Margaret still sick

While William and I still cough a bit, Margaret continues to have many large scale symptoms of this cold. She went to the clinic today and they gave her some antibiotics which should cut in after a couple of days. 

 

Sick at home

 

My cold, which seemed to have gone away, came back today with a vengeance. My eyes had infections in them and I was really miserable all day. I copied and backed up videos and photos, and communicated with Matt about some possible gazebo roof approaches,  but otherwise sat in front of the tv. 

Rehearsal and film shoot

 Today William was scheduled to have the dancers for two hours to rehearse and shoot his film. The first two hours were taken up preparing costumes and masks. Fortunately the dancers who had other commitments managed to shift their schedules enough to allow a third hour of filming on the set. William shot 4K and I shot super 8 (I'd intended to be an assistant only, just passing him cameras between takes so that he would shoot both, but time was too tight and we wouldn't get very much repetition. 

Preparations, double time

William split his time between preparing for the dance project (creating a mock newspaper as prop in image above) and location scouting with Victor for a fall film shoot. 

 

Garage studio activities

 While William was putting some final touches on his set for the NDH project (to shoot in two days) I finally sorted and re-boxed my camera paintings, making the studio a bit more navigable. The three panel piece in the top picture is a cabinet front/sides that the characters will rest the tea upon in the kitchen. He is working on the side panels to the door which will be stapled to the wood. The box of paintings on the blue table is approximately 125 panels. There are four of these completely full, plus the stack beside it, plus a handful in the kitchen and another handful given away. 

Sidewalk repair, finally

 Truck arrived today to start the repair process for our sidewalk, which was dug up back in November. 

Last night I sprayed the wasps that are living, yet again, in our front brick flower beds. 

Coffee with mom

 Other than William's project with NDH, summer is calming down a bit so I finally found time for coffee with mom again. Lori was up in Saskatoon so didn't join us this week. We went to Creme. Chatted about William's project and I showed her pictures. Afterwards I met briefly with Matt R about the gazebo roof. 

Sleeping Beauty?

 Geremy's back yard contains thistles that remind me of the sort that would strangle Sleeping Beauty's castle. They have been professionally sprayed but they stand defiant. 

Stage (mostly) set

 We dress rehearsal and filming next Thursday and the public performance will be Sunday July 20. 

One Take Super 8

 This afternoon we painted the tin cups I bought. I broke the nozzle off the spray can so it was quite a mess. I blame William because he left me alone with the cans for three minutes. 

I got a temporary crown put in at 5:30 and then it was off to One Take. There was a great crowd with perhaps only a handful of open seats. My film, "Hoe", turned out quite well, as did William's new bird people animated film. 

Backgrounds nearly done

While William paints the backdrops, I've been using a rubber mallet to knock the hangers off of my paintings so that I can fit them into boxes again. 

I went to Value Village and found a number of tin/metal cups, serving pieces, and a tray to use for the performance. At the meeting at NDH earlier, we planned a moment when everything is tipped onto the floor and it should be very loud to be effective. 

Gin

 First gin party of the season at Richard and Gerda's. We arrived at 6:30 and there was not a spare chair for the next hour. I drank much more than I'm currently accustomed to.

One take titles

Matt and I shot the titles for the One Take Super 8 Event screening. He'll develop them later, after he gets the huge open wall in his dark room filled. Meanwhile William has been going hard on his backgrounds. Each 10x10 foot section is divided by 9 and traced from projections of the original drawing. 

 

Tyvak clothing

 Robin proposes that the bird characters be dressed in some tyvek outsits that she's already made. An advantage is that they make some wonderful and subtle sounds aa someone moves in them. William was sick today so I met with them without him. It seemed like a good idea. He prefers that they have new white outfits that he can then draw on top of, but it sounds like this won't happen. Robin needs these outfits for a future project and she cannot get new white tyvek in time. 

Door delivery

Charles (Samantha's son) borrowed George's truck to help us deliver the door to NDH. We went to La Macaron afterwards. The door itself is quite heavy, and the frame is made from four 2x4s. 

