Golden days ...

I'm a mite overwhelmed by all that I've done during this one week whirl wind visit to Ontario to visit family and friends.

How do I order and present all the things I've done from the fancy-schmancy,

My friend Catherine and I were thrilled to see Don Cumming give
the citation in honour of Bonnie Patterson.
(I worked for Bonnie and Don at Trent University)

to the more down-to-Earth?

Kayaking with my brother Darrell in the creek behind his house.

Need I explain what was happening in each photo or will you figure out that I  played with chickens,

 hugged baby goats,

and delighted in the company of a couple of very special "goldens" ?

Sandy's dogs, Rickard and Digby.

I chilled in a country meadow,

explored Ottawa with an old friend, 

Me and Bonnie.

searched for the sinkhole,

Wanted to see the sinkhole but the hoardings around it were too high.

and drove 250 km. to Peterborough to visit with friends there. 

 

 

In Kemptville I found a couple of geocaches, visited locks on the Rideau Canal, 

Isn't this delightfully confusing ?  Care to guess WHAT is happening in this photo ?

went on a forest ramble,

  

and visited a train museum.

The Smith's Falls station is now a museum.

A dental office on a train did the circuit of remote
under-serviced communities in Northern Ontario.

  

Right now my suitcase lies on the floor waiting to be packed.  It's after 10 p.m. and I should be thinking about bed.

But before I pack that suitcase I want to pack some of my marvellous memories from this trip into this blog post, partly to help me remember when I get back home and partly to help understand in the morning why I'm so darn tired.   

Sandy's "Chooks" ...

Sorry that I've been A.W.O.L. for a while.

Lost myself for a bit and went on a "walk-about" to see if I could find myself.

One of the places I looked was back in Ontario, visiting friends and family.

And one of those friends, is Sandy.

Sandy and I met a bunch of years ago at Trent University  where we both worked.   I needed a friend and generously offered her $5 to be my friend.  She did the same : so we called it even and have been best buds ever since.

You know someone is your friend when they come and visit you in Nova Scotia, not in Summer but in February !

And so when I needed to regain some balance in my life, I spent a couple of days in Peterborough, getting together with wonderful, old friends and spending time with Sandy and her Chickens, or "Chooks" as she calls them.

Her two lovely "Goldens", Digby and Rickard, studiously NOT eating the Chooks.

She has at least six varieties of Chickens.  She even has Easter Eggers which lay rather unique, pale blue eggs.

Mixed in with the hens she has a rather confused, sex-crazed rooster.

While I was there the flock had their first chance to experience snow.

All-in-all, I think they'd give it a "wattle's-down".

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Early morning visitors.

During my visit, Sandy arranged get-togethers with many of my chums.

me 'n Julie (Julie is the one without the furry face)

With Sandy and Cindy.

During dinner one evening Sandy reached in her wallet, pulled out a five dollar bill and without a word passed it across to me.  I said, "Thanks", and passed it back.

If it's Tuesday, this must be Toronto.

I was raised on Musicals. I grew up thinking that all families were obsessed with Musicals.

On car road trips my mom, dad, brother and I, would play a game where someone would sing a line from a song, and someone else would have to sing the next line, or perhaps sing a line from another song from the same Musical. We all thought this was great fun.

My  beloved dad worked as the House Manager at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto back in the heyday of musical theatre.  The O'Keefe's official opening in October of 1960 was celebrated with the world premier of "Camelot" starring Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet.  Sadly being only 10 years old, I fell asleep and missed most of the second act.  As time went on big musicals would use Toronto, specifically The O'Keefe  as their "try out" location before heading to Broadway with the result that I was immersed in musicals throughout my formative teen years.

I am delighted to report that that love of musical theatre is shared by my daughter, Kaitlyn, who at age eight, asked for row seats to "Phantom of the Opera" for her Birthday.

This all goes to explain why Kait and I flew to Toronto last Tuesday afternoon, saw two musicals, and then flew back to Halifax on Thursday afternoon !

The story begins last June when I discovered that the cheeky musical "The Book of Mormon" would be coming to Toronto in September.  The die was cast when I realized that "Wicked" would be in Toronto at the same time!  On-line tickets were ordered, a Porter Airline seat sale was taken advantage of, and three months later we were off on our much-anticipated adventure.

Toronto's distinctive skyline.  See the SkyDome and the CN Tower ?

Flying into the small island airport on Porter Airlines you are presented with stunning views of downtown Toronto. 

We are lucky enough to have wonderful family who live in the core of the City and let us flop with them, took us out for a lovely dinner and just generally made us not feel like free-loaders.

In a frenzy of flights and transit and walks, the big trip has come and gone.

The Toronto I visited, is so very different from the Toronto of my childhood.  I felt intimidated, thrilled and  over-whelmed by a feeling of not belonging.  As the saying goes: "A great place to visit: but I wouldn't want to live there".  Kait felt quite the opposite: she loved the excitement, crowds and frenzy of of the City.

Took me a bit to figure out how my hand was reflected in that far off building. 

Dundas Street approaching Yonge.

On Wednesday I met up with a dear friend for lunch at Milestones.

Me and my good friend, Bonnie.

I must admit that there is a beauty to the City, but I found the stunning contrasts of the pretty people walking past the beggars most troubling.  I struggled with how to deal with them too: giving to some and speaking to others.  I just wonder if at some point, I too would find it easier just to walk by ...

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And then of course there were the shows.

I loved each of them for very different reasons.  I know the music from both shows well, and though I knew the story of each, I found "The Book of Mormon" to be a grittier than I expected.  Each musical won a "Best Musical".   Here is the hit song "Defying Gravity" from the 2004 Tony Awards introduced by Joel Grey who played The Wizard.  Book of Mormon won its award in 2012 and "I Believe" is our anti-hero's touching statement of his suddenly rattled. Mormon faith.

 I think you either like musicals or they just aren't your cup of tea.  There seems to be no middle ground.  Which camp do you fall into ?  

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