celebrating toy trains, Gaslight, Laurel and clutter

It is FREEZING and very wet. I should have known this would happen. The windows in my study are behind my very long desk; to open them, I have to climb up on the desk and strain. So I wait until the last moment to make that effort, and yesterday was so hot, I did. I hoisted myself up on top of the desk and struggled to open the windows.

This morning, the house was so cold, I turned on the furnace and then climbed back up on top of the desk and closed the windows again. It's like when you finally decide it's time to put your winter coats away, and you haul them to the basement or wherever they go - that's a guarantee that the very next day, it will plunge to minus five.

Yesterday, much pleasure. Anna was going crazy - Eli's dad was supposed to take him to visit family but got stuck at work, so what was meant to be a day off for Anna turned into a cold wet day with a restless young man sitting at the back door looking out. "A lot of rains," he said. "Very rains."

So I went over, to read some stories - including The Day the Crayons Quit and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, fabulous books - and to get down on the floor and make Thomas the Tank Engine go round and round. And round.

And then on to Gaslight, Sam's restaurant, to meet Laurel for dinner. Laurel came to my class maybe ten years ago; she had always wanted to write and never had. And as I've mentioned proudly before, including on this website under "Teaching," the piece she wrote for the very first class turned into the multi-prize-winning children's book "I know here." She has since published her second book and is working on her third. She still sends me stuff to read, and now I send her stuff to read. Her husband, who joined us briefly, is a musician, her four children are all interesting and creative, we talked non-stop for hours in the dim light of that wonderful, funky restaurant, watched over by Sam, while eating broccoli poutine and other good food.

This morning I'm in bed as the rain pours. I was going to garden all morning - the Cabbagetown Garden Tour is NEXT SUNDAY and the garden is not ready! - but luckily it's too horrible out there. So I'm in bed to try to get rid of my cough before So True. Reading a stack of newspapers and books, while the rain falls - does it get better than this? You know the answer.

Here's a great article from the NYT - celebrating clutter. A woman after my own heart.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/style/lets-celebrate-the-art-of-clutter.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&_r=0