A Year in Review: Blessings of 2022
Reflection is so vital to allow us to process, understand, honour our existences. How have we existed, with whom, and why? What are we surprised by, what do we see differently, and how do we feel differently?
It’s stunning when we look back, retrace the steps, dig through the unprocessed photos - especially those unflattering candid ones. To rediscover what we thought we have forgotten, and to experience that exhilaration of being there again, as if for the first time yet with a curious, out-of-body kind of perspective, from a distance, with both familiarity and fascinating strangeness, remembering, hey - I was there, I was with these incredible people, or trees, or tastes, sounds, smells, warmth of sunlight, chill of winter wind, silence of the snow, laughter, solitude, tears, wanderings, bites, feasts, small moments, xD faces again and again.
I’ve been so immensely blessed. So much has happened. And sometimes to attempt to remember, archive, document, to make sense of the hodgepodge soup of memories is painstakingly disillusioning, the elusiveness, the inscrutability of those wondrous or blank moments. But still, there’s a warmth in the melancholy or nostalgia, there’s a sense of rootedness in the ceremonial practice of remembering, storytelling, piecing together as many parts of ourselves as possible for some version of the ‘truth’ we dare to believe in.
Trust, word of the year. Trust the rhythm of each moment.
Here’s a little collage of moments from the inside out~ “We were there” <3
January
Banff adventures, mama Wang feasts, snowboarding, winter hike Grassi Lakes, polaroids, homemade pasta + lemon meringue pie, mtl home, mango cheesecake, hotpot x grill, sourdough bread, soufflé pancakes, coq au vin, Parc Lafontaine skating, stuffed peppers, three layered matcha cake with black sesame and red bean paste, Chinese New Year feast~
February
“Once Upon a Pumpkin” album launch, matcha mochi, buckwheat bagels, rose-pistachio-earl-grey boba tea cupcakes, baby plants, sweet potatoe pie, ferris wheel, mini winter olympics, thrift treasure hunts, Iranian feast
March
Skye’s Salon “rose & saffron”, Indian feast, 4am trio recording session, birthday lunch, sushi dinner, sparklers and Uncle Tetsu cheesecakes, dim sum, winter hike and skating, grapes,chirashi bowl, running, cuteness presentation, caberet, black sesame mochi, pumpkin pasta, Mae Sri, pastries
April
Parc Omega, Ottawa, homemade duck feast, D&D, meow tea, Tiradito b-day, ceviche, bagel sandwich, Shuyi tea, broken lamp, bird of paradise, pomelo, Beethoven trio, champgne on the street with plastic cups, lights, pizza, trio Eudai magic brownies, Recharger/Unwind OASIS, steak, mango, picnic, ratatouille, Labyrinth of Tears recording, slush, Jun I, tree babies, tapas, rehearsals with nosebleed, okonomiyaki and tuna tataki Noren, sparklers at the park
May
recitals, chicken pot pie, Kensington trio concert, Tompson Highway, Faculty Club mothers day brunch, dragonfruit, sakura blossom, cafe Aunja, fancy India Rosa brunch, unicone, Musical Chairs, baking, Skye’s Salon “Soul of Mbira”, Vierne Quintet, Cedar Center Healing Notes, Alley, Atwater strawberries, Lémeac, Beethoven 9
June
brunch, students recital, ladies art night, Toronto, Sigur Ros, Taiwan-style breakfast, homemade hojicha latte, veggie Chinese food, Incanto, LAMP, “Us” solo recital, long runs, NS NB PEI roadtrip, Halifax, Cape Breton, Skyline Trail
July
roadtrip cont. Cabot Trail, bonfire and grill, lobster roll, bye Canada, Europe adventure begins, Mélisey house, open air feasts, barbecues, baking chocolate tart and meringue pie, late-night sightreading, siesta, ice-cream, peaceful walks, Verbier, concerts, hikes, Kawaii Power piano 4-hands concert, Taratata RPG solo recital, cable cars to top of Mont Fort
August
Kirchberg, castle, attic window stargazing, open field walks, treehouse, Beethoven, Esmail, Brahms, Janacek, mystery hauntings, Dinkelsbühl, Munich, beer garden, Cluj, Romania, museum of curiosities, family time, mbira, dumpling making, London, Noting Hill, Kensington, tasting menu Gavin La Chapelle, Rosebery high tea, little Venice, bookstore treasure hunts, speakeasy bar crawl Cahoots!, Toronto wedding celebration, dance party, briefly home Montreal, laser concert and Winnie the Pooh mead
September
Sandwich hang, My Chemical Romance concert, surprise birthday charcuterie party, Beijing duck and fresh steamed crab, mochiwaffle the shiba stuffie, space fish synth and mbira jamming, matcha tea date, skyscrapper work sessions, Roku gin and more jamming Shanghai synth pop, recharge tea date secret mission hunt for Poke, rooftop dance party with fireworks above Mont Royal, midnight icecream on the curb, mid autumn festival dinner and mooncakes, telescope full moon gazing, Jupiter, “Us” recital, private crepe chef, gift box making, noodle soup, Korean dumpling soup, post recital cocktail bar hang, dancing in the rain, home home Airdrie, festival prep, homemade feasts Mama Wang
October
WMF, WMF, WMF. Airdrie. Walks. Fields, sky, leaves, family, work, celebration, moon, sunsets, lake, geese symphony 8pm, concerts, adventures, feasts, Banff day-trip skinny dipping, Thanksgiving feast, partings, Lunenburg, dockside woodfire pizza and local beer, dinner parties, chocolate tart, outreach concerts, improv sessions, rehearsals, Jeremy Dutcher concert, Richard Wagamese, Angela Hewitt, “Fantasy and Memory” recital, pizza party, Mahone Bay
November
Na Lapoule Residency, castle fairytale, Marseilles, rose, dinner feasts, improvisations, Roc Rouge, rosé, cheese, Once Upon A Time recital, wanderings, morning meditations, Wagamese, hikes, Cannes, lavender rose macaroons, St Paul de Vence, villa Rothschild, paradise garden, Vision Quest, Chateau Lacoste, raclette party, open studio
December
persimmon, family visit, re-discoveries, Nice, tasting menu Keisuke, Negresco bar, Basel, Swiss family life, community fairtrade baking, home cooking, Arlesheim, glühwein, neighborhood barbecue, home sauna, dumpling making party, Christmas market, Birds eye jazz club, Fondation Beyeler, boardgame cafe, chocolate pie, Jazz campus, Basel art museum, roasted chestnuts, toy museum, poke bowls, Frankfurt, Chagall exhibition, Berlin, Berlinische and Jewish Museum, bar and jamming, turkish feast, dumpling Christmas, Futurism, Paris, wanderings, New Years Eve dumplings, Ghibli marathon, chocolate tart, fireworks~ new beginnings…
