Quick September Summary

It seems impossible that I have reached the end of my first month of real retirement. Not only did it pass disturbingly quickly but it was also a bit of a chilly vacuum. Most of that feeling springs from a kind of decompression that was necessary for me to go through in order to even begin to feel retired. And to the lousy weather that we have had this particular September - really more like November or mid-October at best. Still and all, it was also a busy month when I did have things to do, and often a lot of fun. Here is a brief run-down:

The month began with the Burlinton Rib Fest, chilly weather and a lot of rain. We skipped our usual Saturday outing as did the friends that have attended with us for years. That gave me extra time to prep the pulled pork and peach pies for the neighborhood Contra Rib Fest on the Sunday. Lots of people came and we made it through the feast on the Penney's front lawn before getting rained out with an evening downpour. Even that didn't put a damper on the event as people retreated to a number of porches and open garages. We hung out until the night chill and the mosquitoes drove us home. Monday afternoon was clear enough that we met a few friends for beer and cider down at the Rib Fest where we listened to Jack de Keyser's Blues Band.

I also registered my younger granddaughter for Modern (Limon) class at the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) formerly the Canadian Children's Dance Ensemble. They've been around for 30 years so they have grown and are wonderfully professional. Thus I have begun my weekly pilgrimage to TO to lunch with my mom and to take my granddaughter to her class. We have established a routine: on our way she has a 6-inch plain Italian Subway sandwich, vegetarian with extra cheese, lettuce, cucumber and green peppers with a bit of salt and pepper and no sauce (not bad at all for a seven year-old!), chocolate milk and two cookie combo. If she needs something after class, there is a gelato place close-by. We have tried cabs and streetcar, but really, the fastest route is my car via the Gardiner and Parliament. So
as much as I love GOing and TTC, I may drive on Thursdays, especially in inclement weather. The timing is right for quick highway traffic and there is parking right in front. She is loving it and so am I.

During TIFF I was delighted to be taking in films with friends and sisters on school days. I saw seven films over three days: three on Monday, two on Tuesday and two on Friday. In order of seeing them with a brief review: 1) The Silver Cliff from Rio in Portuguese was good but did not have enough content in places - it would be better cut as a long short than as a feature; 2) Anonymous from England in English was fabulous, loved it; 3) Lena from The Netherlands in Dutch and Polish was excellent; 4) The Oranges from the US in English with fab cast was intriguing and hilarious, loved it too; 5) W.E. was Madonna's directorial debut about Wallace and Edward with excellent performances but something off about the pace of the story development which made it good but definitely not great; 6) Union Square from the US was a small budget indie starring Mira Sorvino and great little cast about the relationships between sisters and their families, excellent; 7) The Turin Horse from Hungary in Hungarian was not only a massive disappointment but quite possibly the worst film I have ever seen at TIFF, excruciatingly devoid of any story even though the programmer described the director as the maestro of storytelling, soundtrack like nails on a blackboard and we finally walked out after two hours and twenty minutes, something I never do. I love TIFF and finally became a member. Got a lovely mag in the mail with interesting film articles and a program of events giving me a list of too many things that I would love to do from the Grace Kelly exhibit to her movies to Hitchcock's films.

Since TIFF I haven't done much. I spend a lot of time with my feet up, TV on, playing solitaire. This is my way of decompressing. The miserable weather kept my gardening efforts to a minimum, but I did manage to harvest tomatoes enough for a batch of a secret family recipe for Tomato Marmalade. My grandmother and my mother made it every year. It has its own unique delicious taste. Mom was delighted to get a little jar. I also saw more of my sisters than I ever have in one month. I stayed with Jean a few nights, went to TIFF with Jean and Mary, visited Helen's new digs - I'll see Margaret at Thanksgiving and Evelyn the week after. Yay for sisters! We also started a new tradition of rotating family dinners, just the immediate family, with the first delicious one at Erin's. Our Victoria branch keeps in touch via phone and fb. Yay for family! My new freedom has also allowed for more time with friends: TIFF with Sandy, Val and Mavis and chats with Aileen and other neighbours. I even canvassed half the street for The Arthritis Society (something I put off to the last moment making it clear that this is not a task for me). And perhaps the most important bit, I tied off the tiny frays of the loose ends from work, completing and submitting long overdue reports. This gave me an excuse to drop into CALC and say hi to a bunch of folks there, and to enjoy Private Lives at the Royal Alex with Pam, a colleague, without any school pressure hanging over my head.

I bid September good-bye with new colour and cut at Atelier, and a pedi at Salon Soleil. When it turned out that my appointment for a free Tango trial at Blueheel Dance Studio had been double booked, I was disappointed but rebooked for early October. A whole new month stretches ahead, with fewer items on the calendar and adventures waiting to unfold.

