Happy 𝝅 Day!

Today is March 14 (3.14) so, to celebrate 𝝅 Day, I’m having pie for breakfast!  YUM!  This piece of cherry pie from Just Love Pie is a delicious compliment to my yummy date bar, and since both are made locally, I’m doing my part to help support local businesses.  Yes, I know… this just sounds like an excuse to have pie, which I will readily admit is true, but I’m going to try to get in the spirit of of the day by watching the 1998 film “𝝅”, written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, a psychological thriller I remember really enjoying when I first watched it.  It’s also a short-ish day, as we lost that hour for Daylight Savings Time.  I did extra stuff yesterday so that I wouldn’t have as much to do today to prepare for the coming work week, and although I usually feel behind for days after this time change, I think I’m pretty much on schedule this morning.  YAY! (I think the anticipation of pie helped!)

Last week I read Toronto lawyer/author Robert Rotenberg’s latest mystery, Downfall, and it was very good.  This novel, featuring the usual cast of characters, explores the roots of homelessness in first-world countries, as well as the far-reaching and long-term effects on those left behind.  Two homeless people have been murdered within days of each other near an elite golf course backing on to the Humber River Valley, a location that has recently become a camp used by many of the city’s homeless population.  This is now becoming big news, drawing attention to the extent of the homelessness issue in one of the world’s wealthiest cities.  When a third person is murdered, friends and family of the deceased rally together to try to uncover the truth surrounding what appears to be the work of a serial killer, and the pressure mounts from both the wealthy residents and the advocates for the poor to find this killer and make the streets and ravines safe for all.  I haven’t loved all of Rotenberg’s books, but this one was immediately engaging, and I found myself wishing for more opportunities to read and find out what happens next.  He did a great job of exploring the homelessness issue with clarity and compassion. How did we let things get this bad, and what, if anything, is the solution? It’s something I don’t really know much about, but I often wonder how someone ends up living on the street, whether there was a single moment in a person’s life when one choice, one decision, altered his or her future irrevocably, or whether it was a series of choices, decisions and circumstances that led him or her to that fate.  Old City Hall is Rotenberg’s first (and in my opinion, best) book, and you really should read it first to at least become familiar with the core characters that appear in subsequent books, Ari Greene, Daniel Kennicot, and Nancy Parish, among others. Stranglehold, his fourth book, rivals Old City Hall in terms of "best-ness", as I consider both to be "Lee Valley" books, books with complex plots and interesting, well-developed characters. This one has less substance, but deals with such an important issue that it is definitely worth reading. There are others beyond the ones I mentioned above, but these three are my favourites.

That’s all for today.  Get outside and enjoy the mild, early-spring weather!  I am planning to go for a long walk to work off all that 𝝅!

Bye for now… Julie