In 1967, my family moved from England to Toronto, into a Victorian semi in the lower Annex. I lived in downtown Toronto for the next 50 years.
By the 2000s, I was a thoroughly urban woman who owned a collection of meticulously polished designer footwear. The thought of walking on anything other than pavement unnerved me. My idea of a vacation involved travelling to Europe or visiting a luxurious spa, not camping in cottage country and swimming in the deep, cold Ontarian lakes.
In 2008, my husband, Ivaan Kotulsky, a well-known Toronto sculptor and jeweller, died following a surgical procedure. He wanted me to continue his work, which I’d been helping him with while finishing my degree in Italian studies at U of T.