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'.