Home, Home, Home!!

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I mostly had a great time in Toronto, gang. Wayne and I really had fun together and then after he left on Monday morning, the final day of my trip just dragged and dragged. (No pun intended, of course, regarding our play “The Guide to Being Fabulous”!!)

Anyway. I’m home.

And the flight back took forever, because they changed my flight at the last minute and I literally sat in Pearson International Airport for 5 hours, instead of 2.

However, my dear friend Cathy was completely flexible and picked me up in Columbus right on time. And we had a really lovely ride out to Muskingum County. (I’m an hour away from the Columbus airport.) The weather was beautiful and the fall colors were mostly still hanging in there.

My sister blessed me beyond belief by showing up last evening to drive my mom back home, so that I wouldn’t have to do about 5 hours of driving today. So, me, Cathy, my mom, and my sister hung out together for a while last evening, had pizza, got caught up on my trip and on the play — and KonTiki of the Great Outdoors actually came inside and hung out on my lap in the kitchen, while the rest of us chatted and laughed , etc.

So nice to come home to that.

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I have no news, really, even though it does look like everything imaginable is cranking up in chaos all over the place!

Phil had some very cryptic coded intel yesterday that I couldn’t decode for the life of me. Neither could Cathy. So I still have no idea what he said. You can try your hand at it HERE, if you haven’t already.

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Other than that, I’m just taking it easy here today, even though I have to do laundry and drive into town to get the groceries — and stop in at the health food store, where I used to work, because all the gals I used to work with there, signed a fantastic card for me and got me a little gift (that I love!), to celebrate the play finally opening in Toronto. It was so sweet of them to do that and it made me so happy. So I’m going to stop in there today, too, and give everybody hugs.

(And my co-workers at the train station were just incredible, too. They texted me all during the opening weekend of the show, with happy wishes and smiling faces, and it was just so nice.)

Anyway.

Here is a link to the only free newspaper review of the show in Toronto, if you care to read it! The Toronto Star.

And if you’re interested, here is a 40-second trailer of the show, from Soulpepper Theatre:

Again, I am just going to say, I have creative issues with a lot of these “changes” to our script, but the audiences in Canada love the show and the reviews were very, very good. So on we go.

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Oh, and my bank! I had to download a new app for the new “digital banking” experience and it is quite different, indeed. Super fast!! So we shall see where this all goes, gang. (To the RV, I’m guessing!)

Okay. Have a great Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya!

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Some of my “back home again” morning music, while feeding my many happy cats today!! Enjoy!!

Packed and having my coffee

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It’s 5:45am here in Toronto and already, everyone is awake scrambling to get somewhere. The view out the window just now:

And everyone in the building is apparently already on the Internet because the WiFi is suddenly really slow…

You know, thousands and thousands of people live in this area of downtown Toronto — the high rise that the Airbnb condo is in has 68 stories and is a “twin tower” building. So multiply that times two.

There are nothing but brand new high rises all over this area, with many more literally being built, and I haven’t seen a single church, synagogue, mosque, Buddhist temple — nothing, zippo, nada.

It’s really sad. Cars and high rises are everywhere, though.

Anyway. I’m packed and having my coffee. My Uber is reserved. At some point this afternoon, I will be back in the Hinterlands. It will be so nice to be home.

My dad texted me and asked if I could be with him on Thanksgiving. That made me very happy. I haven’t had Thanksgiving with anyone in probably 10 years.

Okay. That’s it for now.

Obviously things are getting insane regarding Israel, the crazy fake Biden, the banks, etc. (Many ATMs allegedly went down all over the States this morning. So far, my bank online is 100% fine in its new “digital banking platform”.)

We just have to sit tight and see, but something huge is definitely afoot…

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya!

Winding Down!!

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Okay. Wayne has gone off to the airport, heading back to NYC. I’m hanging out in the condo, waiting to meet up with Sandra and go over our thoughts about the play.

I head back home tomorrow morning.

Wayne and I had such a fun time, hanging out here in Toronto!! We hadn’t actually seen each other since before the scamdemic.

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I guess the only curious news is that allegedly, the Balfour Declaration expires on Oct. 31, 2023. Which is coming up rapidly. Especially considering that Israel is 6 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone.

I don’t really know what the expiration of the Declaration really means, but I guess we shall see.

If you don’t know what the Balfour Declaration was, it was when Britain gave to the Rothschilds the area we now know as Israel as a “Jewish” homeland. (Or perhaps a Zionist homebase…) This was back on November 2, 1917.

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Yesterday, after the matinee of “The Guide to Being Fabulous,” Wayne and I went to a fantastic French bistro, called Cluny. It’s right across from the theater. Wow was the food great!!!!

All the food we’ve had in Toronto has just been great.

Today, I will finally get caught up on Phil’s Q&A from Friday. And I also missed a zoom call for that course I’m taking about the Dead Sea Scrolls, taught by James Tabor. So I want to get caught up with that, too.

So here is a parting shot of the Airbnb. I’m packing, tidying up, drinking coffee… waiting for Sandra to call!!

Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting,

I love you guys. See ya!

A Real Smash!

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Opening night was a complete success!!! The audience absolutely ADORED Sandra!! 2 standing ovations. Hooting, hollering, cheering!! She did such a fantastic job and I knew she would!!🥰❤️🥰

“The Guide to Being Fabulous” is officially OPEN at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto!!!😃🥂🎼🎭

Wayne and I are attending the matinee today, and then out to dinner again tonight.

I hope you are having a great Sunday, gang. Wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya!

Sorry About the Weirdness!!

