We are back from a short but very fun trip to London, UK. It was my 15th visit, and Deb's 13th. There was walking. There were museums. There were concerts. There was a castle. A really big castle. And there were pubs, including some glorious ones.
We got home five hours later than planned, due to a missed connection in Toronto. However, we were booked on the next flight to Windsor, but it ended up leaving one hour late. So we were home at 10:30 pm instead of around 5:50 pm. However, all flights were smooth and comfortable. Air Canada got all our meals right, too.
I am currently editing the photos, and will get some printed later this week. Then I will complete the written volume. Only after that is done will I work on the London and Europe blog. So it may be awhile before most of the photos are on view. In the meantime, I will post one here each time I blog.
Tonight is not only a full moon, but it is Beltane! Last wood fire of the season is on now, and I am sipping the last single malt Scotch as well. New Tarot cards, too. My last card was Merlin, which is pretty interesting, seeing as I managed a trip to London during its tenure. Not only that, but I finally got around to reading T.H. White's "Once And Future King," giving a unique retelling of the Arthurian legends. I always take a large book on long journeys, and this one is 631 pages of very small printing. I am still not done, despite starting it over a week ago at the Windsor airport. It is a brilliant book, one of the best I have ever read.
We had dinner at this wonderful pub along the Arun River, just south of Arundel. It was a bit of a walk from the town center, but totally worth it! The town of Arundel was our day away from London this year. We visited Arundel Castle and the small but vibrant town center.
Friday, April 20th/18
We are now at the beginning of a long clear spell. Of course. Now the the moon is interfering, and now that I am setting out for London, everything is fine. We just passed through 2 of the most miserable weeks of weather that one could ever imagine. Where Deb's mom lives (Lindsay, ON), she was trapped inside during a three day winter storm. In mid-April. Needless to say it was cloudy here for the entire dark sky session. First time I can remember that happening.
However, last night was really nice, and I made good use of it. It was cold, though, and by the time I packed up at 11:45 pm, I'd had just about enough of winter temperatures. An interesting thing happened just as I was about to leave home for the observatory. A gigantic rumbling occurred, as if they were blasting at the Amherstburg quarry. However, it was 8 pm and they don't blast at that time. The house shook for several seconds, but it was the very loud booming that tended to grab our attention. The first thought that crossed my mind was that a military jet from the nearby US air base had been scrambled, and had pushed through the sound barrier. When that happens, windows often break in houses. The boom reached a crescendo that was deafening, then slowly died away. The rumble continued until it gradually faded and then stopped, lasting at least 15 to 20 seconds overall.
Not knowing what had happened, I left in the vehicle with my scope, heading for the observatory. I tuned the radio to a Detroit news station. They were receiving calls from a wide area regarding the boom. About ten minutes into my drive they announced it had been an earthquake, centered in Amherstburg. Now that is just weird. It ended up as a 4.1 shock, and I hope I never experience one stronger than that. It was a very memorable experience, especially under a clear blue sky and calm weather. Anyway, I really had an enjoyable, albeit chilly, time. Only one other person was at the observatory, and as he/she was inside the dome, I never actually saw him/her. It was a night of galaxy hunting in Leo, and I was quite successful.
Today we enjoyed our final walk before London. It was chilly, but so much better than the rest of the month that we had an enjoyable time. Students began arriving at 4:15, but everyone was gone by 6:03. I am sitting here sipping a well-earned (in my opinion) single malt Scotch from Islay. Everyone played well, and most volunteered for a second round. Only two students didn't make it; my trumpet player had another engagement, and another one had a dance class. Semester 3 is over! I have 10 days off, and plan to visit a lot of pubs in that time.
Time for laundry and packing. We have our boarding passes, and will be in London Sunday morning at 8:30 am, tired and unprepared for the nightmare that is Heathrow in early morning. Not enough customs officers, and countless planes all arriving at the same time. Then a 95 minute bus ride to our hotel. After that, things should be more fun!
Thursday, April 19th/18
I am greatly excited just now! It is clear, and the moon, though waxing, isn't too bright to curtail deep sky observing. So in less than an hour I will be on my way to the observatory with my 12" scope for the first (and last) time this month. Yippee!
We have been bumping up the walking this week, in final preparation for some big mileage next week in the outskirts of London. Today it was sunny and mild, and it felt good. Our daffs have finally bloomed, and so have the favourite food of Deb's tortoise; dandelions. Normally I would be finished teaching for the week just now, but tomorrow is a group lesson, with 14 students expected in our small house. If everyone arrives, it could mean a world record for number of people in our home all at once. Fortunately, several of them are quite small.
