Greatwall Studios Graphic Design

I need to go pull weeds at the farm to save the strawberry patch from thistles. Not going to be much fun. But, I will say this. Having the humidity gone, and the overall temperature halved is going to work in my favour. My hamstrings and thighs will hate me in 24-48 hours from now, but beats working in 40°C heat. I’ll be pulling thistle needles out of my hands for a couple of days afterward, but what can you do. My gloves are tough, but nature is tougher. Sneakier too!

Enjoy your Friday, you made it!

There is a reason to my madness sometimes. Usually the knowledge that not having something on hand when I need it will greatly impede my ability to finish a task. Think along the lines of having enough screws in common sizes, nails, tape, paper, pencils, clay or wood on hand so that I can start and finish without additional hiccups. Nothing I hate more than needing to stop to run to a store in order to grab some small or insignificant part. That’s usually why when I do go, I always come home with batteries, tape, a size of screw or finishing nail. Nothing too extravagant, but a consumable I know I’ll use eventually, that doesn’t go off. Batteries being the exception here. Leave them long enough and that’ll be $30 down the toilet. Figuring out how to build on the fly is one thing, having to stop when in the groove to grab an item is a huge time waster, and productivity killer. I have a selection of staples, rivets, bolts, washers and what not on hand to avoid that type of issue. Not like a hoarders amount, but enough that I could assemble a part or job without needing to worry. Once I have used a part though, I’ll need to remember to restock at some point.

I likely need to build a single bed frame, and two book cases of varying style at some point soonish. So now I need to design them, look at my wood piles to see if I can do it with what I’ve got on hand, or go shopping for hardwoods. I’m waiting to start as I know I’m going to get busier soon with event reports. But atleast I know where to aim when I can start to build again.

I took a moment yesterday to prime some minis I ordered in the spring. I don’t really want to paint them right now, but having them primed and waiting will only make that process smoother once I get around to painting them. It was real hot yesterday, so no runs, no streaks, and they cured rather quickly. I’m just letting the paint off gas outside before I bring them back down to my office/studio space. Less stinky this way. I even remembered to change out the filters on my respirator mask before painting! Bully for me!

A lot of my job entails rushing about doing lots of mundane leg work so that when it comes time I can focus on the bigger picture, and make the work as good as possible. Sourced all the photos upfront. Data sets are complete and in front of me. Template with fonts and layout worked out ahead of time. Course palette set up prior to beginning. That way when given the go ahead I can just work. Far superior in my opinion than trying to do all that on the fly. Helps to alleviate mistakes that way too.

Happy Thursday to you all. Ciao Bella!

Is likely to be a day that ends with them too. My youngest has not yet adjusted entirely to the old routines of school. Now with a consistent wake up time, and a set of demands to fulfill prior to leaving the house, she is having some “Big Feelings” about her return to the classroom. What do you mean I now have to wake up, use the bathroom, eat, brush my hair, brush my teeth, get dressed, and get ready to travel to school each and every week day morning until we hit a holiday, PA Day, or break week. That’s nuts! So as I have mentioned previously this will take a week or two to become the new normal, and then we’ll only have morning tears once every two to three weeks about, “I hate school!”, or “I’m not going to school!”, shouted through big fat tears and messy hair. Gotta love it. The older one is more resigned to having to go. If she throws a wobbly about it, we know there’s an actual problem we haven’t heard about, or been informed of.

Today is Wednesday of all days. Wowzers. These short weeks are a real trip. Yesterdays high of 39°C withbthe humidity was really unpleasant. Expected during the summer, not so good once the kids are captured by a 100 plus year old school with no AC. We ended up needing to swim for several hours after the school day to get over it. Was still uncomfortably hot by 8:00pm. I suspect the storm tomorrow will come with lots of thunder and lightning.

I’m home alone today as my wife is out volunteering at her school to make sure her co-OP kids get their papers filed properly to be able to graduate, as the counselors last year didn’t do so, and now they’ve got to do one more semester, and file the appropriate materials on time. So that’s where she’ll be until 2:00pm today. I’m going to sort laundry, and clean while the house in empty.

You know what, I don’t blame the kids for having an adverse reaction to the return to school, because now I too have to wake up earlier to make lunches, breakfasts, and get kids dressed, and have all their gear found out in order to leave. It’s an adjustment for everyone. I’d much prefer to languish in bed, all snuggled up in the covers, with my fan going full tilt at my body. Waking up with your body rather than an alarm is far superior. In my opinion anyway. Looking forward to the weekends, and summer break where the kids sleep in until 9 or 10 am. Not crazy late, but not too early either. I get really pumped when they hit 8:00 or 8:30am. That’s pretty good too. But it usually involves a really physical day, or a very late night to precede it.

