I am SO glad that Seanan recommended the movie Frozen when she was at SFContario - I loved it and so did the friend who took me to it for my birthday a few weeks ago (I don't get around to posting often). Entertaining, positive movie with great characters - esp. the sisters but also Olaf and the reindeer! Why were there no Olaf toys to buy for Christmas?

And I was frozen for a couple of days before Christmas (we lost power Saturday night to Tuesday morning) - but the house warmed up fast when the power came back on. And I was also warmed by spending two days at my brother's farm with family and two of their friends I really enjoyed getting to know. I am so sorry that a few friends still have frozen houses from the ice storm, and hope they get re-connected today.

Our cats have now forgiven us for turning off the hot but we are never to do that again.

I got my BIG early birthday/Christmas present from Phil this week. Took my new red Subaru Forester to the barn for everyone to admire, and tried not to already get straw and horse manure in it. My cold was finally enough better that Nijomi and I could get out in the forest, and her pulled muscle seemed better too. A few soft flakes fell while the sun was shining through the trees. The car already smells of horse. I like the smell of horse.

Tomorrow I'll be taking a camera to the Distillery District's Christmas market, with my friend Audrey. Haven't taken any serious photographs in far too long. So nice to have a weekend where I can fit this in.

The overall attendance seemed low; I hope they did OK. Of course it was truly lovely to have Amy McNally and Seanan McGuire in my home town, making music and telling stories. I was mostly quite pleased with my contribution to the concert line-up, on a stage that seemed to get increasingly drier and hotter. I got to be on stage with Amy! There was wonderful music, and the Saturday night circle was excellent.

The consuite had lovely homemade muffins and cookies. Some of the panels were quite good. It was ... interesting to see how the locals coped or didn't with Seanan!

And I went home with con crud and have spent today trying to breathe.

For filkers who have become embedded in the twisted, tangled chosen family tree that seems to have formed in southern Ontario and beyond, I am pleased to announce that Leslie Hudson of Copy Red Leader has accepted the position of Ghost in the Attic. Kindly update your documents accordingly. And share.

If you have not yet had the pleasure of making music with Leslie, look for a chance! http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/user/leslie-hudson

A cousin just sent me this link of one of my uncles dancing. Who makes a dance video at age 92? This is just weird.

Mike lived in New Jersey but was always involved in some way or other with show biz in New York, and also with commercial real estate. I never knew much about him, but I remember him hiring an assistant when he turned 90. He was still working full time and was too busy. Now I've lost touch. I must try again to reach him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FBnz3jxDVI

My parents got together by being the best dancers at the parties at the Officers' Mess in WW2. Dad was stationed in Brampton, my home town, to train new recruits. The cousin thinks all Garthson's are good dancers, but that gene skipped my brother and I.

Amazing! A bit uneven but well worth the drive from Toronto. Thank you so much Erica for herded all those talented cats into a spectacular show. Those who thought it would be easier to vote afterwards didn't find that to be true.

Robin June organized an excellent Frisky Puppy last night, and I got to see some old friends and make new ones, always the best part of filking. I actually got some real work done for a number of hours before napping. Time now to register, hit the dealers' room and hug another batch of filkers. I'm so glad to be back this year!

Arrived yesterday for a professional conference, that doesn't start until tomorrow, so I get to spend time with my lovely hosts Alan and Morva - and they've arranged a music circle for tonight! I think I met a few of them at a filk circle at KeyCon years ago, and of course it's always great to make music with Dave. My guitarist, sadly, didn't come with so I won't be able to do much. But I can listen!

Off now to see Ancient Seas at the Winnipeg Museum, and later The Churchill Experience (a pre-conference thing) with polar bear.

Garden: The east side of the back yard is noticeably freer of weeds than when the back yard was full of filkers last week, or when friends from Tucson saw a total mess. The very hot, humid weather was great for weeds and not great for gardening, esp. when we had to pick raspberries for more than an hour - EACH - to keep up. The place looks good - from a distance. We have lots of frozen berries for raspberry crisps year-round.

Horse: Nijomi is unhappy about being transferred to a pasture with only one other horse, her daughter, across the road from her buddies. I thought she would develop a terrible grass belly (the main paddock has very little grass and the horses there eat hay year-round). Instead, she has lost considerable weight from running back and forth along the fence neighing for her friends, and is fitter than I've ever seen her. The pus pocket on her hoof cleared up quickly. And it's a lovely day so we should be on the trails, but I've pulled a muscle in one leg and it's painful to even walk (I'm sure it's just minor and will clear up in a few days IF I REST.)

Filking: I'm working on organizing the filk track for Can-Con in Ottawa, and we've registered for OVFF - yay! Karen Linsley will be back with us August 8-10 so there will be music, and there's a house filk in Guelph on August 17th. Pegasus nominations sent in Friday.

Song-writing: I have so far written zero songs in 50/90, but I knew July would be crazy busy and I'm not giving up - two months to go. Now catching up on Watchlist songs, starting with Phil's (he's got nine at http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/user/philkmills). Just bought Lasers and Feelings by the Doubleclicks and am lining up some Cheshire Moon Singles and Fiddly Bits to buy and download.

Organizations: The Creating the Future - Ontario tour I helped organize was very successful - we sold out at MaRS! It was great to see my friends Hildy and Dimitri again, and get to know a couple more local fellows (creatingthefuture.org). For the Aurora Awards, I've read the short stories, poems and Young Adult books, and much of Tanya Huff's wonderful The Silvered. Five more novels, and the graphic novels, to go.

Writing: The international book I have two articles in, You and Your Nonprofit Board, has been getting great reviews and one singled out my board decision-making article. ‪http://amzn.to/12bIBBX‬. With two other local authors, we are planning a book launch party, with live jazz, for September.

And that was probably more than you wanted to know and I've forgotten much.

Many healing wishes out to Tanya Huff, Maya Bohnhoff, Karen Linsley and everyone else recovering from injuries and operations.

Judith Merril, J.R.R. Tolkien and David Bowie are 2013 inductees into Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame - yay! Along with Joanna Russ and H.R. Giger, who I know much less about.

I hope the Merril Collection in Toronto is planning a celebration!

http://www.empmuseum.org/at-the-museum/museum-features/science-fiction-and-fantasy-hall-of-fame.aspx