Along the Merry Way....

Hello friends! Yes, people, this is exactly what it looks like.......Spring! Hurray. That time of the year when the weather awakens those primieval urges to romp about in the mud and build things out of sticks and sail boats down the river. The buds coming out on the trees make it look like a faint green mist is hanging in the air about the branches. Melting river..... And more melting!

So I've given notice at the two different music studios where I work. In one, my bosses kindly said they understood and would be sorry to see me go but would take me back any time. In the other, there was a good deal of crazy, dramatic upset, and words to the effect of "You don't care about your students...." and "You're leaving them in the middle of the term (I gave months notice for a part-time job I had no contract with)," and "I won't give you a reference". I was ready to walk out several times after hearing this. All these hilarious little people (I have over 30) have frusterated and entertained me for almost 2 years now. I've seen very tiny ones learn not to fall off the bench, others learn to have rhythmn, and others get excited about their songs. I will not miss it although I will miss them. There is a vaaaaaaast difference between being a musician and teaching music, and I learned that I prefer the "being" part. It...

Ben and I are jamming on our cousin Rebekah's piano. We love to jam with blues, jazz, and anything else. (Thank you to Pete Baklinski for the "Oh When the Saints" blues version).

Today, I decided to do something constructive. There is a certain reckless insanity that comes over a person after a very painful experience, so I decided to make the most of it and do something perhaps a little crazy. I made lots of Valentine's Day cards and gave them out to all the saddest looking people on Rideau street and in the mall downtown. It was fun! There was an old, depressed-looking hunchback (how much more pathetic does it get than that?) who shuffled by me, and I hid one in his bag when he wasn't looking. I gave another to a very fat lady who looked at me suspiciously, then realizing what it was, burst out laughing and yelled out her thanks. There was a skinny girl who looked like a bean-pole (correction: she looked more like an upright knitting needle—even a tape-worm would have abandoned her), who was crying her eyes out, and I gave her one too. I can't remember all of them, but I gave a couple out in a coffee shop, a number to people sitting alone in the m...

This is one of the nicest places to walk in Ottawa. There are crowds of little ducks hanging out by Dow's Lake in the spring and early summer. Most of them are full grown now as fall approaches. Canada goslings...They look tufty and a little bit silly when they are half-way grown, but they are extremely bold.

There has been a sighting: Snowdrops! The first signs of Spring are here--there is no going back now!

The most beautiful spot in all of Ottawa.