Last week Deb had her R.A. infusion, and yesterday she received her second shot in her right shoulder. She should be in good condition for our London visit. It's actually a pretty open week, with the focus on walking if weather is good, and museum visits and concerts if not. Looking forward to music, art, pubs, and walking, and of course reconnecting with Caroline. Not looking forward to the flights....
Sunday, April 15th/18
It rained all day. At 6 pm we had received 1.8 inches. It has been raining since, and it is now past 9 pm. Yesterday we had 1.2 inches. That is a lot of rain. Our backyard creek is a muddy torrent, and is approaching its banks. Even the ducks seem to have had enough. It staggered up to 40 F today, but it was windy and slightly damp. We managed a walk, but it was not the long one we had anticipated for our final weekend before London. We have complete rain gear, but it still wasn't pleasant. Toronto and points north and east got an ice storm. Had our London flight been last night or today, we would not have departed. And of course Sudbury is getting snow. We awoke to some ice on the car and the tree branches, but it melted by noon. So lots of indoor activities today.
I failed to record my final astronomy piano piece today. It's one long take, and it's a difficult piece with hundreds of very rapid notes. Perhaps tomorrow. I have made a half-hearted attempt to start the new works, but will mostly wait until back from our upcoming journey.
Speaking of journey, Anita G. has been off chemo now for a few weeks. Her liver tumour became active again, so specialist heads are huddled in an attempt to try and find another route. Everyone is waiting anxiously for some news. Anita (and Randy) was at my recital last weekend. Though looking a bit tired, she still seemed okay. Still, she has a lot on her mind. I wish there was something we could do. I'm pretty certain that torrential rainy weekends do not help her overall disposition.
Deb herself has had a pretty rough winter, as it has been a pretty rough winter. This week she goes back to her doctor for a second shot in the arm, so to speak, in an attempt to heal her insistent and acute shoulder pain. The walking definitely helps her arthritis, except when it's in the cold and the pouring rain....
Saturday, April 14th/18
On the ides of every month I assess our monthly financial situation, as well as at the end of the month. For the past several months our situation has been good, with usually a surplus by month's end. This is largely due to Deb's 2nd pension that began arriving in February 2017. This September I will be collecting a 3rd pension. Ideally, this means my teaching can be reduced. We'll see...
I wanted to record the first half of my recent recital (Bach, Haydn, and astronomy pieces), and this is now mostly complete. Only one of the astronomy pieces remain, and hopefully we will get this done tomorrow. New pieces await!
As far as the listening program goes, we are up to Haydn symphony #18 waiting in the wings. These early works, like the piano sonatas of which I have recently become enamoured, are a pure delight from start to finish. My next program will contain two early Haydn sonatas, linked by a movement comment to both. Unique in the annals of sonatas! We are also done with up to Op. 49 of Britten, and ready to listen to Op 49 of Brahms (5 songs). In addition, we have been pecking away at the complete organ works of Buxtehude, who was a major influence on Bach.
Today's brief walk was done in a drizzly and very windy +37 F. Wind shill was well below freezing. Will winter weather never end? It is snowing not too far north of us, with another blast on the way, and then another later in the week. Toronto area just went through a major ice storm today. Detroit's northern suburbs could be next, and even us, to some extent (Detroit is several miles north of us, and it does make a difference).
Thursday, April 12th/18
Last Saturday night it was clear after my final recital. Jennifer G. had come from Cambridge, about 3 hours away. I had told her if it was clear afterwards we would go to the observatory. I was tired, but kept my promise. We arrived about 10:30 pm. Only Randy G. was out there, and he had one of the club's 8" scope set up. Jenn had never looked through a scope before, so between Randy and I she soon had her head filled with some of the best sights in the heavens. Temperatures were wintry, but it turned into a fun night. On my solo drive home I bit into a Clif Bar that had been sitting in the vehicle. Thus it was quite cold and chewy. I bit into something hard, thinking it was a nut shell or such-like. Nope. It was part of my 2nd-from-back right molar, along with a part of the filling that always accompanies that particular molar wherever it goes.
Thursday was dentist day. This is the second time in less than a year that this sort of thing has happened. After undergoing an x-ray, freezing, and more drilling than a deep sea oil platform does in a month, I was out the door with a cottonish mouth and a bill for $331. An expensive Clif bar. We went to Ojibway park for a somewhat muddy walk after that. But we did hear the first frogs of spring singing away somewhere in the woods! They are about two weeks late this year, along with many other things. At least today was quite warm, reaching the low 70s. But it's gone already, as we will have a cool and very wet weekend.
