Oh, Canada!

A mini-vacation sort of weekend: I went up to Victoria to see the sister who in other periods of history would surely be terribly scandalous perform Verdi’s Mass as part of the chorus. I envy them, because for most of the songs in my choir’s upcoming concert, we want to be smiling to draw the listeners into the mood. The sister could just look intense, which I can assure you is much more what you want to be doing when you’re watching carefully for your entrance and concentrating making your vowel sounds tall.

The most fun part, though, was that the concert began with the audience singing along with Oh, Canada. I got to play the “I look like I know this song I’ve never sung in my life by joining some notes a beat late and predicting the next words through rhyme scheme and phrasing and others just punting with an open vowel. Finish loud with a flourish on the ending cadence, and no one will know!” It’s a fun game, and impressive to your neighbors if you do it right.

I also got to devour a book, which I haven’t had a chance to do forever, with measured snatches of time to do my reading around work and making wordcount. I took Shades of Milk and Honey with me, and once I picked it up, I ended up reading it all afternoon, in the car to the concert, and finished the last page as the orchestra tuned. Lovely! I have always been fond of Jane Austen, but Jane Austen with magic and also a wonderfully compelling heroine was lovely.

In other Canadiana, the grandparents, with whom we stayed the night, were out of breakfast foods, so we drove down the road to the Tim Hortons. According to one of their comedy shows, Canada’s national animal: the TimBit. I bought home the carrier to photograph it in its natural habitat.

Isn’t it cute?


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