Sad, crazy, wild, fun tymz

November 13/12.

Time to fix the hair again. Yep. Long-awaited appointment with Paul ("Master Stylist") Taylor at I 'N I Salon on Bloor Street West at Bathurst. The place was all decorated for the season, (except for me, looking more like leftover Halloween candy). Paul didn't even dare look!

Once more with feeling Paul, OK?? You can DO it! Stay strong!

The beautiful Jennifer Porritt, (who owns the salon, and is a brilliant hair stylist), brought in a friend of hers over the weekend, - an event planner,

to put up some special sparkly decorations.

LOVE the original idea of upside down Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling! (Auntie Ray would have whole-heartedly approved!)

\
And I'm a sucker for shimmery silver!

Everywhere!

I used one of the decorations to camouflage my low-light silver foils! WTF??

Two hours later & Paul's Christmas magic was finished. Voila! - Deck them halls, I was put back together! Like Humpty Dumpty.
LOVE the Mad Men, flippy dippy '60s curls! Bring on the scotch-on-the-rocks, the shaken-not-stirred Martinis and mad (not mild) Manhattans! - Cheers!

Hey, forgot to say, Paul also dyed my eyebrows for the first time! Who knew I'd ever do THAT? I kinda looked like Beau Bridges for a while, but the colour turned out perfect -

just like my own colour in the good old days!

Then it was off to Urban Nails to fix that horrible syndrome known as "cracked shellac".

The lovely, talented, soft-spoken Tran, offered to spend an hour with me, "acetoning" off the old stuff, preparing the nail beds, (sounds like a horror movie!), filing, shaping and

painting on three coats of my fave colour, Rosebud -  plus the "shiny buff" on top, till I could almost pass for a hand model! I'm ready to party! (so WHERE'S the bash?? --

- better call Jaymz Bee!)

OK. What else has happened over the past 10 days?  Let's see if I can remember!

Right! Did my first bit of Christmas shopping at Shoppers Drug Mart. Got some Christmas and Hannukah cards and actually checked out the "high end" aisle! - NEVER DO THAT! Didn't buy anything, but spritzed myself with expensive Chanel perfume. Asked the sales lady - how much is the smallest bottle of this stuff? She told me, 80 bucks. Alrighty then. Moving on.

Their front-of-store Christmas tree left a lot to be desired. Ai carumba. Looks like it just got unfolded from the box and needs more decorations. Come on Shoppers! Spend a little! Jazz it up man!

Another day, we headed for The Mandarin for a buffet lunch.

Took my Dad-in-law, Ben Bornstein out for a visit and a feast!

He had some fun trying on Max's "John Lennon" cap, (lookin' good!) -

and seemed to enjoy hanging out with his grandchildren, despite missing Bubie, who passed away just under a month ago. Dad requested some take-out clam chowder to have later for dinner! (they DO make great soup at the Mandarin! Well, let's face it, EVERYTHING there is great!) My fortune cookie said I should smile more. Ha ha! Will try.

Goodbye goldfish and fake ducks!

See you next time!

On November 7th, Sam gave me a birthday gift - a pair of tickets for Kate and me to see La Cage at the Royal Alex! Fabulous seats in Row C!

We went out for lunch at Tim Hortons on King Street West and then asked a passerby to take a shot of us in front of a truck, carting a huge metal horse,

in honour of War Horse, also playing downtown. (Haven't seen it, but everyone says it's brilliant)!

We were really excited to see this big musical production and got such a laugh when a man in drag came out to entertain us all before curtain time.

She introduced herself as "Lily Whiteass" and did a fabulous adlib/improv cold opening. Kate was the youngest person in the audience! The oldest, was 90! (No WONDER they weren't giving standing ovations! - Hey, I'm only quoting Lily here!) Got in BIG trouble for shooting this pic. (yet ANOTHER case of Auntie Ray's instruction - "Don't ask. Apologize later!") - Lily did a FAB job warming up the crowd!

George Hamilton (the "big name" in the show) was the weakest link. Didn't matter though, because Christopher Sieber - ("Albin") was absolutely breathtakingly bold and beautiful!

His version of I Am What I Am was incredible.

When I got home from the theatre, had to come up with a quick dinner for Max and his girlfriend, Robyn. Made PC Shepherd's Pie. (so easy, and SO good). Had strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Max made me laugh by pointing to his mouth and indicating he wanted a spritz of cream in it. (something I used to do when he was a little tyke). He took a shot of whipped cream, right in the middle of eating Shepherd's Pie! Ai yi yi. Gak. Egad. Yikes. Gag me. Ha ha!

The next day, off to Gerrard Square to pick up a bunch of things.

Surprised to see Zellers was gone and Walmart in its place. Took a pic out front and then went inside to check it out. FAR from put together, but the doors were open to the public. My very first introduction to the store was the shrill voice of a woman, sitting at a desk just inside the entrance. She must have seen me shoot the photo outside. She yelled out to me, "NO PICTURES INSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I thought to myself, - nice welcome to the brand new store! OK LADY! Thanks for your hospitality. Be back to see you soon. (not)!

Hightailed it outta there immediately and headed for Home Depot (where they are MUCH more customer-friendly).

Saw some terrific Christmas toys I could hardly resist. - Awwwwwwwwwww - Alvin! - OK Dave!!

Elves who have been to practice to learn how to wiggle their ears, chuckle warmly and go, "Hee-hee" and "Ho-ho" - and important stuff like that!

And Santa, on the verge of cancelling Christmas! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

(Did I buy any of these famous and familiar characters? - I'll let you guess!)

