Frazzled over Franelle's finale!

December 7/11.

Woke up, majorly depressed when I suddenly remembered, "Franelle has LEFT the building!" - Nooooooooooooooo!

This past two weeks with her? - the greatest! As Sam said to me, "No matter HOW many years in between visits, it's like only three minutes has passed by." It's true. Friendship with the Silver sisters can NOT be described in WORDS. Only feelings. Laughter, tears & hugs. I HAVE to thank Sam for offering to fly Franelle into town, as a gift to me...and to her. It was a blast! - But, as everyone knows, goodbyes are my worst! HATE them. (Whomever invented goodbyes? Deal with me)!

The weekend before she left, we packed in as much fun as possible. Decided to go downtown to Nathan Phillips Square.

It's been a long time since Franelle has seen the lights, colours, decorations and skating rink at Toronto City Hall.

Didn't have the nerve to rent skates, but watched everybody else dodging & weaving. (Thought of that line when remembering Ali MacGraw (Jennifer Cavilleri),

checking out Ryan O'Neal (Oliver Barrett IV), on the ice,

in Love Story, way back in 1970. She tells hims, "I love watching you dodge & weave."

It was so sad, because she couldn't do it herself anymore due to her cancer. (can hear that unforgettable mournful music in my head just THINKING about that scene!)

Franelle & I particularly loved seeing this little girl with her funky pink skating contraption! Franelle recalled the time (in 2005), when my sister, Carrie, broke her arm while skating with her son, Lee. It caused so much pain and turmoil. Franelle suggested I buy one of THESE for Carrie for Christmas!

When I forwarded the photos to Cayr, she emailed me back to say,

"I would so totally DO this!! Sign me up"!! (had to laugh) - OK Carrie, will order one for you immediately! See you on the rink!!

City Hall is where I began my first full-time radio job. What a beautiful building to start a career. I was the municipal correspondent for CFTR Radio (now 680 News) for seven years.

Had a blast interviewing all the politicians, including Mayor David Crombie, Metro Chairman Paul Godfrey, - (and even dated a few of them! - Wonder if Art Eggleton and John Bosley remember me?)

The City Hall tree is simply stunning!

We were able to go inside the building (which surprised me, since it was a weekend), and saw the famous old mural "Metropolis" by artist David Partridge, made out of more than 100,000 nails!

It was first installed in 1977. I always loved seeing it when I came to work every day.

We also found a ton of brochures for Toronto attractions. I was in hysterics over some of the Canuck adventures Franelle chose! LOL.
(Dog sledding anyone?)

It was very busy inside the rotunda, what with a wedding going on, as well as a Toy Drive.

We looked at the bust of sculptor Henry Moore,

(who created The Archer),

checked out the Mayor's office - (no sign of Rob Ford),

and paid a visit to my secret old, unmarked office under the stairs! Sure wish the door was unlocked so I could peek inside! I practically LIVED in that office! LOVED it and all the news equipment I had. (old reel-to-reel tape recorder, rusty old mic, splicing stuff, you name it). News reporting instantly became my passion.

And right next to my office, (we couldn't go inside), but shot a picture through the window into the hallway offices where the other radio reporters hung their hats. I dated some of them too! - And in fact, eventually married CKEY municipal reporter Sam Bornstein in 1983. (Back then, there weren't very many female reporters and anchors, so I was kinda popular! As Kate & Max would say, "Fun tymz!" Sure were).

Later, we said a fond farewell to Nathan Phillips Square and to Old City Hall, and took off for a very late lunch at Tim Horton's

at the corner of Queen & Bay, with a nice view of the Square - and a long stretch limo, which was likely being used by the wedding party!

Next, into the Sheraton Centre to look at pretty trees and decorations.

I never stayed at this hotel, but can't count the number of news conferences I covered here!

Always a lovely place to visit.

As it got darker, we caught one last glimpse of the City Hall lights,

before dashing off to see Max's band perform in concert at The Smiling Buddha on College Street. (Thanks to Steve Webb, father of lead singer Emmett Webb, for coming along at the exact right second to snap this shot!)

Inside, we were greeted by Max's gorgeous girlfriend, Robyn! Surprised to see her, since she had just come from the hospital where she got a "moonwalking boot cast" after suffering a bad sprain. Nothing was going to stop her from seeing the boys in action!!

Their OLD name was Basement Scene! But as of this evening, they officially announced they've been christened with a NEW title - Ghost Daze!!!!!

Emmett Webb - Lead vocals & guitar

Charles Wilson - Bass

Max Armstrong - Drums & vocals

GHOST DAZE did a great set of all original numbers!

And a good time was had by all! - That's Robyn's marvellous music fan Mum, Sharon, - (front right)

Was especially fun for ME - ("Roadie Mum"!) My son, Max, - RULES!!

We drove home and tried our hand, - (or foot), at cracking open a massive butternut squash for dinner. - Not as easy as you'd think!

The next day, YIKES! Time for my long-promised GPS tutorial with Franelle! Having been lost on the roads of Toronto hundreds of times, Sam bought me this thing. He TRIED to teach me to use it, by I am a HORRIBLE student with absolutely NO patience.

Luckily for me, Franelle has the patience of Job, and spent several HOURS with me,

showing me how to program addresses into the contraption, and to use it and actually GET someplace!! I gassed up the car and took off with her, driving over 100 kms., highways & all, only getting lost once! Franelle wanted to PROVE to me that even if I GET lost, the GPS will figure out a way to put me back on track again. (She needed a lift to the airport the next day, so it was mandatory I become Jim Phelps and ACCEPT this Mission Impossible so I could drive her to Terminal 2)!!

(later, my tape recorder exploded).

I was thinking about an old Jay Leno joke.

Many years ago, he talked about a certain "No Frills airline" - something like "Joe's Planes". He explained, "We're not fancy, but we GITCHA there!" That's what I told Franelle. It won't be pretty, but I'll GITcha there...

and miraculously, I DID!!

Yes, Franelle was a bit of a haggard wreck after the gruelling experience of doing the airport run with me,

and I was crying my eyes out and ready for heavy medication,

But Franelle survived and made it to the gate on time, (despite being put through the stress of the dreaded finger printing! Gak).

You know how I HATE goodbyes! But got thru THAT too! Thank you, Franelle, for coming to town, making me laugh every day, helping out around this crazy household and teaching me the ways of the GPS. (that GPS woman sure can be argumentative, and she almost steered me into a cement wall, but other than that, she was GREAT!)

Made it all the way back home, on my own, with the help of trusty GPS woman, and arrived, pretty much unscathed, though stressed and ready for Henkell. Franelle got home to L.A. safely too. Come back soon! I miss you already!