new Gazebo

With Lori and Quinn's help, I disassembled the old gazebo from Lori's house (that used to be mom's but moved to Lori's a couple of years ago but is now displaced by one that Sharon brought to Lori from Calgary this summer). We didn't get it complete as some nuts and bolts were either lost or stripped, but managed to get it standing and functional. Still need to build a floor for it and move it. 

Giant book sale

There was a well advertised giant used book sale in Regina. We drove past about 15 minutes in but the line up to get it was daunting. We returned a few hours later and got in and picked up some cool stuff. I found Lynch's Mulholand Drive dvd, which is difficult to acquire. 

Puppet festival meeting

The puppet slam is only a couple of weeks away. We've managed to hire people and it looks like it could happen. I negotiated with Margaret to teach a finger puppet workshop over text in the middle of the meeting. William will likely do a puppet show as well. Lots of work before we get there though. 

Chrystene's puppets

Had coffee meeting with Chrystene. We had an agenda to discuss the essay but ended up taking most of the time talking about puppets, westerns (pitched the ghost train idea), and health (or lack thereof). Her puppets are getting so cool. 

ATC at Sharon's

Sharon hosted an artist trading card session in her beautiful back yard. I enjoyed looking at the water feature, as did William. He also drew a card. Smoke is pretty bad. 

peaches

I picked up the two cases of peaches I ordered from my mom's church this morning. We finally got there early enough this year to go sit down for a piece of pie. Mine had a touch of nutmeg, which was subtle but not necessarily my favorite. Really well made peach pie though. We ate some in the afternoon then I sliced up some to top our supper waffles. 

shopping with Gertrud

Gertrud took William birthday shopping for accessories for his new computer. Picked up a new backpack that fits it better. I then introduced her to OTV and they picked out a high speed mouse. Capped the session off with Milky Way. 

0.9 Kg of fur

Our cat Nick has had a huge amount of matting in his fur this year. We've tried to cut it but he just struggles too much for us to get very far, so we decided that we should take him to the groomer and have professionals take care of him. However, we had not got him his shots this year and the groomers won't take him unless he is up to date. Therefore I took him to the vet today for his annual checkup and shots. The subject of his mats naturally came up when I was there and they asked if I wanted them to shave some mats off of Nick? Of course, I told them. 30 to 40 minutes later, Nick is sporting a lion-cut with a shaggy mane and all business in the back. He didn't even struggle, yowl, or hiss. At the beginning of the appointment he weighed 6.4 kg. Afterwards he weighted 5.5, a loss of almost a kilogram of fur! While the appointment still had its regular vet fees, the shaving came in at a paltry $20, what a deal. Nick seems happy and holds no resentment over the whole ordeal.

Knee therapy

Got some tests and therapy on my knee today.

more birthday events

As usual, we stretch the celebration of our birthdays over a few days so as to include more people and have an excuse to do more interesting things. On day two of Willliam's birth-week, we had family over in the afternoon (Quinn just got back from Thailand and Sean just returned from Toronto). We introduced Sean and Quinn to Carcassonne. We then had supper with Mike and Allan and came back to the house for Fiasco and Dominion. Quite a game day.

William's 17th birthday part 2

We had cake and a fire this evening. Mike came to town and Paul came over, as did Barb and Andrew and Terri, I gave William a new laptop computer with touch screen. Gerri-Ann slipped a Dali book into the mailbox for him, very nice. Mike gave William a cane which he's over the moon about.

William's 17th birthday, part 1

As per his request, I woke William up early (at the ghastly time of 10 am) so he could make the most of his birthday.

We coffeed with Gerda and her Monday morning crew, dropping off the fish-horn light, then dined on toast and watched some cartoons (Plymptoons, to be exact) before picking up his friends Emma and Xander to go for free ice cream as Dessarts.

Fixed the cottage roof

William and I drove out to the farm today to assess the damage to the cottage roof. I brought tools and some wood, just in case I could get a start on it. In fact, the job looked more straight forward than I'd anticipated, mainly owing to the fact that the original structure was quite basic and rather flawed in many ways. Therefore I was able to spend two hours and fix it better than it had been. Not perfect mind you, but better than it was built to be. We also put up the lightning rod and called it the church of lightning. Cleaning is the next priority. We scraped bird shit off the floor but it needs a proper mopping with some chemistry.

