December 9, 2005 - “In boca al lupo”

No chance even, to say goodbye to the cats. For a minute there, the sun came in the window and we could see the dust we were leaving behind. Stuffing ice cleats and puffy jackets into suitcases, plugging in our cell phones to charge them (an adventure, as we’ve never successfully owned cell phones, and not sure they are even going to work). Nancy thankfully arrived then went out to pick up the scarves and teuks. A blur of details, turn off the computer, towels into the wash machine. I grabbed Jaz’s hockey skates, slammed the front door, hugged Nancy goodbye and backed out the drive with Donna Schmirler, our chief fan, friend, support. The bank, the last quiche at Truffles, the ferry.

Three of us in bumper to bumper Friday afternoon traffic and then we’re at CBC one minute to go. “Michaelangelo would approve,” said the voice of Kathering Gretzinger into the mic. Me and Donna and Rosemary, listening in the dark behind the window. Gord seemed so close, his voice deep and relaxed. Ten minutes into his pre-Italy interview and I’m trying to hide my tears, hearing things like "how deeply involved our psyche is with ice" and stuff about the impermanence of ice resembling a sand painting, but it was the story of the ice maker in Calgary that got me. Katherine had asked, “Dealing with the Zamboni drivers -- did it take some convincing?” IN a word, yes. "In the beginning when you’re making the painting, the ice makers are skeptical," he said, talking of the Christmastime painting at the Calgary Olympic Plaza. "They work hard and take their jobs seriously, and an artist messing with their ice can be troublesome." But after a few days of Gord’s hard work on the Northern Lights painting, visible from all the office towers surrounding the square, this guy was asking what he could do to help, and Gord was giving him the spray nozzle with the red paint and after a few days the guy says to Gord, “I used to make cartoons when I was younger. And now, I’m going back to night school and taking drawing again..” That kind of thing gets to me. That moment, the ‘aha’ the heart opening up, the world getting bigger and more full of wonder.

Printers. Picked up the invitations. Then onto Granville Island to pick up the pink boxes from backstage at The Arts Club Theatre, where JC had made the forms for the Vancouver 2010 logo. Next door to Peter Braune’s frog-filled studio, New Leaf (you just have to go there to understand), we picked up Jaz at his apartment and headed towards the airport for our hotel. All of us feeling the excitement of being at the beginning of a big adventure.