iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I love that this tiny - actually not so tiny - 19th century house has been preserved in Montréal. It's on Drummond St, south of Sherbrooke West, behind the Ritz Carlton.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

And I'm back! My very non-student apartment in the McGill student ghetto, a block from where I lived in the late 60s. I'm here for a month to see friends, go to concerts, plays and galleries, and walk! Fall in Montréal is gorgeous, and right now the weather is perfect.

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Reposted by Elaine Calder

Cultural Heritage @culturalheritage.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

There needs to be Consumer Protection laws in Canada as well. AI chatbots for Customer Care for phone and internet are a nightmare. Hours are spent just trying to get past a bot. @telussupport.bsky.social @mark-carney.bsky.social @wadegrant.bsky.social

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Mark Carney speaks of the oak tree at Ettersberg that Goethe loved, and how just over a hundred years later, the Buchenwald concentration camp was built around it. This makes me wonder if he has read Jeremy Eichler's TIME'S ECHO. The Prelude of this great book is titled "In the Shade of the Oak."

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

@pgjonesvenice.bsky.social, do you know how many people are waiting for a picture of you and Mimi snuggled up on the sofa?

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I just asked Google how much I should expect to pay for single tickets over the subscription rates at Teatro La Fenice, and got a detailed, logical reply - the first time I've found AI to be truly helpful.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Venetian twig broom, photo by Jerry Ubysz, and Vietnamese coconut broom bought by me in Victoria, BC. (No tariff paid....)

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I bought this broom to sweep the leaves off my patio. It reminds me of the twig brooms used early in the morning by the street cleaners in Venice, but it's made of coconut and comes from Vietnam. There was a lovely note enclosed, thanking me for supporting their handiwork and their community.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

In April 2025 my American son-in-law was in a group that skiied 800 km across the Arctic, from the border of Finland and Russia to the Norwegian coastal town of Narvik. At the end of the trip he wrote about the Finnish concept of sisu: 1/n

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If a time comes when Mark Carney tells us it's in Canada's best interest to buy American wine and liquor, I'll purchase a bottle of bourbon and some Oregon pinot noirs. Until then, I don't care what American products are on the shelf at BC Liquor, because I'm not buying them.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

At YYJ, my home airport, a staff member positions suitcases as they tumble onto the belt so they are really easy to pick up. Amazing customer service!

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

There can't be many people other than me and my friend Keiko, who walk past a display of maple sugar cookies and think of Ricardo Muti.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Another One of Those. But not as bad as yesterday: Wordle 1,864 4/6* ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

If you ever, you know, wonder about Americans, read this and let me know if you think you could identify a similar gathering of people in your native land. I mean, they really are strange, aren't they? Not sure this explains Trump.....https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n11/patricia-lockwood/diary

lrb.co.uk

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Tonight I'm watching a performance of Brahms' first piano quartet from the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and as Inon Barnatan follows his part on an iPad I realize that long before the arrival of AI, technology eliminated one job: that of the low or no-paid page turner.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I watched this at Cedric Smith's house on the Harmony Road between Stratford and Tavistock, with friends from the Canadian Place Theatre, Perth County Conspiracy and the Black Swan coffee house.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

My Italian isn't great but as far as I can tell: a jeweller named Ruggero followed three people who had robbed him out onto the street and shot two of them. He was convicted, tried, found guilty and sentenced. He didn't express remorse or beg for mercy. 1/n

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Toni Servillo. LA GRAZIA di Paolo Sorrentino. Ed oggi, Presidente Mattarella, "La grazia spetta solo al presidente della Repubblica."

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Of course this reminds me of the recent Paolo Sorrentino film LA GRAZIA, with the great Toni Servillo playing a contemporary President of Italy in his final six months of office, considering two pardons. Life imitates art again..... @nickwhithorn.bsky.social, I'm sure you've seen it?

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'm returning to Venice Mar 19 to Apr 2, and will see JENUFA with the great Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury, and several orchestral concerts at La Fenice including one led by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. I knew J-P in the 1990s when I was at the Canadian Opera Company and he was MD at the Toronto Symphony.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I snagged a seat at the bar this evening at Lumache, a tiny hard-to-get-in-to restaurant here in Victoria. The bacalà mantecato is delicious, but it's not transporting me back to Venice. Picky, picky.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I'm really hoping England wins on July 19th, in an American stadium during the 250th anniversary celebrations of US Independence.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

I just bought two copies of this delightful and informative book. It's the perfect gift for friends who are going to Venice soon. Thank you @robinsaikia.bsky.social for sharing such great advice and wonderful facts!

