Hola!

Epitourists got together October 31 for a trip to sunny Spain, at Kaarina's house. A cold, wet afternoon that turned into a stormy Halloween night. Wind so strong it knocked the power out! We were quite comfortable inside as we enjoyed a menu inspired by her recent trip.

Very relaxed as we all took turns in the kitchen, preparing our tapas: paprika smoked almonds, orange stufffed olives, pork cheeks, chick peas and spinach, mushrooms, oxtail, tortas.

Laura and Caroline were sleeping over so I asked if I could join in for a pajama party. I have to say I was impressed that Kaarina could find separate rooms for us all and put us up so comfortably. After the reno I may be able to do the same but will still require a blow-up bed. 

Kaarina had arranged a sherry and fino tasting, which three different choices on offer, each in its own lovely glass. 

I'm quite ecstatic that after the tasting, in addition to wine pairings with our meal, I didn't seem to suffer any allergic reactions. After several years avoiding wine I may be able to indulge responsibly again!

Although I didn’t hop on a plane and ramble la Alhambra, I did explore the recipes of Spain to prepare for the Epitourist gathering. Hola Foodie was a great source for salivating over the possibilities. Sunny Andalusia was my region of choice. Home of Seville oranges, and olives - a natural pairing for the tapas Orange Stuffed Olives. I let the olives marinate several days before stuffing them, and although they were wonderful pops of flavour, I can't help but think our readily available ingredients likely pale in comparison to the real thing.

Hola Foodie also featured Andalusian-style Chickpeas and Spinach, which somewhat surprised me as I don't quickly connect southern Spain with either of the main ingredients. Plain food, but so delicious when seasoned with the cumin, garlic, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper.

I couldn't resist a visit to Alex Farm Fresh cheese for Spanish cheeses to complete a cheese plate that was starting with Manchego. Strong flavour profiles appealed. The product notes for Monte Enebro read, "A rind composed of ash and mold means insistent flavor... the damp, cakey, acidic paste near the rind is fierce, with unmistakable overtones of black walnut. Inside the core remains salty, lactic, and soothing." I also selected Valdeon, "a Spanish blue cheese, wrapped in either sycamore, maple, or chestnut leaves. It has a very intense blue flavour." 

For the wine, I chose a northern spirit from the vintner Marques de Riscal, a specialist in old vines from Rioja. I've sampled this in previous years and wanted another sip... happily I was able to enjoy a glass!

Laura brought us some grain-fed beef from Wolfe Island that I know I will enjoy in the months ahead.

Promises

A few hours gardening today. Tearing out weeds and then digging up soil to bury bulbs.

One giant allium planted alongside the dwarf spruce. Three 'Graceful' alliums beside the red barberry shrub in the front, and three allium shubertii  by the iris in back, to poke up their heads in May/June. Eight Tulipa Rembrandt Happy Generation beside the front maple to bloom in April/May. A mix of fifty tulipa, muscari and chiondoxa by the front steps for early spring.

Hoping to take photos of the real thing in a few months time.

Several of my recent efforts haven't been hugely successful. All the jack-in-the pulpits I planted this year seem to have disappeared, along with the varieties of white clematis from a few years back. O well, half the fun is the expectation and anticipation, so I can't say the effort wasn't worth it.

In a few months time we will see if these bulbs work their springtime magic, and in the meantime I can look forward to festive spring colours.

HaulOut 2019

It is a beautiful, sunny day today! Not too windy. Perfect for a sail. Too bad the season has officially ended.

Kitchen duty with a 6 a.m. call, watching the sun rise and the crane move into position.

Five in the kitchen.  Breakfast served and then the chop-chop-chopping of onions, red pepper, yellow pepper, zucchini, prepping for dinner for eighty. I leave after a four hour shift but Rob will be there all day, literally tying up loose ends. His shift is 2-7, so I will be back later to pick him up and sample the dinner and roasted peppers.

Our last sail of the season this year was September 21, over to Toronto Island. We tied up at the wall overnite and had a nice, warm fire. Tore down the sails on October 8.

Overall we got out on about ten trips this year, but one of them was our three week vacation, so although we may not have been as active as past seasons, we were still able to enjoy the water. 

Hopefully the lake won't be so high next year!

