Sunday 10 August 2014

Forward. Fast.

Despite my intention to blog more often -- and there's certainly much that's been happening in my life, almost all of it pretty darned good, to write about -- I'm just not finding the time to do so.

Life continues to settle into a routine of eat, sleep, work, create art that is reasonably comfortable and enjoyable. The big addition is the create art part of that equation: I'm even building two pieces for a show next month so the curator can take her pick of which one she would like.

In one of those "isn't it weird how things come together in threes?" sorts of moments, I have two scheduled openings within three days (one here in Calgary, one in Toronto), which is a pleasant development, and a third (the one I'm building the two new works for) happens the following week.

Classic

As usual, I did my fibre thing down at the Calgary Stampede again this year: our little corner of tradition still remains tucked into Agriculture, although it grows smaller and less cohesive every year. The biggest change I noticed in the 2014 edition is that instead of our various elements being all together, we were separated and plugged into divergent spaces all over: if "divide and conquer" is the strategy for eliminating us, however, it didn't appear to be working on our visitors.

But for the volunteers, especially those who organize our section, you could tell that the running-around was taking its toll. I keep expecting that one of these years, the phone call to schedule me is going to be the one to say that we're no longer wanted.

Back in the barns #3

When (not if, sadly: it is inevitable) that eventually does happen, apart from sharing my spinning and knitting, I'll miss going back into the barns, where I love to take my camera every year, capturing candid moments. This year, I rehabilitated my small old point-and-shoot, which lets me be much more subtle about taking shots. Most of them turned out poorly, as it takes awhile for me to adjust from my big camera back down, but I did get a few, like the one above, that I'm rather pleased with.

Incoming

Although we had one bad storm roll through, this was one of the nicest Stampedes we've had for a number of years weatherwise: not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, not very wet at all, but there has been some pretty impressive and damaging storms around the city so far this summer.

The days have also brought a regular visitor (see below) to the backyard: he's rather tame, and on the small side for a varying hare.

I'm assuming it's a "him," since I'm no expert in determining the gender of varying hares, but have picked the gender-neutral name of Wascal E. Wabbit just to be on the safe side.

Wascal at west

And because it's been summer, I've also been off to local music festivals (both folk and blues) and listening to BBC Radio 2 when I get a quiet studio day at home: pleased that this has taken off since I first heard it, as it's a catchy tune.

Books for Sale

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