A testament to the continued gentrification of my neighbourhood is the imminent demise of the IGA on Mt Pleasant south of Eglinton. This bastion of cheap(er) food has been my mainstay for 5 years. But with Chateau Royale (aka Chateau Crappo) going up just south of here, and Panache and 88 Broadway under construction as well, things they are a-changing.

The IGA will be closed Feb 17 and then 3-months later re-emerge as a more upscale Sobeys, with no doubt a corresponding increase in prices. As this IGA is actually in the lower poriton of a senior’s apartment, I’m surprised the wrinklees are not all up in arms.

Till the 17th however I’ve strangely bare shelves and 20% off everything to keep me busy. 

 

1) the strangely bare shelves at IGA; 2) further reductions expected

Birthday Celebrations Continue! …

My weeklong birthday celebration continues … tonight, copious amounts of Champagne with pork nachos … a dinner of Champions. Tomorrow, a visit to the Windsor Arms for another Winterlicious adventure.

G gave me premium Hutterite 100% Canadian Duck Down king-sized (which is another story altogether) pillows! Yay me! As someone who loves sleep more than, well, most things, it was the perfect gift. They are soooo gorgeous to sleep on. Thanks G!

the new pillows! (sigh) so lovely to sleep on. Hey, nice accent pillows
too… another product designed/made by G … as is the headboard. He’s so
talented!

 
Ironman Triathlon …

And speaking of sleep, I found this today cleaning. As we prepared to do Ironman USA in Lake Placid back in July 2004, we commissioned a local caricaturist to do a caricature of G, Scotch on the Rocks Annie and myself. We then had this silk screened on t-shirts which we gave to all our friends who travelled down to Lake Placid to support us.

Clicking here will take you to the reviews section and a blurb I wrote on this totally amazing journey.

 

Monday’s famous-person-name-dropping story: Miles Davis
Speaking of Miles, since I’m listening to him now … a short famous-person-name-dropping story.

Oh gosh, back in 1985 (I think?!) I spent a month or so living in Hania on the island of Crete. I got bored and decided to fly across to Rome for a week to chill. At the Athens airport, I was sitting beside this guy and – me being me – struck up a conversation with him. He was flying to Rome as well as he had finished a gig in Athens and was performing a couple nights in Rome.

“Very cool,” I said. “What you play?”

“A little trumpet,” he said, and then introduced himself as Miles Davis.

A little trumpet, gad, what an understatement eh?

Course, back then I was not into jazz like I am now, so the name didn’t ring a bell. We hit it off waiting for the flight and managed to get seats beside each other on the way to Rome. He didn’t fly first class, which – now – I think as strange. He was so down-to-earth and we chatted about what I had been doing on Crete, his music and his painting, places we’d been. It was so cool. Quite an honour really. Sadly, Miles passed away in 1991. However, he will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

My next famous-person-name-dropping story will be my time on stage in Cincinnati dancing the Twist with the man who invented it, Chubby Checker.

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