Dun dun dun dun, done!

Today I taught the last voice lesson of the school year, sat in on the last student/accompanist rehearsal and I swear this girl has learned absolutely nothing from me. I have never felt so ineffectual, except that I know it isn�t me. She just had no desire to learn. Now that that�s done, I can write up her report, assign her a mark, and be done with her. Good riddance!

Okay, that was harsh. The sad thing is that I really like this girl. She�s sweet and honest and not untalented. In fact, if she had worked harder and actually wanted to, we could have made a pretty good singer of her. The voice is there, the intelligence is there, the desire is not. Or perhaps I should just say that the maturity is not present to see past the joys of karaoke to the future when she will regret not having paid a little more attention in her singing lessons. Did you notice how I managed to get all three tenses into that last sentence? Anyway, it�s time to move on.

The weather is starting to become more springlike. Walking down the street I noticed that my neighbour to the right has the most gorgeous crop of dandilions carpeting his lawn, while the neighbour across from him has a pristine, grass-only yard. The flowering crabs are beginning to blossom (mine is late, as is my cherry tree, and my Siberian apricot will probably not flower--again!) and I notice that the lilacs are getting ready to produce their heady-scented blooms. I�m still not used to the lateness of the season, even though I�ve lived here for 18 years now.

In southern Ontario, from whence I come, I recall zitagsd and myself picking sprigs of lilac to take with us to the annual Victoria Day (May 24) fireworks in the park adjacent to the Forest Hill skating arena, and pretending that the strong perfume of the flowers was causing the psychedelic experiences of the exploding skyrockets. I know, I know. We were kids and it was the early 70s. What do you expect?! But here everything is at least a week to two weeks later; in the nursery catalogues we are a whole climate zone colder than where I grew up.

There was no writing group last night since Janice is on her annual camping/canoeing trip in La Verendrye and I was both relieved to have the night off and disappointed. It�s not as though I was particularly productive. I really do need to learn how to manage my time more effectively. I guess, like my now erstwhile student, I really don�t care enough. Hahahahahahaha!

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