Is invite a large number of varied food trucks & snack vendor stalls to our town events. Whether you are after blooming onions, popcorn, hot sauces, ice cream, Caribbean food, Asian cuisine, Texas bbq, sea food, funnel cakes or tacos, there is ample selection to choose from. Can’t forget poutine, fries, burgers, ribs, jerk chicken, and octopus. It’s all there whether you’ll eat it or not. I appreciate the variety, and the chance to try something new if I feel up to it.
Now excuse me while I go ice my hands after two very challenging tug of war bouts. Feels like I tried to dislocate each one of my knuckles on both hands, at every single joint. Palms are red and feel inflamed too. Wasn’t for lack of trying but us parents lost twice. Nine parents versus fifty kids. No wonder we were absolutely trounced. Ha. Oof! My fingers!
The IT in question is sculpting stuff by hand. Several months ago I began a Ninja Turtle bust on a walnut base plate, but it has sat untouched since there was snow on the ground, and I have gone to Florida twice since that point. I was taking some time to teach my oldest daughter a few things about making an appropriate armature, and building up the rough forms before you get too far into your sculpt. And by too far into the sculpt I mean working in details when the bulk of the forms (read muscle groups, fatty tissue deposits, bones, and general thickness) hadn’t been placed upon the armature yet. It can be pretty seductive, those fun details. But best to get the whole thing in order before you put hours into skin texture, clothes, or artful extras. But I digress.
I have five full blocks of clay left untouched. As a general rule, mainly because I am cheap/not rich, I limit myself to only one block of clay per sculpture. That way I can do more! I don’t always adhere to that rule, and I have been known to try to knock out two smaller items off of one 2lbs block of clay. Living on the edge here people! Watch out.
I also have a stock pile of Super Sculpey which I intend to use on a new fair entry. Not all at once. But I have enough I could do four 6-8″ tall busts along the lines of what I usually do. Ogres and beastmen of all types, goblins and gnomes, evil elves, and sailors alike. I have a minotaur that I sight copied from a fantastic sculptor from Greece. Whose name now escapes me. Fantastic sculptor though.
I could try a faircrow bust, of our event mascot, for this fall’s fair. That might garner some attention. Feels like pandering if you ask me. But whatever, at this point. Sculpting, much like any art form outside of the use of AI, is a use it or lose it scenario. Because I tend to go on a hot streak, and then move on for months st a time, I constantly have to relearn how things feel in my hands, and how the Clay’s react go my touch. If you don’t do it 24/7/365 you lose your sensitivity to it. I’m not paid to do it, so that’s ok with me. I can take a few days or a week or two to get back into the groove.
I do the same thing with wood working, playing guitar, writing short stories, and model building/painting with an air brush. My focus pulls from one to the other, on and on, all year through. I’m ok at a bunch of stuff, but not exactly a killer at any one thing. Duh!
On another note, I encountered a smell/sensation that reminded me of when I was really sick in 2015, and it has me a little spooked today. That was when I had EBV. Really unpleasant 6-8 weeks. Plus a nasty lung infection/pneumonia to go along with it. So… yeah. That’s not cool.
Latest on the bench, been left untouched for months now.
We are all set to keep this a fairly quiet one today, as we’ve had far too much prolonged excitement every weekend, and most days throughout May & June. So, with that in mind my youngest has chosen to build her Lego set(s). I commend her for this decision, provided she doesn’t try to build all of them, back to back to back. I mean that if SHE can build them, go hack to back, but if I need to sit on the floor (yes she is still at the age where she is more comfortable on the floor and not seated at a table) then for the love of cheese don’t ask me to spend all day sat cross legged, my feet will go numb and I’ll not be able to walk for a few days in a row. If I could convince her to build on the coffee table atleast, a compromise! I would be more inclined to help out for longer stretches. Truth be told she got through 90% of the first two and only needed my help to pull a few stuck pieces apart, or to help with piece orientation. I do have the same gripe again about missing pieces, and poor QC by Lego. For what these Mine Craft kits cost, multiple missing bits where we had to pillage our own supply of loose bricks to complete is a god damned joke. Not cool. The sheen is wearing off on a number of brands lately around here.
