Fruits de Mare

Where did the summer go?  I had so much to do.  I guess, I did a play, helped at a friend’s wedding, went to France, and boom here we are.  It went SO fast this year, I can’t even account for it.  But there it is.  Back to work today, after accompanying Scott to Sussex this morning.  I have a lot of work to do this week to get my class in some sort of shape.  But it’ll get done.  I also have a PD presentation to do tomorrow, that’ll get done too.  Sigh.  Time to gear up for the next 10 months of busy.  But I feel kind of ready, actually.  I didn’t until I went in, and then realized how much thought I’d actually already put in to my classes already.   I’ve got some plans for the next year.  It’s going to go very fast. 

Remind me to rest sometimes, will you?  Often I forget to do so.

Feels like fall.  Guess this sundress was a poor choice, but I was misled by the bright sunshine! 

A quick update:  I’m still totally in love with my phone, I’m helping out a bit with Chicago auditions this weekend, planning on catching Mazzer’s show tomorrow night, and I’m off to Toronto today for meetings about Ortona.  A business trip!  How exotic!  Be back tomorrow night.

Well, I went for the iPhone.  I am going to be completely paranoid about losing it or having it stolen, but you know, I don’t regret it at all.  It’s so cute!  I do love my new phone.  And it’s a world phone so I can take it to Italy.  Yay!  I’m still trying to figure out all the applications etc. and I have to sync it up to a computer so I will be able to access my iTunes account etc.

I am also totally broke for the next couple of weeks as a result, which means I am not going to go to my aunt and uncle’s 40th anniversary in Nova Scotia this weekend.  That makes me sad, actually, I had really wanted to go to Nova Scotia this year… but them’s the choices you make.  By sticking around I get to go to the Hospital Grade CD release. 

I’ve also watched an incredible amount of Olympic sports since I’ve been home.  I think I’m scaring Scott a bit, but this is what I do during the Olympics.  I watch as many odd sports as I can, while they are available.  Lots of gymnastics and diving and equestrianism and track…  I particularly love watching the gymnastics.  It amazes me, the things those athletes are able to do.  And today the equestrian team had a jumpoff with the United States for the gold medal!  It was tremendously exciting. 

I can’t believe it’s back to work next week.  The summer is almost done!  I don’t feel ready to go yet.

I got a text message from Bell yesterday informing me my contract is up on my phone, so I’m going to shop around and see what I can find.  Suggestions?  I don’t think I’m going to get the iPhone, even though I would so love to, because I’d be completely paranoid about it being stolen at work.Â

I’m home from France!  And it was a great couple of weeks.  I really enjoyed the trip this time.  I’ll just run through some highlights so I don’t end up with an enormopost ™:

• It was sunny every day except for the day we did the Dieppe raid.  Even when we got poured on at Juno there were sunny breaks.  Gorgeous weather.  It was most un-Normandy-like.
• I bought groceries and school supplies to bring home.  I can’t help it!  I love fountain pens.  And French paper, even though it’s A4.  And I found reasonably priced (and available!) fleur de sel!  And lamb bouillon!  It was a happy trip to Leclerc.  I also brought home a bottle of Creme de Calvados (like a Calvados Baileys, it’s really good) and a rose champagne from the duty-free.
• The Moulin Morin is a bit of heaven on earth.  It had a stream cutting through the middle of the property with ducks.  We could play boules in the yard.  It had apple trees.  Absolutely wonderful.
• I learned how to describe a retreat in French.
• I ate all kinds of delicious foods that have made me gain weight but I don’t mind.  It’s worth it.  Oddly enough I ate a lot of duck this time around.  I also ate a lot of baguette sandwiches and grated carrot salad, and I am not yet tired of either.  Mmmmm baguette, butter, lettuce and tasty pate.  That’s a good lunch, with a bottle of Orangina, and a pot de creme in chocolate or caramel…  drool.
• I was about ready to haul off and whup the many slow-driving German and Italian caravan drivers upside the head for blocking the roads.  Soooooo slow.  I felt like Jeremy Clarkson in my anti-caravan rage.
• Sites seen:  Vimy of course, Beaumont-Hamel (I took a nap at B-H, it was lovely and most needed), Dieppe (highlight:  the weekly farmer’s market, at which I got a delicious fresh neufchatel cheese), Pointe du Hoc, Juno Beach (including going in the Queen’s Own Rifles house at Bernieres s/ Mer!), the Tiger tank at Vimoutiers, driving around Falaise and the Suisse Normande, Mont St Michel, shopping in Bayeux…
• I managed to get an earlier flight coming back home, so I got home at 6:10pm instead of midnight.  I’m so glad I didn’t have to wait around for the later flight as I was really exhausted. 
• I got to see the Wingin’ It shows on Saturday as a result of the earlier flight!  I liked Scott T’s “In the beginning” but felt it went on too long for my exhausted self (I started to nod off somewhere around the dating videos); I also thought Neil’s “Walkman” superhero was a hilarious character concept; and while I didn’t find Anthony’s particularly funny because I really don’t like football movies, I thought Dan C was awesome.  It was a good batch of plays this year, I’m glad I made it.  I started to fall asleep in the car on the way home, I don’t remember getting into bed.  Giles apparently jumped up for attention and meowed at me, but I was already out cold.

And that’s it, really.  Now it’s time to get everything else I have to finish done over the course of this month.  I can’t believe it’s this far into August, but that’s how it goes when you take a jaunt to another continent.

