Why We Are Here

I participated in a fun experiment on Tuesday night - not a scientific but artistic one..presented by Nightswimming Theatre. It involves an impromptu community choir and is moving around each week to a new Toronto location. On Tuesday night it happened to be in the lovely Trinity St. Paul's church on Bloor - home of Tafelmusick...they have also been renovating the space and it was lovely to participate.  A fun way to spend an evening for a mere $15 or PWYC..emphasis on the PWYC.

At first I felt a little like an outsider since many of the folks who showed up seemed to know each other..and don't worry you don't need choral experience to join. After a few vocal excercises, led by the conductor that evening - whose name I didn't catch sorry - save to say she also conducts choral groups at Miles Nadal Community Centre down the street - we dove into the first piece - a "morning song" in Ojibway! Jane, our native liason led us through the pronunciation and how the piece would have been sung..much more nasal. Since the theme for the evenings is "Why We Are Here", the property the church stands on was of course forested like much of Toronto prior to European arrival. Did you know that Dundas was a hunting/walking trail?

After the break - it seems to be a universal tradition that there must be snacks at choir rehearsals - we moved onto a Resistance piece in Yiddish called "The Hour Strikes"! We got into the spirit of the piece marching around and greeting each other and urging via eye contact and touch to join! You can check out their Facebook page...and maybe come out to the next rehearsal...

This week was one for branching out as I also attended the Spiritual Shift Cafe last night. Organized by Steve these weekly sessions at Timothy's World Coffee at 2098 Yonge explore great themes around the Law of Attraction and they're interactive. Last night's was "Creating Your Ideal Life" so we had to come up with what that meant to us and for some of the attendees put that intention out there. There were a few people who had very clear ideas and were well on the way. I of course am a work in progress but it was good to be reminded that the things we enjoyed doing as children - wanted to do and not felt we should do -can bring us closer to that realization. Concentrate on what we love to do that is to say. He runs a few other Meetup groups around similiar themes. Lots of food for thought that 's for sure. It's nice to be part of a like minded group.

This colour is called Kelly - the one I chose a beautiful grey!

In a bizarre segue - which I am known for - I chose to explore a new beauty salon - Sekai on Queen Street West - just west of Shaw for a mani/pedi. It's a lovely clean space, the owners very friendly and great service - they believe in carrying lines which are more body and environment friendly - using Zoya nail polish, Primavera skin care and one of my favourite lines - LoveFresh - a Toronto based company making delicious sugar scrubs and body moisturizers. They offer the usual esthetic services - mani/pedi, facials and even do wash and blow outs.

Cape Breton Sojourn

Fall colours

The Cabot Trail - wild and windy!

I had a brief journey to Cape Breton last week, joined by my siblings Colin, Kathleen - pictured in blue above - and Alan. Alan made all the arrangement for us - it was our dad's wish that his ashes be scattered in the Atlantic, after all he was a Cape Bretoner, born in Murray and spending most of his youth in the Margaree Valley. Our mom's ashes were also scattered as they were united once again - she being of course from Belfast. It was a lovely day after a couple of very windy ones - we weren't sure we were going to be able to make the trip out in the boat. Many thanks to Bird Island Tours.

Colin with the flag...
Kathleen - in blue - and I taking our turns scattering the ashes.

That's our cousin Virgina..she and Rick were wonderful hosts.

A view from out on the water...


It was great to spend time with my siblings even though part of our reason for being together was a sad one. We did manage to enjoy the spectacular Cabot Trail and being near the ocean - our hotel, the Cambridge Suites was right in the Sydney Harbour.


Our cousin Virginia took this one...




That is Whisper, a border collie pup - full of energy!

I was surprised at how easy it was to get veg options in places - we ate lunch at a place called the Rusty Anchor - I know it doesn't sound like it will have those things on the menu does it? But they had a chickpea salad sandwich and tasty homemade veggie soup. Things have changed since I was last out there about 10 years ago...they even know what vegans are and some places advertise gluten free...wow. Guess they figure they need to cater to the tourist traffic...it was an amazing drive as always.

This is the view from where our dad and siblings were born and grew up...there were some boards and bricks left from the site -we each took a little reminder. 

We stopped for lunch at the Cedar Lodge and lo and behold there was the Great Pumpkin in the parking lot!

Next post - I get to meet the Long Island Medium!