My Bike Frame

If you have been past my house lately, you may have noticed this bike frame outside my door.

Take notice: I have a plan for this bike frame and it involves art.

On Sunday, I was giving Pam a bag of shells that my generous mother gave me to give to her. [What Pam does with shells]

After telling me to thank my mother, she said, "Listen, it's completely okay if you say, no. Completely okay, but here it is, my son's neighbour's boyfriend is an artist and he was wondering if he could have that bicycle frame in your yard for an art project."

"No!" I said more abruptly than I should have. "I have an art project of my own for that bike!"

"I thought you probably did," she said. "That's what I told this old man who also asked me if I thought he could take it one day when I was out here gardening."

Yes. You might think it is odd to have a rusty bicycle frame outside your door but there are at least two people ready to take it away from me at a moment's notice. I'm glad that the kind of people who have plans for old bike frames are the kind of people who ask instead of just stealing them.

Uses for Binder Clips - Breastplates

A big thank you to Jo Stockton who spotted an excellent binder clip use in the movie Air Guitar Nation.

If you look closely, you'll see that the famous air guitarist David "C. Diddy" Jung use binder clips to fasten his Hello Kitty breastplate to its straps.

• David "C. Diddy" Jung on Youtube
• Jo Stockton's post [In which she credits the Man of Science and the movie with improving her mood, but I believe the binder clips payed a role as well.]
• Air Guitar Nation on IMDB [I'm not giving a link to the official site because it's all annoying Flash and text you can't copy.]
• Hello Kitty on Wikipedia [See previous comment. ]

How to Vacation in your Home City

Remember the holiday Monday we had recently? It crept up on me. When I realized that I was going to have an extra day off, I decided that I wanted to make it a real vacation day: I would do no chores and no errands. I would have the kind of day I'd want to have if I was on a vacation in another city.

Because life is speeding by so fast, I didn't have time to make any plans before the weekend started. I found myself at the Manx on the Friday evening asking people at my table for advice. Here are their "vacation in Ottawa" suggestions:

• Take a boat cruise on the Ottawa River
• Tour the War Museum
• Tour the National Gallery
• Go to the top of the Peace Tower
• Visit the cats on Parliament Hill
• Hike the Mer Bleu Bog

I want to make it clear that these suggestions came from fine people who are intelligent and creative and genuinely wanted to be helpful. But do you see what is wrong with the things they came up with? Holy crow! How boring!

Yes, I like to say hi to the Parliament cats, who doesn't. But that's five minutes. The only thing on the list I haven't done every time a relative has visited Ottawa is go to the Mer Bleu Bog. And if I wanted a wilderness vacation, I wouldn't be looking for things to do in Ottawa. (Nature fans, I'm sure it's a lovely bog and its hydrological features are indeed most unusual. But it's halfway to Russell!)

Then on Saturday after we went swimming, Kathy A suggested she should have some of us over for brunch. "Do it on Monday," I said, "the pool is closed anyway."

Back at home, I remembered that Jim B had offered to take some of us swimming at the Chateau Laurier pool where he has a membership. I emailed him and suggested we do the pool on Monday. He agreed.

So it all fell together.

1. Kathy A invited a bunch of us over for a great brunch.
2. Jim took me, Marcie and Kathy to the Chateau's pool for a delightful swim. The guy at the door knew Jim and let us all in free. Kathy and I agreed it wouldn't replace the Champagne Bath (too short, too warm, too pricey) but it's a beautiful art deco pool. And they have a machine that almost dries your bathing suit in ten seconds.
3. Someone, Jim, I think, suggested we have lunch outside on the patio at the Metropolitan. Kathy called Roy and he joined us. We all enjoyed our meals. [I'm not giving a link to the Metropolitan because they have an annoying music-playing website.]
4. Marcie had suggested we see a movie. Before leaving for breakfast, I cleverly printed the times for the movies that I'd be willing to see at the downtown movie theatres. (First, I went to FilmCan to see what would be playing. Second, I went to Movielens to see which movies I would like.) It turned out that the only movie that had a convenient start-time for us was Shrek the Third. I'm afraid to say that of the three of us who went, I was the only one who did any laughing. Movielens told me I'd like it 4 stars, but afterwards I was thinking I'd really only give it 3.5. Since Movielens doesn't let us humans use half-stars, I'd have gone with a 4 because it was okay for what it was. Now Movielens is telling me I would like it 3.5 stars. This is the problem with Movielens for me. People who like the movies I like are probably also like me in that they aren't out at movies their first weekend. I don't get reliable ratings until my people have had a chance to see the movies.
5. After that we all went home and rested; and
6. I watched the finale of Heroes.

Do you see what the lesson is about having a vacation in your own city?

• Involve your friends.
• Get them to have you and other friends over.
• Get them to invite you to a neat place they go to regularly that you never or rarely go but would like.
• Do some research.

It occurred to me after I came up the idea of involving friends to create a vacation day that my best vacation-in-Ottawa day in 2006 was the day I got Michael Dennis to make me lunch and read poems to me.

