Very tired today

Mom phoned at 4:30 am. She'd fallen out of bed. I called the front desk to tell them, but they reminded me that they cannot personally physically help anyone to their feet but can check on her. I got there and talked her up. She's fine, but has forgotten how to roll and move like she used to. We sat around until 5:30. When I got home, I couldn't get to sleep until past 6. Mom phoned again at 8:15 to see if she could take me for breakfast. I think I barked at her. 

Later we finally reached a full year of Wordle. 

 

Cat to humane society

 This large, well cared for and not hungry cat has been living in our back yard for a couple of days. With snow threatening tonight, I took him to the humane society. He has a chip and they called the owner, but found that the owner had given him to someone else. They need to track down the second owner now. Hope it works out for him. He is very affectionate. 

Thanksgiving with mom

 Lori, Tate, Margaret and I had Thanksgiving lunch with mom at her residence today. Food was very nice. William was at his second day of Soracon. 

Soracon II

 William had a table at Soracon again this year. It moved from university campus to the Centre of the Arts. He sold a lot of mini-comics and books but not the original large comic strips. Had a good time. Two day event.

Folding paper

 I make a turkey today. Paul came over. After supper, we folded mini-comics until midnight. William built a few books in the basement. 

William haircut

 William had to cut out of the Filmpool party for his haircut. Took a lot of time trimming his sideburns. 

Filmpool housewarming

 Successful party at the Filmpool today. About 50-60 people came. 

Painting viewmasters

 I painted another viewmaster today. It's a modern one, but as it is from William's childhood, it's also getting to be old too. Probably from 2004-2006?

AGR Fashion

  We missed the opening but I stopped in to see the AGR exhibition around fashion. Lots of things to see with a very dynamic room set up and always something in your eyeline. Great colour. 

Egg

 

Margaret noticed that someone hit our front window with a couple of eggs today. Don't know why. It was pretty difficult to clean off (I forgot to take a photo before cleaning, but here is an after photo). 

Globe Theatre

 Coffee with Mike. Showed off the Art Sask magazine (from SaskArts) that William is featured in. Later in the evening we went to see Zarqa Nawaz's "Mosque Heist" at the Globe. Griffin came too. Margaret was scolded for walking across the stage area at the end of the play, I assume by a staffer who was chatting instead of properly supervising the area and then had to over-react. 

Neutral Ground "Regina Style Pizza"

Neutral Ground member show and sale fundraiser opened today. William and I both put some works in and both of us sold some stuff on the opening night. Everything will be up until early November. 

 After the sale, we went to Terri's and she gave us an 80 pound pumpkin. 

Filmpool darkroom

Stopped by the Filmpool today. Joel showed me the newly plumbed in sink for the darkroom. 
 

Coffee with mom, game with William

 

William is feeling that he needs to do something of value (for his heart) every day to compensate for having a commitment to a job. We did a round of Ax Cop Munchkin this evening. It's a game I usually lose but I won this time. 

Record player

I've tried to install Gertrud's Pro-Ject turntable but cannot get it working correctly. Margaret thinks it is a fools errand and that I should buy a different one. Had I not donated my Duel turntable for parts for Grant last week, I might have agreed (and spent money getting it repaired again). I'll see what the repair looks like. 
 

Back to work

 I took Margaret to the university to be a guest in Kathryn Ricketts class today. I hung out at the newly revised lounge/meeting room. Later, William was a bit down on his new job. He's been accustomed to more free time and the restrictions of an 8 hour day is sinking in. We had some espresso ice cream from the Milky Way after work to cheer him up. 

Coffee and cards with mom

 Mom's card playing was fairly good today. I often feel that her playing might be a gage of her attention and memory. 

Wavefield festival

I went to a couple of performances of the Wakefield festival of experimental music and sound at the Artesian this afternoon.  Jeff Morton's instruments were, as usual, very inventive and makes me want to dive into building this sort of thing myself. Form and content all have zing. Performance-wise, I really liked what Allineskik did. I wrote a bunch of notes about him and his projections while I listened and then talked with him afterwards (for some reason he was not included in the artist talks later in the afternoon, even though he clearly had stuff to say). Might make a Splice article out of it.

Attended Dunlop Art Gallery opening and talk for David Garneau this morning. He said some cool things about teaching and how he started off giving (well meaning) harsh crits with all students but one year shifted to only saying positive things. The result was that the students progressed just as well and just as quickly, but had a happier time and felt better about him and the program. He saves harsh crits for final semester and grad students. William brought Griffin along and introduced them. 

Checked out Gertrud's turntable. See the dust. Record has not been played in years. 
 

Fred viewing

Open casket viewing this evening. Lots of people came out. We were prompted to write or draw on paper to add to the casket which would then be cremated with him. Funeral in Southey next month. 
 

Fixing dishwasher

 Fixed dishwasher. Painted yesterday. Didn't have as much time as usual, but feel image of a viewmaster was the best person I've ever not painted. 

Sylvie last day

 Sylvie has been sick for weeks, loosing weight at an alarming rate while eating constantly. The vet's pills have had no effect. She's obviously in increasing pain. Today the vet came tot the house, as we'd scheduled two weeks ago. and put her to sleep. We've had her since she was a wee thing, a weeking of a young cat in 2009. She was about 17 and a half years old. 

Fred Bessai obituary

 Phone woke us at 2:30 in the morning. Margaret's father passed away. Margaret had been in to see him just a few hours before, as she had been doing for five nights a week over this past year. He'd been asking about things that were imaginary and he'd been breathing a bit more laboured, but was still lucid and alert. I'm happy that they had that evening together without stress. I will remember him as someone who always had a question, always authentically curious. I finished by BFA because I couldn't face telling him that it didn't matter to me. His love of knowledge was contagious. 

