Spring is coming to Canada

The weather is finally starting to improve but I haven't been outside as much as I would like.  The last week or so has been full of travel.  Last week Bruce and I drove to Kingston to make some deliveries at the University, and then went up to see Maggie's parents in Ottawa, and we spent a nice time at their apartment and in the restaurant attached.  They are both doing well, and it was great to see both of them, and to celebrate Hugh's 90th birthday, albeit a few days late.  Our friend Dina Namer was in Toronto awaiting the birth of their most recent grandchild but Michael was home in Ottawa, and it was nice to see him after a long interval.

On the way back we stopped in at Golden Lake to say hello to my Aunt Lorraine and Uncle David at their new cottage... Patrick, their eldest, and his partner Nicole were there for the long weekend, and it was really very pleasant to have a brief visit with them before heading off home to Toronto.  They have really made a beautiful home there that still retains the charm of the original cottage.  On the way we stopped off both at the old Zadow homestead and also at Bruce's aunt's place in Barry's Bay, which he hadn't visited since the 1980s.

The next day we had more travel, getting to St. Catharines to see the Niagara Symphony perform an opera excerpts concert.  The tenor Adam Luther is a friend, as is his wife the soprano Laura Albino, with whom I performed the Creation of Haydn some years ago.  Adam and Bruce just finished Countess Maritza in Victoria last month, and baritone Jonathon Dick was singing as a soloist in the concert; he is a friend and fellow student of Bruce, so it was a very enjoyable afternoon.  The late Peter Partridge and his wife Janet are longtime friends of the Rose family, and they gave a substantial gift to the building fund for Partridge Hall, and it is acoustically excellent and also visually quite beautiful.  The Niagara Symphony and Chorus Niagara comported themselves wonderfully, as did the solo singers.

I have managed to get in my usual share of runs and swims and am trying to keep up my training regimen, although I have no races on the horizon; it's a bit hard to think about that at the moment as I am otherwise occupied.  Apart from a lot of maintenance and rebuilding work that I have contracted to do, I have a yard sale to plan, to try to cut down a bit on the many items still in storage here in Toronto... I have to spend some time musically on voice lessons, which Bruce has been very generous with, and I have to work on my own, on my next project, a very challenging Bach Cantata that will happen in Brussels very soon after I return.    As well, today I just received news that I have an audition here in Toronto in about a week and a half, with the new artistic leadership of the Pax Christi Chorale.  I have performed as a soloist with them three times already, but all of those were before the leadership change that happened a few years ago, so it's important to put my best foot forward and make a good impression with the new direction of this excellent choir.

I hope that I can sing a few more auditions this trip to try to line things up for my next ones...