Sunday, July 20, 2025

Margaret still sick

While William and I still cough a bit, Margaret continues to have many large scale symptoms of this cold. She went to the clinic today and they gave her some antibiotics which should cut in after a couple of days. 

 

Friday, July 18, 2025

Sick at home

 


My cold, which seemed to have gone away, came back today with a vengeance. My eyes had infections in them and I was really miserable all day. I copied and backed up videos and photos, and communicated with Matt about some possible gazebo roof approaches,  but otherwise sat in front of the tv. 

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Rehearsal and film shoot




 Today William was scheduled to have the dancers for two hours to rehearse and shoot his film. The first two hours were taken up preparing costumes and masks. Fortunately the dancers who had other commitments managed to shift their schedules enough to allow a third hour of filming on the set. William shot 4K and I shot super 8 (I'd intended to be an assistant only, just passing him cameras between takes so that he would shoot both, but time was too tight and we wouldn't get very much repetition. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Preparations, double time

William split his time between preparing for the dance project (creating a mock newspaper as prop in image above) and location scouting with Victor for a fall film shoot. 

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Garage studio activities



 While William was putting some final touches on his set for the NDH project (to shoot in two days) I finally sorted and re-boxed my camera paintings, making the studio a bit more navigable. The three panel piece in the top picture is a cabinet front/sides that the characters will rest the tea upon in the kitchen. He is working on the side panels to the door which will be stapled to the wood. The box of paintings on the blue table is approximately 125 panels. There are four of these completely full, plus the stack beside it, plus a handful in the kitchen and another handful given away. 

Monday, July 14, 2025

Sidewalk repair, finally


 Truck arrived today to start the repair process for our sidewalk, which was dug up back in November. 

Last night I sprayed the wasps that are living, yet again, in our front brick flower beds. 



Sunday, July 13, 2025

Coffee with mom


 Other than William's project with NDH, summer is calming down a bit so I finally found time for coffee with mom again. Lori was up in Saskatoon so didn't join us this week. We went to Creme. Chatted about William's project and I showed her pictures. Afterwards I met briefly with Matt R about the gazebo roof. 

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Sleeping Beauty?


 Geremy's back yard contains thistles that remind me of the sort that would strangle Sleeping Beauty's castle. They have been professionally sprayed but they stand defiant. 

Friday, July 11, 2025

Stage (mostly) set


 We dress rehearsal and filming next Thursday and the public performance will be Sunday July 20. 

Thursday, July 10, 2025

One Take Super 8

 This afternoon we painted the tin cups I bought. I broke the nozzle off the spray can so it was quite a mess. I blame William because he left me alone with the cans for three minutes. 

I got a temporary crown put in at 5:30 and then it was off to One Take. There was a great crowd with perhaps only a handful of open seats. My film, "Hoe", turned out quite well, as did William's new bird people animated film. 


Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Backgrounds nearly done


While William paints the backdrops, I've been using a rubber mallet to knock the hangers off of my paintings so that I can fit them into boxes again. 

I went to Value Village and found a number of tin/metal cups, serving pieces, and a tray to use for the performance. At the meeting at NDH earlier, we planned a moment when everything is tipped onto the floor and it should be very loud to be effective. 

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Gin


 First gin party of the season at Richard and Gerda's. We arrived at 6:30 and there was not a spare chair for the next hour. I drank much more than I'm currently accustomed to.

Monday, July 7, 2025

One take titles

Matt and I shot the titles for the One Take Super 8 Event screening. He'll develop them later, after he gets the huge open wall in his dark room filled. Meanwhile William has been going hard on his backgrounds. Each 10x10 foot section is divided by 9 and traced from projections of the original drawing. 

 

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Tyvak clothing


 Robin proposes that the bird characters be dressed in some tyvek outsits that she's already made. An advantage is that they make some wonderful and subtle sounds aa someone moves in them. William was sick today so I met with them without him. It seemed like a good idea. He prefers that they have new white outfits that he can then draw on top of, but it sounds like this won't happen. Robin needs these outfits for a future project and she cannot get new white tyvek in time. 

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Door delivery

Charles (Samantha's son) borrowed George's truck to help us deliver the door to NDH. We went to La Macaron afterwards. The door itself is quite heavy, and the frame is made from four 2x4s. 

 

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Backdrops begin

William and I hung the first tarp to be used for his bird people dance performance. There are quite a number of steps in this project which will be good practice. However, there is never a day off. The trip to Calgary has left us with deadlines piling up. 
 

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Painting on tarps

I went shopping for canvas tarps. Robin had offered some yellow canvas to William but end up she wants to also repurpose it so the drawings would need to be impermanent (probably chalk). That might be cool, but we wanted to consider options that allowed him to be the one to repurpose things. Home Depot was supposed to have canvas drop cloths the size he needed and a decent price, but we I finally found them at the store, the cost was quite a bit higher. I did find this white material, very much like tyvek, for cheap so William is testing it with paint. It dries quickly and doesn't crack. 
 

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Fireworks

I mostly stayed home and worked today, helping William as well as catching up on some of my own stuff. Never getting ahead of the curve, but we can see it on the horizon. Took a fireworks break but stayed close to home. Connected on the walking path with Kathleen Irwin and her husband and watched with them, talked about tv and funerals and convocation.