 

Backdrops begin

William and I hung the first tarp to be used for his bird people dance performance. There are quite a number of steps in this project which will be good practice. However, there is never a day off. The trip to Calgary has left us with deadlines piling up. 
 

Painting on tarps

I went shopping for canvas tarps. Robin had offered some yellow canvas to William but end up she wants to also repurpose it so the drawings would need to be impermanent (probably chalk). That might be cool, but we wanted to consider options that allowed him to be the one to repurpose things. Home Depot was supposed to have canvas drop cloths the size he needed and a decent price, but we I finally found them at the store, the cost was quite a bit higher. I did find this white material, very much like tyvek, for cheap so William is testing it with paint. It dries quickly and doesn't crack. 
 

Fireworks

I mostly stayed home and worked today, helping William as well as catching up on some of my own stuff. Never getting ahead of the curve, but we can see it on the horizon. Took a fireworks break but stayed close to home. Connected on the walking path with Kathleen Irwin and her husband and watched with them, talked about tv and funerals and convocation. 
 

William's art comes down

 William's show was supposed to come down while we were away. Fortunately we were not the only ones with a scheduling problem with that, so the closing date changed to today. 

From Calgary to the farm

William and I drove home, getting on the road shortly after 8 am. After a short break at the house, we ventured back to the farm. Margaret had gone back to the city, I guess five days of conversation is the limit. Carl, John, Frank, and Tom were there, along with some of their kids and a few others. George and Samantha hosted. Samantha's son Charles was also there. 

 

Calgary day 3

 We dropped Margaret off at the airport so that she could spend time with her family who are doing a film screening in Regna today and a memorial for Dianne tomorrow. William and I went with Sean and Al and Tate to the Calgary zoo. There was a thunderstorm so they didn't let people into the wide open areas so the huge crowds were cammed into the smaller indoor spaces. Fun though. Drinking and talking and eating until late with family. Gabrielle came with her family. Chris Corverei came today but not yesterday. Chris Miller came yesterday but not today. 

Calgary day 2

Today we took in a couple art galleries and book stores and a used record store. Very pleasant day. This evening lots of family came over, so more talk and food. Margaret and William have basically had enough of all that I think. 

 

Calgary, day 1

Drove to Calgary today. Sharon had both her hot water heater and her water softener broke yesterday but she got things fixed and hosted us this evening. Luna's parents and grandparents (from Netherlands) were over. The weekend is intended to celebrate mom's 90th year (her birthday is in the fall). 
 

Books, paintings, stage

William finished his maquette. I took down my show at Last Mountain and met a photographer named Sky who liked the paintings. I took mom to the big book sale and found her 18 books representing 8 of the authors on her list. 

 

Planning the stage

We spent some time measuring and discussing the stage and area at New Dance. At first, Robin didn't seem concerned about the timeline, but I think by the end of today she realized that this needs a lot of work if it is to be presented in just three or four weeks. William went straight to work on building the maquette. Cold had crept into our bones and the weather had shifted considerably so we took a fire break. 

 

Jana house paintings

 Margaret hired Jana Katarna to do a watercolour of Kristin's house. Jana is doing these for a lower cost as a limited promotional project to stir up business for creating larger house paintings. Kristin is very happy. 

Planning for stage

 While Sylvie watches (and waits) William draws plans for the Secret Garden stage. 

Book binding bench

 Over past few days I built this bench for William to set up his book binding machine. I had a few frustrating moments, particularly related to needing to move so many things around in the room I built it for, but in the end I got it to fit. Wood prices have gone down for some reason for an eight foot 2x4 costs about 4 bucks. The whole bench cost about $100. 

Comics and Nuit Blanche spaces

William recorded a radio show (or two) with Teagan today. Later we went walking the park with Geremy to figure out where to set up for Nuit Blanche. This space is right across the street from Victoria Park, where the Novia used to be. It would be perfect, but it is not on the list of available spaces.