kati1

Went in June and spent most of the afternoon there just hanging out, drinking beer, eating. Then in November went back and actually got to stay overnight. Very cool, very quirky room. A little disappointed that the bathroom had just a shower stall and not claw foot tub. Overall had a great time. Hung out in the little red shed very warm very cozy. Walked the grounds, visited bars/wine tasting room. Thankfully the whole experience was relaxed and fun…which made up for the fruit flies in the room that were doing swan dives into my pint!! But I am sure that was an aberration. Next time heading for the spa!

We were on or way to the new Ikea store near PDX. Got lost, ended up in Washington,. So technically I have been there….but I guess I need to go back to really say I’ve been there.

Powells, Edgefields, Farmers Market, Saturday market..aside from the number of parks…going back!

The Squonk Opera company (google them) has come up with a great marketing scheme. They have created a generic opera that they will modify to be about your hometown. They travel around, taking vid clips of you town, interviewing locals, then put it all together into an avant garde sort of operatic event. This is what they did n Albany recently. Although at times it did seemed very canned and clipped, also a bit too campy, it was an interesting and entertaining event. What I really liked was their use of mixed media, music, song, dance, interviews, video imagery etc. Plus, I was one of the locals they interviewed…so kind of neat. I will forever be able to say “I was in an Opera with William Kennedy” and I can’t even sing!

lets just say i did not leave my heart there.

go with money, can be expensive. but then I was negative broke.

of course I am going to like it. Albany is small enough that people care, but big enough that if you piss of one friend, you can easily make another. Not that I do that, often. Visiting Albany must include downtown weekdays to people watch (free wi-fi hotspots so you won’t look like a stalker), iEAR at RPI, Lark Street (cool but I HATE that ‘we’ call it Albany’s Greenwich Village), Albany Institute of History and Art, Last Vestige Music Shop, Professors Java’s Coffee Shop, The Bookhouse, NYS Museum. In summer Park Playhouse-Washington Park, Central Park, Riverfront, Empire State Plaza, Central Park-lots of free music shows. in winter-ice skating at Swinburne, Capitol Rep, UAlbany Museum, aforementioned museums. Plus with a quick drive you can visit Olana, Yaddo, Saratoga and many, many more. Contact me for better info if you plan on a visit.

Presumably, Toronto values cleanliness. A film crew was filming in Toronto and needed a scene of a dingy neighbourhood. They filled the street with garbage, made a right mess, yeah? Filmed a few scenes, broke for the day v late at night. When they came back at the crack of dawn to continue, the entire street had been cleaned and was spotless. Don’t know how true this is, when I was there it was fairly clean, but not so that you would rave about it.

Jazz festival, Old Montreal, Place Jacques Cartier, fiberglass boats on the river, Catherine Street, Rue St Dennis, the men, the food.

I had wanted to go to Australia since the first time I read Great Expectations. For some reason, as a young lass, the idea of going to a place populated by convicts appealed to me. Perhaps because for Dickens, convicts aren’t alway villains. So, years and years go by. Am at a conference for work, they have some silly drawing. I am somewhat ambivalent about it since I never win anything. Suddenly, they call my name! Am so excited that I don’t even pay attention to what I have won. A short bit later, someone asks me what the prize was. I look and it is two round trips ticks to anywhere in the world, yeah? Truly? So I picked the farthest airport from Albany NY, just so happens to be the top of my list of things to do! Took my mom, which turned out well since without her I would’ve been in the bars all night and missed out on seeing the sights. Oh, and truly loved it!!!