In the end we made it to school, even with the tears and commotion. I just had to hold, and rock back and forth while we waiting in line at our doors, as her friends showed up. Then all was forgotten. Not a big deal once out of the house. And afterwards we’ll swim again to shake off the stress from the extreme heat. So that should be fun, but tiring. Which leads us to the end of the day tears. See, I knew I’d get you there eventually! Ha. Ciao Bella!

Woah, that’s a huge influx of kids this year, holy moly. First day of school has officially started. Kids found their teachers and the associated line-up spots and hardly had a moment to spare for us once they found all of their friends gathered up in those lines. Happy faces excited for another new year.

This starts my wife’s actual year off. It’s here, it’s happening, and it is really real. Starting off strong with a nap. I’m going to clean up a bit. Nothing too major today. I do expect work to pick up in the coming weeks. So I best get to tidying up now while I can.

We had groceries delivered yesterday, so I don’t need to pop round the shops today. I started a mountain of laundry yesterday and Sunday evening, so that can get sorted after my wife’s nap is done. I fold & sort on the big bed. So can’t do that if it’s occupied. I can sweep and mop, but no vacuuming until after the nap. May just chill out, and eat a slow breakfast. I have seven hours to sort out my day.

Wishing you all a safe, and happy return to school day today. Ciao Bella!

Honest question here, when was the last time a new instrument was adopted by the masses with wide use. I will exclude apps, or AutoTune, as I am referring to a physical instrument. Would that make it something like a synthesizer or type of piano or something? But even then that is more like an iteration of a previous concept, and not – say, a brand new never seen before musical instrument. Did we really get to the bottom of wind and string instruments by the time we made it to the 19th century? Or did me make it so that the quality of what we have on hand is so high the need to look further seemed to be more difficult than the benefit we’d get out of continuing to search? Or is this yet another case of brain drain? Seems odd that we haven’t seen or heard any major audio/aural break throughs with new and exciting instrumentation. New sounds we’d previously never heard. Hm. Just something to ponder.

I bet if I took even a cursory glance at any legitimate musically oriented museum web site I could find out. Hold on. So the Steel Pan was claimed in the 20th Century, and kickstarter makes some claims about a Hanago (dubious at best). But no major gold rush of new instrumentation that has stormed the scenes in bars, clubs or music venues across the country, continent, or planet. Again – interesting.

Last day of summer break. Wow. And what a hot day for it too! Glad we have plans to go swimming later today, as it is a roaster out there. When it was still 20°C at 4:00am, you know it’s going to be a warm one. I need to change my alarms to get up for school drop off and to make lunches, drinks, and breakfast at the earlier time.

Started an absolutely mammoth pile of laundry yesterday. Which will likely carry on through today, and possibly into tomorrow. We will see. We started out good by doing our laundry at the cottage so that we didn’t have to take five weeks worth of single use items with us, but after having to travel back and forth for a bunch of events, and my work, that got pushed to the wayside, and now I have several large piles to wash, sort and put away. Such fun!

I’ll need to search through everyone’s travel bags to find all the worn underwear, and dirty socks, shorts and t-shirts. Putting it all away is going to be a bit of a task too. Fun times.

Spent driving, visiting, eating, walking, and waiting before we can make the last and final leg back home. Lots to do tomorrow too, but that’ll all be school admin style work. Checking coats, hats, shoes of all types, back packs, lunch bags, water bottles, pencil cases, and their contents. Paper stocks in the craft cubby, and then another visit & swim with friends. Then come Tuesday and we will be right in the thick of it all once again. Hard to believe it. If it wasn’t happening to us right now as we speak I would assume we still had weeks left to go. Summer time for working adults with school aged children passes all too quickly.

I do find that these nicer warmer months pass far to fast as we have so much opportunity to get out and do stuff, but January and February drag due to the cold, and a general sense of winter blahs and boredom. The pace really picks up in late April and won’t slow down until November, UNLESS November has a weird heat wave, and then we will get out and about to enjoy it while it lasts doing any odd items we didn’t get to during the summer.

Happy long weekend to you all.

Living the dream this long weekend. Summer is definitely leaving us behind as the morning temperatures dip down to single digits. Leaves have started to turn on certain trees, and others have begin to curl. The bugs have seemingly lessened at night as the heat has dissipated these last ten days. The dusk fishing expeditions are easier on the flesh, and the warmth from the fires are welcomed rather than sweat inducing. The final days of week nine of summer break are upon us.

We even received the notices for our kids classroom placements. Good news on all fronts. So that should minimize tantrums where friends, and teachers are concerned. We do have three weeks for the board/ministry to decide there has to be a shake up, followed by a reshuffle of kids and resources, so crisis not entire averted yet. But better to start from a good footing, and hope for the best. We’ll just have to see how it all shakes out.