Teaching is over, with one week remaining in Semester 3. Our walks are in jeopardy due to some incoming weather this weekend. And of course our entire London walking program could just as easily be in danger if it's too wet and muddy over there. We will take things as they come, as we are as yet unable to control the weather very much.
Wednesday, April 11th/18
We are now into our 4th week of the walking program, in preparation for several long walks in England. Conditions have been wintry for most of the time, though tomorrow spring is supposed to finally arrive. Even today we had snow and snow pellets. But our legs are getting there. Sunday we did our first hill walk at Malden Park, and Monday we undertook a long walk in Detroit. Jenn was with us. She stayed nearby for the weekend, coming to my recital Saturday evening, and then to Detroit with us on Monday. We managed 4 pubs and a cafe, plus the long walk. Fun times!
I have decided to try and record some of the recent pieces, namely the Bach (on harpsichord), the Haydn sonata, and the three astronomy pieces. IF that is successful (I find recording much more stressful than live performance), I will go back and record six previous Bach pieces I have recently performed, and the two other early Haydn sonatas, as well as record the complete astronomy suite. In addition, I will begin new pieces for next year's program.
We are attempting to do our own taxes this year. Our accountant of the past 7 years has retired. It isn't fun, even though we use a very helpful computer program called Turbo Tax. The piano teaching business end of things is quite complicated to do.
Nothing else happening right now. Just trying to get through my 2nd last week of teaching before heading off to London. Lots of prep work to do yet for that journey. In the meantime, here is a recent cat picture for you.
Gustave catches some rays and listens to an early Haydn symphony.
Tuesday, April 3rd/18
The piano pieces are in good shape, as D-Day approaches. Friday night seems like it will be jam packed in here, whereas Saturday so far only has 3 people. I'm trying to get Saturday's performance up to around 7, but everyone wants to come Friday. We can seat 9 comfortably, but 12 seem to be coming Friday. Good grief! Needless to say, I will be glad when it is all over for another year.
We are now about to begin our 3rd week of walking training in preparation for London, where I hope to add one more walk beyond what I originally planned. Monday we undertook a long walk in Windsor, both along the river and through parts of Walkerville. We had a brewpub stop, and a lunch stop. We seem to have weathered it well, as it approximates the type of walking we prefer to do in outer London.
Sudbury is getting its 2nd snowfall in the past 4 days! They had snow Easter Saturday, with a very white Easter on Sunday. Today they are getting hit much worse. Very depressing for them. We are getting a lot of rain and thunder tonight, and it will continue overnight. Tuesdays are rest days for us, with walking resuming (hopefully) tomorrow. Our cold weather is just arriving, though it shouldn't snow here very much.
Sunday, April 1st/18
It's been a chilly Easter Sunday here at the Homestead. We were out walking twice today, once in the morning and once late in the afternoon. It never warmed up at all, staying in the low 30s all day. Sudbury had snow last night, and awoke to a white Easter morning. We enjoyed very cold rain last night, as we sat inside by our warm wood fire to celebrate the 2nd full moon of March.
On Friday I went to Windsor with Amanda and Jennie. Deb wasn't feeling up to a full day of sitting in bars and not drinking, so I became the designated driver. It was a fun day, and we were gone nearly 8 hours. We took in three micro breweries and one cafe in that time. The ladies seemed to have a great time, insisting that the ales were fabulous. We went to Chapter Two Brewery, a brand new place, and spent a while there while they tried several small pours. The space is quite wonderful, and suitable for gaming. They have board games there, but we will bring our own next time. Next came Anchor Coffee, followed by a major stopover at Motor Craft Ales. We had lunch here (all had veg burgers, which were very good), and the gals sampled beer after beer, exclaiming at how wonderful and delicious they were. On their recommendation, I pronounce this as Windsor's best craft ale house. Our last stop was Sandwich Brewing Company, in olde tyme Sandwich Towne. I had been here once with Amanda, but it was Jennifer's first visit. Amanda is coming over Monday morning before heading back to Toronto, to hear my upcoming piano program. Jennifer is coming back next weekend to hear my program. She is hoping to move out of godless and soulless Cambridge, ON soon, hopefully to the Windsor area.
Tomorrow we hope to finish up Week Two of the walking program. We are now three weeks away from our first big walk on the London Loop for 2018.
I leave you with my favourite Easter pic of all time, an old one I've had for many years. It shows a Navajo baby in Gallup, NM, gathering eggs. By now she probably has kids of her own.
Happy Easter!!