Dr Frederick Bessai, BA’58, BEd’60, MEd’62, PhD’64, and Fellow of the Royal Society in London, our deeply loved dad, grandfather, friend and colleague has slipped from us softly, passing away in his sleep on September 22, 2026 at the age of 93. Fred joins his wife, Gertrud in final rest. He is survived by his immediate family, Margaret (Gerald) and grandson William, son George (Samantha) and granddaughters Katherine and Kristin (Ryan), his beloved cousin Alma (Emrys), his nephews and nieces, and many dear friends around the world.  

A founding member of the faculty of Education at the University of Regina, dad was a teacher who encouraged learning and enjoyed sharing knowledge. He was deeply rooted in the prairies and spent his summers farming wheat and hay, keeping bees, and growing a garden. He loved nothing better than a meal of beef and potatoes from his farm with a good glass of wine.  

Fred was born on the family farm near Southey, Saskatchewan on November 9, 1932. His parents were Theresa (nee Jaeckel) and Ludwig Bessai, immigrants and pioneers who spoke primarily German at home. His brothers and sisters were Frank (Diane Lane); Mary (Albert Weber); Wilhelmina or Minnie (George Morrisette); and John. As a widow late in life, dad’s mom remarried, and Fred gained another family with Karl Galenzoski and his children, Harold, Irene, Bob and Ron, Charlie, and Lloyd, and their families.

Dad’s life spanned a remarkable century of industrial and social progress in Saskatchewan. He grew up with horses, coal-oil lamps and the radio during the Depression, lived through rural electrification and the establishment of Medi-care. He farmed and worked as a technician with the Department of Highways to afford college tuition, and thereafter, his connection to learning shaped his life. After teacher’s college, he went to university in Saskatoon. There he met our mom, and during their studies in Saskatoon and Edmonton, they made many life-long friends. After his PhD convocation, dad preferred to celebrate his graduation date over than his birthday. 

Married in the spring of 1965, Fred and Gertrud settled in Regina to be close to family and the farm, and dad joined the newly formed Faculty of Education. Together they built a life that followed the seasons: winter in the city, and summer on the farm. During his university tenure, Fred helped design and build both the building and programs for the Education faculty on the new site for what was then, the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus. His advice to teachers was to care for students, to nurture them: a failed a test meant a failure in teaching. On the day he retired, we photographed him beside a stack of books taller than he was, each book a thesis representing a student he had supervised in their graduate career.

Dad loved music and reading. He was a good friend, a listener and a storyteller. He enjoyed word play and words, Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, the dictionary, and books on prairie history such as, “Butter Down the Well”. He was kind and supportive, and always had time to help, or if visitors popped in, time for a coffee. He used to joke--“Put some water in the soup and set another place!”—there was always room for one more. As a farmer, he worked cooperatively with neighbours and was a member of the Wheat Pool. He was pragmatic, always ready with a DIY solution. He always said, “Thank you for coming.”

We give special thanks for the circle of care and love who surrounded dad in his final years: his neighbours and friends Greg, Judy and Simon, who were his second family, his nephew Allen, house-keepers Shade and Elaine who became dear friends, and the staff at Selo Gardens Personal Care Home. When dad had to move from his house into assisted living, we visited him every day, and he always felt he was home. 

Funeral service will be held 11 am on Saturday October 17, 2026 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Southey. (#345 on SK Hwy 6) Everyone is welcome. Lunch will be served after the service, with interment to follow at Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery near Markinch.

For those wishing to make a memorial donation to the Faculty of Education in honour of Dr. Frederick Bessai, please contact Samira Azzahir at the University of Regina at samira.azzahir@uregina.ca.

William's new job

 William heading off to his first full time job at the AI factory. 

Later that evening, dishwasher died. 

Lawn mower

 

The lawn mower that my dad gave us when we moved into this house (which was his old lawn mower already, so likely dates from the mid-80s) is now starting well. We're looking at getting something battery powered instead. 

QCC

 Missed QCC last night - had one of my uncommon migraines. Went there tonight. There was a very powerful and complex animation by Wrik Mead that was a delight. 

Cat trouble

 Cat is on her last legs (last life?). Peed on the floor. I did some research and got a reliable cleaner for this ("Nature's Miracle"), but the living room has never been re-finished so the wood just sucks everything up. We need to start confining her places at night. 

Painting again

 Ward Schell passed this camera to me last week. I'm back in my classes, but in a way I'm feeling like I should be doing something fresh. Maybe soon. 

Groceries with mom

 No big stories. Mom had her list and we picked up groceries. Sometimes she forgets that she has something already. We went back for groceries again three days later and she wanted to buy three of four of the same items but I assured her that she had enough. Had I not been with her today (and with this photo in hand as evidence) I might not have been able to convince her. 

Sylvie the cat

 Sylvie has been shrinking for a few months now. She eats and eats and never gains weight. All just skin and bones now. She likes being outside and finding new sources of water. 

AGR opening

 I was initially quite confused by Sandee's outfit as curator today, but when a couple others also donned such attire, I realized that the animal theme of the Art Gallery of Regina's opening show was being referenced. Jeff Meldrum also pictured above. 

Moose Jaw and Heather Cline

 

William and I drove out to Moose Jaw for Heather Cline's opening at the art gallery there. Fabulous as always. Part of her new normal now is that the first question she fielded was about the phone she dropped from her husband's plane that got national media attention for not having a scratch on it when they found it in a field. Meanwhile, my fighting fish died. 

 

Art crawl

 MacKenzie opening and talk (Cassil dance film and photography), Slate opening (Ward Schell and Frans Lotz) and Create City Centre grand re-opening (too much to describe).