What I've been up to in the last 12 months
Well it has been one year now since I retired from the Canadian Foreign Service after 33 years. I updated my profile today with a new map showing all the countries in red I visited around the world. The icon photo shows me in Rome visiting friends on the day I decided to retire. It took this little return trip to Rome for the muses to inspire me that it was time to move on. But I did not want to retire without having a plan of what I would do next. I have seen to many people retiring and having next to nothing to do and wondering what they would do next and being bored to tears.
So I joined the National Gallery of Canada as a volunteer. http://www.gallery.ca
At first I had to do the course to become a Docent, that was fun,then I worked in the school program with kids between the ages of 6 to 12. I was not sure I would enjoy this, it takes a lot of energy and you have to be organized. Kids can be a tough unforgiving audience.
It turned out that it was the teachers who asked the stupid questions. One teacher asked me if he could buy a painting from the National Gallery, the painting he was interested in was a Van Gogh. I was dumbfounded, so I told him that A) no we do not sell paintings because they are part of our National Treasure and they are there on the wall for everyone to enjoy. B) he should look at Sotheby auctions if he is interested in buying such a masterpiece. C) he should have very deep pockets because such paintings tend to be rather expensive.
We do connect with about 50,000 kids every year so it is a wide program. Then in March I was asked if I wanted to be the coordinator for the lectures from September to April. I said yes but did not fully understand what it meant. I had to organize 12 lectures per year with experts who would speak on different topics in art and culture. Not an easy job when you think of it. It had to be done in 30 days and could I also design the brochure. So I basically had the month of April to do all this from scratch. We had no prior record on file of anything despite the program being 53 years old. I did it and we start on 25 September our new Season. You can see the program below. The lectures are in French.
http://www.beaux-arts.ca/fr/adherer/evenements-et-activites.php
In May we returned to Salzburg, Austria for the music festival. We have been every year to that particular festival for the last 5 years.
It is heavy duty, meaning 2 to 3 concerts per day and you have to dress up for the concerts, tie and jacket. Each concerts is performed by renowned artists, artists who you see on a CD pocket or hear on a recording but here in Salzburg you can see them live in person and because it is such a small venue often have the opportunity to speak with them afterwards. The concerts this year where devoted to works by Shohstakovich, Mahler, Brahms, Haydn and others. Serious works very well performed by great orchestras, conductors and artists.
http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at
We have also been in previous years, to the Mozart Week festival which is in February. Salzburg has every year wonderful music festivals. We are returning to Salzburg in 2014, we bought our tickets already.
Then just in August we went to the Stratford Theatre Festival held in Stratford, Ontario. I did not want to drive the 7 hours to Stratford which is in South-West Ontario. So we flew from Ottawa, the Capital, to Toronto and from the airport simply drove the 90 minutes to Stratford. This wonderful theatre festival is 60 years old.
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca
We met friends in Stratford and made also the acquaintance of Martin Katz the famous piano accompanist who has worked with every great opera stars. He is a delightful fellow.
So it has been a busy year and this coming year will be just as much fun. Hope every one is well.
So I joined the National Gallery of Canada as a volunteer. http://www.gallery.ca
At first I had to do the course to become a Docent, that was fun,then I worked in the school program with kids between the ages of 6 to 12. I was not sure I would enjoy this, it takes a lot of energy and you have to be organized. Kids can be a tough unforgiving audience.
It turned out that it was the teachers who asked the stupid questions. One teacher asked me if he could buy a painting from the National Gallery, the painting he was interested in was a Van Gogh. I was dumbfounded, so I told him that A) no we do not sell paintings because they are part of our National Treasure and they are there on the wall for everyone to enjoy. B) he should look at Sotheby auctions if he is interested in buying such a masterpiece. C) he should have very deep pockets because such paintings tend to be rather expensive.
We do connect with about 50,000 kids every year so it is a wide program. Then in March I was asked if I wanted to be the coordinator for the lectures from September to April. I said yes but did not fully understand what it meant. I had to organize 12 lectures per year with experts who would speak on different topics in art and culture. Not an easy job when you think of it. It had to be done in 30 days and could I also design the brochure. So I basically had the month of April to do all this from scratch. We had no prior record on file of anything despite the program being 53 years old. I did it and we start on 25 September our new Season. You can see the program below. The lectures are in French.
http://www.beaux-arts.ca/fr/adherer/evenements-et-activites.php
In May we returned to Salzburg, Austria for the music festival. We have been every year to that particular festival for the last 5 years.
It is heavy duty, meaning 2 to 3 concerts per day and you have to dress up for the concerts, tie and jacket. Each concerts is performed by renowned artists, artists who you see on a CD pocket or hear on a recording but here in Salzburg you can see them live in person and because it is such a small venue often have the opportunity to speak with them afterwards. The concerts this year where devoted to works by Shohstakovich, Mahler, Brahms, Haydn and others. Serious works very well performed by great orchestras, conductors and artists.
http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at
We have also been in previous years, to the Mozart Week festival which is in February. Salzburg has every year wonderful music festivals. We are returning to Salzburg in 2014, we bought our tickets already.
Then just in August we went to the Stratford Theatre Festival held in Stratford, Ontario. I did not want to drive the 7 hours to Stratford which is in South-West Ontario. So we flew from Ottawa, the Capital, to Toronto and from the airport simply drove the 90 minutes to Stratford. This wonderful theatre festival is 60 years old.
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca
We met friends in Stratford and made also the acquaintance of Martin Katz the famous piano accompanist who has worked with every great opera stars. He is a delightful fellow.
So it has been a busy year and this coming year will be just as much fun. Hope every one is well.