Back in Toronto

Much has changed here while I've been gone. The family of raccoons sqatting in the house next door appears to have moved away. My tomatoes, eggplants and jalapeno peppers have all given fruit, and my mint and parsley are also going strong. The same cannot be said, unfortunately, for my lettuce, spinach and cilantro, which have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Last Sunday I went down to the Harbourfront, which was hosting "Island Soul" as part of Caribana weekend. I saw an r&b group from Rochester, New York, and ran into my favourite Grenadan Orthodox Jew, Camille, who was in town visiting her family. On Wednesday I went to Dufferin Grove Park for the Clay and Paper Theatre production of "Camoes, the One-Eyed Poet from Portugal". The play was complete with giant Portuguese puppets, and live fado music. This afternoon I went on the "Alley Jaunt" around Trinity Bellwoods Park. Different artists were displaying their work in garages in the alleys around the park. The best pieces were "Urban Animal Outfitters" which displayed clothing for the raccoons, squirrels and birds of the city, and "Softcity Upburg", a 3D map of Toronto created out of stuffed cloth.

There is much still to come. This week is the World AIDS Conference, which is taking place here in Toronto. Different international musicians, such as Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo, with be performing in different venues. And of course, the end of the month will bring the sixth edition of the Ashkenaz Festival. The festival, which takes place at the Harbourfront on Labour Day weekend, has more Sephardic artists than ever before: flamenco singer Yasmin Levy, Aaron Bensoussan and the Dafina Orchestra, and the great Algerian pianist Maurice El Medioni.