planning the final screening

 

Second last class. Making final plans for the screening, which is less than two weeks away. 

Cat at mom's

 Visited mom. Greeted by a cat. 

BBQ

 Warmed enough that I put ribs on the bbq. Very good meal. 

Snow, again

The weather seemed to be getting very nice, but suddenly snow again. 
 

Student film festival

 The Living Skies Student Film Festival began. The big even for the first night was screening the short local film Klee, which is getting a lot of attention, mostly for the excessive displays of an alien penis. Matt Ripplinger (DOP) and Gavin Baird (director) were there to talk about it. 

Coffee with Kevin

 Seeking places for Wednesday night coffee. Ended up at the new Starbucks on Victoria and Arcola. 

Last day of Chinese Pastry

The Chinese bakery, which I've been buying from since they were downtown on 11th or 12th Avenue in the early 90s, is being sold but new owners will be opening in back up in a week or two. Today they gave out free buns to celebrate their customers. 
 

Potatoes

 The fall potatoes are not so fresh anymore. 

coffee with mom

 Coffee with mom. Not even sure where this was. Perhaps French Press? Anyway, I'm trying to catch up on my backlog of blog posts so have very little to say most days. Mom and I have very similar conversations almost every time we see each other. She talks about how wonderful the food is where she is living and/or how terrible they say the food is where she is living (notice the difference- it is clear to me that negative opinions that she takes on have originated from other people- probably the others at her table. 

Framed comics

 Got a test frame in through Amazon to consider using to frame William's larger comic to sell. 

Pump

Sure enough, here is the pump. Probably sucked 50-100 gallons of water out to the alley. 
 

Melting

Snow is quickly melting. Cat agreed to short trips outside. Need to get the pump out and drain this swamp. 

 

Gallery show comes down

 William took down his Neutral Ground exhibition today. It's all piled in the garage now.

Downtown with students

Took my students on tours of the RPL (media lab with Jon Vaughn), Creative City Centre (not open yet, but in progress tour with Marian Donnelly), and Neutral Ground artist run centre. 
 

Water for cat

 Our cat has become aggressive about wanting to drink water from a bowl I started leaving her in the bathroom. She has a water bowl in the kitchen beside her food, but will come upstairs after eating and yowl about her water there. I think her eyesight is also in decline because she also wants the light in the bathroom turned on, even when there is more than enough light for a cat to see. In this picture, Margaret is in the bathroom and has kicked her out. She waits by the door to be allowed back in. 

 Almost every morning we play the wordle on Margaret's computer. I'm catching up on my blogging and see that this is the only picture I took on this day and cannot figure out why. Is there something in the numbers that is significant? 

Pie Day

Margaret made some last minute pies today. 

Paul at art opening

 Paul is working half time right now. We ran into him at the Fifth Parallel opening for Bree Tabin's "Tomboy" exhibition. 

Puppet progress

 William in the garage studio working on his puppets. We needed to get the space cleaned up as it has become a dumping ground for furniture and other half done projects this winter. Feels much better now. 

Last painting class

 Last day of painting for this course. Did a self portrait in the reflection. Eventually people noticed. 

Hand processing film

 Some good success developing 1500 feet of film in class today. 1400 worked out. One roll needs to be re-shot. Good numbers. 

Country Corner Donuts

 Dropped by the donus shop. No progress evident. The old counter, which as a burn mark on it, has not been removed. 

Geremy and a story plan

 Geremy explains some story structure plan that he has over zoom. 

Writing

 Helped William get started on his re-write of his screenplay. He has all his plot points on cards and needed to get the overall plan in order. 

art shopping with mom

 I took mom out to galleries today, for something to do. The other day, she took all of her art off of her walls and put it all on the floor. Today she bought this new work. 

Painting

 Lori has returned to painting some chickens (and in this case, a rooster) which is very exciting to me. I think they come easy to her, which might be why she has been doing other subjects for the past few months. Everyone in the class admires these. 

Class photo

 Did the class photo today. Had faculty plus 14 of the 15 students. The final student arrived late so we do  have images of all the students (without the faculty) together. 

Story meeting

William, Geremy, and I met about William's project today at Geremy's house. William wants to do a complete re-write - more of a comedy. Geremy dropped a few ideas his way. 
 

Cards with mom

 William and I went to visit mom and play some cards. We couldn't find her at first, as she had decided to attend a video church service. Says she hasn't been to a catholic service in decades, even though she was at one last week. 

Sock-Vile talk

Gave a talk about my puppet films to a (fortunately) small crowd today. Went off the rails and never came back. Probably the worst public talk I've given this century. 

Deaf Tempest

 Kevin joined us at the opening night of the Deaf Crows / Chrystene Ells production of the Tempest, re-designed for a deaf cast. Some really cool puppets, pantomime, and acrobatics. A very good event. 

Funeral

 

Joanne's father passed away a few days ago. We were at the funeral today. Good service. Church based, but accepting that many people there were not church folk. Michael B suggested that we move from middle pew to a front pew. More respectful. 

Painting

 Background sketches in brown is starting to work better for me. Evokes sepia and memory. 

Dennis Jackson in class

 This week Dennis Jackson came in from Prince Albert to talk to my class about his various animation television shows he has produced. He's also doing some promotion (see hat) on his "Chums" show. Great to catch up. I gave him the nickel tour of the department while he was here, as he's not been on campus much in this century. 

The Long Cleaning

 I think we have quite a few days of cleaning and rearranging coming as the insertion of new furniture has cause a ripple of changes around the house that won't be quickly reconciled. 

Snowman in the sun

 

Lori and Maureen see William's show

 Weather is really cold again, so making it downtown and looking at the Neutral Ground show from even the inside was a major challenge today. Maureen is heading home tomorrow so we bit the bullet and came down. Looked at it more from the inside than the outside though. Sun was still up but not direct. It seems like every time I see this show, the lighting is significantly different. 

New furniture

Moved mom's china cabinet and dining room table into our house today. 
 

Photo of me

 Took this selfie. Like it. My inner me. 

Painting

 Carrying on from last weeks' plans but shifted the background drawings to be colour other than the black and white image of the camera.