Nature / Writing

Thursday March 24, 2016 I've been busy pouring over the programming for TIFF Kids 2016, which starts on April 8. There are a ton of great-sounding new films I'm excited about seeing, but I'm also thrilled to see that Toronto families will get two more chances to see one of my favourite films from last year's festival. Paper Planes  is a 2014 Australian film directed by Robert Connolly and starring Ed Oxenbould as Dylan, an 11-year-old dealing not only with his mother's death, but with his father's debilitating grief. Discovering competitive paper plane flying gives Dylan somewhere to focus his energy and a way to to make new friends; which at first only drives he and his dad (Sam Worthington) further apart. I usually only take Steve to two or three TIFF Kids movies a year, so I always hope they'll turn out to be good ones. He came with me to Paper Planes  and we both thought it was a wonderful family film. I highly recommend checking it out this ...

Sunday March 20th, 2016 Yesterday I read a fun article on The Varsity Newspaper website that reviews the contents of several Little Free Library boxes in Toronto . Writer Lisa Power wonders what the box contents tell us about Torontonians, but of course as Power herself admits, the contents could really just indicate which books the locals most wanted to get rid of. So when we took a nice Sunday walk in the park (this was the International Day of Happiness, after all), we checked in at a local Little Free Library  to see what the contents had to say. Which was mostly that it's time for me to round up a few contributions! Maybe this says we love our books too much to give away? I don't know if most people really do use Little Free Libraries to read-and-return, or if they tend to keep what they like and leave other books to replace them (or maybe never return OR replace, based on these shelves). We do a little mix of both - I've definitely read and returned, and r...

Tuesday March 01, 2016 In November we adopted two kittens from the North Toronto Cat Rescue , bringing our household cat total to three. This is Charlotte: And this is her brother Rubin: They both have cerebellar hypoplasia (CH), aka Wobbly Cat Syndrome, as described in Charlotte's video. Expect them to make occasional appearances here on the blog, especially as we learn more about CH or I get more video of them being adorable and/or ridiculous. (For the record, 16-year old tuxedo cat Gadget retains his seniority around this place, and is so far tolerating his new companions with only mild annoyance and even fleeting affection.) Connect Online: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Tumblr | Wattpad | Goodreads | Google+