Author Archives: Autumn

Liam Update

Today is official Ruin Liam’s Fun Day. Everything he tries to pick up or pull up on, we take away from him. Poor kid.

I may have to move my computer tower to the other side of my desk where it’s under the shelves and less accessible. He’s becoming interested in the slots and buttons, and has already unplugged the router twice this morning. Everything’s at his level, which makes it especially fascinating.

Two days ago he said “Dada” to HRH, who was totally cooled out. HRH had been trying very hard not to be jealous of the fact that Liam had “Mama” down a week or so ago. So now we have Mama, Dada, Hi!, and Cat. Sometimes they’re even strung together (Hi cat! Hi Dada!). He doesn’t say it often, or every time he sees something, but he assigns the right word to the thing he’s seeing when he does say it. Or he’ll say the word and then look around for what he’s named.

He’s getting really good at pulling himself up on things like the chesterfield, the coffee table, my printer, and his toy basket. The funniest thing lately is that Liam keeps trying to give Maggie his toys. He holds them out to her with an eager expression on his face, and she just sort of looks at them and then looks away. And he’s got the mobility thing down pat, which is great. I can put him on the kitchen floor when I’m working in there, give him a couple of Fisher Price Roll-a-Round balls, and he chases them all over the room.

For The Record

The template’s still under construction, so please bear with us. For every one thing that gets solved, there are a pile more still to be pinpointed, worked through, and a solution found.

Comment seem to be working for some people sometimes, not at all for others. No, I have no idea why it’s happening. Please keep trying, and let me know when something you try to post doesn’t appear.

The font in which the body of the entries is displayed seems to be all scrunched up for some people, not for others. I may have fixed this tonight; let me know, please! (Of course, if you’re trying to post a comment and are having issues as above, then you’ll have to e-mail me.)

I know there’s more, I just can’t think of it all at the moment. And because my computer time is limited, things aren’t going to be fixed overnight.

Concert Review!

We gave a brilliant all-Mozart concert last night! All of it was great, but I’m particularly pleased with the symphony we played in the second half. It’s full of dynamic changes and sixteenth-note runs that never seem to end, and I’m very proud of my own performance as well as that of everyone else. We nailed the final Presto movement beautifully. It was one of those “in the cello zone” times that happens now and again, where you realise that nothing’s going to go wrong and the whole thing’s just going to flow. And flow it did: I played those runs better than I’d ever played them. (Flow may not be the best word; that finale is like a freight train once it starts… it’s not stopping for anybody.)

Thanks go out to everyone who came by to be a member of the audience, those who attend every concert and those who came by for the very first time. I truly appreciate your support! We had about a hundred people there to hear us, and I know they all went home satisfied.

And since you’re all dying to know what we’re playing for Canada Day, I can tell you that there will be symphonic selections from Beethoven and Schubert and Mozart during the first half, and selections from twentieth century operettas and musicals for the second half. Followed, of course, by church bells and fireworks as always!

Hurrah!

I seem to be writing a lot of posts with exclamation marks in the title field. It must have something to do with the sun outside. Spring sun is so cheerful.

This exclamation mark is sourced from the leaping joy I am expressing at finally completing the third and last set of interview questions from The Wiccan-Pagan Times. What with Liam gaining mobility a couple of weeks ago and life being busy in general, finding time to work on a question here and there has been a real challenge. Getting myself into the proper mindset has also been hard, when time is finally found. But now ’tis done, and I am terribly proud of myself. (Despite the rather guilty feelings I hold over having taken a month to finish them up, that is.)

When the interview runs, I’ll let you know.

Sigh

It would seem that comments aren’t happening. If you’re posting stuff, I’m not getting notified in order to moderate it, and WP isn’t getting it either because when I log in there’s nothing waiting for me. I’m working on it.

UPDATE: Problem solved. With the help of the lovely and talented Ceri, I determined that every comment was being judged as junk and deleted without so much as a by-your-leave. That will teach me to pay closer attention to the radio buttons I click in a new interface.

If you’ve tried to leave a comment over the past day and it mysteriously never appeared, please go back and repost it so that I know that you all love me. (I thought the silence was odd, I truly did…)

Concert Reminder

(Yes, I’m spamming my journal this morning, because I can, all right?)

This Sunday night (that’s April 2, 2006) at 19h30, the Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra will be presenting an all-Mozart spring concert the Valois United Church. On the programme are:

Cosi fan Tutte overture, K 588
Adagio from the Clarient Concerto, K 622
Three German Dances, K 605
Romanze for soloist and orchestra (from the horn concerto, transcribed for cello), K 447
Three Marches, K 408
Symphony no. 35 in D Major, K 385

Admission is $10 per person; if you’re under 18 you get in free. The concerts usually last a couple of hours, a bit longer if there’s an intermission.

Valois United Church is on the corner of King and Belmont in Valois, Pointe-Claire. Here’s a map if you’re driving, and directions for metro and bus if you’re public tranport-ing.

This is a wonderful way to spend a spring evening. While there’s public transport directions here for you, I usually encourage people who are carless to find someone who has a car and share the cost of the driver’s ticket among them. It’s more fun to enjoy the evening in the company of others. (Here’s a map for you driver-types.)

See you there!