Halloween

Nice Halloween with about 70 kids. Geremy and Rory came. She had a great Gwen Stacey costume that she was very happy about. I made my window video this afternoon from clips of the Wolfman and piles of candy. 

 

William's costume

 He says this is not a leprechaun, but actually a character from a video game. Regardless, I have not been able to find his pot of gold. 

Wrapping Carl's film

 Carl wrapped his film shoot with a flashback to a dance scene set in the Southey hall. William and two of his friends came, as did many people in the community. I quizzed Carl on how many scenes he had to cut and apparently he got it all. I'm quite impressed. The weather was much colder than anticipated and so many other things could have gone wrong as a result. In the end, it appears that everyone was still in good spirits and talking to each other. What more you could ask for. 

Back to the farm

 

This is actually my first trip to the farm this year. The snow looks like deeper snow than it usually would in January due to its freshness. I think this will work well for Carl. I needed some photos of buildings and stuff in very specific ways for the effects shots Carl has asked me to contribute. Getting excited about some of it. The farm house has a shoes off area for the first time that I've every known of. It was toasty warm with two stones burning wood. 

Halloween meets Christmas and Easter

 

Margaret took this photo during her journey around town today. It depicts a Christmas scene with baby Jesus at the same time as a possibly dead and rising from the grave Halloween Jesus nearby. 

Driving in the snow

Today I picked up the two scheduled actors plus the one who was delayed yesterday. I drove everyone out to Southey and made sure they connected with Carl. He invited me out to the cemetery where he was shooting. Since I can never find it on my own, I opted in and collected the GPS coordinated in the bargain. However, the fresh snow, combined with it being on soft still-green grass on the steep edge of the road led me to getting stuck.  Allan even got a tow rope and we connected me to the van. Everyone helped but to no avail, I just went further and further into the ditch. The show must go on, so while I waited for the tow truck, the crew moved to the next location. I had my Kafka to read as I waited. Was pulled out by CAA and car had no damage. Tow truck drivers are real heroes around here. 

 

Driving the cast

 I was supposed to pick up two of Carl's cast today but one ended up being delayed. I drove one of the actors to Southey. Good chat in the car. Snow arrived so the drive was a bit sketchy, but the highway was actually better than the city roads. No winter tires yet - couldn't get an appointment with the garage in time. 

Cards for cousins

 Big package going out to Kristin with cards and other stuff. William tried his had at working in his mother's style, with a few topsy turvy elements that are pure him. 

Feed me

Carl started shooting today but I'm teaching and not going out to the set. Forecast is for snow tomorrow. Can was fed and sits and waits for me to feed it again. It knows better, but hope springs eternal. 
 

Carl's new car

 Carl somehow convinced Berny Flaman to sell him his restored muscle car so Carl can use it in his film and probably cruise around whenever he comes to Saskatchewan. Great car, great prop. 

Robot work continues

Emma was over. They are still working on the robot costume. The weather is turning next week which will make garage work increasingly difficult. Margaret has suggested that we let it stay a studio for the time being. We have heaters in there. 

 

Studio workshop

 Ian came in to my grad class and workshopped the studio. 

Carl arrives in Regina

 Carl Bessai arrived in town to shoot his new feature, which is partially set on the Bessai farm. We took him for a distracting break to the Club where they were hosting an exhibition of Roger Ing paintings. Train passed by at a good clip, which is an interesting thing to stand beside. Victor Lam was there and we talked about the tapes I suggested Victor shoot of Roger. I also introduced him to Carl so that they could continue the conversation Carl was having with our wing of ACTRA. Also saw Wendy Lee and Cheryl Bellows. 

Fall

Raked leaves. Carl coming tomorrow and need the house and surroundings to look like we aren't trailer park people. 
 

Fun day

I met with Gerri Ann today, introducing her to some drawing on film approaches and taking a look at her time laps painting project. It should be done after one or two more sessions. William had a friend over for supper and we tested his new game he is creating, the built some card houses. 

 

Margaret's birthday

 Baked a lemon cheesecake last night for Margaret. It was a pretty crazy day with each of us busy in our own ways, coming together only after 9pm to blow out a candle. Happy birthday dear Margaret. 

Robot Radio broadcast

William and Emma did a one hour special on CJTR this afternoon as part of the station's fundraiser. Within this hour, William played a robot and Emma played his inventor and they performed some scenes from Romeo and Juliet rather poorly. Quite a fun hour. Geremy helped by running the board. I'm not sure how to download it yet, so it might be a project which will exist only in our memory. 
 