Lyle's Cat Castle

Will it become known as Lyle's Lair? Lyle's Layabout? I'm not sure, but it is now at Lyle's apartment and ready for him to use.

This is the most elaborate cat castle I've been involved with so far and I could not have done it without the help of Keane. I might be responsible for the tower and the carpet, but he is responsible for the structural integrity.

Why Phone Poles Matter

This looks interesting. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't see the poster on an Elgin Street phone pole. http://ravenswingottawa.ca/ Ravenswing Holds First Outdoor Spring Festival Saturday, May 26, 2007, 10am to 6pm Minto Park, at Elgin St and Gilmour St, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Lynn Miles and the Two Benefits

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to attend two benefit concerts with Lynn Miles. The first was on Wednesday, May 9th in the Glebe. The Glebe Community Association had another of their "Underground Sound" concerts from which they hope to raise money to help bury the wires on Bank Street.
The President of the Community Association is passionate about this. "If Charlottetown and Lethbridge can bury their wires, surely Ottawa, the nation's capital can do the same!" (I am probably misquoting the actual cities he mentioned, but they were cities on that scale. You've got to like that for once someone is asking for Ottawa to be like a town you might want to live in, rather than somewhere you go to see expensive shows and pay a lot for restaurant meals.)

Again I was happy to be at a benefit for a cause that did not make me feel guilty, but it was Lynn who pointed out something I had not realized. "If the wires are buried, they won't need the poles, and if there are no phone poles, where will we performers put our posters?" she asked. "They've promised me there will be a place, and that's why I agreed to play."
Later in the evening, Sneezy Waters performed with Vince Halfhide, Ann Downey and Peter Von Althen. Vince sang a couple of songs (really well, in fact. I've been seeing Vince play guitar for people for about 20 years and this was the first time I've heard him sing. It was a treat.) Before one of the songs Vince mused, "if the wires are buried, the Community Association won't need to raise any more money, so they won't need to have these concerts, so they won't need to advertise them with posters, so it will be okay that there are no phone poles."
This was when it hit me that I wasn't at a benefit for a cause I don't care about. I was at a benefit for a cause I oppose. I love phone poles and I love the posters on them. (Do any of you remember Phone Pole, the TV show and series of segments I produced for Rogers?)
I enjoyed the music, but I felt a little queasy afterwards.
Several nights later I was at an evening put on by Oxfam. I saw that there were to be a bunch of performers including Lynn Miles and someone from Zimbabwe. I almost always love musicians from southern Africa.
Oxfam is fighting AIDS in Africa. It turned out that the woman from Zimbabwe was a speaker. She spoke at length about how the oppression of women in Africa is exacerbating the spread of AIDS and causing women to be victims of the disease in disproportionate numbers.
Then a woman from Canada spoke at greater length on the same topic.
I don't remember much about the statistics they gave but by the end of their speeches, I felt like it was all quite hopeless. They both said at that it's not hopeless, but it was about as effective as when someone puts a :) after an insult in an email.
Then Lynn Miles sang and she was sweet and lovely and made us laugh in between her songs by talking about the invention she hopes to patent for full-figured performers like herself who find harmonica holders uncomfortable: the bra-monica.
A while later, I scanned the program and saw that we were about to have two more speakers and then a drumming group. My concertmate agreed that it would be wise to slip out during the applause. Outside in the lobby, we came upon Lynn and Lonesome Paul.
I told Lynn it had been a treat to see her at two benefits in one week, and was struck by the difference in the causes. She allowed that she had actually been paid for her appearance in the Glebe. I asked if she felt confident that there would be a place for the posters if they bury the wires and she said she wasn't so sure.
That's when Lonesome spoke up, "I say we form a counter group - Save the Poles!" He has some interesting ideas and if he has a benefit, I'll be there.

Must See Concert: Maple Leaf Brass Band on Saturday June 2nd

555 Parkdale Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario (St. Matthias Church) [Map]

Saturday, June 22nd, 7pm

If you go to only one Maple Leaf Brass Band concert this year,^[Note] this is the one to go to.

On Saturday, June 2nd, we will be joined by two awesome brass musicians:

• Nick Hudson, one of Europe's finest trombonists, and
• Karen Donnelly, the National Arts Centre Orchestra's Principal Trumpet

The Maple Leaf Brass Band will accompany them on solo pieces and will play a wide range of pieces for brass band including jazz, swing, marches; and the world premiere of the brass Lloyd Hiscock's arrangement of the Wells of Marah by J.M. Gayfer.

This concert will also feature the second tenor horn department doing what it does best - laying an unobtrusive frame of support that lets others soar.

Tickets:

• Adults - $12.00 each
• Family - $30.00 (for everyone in the family)
• Seniors - $10.00 each
• Students- $6.00 each

Available from members of the Band (i.e. David Scrimshaw) and at:

• Compact Music, 785 Bank Street
• Leading Note, 370 Elgin Street
• Musicare, Carlsbad Springs 613-822-0601

Poster --------------------- ^Note How you could limit yourself to one, I do not know.