Some more garden cheer, in the form of the wonderfully fragrant mahonia japonica.
Other cheerful things:
The reading I organized went very well. Although I wish even more hockey and poetry fans could have heard Randall Maggs talk about, and read, his compelling exploration of goalie Terry Sawchuk’s life, we had a decent crowd who gave Randall their full attention and then asked him many questions. Afterwards, he, Emily (the student co-ordinator of our campus poetry readings) and I had a lively conversation over dinner, and then Randall and I took the ferry back to my place. Even though he’s from Newfoundland and well acquainted with boats and water, he was entertained by the idea of travelling back and forth to work in our cozy little vessels, and we had some pleasant chats with some of my interesting neighbours. The poor man had to have been exhausted, having his long flight across the continent only a few days behind him, never mind a reading in Los Angeles, and then having read only that morning in Victoria, a close-to-two-hour bus ride away. Still, he managed to be a charming and interesting house guest, and I now have a signed copy of Nightwork. The next morning, I dropped him off at the bus station with a mutual promise to visit each other again, with spouses and more time. I’m looking forward to it.
My good friend Karina hung out with us at our Vanc’r apartment last night over yummy take-out sushi and we toasted her nailing a very decent tenure-track spot on her very first set of job talks (in academe, you don’t just do an interview — you do two days of giving papers, fielding questions, attending meet-and-greets, gruelling grilling!). She’ll be way across the country by July 1st, but that just means I’ll get to visit To. more often. Congrats, Karina!
Less cheerful:
My symptoms seem to indicate bronchitis, yet I’ve got myself in a different city from my doctor, and I really don’t feel as if I can take more sick days at this point in the term when my students need those last few classes to finish covering the material. I’m hoping that taking it easy over the weekend will make some magical difference. Meanwhile, coughing and exhaustion . . .
Worst of all: I felt I had to ‘fess up about my condition to my daughter, who had planned to drop Nola off with us last night. While I don’t seem to be typical-cold-infectious and Nola would probably have enough “mom antibodies” to keep her healthy — and I could have tried to let her Granddad do most of the cuddling — in the end we agreed that we’d all feel bad if Nola happened to get sick days after visiting Nana. So I’m this close to my little girl, and I don’t get to see her! Waaaah!
Oh well, at least I can hunker down with the weekend newspapers, and Pater can keep bringing me cups of tea and neo-citran. And spring is here, even though it’s bringing rain so far instead of sun . . . Hope you’re finding weekend cheer wherever you are!
The poetry reading sounds fabulous. I wish I had more time to attend these kinds of events.
Ugh, bronchitis. I tend to be prone to it, and usually once it’s set in, nothing short of antibiotics and an inhaler will dislodge it. Hope you’re feeling better soon!
Oh the poetry reading and the company sound fabulous! Pooh on the bronchitis though; hope you get through it soon. Thankfully I am not prone to it, but my DH is and it too often drags on interminably.
It sounds like a good trip, minus the bronchitis of course. Hope you’re soon feeling worlds better. Will you email me your dates in Paris again, please? I am traveling in part of May and want to try to be here when you are!
Absolutely lovely to see you and P on Friday–and neat to see it blogged about here! Thanks again for your congratulations. I really do hope you come and visit in Toronto. Wouldn’t it be fun to have Protection redux in Ontario?
Hope you’re feeling better soon!
K
Pseu: It was a worthwhile and enjoyable event, and I’m glad I was able to squeeze out time for it, despite the infection — which has turned out to be sinus rather than bronchia, what do I know!?
Mardel: see above to Pseu — and thanks for the well-wishes
Paris: yes, I’ll e-mail. it would be great to meet!
K: it was lovely to see you as well and to give you the well-deserved congrats! For sure, we’ll have some good visits in To. Protection redux indeed!
Had bronchitis for a month before seeing my dr. and getting the antibiotics. Even then it took awhile for lungs to recover but I felt my energy come back almost immediately. So I wish the same for you, so you can enjoy Nola, and everything else!
Whoever K, is, posting above, sounds like you have more than one friend who’d like to see you in TO!
Duchesse: Why are we so slow to get to the dr? Partly ’cause it takes time to fit the visit in, but in retrospect, I realize I’ve been dragging myself around far too long. Glad you’re back to strength and hope to join you soon!
Yes, K is my friend Karina who just got a great job in To — so now I’ll have several reasons to visit! Hope you’ll play shopping guide again!
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