De retour

Hi guys! Yes I'm still alive, and we made it back from NYC safe and sound. We had a terrific time in The City! Hard to believe we left a week ago tomorrow! The flights were good and we actually arrived ahead of time in NYC. I'm going to leave it at that and post a few teaser shots of our trip as I still have a million and one things to do before the IT guys from work arrive here on Friday to connect me to the office... More soon!

Central Park in bloom - just below the Strawberry Fields


Poster for Armida - the opera we saw at the Met


Brad and our good friend Christiane in front of the Met


Me and Brad


I love this shot - String Theory comes to Katz's

Memory Lane

Hey gang,

How goes the battle? All goes good on this end. I hope I didn't freak you all out with last week's rather morose post! I truly wasn't all that sad or depressed, just a bit melancholy...

This past week has been busy and productive both at work and on the home front. We are still getting things moved around at home, switching bedrooms, moving art, and getting ready for my upcoming stint of working at home. Speaking of which, while I always knew it was to be a pilot project, I was think more in terms of months, whereas, I have since found out, that the bosses at work are thinking in terms of weeks! Nice. In any case, I'll take what I can get. They tell me if all goes well, I would be working at home on a full-time basis come September. But, for various reasons, that is a very big IF! Que sera, sera, I suppose. If the full-time teleworking doesn't pan out, I'll evaluate ALL of my options at that time.

In other news, spring is upon us in full force here in eastern Canada. The forsythia is in bloom, the grass is greening, trees are budding, and our rhubarb is up. It's great! I'm hoping we'll get some decent weather next week in NYC! We're getting very excited about the trip. I've made a couple of restaurant reservations (one here). I love the area around Columbus Circle, where this restaurant is! We're also going to taking in an opera at the Met (Armida with Renée Flemming) and a show on Broadway (Fela).

And for some reason or another, I've also been thinking about Mirla Castellanos! Ever heard of her? Probably not, unless you are from Venezuela or Latin America. She was a fave of my first partner, who was from Caracas. I listened to a lot of her music in the 2 and a half years we were together! The first song, Maldito Amor, was one of her big hits. I think she also did a version of Dominique a nique, but I can't find that on You Tube, so I've substituted. Perhaps it was another artist in any case...

De todas maneras, Javier, if you are out there, these two are for you! :)

In these times...

Sometimes, as a 5 or 6-year-old kid, I remember pulling a blanket or and afgan over myself and just crying. Not for any particular reason, just because of an overwhelming sense of sadness. I've been kinda feeling like that again lately. Again, not for any particular reason, just because, I guess....

I don't know if you know Joan Armatrading, but she's a great singer. She just released a new CD (This Charming Life) I think. One of my fave songs by her is "All the way from America", but it's hard to find online, so I give you these...

Dedicated to: Tiwonge Chimbalange & Steven Monjeza:


In These Times


Down to Zero


And I finally found a not too bad version of "All the Way From America"