Dancing Granddaughters

What greater joy for an arthritic old dancer grandmother than to have both granddaughters taking dance classes. One is thirteen, taking 5 classes a week, mostly ballet, way out on the west coast. I don't get to see her much but she reported today that she was so happy to be back in dance regardless of the aching legs she has after that first September class. How well do I remember that feeling - the agony of descending the stairs at school the morning after the first class, thighs afire. It is definitely good pain, though. You know you are alive and have once again connected with the ecstasy of dance. I can't wait to see the DVD of this years concert.

Closer to home, it was my great pleasure today to accompany granddaughter number 2 to her first modern dance class. I have enrolled her in Modern 1 at Canadian Children's Dance Theatre School so I know that the technique and teaching will be exemplary. It is the first indulgence of my retirement after going to TIFF on school days. I will come to town each Thursday to take her across town to the school and bring her home afterwards. The 30-40 minute trip each way will give us a chance to have a good visit. It was a bit of a gamble, since she wanted to take 'pop' dancing which I interpreted as the 'popping' done during hip hop. Too young for those classes. So I told her that Limon technique was very beautiful, with a lot of circular motion, fall and recover, suspend and release - kind of like a pendulum. Needn't have worried - she loved it and we had a good time on our travels. She will be ready to go back again next Thursday. I am so proud of my granddaughters and happy that we have dance in common.

TIFF Tuesday Sept 13

So we decided to see one film earlier in the day, skip an evening film and instead go to dinner after seeing W.E. And we had a really good day. Val went home Monday night, I stayed with my sister Jean, Sandy and Mavis stayed in a suite at Mom's retirement home. By the time I caught up with them at the Whole Foods cafe, they had a suggestion for our first film of the day - The Oranges. I managed to get tickets via my iPad while we had our coffee and croissants and off we went to Ryerson Theatre. What a treat. Absolutely fabulous! The cast included Hugh Laurie, Katherine Keener, Oliver Platt and Alison Janney - old favorites - plus several younger actors whose work I am less familiar with. They were all wonderful, the story was complex and a bit cringe-inducing but laugh out loud funny. Great script and direction.

Then we booted it on down to the Elgin theatre to see W.E. Hmmmm. Madonna is not a Barbra Streisand. I could not put my finger on it - something in the script, direction or cutting was just not quite right. Terrific visuals, great work by the cast especially by the two actors who played Wallace Simpson and her contemporary counterpart, Wally. Why was it good but not great? There was something about the back and forth in the first third that didn't work. What was the good doctor all about other than a nasty partner? Sandra dozed off a couple of times. Enough said.

We dropped in to say hi to Mom on our way to Sassafras where my sister Mary joined us. None of us spotted any stars. In fact, when we got there we were one of just a few full tables. But our waiter was delightful and the food was delicious. I had a 'badass' mojito, the lamb, and the peach dessert with coffee. We were given an amazing amuse bouche of watermelon, olive and watercress before and delicious chocolates after. Definitely worth the trip and the investment.

Home on the GO and baffed all day Wednesday.

TIFF Monday Sept 12

Very briefly as I need to sleep now - 1:30 today at Scotiabank we saw The Silver Cliff which was alright, interesting concept and I love slow moving pieces and portrait pieces, but really in the end simply too slow moving, or dwelt too long in a given scene. Walking in the empty airport for instance. Went on to the point of inducing sleep. Great work by the cast however. Then at 4:30 at The Wintergarden we saw Anonymous. Fabulous, simply fabulous. I would see it again in a minute. Finally, at 8:30 we saw Lena at AMC6. Another fabulous film. The sort of film that Silver Cliff hoped to be. Rich content and character development. Loved it!

We have tickets for W.E. directed by Maxonna at the Elgn at 2:30 Tuesday. Going to fill out the day first thing at the box office. more later...

Off to TIFF tomorrow

Two plum tartes and two peach pies are baked and cooling. One of the peach pies is for a friend who cannot eat lard so I used Crisco all vegetable shortening. But you know, it just doesn't make as good a crust as the Maple Leaf lard. I'm sorry, that is simply the truth. And Crisco has changed its formula or something. The crusts are too soft. They tear easily. So the pie fillings leak around the edges - gimme lard any day. But, here's the thing... I am off to TIFF tomorrow morning for a couple of days. So I think the neighbours are going to have to share in the pies while I am gone. It is just as well because I do want to lose some weight. But still, the peach pies are made with Loring peaches, my favourite.