Haircut

This is the second time we've had to give poor Griskit a Lion Cut, and around the same time of year. There is some plant or tree syrup she picks up on her exploits that causes her long hair to get so matted it is constantly pulling and making her miserable. She's much happier now, although she doesn't look it! And I can't believe how small she is without all that hair.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Off to Matewatchan for Thanksgiving in 2019. Such a wonderful tradition to continue through the years.

Rob and I, Penny and Alex enjoyed the long drive through the splendour of the fall colours, and four and half hours later arrived at Lois' and Mark's. Gord, Linda, Bill, James and Ryan were there as well. Although the gathering was smaller, the feast was grand and there was much joy around the table. Later on, a huge bonfire brought warmth to a dark evening and there were laughter and fireworks under a full moon.


The next morning, a full breakfast before wending our way back home.

Soaking in the colours, we enjoyed our thanksgiving rituals: pausing at the bridge to take a group photo, pulling up to a road stand for local honey, picking apples at Pieter's Orchard, watching the salmon run in the Ganaraska River. This year, we extended our stay in Port Hope and Alex and Penny treated us to dinner at a local pub.

All of the thanksgivings blending into such beautific moments. Transcendent.

Full Hunter's Moon - Thanksgiving October 2019

What better time to think of Diana, than a full hunter's moon.

The moon was full October 13, 5:08 pm

from the Commons:  While Diana is a triple goddess with many aspects, her connection to the moon is possibly more important to her identity than her huntress aspect. In Latin, her name means “goddess of light and of the moon.” It stems from the words for “shining,” “divine,” “the open sky,” and dies or “daylight.” This may seem contradictive for a goddess of the night and the underworld, but as Cicero explains, “she was called Diana because she made it like day during the night” 1. Diana was not only a moon goddess; she was worshipped as the moon 2. She was the moon. Ovid portrays her as such in his Metamorphoses, often using the word “moon” in place of her name.

Diana’s identity as the Moon plays a crucial role in connecting her other aspects as huntress and underworld goddess. The moon was an essential element of a successful hunt. The ancients believed that the moon provided the earth with dew at night, and this dew, or moisture, is what allows the scent of woodland animals to be picked up by hunting dogs. The moisture had to be just right; too much or too little and the scent would be too hard to track 4.

The ancients saw the monthly phases of the moon as a metaphorical death; a time when Diana, the Moon, would journey to the underworld 5. Because of the effect the moon’s waxing and waning had on the ocean’s tide, it was thought that she was who gave life and took it away 6.

“The shield of the god reddens at early morning, reddens at evening, but is white at noonday in purer air, farther from earth’s contagion. And the Moon-goddess changes in the nighttime, lesser today than yesterday, if waning, greater tomorrow than today, when crescent.” 7

The phases of the moon as it changes from new to full each month are representative of Diana’s transitory nature at the core of her identity. She transitioned the light to darkness and life to death.

Silent Retreat

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day—unless you're too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” — Zen proverb.

It's been two years since Dave and I took the mindfulness studies course.

Prior to the course I already had a mindfulness practice, but no formal training, so part of the reason I took it was to find out if I was meditating 'right.' The course was very useful, as I learned techniques and some different approaches, and was reassured it really is a simple as it sounds, and as difficult.

Part of the curriculum was a day long silent retreat. I thought it would be a full day on the cushion, and was relieved when it turned out to be a silent day of a series of guided meditations. I felt fabulous at the end of the day and promised myself to return.

I checked in with Dave, and he was up for a return visit too, so I made it his birthday 'present,' and packed us each a lunch.

No clocks. No phones. No reading. No writing. No making eye contact.

Focus on the present. Here. Now. Here.

...

Guided Meditations
Moving
Breathing
Body Scan
Walking
Mountain
Eating
Moving
Noticing
Walking
Sitting
Loving Kindness

The play's the thing

Yaga / Kat Sandler / Tarragon Theatre October
Comic and dark,.Three generations of independent women become the objects of men's passion and fear. There IS a house in the woods, with a mortar and pestle to grind their victims bones.

The theatre convention of having actors adapt multiple roles is used in the play to provide a fitting twist at the story's end. Three actors play 10+ characters.