Another day, I decided the weather was nice enough to go for a run on the Riverdale track. Headed out, hoping to beat my record of 8 laps. But hadn't run for more than 25 days (lack of motivation after the loss of my Mum-in-law), so, could only make it to 5 - (2,000 metres). Better than nothing.

Later that evening, drove my daughter, Kate, to see Amanda Palmer at the Phoenix Concert Theatre on Sherbourne with her boyfriend, Damian. I thought Kate looked gorgeous! She says it was a terrific show!

The next day, more errands and shopping on the Danforth. We hit up Loblaws, Shoppers (yep, again), and the weather was stunning!

On Remembrance Day,

watched the CBC TV coverage with host Peter Mansbridge.

 Excellent and emotional, with many shots of the vets.

Stood for the two minutes silence, (as we always used to do with Mum, every November 11th). Had tears in my eyes thinking of the veterans, their families and of all the family members we've lost over the past two years - Mum, Ray, Ev and Jean.

After all the sadness of November 11th, I was happy when my sister, Carrie, dropped by unexpectedly the next day, at our place for a visit. She'd been doing a photo shoot for Tafelmusik and had professional makeup and hair done for the occasion. - For anyone who doesn't know, Carrie is the perfect sister. (duh)

We had tea and cookies together, and before she left, I dragged her down to the basement to hear her nephew, Max and his band mates, Emmett

and Charles, in rehearsal.

Carrie wore noise-cancelling headphones to shut out the ear-shattering sound! I didn't even wear earplugs as I took these shots, (but I should have). LOVE the poster of Alan Alda which Max ordered and paid for himself, as a super M*A*S*H fan. (Hawkeye can inspire anyone)!!

The band - Ghost Daze, wouldn't let Carrie go, without giving her what THEY call their "cheesey" smile and wave! Adios amigos! - The band is recording a 6-song EP on December 8th. Can't wait!

Going, going, gone!

June 30/11.

Drum roll please! The sign now officially says SOLD! Thanks for everything Sinisa! Congrats. You did it!

One more week and a new owner takes over the house.
Today was another moving day. (in more ways than one). Several of those are still to come. Gotta get everything out of the house. Our friend, Tina, (sister of Carrie's boyfriend, Paul), and her partner, Bill, came back with a rented truck to pick up more items to furnish their new country place.

Lee's old bed. "Cut, print, moving on"!!

Paul, Tina and Carrie moving Lee's old bed into the van. (it was taken to Mum's place when we hired a caregiver for her, but now, it's going into storage at Carrie and Lee's place again). - Something tells me Paul is getting tired of moving it from here to there to here!
One of the big jobs today? Packing all of Mum's hundreds of coil notebook diaries from the basement, into my car and into storage in our garage till we can figure out what to do with them all. Ever-cheerful Lee, carted most of the boxes up to the car for transport.

Lee is one of the few people who truly understands the importance, value and history of these carefully kept journals. He and his Gramma had a close relationship and he watched her write in these notebooks every day for years.

When I asked Lee today what he thought she'd feel about us keeping all of these personal notebooks, he responded, calmly, "She'd probably have a panic attack." The answer took me aback, as I'd ALMOST put those dreaded panic attacks out of my mind for the moment, but he's right. On one hand, she'd be happy we're keeping them to read, but on the other, she'd be freaking, wondering what we'll think of everything she had to say! Don't worry Mum! We will treasure your words forever. No matter what you wrote! You were always a brilliant writer/archivist.

Not sure Bill was thrilled with having every moment chronicled! - (Sorry Bill, you work with the Lorings, you get blogged! Just part of the deal).
Felt sad to say goodbye to this piece. I can actually "FEEL" what it was like to open the doors.

Through our youth, it held every LP we ever loved, including The Beatles, The Chipmunks, The Monkees! (and every other "critter-record"!)

Today's team. - (left to right) - Paul & me (back row), Lee, Carrie, Tina & Bill (front row).
Miraculously, in the midst of all the moving today, Mum's beloved pigeons, (who flew the coop weeks ago), suddenly returned! We haven't fed them in quite a while, but I think they must have instinctively felt things are shutting down, and decided to check back in. (Since Mum still has half a massive bag of birdseed, we gave them what they wanted!)

After I got home from Mum's, Max helped me load all of Mum's journals into the garage to store for a while. Minutes later, my cousin, Marilyn (new Gramma!), called me from her cell in Withrow Park, (where she was walking her dog, Kalou), and asked if I could wander down and see her. It's been TOO long, between house problems here and a new baby there! I strolled down and hung out with her in the "dog park" for half an hour. Great to see her! She just finished her latest TV art direction job and is dealing with all the trials of "grandmotherhood."

While in the park, all hell broke loose with the many dogs.

Since I have SO many problems taking clear photos, Marilyn (photog expert), tried to help with my settings and tested out a shot with Kalou and me in the park. - (that is one big tongue Kalou!) - But the shot seems crystal clear, compared to the blurry ones I take!!

I mean, I rest my case! - ("automatic" - BLUR CITY!! What the hell?????)
Meanwhile, I try not to talk about pain on the blog too much - (at least, physical pain). But tonight, got plenty of it.

64 days since surgery and pain still not great. Haven't taken drugs in many weeks, but am starting to wonder if the pain will EVER really subside. Only three days till I'll be seen by the radiation oncologist. Maybe SHE'LL have some suggestions!

Well, it's after 1 a.m. now and I'm exhausted. Gotta get some rest for the big sale tomorrow! (why do I do these things?) As my Dad would say, "Night night!" Gotta go make some sandwiches now - for lunch at the sale. Cheers everybody!