If Yo Yo Ma would design my back garden, that would be great, thanks.

Really.

The Music Garden in Toronto is so gorgeous that I want to make something like it at home, but it would just be much nicer to get Yo Yo Ma to do it.  He does good work. (OK, I can't find his name on the link, but I swear someone told me he was involved. Maybe he played while they created this?)

This is the first time I've been to TO in the summer and it really is very wonderful.  My feet were walked down to little blistered nubs, as I am a suburbanite and unaccustomed to kilometers of concrete under my shoes and also I am maybe a bit of a delicate flower.  But even with sore feet I am sad to be home ignoring the yardwork and getting yelled at by my cat instead of hanging out with Steph and seeing new things.

I had never had a cherry before.  Some where along the way I never met them.  I think I thought they tasted like that weird stuff in commercial pie and regarded the fruit with suspicion.  Turns out, not so much.

We call this Still Life With Beer and Cherries.
And Stupid Knitting (because it turns out I cannot do yarn overs on the TTC.  I needed garter stitch.)  Also, I am the only person in Toronto wearing sunglasses.  That happened to me in England too. 

Paparazzi shot of blogger at work. 

I'd forgotten what good pictures the little camera takes. 

I came home with 6 kinds of sunblock (No fooling.  My dermatologist gave me a bollocking last month for failure to protect and I found the mother load of non-icky, non-sticky, non-FDA approved but it doesn't sting or make me crazy to put it on my face sunblock), a sweater's worth of Dream in Color "Cloud Jungle" (the "Black Parade" was really good too, but there were only two skeins left.  Oh, and the Cocoa Kiss.  Very nice.) (This is seriously gorgeous yarn.  You should get some.) and a determination to do more cardio, but mostly I came home feeling lucky (well, lucky and also a little bitter about the return of regular service.  My desk was a sad sight today.) and remembering the wind on the lake, in the grass, through the streetcar window.  In Steph's face. 

Also, we went on the merry-go-round.  We are four.

Home is really not as good as I remember.

 

Comments

[Garry Harvey]

squeezingly rasen unioniform unode fuscescent uncultivable blowup tarbooshed
know
http://www.angelfire.com/pblzuz/1.html

[Pigwotknits]

I remember seeing the Yo Yo Ma Bach films. The garden related to the 1st Cello suite, which I was learning bits of at the time. Still can't play it as well as he can. :-)

[anne]

oh i love cherries . . and did not even eat one this summer (yet).
we just got that dream in color yarn at the shop where i teach. i do not let myself touch it (yet), as i am pretty much drowning in yarn here.
and eeuw . . baby-powder-scented spray on stuff. don't they know they have competition?

[Cheryl]

I'd like to leave a comment about the nice pictures but I'm speechless over the cherries thing. What??? Never tried cherries??? I can't wrap my mind around how that's even possible.

[Anne]

The carousel used to be a potential boyfriend test. Anyone who was too embarrassed or snooty to ride the merry-go-round failed automatically. Extra points for picking an up-and-down horse; double points for letting me have the outside.

It sounds like a wonderful time, the kind that makes you wish for more, and that is how vacation should be spent.

[k]

And to add;
Now that you've had cherries, you've got to try Rainier cherries. Except now you have to wait till next year.

[Cassandra]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time, it was super fun watching your adventures through someone else's eyes. Good luck on the re-entry, it can be tough.
Does it have to be Yo-Yo Ma or can any random cellist help with your garden?

[naomi]

If it makes you feel better--I think I've been one of the only people in Boulder *not* wearing sunglasses. Looks like you had a wonderful vacation, though, sunglasses or not.

[Lizbon]

Glad you had a great time, and boy has it been fun to peek at this vacation through two blogs. Oh, I know just what you mean about the drag of being back in one's ordinary life after a magical trip like that. Blunk, blunk, blunk, is what it sounds like, I think.

[Laurie]

Yes, what IS the sunscreen?

Great photojournalism.

[DebbieB]

I met cherries 2 years ago. I always thought they tasted like cough medicine (I mean, "cherry-flavored" - c'mon!) so I wouldn't try 'em. Good grief - they taste like miniature plums and are seriously delicious. I missed out all these years, and now I'm trying to make up for lost time.

I think I could live in that Music Garden.

[lisa]

Love the paparazzi shot! Hmmm...music garden, bet you don't have to weed it.

[sparkle j]

I may not be able to get Yo Yo Ma to design your garden, but one of my cousins makes cellos, and Yo Yo Ma is a client of his. Would that do?

Looks like you had a marvelous time in Toronto! Man, I've got to get back up there one of these days. Your re-enrty tale reminds me of how I felt coming home after a lovely trip to Newfoundland last summer.

[Rose]

Lucky you! My husband and I are trying to plan our next trip and Toronto is in the top three. And is it coincidence that knitters know how to have fun? I think not.

[Sarah]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. I hope the renewing and refreshing qualities of such enjoyable times ease you through the transition back home. I think these kinds of good memories are what make vacation yarn so special.

[Kathy]

How fun! You need better shoes for those nubbins. And probably some cardio (says she who was completely done in by a day long trip to Disneyland recently - so much walking!). Oh, and I'm usually the only one with sunglasses. Welcome, fellow mole person :-)

[Gina]

The return home is bittersweet. Give it a few days and kitty will be all purrs again. Please tell more about the sunblock. I'm on the hunt for something that doesn't feel as if I've slathered myself in Chili Spiced Elmer's Paste.

[Melanie]

Bah. I firmly believe that you are never too old to ride on a carousel. Ever. Simple joys require no explanation and make no excuses.

[Laura]

I've been to Toronto about a million times and somehow I've always missed the Music Garden. I need to add that to my list for the next visit. I have family in TO, so I've spent a lot of time there and I do agree that it's great. I would move there in a millisecond if it weren't for the WINTER!!!! Remember the winter! It's freakin' freezing!

[claudia]

Re-entry is a big ole bitch.

[Martha]

Julie Messervy's written some landscape design books, if you're thinking of doing your yard over...

[Michele]

De-lurking (I did get some of your beautiful de-stash wool, though, so maybe not a total lurker?) to ask - is that Fleece Artist yarn for the garter stitch knitting? If so, would you share the color? I enjoy your blog, thanks!

[elizabeth]

I can imagine how impossible it must be to come back from that. My condolences.

[Lee Ann]

I, too, want to know about the non-sticky, non-stinging sunscreen. And I live up here so I could probably get what you've got.

Still Life with Beer and Cherries. Sounds like my first real date.

[Kim]

The Music Garden was one of several collaborative projects Yo Yo Ma did several years ago. Each project interpreted a different Bach solo cello concerto and a film for each was made for PBS. Here's a blurb from an old Yo Yo Ma bio:

"Mr. Ma is currently working on a collaborative project of a different kind, creating films of Bach's Six Cello Suites that explore the relationship between Bach's music and other artistic disciplines. The first of these, featuring original choreography of Mark Morris set to the third Cello Suite, was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1995. Subsequent films will incorporate the work of the renowned Kabuki artist Tamasaburo Bando, the Italian architect Piranesi, Boston-based garden designer Julie Messervy and Olympic ice dancing champions Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean."

One of my favourite spots in Toronto! Glad you enjoyed it.