Mike visit

Mike in town for a day to attend "Our Lady Peace" who are playing and the exhibition. 
 

Bike

 Bought an exercise bike earlier today. Built it. Almost lost my mind when I couldn't get the handle bars to attach but finally found the missing piece buried in the Styrofoam. Then the seat wouldn't attached and finally gave up. Took the troublesome part back to Flaman's and they couldn't do it either. The wrong part was included. Working now (but still want a more comfortable seat). 

Paul and cake

Margaret got her book on classic cakes out again and made this masterpiece today, inviting Paul over to partake. Afterwards Paul and William recorded a radio show together which was lively and smart. 
 

George's well

 Margaret's brother is finally one step towards the new house on the farm. A new deeper well was dug today. 

Mom's bed

 Helped mom get a new mattress. She convinced a neighbor to move it from Costco with his truck and I got William over to help me move it up to her room and into place. She's been wanting a softer one for a couple of years and the sale on this one was very good. 

Leslea, Leif, and Teagan

Friends arrived last night from Winnipeg to visit family (and us). Had great evening talking film industry and world travel adventures. 
 

Dutch Elm

 A dozen or so elm trees were cut down within a block of our house today due to Dutch Elm disease. The worry that the whole neighborhood (and eventually the city) is very real. They give off essential shade that keeps us cool all summer. 

Movie with Fred

We watched "The Third Man" with Fred this evening. His moustache was shaven off by one of the home care workers. Don't know if there was a reason or if was an accident. Fred kept pointing out the difference between the Anton Karas zither music in this film and the music in "the original" film (which this is). 
 

Drawing outside

 The heat waned a bit and the air conditioning. albeit necessary, started to make us feel worse than the heat. William took his book outside to do his dailies. 

Ribs

 Another very hot day. We didn't attend any lacrosse as we were feeling that standing through the whole game if full sun (35 degrees) was overwhelming. Made ribs and watched tv instead.

Julia visit

 Cousin Julia and her family visited Regina today, as her kids were competing in a lacrosse tournament.  It was nice seeing her. Most of the talk revolved around the sport. I didn't want to admit that I was downright surprised anyone actually played it anymore as it seemed very important. Hoped to catch up more next week during the memorial but Julia ended up not coming. 

Lunch with mom

Very nice sandwiches and desert with mom. This is the second time to this cafe. The meat is nice and it is complimented by basil instead of lettuce. However, this time mom felt is was greasy so it will likely be our last time coming. 

Hail

Short bun intense rain storm with hail. The heat has been extreme and record setting, so this was generally quite welcome. 
 

Painting

 I have a few more cameras from Noelle but have to admit that the amount of distractions around the house and in my mind has made painting more difficult than usual. Just picking up a brush feels like insurmountable work. 

Coffee and Donuts

 Due to some commitments this week, I moved my coffee with Kevin to Tuesday which had the advantage of making it also good for William and Geremy to attend. Talked games mostly. 

Fred's eye

 Fred has another popped blood vessel in his eye. I'm posting a backlog of entries right now and notice that his mustache is still intact (it gets clipped in a couple weeks). 

Puppet build continues

 I helped build a puppet to William's specifications this afternoon. He's constructed five or six of the eight puppet cast. Scriptwriting is next. 

Farm and walking

We drove out to the farm with Fred this afternoon. We knew George was doing something with a bunch of guests, but we managed to land there for 45 minutes just as the early group was leaving. Allena and Simon were there. I considered bringing up the numerous unsavory stories that Allen was telling about George and Simon on William's radio show over the past two weeks, but decided not to rock that boat (there are potentially many more episodes in the future). We really just sat around in lawn chairs for a few minutes rather than the more rigorous walkabout I'd usually do. William and I did an hour of walking this evening, ending up many places in the neighbourhood (hi Amy). 

Gallery with mom

 Visited the Dunlop with mom after lunch today (we at at Creme, which was amazing). Mom hadn't seen Leesa Steifler's new exhibition yet. Leesa and mom used to live across the street from each other and often talked, so mom was certainly interested in what was new. 

Larissa Tigglers at Dunlop

 William and I finally made it up to the north end Dunlop to see Larissa's exhibition of paintings. We'd missed the opening due to the funeral, but I'd always intended to follow up and see this work. The paintings are very clean with colours that evoke calming feelings. 

Display case

 Walked down to AGR today where William talked about possibly putting work into their display case. No openings right now, but also no one on wait list.  

lunch

 Nothing actually special about this lunch I threw together, except that I liked the colour mix. 

Multiple birthday parties

Ed Willett and his wife Margaret both had milestone birthdays this week so Ed hosted a party at the Artesian where he sang an hour of songs from his repertoire. Simultaneously, Gerda had her own significant birthday and hosted a gin party to commemorate it. We hit both events. Lovely evening.
 

Rain again

 Weather keeps promising heat but keeps delivering rain. Got caught in it while driving Fred home. We waited a long while but eventually I just had to bite the bullet and dash for the umbrella and get him inside. 

Slate opening

 Drove back from Saskatoon in time for the summer show opening at Slate. The streets outside were filled with Rider fans heading to the game. No sense of that inside. 

Hamlet

Drove to Saskatoon today. Had tickets for preview performance of Hamlet at Shakespeare On The Saskatchewan. William's friend Victoria joined us. The play was skinned as 1920s with some early jazz and period costumes. The pre-show was a Claudius/Gertrude wedding reception with some lessons on how to dance the Charleston. As we had dressed up, we got to sit at one of the close tables for that. Afterwards we went to a very nice Persian cafe for desert. Mike had recommended it, but unfortunately he was out of town this week. 
 

Nothing But Trouble

 William ordered an old dvd for me for Father's Day. It finally arrived. I had never heard of it before; Dan Aykroyd's only film to direct, the 1991 "Nothing But Trouble". This was very strange and somewhat wonderful, but never funny (which is a drawback for a comedy). The dvd itself has a very crude menu and the case explains how to navigate the menu. This might be the earliest dvd I own, printed in 1998. What you see in the phone above is literally the limits of the menu. 

Coffee with Lori

At Lori's house today. Coffee. Admired her lettuce which is growing very well. She gave me a few basil plants. We opened up boxes for her tent to inspect the condition of everything. Two problem poles.