Well, I will make it up by watching new movies for the next two days. My friends and I have tickets for 1:30 and 8:30 tomorrow. I am going in early to pick the tickets up at the box office and try to find a third film between these two. The first is The Silver Cliff, in Portuguese, from Rio. The evening film is Lena, in Dutch and Polish, from Amsterdam. We love the foreign language films but need a break from reading subtitles and hope to find an English language film starting at around 5.

Between times we will visit the Bell Light Box. My TIFF membership grants me entree to the Bell Blue Lounge (I think that is what it is called) so I hope my friends will be able to join me there for a drink. We will be having lunch with my mom first and seeing a couple of my sisters who may join us for the evening film. It is going to be fun as always! And it is going to be on school days this year - more fun for me.

First Week Not So Fabulous

OK, let's be honest here. The lazing about was more than that. It was fatigue, which was understandable, I'll grant you - my first real week off with nothing to do but what I will. But I did take a chill in the pouring rain at the contra-ribfest on Sunday. And that rain did go on! Suddenly fall weather: chilly, windy, rainy and grey all day everyday since Sunday. What kind of weather is that for my first week of retirement? Crying out loud. The first few days were so humid that my knees killed with arthritis. And sleeping with the windows open simply blew in the allergens from the squash leaves growing moldy in the garden under our bedroom window. So by midweek the lazing about in wooly socks and sweat shirt with lots of tea was really me fighting off a sinus infection and bit of a cold from allergies and bone deep chill. How great to see the sun come out last evening and the clouds finally part. Today I feel great and energized. I have put the cards away so I am not tempted to play my thousandth game of solitaire. I went to the market today and bought peaches, plums and corn warm in the sun. The slight agitation and anxiety that accompanied the lazing about may have to do with the few last strands of school stuff still waiting for my attention. I will get to them this weekend between making pies and tomato marmalade and going to the South Side Shuffle in Port Credit and packing for TIFF. I have tickets for Monday and a place to stay in town. Life is about to begin.

No Back to School for Me

Yesterday everyone went back to school. I did not. In fact, I slept in until 10:20 and after groggily making a cup of coffee, I sat and watched the last half hour of the Marilyn Denis Show. Then I watched Murdoch Mysteries and played solitaire until noon. I managed to get showered and dressed and was finally beginning to consider my To Do list by mid-afternoon. First: call the Canadian Children's Dance Theatre to find out how I can enrol my granddaughter for a class. Second: visit a neighbour to pick out a few films for our first day at TIFF next Monday. Hmmm. Dinner time. Cooked so much for the neighbourhood contra-ribfest that I really didn't feel like preparing food. At all. I put some potatoes on to boil and raced up to Longos for a BBQ chicken. We had it with the new potatoes, leftover green and yellow beans from the garden, leftover marinated salad and the last of the pies I had baked for the fest. The leftover pulled pork will do for tonight. Later, having tea in front of the TV, I got out my iPad and logged onto TIFF. I found out that, although I can buy up to 4 tickets per film on-line, most of those we chose are Off Sale. But if we get tickets for one of the evening performances, we can work backward from there and will probably end up at the box office taking our chances that morning. Checking my gmail, I was sad to learn that the Edible Arrangement I had sent to CALC for the Ed-Vance staff meeting had not arrived on time. It was waiting for the principal afterwards. That shop will hear about this from me. I did want to send a tasty little greeting to the staff to wish them a good year. Just so happy that I did not have to be there and could simply laze the day away.

Last 2 Days at CALC

I was happy to go back to CALC on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, to lend a hand to my replacement and help out a bit with registrations. It gave me a chance to share a few insights with the new VP regarding the way things work at the school and to share a few docs that she will need over the next few weeks. I had offered to come in for the entire week as I don't mind giving a little back. But I was really needed only for the two days. What a relief! As much as I enjoyed helping out, seeing some of the staff and students, and managing a bit of a visit with some colleagues, I went home exhausted at the end of the day. If I learned nothing else, the experience confirmed for me that my decision to retire had been the right decision, meaning both correct and best. I was so glad that I did not have to go in today or any day in the future. I slept in, watched CityLine and the Marilyn Denis Show while playing a lot of solitaire, and then went for a pedicure and got my hair cut. By the time I got home it was late afternoon. Just time to harvest the ripe tomatoes and tidy up the flower arrangements before going to get the seniors special at the fish and chips shop. Tonight, I kicked back in my recliner and watched movies on TV while I played another dozen hands or so of solitaire. Husband is busy in his office prepping his college classes for this fall. He starts on Tuesday. I don't. I almost felt retired today. Oh, wait. I forgot. I picked up some information on Tango lessons after my hair appointment. Yeah. I am retired.