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Terrific book. Once you understand that La Serenissima operated on credit, from the Merchants of Venice to the poorest of citizens, while Christians were forbidden to engage in usury, the dependence on the Jewish community - no matter how reluctant - makes complete sense. OK. It took me a while.....

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Somewhere there is a photo of me in Venice in 1971, aged 24, wearing a pink Pucci print dress and standing on the staircase of an interior courtyard. Aside from the magic of Venice, what I remember is absence: no credit cards, no Euros, no crowds of tourists, no temperatures higher than 30C+.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

A friend in London found a book for me to add to my Venice collection.

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Reposted by Elaine Calder

Mario Sixtus @sixtus.net · 26/06/2026

Lösungen für alle Probleme

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I'm seeing op-eds saying Andy Burnham is a nice guy and a great politician, but the UK needs a lot more than that to solve its problems, starting with the impact of Brexit. Is it time for a technocrat? A Mark Carney or Mario Draghi, willing to make tough decisions because they're not chasing votes?

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

This is a really sobering fact check. It was 25C in Victoria today and HOT. I've been in Rome in 31C and it was REALLY HOT. I cannot imagine being anywhere - humid, dry, whatever - at 41C and not wanting to curl up under a wet blanket and wait for the temperature to drop. A lot.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

My daughter and son-in-law were at the US vs Australia game today, while I watched on FOX. (Didn't spot them in the nosebleeds, though.)

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

My friend John Allison is the editor of OPERA magazine, and in the August edition he writes about opera and AI under the title "Artistic Intelligence." I particularly like his concluding sentences: 1/n

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Pasta, olive oil, grated pecorino Romano and ground black pepper. Can there possibly be an easier, tastier pasta recipe? Supper in minutes!

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

And in March 2015 the great violinist James Ehnes premiered the violin Concerto written for him by JNH.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I'm very much looking forward to reading Philip's latest Venetian mystery. Thank you @pgjonesvenice.bsky.social for not abandoning Nathan!

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Looks like Georgia Meloni has learned to accompany President Mattarella in these expressions of support and sympathy - although I'm not sure who the gents are in the photo. tg24.sky.it/politica/202...

tg24.sky.it

Auto su folla a Modena, Mattarella e Meloni in visita. Le reazioni

Leggi su Sky TG24 l'articolo Modena, la Lega attacca. Piantedosi: “Disagio psichiatrico”. Mattarella e Meloni in visita

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Of course, in 2024 the EU just filed his massive report and recommendations on a shelf to gather dust.....

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

"Not the work but the timing" is something I've heard a couple of times now as planned productions of plays and operas meet with protest. Symphonic and chamber music performances get off scot free.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Fifty years ago I saw a Greek film, The Hunters. I still remember, phonetically, the Greek title I Koinigi. This evening I found it online, with English subtitles, and it came rushing back to me. Visual memory is sometimes surprisingly powerful.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I'm reading The Devil in Dorsoduro by @davidhewson.com and stopped at this: "The apartment he seemed to take to." That's a sentence construction I often use, but because I live in North America I usually change it to start with "He seemed to ....." It must be left over from my childhood in England.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

@caroline-venezia.bsky.social Now the garden at Palazzo Gradenigo is open by appointment on June 6th:

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Reposted by Elaine Calder

Pádraig Belton @padraigbelton.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

It’s 6:50 am in Armenia’s capital. It’s raining. Absolutely miserable. And I just saw Mark Carney running by. As far as I can tell, he is also the *only person* out running in Armenia this morning.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

So now RAI needs money and is putting Palazzo Labia up for sale. Any bets it'll become another expensive Venetian hotel? This is what I read on FB just now: "La RAI ha bisogno di soldi (chi non ne ha?) e ha deciso di vendere i gioielli di famiglia, tra cui anche la sede della RAI a Venezia."

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

@caroline-venezia.bsky.social Perhaps you and Philip have already visited Palazzo Labia, but if not:

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

@pgjonesvenice.bsky.social I thought you might want to see my friend John Allison's editorial in the June issue of OPERA. The second half of the second paragraph deals with the destruction of WNO.

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Elaine Calder @calderbennett.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

I don't have the Italian so I can't comment on the accuracy of your translation, @gregorydowling.bsky.social, but I think the English text is elegant and beautiful. I'm enjoying this even more than the two previous novels. All three are very different and I'd love to know your thoughts.

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