Proper post to come, I swear

I don't know what happened, but the blog just kinda' fell off the map this month. There's been a lot going on which I'll give you all a quick update on in lieu of a proper post, which is coming (on Margaret Atwood, the new decade, The Globe and Mail, and Canadian nationalism. Stay tuned.)

• My editing project is ramping up big time. I'll deliver 5 polished chapters on Monday, and I'm hard at work at securing copyright permissions and finding people to write essays. If you're an Ernest Buckler scholar, please post a comment with your contact information because I'm looking people to author articles on The Mountain and the Valley for a new critical edition. 
• I'm currently playing mom to a 140 lb St. Bernard named Kubota (after the tractor company). He's a handful. He hasn't destroyed the house, but he's very high energy for a St. Bernard, and he's HUGE! He also sheds like nobody's business, so I'm currently covered in both his hair and my own. Fun times. It is nice to pretend to have a pet for awhile, although I don't think I'll be wanting one of my own anytime soon. 
• Looks like the SSHRC is a no-go, which I'm actually kinda' pissed off about, as my proposal was really very good this year. However, I did just find out that the modernism consortium that I'm affiliated with is offering a $20,000 PhD fellowship. I'm all over that one! They've also got a postdoc program; I'm keeping that in mind for when I finish. I'm so lucky to have been supervised by who I was in my Masters; besides being brilliant and a lovely person, he opens so many doors. I also need to look at the Northrop Frye Centre fellowship; money, and dedicated office space at UofT? Sounds good to me!
  
• After all sorts of wild and crazy dating stories that will not be shared online, things have settled down considerably, and I've been seeing someone who I really like for awhile now. And like the person I went on a few dates with who grew up on my childhood street, we're connected in ways that we didn't initially realize, but never ran into each other. Toronto really is a small place.
• The moving back to the city plan is progressing nicely; my good friend Sonia is in need of a new roommate, and that's going to be me. We're off to see four apartments today, and hopefully one of them will be a winner. I'm voting for the one that's upstairs from our friend Katie, although she's going to kill me when I start pestering her to study for her comp (we're writing the same exam at the same time) and can do it from three feet away. 
• My formerly-ensconced-in-Berlin friend Mariecel is home for good (or at least for the foreseeable future), which is fantastic. It kinda' feels like she never left! Now if we can get get her husband Jan here (he's in the process of immigrating from Germany) and get her jerky ex to drop off the face of the planet, all would be well!
• The (ex)hubby and I had a nice catch up last week; I'm very proud of us for how well we've handled this whole thing. The divorce will be final sometime this summer, and it'll be nice to have it all finalized. People continually ask me if my experience has made me rethink the whole concept of marriage, and I have to say, it really hasn't. In my case, the issue wasn't marriage, but the specific person I was married to. I think I'd like the chance to try again and maybe get it right when I'm a bit older and wiser.

Alright--off to play "let's imagine what it would be like to live here" for a few hours. Hope we find a good fit!