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While I’m here in Toronto, I’m using Jetpack to post to the blog. For some reason, it posted the same post 3 times yesterday!!!

Hopefully, it won’t do it again today, but my apologies in advance if it does, gang,

I see that Phil’s live last night was a Rapid Fire Q&A!! I love those but I have not had time to listen to it yet.

Here is the replay, in case you missed it, too:

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Wayne and I are having a really great time here, just going for long walks, being very sarcastic to each other, laughing a lot, eating great food in cool little restaurants, shopping for souvenirs, etc.

(People say that we should get married again… yeah, well, um, NO….😂) (But we do have a great time hanging out together.)

Here is the view from the balcony this morning. A gorgeous day out there!!!

And here, finally, is the official program from “The Guide to Being Fabulous”!! We attended the Preview last night!!

It was almost a full house, but not quite. But the audience loved the show! Sandra was incredible and her voice— wow, gang, can she sing!!!

Tonight is Opening Night, which has been sold out for a couple of months already. The press will be there, etc., so here’s hoping the reviews will be really, really good.

Personally, I am really glad the preview audiences have enjoyed the show, but I have some issues with choices the director has made, so, for me, it can get frustrating. But the audience is what matters now, and they are enjoying it.

So on we go!!

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That’s it for now. Have a great Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!

Here’s hoping this post doesn’t keep posting every 12 minutes…..

Thanks for visiting! I love you guys! See ya!

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“It’s Today”!!!!! From my favorite Broadway musical, ever! “Mame”.

Morning in Toronto!

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Phil just posted a video comm, that basically says no, no, no. I guess referencing a Q post whose delta is this Sunday( ?). Not sure. Don’t forget, he’s live tonight at 7pm eastern.

And Charlie Ward had a short TikTok communication here.

Other than that, just tons of posts from everywhere re: the new Speaker of the House being a mega MAGA (and also anti-LGBTQ+). And then war war war….

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Meanwhile….

The flight to Toronto was quick, easy, friendly, and uneventful. No masks, no vaxes, no swab tests, no lockdowns, no arrests for being an alleged domestic terrorist, so it was basically just perfect.😄 My Uber was ready and waiting for me when my plane landed, however, I was on the wrong level and at the wrong door…. Eventually, though, it was perfect.

The Airbnb high rise condo is super sterile and futuristic and full of electronic safety features that were super hard to figure out (😂), however it’s really nice, with cool views, and an incredible grocery store right across the street that has tons of organic, nonGMO items to choose from— and Wayne only rolled his eyes once !! Unlike me, he is willing to eat basically anything, but last evening, while grocery shopping, he announced: “I’ve decided that I’m saying ‘why not?’ to everything today, so just put it in the basket!” So that was quite an unexpected cool little thing! And so everything in our basket was organic, nonGMO…

Here are some photos from our balcony this morning!

The sun coming up over the water in the distance:

A couple more views from the balcony:

Wayne, checking his email on his iPad:

Some of our groceries, along with Wayne’s head😂🤣😂🥰:

And that’s it for now!!!

Tonight, we will actually get to have dinner with Sandra before attending the preview of the play! It will be casual tonight but I’m still super excited.

Okay!

Have a great Friday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting. I love you guys! See ya!

A Quick Post Before I’m Outta Here!

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Okay, Phil announced yesterday that he will go live tomorrow night, Friday, Oct.27, qt 7PM eastern time. Check tomorrow to confirm.

My sister dropped off my mom around 7 last evening. I had not seen either of them since before the scamdemic. Almost 4 years. But there we all were, chatting away, catching up, just like the old days.

Weird, how suddenly everything feels back to normal, although we’re all noticeably older…

Plus, I haven’t flown anywhere in 4 years, either. It’s so weird how now you do all that check-in stuff on your phone! Check in, get your seat number, give them all your passport info, check your baggage, get your boarding pass — all of it, on your phone. And my e-boarding pass even had my TSA Pre-check on it.

It’s just weird.

Of course, I immediately closed the wrong window and lost the whole thing….(they re-sent it).

Anyway. Off I go. I am finally feeling really excited, gang. Partly because Wayne will already be there when I get there and he’ll be waiting outside of the high rise for my (excruciatingly expensive) Uber to arrive, with me inside it, with my stupidly heavy suitcase, and wearing my awesome David Bowie tee shirt that Wayne had made for me on one of my birthdays a few years ago….

This is where he and I are staying in Toronto:

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Okay.

Nick Cave sent out a Red Hand File yesterday that was very beautiful. And empowering. Advising a reader about how best to deal with a recent drug overdose. He wrote, in part:

“[…] if it is  related to drug dependency then in my experience people don’t usually overdose just once – they tend to overdose a couple of times, and then all too often die.[…]”

And he went into detail about what happens after you get clean. In part:

“[… If you persevere, in time you will have an entirely different problem – not that life is meaningless, but rather that life has almost too much meaning.[…]”

I so totally agree with that.

When I was in my early teens, I had a very serious drug problem. It wasn’t heroin, though. But I OD’d more times than I can even remember. And then, eventually, almost died. Twice.

Now, I can’t even imagine living in that much despair. Even when I’m battling depression, it is never as bad as it was in those early days of my life. I can’t imagine having missed out on all the incredible things that came into my world once I was old enough to leave home and get away from all the relentless abuse. So I particularly appreciated how Nick Cave ended his letter;

“So, Zara, a few things you need to do. Stop fucking around and get your shit together. Get clean and don’t die.”

You can read it in full here.

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Okay. That’s it. Got to get moving here.

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya!

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The world of author Marilyn Jaye Lewis