Remembrance Day

Can't let this end on a note of sunshine.
Wouldn't be right.

 Remembrance Day...beginning of our Winter...the end of many things...

Clearwater Lakes

Took a small group to hike around Clearwater Lakes on Friday and thank goodness one of them knew which paths to follow!  I'd been wanting more reference photos so picked the day for it's bright light...unfortunately I hadn't recharged my camera recently and so it ran out of power after very few photos.  I managed to keep it going right until we hit the area I really needed more photos from and then it resolutely shut down so.... another trip is in order.

Lots of amphibians; watched a salamander swimming in Onion Lake upon our arrival, then saw toads and frogs of varying sizes.

My three companions all tried the rope swing but I just took pictures...maybe next time?
TwinB came prepared with bikini so took the plunge 3 times into the icy, icy water.  Near the end of the hike she fell and sprained her left hand on both sides since her hand landed in a depression so it was a double whammy leaving her with two knuckles showing in the middle and swelling and bruising on the outsides.  TwinB said it made her feel like a dancer with broken legs...she's never injured her drawing hand before and it was almost terrifying.
Kinda better now though...residual bruising.

Siberian Smoke

Forest fires rage across Siberia; the smoke is sucked into the jet stream pulling it halfway around the world to bleach our atmosphere a pale white.  We hiked along the Kitamaat Village trail today and it wasn't too bad at first, though even fairly local islands and mountains were obscured by smoke.  By late afternoon the air in town was obviously murky and all colour in the sky paled to nothing.
We joined the Sunday excursion offered by MJ's gym yesterday traveling 55 km. east of Terrace to climb up to Watson Lakes which I'd never heard about before.  It was interesting to hike a drier, rather different type of forest.  Someone noted how much smaller the plants were and The Gumboot fairy commented on how much space there was between the undergrowth and the foliage on the trees.  We are used to being enveloped by a jungle thick, impenetrable wall of green.  The massive mountains along the Skeena were so hazy that I couldn't get very good photos and this bummed me mightily.  Anytime we have a 'clear' day that isn't, I feel ripped off though the copper skies that resulted from dust storms in the Gobi desert were quite a novelty,10 or so years back.

This strange little thing is a type of saprophyte; these plants survive by drawing nutrients from decaying plant matter so can survive without chlorophyll.  I've seen white but never pink and it's much fatter as well.

 While passing through the old Haisla cemetery I noticed a monument I had never seen before, featuring a butterfly.  This marked the passing of an 80 year old man in 1902 which was a refreshing change from most of the other grave sites there that commemorate the deaths of so many children and young adults.

It will probably always be the most special place on earth to me.

Monday Meandering

...because I haven't been Wednesday Wanderin' lately:

TwinB and me went out with Connie on Monday to re-do the previous Wednesday hike but with ample time for photos.  This is the bottom half of the Gunsight Peak hike which follows Granite Creek, shown here at very high, raging levels due to the time of year and massive snow melt.  This is one of the fastest flowing waterways I've ever seen, evidenced by the bare rock channel that the creek races through much of the way.

These falls and rapids can be accessed by climbing down a near vertical drop with a rope that's been fixed in place; I've traversed many of these situations on various hikes but this scenario was a doozie especially since any misstep would risk pitching one into the insanely powerful white water.

Doesn't quite do it justice...behind TwinB is the big drop...the only mitigating factor is the many tree roots that provide a sturdy handhold.

We all survived...Hundreds of wonderful photos were captured...had a good work-out...and Rupert had the time of his life:

...even if he does seem aware that he could be bear bait.

Happy Canada Day!

Created these for church because it's July 1st tomorrow and Canada's 145th birthday.  After the service TwinB and I will join Connie 'Cross The Street for the parade and extensive festivities.
Hoping for decent weather....

Standing Against

Enbridge's northern pipeline that is.  TwinB and I joined with approximately 200 other concerned Kitimites in opposition to the proposed oil pipeline.  I also lugged around the head of Sea;Sick for visual effect.  The handiwork of several local artists was present...would be nice to have a website devoted to all the art that has been created in response to this looming threat.  Might put that idea out there...

It was cold and wet but that just serves to make us all look that much more determined.

