truth and beauty

Tuesday night, my dear friend Suzette and I got together for dinner. I'd suggested a potluck in my garden, but she wanted to take me out, to thank me, she said, for the blog. She's a faithful reader and appreciates what I do here. How could I say no? Someone reads, someone cares, does it get better than that? Yes, because we went to Sam's restaurant, The Emerson, where the extremely tall, handsome, attentive waiter bringing us delicious food and drink was my son. And he treated his blog-writing mother and her lively, interesting, accomplished friend who was wearing spectacular gold sandals to oysters so fresh, it was like eating the sea.

Praise be.

More blowing own horn, since this is a BLOG, my personal branding device - this is the acknowledgement in a student's about to be published memoir: Thanks to Beth Kaplan, my professor at University of Toronto, who taught me the joy of memoir-writing and then inspired me as my writing coach and content editor.
And a note from a current student:

Thank you for opening this door for me and being such a fantastic teacher. You are an amazing teacher, writer and person! For 101+ reasons, sincerely. 

It doesn't come naturally to me to boast, but the fact is, as I struggle with writing this memoir and feel sometimes like a complete failure, it's good to hear that something I do works. And, since I make my living as a writing teacher and coach, it doesn't hurt to advertise that fact. The latest U of T class ended Tuesday afternoon. One of the students read a devastating, breathtaking piece of writing about a childhood trauma, a huge breakthrough for her. As she read, I felt her whole person change, loosen, release, open. She felt it too. The wonder of what we do. The wonder of last night's class at Ryerson, the most disparate group of people united in the search for truth and craft. We spent 10 minutes discussing one student's use of penises as a device to launch her essay. She'd counted the ones she'd met and discussed shape and size. Another first.

It's gloomy and wet today, the air heavy with scent. Thanks to the heavens for all of it.

BEAUTIFUL BEETLES! From Chris's blog.