Vaccine

 With my first couple covid vaccines I was given a sticker I could wear to tell everyone I have been vaccinated. Eventually they stopped doing that and just putting a little bandaid on it. Now we've gone one step further. With my seventh vaccine they no longer even give you a bandaid. Covid in one arm, flue in the other, and out the door. That was yesterday. Today I was completely wrecked all day. Bit of a fever and just aching all over. Watched some tv and did a painting and cracked the whip on William catching up on his drawings.  

Robot plans

 William and Emma were planning their community radio station broadcast, slated for this Sunday. The robot they have designed is going to be central. Weather is cooling so some plants are staying warm in the garage. 

I ran into Geremy at the store where he was shopping for birthday cards. He confirmed he can help with the show (William has never run the booth before and has yet to be workshoped on it.). 

Curtains for William

 I helped William hang a curtain in his drawing studio. He'll be using this as a backdrop to photograph people in bird masks this term. It's the fall reading week so no classes. We spent the afternoon on campus anyway, he was in the darkroom and I met with Jhazley and did some office cleaning (am trying to sort old paper files). 

Dad is singing

 Stopped in to see dad. Mom was there with him and she pointed out that he'd not sung happy birthday to her. We managed to get him singing and he went almost overboard with it. I've not seen him this talkative in months. Mom says he was talking at length about sports yesterday. 

Fun food

William answered the door today and bought three boxes of girl guide cookies. I am posed below with a beet. 

 

Veronica visit

 Veronica is in town for a couple of days to visit her mom. We had her over for brunch today, along with Margaret's parents. I made waffles and some various meat sides. Nice afternoon of conversation including Paul joining us in the gazebo later. 

New dryer

 Dryer broke yesterday (Friday). Margaret quickly hit the stores, found one that was rated well and affordable AND IN STOCK (the last item is far from assured these days). Today George picked me up first thing in the morning and we took his truck out to get it and haul it into the house. Our old dryer was a house warming gift from my mom and has a sticker on the back that says "Saul - DEL Dec 11/96". 

Lynal and Barb get married

We were delighted to be invited to Barb and Lynal's wedding reception. Many traditional components such as the speeches and toasts and dancing, but often with some new spins on things such as belly dance response performances, Ed Willett singing, and the throwing of dice instead of a bouquet. We sat with Wilf Perreault and his family. 
 

Unsettling Settlers

Played a three hour session of the artist-designed mod to Settlers of Catan called Unsettling Settlers. There were three tables of players organized by the Art Gallery of Regina with the artist/creator Golboo Amani attending, observing, and advising. Had fun. Good humour, but I think we broke the session (the allies - who are basically the indigenous people - play cooperatively but in out session they both got some afflictions which limited their ability to get resources - resources that are needed to cure their problem. The game ended shortly after that but I anticipated that they would not recover. Some groups gave up o the competition altogether, which is philosophically noble but stops the session from being a game. 

William art in the public eye

The various final art projects from the class trip to Kyoto are on display at the Fifth Parallel Gallery at the university, including William's video. On the way to the reception we picked up the new issue of the Carillon, hot off the press with a pair of William's comics on the back. 
 

Painting toy

Had a fun time painting this one inch high solid plastic Barbie camera in class this week. Used a magnifier. I've be cycling through primary and secondary colours as the backgrounds. 

 

Perogies

 Went to mom's this evening and made perogies. She rolls out the doe and made the initial ingredients, but I did 90 percent of the forming and pinching. Made 9 and a half dozen in under 3 hours, but then we ran out of potatoes. Four dozen are for Thanksgiving at Lori's, and four dozen are for Sean and his new family, and one dozen is in trade for the potatoes. That left me with a handful of broken ones that I ate and shared with WIlliam when I got home. 

Drawing continues

 William wants to do two of these drawings per day, but most days he's only getting one done. So many distractions these days. 

Gertrud's new cat

 Gertrud doesn't want to officially adopt a cat again, especially a young cat, but she's been fostering older cats from the cat rescue group. Her previous one had its cancer return I think and had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago. She has a new one that is very slow to warm to people. It was given up by a guy because his girlfriend is afraid of cats. Who is afraid of house cats? Gertrud has named it Josephine. 

Purchased some Girl Genius art

 Phil Folgio is selling Girl Genius original art. I couldn't resist making a purchase. 

William's game in pencil

 

Loving William's pencil drawings for his cards. He's inking them so that they are bold and playable cards, but I hope some of the pencil qualities remain.