A Great Kindness

At one p.m. TwinB and I went over to a seamstress who I know from church; she measured each of the four pairs of pants on TwinB and decided on what types of hem would be suitable for each.  She phoned me at 5 p.m. to let me know they were finished and  added that they would have been done earlier but had gone for a walk.  When I arrived she handed the pants to me and refused payment saying that she likes to do that once in awhile.

I felt very, very blessed.

New Life Forms

The kitchen table is brimming over with new life in the form of various humanoid hybrids that TwinB has producing over the past few weeks.

Image #1 is Shell woman, parked at the edge of the ocean, listening to ... something.  I really do like the...irony?... of a woman in shell listening to the ocean.

Image #2 is The Slug Woman:

Wonderful perspective and as intriguing as all get-out. I love the combo of human and north coast creatures...I am rather sure that TwinnyB has discovered her north-coastie roots and identity with these pieces.  They kind of go with my own Sea:Sick.
Kewl....!

Ticking Off The To-Do List

1. Embrace the fact that you’re young. Accept that you don’t know what you’re doing. And don’t listen to anyone who says there are rules and limits.
2. If you know your calling, go there. Stay on track. Keep moving towards it, even if the process takes time and requires sacrifice.
3. Learn to accept failure. Know that things will go wrong. Then, when things go right, you’ll probably feel like a fraud. It’s normal.
4. Make mistakes, glorious and fantastic ones. It means that you’re out there doing and trying things.
5. When life gets hard, as it inevitably will, make good art. Just make good art.
6. Make your own art, meaning the art that reflects your individuality and personal vision.
7. Now a practical tip. You get freelance work if your work is good, if you’re easy to get along with, and if you’re on deadline. Actually you don’t need all three. Just two.
8. Enjoy the ride, don’t fret the whole way. Stephen King gave that piece of advice to Neil years ago.
9. Be wise and accomplish things in your career. If you have problems getting started, pretend you’re someone who is wise, who can get things done. It will help you along.
10. Leave the world more interesting than it was before.

So, there's some advice from author Neil Gaiman to a grad class of 2012 regarding making your way in the arts and I do believe that me 'n TwinB have followed it to a 't'.  We mine our difficulties and ailments for all they are worth and I'm pretty confident that my little gal already owns numbers 2,3,5,6, and - especially - #10:

She's made the world immensely richer and more interesting for me, anyway...  (not to forget TwinA or My Boy...both creative and entertaining individuals themselves)

Excavating Angst...Accidentally

Our usual leader at Writer's Group has been away so I offered to head up the June meeting, held yesterday.  For our writing exercise I offered everyone the choice between 'Can you go home again?' or 'what was your first significant pet?'

I had been reminiscing about my two gerbils, Ticky and Chi-Chi who gave me nothing but happy memories and many, many litters of brand new gerbil babies which were the easiest thing in the world to give away at the time.  I would spend hours with them out in the dirt patch, digging channels and pits for them to roam.  My weird, little 10 year old brain invariably got a big kick out of imagining infractions that would result in the gerbils being sentenced to solitary confinement until one by one the gerbils would wind up all together in 'solitary' confinement...get it?...get it??
As I said: strange little child.

But for the rest of the group?
Oh. My.
The assignment uncovered a world of hurt and unresolved loss.  The first person to read her piece presented a beautiful, warm, sensory account of her first morning with a new puppy...'kay, that's kind of where I though we would go...  Writer number 2 jumped in right after with a decidedly different tone; hers, from the perspective of a dog who cowered beneath a sideboard between beatings.  Very dark and riveting.
From there, every single account and anecdote became increasing sad.  One person had to surreptitiously dispatch a rapidly ailing pet on a camping trip...another informed us that our town has a bylaw against burying animals in town (read: backyard) and had conscientiously complied which meant taking his beloved cat to the dump in a garbage bag and having to pitch it into the large pit reserved for animal carcasses.  He can still get choked up when passing the dump.  Another situation involved disinterring the bones of their dear family dog while replacing a fence.  The final person given a chance to read declined since she felt she would become too emotional but did add that it was nice to be able to write it out.
Quite a few tears and a completely different tone than I'd anticipated.

Like the father of a recently deceased young person stated "With great love comes great loss".

