One Wacky Week

December went by in a bit of a blur, and I realized how blurry it was when I noticed I hadn't posted once in my favourite month of the year, the one that features that little event called Christmas, when I get all weak-kneed and over-excitable.

The month started with a week that featured a whirlwhind trip to Boston and London via Iceland. Bruce the Bat and I put in five flights in five days. This was for my work and - even though I got very few pictures - as my friends know, there's always time to take pictures of Bruce. Obviously.

 Monday morning started at 4 a.m. with a 7 a.m. flight to Boston for a photo shoot. Bruce hung out in the photographer's studio, one of his favourite things to do. That evening we flew to London with a three-hour wait in Iceland in the middle of the night. We got to London in the afternoon and I crashed for two hours because... you know.... SLEEP. That Bruce met my aunt and cousins and was a big hit. It was so fantastic to see them again - what a great and gorgeous family I have! They brought champagne which we drank on a picnic bench overlooking the Thames before gorging on excellent dim sum. My cousin Richard took the shot of Bruce with the empty bottle.


One insane day later, we were back in Iceland, but we were delayed due to storms over Britain. Big storms. Turbulence... you will never by my friend. We had to wait overnight for our next flight but the good folks at Keflavik Airport put us up in a hotel and fed us lots of Icelandic-type food. It was too overcast to see the northern lights and too bitterly cold to do anything but run down to the ocean, lose all possible ability to think straight as my brain froze, and run back to the hotel past some interestingly painted little houses. Back in my warm room, I finished reading the next Jane Austen book club book and perused the Icelandic bible. I lay in bed amusing myself by reading it out loud between mouthfuls of duty-free chocolate. I'm easily entertained.

Guess what? Bruce brought back a great souvenir for himself from Keflavik. Meet his new pal Olaf!

We landed in Toronto late on Friday evening.

Saturday was almost the craziest day of the week. In the morning I hightailed it to the St. Lawrence Market to buy my Christmas tree.. I had been aching for this moment, because... well... Christmas tree! And, as usual, I bought it from Jeff the Christmas tree guy, who was featured here. Thanks Jeff! Then it was off to St. Paul's for the big Toronto Star Carol Concert with a friend and the lovely Armenians. Then it was back to L'Espresso Bar Mercurio for the One-Off, Six Meeting, Limited Edition Jane Austen Book Club. But, the previous night, while disembarking the plane, someone had wetly sneezed on my neck and I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat and a morning voice-over recording. At the studio I guzzled gallons of peppermint tea and tried to rise above my own voice. It seemed to go ok. Home again I unpacked, caught up on Coronation Street AND performed my cold-fighting ritual. The next day, Monday, I went into work feeling totally normal. Well... as normal as I ever can... heh heh. Weirdly, I had no jet lag. Bonus!