ABCs of 2024

Every year, when I sit down to write this list, I always think "What did I even do this year?" Somehow I always manage to fill in all the blanks. (X is always hard though. Could someone please start a xylophone band in Regina so I can write about it here?)

A - Anne of Green Gables - Ballet Jorgen brought their ballet version of the story to Darke Hall in March. It was very well done.

B - Baking - Not posting photos of it on my Instagram as much, but I'm still baking regularly.

Christmas Dessert Board

C - Cathedral Village Arts Festival - Lots of live music and interesting art exhibits. The weather was good so the street market was exceptionally crowded.

D - Ducks - A pair of them were hanging out on my lawn and in my neighborhood this spring.

E - Elephants - Someone left these two sitting on a table in Rotary Park. They were gone by the next day so I hope they found their owner.

F - Fringe Festival - I managed to see nine of the shows this year. I think my favorite was You're Driving Me Crazy.

G - Globe Theatre - As of this fall, the Globe is back at their downtown location. Peter Pan was fun and I saw my name on the wall.

H - Herd of goats - I visited the goats that were eating weeds along the creek. One of the two dogs that was minding them also decided that I should play with him.

I - I Think We've Been Here Before - Suzy Krause's most recent book came out. It's an end of the world story but somehow comforting.

J - Juggled too many things - Between work, taxes, and estate related matters, the first half of the year was very busy. I'm still feeling burnt out particularly when it comes to work.

K - Knock Knock - Sorry, this isn't your house. On the day before Father's Day, a girl (around 12) showed up at my door before six am. She thought she lived here. I ended up calling the police to take her where she needed to be.

L - Lead pipes - The water main on my street along with the city's lead service connection to my house were replaced this summer. 

M - Microsoft 365 - The University switched email systems to M365. I spent countless hours on the project.

N - Nutcracker - I saw two versions of the Nutcracker this year. Ballet Jorgen at the Conexus Arts Centre and the Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan at the Performing Arts Centre. Ballet Jorgen was obviously more professional, but the Youth Ballet one was more fun.

O - The Once - A packed Artesian hosted The Once in mid-October.

P - Passport - I renewed my passport but didn't travel anywhere.

Q - Quality or Quantity? - I thought I was trying to pick more carefully, but I still seem to have gone to around 50 events (depending on how I count things). That's a lot less than some pre-COVID days, but is still a substantial total.

R - Red Currants - I picked a bunch of red currants from a bush at the University and made them into curd and jelly.

Red Currant Curd Tarts with a Red Currant Jelly Swirl

S - Snow - After an amazingly long and pleasant fall, we were hit with two massive snow falls and then frigid temperatures in mid-November. After yet another large dump, I now have a massive mound of snow basically from the front to the back of my garage.

T - Tomato - The Farmers' Market had a tomato festival this summer. Also, I grew this 900 gram tomato which was ripe early in August.

U - Udon - I seem to be craving Udon noodles a lot or perhaps it's just that my favorite dish at Orange Izakaya is the Yaki Udon with beef.

V - VC2 Cello Duo - This was in early September at Darke Hall and in addition to the two cellists they had a special guest, Amy Hillis, who also happens to be my favorite violinist.

W - William's BFA Project - William's final project for his BFA was a large scale "2.5D" installation at the Fifth Parallel gallery based on his Bird People Comic. Impressive! 

X - X-ed ballots - Three big elections this fall, two I could vote in. I'm not particularly happy about the results.

Y - Yvette Moore - I drove to Moose Jaw and had lunch at the cute cafe in the Yvette Moore Gallery.

Z - Zzzz - I'm tired and could use more sleep.