5 on Friday - Set 123

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

...phew...

The pace of life in Julialandia is starting to slow down a little bit. SAINT SANGUINUS is the featured book over at The Full Fang today.

The link is here:

Julia Phillips Smith is in The Moonlight

This week, in honor of the girl for whom I was once the nanny--and who just celebrated her 27th birthday!--here's a Neil Diamond set.

Once upon a time, after I'd moved out of the Toronto home where I'd been the live-in nanny and then moved in as roommates with my employer's brother, we had his sister/my friend and her then-fiance-now-husband over for dinner and a games night. By this time I was engaged to Brad and he lived in our apartment with the brother/my roomie as well.

We played a music trivia game where you had to give clues about songs and then finally hum part of it if necessary. This first song always reminds me of Donna, the mom/my former employer/housemate/friend and her finger-snapping version.

Me with Donna on my 2007 trip to Toronto.

1 - Cracklin Rosie

2 - Cherry, Cherry

3 - Dear Father

4 - Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon

That's me with Claire, back in the day.

Claire--woman version.

5 - Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

Summer Stock Sunday - 40

Robin's Summer Stock Sunday meme invites all to post summery photos, and to visit other bloggers who share their feelings and memories about this magical season.













In the 1980s, I'd moved from the east coast of Canada to Toronto, where I worked as a nanny for several years before going to film school.

The family I worked for spent summers at their cottage on Georgian Bay in the Espanola area of Northern Ontario.

Since I was a live-in nanny, and since I became an extra part of the family, they took me along with them to the cottage, both summers I worked for them. It was AWESOME.

In the shot above - taken by Rob - it's me in the water in front, Donna sitting in the inner tube, and her daughter Claire on her lap.












That's me with Claire on the deck overlooking the lake and waiting for Rob to barbeque something delicious for supper. Shot taken by Donna.

My bed was along the wall of picture windows overlooking this same view. When everyone had gone to bed, I would lay in the dark listening to my Sony Walkman, watching the moon come up a little farther along the lake each night, and enjoying the star show uncluttered by city light spill.

These two Georgian Bay vacations are among my best memories of the 13 years I lived in Toronto.

4 Things Meme

Dorothy over at Scrungy and Friends tagged me for this one.

4 Jobs I've Had:


Live-in nanny to Claire. She was 14 months old when I started and 3 years old when I left. She'd started preschool by then.





I didn't go very far - I moved in with her uncle Dave! I'm still very close to her family and I'll always love her very, very dearly.






Sales associate at Simpson's Queen Street store in Toronto, Children's Shoes (later, also Infants' Wear and Nursery Furniture.)


I met my war buddy Lisa (because retail is in the trenches) and that makes the night sweats and flashbacks tolerable. She brings the silver-lining-to-every-black-cloud concept to life.



Reception and accounting clerk for a bankruptcy trustee's office. This is the most stress I've ever experienced in a job - ever. I hate accounting. How did I end up doing monthly reconcilliations? My best friend Connie summed it up perfectly: "It's not that you made mistakes. That would be understandable. It's that it balanced...!" The scary part is - I have no idea why it balanced.

Camera B operator, assistant editor and writer for Tales of a Psychic Medium. My uncle hired me for these three roles, and it was an absolute joy for me to work with him. And it was my very first paid writing gig - so this will always hold a very special place in my heart.

4 Movies Watched Over and Over:


Gladiator















Kate and Leopold

















Phantom of The Opera
















Sleepy Hollow
















4 Places I Have Lived:

Fort Hood Army base, Killeen, Texas, USA - for my first three months here on planet Earth
Royal Oak, Michigan, USA - until age 6
Toronto, Ontario, Canada - I moved there when I was 21 and left when I was 34
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada - arrived when I was 34 and left two years later

4 Shows I Watch:


CBS Sunday Morning












The Colbert Report













The Family Guy













King of the Hill











4 Places I Have Been:

Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada


Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA



That's my sister, 1985

She's in front of the Grand Hotel





Orlando, Florida, USA

4 Favorite Things to Eat:

Greek salad
Rice
7-Layer Burritos
Chocolate

4 Places I Would Rather Be:

At sea, sailing on a tall ship - haven't done this yet, but longing to
At the Chelsea Flower Show in London
In Scotland
In Sweden

4 Things I Look Forward To This year:

Typing 'The End' on several works in progress
Hopefully a joyful family event
Going up to Cape Breton for the Celtic Colours event - we've been wanting to do that since we moved back to Halifax 7 years ago
Seeing whether or not the three apple trees from seedlings my gram started will bloom for the first time

A-tagging I will go, a-tagging I will go...
Shelley, No Nonsense Girl, Ann, and Jill.