Finding Fraser Lake

Spent the past 3 days at Fraser Lake looking at properties.  TwinB and I were very taken with this rustic cabin   that sits on four acres with 374feet of waterfront.  It has electricity.  It's also very, very private and would have offered so many opportunities.  TwinB was exceedingly bummed out when the Brother-In-Law decided that we could buy him out, thus giving him the option to go seek new properties.  Still it's probably for the best that we keep our lot on Little Simon Bay; there will be far less work to do, the view is amazing and we're right there on the waterfront with a front row seat on all the nature that walks/trots/swims/soars by.

Grebe Drama:

Mating season was in full frenzy, everything pairing up, trying on the new relationship.  Some seemed to harbor a bit of ambivalence though...
The pair on the top right were firmly bonded and proceeding with their Grebe Romance but the fella who'd originally been with his gal on the left had other plans.  He kept trying to infiltrate the duo, forcing them to flee several feet away in an effort to maintain privacy.  Then our unfaithful fella tried stealth mode, swimming low in the water and finally diving down to surface right behind partner he really wanted.  This caused the pair to energetically drive him off several times until he finally got the message and turned back to reconnect with our temporarily jilted gal.
The Husband was yelling at her not to go for it, "he's not worth it! You can find someone better!" but to no avail.

Ah, the heartbreak and drama we've witnessed over the years there...

Promises Kept

It was hard to get a good angle on these newly painted salamanders, what with them being a little way up on the Mountainview Lodge mural.  The mantel and various decorations hide those I'd painted originally so Emil  requested visible critters when I gave an art workshop last Thursday.  I resolved to paint them in a beholdable spot when I dropped off my invoice for the workshops.

Not as good as the originals but they'll keep some of the residents happy.

Sound Of Music: Opening Night

Yesterday we discovered an undone area which was this room visible through the french doors.  Here, I'd been assuming that there must be curtains that would obscure the view inside. Nope.  Apparently not.
We arrived at lunch thinking I'd only have to arrange some of my aged and era appropriate objets; the painting of the red room was still in progress but that was okay because last night Rick decided that the exterior fireplace needed some texture and was too dark. I knew full well what it needed but balked at the task until actually requested.  He did have a student crew ready to go but I stepped in and it probably went on way faster with me at the sponge.  I made Rick sponge the highest 18" of brick so now he know how it's done!  It's all a matter of selecting just the right size and texture of sponge.

At one o'clock Rick gets a text from his co-director Tina: we need topiary painted on either side of the french doors.  Lucky for them, TwinB jumped wholeheartedly into the task. Darn good thing she's been here on the project...despite nearly igniting a mutiny a couple of nights ago... because there were several nice details she was able to add that I wouldn't have had time to devote to finicky picking.

The chapel backdrop was hung a few days ago.  Really like how the crucifix that TwinB spent about 4 hours on, turned out.  I concentrated on the two stained glass windows.

I didn't fall in love with the set until this afternoon.  It would have been nice to arrive at this stage a week ago when I could have enjoyed adding final details (a vine up the sides of the exterior fireplace) and savor an even more finished product.  Came together at the very end anyway and now I'm looking forward to seeing The Sound of Music on closing night next Saturday.

The Set Painters Hutson; Mere et Fille

Missing the old accent grave on the Mere, there.  Supposed to represent the french version of Mother and Daughter.
Pronounced Mare ay fee, with a subtle draggy whisper in the throat or back of the mouth. ( I suspect these words are where the English speaking derived our words mare and filly for horses).

So what were we doing on this sudden, glorious day in May? Spending 8 hours indoors painting sets.  At least we got to see the sunshine from the cafeteria where we spent most of our time on the regular-as-clockwork last minute backdrop. You know...the one that has to be designed and painted on the last weekend before the production.  TwinB is crouched down painting a crucifix in the chapel scene for the Sound Of Music.  Turned out mighty nice and I am rather sure it will present nicely when hung and lighted on stage.  I divided my time between doing plain old house painting on the set pieces (mundane, crappola roller shit) and the stained glass windows that suddenly sprang into elaborate being following an extensive Google search last night.  I'd been resolutely plain, simple and pragmatic until I discovered several examples that inspired and ignighted me in a frenzy of near medieval level of self imposed apprenticeship in the design and implementation of church chapel  leaded and stained glass design.

