Was that a great weekend or what? Three perfect days with mild temperatures, sunny skies, and the changing leaves.

I had the early shift this morning, so I packed the kids in the car after breakfast and headed up to the Gatineaus. I wanted to get there early to avoid the hoardes of tourists who overrun the park later in the day.

We headed straight to Champlain Lookout, which offers a great view of the valley and the escarpment. The leaves are quite pretty right now, though perhaps not breathtaking. There’s a lot of yellow and gold, with the odd hit of red.

The trail is only about 1.5 km, but it’s a bit difficult with a one-year old on your back and a three-year old in your arms. Aidan eventually decided he could walk after all, and we enjoyed a nice stroll through the woods.

It was a good way to bid adieu to the last vestiges of summer. I would be surprised if we have a three-day stretch of weather like this before April.

Just to clarify, I have nothing against Thanksgiving. I just don’t see the need to celebrate the fall harvest by eating an ugly bird.

For the record, here’s what we had for our Thanksgiving dinner: green salad; pork loin with roasted potato, onion, and garlic; sesame-ginger asparagus; squash; pumpkin pie (how did that sneak in?); and pavlova.

I got a free pass this year, but I think Bronwen will exercise her dinner veto next Thanksgiving. She prefers the traditional turkey and fixin’s. I’ve got 364 days to develop an appreciation.

I have a confession – I don’t like turkey. Actually, I don’t like the whole turkey dinner thing.

Turkey is not one of those foods that I ever get a craving for. I don’t come home from work and think “Man, I could really go for a roasted turkey tonight”. Luckily the consumption of this dreadful bird is mostly limited to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It’s not that I won’t eat a couple pieces of white meat if offered. I’ll graciously choke down a couple of dry pieces so as not to offend. And by the way, I’ve cooked a turkey breast-side down, it was still dry.

Stuffing? You’ve got to be kidding. Little pieces of damp bread that you cram into the body cavity of a big dead bird and then scoop out the back end after hours of roasting? Who thought that was a good idea?

I’ll pass on the gravy too, thanks. And no, please don’t offer me any of that jellied cranberry sauce from the can. Save your squash, your turnip, sweet potatoes, and other starchy sides.

Now with most dinners, I can at least look forward to dessert. Not at Thanksgiving. Dinner wouldn’t be complete without pumpkin pie, the only kind of pie I have encountered that I don’t like. At least it usually comes with a bit of whipped cream that I can lick off.

So happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy your traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Have a drumstick for me…

A few years ago, it seemed like nearly every Canadian orchestra was on the verge of collapse. There were lockouts, strikes, or financial crises in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal. Things gradually got better, and now it seems like most of the orchestras are at least treading water, if not flourishing.

Perhaps that’s why I found the story about the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony being on the brink of bankruptcy so surprising (details here). The K-W Symphony had been through a well-publicized fight with its former Music Director in 2003, but I thought they had come through it in decent shape.

Growing up in Cambridge, the KWS was the first orchestra I ever heard. I can’t say the experience changed me forever, but I certainly looked forward to those class trips to the Centre in the Square. Years later at Queen’s, I played in a joint concert (Mahler 1) with KW and the Kingston Symphony, and it was one of the best experiences I had as a student.

You have to feel for the musicians and the staff, especially after all they’ve been through over the past few years. Musician salaries range from $22,000 to $40,000 a year (for comparison, the minimum salary in the NAC Orchestra is $75,000), they have to take a significant pay cut, and they may not even have a job in a few weeks.

So, it comes down to whether they can raise $2.5 million by the end of the month, or at least come close. That’s a daunting task – very few orchestras in Canada have ever received seven-figure donations. It would be nice if the various levels of government got together and offered a life-line, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. We’ll see how this unfolds…

I’ve been walking to work most mornings from Aidan and Kieran’s daycare. It’s good to start the day with a ½ hour walk along Sussex Drive. I usually pull out my aging iPod (original 1G, 5GB) and search through the 729 songs I carry around with me. Here’s this morning’s playlist

The White Stripes
Blue Orchid
The Nurse
My Doorbell

Rage Against the Machine
Killing in the Name Of

Peter Gabriel and Massive Attack
Games Without Frontiers

The Postal Service
Nothing Better

P. Funk All-Stars
Let’s Take It to the Stage

Rage Against the Machine was a mistake – too angry for a cool and sunny Thursday morning. It took a couple of tunes to bring me back down.