There’s no doubt about it! Kathleen and I are “no longer the tough and determined ladies of our [*ahem*] younger years.”

We had plans yesterday. Plans like visiting the Christmas Market as Lansdowne, that would have seen us outside for a good part of the late morning. We pictured ourselves with a nice beverage, browsing the various booths. Perhaps some fun doodads or bric-a-bracs or a tasty treat would follow us home, as my Dad was apt to say.

The weather seemed nice enough (“It’s calling for a high of minus-2! That’s so much warmer than yesterday!”) and we’re looking for a little more seasonal spirit. It seemed like the right way to go.

And when we left the house and felt the wind chill, our resolve crumbled.

Just like that.

So what was supposed to be a proper Saturday Adventure, turned into a quick turn around the neighbourhood to run a few errands.

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It wasn’t a total loss, however!

The errands were in no small part to pick up some baking supplies because Kathleen found a few nice recipes for vegan Christmas cookies. In addition to being a nice thing to send as a gift, the season isn’t the season without at least a few delicious treats!

Even more fun, is that we had tickets at the NAC for Kid Koala’s The Storyville Mosquito, which is a sort of live production of puppetry, animation, and sound that tells the story of a young mosquito moving to the big city to realize his musical dreams.

Although we had seen advertisements (they were running while Kathleen was watching episodes of Murdoch), I don’t think either of us were quite prepared for the spectacle that it actually was.

What a lovely experience!

It had big heart, was quite well-conceived for family audiences. It was a bit like a 75-minute no-dialogue episode of Arthur – a broad story packed with references and bilingual puns that landed well on the grown half of the audience at the Babs Asper Theatre.

Aside from the well-told story, it was a whole lot of fun to look at the “assembled product” on the big screen and try to find where it was happening on stage: which puppeteers or performers were moving the smaller and larger puppets (some took place in miniature sets, some at the sort of puppetry booth you might see a Punch and Judy show at a fair), who was doing which effects, and how they were putting it all together. All in real time.

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