’re there, in person, watching and listening it’s really energizing.  You’re in the moment.  You have no idea what time it is, nor do you care.  You’re pumped.  The adrenaline is just coursing through your body.  You could stay there all night.  You could dance all night.  And I suppose the fact you’re drinking also has a little something to do with it.

All I know is, as I sat there, in that lounge, I had more energy than I’ve had in a long time.  Which was great.  Except there was no sleeping for me when I got home.

First off, I was totally wide awake.  I tried going to bed not long after I got home, at around 11:30.  I was

Day 228. What’s Next?

I ‘celebrated’ my birthday this week.  On Wednesday.  I waited until it was safely over to mention it.  Hate making a big deal of it.  And not being such a lover of either attention or sweets, my preference has always been to avoid the cake and candles bit.  Especially now.

With the number of candles I’d need, once they were lit, it would look like a minor forest fire.  And I don’t honestly know if I still have the lung capacity to blow them out.  At least all at once.  Call in the fire fighters!

Never mind.  It was grand.  And it turned out to be a two-day affair.  Some work in the morning, some pampering in the afternoon and dinner with a friend on Wednesday.  Work during the day on Thursday.  Dinner, drinks, jazz and blues on Thursday night.

Several blog posts ago, I wrote about Errol Fisher, a local singer, I’ve enjoyed for years and years.  Well, lo and