I'm recently back from a two-week work visit in London. It was great to be part of the team again and to interact with colleagues face to face instead of over email and chat. (I love freelancing, but I was starting to suffer from cabin fever.)

As an added bonus, my visit coincided with our company weekend away: we sailed on long boats on the famous Canal du Midi in the south of France, starting near a small town called Beziers. The canal is a UNESCO World Heritage site and includes locks, bridges and a tunnel. The scenery was gorgeous: lush trees either side, often creating a canopy, with beautiful houses, fields, vineyards and villages beyond. I found the locks fascinating - such a simple concept for a complex feat - and could've gone through plenty more without becoming bored (we did about 10).

I wish I could paste photos, but I charged my battery the night before France and left it in the charger in London. Quel dommage. :(

It was the Autumn Equinox on Friday (22nd). I was in London and only realised its passing when I flew back to Vancouver and caught up on my journal (it shows moon cycles etc). I have to say I was a little miffed to miss the event. Not that I would've danced under the moon or anything (actually I couldn't, it was a new moon!), but I like to be connected to the rhythms of nature.

I did, however, work out the four directions from my hotel room in Central London and invoked them each morning before stepping out into my day. It was a cool way to ground myself, and although I didn't have my usual Vancouver mountain view to the north, I was happy to work with what I had (north = bathroom, east = bed, south = window, west = TV). Hmmm...I'm sure there's a connection in there somewhere... :)

I went to my first baseball game yesterday. Seattle Mariners, the home team, played Boston Red Sox. Baseball's such a foreign sport to me - it has only become big in Australia since I left - so I was excited to experience this huge bit of Americana.

I felt like a kid at the circus for the first time. Wherever I looked, something new delighted my senses and piqued my curiosity. It was a whole new world.

The key element was our sweet friend Steven, a passionate fan who gave us the inside scoop on everything and indulged our innocent excitement. We ate a pre-game hot dog, loaded ourselves up with a nearly-bigger-than-me bag of kettle corn (a must-have delicious mix of sweet and sour flavoured popcorn), then made our way inside the $500 million Safeco Field with time to spare for a tour. Steven pointed out the bleachers, bull pens (where the pitchers practise), the dugouts; made sure we saw the fantastic artwork; and shared interesting facts and tidbits about the game and the workings of the stadium. Whatever question G and I threw at him, he had the answer.

I've heard people say that baseball is boring. Certainly there's a lot of downtime and they use music and gimmicks to fight the short attention spans (which I thought was fun). Sometimes it was so low-key that I didn't realise they were playing! But with Steven giving us a personal commentary on what was happening and why, helping me get the lingo right (I kept saying 'sneaking' instead of 'stealing' the bases), and even letting me wave my foam finger, I had a fabulous time!


Yes, I had to have a foam finger. What 'kid' wouldn't want one? :)

A bird's eye view to take it all in (we were actually closer than it looks)


The Mariners up on the big screen...Ichiro is everyone's favourite, and Chris is a fellow Aussie!
  

Ichiro was fun to watch


Artwork made of licence plates and soda cans (click for bigger) and free games for the kids (Nintendo owns the Mariners)
  

94mph from the pitching mound...and between innings, the rakers tidy up - and dance!
  

The final score...go Mariners!


PS. I have to add that it was strange to stand up with 40,000+ people for the national anthem - my first experience of full-on patriotic fervour. At "land of the free" everyone cheered. And the singer was Canadian. *laugh*

Our magical day started at 9am with a leisurely bike ride around the seawall of Stanley Park. We have so much gratitude for our life here - the sweetness, simplicity, natural beauty and calmness - and Stanley Park encompasses all of this.

(Click photos to see larger views.)

These sunflowers were amazing - at least 9 feet high.
    

Third Beach, and a blue heron takes a morning dip
  

Favourite pic of the day, I think. This gull was just standing on the rock glancing around. She was either showing off (Mine! Mine! Mine!) or trying to work out what to do next with her catch


11am: Breakfast at our favourite creperie off Robson Street.

3pm: Cirque du Soleil! The first anniversary is paper, which we translated into tickets to see Varekai. We splurged and got VIP seats - third row, centre; with yummy food and champagne beforehand and desserts at intermission inside Tapis Rouge. We delighted in the whimsical, sensual, mesmerising magic of it all: perfect energy for our celebratory day!

  

7.30pm: Back to Stanley Park to Ferguson Point, where we had our ceremony. We played, talked, laughed and chatted to people passing by until the champagne was gone and the sun sank into the horizon.

    

  The sun eventually sets on a perfect day

After a two-month writing drought, I've found inspiration again...in a melon.

I was given it today, and carried it from Gastown to Burrard Street, balancing it in my left palm like an oracle (a very heavy oracle at that). On the 22 bus, a woman laughed when I walked past. "That's very sweet," she said. "Isn't it?" I replied with a grin, and cradled it in my lap. The man who sat next to me stared at it, looked away, then stared again. Over and over he did this until I got up from my seat at Kitsilano and he blurted out his thoughts: "That's a very special cantaloupe!" I laughed and nodded and got off the bus. There was no need to explain.

And here's why this melon put a crazy grin on my face and prompted strangers to talk to me:

  

It's an anniversary melon!

