It’s official – the orchestra’s Asia Tour has been postponed. It was scheduled to take place in November 2007, with concerts in Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan. Now it looks like the tour will happen in the Fall of 2009.

Touring is an expensive proposition at the best of times. Just flying 65 musicians half-way around the world is pricey, plus there are costs for hotels, per diems, artist fees, ground transportation, cargo, marketing, education and outreach, staff travel, and lots of other smaller expenses.

On the revenue side, concert fees only make up a small portion of the amount required. We needed a lot of support from the private and public sectors to make up the shortfall, and we simply don’t have enough funding in place to go ahead.

Touring is probably the most exciting and demanding part of my job so I have mixed emotions about this decision. I was really looking forward to seeing Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, and the other cities – I guess I’ll just have to wait a little longer.

In the meantime, the Quebec Tour (Near East Tour?) is less than 8 weeks away. Chicoutimi, here we come…

You may have noticed I went about 8 months between the first post and the second. Why the big gap, you ask?

Well, aside from the fact that I was a little busy raising two tireless little boys, I couldn’t think of a good name.

My first choice was “Orchestral Manoeuvres”. Clever, huh? Actually, not so much. First, “manoeuvres” is a very hard word to spell. I had to consult my dictionary each time I entered the URL. Second, as interesting as my workplace can be, I can’t really write about a lot of what goes on and still feel secure in my job.

Next, I tried the name route. dearlove.blogspot.com was taken. So was oread.blogspot.com (my nickname). Some guy took that one and wrote one post about a year ago. Loser.

Anyway, I finally settled on Dearlove Quartet (because there’s four of us, get it?) To be on the safe side, I’ve also reserved Dearlove Quintet and Dearlove Sextet. Just in case…

In the early hours of Saturday morning, I heard something on the CBC news report about Homecoming Weekend at Queen’s. Suddenly it dawned on me – it’s been 10 years since Bronwen and I graduated. I thought it might be cool to actually drive down to Kingston to check out the festivities, so we packed the kids up and set off.

We started out near West Campus and joined the alumni parade, led by the legendary Queen’s Bands. Aidan got a real kick out of the pipers and the purple people (engineers covered in purple paint). We had to explain to him that only the purple people should slam their jackets on the ground.

One of the alumni (PHE ’89, I think) saw Bronwen’s Music jacket and said “I’ve never seen one of those before”. He then pointed out this rarity to his friends. Ah, it’s good to be reminded that Queen’s Music has almost no impact on the vast majority of the student body.

We headed over to the Music Building to see if anyone was around. It was completely deserted. There were signs of recent activity (leftover coffee, a few slices of stale cranberry loaf). I guess we missed the Messiah sing-along and group photo. Guess we’ll have to be more punctual in 2011.

After lunch at Lone Star and a short walk along the water, we headed up to Fort Henry. It was almost closing time, so we did a quick walk around the lower fort. It’s pretty quiet during fall guiding – just a couple of soldiers playing cards and women knitting. The fort looks great, though. The masonry work they’ve done over the past couple of years is a vast improvement over the scaffolding that was there. I got a little nostalgic, but managed to hold back the tears.

We left town long before the parties on Aberdeen and throughout the ghetto started in earnest. I think we’ll wait a few more years before exposing Aidan to Purple Jesus, Oil Thighs, and the phrase “public intoxication”.

Today was one of those great September Sundays – blue sky, crisp air, and a hint that Fall is just around the corner. Aside from the grind of returning to work, I think this is my favourite time of year.

There was an article in yesterday’s Citizen about the Ottawa Farmers’ Market, so we headed to the Glebe with the kids to check it out this morning. It’s a really nice market with a lot of variety, although it seemed tiny compared to the St. Jacob’s farmers’ market we visited last month. There were some yummy pies and breads which made me really regret agreeing to this carb-free diet thing we’re doing this week.

After the market, it was just a quick drive to Brewer Park in Old Ottawa South. It’s undoubtedly the best park in town for kids – there are five different playgrounds, plus swings, water park, etc. I’m always amazed at how many families hang out there. It’s quite a different experience from playing in our neighbourhood park.

Then, a minor miracle happened. Aidan and Kieran both had an afternoon nap at the same time. This almost never happens. We had no idea what to do. Read? Do some yardwork? Clean a bathroom? Nope. Instead, Bronwen and I decided to have a quick nap of our own. For nearly 30 minutes, everyone in the house was napping at the same time. What a treat.

We ended the day with a brisk walk along the Ottawa River and some playtime in our little backyard. All in all, it was one of the nicest Sundays we’ve had in a while.

Tomorrow – Bronwen starts her new job. Details to follow.

Today was Kieran’s first day at the daycare. At the ripe old age of 16 months he’s left home and has started a 20 year journey in institutionalized learning.

He seemed pretty happy to be there at first – he has been there many times when we’ve picked up Aidan. He wandered over, started playing with some trucks, and said “bye”.

It turns out there were some rough patches. He has no table manners, so I’m sure he was confused when he couldn’t leave the table until his friends were finished. I think he may also have had some nap-time issues (it would be kinda weird sleeping on a little bed surrounded by 15 other little kids in a strange place).

In any case, when we arrived to pick him up he was playing with his brother and seemed to be content. I don’t think he suffered any long-term psychological harm – only time will tell.