ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER READING

My second reading in Toronto took place at The Toronto Women's Bookstore. My friend Lillian Allen, who teaches creative writing at the Ontario College of Art and Design University brought out a whole slew of students, which I loved. After a wonderful and incredibly flattering introduction by Lillian, I did my reading to a relatively packed house. I loved reading there; I remember going to the Toronto Women's Bookstore in the 1980's and am thrilled that it looks so good now some thirty years later. The folks working there were terrific and helpful, and after the question period, we all mingled with complementary glasses of wine and talked and visited, and I spoke informally with many of the students. Overall, I think it was a very successful evening, and am grateful to everyone who helped make it possible and who came out to hear me read.

Toronto is definitely the big city: we had to run next door from the hotel to buy some more tylenol. Cold season is descending, and I was running a slight fever and ran out of my favourite cold medication. There was a 24 hours convenience store next door, so Judi and I looked about at the wares for sale there. My eyes just happened, totally by chance you understand, to land in the ice cream department where I spied Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream. Of course I bought that along with the tylenol and of course I devoured the entire pint before going to sleep that night. It was soooooo good.

And that was the last Toronto night. Our last Toronto morning, Judi and I went, for the second time in three days, to the most wonderful Chinese restaurant, called the Crown Princess, for dim sum. This place was gorgeous: marble on the wall, crystal chandeliers, marble pillars, beautiful linen and china, exceptionally delicious food. They served there as they had done in Hong Kong, each server person having a job and not doing the job of others. So one woman would come from the kitchen with a tray of food and stand there until a server person came and could take the food off the tray to put it on the table. One person took our bill, but we couldn't be presented with the final tally until the gentleman whose job it was to deliver the cheques to the tables, showed up with ours. We enjoyed our second dim sum as much as our first and I would go there in a flash again. It's just a shame they didn't have dulce de leche anything for dessert.

And now - on to Ottawa.