Happy Victoria Day!

It is a holiday here in Canada! It’s Victoria Day, the last Monday before 25 May, and the celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday. Many people get the day off, and all week we’ve been seeing that shops and restaurants will be closed today. (I think our favorite independent supermarket will remain open, which is good because we’re out of eggs.)

As for us, we are celebrating by resting and playing catch-up. We booked a quick trip to Montréal in June, and are planning another side trip to Ithaca, NY (to see my youngest sister). I’m working my way through a stack of graphic novels I got from the library on Saturday. I’ve cleaned the kitchen and done some laundry, and if I owe you an email, I’m hoping to get to that today too. Later, we might go out to a little historical museum for some afternoon tea.

Here I am on Saturday evening, enjoying a Häagen-Dazs in the symphony hall. I love that they were selling what is basically a fancy popsicle. (But Toronto must be a pretty nonstuffy city — one of the orchestra bassoonists had bright cobalt-blue hair.*)

The ice cream bar was $6, which is insane. On the other hand, our mezzanine tickets were $14 each — for Evgeny Kissin!! — and that’s just as insane. So it all works out… I just hope our $6 went to the symphony and not to some outside company.

Yesterday afternoon, after a two-hour Skype conversation with my family, I walked the half-kilometer to Christie Pits Park and sat on the grass (under a tree, of course) and got some more sketching practice.

I think I need to buy a new green pencil if I’m going to keep drawing outdoor scenes; I don’t like the two colors I’ve got (the darker green in particular doesn’t read “natural” to me). And I feel simultaneously embarrassed and proud of myself for figuring out, while making this drawing, that shadows on grass should be colored with dark green and not with black/grey. Well, I’m learning! And I did capture the feel of the view.

Oh, and it’s my middle sister’s first wedding anniversary. Happy day, Shra and Devin. 🙂 ❤

*Aha! Thanks, internet, and Ms Jackson for describing yourself so well! Okay, maybe it is not cobalt blue, but it looked like it from where I was sitting.