The First Work Week of 2010 Zoomed By

The Beauty of a Quiet Saturday Morning
I love to get up early on a Saturday morning, turn on some great music (usually commercial free CBC radio - Molly Johnson hosts the morning show each weekend morning), grab a big cup of coffee and a book or my laptop and lounge in bed for an hour or two.

This morning was one such treat morning.  I am listening to Bob Dylan's "Staying here with you"... Life is good. 

Essential to the morning is the time spent gazing out my windows while the sun comes up, watching the changing seascape in the  Lake to the south and the tower night lights slowly extinguishing as daylight arrives around the Toronto downtown skyline to the east.  Some mornings I can get the full view of a glowing ball rising over Lake Ontario, other times it greets me over the top of an office or condo* tower.  As the sun changes position during the seasons of the year it gradually moves from the southerly to a northerly position relative to my 21st floor bedroom in the sky.

The point is that I am always engaged by my morning view.  Winter views are as interesting as summer views. This morning the colour of the water, slate grey - and the pattern the morning light makes on the cold, winter wind whipped water holds my attention.  Across the lake the clouds are piled high looking like so much mashed potatoes.  Funny how the sky above the lake can be clear and blue but the land across the lake cloud covered. Incidentally, the pictures taken this morning make the water bluer than it was to my eye - it was slate grey with swirls of white, for sure and of course, the view is far nicer in person - the detail can never be captured adequately through the lens of a camera.
 
As the day dawns I am happy and (as often said in these pages) grateful for where I am and what I have.  In this I don't mean happy with my home and property (tho I have no complaints on that front) - rather,  I mean grateful for where I am in my life, the happiness I feel in my heart and the friends and family I have here in Toronto, up north in the Collingwood area and for friends absent from my life at the moment.  I am truly blessed.

As I sit here observing the changing scene in front of me - the expressway is starting to flow traffic like a river in spring and the trains and trollies hurrying people to their destinations, my attention turns toward my new condo, which is rising up in front of me and has in the last 6 months obscured a small piece of my view to the south east.  For today, it has also obscured my view of the sunrise over the Toronto Islands.  My condo stands there still just a shell of a building, but it has pretty much reached it's zenith, I now watch it fill out and close in it's interior to the elements rather than watch it grow in height.  More on that in tomorrows blog.


The views over the lake today at dawn have such texture that they remind me of an artist's canvas and scenes I have seen in galleries.  The fantastic view lasts only a few hours.  Today is a clear day and as soon as the sun is high in the sky an equally beautiful - but less magical view presents itself - deep blue sky and shimmering blue water.





Liberty Wednesdays

This week I spent a wonderful Wednesday evening at the Liberty Bistro. As I have blogged previously, there is an open night mic every Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Wednesday night is hosted by Noah Zacharin and over the last 6 months I have become a regular here. It is a friendly and comfortable evening, usually easy, mellow and low key - and full of great music.

Most often, the evening is fairly accoustic and individuals play alone, sometimes with Noah accompanying on his guitar, but as it is billed as open mic and not jam there is normally one musician on stage as they showcase 2 or 3 tunes that  been in progress since their last appearance.

Occasionally, we will get an out of town musician who has a free night and wants a bit of exposure - or even the company of a bunch of like minded folk .

Usually there are just as many musicians as audience and sometimes more! As we all sit around in comfortable ambiance,  professional musicians with a free night to kill and hobbyist musicians alike share songs, rub elbows and chit chat happily with  a few regular appreciative fans, other Liberty Bistro regulars and drop in  dinner guests.  It is truly a place where everyone is friendly, musicians gather and great music just happens.

This week the place was thick with people with music in their hearts as well as their lips and fingertips!  The evening turned into a jam session as each musician in turn was joined by percussion, bass sax, violin and even at one point bass guitar as well as the usual acoustic guitars -whether they wanted accompaniment or not.  LOL  It was a loud, rocking and energy filled night. I had fun.

To read more blogs about the Liberty Bistro go here.

* Note: for my foreign visitor - condo is the word we use for particular type of home ownership when the building contains individually owned suites, but no land.