Towards the end of August, the Artsy Mama and I took a trip down to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see a couple of plays. We spent a day in Niagara-on-the-Lake and then took a journey down to Niagara Falls the next day. Here’s a brief photo log of that trip.
The man himself - well, a statue of the man himself.
What we saw (both!)
The Prince of Wales Hotel
The Courthouse Theatre (where we spent most of the day)
Grapes at the Inniskillin Winery
The Niagara Butterfly Conservatory
The Falls
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerso
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” ~ Frank Lloyd Wright
“The sun, with all those plants revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.” ~ Galileo
“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.” ~ Linda Hogan
…someone’s decided to take a nap on my MacBook.
I woke up this morning to find a beautiful winter wonderland outside. The Artsy Mama and I set off in search of pictures. Here’s a few that I snapped:
Of course what wasn’t captured on camera was me falling on my backside and sliding down a bridge – all in search of the perfect picture of Christmas lights covered in snow. Now that would have made a good picture.
So I moved again today. I’m now established in a small little town that doesn’t have a theatre less than a minute away. I’m suffering a bit of withdrawal after 4 plays in a week and a half. I miss the theatre and the swans and the great coffee and most importantly (don’t let the order fool you) my family (puppies included).
In my head, I know that living closer to school makes sense – I just don’t feel like being sensible today, I guess.
My room here is nice. A bit plain. I haven’t brought a lot so nothing really says that it is Me yet and I’m not sure if it ever will. With going home on weekends (weather permitting) I feel like there isn’t much need.
I’ve been feeling tired all day. So tired that I felt my eyes almost closing twice during conversation. How rude and on my first day too.
I did bring the tome with me. Reading is not going very quickly. Probably because my arms get too tired from holding it up.
I was all set to write an entry and then the idea just vanished. Poof. Right out of my head.
And it hasn’t come back yet.
I guess that’s an indication of how tired I am.
I sat down today to revise my online course. I came up with a whole new course outline and moved a bunch of topics around. Then I realized how much work it would actually be to move something like Revision from Week 8 to Week 5 and I decided to go back to the original.
I don’t know why I felt like I had to make so much work for myself. Looking at the course, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. It just wasn’t me. But with new technology (new to me) and going back to school full time and the house still in a shambles from the move, I just can’t devote all my time to fixing something that isn’t broken.
I haven’t written in a week and a half. It’s actually been longer than that because I wrote a few lines, revised a couple sentences in the novel, but I haven’t done any “real” writing.
I’m disappointed in myself because I’ve tried really hard over the past through months to be more disciplined about my writing and to write a certain amount of time each day. And I was doing really well, though the amount of my output didn’t change that much.
It hasn’t been frustrating me yet, this not writing. Usually when I have some many other things to do, I’m desperate to find the time to write and I get very annoyed with anything that gets in the way. Or the ideas just start overwhelming me, filling my head, but then partially disappearing before I get a chance to write them down fully and then what I do end up when I finally find pen and paper and jot down the brilliant prose that was in my head ends up just being disappointed when I see it there all permanent.
But that has been happening. There has been nothing. No words. No desire for words.
If I wasn’t so concerned about the house and the course and going back to school in two weeks and the continued lethargy of the Princess Puppy maybe I would be more concerned about not writing.
A week and a half isn’t that long…
Some good news though: I’ve been making some excellent progress on the arranging of books…now if I could only find the two boxes of books the movers decided to hide on me.
It probably says something about you when you unpack books before clothes. And when the biggest concern about arranging the kitchen is where to put the Jamies and the Nigellas and the Delias and the Donna Hays (the cookbooks that is).
The movers have come and gone and left behind a very big mess. Why even bother labelling books and putting up little labels on each door and directing them to each room if they’re just going to put them wherever the hell they want to anyway. I’m missing an alarming number of books so far. I think they’re two floors up in the room full (absolutely full) of boxes. How much fun will that be…
It was a frustrating day – moving day that is. I felt absolutely useless to the point of feeling belittled. I probably shouldn’t feel that way and I couldn’t do what they did – well perhaps I could but it would take me weeks longer – but still I felt my timid little inner feminist dying to get out.
I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. With all of the boxes. And the start of prepping for the course I’m teaching – and learning all the associated technology. And with planning another move over the next few weeks. If I could just get all the books back in place, I’m sure I’ll feel better….
I’ve been listening obsessively to The Last Five Years. Saw it on stage a couple of weeks ago and while I was overwhelmed by the production, I did love the music and the lyrics, particularly “The Schmuel Song.”
It’s the whole idea of time. Time has been on my mind, probably since leaving the PhD. Wasted time. The end of time. It’s all that I’ve been thinking about for close to two years. That’s a long time to obsess about those sorts of things.
I keep waiting for more time. I waste time thinking about when I’ll have more time.
What a waste of time that is.
I’m such a quitter.
I quit everything. At this point it seems like I begin things just in the expectation that I will be able to quit them at some point in the near future.
Quitting school was the biggest. Though it probably wasn’t soon enough. To get to the PhD level just because I couldn’t make a decision about what I wanted to do with my life.
I guess I’ve never really quit a job. I’ve decided not to renew a contract or not go back the next summer break…But I haven’t really quit. But I always want to. That damn work ethic seems to get in the way every single time. I’ve given up before I started. Applying and then getting called about an interview and then deciding that it doesn’t sound that appealing anymore. Maybe that’s why my job karma is so bad at the moment.
How does this relate to this you might ask. I started a “web diary” years and years ago. I think it is still out there somewhere. Forgotten and untouched. It was called “Musetta’s Waltz.” Started during the Rent phase. So I guess right from the start, I don’t have high hopes for the ability to continue this.
Because quitting feels so damn good sometimes.
But maybe I’ve just always been waiting for someone to say “Stay.” This is where you belong. To actually feel wanted. Maybe I haven’t really made up my mind when I think I had and saying “I quit” is my plea for reassurance.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
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