Did I ever tell you about the Disney Star Wars merch I bought for myself and my daughter, where the seams across the back of my rebel t-shirt disintegrated after one wear, and two washes. The stitching on the front patches has come off too. A $50.00 USD shirt, ruined in a matter of days from two washes! Two. And I only wore it once, and that was to bed at the hotel. The next time I tried it on after doing the laundry upon our return home and the back 8 to 10 inches was hanging open. Gah! Not impressed.
Anyway, Friday is here. The weather for now is lovely, sunny, and a bit cooler. Should I cut the grass or tackle some garden bed weeding? Yup, I should. Will I? Who knows!
Now leaving grades one and four. Yikes. Where did all the time go? Fighting over homework most likely. Ha. Now we turn our eyes towards summer time, and having a bit of fun while the weather is nice. We have all ready begun the evening swim portion of the summer, and before too much longer we will be adding a midday swim, park/farm run, weeding the gardens, and collecting rototiller killing rocks from the farm fields. I’d like to add in some daily reading, and math, and the occasional written sentence/paragraph into the mix. A boy can dream.
We have a picnic scheduled at the largest park in town with many other families from the school, so that’s a really nice way to kick off the start of summer break. I’m not certain of what our schedule is for the break. I know the girls have swimming lessons in August, and we have a family photo shoot in mid July, and some plans to visit Ottawa for a comedy festival (potentially). Otherwise I will be looking for activities, and experiences for the kids to try this summer. I plan to purchase fewer physical things, and do more experiences to make memories.
Otherwise it is Thursday June 27th, 2024. The last ninety minutes of the school year are counting down. All of the kids homework came home yesterday, we just need indoor shoes, and backpacks, and lunch boxes, and the water bottles which have seen better days. I’ll need to sort & clean all of that prior to putting them away for nine weeks. You never know what alien puddle will grow if you forget to search & clean the lunch boxes before storing them away. Though, I suppose if your kids do day camps and such, you would continue to use those items and not get left with a foul smelling surprise over the labour day long weekend.
Usually the kids are home with us 24/7 for the summer holidays. My wife is a teacher, and is off too. I work from home, and I’m not all that busy this year. Last year was the fluke. So busy. But if we need to we can put them in camp for the last week of August when my wife returns to work for the first time in 14 months. They’re ok at home with me, but if it’s been a tough 8 weeks prior, you can bet your sweet caboose that we will mull over a last single week at camp for the two of them. I’d rather spend that on an iFly excursion, or a movie date, or laser tag, or go karts, or day glow mini putt in an air conditioned building. We have the Zoo and Wonderland near by, a pool, a farm, grandmas house, bike riding paths, a hockey net, basket balls, volley balls, cones, swings, a slack line, and various local parks. Not to mention books and grade school curriculum work sheets. Crafting supplies out the wazoo. We should be able to keep things moving.
That’s all folks. Have a Safe and Happy summer. May we all make it back together in September.
And boy are my arms tired. Family reunions, birthday parties, anniversaries, field trips, last week of school, recitals, on and on it goes. Woah! The last two months have been a blur, a flurry of activity even. Soon it will all peter out, and we can calmly do nothing for a day. Well, maybe we can all do some gardening here because our flower beds need some attention.
Yesterday’s birthday party went off without a hitch. The weather only sort of imposed itself upon us a few times. No electrical storms so we could all swim and be outdoors. Lots of smiling faces. Glad the 7th birthday party was good for all involved. I need a break from watching young kids swim, and try to drown themselves in the pool. My stress levels were high! So high. So gods be damned high. I’d have put them all in life jackets if I could have. Save myself some residual chest pains, and adrenaline dumps in the evening come down session.