Tomorrow G and I celebrate one year of being married - and this is the funky card/gift from two dear friends. I can just imagine their conversation: Let's see...first year is traditionally paper. Nah, let's do fruit! :) Actually, they knew we'd be toasting each other with champagne tomorrow evening, in the same place and at the same time as we had our ceremony. The melon will be perfect.

So too will the champagne. It was a wedding gift from another dear friend who couldn't make it to the ceremony. We've had it chilling in our fridge, waiting for this very day. It's going to go down really well.

Champagne and melon and a sunny summer evening with my honey. And that's only part of our celebrations...

I've developed a newfound love of theatre this week, which probably isn't hard to do here with the vibrant atmosphere. The costumes, the set designs, the music and singing and dancing, the way the stories unfolded and made me cry and laugh and feel connected to the characters, as well as the backstage tour...it was all very magical.

We're leaving Ashland in a few hours and I'm already looking forward to returning in August and hopefully seeing The Merry Wives of Windsor or Cyrano de Bergerac on the Elizabethan Stage.

Many times this week I thought about the little actor self inside me that I often forget exists. When I was 5, and my brother 6, we made curtains out of our crocheted blankets, set up a couple of rows of chairs and peformed skits and jokes for our parents and friends in our home. Then in high school I had humble but fun parts in two high school plays (I even sang: "Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow..."). At one time I even wanted to be an actor, but I never took it seriously, or perhaps I didn't believe I could do it. Anyway, I don't think I've missed my calling (ha ha), but I do entertain the thought of taking a theatresports class someday. If only my shyness didn't always get the better of me...

This morning I took a Backstage Tour, which was a fun complement to seeing the plays. I particularly loved the tour of the Elizabethan Stage: we mingled with props and people doing the technical rehearsals (playing with lighting and objects that move), climbed up and down stairs, wandered past and through change rooms, then walked through a door at stage left and pretended we were actors making a dramatic entrance (well, I did, anyway). :) I can't wait to see my first play here, but I'll have to wait until it opens in summer to do so.

I learned that the actors do their own makeup, that Anne Frank involved 200 hours of rehearsals, and that the cucumber sandwiches in Ernest were actually bananas painted with green food colouring to please Kevin Kenerly's tastebuds. I also learned a new word (always an exciting thing for a writer): vomitoria, which are the tunnels beneath the seating area where actors can access the stage.

I learned about understudies and wig making and the huge storage room full of costumes, how actors and plays are chosen, the history of the OSF and plenty of fascinating insights that added to the magic of seeing the plays.

Most of all, it gave gave me a sense of the enormous amount of work and huge number of people involved in bringing a play to fruition - let alone 11 at the same time - and the 'organised chaos' that goes on behind the scenes. Just once, I'd love to be a fly on the wall backstage when the curtain goes up!

I'm in Ashland, Oregon, a little town nestled in the Rogue Valley about 15 miles north of the California border. G and I arrived on Monday night to hang and see friends for a couple of days before he staffs a training at the end of the week. He used to live here, and this is my fourth visit.

It's late May, so the weather is changeable: from sunny to cloudy to threatening rain to actual rain in a matter of minutes, and sometimes all at once; tufts of cottonwood ride the breezes and cause allergic noses and eyes to wheeze and water; and the 20,000 population happily embraces hundreds of actors, designers, artisans, stage managers, running crews, ushers, musicians and other production staff.

Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). It started in 1935 with a production of Twelfth Night and is today one of the oldest and largest professional repertory theatre companies in America. From mid February to the end of October, the OSF puts on 11 plays in three theatres, including a four-storey, 1,190-seat outdoor Elizabethan Stage.

With two free days, and two plays showing each day (at 1.30pm and 8pm), G and I clearly had a mission! We packed in all four productions: The Diary of Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest, The Winter's Tale by the Bard himself, and a modern play called Up.

It was a diverse mix, and each was beautifully performed. I was excited to see Anne Frank, because I've been to Anne Frank's House and I've read the book. The stage play brought all the elements to life, made the people and the events more real, more vivid. I was so caught up in the everyday moments - such as Anne, Peter and Margot giggling as they shared a rare treat of strawberries - that when the Nazis walked in, the shock was unexpected, frightening. The ending was haunting: a reminder of the darkness that exists in the soul but also of the power that words - and writing about the everyday - can bring.

Check this out - a vending machine filled with books! (Click picture to view larger.)

I spied it at my departure gate at Heathrow Airport before I flew out yesterday. You use a little touch screen to read a blurb about each book and make your purchase. The Da Vinci Code was available, along with Memoirs of a Geisha and what looked like some Young Adult books judging from the covers.

A novel idea indeed!

It's the brainchild of two guys from Ireland.

I don't have a TV by choice, but I keep the remote handy when I'm in London because the Brits do such brilliant comedy. Case in point: Green Wing, a medical (and I use that term loosely) drama. Bizarre, surreal, twisted and very, very funny.

I spent the first 10 or so minutes thinking "What the...?" but by the end I was addicted. In fact, I'm wondering if I could postpone my flight home so I can see the next episode tomorrow night... (ha ha, just kidding honey). :)