16 July 03:
  FolkFest Top Ten
1)  Dancing and trading blissful grins with 30,000 of my closest friends.
2)  The blazing hot sun and the gracious cool rain.
3)  Ani DeFranco, Billy Bragg, and Bob Geldof convincing me that the world is still a good place.
4)  A wink and unexpected kisses from a sweet,sweet boy.
5)  Calling out to the full moon.
6)  The Lee Boys calling me by name!
7)  Hot tea for the long walk home.
8)  A happy reunion with JonnyP.
9)  Being the first to arrive and the last to leave our campground.
10)  Realizing it really is as magical as I remember it!
There was life before FolkFest?
Mama, I'm coming home.
29 July 03: 
  New York City Top Ten, with a coupla extras
1)  the stretch limo from the airport, my mum's first!
2)  front row balcony, Bernadette Peters does GYPSY!
3)  the lights, the sirens, the chaos, the energy that is Times Square
4)  RENT!  and the gentle cowboy who squeezed my hand while I cried through the second act
5)  Rick the hot guy from Naked Laundry who wanted to come home with me to herd my sheep(?!).
6)  Sunday morning church with my mum in Harlem!
7)  THE LION KING!  the most beautiful creation I've ever seen.
8)  Cousin Julie pays off the DJ so he'd play only her requests all night. Princess blood runs deep!
9)  enjoying the serenity of Central Park while surrounded by the craziness of Manhattan
10)  Empire State Building!  Statue of Liberty!  Ellis Island!  Brooklyn Bridge!  Staten Island Ferry!           Guggenheim Museum! Soho! Chinatown!  Greenwich!  Gramercy!  Alphabet City!
11)  two hours to walk three blocks in LIttle Italy, because every man there has to chat you up. 
12)  Every guy at every door, every man with a broom on the floor, telling me they can now die              happy... Everyone in NYC is a character with great schtick
13)  falling completely and outlandishly in love with the whole place.  I Heart NYC.
8 August 03:
 Nova Scotia Top Ten
1)  Yay!  Seeing Tamara's happy smiling face after almost two years!
2)  Yay!  Meeting Ryota, the guy who puts the happy smiling face on her!
3)  enjoying the legendary friendliness of Maratimers first hand
4)  helping the J-Boyz with their speeches for the wedding.  O kashi!!
5)  realizing I hadn't lost all of my Japanese.  Yay!
6)  Chevy's!  the quintessential small-town bar, a lover or a fighter waiting around every corner
7)  meeting Tamara's friends from all over, and matching faces to the stories
8)  teaching the J-Boyz how to slow dance in the living room
9) There really IS "always time for Tim Horton's".
10)  the J-Boyz eating the restaurant out of mussels and lobster
13 August 03:
  Phew!  And breathe. 
The wedding on Saturday was perfect and full of love.  I felt honoured to be there.  Yay Darc and Rach! 
  Harvest has started, so it's all become a bit crazy.  And I'm planning to be in Thailand in less than a month?!? 
  Um, I gotta go.
16 August 03:
  I'm quite certain that when you die and go to Heaven, the Angels greet you with the voice of Elvis.
23 August 03:
  I'm starting to come across a disconcerting trend.  Is it just me, or do guys not ask questions about girls?  We're just supposed to sit and listen and remind you that you're great?!  Puleeze.
26 August 03: 
  From the moment I heard, I knew this was how it would end.   A tragedy like this can only involve a truly beautiful, pure soul.
   It is a wise and generous student who teaches a teacher.  Thank you for your lessons, your friendship, your gifts.  I am determined  to be a worthy student.
30 August 03:
  So this is what thirty feels like...does this throbbing in my temple and churning in my stomach fade? 
  In two weeks, my detox will begin.  Palm trees will replace street lights, coconuts instead of the booze.  You're so right, Spiderman.  It's time.
2 September 03:
  It's not my first day of school!
There are a few people I have to address here:  You are boring.  You surprised me.   You (and you) are married.  And You, I've got no time pencilled in for heartbreak with you again this year.