Baba Yaga (Seana McKenna) immediately leaps to her own defense at the start of the play. Depending on how you see it, Yaga is either a wizened, evil old crone who devours children and crushes men’s bones, or a benevolent trickster with little patience for those who offer her insufficient thanks for her boons. In Sandler’s play, she’s a stand-in for the aging, invisible woman, whose presence goes unrecorded unless she does something for – or to – men. (Money on Theatre)

Destiny U.S.A. /Laura Anne Harris (Convection Productions)/Fringe (Crow's Nest) July

This was a one-woman show performed by the playwright. She is living in the States just after Trump is elected, trying to make her marriage work, coming to terms with her mother's terminal illness. She is also working as a Relay operator (someone who acts as a voice for the deaf person by relaying what they say verbatim), so there were also insights into the lives of random callers.

That's a lot to pull off in an hour, but Laura Anne Harris made it work. The play incorporated a simple powerpoint for captioning with pre-recorded performances using ASL.

Reenacting moments and stirring compassion.

The audience and the theatre were small, which made the personal stories feel all the more like a revelation.

Forget Me Not /Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes/Luminato June

Very unique. A puppet master unpacks his trunk of many characters and calls on the audience throughout to take the role of Chorus; Mob; Lover; Maestro; and above all, Witness to the story. Single chairs, love seats, couches, benches and stools are cast around the floor to loosely face the stage, which is defined by a rug and vinyl record player.

Early in the performance, everyone in the audience is called to line up solemnly, take a hand puppet, and give the Other a name. Burkett moves around the theatre, challenging members of the audience: some are quite uncomfortable and others are completely entranced. At one point my puppet is given a good whack by the King for insurrection. I don’t quite always follow the plot, but the story details seem to be embellishments on the theme of underground love letters, unrequited love, and loss. At the end of the performance, Burkett pleads with us to not steal his puppets, changes into a Grim Reaper clown costume, and then throws the door open into the street to hail a taxi.

887 / Can Stage May
Wow! Lepage is a master storyteller and such a magician with multimedia. I absolutely loved how accessible this one man play was, and how perspective was moved from the very personal to the historical to the political. Constantly shifting and meandering, very dreamlike and yet so real. 

I absolutely loved the spinning cube and how it was able to transform from an apartment building to a kitchen to a screen or a monitor. What a conjurer! At the end when Lepage was taking his final bows, the backstage crew came out to join him front of stage, and there were at least eight people. Must take a huge amount of choreography to make the magic happen, and all the effort going into the production design. Incredible! My favourite production of the season.

Evan Hanson  / Mirvish April 

My favourite moment in the whole production was the transition to the last scene, with saplings in an apple orchard springing from the stage floor and magically growing five feet. That alone was worth the price of admission.  The set production was outstanding throughout, with text and blinking monitors and beeps and blips adding extra flavour to the storyline.

The score was my least favourite component, a bit problematic for a musical. One number was so grating to me I wanted to retreat to the lobby until it finished. As this was a Tony Award winner, my expectations were sky high. Overall I was so disenchanted with the score I likely won't return to musical theatre for quite awhile.

The Last Ship / Mirvish March

stormy seas and a starry night

Sting was the composer and some of the musical phrases from his top hits could be heard emerging throughout the score.

The famous musician also acted in the Toronto production.

The play was definitely worthwhile seeing, but there was lots going on and I found it overly long.

The staging was incredible. Lights and projection transformed the settings from factory to home to seascape, elegantly and seamlessly.

The story about how a seaside town is affected when a key industry closes down is very timely here in Toronto, with GM shuttering its Oshawa factory. Sting gave a free acoustic performance for GM workers in a show of solidarity, wishing them well in their fight.

Hamlet / Can Stage February 

Watching the deaf performer sign throughout her role as Heratio was unforgettable, and it really did add another level to the interpretation of events. For me, I kept thinking about the lack of voice - was it the frustration of not really being able to influence events? the hopelessness of fighting against fate?

Non traditional casting in all roles was a bit of a novelty but I think overall such approaches help bring new and diverse audiences to theatre.

Reinterpreting Shakespeare has helped keep the plays alive throughout the centuries.

Tartuffe / Can Stage January

This was a very funny staging of Moliere's comedy.

Setting it in the modern era, adding in tweaks for a digital age and using non traditional casting were useful reminders for how relevant the story remains.

During intermission I read in the programme notes that Moliere's play was banned by the church in the seventeenth century because of  its depiction of a corrupt religious leader who takes advantage of his followers' blind faith.

Moliere had to rewrite parts, including the ending, and have a benevolent king step in to the rescue. In 1669, King Louis XIV authorized performances of the third and final version of the play, and it was a great success.