Oh, the Sorrow

 The man.

• "See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time."
• "Ah yes, divorce … from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet."
• "If women ran the world we wouldn't have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days."
• "Do you think God gets stoned? I think so. Look at the Platypus."
• "We had gay burglars the other night. They broke in and rearranged the furniture."
• "We Americans, we're a simple people…but piss us off, and we'll bomb your cities."
• "Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs."
• "You could talk about same-sex marriage, but people who have been married say, "It's the same sex all the time."
• "Never fight with an ugly person… they have nothing to lose."

Petal Portraits

Designer Justina Blakeney creates delightful portraits out of fresh flowers, sticks, rocks, and other objects from nature. She posts the portraits to her Instagram account under the hashtag #facethefoliage.

NaNu NaNu Mr. WIlliams

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Best Craigslist Ad Ever

Sunday: To David & Aubin's on Bowen Island

They had often said, "Just come over, any time. Sundays are best." So I decided to take them up on their offer. I got up early Sunday morning and left without even checking the bus and ferry schedule. I left with a "whatever happens, happens" attitude.

The trip was so easy! The Express Horseshoe Bay bus arrived at its stop shortly after I arrived and I got a seat for the long drive. It was a beautiful warm drive to the Bay and a short wait for the ferry. The ride over was spent talking to a Missionary who had spent six years in Uganda.

I walked to the Artisan VIllage for breakfast (straight up) and called David and Aubin. They were home and happy to have me visit. They have two-and-a-half spectacular acres on a hillside on Bowen. When I got there, they were in the Orangerie…

The orangerie; the citrus plants are outdoors for the summer
but the grapefruit and passionfruit remain inside.
This is David's favourite place — its warm in winter.

This is a special kind of swimming pool for Aubin.
She has a nasty arthritis and this will host her aqua therapy.
It will also host  more exotic  fruit and coffee plants.

Lotus is growing in a small tank.

This is inside the guest cabin that is heated with a small
wood-burning stove. It is cozy and beautiful. 

It's the details that impress, like this downspout.

This is a trail, off the house, that leads to the little orchard.

David amongst his flocks.

This is what I call "the lower forty" where there are zillions
of grapes that they use to press the best grape juice you will ever drink.

We harvested this luscious sweet warm plums. I ate five.

The fire pit. There are little areas all over and each has a name.
This is a lovely place to sit at night and stay warm. 

The kiwi fruit goes nuts and David and Aubin get a massive harvest.
They sell some fruit in the Bowen Market.

The lily is in this pond. It is huge and man-made. We built it
under David's direction when he first moved here. The land
was raw forest when he bought it. He has built everything you see.

Currents and grapes. 

The vegetable garden.

The hop arbour.

Another detail in the little outdoor theatre
area where concerts can be held.

More plums on an arbour.

This would be a lovely croquet lawn except the shortage of
water on Bowen prevents proper maintenance so it is a kids
play area that Aubin hopes to fill with wild flowers. 

The small pond by the house. All ponds
have lots of small fish.

Garlic harvest: differing grades for differing purposes.

A massive workshop hosts much of the equipment the place
needs to maintain it and for harvesting and processing all the fruits
and vegetables. It is a arboretum and very diverse garden.

The root cellar. 

Oh No Mr. Bill

Saturday Morning and All is Good

Past. Tense. Tuesday morning I got an email from Presentation House Theatre. Their Season Brochure was going to press and I (a "special event" — aka "afterthought") needed to provide a graphic and tagline for my show. The problem: they wanted them that day or the next morning.

Being a "special event" is a rise in status over self-production but I am, again, the bastard child. Not this (a show in their season), not that (a rental), but a hybrid and that is the story of my life. To give them what they wanted, I had to think of a title.

I had been calling it HoMe. As usual, I thought it was clever being about Presentation HOUSE, and because of text in the play. But like the screenplay I had called Mockingbird, it was too "in" for general consumption. So Mockingbird became Uncle Gus' Monkey and HoMe has become Trudeau, the Felons and Me. Now I am working on an image.

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The Dr. Freud Self-Awareness Kit is really coming along. I had some problems with the package cover  because I am having to create "period" fonts and not all my letters are working. Dwight, my partner in this exercise, now has proofs of my design work to date to review. 

This is a terrific project on so many levels. I love:

          - Making things and having something interesting and creative to do

          - Having a project to share with Dwight

          - The practicality of the kit

          - How inexpensive it is to produce and ship

          - The sense of humour involved

          - Its applicability to what I teach; this project enriches my current classes