As I write this I am thinking about the impending hurricane Milton. Our Florida home in Howey in the Hills should not be affected except with high winds and rain, but who knows. We have offered our place as a safe refuge for our dear friends, Coralee and Robyn, who have a very beautiful townhome in Dunedin Florida which is part of the Tampa Bay area. I can only wait with everyone else to find out where this monster will make landfall.

getting ready to head to Florida

Meanwhile I thought I would tell you about our summer. Every year we try to make a trip to visit our grandchildren in BC and Quebec. It is always fun and worth our trek. This summer was no exception. We travelled to Gibsons BC to visit our middle son, Niels, in his absolutely charming small town in British Columbia. We stayed again at an Air B& B that was superb and a lovely walk from the town. The views are incomparable at this modern, stylish house; mountains and water from the deck and our bedroom, all with wonderful porches. We ate at a new restaurant one evening, and it was super, called Joe’s Cabin. The food was yummy as it was at the Smitty’s Oyster house. Nothing can beat B.C. food with its endless supply of seafood and fresh vegetables.We love catching up with Niels and he always finds some wonderful place to take us, whether in an old growth forest or an isolated beach. We were given the delightful duty to pick up our grand daughter, Sway, at her camp and bring her back to Vancouver. There is nothing as exciting as seeing your grand and her seeing you, after a few months, and the ensuing magical hugs. We all took the ferry and then went to our fave hotel, The Rosewood https://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/hotel-georgia-, where we checked in. Dinner that evening with Sway’s parents and her sister, Neve, was at The Whitespot, a family restaurant and a Vancouver institution. In fact years ago, in 1967, when I first moved to Vancouver with my little girl, Carrie, it was our go to place for fried chicken. Alas, they no longer have that on the menu. But there are still some basically good things to eat, very basic, and the kids love it. We had a great visit with them that included swimming in the pool of the hotel for hours it seemed, and Chinese takeout dinner at their home, that included Niels. I ordered way too much food of course. There was a memorable evening at a restaurant called Suyo Modern Peruvian. We shared dishes, and one, which was a steak was simply the best I have ever tasted. We will return there.

One of those massive BC trees with Niels

Just another view in Gibsons

Fave breakfast place

Charles got to ride beside pilot en route to Gibsons

one of the Gibson beaches

Vancouver at Granville Island, and below our little girls after a swim

Back in Toronto I try to get as much culture as possible. I like to store it up before our six months in Florida, although we do have the Howey Concert Series there that is simply terrific at the old mansion, and the opera visits to the Met HD performances. I take a large group to the opera and they visit at my home before, where I prep them with history, the story, sing some excerpts, gossip about the performers, and relate stories from my career. And occasionally Charles and I will go to Orlando, about a 45 minute drive, to attend performances of the symphony. So I am not really starved, but in the summer we go to the world renown Stratford Festival in Ontario. I have already booked our tickets for next summer. This summer we saw a riveting Hedda Gabler. But truly exciting was a play called Salesman in China which was presented with Chinese and English sub titles. It was thoughtful and gave us an insight into the 80’s in China. This year twice saw Something Rotten, a not well- known musical, that we co-sponsored. We have been doing this type of co-sponsorship for almost 10 years. The director/choreographer is Donna Feore and we will bet on anything she is involved in, and we have never been disappointed. Next summer her show is Annie, and I can’t wait to take our young grand daughters there. Hopefully we can manage that with them living in Vancouver. The rest of next season looks tremendous, with a Macbeth directed by the brilliant Robert Lepage.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lepage . One other production which is on our list so far is called Forgiveness by Hiro Kanagawa. On paper it looks intriguing and one of the performers leading the cast is Jeff Lillico who played the comical Shakespeare in Something Rotten. I love the fact that at Stratford the actors get the opportunity or take the opportunity to play very different characters. It is exciting to see their chameleon performances.