Today is our fourteenth wedding anniversary. Seems like only yesterday we were gearing up in the rain to saunter down the aisle. I cried. I was pretty happy that day. My mum turned up orange from the skin bronzer cream she was using liberally. It made me chuckle. Lots of friends and family came. We danced the night away after a terrific meal. We swam in the inlaws pool until four forty five am. It was really something special.
Now we have two lovely kids. Very sensitive, talkative, active kids doing their own thing. Love it. Not a fan of the fighting, but that’s a thing kids do. Try to be more constructive about talking things out, but eh! What are you gonna do. Stay calm, and try not to add fuel to the fire. That’s my goal. Don’t react in a harmful manner. Chill! Breathe. Relax. This too shall pass.
Tomorrow is the last day of school for my grade four, and grade one aged kids. Kids are getting older (luckily). We had a sad/somber summer last year losing a small friend to an ATV accident. Let us not lose any other friends, or family to tragedy this year, please & thank you.
Have a glorious Wednesday. All the best to you. Ciao Bella.
I feel bad for those whom placed long shot bets early on for Edmonton in seven games. I bet their eyes were rolling with the potential payoff, until Edmonton fizzled in the 7th. So long, and thanks for all the fish. At least it was a high intensity game. I had to get on my feet and pace about the patio during the final three minutes. I had to turn it off once the last second counted down. I wasn’t so much mad, as I was disappointed.
Today will be spent prepping for a birthday party. I have a cake in the oven already. I have spent a few moments this morning gathering plates, utensils, table cover, and craft materials incase the weather turns worse than just heavy rain. We can always pop on a movie if we absolutely have to. We’ve got options.
We have been plagued by rotten weather the last five or six days. Either way too hot, heavy rain, thunder storms, or extremely high winds. It interfered with our plans every single day, between Thursday and Sunday, plus today. What can you do though eh? Provide options and suitable alternatives and don’t get your hopes set on any one thing. As good as we can get at this point.
What an exciting whirlwind weekend with two of my brothers and their families in town. There is not a whole lot that we didn’t do. Ran the kids ragged, and did some catching up while we were at it. Today I have the last of my appointments (until we schedule more) in the mid morning, about ninety minutes from now, and then I can get back to working on projects again. Not going to lie, I am wiped out after all that activity. I need a weekend to recuperate after my weekend. Ha.
High points, Wonderland, swimming, Playdium, Mini putt, ifly Whitby, swimming, and more swimming. Hard to beat a warm dip after a hot hard day on your feet. The kids had a long and arduous Nerf Gun battle, which sounded pretty epic for what we could hear from out of the basement. Memories made. Positive ones at that. Bonus!
Forget about singing any tenor parts today, it’s baritone until my throat heals from all the screaming in excited terror. Seems I can now carry my part in “Hoist the colours“. Usually I could do the first verse only (and just barely at that!) and then it drops too low for my range. Not so today! I regaled myself with three of the four parts. The uber deep voiced bass is still to low for me. I don’t have the resonance of a barrel chest to do that level of deep. But I think I got the other less deep bits! Cool. As soon as the stressed cords heal in another day or two, I’ll be back up to a low end tenor. My falsetto isn’t much to worry about. I can’t reach a full tenors high notes without cracking and some serious throat strain. I’m kind of a muddle in the middle. More like a sing song talking if anything. But I like to do it, so – I do. Mostly at home, or belting out lyrics in the car when tooling about town by myself. It’s no career choice if you know what I mean.
I have ordered a new book at the behest of my brother(s), so that should arrive at some point on Monday. I hear it could be a potentially difficult read. Not in a technical science way, but a “hey! I know all about that type of thing, huh...that brings back memories” so that should be an interesting read through. Can’t wait. It should at least be enlightening, if nothing else.