We're hoping it will be Gasp-worthy or at least notable. We didn't compose the overall scene and I really hope the two fellas who did the original design don't mind that I amped up the level of finish and detail  on the stained glass windows.

But ...got to hang out with and paint and admire the efforts of my Little Girl!
A Happy pre Mother's Day and one of my favorite afternoons evah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Hidden Surprises

Met with Robin at his Engineering office yesterday to consult and continue planning a looong mural he would like to see in his newest offices and look what I discovered in the meeting room!  One of my last chalk pastels from a few years back with a composition and lighting that I still find satisfying which is always a big relief!  Don't want the older work to make me cringe.  He and his wife also have in their home a large (7 feet wide) tryptich of the Channel from the viewpoint.  They may turn into my biggest client.

Wednesday's Wanderings Anew

That's TwinB bringing up the rear on our hike down to the Kitimat River via the Coho Flats trail. Still many snow patches but they're solid and easy enough to walk on apart from being slippery.  We realized we haven't been on that trail in 8 years.  I sure didn't remember it being that hard to ascend on the way back up. 

We all took a short break on the river's shore for water and snacks and enjoyed the sunshine.

Today's featured fungus were shiny little yellow cups dotting a decaying branch; TwinB dubbed them 'Gummy Bears'.

Tile: Fini!

Maureen fired our tiles and had them ready for the Art Club to paint this past Thursday.  She provided the black paint for the background and wax based metalic paints to subtly provide the last embellishments. What a great project!

On Putrid Slough

The sewage smell is diminishing and ocassionally mixes with the scent of fresh greens as buds begin to emerge.  Today I noticed flocks of the tiniest shore birds I've ever seen.  Apparently these conditions provide some good eatin' for a ravenous, migratin' little bird, so that was a bonus. The greenspace behind Roy Wilcox has become an amazing bird sighting place in spring; you really never know what to expect.

Now I have to figure out what kind of bird they happen to be.

Update, 2 minutes later: They're Peeps! (found my peeps) and are the smallest Sandpiper in the world.
http://www.surfbirds.com/Features/coxpeeps1006/coxpeeps1006.html

Memorial In The Woods

Ten years ago today Jessica celebrated her 18th and final birthday.  Three months later she died near this spot in a single vehicle accident where the car skidded off the gravel road and rolled into a ditch smashing Jessica into the windshield.
She was her parents' only child.
This was one of those situations where you feel scalded by the news and know that recovery will take a long, long time.
That fall I saw her mother, out for the first time at the craft fair.  It was overwhelming so she couldn't endure it for long but before she left I offered to teach her painting as a diversion, therapy of a sort and transition back into a bit more of a social life.
Shortly after she phoned and we arranged to have her come by once a week; this arrangement lasted for over a year where she came to learn much about drawing, painting and to remember and grieve.
She taught me a lot about grief.
I wish I could say I did it for lofty reasons.  No. I may have offered in empathy but was all too aware that as I continued I was trying to make a deal with God.
"See God? I can help, I can do this for someone...I don't have to be a member of The Club...let me keep my children, all of them...please?"
Mother's Day is an awful time for my dear S.
Her status update last year read: I'm a childless mother and a motherless child, having lost her own mother at the age of 15. 
I'd love to be able to lift all that sorrow from her overflowing heart but that will have to wait till she is taken home to be forever with her sweet, sweet Jessica.  For now I will simply pray the best I can and think of them each time I pass the memorial on Forest Avenue.

Spring Sewage

This is our Spring.
Temperatures rise abruptly and the soft tones of winter -  pearl grey, amethyst, white and every shade of ultramarine blue retreat from a ravenous tide of fungus and sludge. Oil slicks, naturally generated, line the edges of every muddy, rusty slough and the smell?! The wind stirs up an olfactory assault of sewer type gases mingled with the scent of warming mud.  What a delight!

Once we dry out I suppose real Spring will begin and I must admit it's never, ever been this disgusting...there were entire fields of this mucky brown business.   Must have been the amount of snow combined with rising temperatures which means I have to hose the dog down for 10 minutes following every walk.

Three or four weeks from now though? we'll be at our best!