Howey Concert series

Salesman in China at Stratford with Adrian Pang andTom McCamus

Simone and her husband Gordon below, brilliant artists

Medea with the incredible Sondra

When in Toronto we always go to the performances of The Canadian Opera Company We are rarely disappointed. We saw the incredible Sondra Radvanovsky sing the title role of Medea, and lucky us, the alterate sang in all the other performances. Sondra sang this a few years ago at The Met and that performance was heart rending. It is an impossible role for the voice and also for the singer and she nails it. Don Pasquale was another spring offering and this starred my favourite light lyric soprano, Simone Osbourne. She sings and acts with great charm and style. She is simply delightful to watch and listen to. Years ago I met her when she sang in a double bill at the COC, starring as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. She was just embarking on her career at that time, and has developed very nicely indeed. She is married to a wonderful bass baritone, Gordon Bintner, who is singing all over the world in major opera houses, and they have a little girl. Busy life I am certain. Pasquale is a very comic opera, not my personal favourite, but Donizetti’s music is lovely. This past autumn we attended two more operas; Faust and Nabucco. Both were excellent but nothing can beat the chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Verdi’s first real hit. They stood rapt and sang magnificently. Their performance was breathtaking. Sandra Horst, the chorus director, is excellent and she will be receiving a coveted Ruby Award this month. This award takes its name from Ruby Mercer , who was the creator of Opera Canada magazine.I am always amazed particularly with the Metropolitan Opera chorus at the breadth of knowledge and expertise of the singers. These fabulous artists have to learn hundreds of choruses from operas, memorize them in different languages, and act on stage sometimes twice in one day. There are 80 members and I have the utmost respect for these artists. They are truly the backbone of any opera.

wonderful and smart Ruby Mercer originator of Opera Canada, over 50 years ago… RIP dear Ruby

Now my summer always includes time at my golf club, which I adore. We have a very creative chef, Johnson Wu. His wine dinners are something special, but this summer he did a Chef Exchange Wine dinner with the head chef of another golf club, Toronto Golf, and it was spectacular. Each chef presented at the other’s club, but the same feast, and all the wines at my club were curated by Bethany Turner, our sommelier. The meal included a duck consommé with sausage and eggplant, ricotta agnolotti with black truffles, Mangalorean Fish Curry , and then Braised short Ribs, and you get the idea. Private clubs have come along way from overcooked roast beef, although that is a feature now on Sundays, not the overcooked part though, and I love a good rare roast with Yorkshire pudding. The evening was a success for sure. Our Ladies guest days are always a hoot. The two themes this year were Barbie, in June, and then another in August with a circus theme.

Barbie and friend below and then the ring masters at the circus…well it is always fun

and our wonderful chef Johnson following

and dressed up for the event Riki & Charles, Liz & Wouter

Finally, a highlight of our fall was attending once again the marvellously touching musical Come From Away. We had seen it when it first came out, this Canadian/American true story that took place during 9/11, when airplanes were halted from flying, and many were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, a small airport and even smaller community. The warmth and hospitality and the friendships that grew from that incident inspired this story. We wondered if we would be as moved and entertained as we were when we saw it in New York City in 2015. And of course we were. Tears and happiness intertwined. If you have never seen this show and have a chance, you should grab it.

And we Canadians celebrate our Thanksgiving in October with a thankfulness for our blessings and harvest plenty.

Table waiting for guests, with chairs in living room, Oscar exhausted after performing, and drinks before

Sadly, one of our special friends died this past summer. Edward Williams was a lovely man who attended my opera sessions, joined us often on holiday occasions, and was a stalwart supporter of the Howey Mansion Concert series. He was a a dog lover, and always ready with a chuckle. Professionally, Edward was a Commander in the US Coast Guard, and for us he will always be considered an Officer and a Gentleman. We will miss Edward.

I am now in Florida and there will be much to relate. The hurricane downed many trees where we are, and there was lots of debris, but being in Central Florida was certainly a savior. We are lucky!

Till the next time.

As always,

Riki