I met a lot of new people on my trip to Canada. Because I’m determined to write up this trip soon thereafter, unlike my last two bouts of travel, which, while they remain mostly in my notebooks (fondly called “brains”), are gradually coming back to life, I’ve been thinking a lot about the life pseudonymic. Not everybody likes their real name being used online, others don’t like their photos appearing, and some don’t want either to happen. So I made a habit of asking people if I could post their photos online, and if they would prefer that I don’t use their real names online. Most were fine with my use of their real-life identities, while others wanted no photos published, and others, I suspect out of a sense of whimsy, suggested a name. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Canada’
Never underestimate the importance of a good code name
Posted in Travel, Writing, tagged Canada, Identity, Names, Pseudonyms on October 12, 2015| 3 Comments »
The initial aftermath of Canada 2015
Posted in Travel, tagged Canada, Prince Edward County, Prince Edward Island on October 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »
I flew to Toronto on 18 September, and spent just over two weeks in Canada, splitting my time between Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward County, and dear old Toronto. It was a much-needed, most enjoyable holiday, which sadly ended on Monday of this week. As I went back to work the day after I returned home, and as my sleep patterns remain decidedly bizarre, I have had little time to write anything here. Until I have such time, then, to write and to sort out my many, many photos (for me at least; a paltry number compared to those taken by one of my hosts), here are some of the things that I learned: (more…)
O Canada! Five months to go…
Posted in Academia and Research, Travel, tagged Canada, Glasgow Libraries, International Congress of Celtic Studies, L. M. Montgomery, Prince Edward Island, The Merril Collection, Toronto on April 18, 2015| 4 Comments »

Trinity College, Downtown Toronto (St George) campus, Toronto University. My photo, 19 September 2014.
Canada plays quite a part in this blog; Canada is one of the reasons for this blog’s very existence! So it is with great delight that I realised today that it is five months until my next visit. My first trip was entirely for the purpose of library research and presenting a paper at the Ninth International Conference of the Book, with the exception of a full day at Niagara Falls, but I knew that I wanted to return to see more of Toronto, and of the whole country. (more…)
Medieval Monday: Walking the Labyrinth
Posted in About me, Books and Reading, Medieval studies, Travel, tagged Canada, Cathedral de Notre-Dame de Chartres, Chartres Cathedral, Hildegard Von Bingen, Labyrinth Community Network, Labyrinths, Liminality, Meditation, Mindfulness, Toronto Public Labyrinth on November 10, 2014| 1 Comment »

The centre of the labyrinth, Cathedrale de Notre Dame, Chartres (My photo, May 2014)
Victorian artist-translators
Posted in Academia and Research, Languages, Librarianship, Medieval studies, Travel, Victorian Studies, tagged Canada, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, François Villon, Pre-Raphaelites, Rare Books, Special Collections, Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library, Toronto University, Translation, Victorian Vendredis, William Morris on August 1, 2014| 4 Comments »
Come / Home
Posted in Academia and Research, Hobbies Sports and Games, Librarianship, Travel, tagged Burrell Collection, Canada, Chartership, Employment, Future Learn, Glasgow Library Tweet Ups, Life changes, London, Merril Collection, Moving house, Scotland, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto, Toronto University, Volunteering on July 22, 2014| 4 Comments »
Readers mine, I live in Scotland once again! Life since May began has been decidedly hectic, when I handed in my notice to Sotheby’s Institute of Art, where I have been the Assistant Librarian since January 2008, within a week of returning from France (the two events are not causally related, merely temporally adjacent). Since leaving work at the end of June, I was packing up and saying “Cheerio, not goodbye!” to the six and half years of my London life, and for just over a week now I have since been living in Scotland once again. I didn’t leave the Institute to work elsewhere in London; I left it as part of a larger change in lifestyle. Having been asking myself the question “where do I want my life to be, in the main?”, for a couple of years now, and the obvious follow-up question, “what then must I do to achieve that?”, moving to Scotland was the first part of the answer. It’s about life, not just about work. London was never a permanent move, I always knew that, and I cannot express how strongly I disagree with Samuel Johnson’s famous quote as given below
when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
There is a significant difference between not wanting to live in London and being tired of it. It’s always accessible, always there, and I’ll never stop visiting it. I’ll never stop missing my friends who live there. But there is so much to do, so much to see, here in Scotland. Besides, I needed to get back before September 18, after which the borders will of course be closed :). I jest, of course, but it’s definitely an interesting year to be in Scotland, and I want to be able to have a say in the future of my country. (more…)
Kathleen O’Neill, MA (Hons), MSc, MPhil, and now VIB
Posted in Academia and Research, Arts and Culture, Blogging projects, Books and Reading, Languages, Travel, Writing, tagged #Reverb12, Bloggers, Camino de Santiago, Canada, Costumes, Elvish, Interior decoration, Royal Armouries, Squirrels, Titian, Venus di Urbino, Very Inspirational Blogger, Victoria and Albert Museum on January 23, 2013| 3 Comments »
What means VIB, I hear you ask? I got a lovely, and most unexpected, tweet two days ago from Kat at I Saw You Dancing (the brains behind December’s #reverb12). She nominated me as a Very Inspirational Blogger! I blush. I stutter. I beam. (more…)