Continuing my venerable (literally!) tradition: Today’s my 48th birthday. The picture you see above this line is me (of course) next to a painting that Brian and I purchased at an Awesome Calgary funded event at the venerable BJ’s gym in Calgary’s East Village. The artist is named Darcy Lisecki and he does a lot of … let’s say work that depicts the female form in ways that are not what you’d expect to see in a gay male couple’s home. But this one just screamed at us. We made an offer, it was accepted, and we then had to figure out how to get a museum stretch for a piece that’s massive, about 6′ by 7′. After a couple of $600+ estimates, it was 17th Avenue Framing, a mere three blocks from our home, that came to the rescue. They did a superb stretching job for only around $300, and managed delivery (we couldn’t fit it into either of our cars) for a mere $40- we’re close by so it was cheap. We’re really happy with it. It feels great to support a talented local artist, to have such a unique and impactful piece in our dining room and to have managed to not break our banks in the process.
So yes, today is my birthday. I don’t have anything really special planned- I’d rather save my plans for the much more important and party-worthy 50 coming down the road. I did revel, just REVEL, in all the kind wishes on facebook and via email from dozens of friends and many members of my family (including every one of my sisters). I’d say I’m blessed. Brian is taking me to a Japanese place here I’ve heard many good things about but have never actually visited: Sushi Bar Zipang in Bridgeland, which is a beautiful neighbourhood just northeast of downtown.
So goes my birthday. It’s luckily coinciding with the weekend and with a break from the deep freeze we’ve been experiencing since Monday. Winter has arrived. We had a high of -23 on Monday and it got colder Tuesday to Thursday; I couldn’t start my car (even having plugged it in- I assume too late- on Tuesday afternoon) until yesterday. But we’ve all seen worse, much worse, and an arctic outbreak here that lasts only 4 days is a very far cry from what we’ve had most winters. Right now it’s -12, far short of the predicted +4 I read about yesterday, but that’s okay.
We’ve also traversed two weeks of the 13-week academic term (the teaching part), and it’s gone quite well, even with the effort it took to get over my sabbatical inertia. Less, much less, than 3 months until classes end. And one year until I turn 49!
