Hail

 Biggest hail I ever remember seeing. It came down for about 10 minutes. I got hit by a few when I tried to pick them up and they really hurt. Gazebo roof is trashed. 

First day of school

 Always get a bit misty eyed when our little guy heads off for the first day of school each fall. Admittedly it is less and less of a big deal on the 16th time.... 

Spider

 

Nuit Blanche

 Nuit Blanche (Regina) went well. The whole thing was held earlier this year, which made it far nicer than years when we literally got snowed upon. The whole thing was held in the warehouse area but unlike last year, traffic was restricted by many roads being blocked. This led to a lot more interaction and conversation. There was very loud live music happening for the entire time which I thought was part of one exhibit but was really a club out of control. I saw quite a few past and present graduate students. Rania's video was very thoughtful. Dianne's film looked fantastic with her new 4K projector. More envy on my part. 

Demon Police

 

Last night, after coffee with Kevin, I sat down with William to get him past his writer block on the radio drama he's been writing this summer. We did a read through of the 11 typed pages and then I began hand writing what comes next. I'd expected to get some general scenes but as they emerged, William had exact wording formulated in his head for most of it. I eventually couldn't keep up with a pen and typed the rest, injecting a joke or two of my own along the way (although he vetoed many of them). At 21 pages, he has a readable draft that he's combing through and editing today. 

Erik in town

Erik in town, passing through on way to living in Toronto. Julia flew - she has a position at OCAD. 

Julia is part of a new exhibition at the MacKenzie so William, Erik and I went to take a look. We got a couple of insights into her process from Erik who has been watching (and occasionally helping) with these weird and wonderful artworks of sugar. 

 Dropped Erik off. He's "cleaning house" and gave us his fogger and we dumpster dove for his first camera, a Lego cam that he'd thrown away earlier today. 

Sandra defense

 Sandra defended her MFA this morning. This went very well, at least after a few nervous moments. Everyone came out of it happy and new connections were made. 

Surveyors came today and we will soon know where we live. It is the next step to getting the new garage. 

William recorded the last 15 episodes of the PudCast. I'll help edit them and he'll be scheduling them to drop one per week until around the end of the semester. They are short and funny - follow the link and subscribe. 

More end of summer work

Upon going through the cameras Ian Preston lent to me, I realized that I had the original flash for the first Polaroid camera but ad forgotten to attach it. I did a second painting of this camera, with emphasis on the flash. The purple bulb was fun. 

 William created his outline for his Minecraft course he'll be teaching later this fall. Still lots of things to do to prepare, but this will give  him the structure necessary. I made suggestions for pedagogy, but the raw material is all his. 

Continuing to race for completion

 

Summer is almost over. The weather is no longer hot, some days are downright cold. Today I got back to some painting, doing the 4 lens camera which was marketed for creating lenticular images that I borrowed from Ian Preston. It's the second last of Ian's cameras I have. I sat with William for a long while listening to podcasts and making him focus on the corrections and completions of the difficult middle page of his "Dark Shadows Knight" comic page. After much consternation, one panel was filled with the text "RIP", and with that, the project is done. Another thing completed. 

William in last throws of summer

 Late August contains two things for William - his birthday and my pushing him to finish all the things he started over the past months. We hung out with my mom and dad for a while and then William was back to the basement to finish his One Take Super 8 project. Check that one off. 

Yesterday he and I both submitted ghost stories to be turned into animations and shown at Nuit Blanche next week. That's two completions this weekend. 

Invited to supper at Barb and Martin's

 Fabulous food. Nice conversation in gazebo with fire table afterwards. Desert conversation resulted in Emma breaking up with laughter. 

William turns 20

 William's 20th. No teens in our house any more. Did a bunch of stuff. Took him to Dean Renwick's to order a new vest. Got ice cream (no crowns this year). Geremy dropped in with a very cool original Pud card that Rory helped him make. I baked him a cheese cake - the first one I've made since I was diagnosed diabetic (I punish everyone around me by not making cake that I'd be tempted by). 

See you real soon

 William worked on his super-8 film for quite a while today. As usual, he is very ambitious with what he wants to do (possibly overly ambitious?). I made him a Mickey Mouse pancake as reward. 

Jake Bessai visit

Carl's son Jake and his girlfriend Elise drove through town today and stopped in for a half hour chat and snack. Seem like great people. He's heading to NASCAD to continue working with Kim Morgan. She is studying architecture. 

Movie theatre venture

 

Partially as a lead up to William's birthday, we went to the movies this evening. Due to start time issues, we chose The Suicide Squad. Pretty fair film. Some surprises, which is rare in a super-type movie. 

New Canister villain

 

Met with Sandra again today. She and I are developing a new adversary for Canister the Robot. The  yellow boots complete the outfit. 

Creating my One Take film

 35 degrees out but committed my afternoon to shooting in the back yard, getting my One Take Super 8 film over half shot before losing light. 

Late night party in heat

 Had a gathering, mostly on the decks, with Barb and Emma, Jon and Dana, and Chrystene. Went quite late and was pretty low-key with eclectic conversations ranging from air B&B nightmares to migraines to Dark Shadows to Spooksbury (hmmm, actually seems quite focused when I put it that way). William and Emma had a chance to catch up and probably talked about William's proposed radio drama idea. 

Coffee with dad

 Put the phone on selfie mode to take picture of me and dad. He was in good spirits, pointing out who is handsome (and who is not) on my screen. I won't reveal more, to protect everyone's feelings. 

Painting super-8

 I really should be shooting my super-8 film for the upcoming event, but opting to paint more super-8 cameras instead. This is one of Geremy's new ones. I think he has another couple that he has in hand to make his One Take film this month. 

Mystery shirt

 Two weeks ago I found a package on my front doorstop. It had a tag with my name on it but no indication of who delivered it. It contains a t shirt with a camera drawing on it, so it seems obvious that it was a purchase made very specifically for me but someone I know. I've been asking people ever since then and no one has confessed to having left it. It was hand delivered so it must be someone local. 

Daily painting

I've been painting almost every day. Ian Preston lent me eleven cameras a couple of weeks ago. Geremy lent me a bunch as well. I'd like to catch up on the soon. Calling around to find more is actually one of the exciting parts of the project. I registered for the painting course for the fall. 
 

Rain

 Met with Narges today. We were going to meet outside but just as we sat down, a few drops of rain fell. it became quite a torrent, leaving large puddles. 

Time with dad

William and I spent two and a half hours with dad this afternoon. The first one and a half hours were really nice. Dad was in a great mood, laughing and talking and watching westerns with us. His mood got worse in the last hour, likely due to his being tired or there being less sunlight in the apartment. Going outside was a bit better. 
 

Shopping for deck chairs

Margaret and I shopped for deck chairs today. Found some. Rather expensive but we'd be into them if they fit William (his back makes him the wild card). We'll return in a few days. 

Painted another of Ian Preston's cameras. Such fantastic devices he lent me.  

AGR in person art talks

By appointment and in small groups, we attended artist talks with Jessica Morgun and my old friend Tamara Rusnak whose exhibition "Imagined Objects" opened at the Art Gallery of Regina. It was terrific to catch up, especially in the open air of the courtyard. The talk itself, I have to admit, was difficult due to the echo in the room that put me into a trance.