Regina beach

We managed to steal the girls away to the beach for a couple of hours, culminating in a quick supper at the Blue Bird where we just ordered a bunch of side orders of fish rather than meals. This gave us the sampling of fish we wanted without the soup and coleslaw. It was a bit cloudy and the air got a bit chilly when the sun wasn't out, but we had a great time anyway.

First backyard fire of year

We usually have had a dozen or more backyard fires by this time in the year but somehow, perhaps because we spend more time on the new deck, we had our first one tonight. At first I feared it would be a wash with the girls suddenly unable to come, but Xander and Terri, Emma and her folks, as well as Paul all made it over and we tried out the new hand made marshmallows (a bit too sweet and difficult to roast and dangerous to eat). 

more fence progress

I dug a rotten post out of its hole, mostly by hand, and installed a tall post which will be central to the new trellis for the grapes I'd like to grow by the driveway. The other posts need to be extended. I'm making up the plan one step at a time (not the design, but the plan) so I spend most of my time staring at the space or the wood or the screws. In this image, the extended post is not affixed but is just ballanced there.

Shopping with Geremy

I had the house and yard to myself for the afternoon and got some good progress on my grape fence. Took a break to go to investigate an old projector at the Restore with Geremy and Aurara. I bought some strange wood but not the projector.

New deck box

For the past few years, every time I need to put away the chair cushions off the deck and put them into the deck box, I'd need to hold up the lid with my head while fitting everything in. Sometimes it would slam down onto my hands. Costco had this deck box on for 150 bucks and the hinges are great and the lid holds up and it a tiny bit bigger so the cushions fit in properly.
All those years of Lego were put to work as William took the lead on assembling it. 

New way of watching tv

Frustrated by watching Netflix through my dvd player, I bought an android box through Amazon the other day. It comes with a remote that is a mini-keypad, super useful for putting in email addresses and passwords. It also accesses an app store so I can get Crave or Mubi or whatever on the tv, rather than just on my computer. 

Chop saw fixed

A while back we tried to use the cop saw to cut something beyond its capabilities. The result was that the blade got pushed dangerously out of alignment. I tried to adjust it but discovered that the wrench I needed was missing from my kit. The saw sat unused and unfixed for months. I finally sorted my kit, wrote down the measure of the missing wrenches, bought replacements from CMS, and (with Dave's help) adjusted the saw. Got the old boards from the fence trimmed so the damaged parts from the bottom would be gone and then put up the remaining panel of the fence between our yards. I need some post caps and then it is done. Next is the new grape trellis, if I can manage it. 

Fence rebuilt

William helped me dig out one of the fence posts down as deep as we could go without a post digger. After some time I was able to pull out the second rotten post but didn't dig much deeper. I began playing with how to install a post when the adjoining neighbour Dave came out to help. He revealed that he'd installed many posts on his brother's ranch and knew the technique. We put in both posts and then the panels before exhaustion took over. Job is 80% done. Cost so far: $30.

Fence project day 1

I started pulling parts of the fence apart that needed repair. Still not much idea how to do this. Trying not to wreck the things we have in hopes of reusing components. 

Never enough coffee

William is taking after his mother, double fisting his coffee this morning. 

catch up Saturday.

Mom invited me, William, and Griffin for lunch at the Vietnamese Gardens today. The arrangement of everything seemed a bit too complicated at first but everything went well. We went at it figuring that portions were individual but it would have been better overall if we'd shared each item, Next time I suppose.

The rest of the day was more of a catch up time. William got back to his drawings. We watched a movie (or two, I can't remember). Relaxed. Got stormy. 

Finished my swampfest film

I collected the last couple of shots and sounds for my new two minute film "Scream for the Monster" that I'm submitting to the Swampfest screening (deadline next week). It is rushed but I'm happy with it. I was thinking I would really love to print out every frame of it, wax each sheet, and re-shoot it. That is a two month project that would require an assistant (and therefore a grant?). Would be cool but not worth it. 

Dinner party on deck

While we have had the new deck for 10 months, with most of that being winter and as we had a strange unsociable spring, we appear to have had our first multi-family dinner party on the deck this week. Paul was over as well as Tady, Griffen, and Riel, along with Emma. 

Trio makes film around the house

William, Griffin, and Emma worked on a film all day around the house and neighbourhood. Do I know what it was about? No. All that I know is that I didn't have to help them. Glad they are teenagers. 

Stopping at the pharmacy

Dr. Ali put me on a month of antibiotics, even stronger than last time. One result of this is that I'm not drinking the rest of the summer. Given that I can't have a recreational cider or G&T, I picked up more nice sodas. Strangest thing is that London Drugs has the New York Sodas that I've not seen since the 80s. 

Fence building prep

I couldn't move them in my new car but managed to fit six fence posts into William's car this afternoon. I still am not sure when I'll dig new holes, so I certainly don't want to commit in writing in this blog. 

Secret gardens

We missed a couple but visited the majority of the New Dance Horizon's Secret Garden Tour gardens. Mostly I look at structures and sculptures, but occasionally where or how plants are growing is interesting.

Meeting Margaret's cousin

Margaret was working but William and I managed to connect up with Margaret's cousin Karen's daughter Laura over coffee today. Laura is working in Saskatoon for the next couple of months so perhaps we'll see her again. Lots of talk about obscure things birds do. 

shopping, filmming, watching, gardening

Managed to get William out of bed and fed before noon so that we could meet up with Margaret at 12 to shop at Colin O'Brien's for clothes at their annual big sale. I don't think we walked away with as many items as last year, although we did spend as much. He has some new shirts and one pair of pants and I got some orange pants. There was a jacket which would have launched his game show host career but it didn't fit.

