We were never being boring

I'm always baffled by people who complain about feeling bored. As a friend of mine says, complaining of being bored is really just admitting you're so boring you're not even capable of entertaining yourself.

There has been little danger of feeling bored around here lately. Quite the opposite. If anything I am in danger of being so busy having adventures that I don't have the opportunity to write about them.

First there was the Cultural Expressions Festival at Officers Square celebrating Fredericton's growing diversity - two days of impressive performances and delicious food!

Then across the street to Regent Street Wharf to enjoy a lovely Saturday sail on the river. The fact that we were on a converted lobster boat made this island girl feel right at home.

Sunday night brought our first attempt at seeing Bard in the Barracks production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Odell Park. See how happy and dry we all look? We are so ready to see some Shakespeare in the park... Mmhmmm...

As we were making our way to "A wood near Athens" for the start of Act II, we were caught in a Midsummer Night's Downpour... Show was cancelled and we were drenched but happy.

Tuesday night we fared better. Luke ruined a pair of Italian driving shoes, I fell in mud and my hair smelled like bug repellent but it was worth it. The Bard in the Barracks company delivered an entertaining and imaginative interpretation. I'll never see the woods in Odell the same way.

Wednesday was Canada Day. And for the first time in 15 years, I was in a parade. I joined dozens of members of Fredericton's arts community for 'Art on the Move' in celebration of the city's designation as a 2009 Cultural Capital of Canada.

Lori was one of the organizers. Here she is putting Leon's football socks to good use.

As you can see, Luke could barely contain his excitement.

Fun vantage point on the parade and really fantastic to see so many people turn out to celebrate.

My favourite part of the parade happened after it was over when a spontaneous multicultural drum circle broke out in the parking lot.

So that's just a little of what's been going on plus gallery-hopping at the Culture Crawl... hearing this guy ... and making these. The weather's been dismal but Summer 2009 is still off to a terrific start.

Ladies Who Lunch

The only real downside about leaving my old job is that I don't get to see these lovely girls every day. There was a time when we could gather each morning in M-A's office and discuss headlines and lovelives over coffee. But things change and now our catch-up sessions are less frequent but more meaningful.

Today we opted for lunch in the sunshine in Officer's Square. And we all had the same reaction: "We've worked mere blocks away for years - why didn't we come here before today?!"

I love the sort of things that make you say those sort of things.
And so - hopefully! - a new ritual is born.

In the meantime, some summery shots from the heart of my little town.

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.

Oops.

The pause between posts was not supposed to be that long. I planned to write something on Sunday night about the shiny happy people here in this photo but I got distracted by this (yay!) and this (ew!).

I have some other posts I'm mulling but for now a few thoughts...


Two months ago I started a new job. For the first time in nearly decade I was going to a brand new office, with brand new co-workers, new responsibilities and a new schedule. It was a big, much-needed change. The 10 years, I'd spent at my last job were an incredible experience that offered unique opportunities and brought amazing people into my life. But it was time for a change.


There couldn't have been a better time. During my first days on the new job spring was just beginning to hit full force. Everything was new in the world. It was the perfect time for a fresh start not only in work but in life.

So I've turned off the TV and picked up my books, I've started this blog to help open my eyes to the interesting things around me and I'm letting go of bad habits and making more time for people who inspire and energize me. Because, as my friend Lori often says, how we spend our days is, after all, how we spend our lives.

L-O-V-E

This weekend on Grand Manan has been all about

L-O-V-E.

On May 28, my grandparents - affectionately known as "Mam and Bap"- celebrated sixty years of marriage.

Mam and Bap were both born in a little community called Ingalls Head on the island of Grand Manan. Their childhood homes were less than a quarter mile apart and both are within view of the home where they've spent the last 60 years.

It's a home with a lot of happy memories for my cousins and me. Packing our "diddy bags" for an overnight visit (I always hoped for the squashy bed in the pink room) ... endless games of "Mother May I?" in the back yard in summer... endless games of "Go Fish" and "Crazy Eights" at the kitchen table in winter (But never on Sunday!)... the ever-present container of home-made cookies in the pantry cupboards.

The family has grown and changed over the years but here are some things you can still count on at "Mam and Bap's": morning coffee is served promptly at 10 each day, Bap's peas always taste best when swiped directly from the garden, the cellar floor will be clean enough to eat off and every year Mam celebrates her 39th birthday. Around five o'clock every Sunday, for as long as I can remember, supper is laid out for all who want to join. (Today promises to be a packed house as we polish off the cooking from yesterday's party.)

Most of all, it's a house full of love, hugs and playful teasing where the forty-year-olds are just as likely to snuggle up to "my Bap" as the five-year-olds.

For six decades, Mam and Bap have been the centre of a universe of orbiting children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's all happened in a tiny village on a tiny island but seeing the family and friends who turned out to celebrate them yesterday, it's a very vast and rich world indeed.

If my grandparents' 60-year-marriage is rooted in one small community, the most recent newlyweds in my life encircle the globe. Lori grew up on an island in the Atlantic (Grand Manan) and Leon grew up on an island in the Pacific (Australia). They met on a mountain in the middle (Banff). On January 1, 2008, Lori and I had a conversation that went like this:

"I think I should marry Leon."

"Sweetie, we all think you should marry Leon."

The fact that she had not seen him since the previous January seemed oddly and happily irrelevant.

The full story of how she ended up on a plane to Australia to marry a man she hadn't seen in over a year constitutes another post (movie) entirely but it suffices to say that on May 11, 2008 my dear friend skipped down a beach in Melbourne and the new - and aptly-named - "Mrs. Quick" never looked back.

One of the wonderful things about this round-the-world adventure is that it's spread the rituals involved in uniting two families over a long period of time. This weekend we welcomed Leon's delightful mother Fran - previously known to all but Lori only through Skype, Facebook and wedding videos - to our big Grand Manan family.

It likely wasn't easy for Fran to send her beloved son halfway around the world but from the looks on Mr. and Mrs. Quick's faces, it was worth it.

So as we celebrate loves new and old, my wish is that Mam and Bap stay as goofily in love as Lori and Leon and Lori and Leon have as long and happy a marriage as Mam and Bap.

Here's some Nat King Cole to sing us out...

GG

Alive, and very much so.

My friend Denis claims that every time he reads a truly great book it makes him never want to write again. He's pretty sure that someone - possibly Harold Bloom? - came up with an extensive literary theory about this but, in any case, I have long had the same feeling about blogging. There are so many terrific and interesting blogs out there that what could I possibly have to add to the discussion?

Possibly nothing. I guess we'll see.

There's no over-arching philosophy behind this blog; no significant raison d'etre. It's just my thoughts on those people, places and things that make me feel "alive, and very much so."*
GG

* That's a quote from Tolstoy. See Denis' theory...