Steve's super-8

 Steve Wolfson lent me a couple of cameras including this super-8. Always love painting film cameras. 

Time outside

Kicking back with a drink on the deck. I've not been blogging for about 3 weeks so the next score of posts are actually being written in mid-June. The purpose of this blog has been to help remember stuff but I'm already forgetting things. We must have had an interesting conversation this day that prompted me to grab this photo of Margaret to represent this day. 
 

William and cinnamon buns

 William's creation! I am certain I ate more of them that my diet should allow, but they were very good. 

Steve Wolfson visit

Steve came over for a short visit, bringing a couple of cameras with him. I thought I'd done one of these Canadian made "Marksman" cameras but I hadn't. I think someone has one that I've seen very often so it is familiar. Weather is warming but not hot yet. Soon. 
 

Walking with dad

 Hung out with my dad for a while this morning. At one point he suddenly went out the door and went walking in the hallway (this is his exercise regiment) and I followed him, doing the rounds, wondering who is home in his building (no one answers the door, even though I'm pretty sure they are all home). 

The Sun

 I went to take a break and perhaps have a nap in the sunroom, but it was full. Don't snooze, you lose. 

YAAG screening

 

The screening of my film about the garage fire went ahead on schedule this evening with over a dozen people coming by and watching and hanging out. Very nice to see people this way and I was surprised at the numbers, especially since it was quite cold. 

Family day and beginning of festival

 Family day  holiday usually begins the Cathedral festival. There was a virtual parade (less interesting than last year's) which we viewed but were not a part of (just too busy this weekend). I prepared my screening site on the fine damaged YAAG with a coating of paint, then spent 3 hours in the line with William getting his first vaccine but being denied my second. Later I did my comic jam page as a painting. 

Puzzle continues

 The glare of the light and the quarter century since I last built a puzzle make building this harder for me than it used to be. Having a mindless long weekend distraction. 

Finished it at about 3:00 am. 

Puzzle begins

 For William's baby shower in fall 2001, Joanne and Suzanne gave William a puzzle of Oberon and Titania quarrelling. Today on "The Debaters" on CBC they were discussing making puzzles and William goes and gets this puzzle off the shelf where it has been on display for nearly 20 years. He was surprised to find the packaging unopened. I think this is the first real puzzle he has ever built. It is a fun zone to be in. 

Purple

 Went and dug through our art supply cabinet to find a tube of purple to help me with this. Creating purple has been the bane of my painting existence due to my lack of knowledge of the hidden tints within each red and blue tube I own. Starting with a purple was my only sane choice. This 110 camera from Sharon Eisbrenner was originally only marketed through Avon. 

Weather change

 We worked really hard to ensure that our yard of smoky stuff was gone in time for this predicted weather change. Freezing rain (and probably some small hail) greeting me as I left the university earlier this afternoon. 

Catching up on normal

 Trying to catch up on "normal" today - mostly admin and grad student stuff. Made the very long spaghetti that I bought from Italian Star last week since we are out of leftovers (since the fire, we've been tired and unmotivated to cook). 

Empty garage

 Garage contents, including the damaged door, the various layers of siding, the tar paper, the insulation, the carpet, and all the junk in the yard that used to be in the garage are all hauled away now leaving us an empty garage. 

Life goes on while insurance is assessed

Insurance people were here for quite a while photographing and listing stuff. My gut feeling is that they just go through the motions of the list, making us feel like all of our old memories are being respected, and then will just drop a number onto a page at the end of it all. I'm okay with that I guess, being already tired of telling the stories about the fire and about how each box of stuff meant so much to me. 

William went on a job interview. I suspect it didn't go great, although he does tend to present well. Good experience regardless. 

In the meantime, I picked up the replaced/repaired bathroom fan from General Electrical repairs and was faced with an array of anti-masking, anti-covid signage. 

 

Fire aftermath

Sunday was spent hauling things out of the garage. I'm nervous about the roof but it proved stable enough today so there were no mishaps taking things out of there, filling the back yard to be assessed tomorrow. 

Garage Fire

 At 11:32 pm, according my neighbour's surveillance camera, someone set a fire beside my garage. We got out there pretty quickly and I soaked the front and the telephone pole until the trucks arrived. Lots of action for the next 2 hours. Building is still standing but, given it's age and pre-code construction, I am pretty certain it is totaled. 

Backyard activity

 Ken and Christine came for a short backyard conversation today. I needed to clean up beforehand as the crows had turned the bird bath into sparrow soup. 

Mooky's chickens

 Visited Mooky and brought her a stack or our old windows for her to build a mini-greenhouse with. Watched her brilliant chickens do their tricks. 

Painting class?

Based on the one email I received, I walked down to the Balkwill Wednesday morning for the painting session. Discovering it was canceled for the whole term, I ended up in conversation outside with Jess Richter who was waiting for art to be delivered for the new exhibition. It seemed overkill when a huge semi truck arrived. I headed home and later in the day painted this super-8 camera from the university. 

 

Garden and Cameras

 

Dropped off the finished cameras to Sharon Eisbrenner and took a little garden tour and borrowed three more (including a super-8 camera with a roll of kodachrome inside). 

Dentist

 Was at the dentist this morning. The space is plastic wrapped, which feels normal now. 

Mother's Day

 Great weather to open gifts on deck and have Gertrud over. Mooky also made it over for a while and talked with them about music and chickens. 

Painting

 Third of three cameras I borrowed from Sharon Eisbrenner. 

Terri's tea

 Visited Terri to borrow a couple cameras and admire the new lines of tea pots and cups she's been making. Using some very white clay, the new fun drawing really pop. 

Rory's birthday

 Geremy's daughter turned 4. I had William draw her a unicorn card, which didn't reach her until after bedtime but she loved it in the morning. 

Hanging with Dad

 Mom went shopping first thing this morning, even before dad was awake. She asked me to come over and hang with him. Good time talking about nothing mostly. 

Rotoscoping tests

 William is playing with a rotoscoping program he just discovered called Ebsynth. Crazy flaws and artifacts appear but it's pretty slick nonetheless. Here is a Canister frame. 

Sun and Cat

 Dark shadows of Sylvie. 

Terrible ATC

 I was not only in an uncreative state of mind, I was also clumsy and fumbling when Margaret suggested that I make an artist trading card. This card was supposed to have some pop up qualities with Canister moving up and down in a window and the spaceship sliding past. I disassembled it and made a flat artwork with the same pieces. Shamefully bad.