William and I got caught in a huge rainstorm while trying to shoot my Swampfest film this afternoon. I got about 80% of it done. My knee has been killing me but I thought it was better as we headed down the street to see a Fringe play. Fortunately I had a couple of seats free beside me so at the midway point when it was aching, I could put it up. Ice worked well after we went home so we ate quickly and headed to a second play, "Two Chairs and a Piece of Wood" by director Cameron Chomyn and performers Cole Nicolson and Andrew Parry. We first knew Cameron and Andrew and "Cam and Andy" or more often as "Biggy and Smalls" thought improv. They are brilliant and this play was certainly a high point in the day. It is a hilarious critique of the heartfelt tell-all performances. Highly recommended. Two more shows this weekend. On the way home we tried to go to one Secret Garden on the night tour but it was apparently a secret from the owners who had not planned on it being a night garden. We did catch one garden before dark though. More tomorrow probably.

One Take Super 8 Event

This year's Super 8 event was a bit spooky in its content. Matt Ripplinger did a weird piece with mirrors and a woman who is sort of lost and fragmented; quite haunting. Mitch Doll's film seemed at first to be a nice study of a street fair but ended with a creepy voice of a child emitting from a sewer grate. Many others contained murders and macabre moments. Even mine, a study of a toy, did seem more uncanny than I anticipated. William's was very funny and the random lip sync was shockingly effective. There were less participants this year and the parking was impossible due to the night market and concert a half block away; and therefore the room was not sold out (probably 3/4 full). Still a really good event.

co-hosting Geremy's radio show

Allan Dotson and I joined Geremy this week, in the absence of his other co-hosts, to talk for an hour about time travel films. It is called "Spoiler Alert" and is on CJTR Regina Community radio. The time went pretty quick, especially considering we did virtually no preparation for it. Afterwards we went to the AGR where Sean Whalley and Barbara Meneley opened their exhibition.

New "Lint" film finished

Put the finishing touches on a film I've been thinking about for twenty years and planning for the past two years.I It is the first (?) short sequel to "Life is Like Lint", a feature I took years to complete and screened very few times (premiered in 1999). The new film, "Overview (a life is like lint story)" is simultaneously my most meaningful and my most trivial film I've made in a while. If you are one of the few people to have seen "Lint", it might make some sense. If not, it makes less sense but is at least short. 

games in the rain

Allan was over for Cajun food but afterwards the house was too muggy to do much in. We took the "Love Letter" and "Story Cubes" games to Naked Bean and played as the thunderstorm rolled in. Surprisingly, the rain, while still falling as we left, didn't seem to cool the city down at all. 

Taking William to work day

To help him escape the heat today, I dragged William to the University. I got caught up on a few things that I couldn't do at home and we took a bit of a walk (note William's choice of super-hot-day attire). 

Sleeping in on Sunday

I was up at 7 this morning, making coffee, feeding the cats, and reading yesterday's paper as it was too busy to read it yesterday. Suddenly it was 9:30 and I realized that I was still completely wrecked so I went back to bed until noon. This reset me enough to do some planning for the evening as Rob was busy again due to work and the stampede so I connected face to face with Kevin, Allan and Geremy. 

Home from Saskatoon

We left Saskatoon by noon, stopping at a self pick saskatoon berry farm before heading back. The berries were smaller and less abundant than the place that used to be near Regina and it took the three of us a half hour to fill one bucket. Good flavour though. In Regina our first stop was a sale where a few vendors, including Lady Arcane's taxidermy (mostly rabbit heads on plaques), religious antiques of mainly ironic qualities, and clothing and accessories by Karlie Jessup (from whom we bought a few things). This was all hosted in front of the Broom Closet witchcraft supply store on Dewdney. Later we went to the newly renovated Caroway Grill with Margaret's family. Although exhausted by this point, we escaped the heat by going to Ant Man and the Wasp.

Saskatoon, doctor and Shakespeare

Drove up to Saskatoon. William had a doctor's appointment. In the evening we went to The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan. Mike joined us. It was very well performed and directed. They were in contemporary dress but without any particular themes other than just doing the play very well. We'd not known Kenn McLeod was in it so that was a nice surprise. He had a moment when he had to point a sword at someone in the audience and he focused in on William. Here he is reenacting it. I regret that I was so tired, and my foot so sore, by the end of the evening that I couldn't have a decent conversation with Mike or anyone else.

Dueling parties

We had two dinner parties to attend today: my niece Michelle is on her way to New Brunswick with Francis. At the same time, Bob Bjerke is here for only a couple of days and is celebrating his birthday. We did the first half with my family, the second half with the Bjerkes. Ate too much.
 

First damage to car

We went to "Solo" at the Southland last night. It let out after 1 am and then I somehow drove my car (the new one) very slowly but very accurately into a cement barrier. I spent much of today struggling with the insurance website (until my stupidity brilliantly resulted in an agent being alerted to me and then helping me set up the claim on the same day I submitted it). I dealt with the additional coverage insurance and got the job appraised and the repairs booked. I was then able to wash the car and make it look not so badly damaged again. Six points on my licence is the only real damage remaining. 

Griffin and William resume film production

While William has been trying to adapt the ongoing story he and Griffin have been discussing over the phone all year, their first connection during Griffin's trip to Regina this summer was to shoot some additional scenes for a video Griffin has been adding to for the past three years. 

morbid birthday gift

I think this is the oddest, and perhaps most morbid, gift Margaret has ever given to Gerda.
"Happy" birdthday? 

Fireworks and pie

We headed out for fireworks, taking chairs along this year as we've always felt tired by the process of standing and waiting on the bridge. While the show seemed short, sitting made it all the more pleasant. The girls arrived just as it all began and we had everyone back to the house for pie afterwards.