Spent some time yesterday moving wood piles, making stacks, and tidying up to reclaim space for moving things around by the boat launch. I was glad for the chance to swim once the four of us were done. Lake is down to 70°F , the coolest it has been all summer. It was above 80°F in early July, and then decreased over the following weeks. No major algae blooms this year. This coming weeks heat wave might bring the temperature up a degree or two, but these cold nights really sap the lakes ability to hold on to its heat. Unless the heatwave lasts all night too. In which case forget what I’ve just said.

These poor kids are going to be sweltering at school this week, as it is supposed to feel like 40-41°C for a few days in a row. Yuck. Shame that wasn’t last week when we could have been swimming to stay cool.

I’m excited! We can start our major clean up sessions once the kids are back in school. Turn out all the broken junk, and have more room for what the kids really play with. Make our tiny house feel more spacious. It’s a great time of year. Though I imagine I’ll get busy with work now that all of the summer events have come to a close, and the polling, research data is being compiled. September may just fly right on by! Plus add in our Markham Fair commitments and it will really be a fast paced month. Get your tickets online for the Markham Fair before September 25th and Save 20% OFF your ticket(s)!

Catch you about town. Mask up, take care out there. Ciao Bella!

If you are able to, set your OOO message and go enjoy the last remaining long weekend of the summer. Take the full four days. If you’re one of the lucky ones you spent last night driving to your location so you could wake up later today in the place you want to be. Coffee in hand, drinking it as the sun rises, listening to the loons from your dock, porch, balcony. There aren’t many moments like this, so take the time, when you have it, to soak it all up. Steam rising off the lakes surface, sips of hot coffee, warm mug in your hands. Fresh toasted bagel with garlic & herb cream cheese spread over it. Good times.

If you have to work this weekend, I hope that you manage to find a quiet, peaceful moment to enjoy of your own. I don’t plan on being to active work wise today. All this time of year does is remind me I need a secondary & portable work option. So best to bite the bullet and make that happen this year. Also to invest in more electronic storage for files, and archived work.

Also once school starts I need to get a jump on my Will. If nothing else this summer has really made it apparent just how sudden things can change for the worse. Gotta make sure the kids are covered. On that note, Ciao Bella !

Something that will really grab, and hold a persons attention. Salacious or pithy, not particularly witty, but something that will get the people going. My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps and what not. Shout out to George Wallace, the king of “and what not”. Funny guy. Love him on Twitter (x). So what kind of a title should I pick? A long winded one that spells out exactly what is to come? Or something vague, or better yet – mysterious. Ooh. But it should also not be too click bait(y) as that turns people off now. Or do you treat it like a film with a ten minute pre roll and then BAM! Post the title a paragraph or two in, and just let it lie there like a cats sick up in your bed. Surprise titling! You could try to spell it out using the very first letter of each subsequent sentence! Hidden messages – ooh! That’s sneaky. I don’t know. I could pilfer part of some song lyrics. Use a famous quote but bastardize it. Purposefully use a spelling error to draw people in, or to turn a certain group away. A misdirect! So good.

Today is Thursday August 31st, 2023. The last day of August. Summer holidays is just about fine. Breathing it’s last sputtering breathes this holiday long weekend. To think that by Tuesday all of this wonderous summer will be just a memory. Some good, some great, and a few that are heart breakingly miserable. Ope! Can’t let the eyes get glossy. Moving on.

Still hoping to get out to a theater to watch Oppenheimer or TMNT Mutant Mayhem. Either or would be fine by me. Although the animated one is far less of a time commitment at this point. Reading “American Prometheus ” is quelling my need to rush out and see it. With my guts, a home viewing is preferential. All the bathroom breaks I could ever need, and free food & snacks. That and I can take as long as I need to watch it. I can rewind parts, and used closed captions incase I can’t hear what they are saying well enough. If I get a bigger tv, and a much better sound system, we’d never need to go anywhere for a movie ever again. Excepting for 3D films or the iMax experience. Hard to replicate those at home.

Hard to believe looking back that the whole family would gather in the family room to watch a movie on a 27 inch or small crtv, bulged screen in like a 4:3 aspect ratio. I feel like we’ve all gotten altogether too comfortable with 55″ or larger, screens for our homes. So weird. How times have changed. Anyway, best get back to work. Ciao Bella!

Try as you might you just can’t outrun other people’s effects upon your own life. Currently in a holding pattern with several hours of a drive left to go while I tackle a professional hiccup in our plans. Weather is cool and dreary so not the worst timing for something to happen. Could always be much, much worse. So take it in stride, do your hardest to set everything smoothly back into forward progression, and carry on. Life of a freelancer! Never said it wasn’t exciting!

I think it’s Wedneaday today. So Hump-Day, Middle of the Week Day! You are almost through it at this point. Good on ya!

Next week school starts up again. And the temperatures are to go through the roof! Oh what timing! I’ll be picking up cherry red tomatoes from school each day. Ha. With cranky tantrums to follow I’d wager.

Take care out there. Ciao Bella!