Made a great start on 2015 in January with post December 25th Bobiak and Mary S.T. “Christmases”,
and a bounty of concerts and theatre. Then the nasty cold season and related viruses set in with a vengeance and the rest of January was a blur until the 30th when I learned that Inanna Publications had accepted by next book, Laundry Lines, stories and poems, for publication to be released in the fall of 2015. With much scurrying around in files, and the help of Emily Wood and Anne Champagne I managed to fill out their questionnaire on deadline. I look forward to working with Luciana Ricciutelli on this book.
February began with a send-off- to-Winnipeg party for Kate, Agata and Majka They arrived to a warm welcoming party prepared for -40 weather
And then the deep freeze set in right here in Toronto. I made it out to readings at the Draft Series and Vino Rosso
and joined the indomitable women of the International Studies Group for a meeting but storms and frigid temperatures meant many cancellations. Thank goodness for Murdock Mysteries, Downton Abbey, public television, the nature channel and a shelf full of Christmas-gift books. Not to mention a well stocked larder to provide a non-stop soup pot.
Weather and events picked up just in time for March 6 and The Music in Our in Lives: We All Become Stories, the 3rd in the Heliconian Club’s Music in the Heart of Yorkville concert series. This was a collaborative event of spoken word, Peggy Mahon singing songs that enriched the stories and Noriko Yamamoto’s evocative mime-dance piece.
A wonderfully receptive audience filled the hall and joined us afterwards for good food and lively conversation.
I’m not quite sure how I managed to turn up at Vino Rosso the next afternoon but I did. Fortified with their excellent soup and music from Lucky Mike and Bob Cohen I read a few lyric poems about Monhegan Island in the summer. With daylight savings, longer days and the site of the ice-sculptured shoreline beginning to melt, I can believe in spring!