In other news I’m about a quarter of the way through Don Winslow’s latest. Liking it so far. I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop, which will turn everything to shit for dear ole Danny Ryan. I know it’s coming. I have a sense that in order for this to end the trilogy, dear old Danny boy is gonna bite the dust. The mob will rub him out in truly horrific fashion, and then Ian will take up the mantle (by a guest/ghost writer in the future). I can’t predict it, but that’s what I would do if I had to kill my sympathetic lead character. But I have trouble leaving shit alone, especially if I like the world I’ve created, and the people in it. Oh don’t get me wrong I’ll kill characters left & right if it suits me, but a legacy character whom builds on what came before is my jam! I can dig it. I’ll have to wait and see how it plays out to know if I got anywhere close in my imagination.
We are going to try out a new place with the kids today. It has been really great to see all of the young cousins come together and play like they’ve known each other for years, rather than meeting all together for the first time in ages. I’m happy they were here to sing happy birthday to my youngest, and enjoy some beverages and cake. I think she’ll remember that for the rest of her life. I know I will. I appreciate it.
I need to get ready for today’s outing(s). Take care out there. Ciao Bella!
Forced a deciding game seven, after being down three nothing in the series. Madness. Can they continue this heater snd make a four game sweep of their own? I don’t know, but I intend to stay tuned to find out. What an exciting game it was though! This overturning of Florida’s first goal, which cut Edmonton’s lead in half really seemed to deflate Florida. It was a call based on millimetres of error causing an offside. What a ride.
I was fortunate enough to have my eldest sat with me to watch the first two periods, cheering and reacting to what was happening on the ice. After a long day out in the heat, moving from appointments to seeing people, and wandering around in the heat of the day, our air conditioned living room & over stuffed couch was the perfect way to decompress. I know it isn’t much, but I’m glad we get to spend some time together enjoying similar things.
Now that it is Saturday, I’m ready for a more chill day. I have more medical appointments on Monday. Not sure if I’m exactly happy about it. I just know that it is all out of pocket, and is going to cost thousands of dollars if I move ahead with the procedures. Teeth & gums are expensive and not really covered by Ohip. This might get some personal insurance coverage, but it’ll cost me a bundle anyway. I thought I would go to hear what’s what, and to get a sense of just how much it is going to cost. Cannot make an informed decision if I don’t know the facts & figures. You know what I mean. The initial consult is $250.00, and if they order their own x-rays or follow ups that will go up before I get out the door. Fun.
Which reminds me I have forms to fill in prior to going to this appointment Monday mid morning. I need to find the time to sort out all of those details. Scrolling through page after page of insurance details and medical history isn’t my idea of fun. I do need to get it done though, so best find the time, and inclination.
I need to check the tv schedule to see when the big finale, game seven of the Stanley Cup actually is. Clear the schedule people! History could very well get made that night. And I for one, am here for it. Take it easy in this heat, and humidity. Ciao Bella!
It is a gamble to count on any one type of weather for Southern Ontario in June. But you can count on both heat & humidity. But will it be sunny, cloudy, windy, still, drizzle, 4ain, down pour, cloud burst, thunder, thunder and lightning, hail, or anything else beside be a sunny breezy day? Who knows – act accordingly.
The heat warnings are still in effect. Rain is on the schedule. Electrical storms are poised on the horizon to mess with our plans. Rain I can make do with. Lightning will shut everything outdoors down. I have two of my brothers here, with their families, and a lot of what we had very loosely planned involved being out of doors. Silly for us to do given the weather in June here. But a gamble made just the same.
It is prior to seven AM as I start this. My bowels are less than chill about last nights dinner, or perhaps it’s the concern about the weather that has turned me out early this morning. Hopefully it will pass quickly, and I can get on with my day.
On the plus side, our house has never been cleaner. Which is nice to see finally. I’m sure it has all been bunged into a onset out of the way, rather than sorted & dispersed properly. But on the surface the house looks neat, and i appreciate it, even if it is just the appearance of being cleaner. Ha. Fake it until you make it, I suppose.
Come September I WILL purge this house once more. I have some monster sized black garbage bags calling out to me, “Use us to cleanse this mess! We’ll help you…” and thirty six hours later someone will drop of a garbage bag of clothes or toys and all the gains will dry up and vanish. It’s a cycle.
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