Summertime and the livin' is...

Burgundy sun coming up on another gorgeous day with no internet & no telephone. just good company, a quiet writing room, and a lovely garden. aaahh...bliss.

i love Paris...in the air...

this is a great ferris wheel--old & slow, it is set up every summer in the Tuileries Gardens. this is the first time i've actually taken the trip.

i especially like the pigeon sitting on the head of the statue, which is apparently "Monsieur Fery"--no relation, as far as i know, to the Ferris Wheel. and the "non non non" from a nearby passenger, whose chair was being set spinning. but most of all i like the view in all directions...

urban Paris apiary

turns out bees are thriving in cities...and Paris has some great examples. despite the die-offs in working pollination bees (used for large-scale commercial farming), bees in urban environments are doing just fine.
maybe that's not so surprising: cities have a great selection of flowers for the bees' delectation (whereas so many acres & acres of our farmland is now mono-cropped & covered in pesticides, which is hard on the bees.)
in Paris, i like to visit the beehives at the Luxembourg Gardens (taking care not to walk on the grass, of course!)
but the most bizarre beehive location is on top of the Grand Palais, the immense glass-domed exhibition space. the bee-keeper has quite the view! and i'd love to tell the tourists, touring the Opera Garnier, about the bees...i like the idea of the Opera being haunted by bees rather than Andrew Lloyd Weber.

SummerWorks coming up...

some great performances, starting this Thursday, at Toronto's SummerWorks. i'm especially intrigued by the Gladstone's Performance Gallery...i chose some upcoming highlights in the fest for blogTO, here.

(this mysterious photo is from 'The Art of Catching Pigeons', part of the fest)

Small Press Book Group

i'm really thrilled to announce that i'm going to help organize the next Toronto Small Press Book Fair! the last event, last month, was a lot of fun, and i'm looking forward to an exciting autumn, setting up the next one. i'm lucky to be working with a fabulous co-organizer, playwright Sang Kim. the Fall Fair is in early November...stand by for exact date & location, coming soon.

the perfect how-to book promotion...

ouch, how true...especially the moment around 2.30 minutes.



oh yes, livin' the dream.

e-publishing

Sarah Sheard makes really interesting points about publishing, Kindle, and all that digital jazz in her article Brave new e-world in this past Saturday's Globe & Mail

Toronto Fringe

i have to find time to see more at Toronto's Fringe, happening all this week

i'm planning to see The Universal Wolf later this week. some of my other picks, here at blogTO.