Hangin' @ the SK8 Park

Assorted images from our ongoing Nechako mural.  The first is by a grade 11 girl and very confident artiste.  The sugar skull was painted by featured art grad Jordan and the frog in-progress is my contribution to make the bubbles make sense.  The mural will probably continue next year and depending on how many people want to add their work, just might have to wraparound to the north side of the building.  Every little bit is an improvement.

Sea: Sick

Detail of Sea: Sick

20 years from concept to completion.  Took so long pondering this that I missed out on the original issue that launched this fella.  The original issue was clear cut logging...though given how many truckloads of absolutely raw logs are flying down the highway and off to China it may be re-ignited

It turns out we never had to spill a single drop of oil to spoil the oceans.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution they have quietly been absorbing carbon from the atmosphere as we burn coal and oil.  When you change chemistry, you change biology.  Of course this isn't the only assault on the ocean:
run-off from fertilizers create dead zones thousands of kilometres in area, lost nets - the infamous Ghost Nets indescriminately trap and kill every species they encounter, bottom trawling destroys habitat while discarded plastic collects where currents gather them into giant floating islands; one is reported to be larger than Texas.
No one can project what the outcome might be but already we've seen troubling effects such as the proliferation of jellyfish and the bleaching of coral reefs due to climate change
...right...climate change, let's add that to our litany of carnage.
Who could have imagined that a land mammal would have such far reaching effects on this massive aquatic environment?

Time Flies

...when Rio Tinto/Alcan cranks the juice.  Came home from a 3 week trip to find that all the clocks powered by electricity had gained about 22 minutes.  It's an odd local phenomenon that is usually discovered following a rash of unexplained punctuality throughout town.  The smelter sometimes pushes out more power than appliances are designed for and before we know it, the days go by just a little faster.

'Sunny' Calgary

This apparently was a storm of note.  Not that we realized it at the time - no tv or radio on to give us pertinent info - so we simply watched as Mother Nature entertained us with her capricious fury.
Next day we drove to Home Depot and noticed branches and piles of leaves crisping in the hot afternoon sun.  We discussed the storm with a cashier who told us that they and all the customers had been huddled at the centre of the store because of tornado warnings.  Tornado....whaaa??!
Okay.  Radios or tv on next time.

Sunshine,lollipops...and chalkboards

At long last my chalk pastels get to see the light of day again.  I think I'll try to do more of this.  Of course I managed to turn it into minimum wage - perhaps that's my hidden super power...no matter what the job pays I can somehow reduce it to $8 to $10 an hour when all my time is factored in.  Oh well.  I have had a few situations where that wasn't the case and I didn't go below $20 an hour. 

The next step is to compose my own sign for Hutson Artworks in chalk and start getting my work out there.

Alrightie world...here I come.  And this time I mean it.

Splitting

I went to see TwinB's former doctor here and I learned a new term: splitting.
Update 07/17: when I looked up 'splitting' in regards to BPD it refers to the black and white thinking typical of the disorder...and I already knowed that so I don't know what the doctor was talkin 'bout.  Must be something but I suspect it goes by a different term.
I was in there to find out how to access files that could be sent to Alberta so's the kind folks who work with Persons Of Challenge could get her on the AISH.  (assistance for the severely handicapped)  She doesn't need them for any income supplement at present but it would be nifty if they could cover her $200 a month meds and to step in if she relapses at some point.  The doctor agreed that she really should have some ongoing mental health care and that he would find notes and assessments that would prove her eligible.
Her one stipulation was that it not include borderline personality disorder and after a lengthly debate he was able to assure me that he could swing it in the bipolar direction...which he considers a more stigmatizing label, oddly.
As he glanced over her history he noted that borderline PD had been suggested as far back as 2000 which would have been her first hospitalization.  He listed 4 features they'd identified to support this, though it wasn't applied to her since she was only 14 and no firm diagnosis is normally made till age 18.
One of the terms he mentioned was this 'splitting' thing which is where the professionals don't all agree on the diagnosis - splitting the team - so they view the patient as being disruptive even though they're not present. 
How convenient.
If someone decides you have BPD and someone else thinks they're on the wrong track well that's just more proof that you have it.
*smacks forehead*

Oh Canada!

Here's the Luso Canadian float rocking out to some Portuguese tunes.  Despite the forcast for showers we received absolutely perfect weather!  July 1st is our 'big day' here in Kitimat and it's a great place in which to spend it.  Could barely move when I got to the later festivities at Riverlodge.

One of the Spirit of the Kitlope dancers sporting a blending of cultures look.

There's our 'Duaniki' in blue!  'Ours' as in Mount Elizabeth Theatre where he volunteered as a tech through his entire high school years and then this past year while he was waiting to arrange entry to BCIT. 

The final number of the performance was The Friendship Dance - one of the dancers graciously granted the little girl at her side the opportunity to particpate and to truly celebrate the genuine spirit of the dance.  Got me a little choked up!