Music

Last week I returned to the Toronto City Opera for the first time since before the pandemic.  We're rehearsing on Thursdays now, so I've moved my History Meetup and book club to Tuesday.

We're now rehearsing Puccini's Tosca for a concert performance in December.  The chorus part isn't very big, so it shouldn't be difficult for us.  I got there late last week so they were all out of scores, and I rely on fellow tenors sharing their score with me.

Carolyn's restarted our singing group.  But now we're meeting in person again, at the stadium complex just south of Coxwell station.  Our first session was last Sunday, but I was a bit late because I thought the place was farther south.

Monday was Toronto's mayoral election.  I voted for the Colombian candidate whose name I can't remember, but John Tory still got re-elected. (My candidate did finish second, so maybe he'll have a leg up next time...)

Sicilian history

Right now I'm reading John Julius Norwich's Sicily:  An Island at the Crossroads of History for next month's History Meetup.  I'm still in the ancient period, but it's pretty fascinating. (I'm also rereading The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz for my book club.)

Saturday John P. and I finally saw The Woman King at the Yonge & Dundas.  It was long but intelligent.

At the memoir group today we did something different:  we all chose a photo of ourselves and discussed it!  Everyone emailed me a scan of their photo and I combined them in a single document and shared it with the others. (I talked about the photo of me in the Cavalleria Rusticana chorus.)

Not much to talk about these days...

Under the weather

I've had a cold the last few days.  (Maybe it's from reducing my caffeine intake.) I've been napping even more than usual.  I was going to see The Woman King on Thursday, but had to cancel.

Yesterday I went to the dentist for my second root canal, but the dentist decided it wasn't needed after all!  That sort of good news leaves me with a suspicious feeling...

Last week we watched the German series Dark Woods on topic.com .  It's based on the true story of the disappearance of a high police official's sister, connected to a serial killer, that became a cold case for decades.  Very believable.

Now our new topic.com series is Ordinary Woman, a Russian black comedy about a surgeon's wife whose flower shop is a cover for her prostitution ring.  It's perversely funny! (Moira says, "The Russians need a reboot.")