So I’m leaving tomorrow for 10 days, don’t know when I’ll get internet access, the usual deal.  Toodling around Vimy, Dieppe, the D-day landing beaches, the usual.  Be back after Wingin’ It… and I mean right after Wingin’ It.  As if my 8hr40min layover in Montreal couldn’t be a bit shorter so I could see Wingin’ It.  Hopefully I’ll connect with Lisa and Alex in Montreal which will help pass the time a bit.

I don’t like humidity.  I can’t sleep when it’s hot and humid, I sweat all the time, I get headaches, it’s not pretty.  I am so glad it rained today and the city has cooled off.  I can be comfortable again!   

The down side?  When I was out running errands earlier I got caught in a downpour sans brolly, and wearing a white t-shirt.  Woops.

and I’m on a plane back to France for a 10-day jaunt.  My euros have been ordered and are waiting at the bank for me to pick them up.  I have to do my laundry and pack up everything I’m taking with me.   I have to get into school to print off my e-ticket information and itinerary and stuff.  My passport is all ready.  I have a cute new pedicure.  I’m good to go, I think.

I do love travelling.   I hope it all goes smoothly.  I’m quite looking forward to being back in Europe, if only for a short spell.

It was one of those weekends where you just kind of buckle in your seatbelts because you’re going to be always on the go, you know?

Friday night I went to see Mamma Mia with a gang of the girls.  The movie had sold out!  It was quite crowded, we had to sit down front in the lower seats.  The sound was great though.  I so love ABBA, so I was having a great time with all the music.  Some of it was exceptionally cheesy (like Pierce Brosnan’s delivery, for instance, though I really like his voice… or the dance sequence with guys in flippers on a dock) but it was so enjoyable because it never apologized for what it was.  And it’s a cheesy, fun musical.  I will be going to see it again.  It had the goofiest closing credits sequence I think I’ve ever seen.  It’s a shame I was sitting beside a girl whose stupidity was only exceeded by her loudness.  

On Saturday I got up to run some errands for Claudia’s big Italian wedding.  I picked up flowers, delivered them around, checked in at the Hilton to make sure everything they had requested for decorations had been done, got dressed, went to the Roccas and had tasty italian treats and punch, went to the wedding, transported the decorations from Assumption to the Trade and Convention centre and set them up, went to Rhonda’s for a drink and some company with people from work, went back to the T&C Centre, set up the slideshow I had made last week for the cocktail hour, brought the projector and my laptop back downstairs to the car…  and most of that was in my gigantic heels.  By the time they were serving the meal I was done, and slipped back into my flipflops.  By that point Scott also joined me (his day was equally crazy!) and we had some delicious food and were able to relax and enjoy the reception.  It was quite the party.  We bailed after 10, the party was going strong - but we were tired!!! 

Sunday was a double bill superhero movie day.  Scott and I went to see Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight.  I haven’t seen Hellboy yet, so I should probably do that.  Hellboy 2 was really cool.  Guillermo del Toro’s gift with art direction and unnerving creatures was in full force.  The story was also well done, and excecuted at a good pace.  I really liked Ron Perlman in that role.  There were a lot of laughs, and some decent action too.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed that movie.  The Dark Knight was also quite good, but it certainly wasn’t the filmic nirvana that people have been describing.  It was OK, but it wasn’t as good as I had expected.  Heath Ledger was incredible, I will say that.  Almost every time he was on the screen the film moved faster, was more interesting.  He played off so well against Christian Bale - and Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman were all so good.  So where’s the problem?  Well, it’s at least a half hour too long.  There is an unnecessary set piece to hammer home a plot point that had already been made, and made effectively.  Maggie Gyllenhall, a fine actress, is saddled with Superman Returns-quality dialogue.  She does her best, but there’s not a lot for her to work with.  It’s a shame, really, because most everything with the Joker is SO good.  And the rest of the movie is OK.  I wonder if they will be making a third, and if so, will it have Catwoman, or will they recast the Joker.  I hope they don’t recast the Joker.  Heath Ledger really was fantastic.

Still glad I saw The Dark Knight in theatre though, because it was worth it.  Plus, Watchmen trailer!  I know where I will be next year when that comes out.  Waiting in line with Scott for the midnight show, I bet.

Last night was book club at Sabine’s.  We had read Brother of Sleep this month:  one of the best-selling German novels of all time.  It takes place in an isolated alpine hamlet in Western Austria, and tells the story of Elias Alder - a musical prodigy.  It’s an interesting idea, that in this world there have been musical or artistic or mathematical geniuses whose names have been completely lost to history because of the circumstances of their birth or life.  The story is quite compelling, though dark.  I enjoyed it a great deal.  It also has an unusual style, in that the author mimics the storytelling habits of small-town gossip.   A good read, I’m glad Liz was able to track it down.

In other news, I bought SingStar for the PS3 on Friday!  I was sitting at home looking at the package when Scott walked in with a Wii and Wii Fit!  I’m in my BMI scale, but I have very poor balance.  No kidding, Wii Fit.  I kinda knew that already.

It’s been a bit of a long week.  There’s a lot of stuff going down with Ortona right now that I don’t want to get into on my blog, but it’s been a source of some stress.   I took last night though and channeled the anxious energy into making a painting.  It’s not bad: a lotus flower blossom.  It was a much more positive use of my energy than sitting and fretting.  Wishing to divert my anxious self also explains the amount of reading I’ve done of late (though the reading is not abnormal for me in the summer).  I finished Brother of Sleep last night, and read New Moon (the second in the Twilight series) yesterday morning.  Both were good, though vastly different.  I have also been playing my Nintendo DS, I’m playing through Lego Indiana Jones.  Cute game.  And of course, I have tackled my office.  I’m taking a lot of garbage out of there, it feels lighter already. 

I have to be firm and get rid of some of the junk that is clogging up my space - and my headspace.