The cows converged very close to the farm, probably where they were not supposed to be. I suggested to William that he draw them but they quickly left when he tried to walk towards them. 

Dinner to launch Margaret's retreat

Lovely dinner. We spent much time looking at the books. A screen pulls down over the colour coded library so that the video projector can act as the tv. Very modern. 

All day at film festival

William and I spent the day at the Regina International Film Festival. We saw a couple of features (both documentaries) and lots of short films as well as a portion of a panel discussion. Over the 11 hours we were there, we only took two breaks of a half our each to grab some food. There were some very cool films and some not so cool films, but the experience of figuring out the optimal schedule and taking in what you can in this sort of festival environment is strange and unique and unlike anything we've done with William before.

Legendary animator Bill Plympton

The Regina International Film Festival (RIFF) brought in one of the greatest living animators, Bill Plympton to do a talk this week. I got a chance to talk to him afterwards and buy some of his films. He's far more prolific than I'd known and claims to draw 15 seconds of animation per day. Amazing stuff and a great honour. 

Gertrud 60 years in Canada

Celebrating Gertrud's 60 years in Canada, we had a big bbq on the farm. Margaret's cousin Karen and her husband and daughter (Laura, whom we met a month ago) came down to visit. It was hot but no wind so shooting some 35mm film seemed in order.

William and I began a new project, "The Gentleman Farmer" and shot about 150 feet of plus x (my last rolls of this stock). The big disappointment was that the cottage roof has taken some damage and now has a hole big enough for birds to enter and shit all over the place. I wish someone had told us this had happened.

Cards with Allan

Allan is back in town for a few days. The weather was warm but not too warm to cook up some curry on the stove. We played a bunch of rounds of Lovecraft Letter on the deck until late in the evening, thanks to the zero wind and two strands of rope lights. 

finished meds

It's been four weeks without drinking, and limited dairy, due to an experiment my doctor put me on with high doses of antibiotics. Won't know for a week or two if it was even effective. 

Hamlet matinee and returning home

We managed to get front row tickets for Hamlet Sunday matinee after the Friday show was canceled. I wanted to be back for 7:30 so we had to drive directly home after the play. The weather had turned a bit chilly in Saskatoon, partially due to the thick smoke, while Regina was nearly 40 degrees. I didn't bring any jacket, sweater, or even a long sleeve shirt so we huddled in the tent before the show to keep warm. After getting home, the house was hot and muggy when we got in but aired out by midnight. The play was pretty good. The Hamlet actor was really good with the comic elements of the character but I thought the more dramatic parts such as the soliloquies were just okay. I started getting a migraine but managed to clear it and have a nice evening at Geremy's.

Titus A. puppet performance was fantastic

Our top goal for being back in Saskatoon this weekend was to take in Titus A., an adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus in puppets directed by Kenn McLeod. While it was pretty hot out, the bigger problem was the thick smoke from BC that filled the air. We found out later that a performer in Hamlet, playing simultaneously to Titus in the main tent, passed out due to the smoke and they canceled Merry Wives evening show. At a street sale after the play I met Lance Wark, a guy who makes leather steampunk stuff in Saskatoon including these goggles, which I gave to William as an early birthday present.

Hamlet can't handle the heat

We drove up to Saskatoon for the Friday night performance of Hamlet at the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan festival. At the gates we were informed that the play was canceled due to the heat. We were carrying big bags of ice in anticipation of the grueling 38 degree weather so we were not too surprised. Went out to eat with Mike, followed by ice cream at the understated "Fable" ice cream stand, then watched tv at the hotel.

pie for breakfast

Frig is really full this week. Leftover pizza, leftover cake, and a whole pie. The heat leaves us with a limited apatite but the flavours are great. William's saskatoon pie design is divine. 

Supper with cousin Julia

Julia and her family drove in for a day. We met up with them for pizza and then ice cream. Could have been a longer visit to catch up on  more things, but was very nice. William was great with the boys, telling them all about complicated science stuff. 

x-ray

Got my knee x-rayed. Doctor thinks I have some arthritus in it but wants to see inside to get a better idea. Another heat wave this week. 

Big family evening

We went to a big Miller family gathering at my sister Lori's last night. We didn't know half the people but it was a very nice evening regardless. William played his first game of Hop on Pop in the latter role and he took it like a sport.

Sharon's kids, William's cousins, Chris and Michelle were both here.