The Voice Of Reason

So... retirement do yesterday at work for a man i've worked with for 24 years. There was an in-office cake and gathering and a party at Cheers after work with a stupendous turnout and lots of faces from way back! Gosh what a shock to see one of them at least. There were a few others that we don't see much but who do come to these things now and then. Good party but i don't tend to stay late at them because i don't tend to drink a huge amount and by 8 or 9 everyone's getting pretty legless and if you're relatively sober it stops being as much fun.

The cake was incredible. It was made by a local fancy restaurant, Scanway and had shaved white chocolate all over it and it was white layered with fresh strawberries. Oh wow!. I painted him something from a photo he took in Ireland and gave it to him last week. Graham added in the figures of his wife and daughter, something i would have been crap at attempting and overall it made a really good painting.

( Photos of the painting )

Today, i went to the community centre where the mother of a friend of mine wanted to do a practice run for teaching a painting class. There were three of us, two of us had painted before and one never. I think the "teacher" decided that she probably won't teach after all but it was fun to sit and chat and paint for the morning and part of the afternoon anyway. This was my effort.

Seeing how LJ is working at the moment, let's see if it lets me post!

First an update...
Took Friday off and since Monday is a holiday here, I have an extra long weekend. Pity about all the rain yesterday, though. It's an event weekend with lots of stuff going on in the area to celebrate the city's birthday but it was all flooded out yesterday. There are fireworks rescheduled for tonight and I might take those in. They're planning to fire off a waterfall effect off the harbour bridge, something i've only seen once before and they don't do it every year so I'd like to give that a go. There's usually a bridge walk where they close that bridge and allow people to walk but i think that's tomorrow afternoon with a parade in the morning. Doubt i'll get up and going in time in the morning to see that but you never know. I should make the effort since i missed the Pride parade last weekend due to feeling rotten.

I am feeling better now though still have the cold around the edges.

Work was very quiet this week as it's now prime vacation season.

I started a painting yesterday. I haven't done one in a couple of years. Partly because, since i don't really do anything with them when i finish, i kind of felt like i was wasting my time. It isn't really, i know that, as it's a hobby and i do sometimes gift paintings but now that i look back on the ones i've done, i'm thinking they aren't really as good as i thought they were after all. I don't know why i think that. They're done by an amateur and they look it but then you can look at paintings that sell for hundreds and they don't look like they're that skilled either, some of them and some of them are so superb that you want to burn all your brushes! Anyway, this one is going to be for a coworker who is retiring next year. He went to Ireland last year and one of the photos he took, with his wife and daughter sitting on the rocks at Giant's Causeway, made me think it would make a good painting. I'm going to do the scenery bits and Graham is going to do the figures because i have no talent for that and he does. I did most of it yesterday but i want to pick at it a bit more, make some adjustments to the sky and maybe the rocks.

The rotten balcony saga continues. They've put up barriers on all the buildings now and we got a letter yesterday with the schedule for the demolition and reconstruction. As i suspected, they won't be complete until December!!! My building is scheduled to be done in October so i have no access to the balcony until the end of Oct. It's not that i use it a lot but, on one hand it seems a bit pointless to barrier up all the buildings if they aren't going to rebuild for another couple of months. On the other hand, I suppose they have the equipment rented for now that lifts them up to the balconies to put up the barriers. Anyway, I'm just glad we were able to leave the inside door open to let air in. They're supposed to be reducing the rent by 30$ each month we are blocked in. I'll be checking next week when August's rent comes out.

People are starting to use the new Google Plus thingy. I'm on there too as well as twitter but i'm not overly active on either. I post a bit and maybe with G+ it will get a bit more as more people i know are on there. Twitter is not bad, like Facebook used to be with a running status update. I have picked up on links to interesting things via that so it's been worthwhile but I'm not one of those people that tweet my every waking thought and indeed when i've had people on my feed that have, i've dropped them. Spamming is spamming. I've got a separate twitter feed for my Canadian Coronation Street blog to increase the traffic there by feeding my blog posts to it.

Anyway, enough of that..

and a meme gacked from liz_lowlife
5 less common likes and five less common dislikes. (although some of my friends do feel the same as I do)

Many of my friends seem to like these but I don't:

1) Running
2) Vacations on the beach/resorts
3) Tim Hortons' coffee
4) Gardening
5) Reality tv shows

Many of my friends seem to dislike these but I don't:

1) Metal/Industrial music
2) Reading about History
3) Live Journal/blogging
4) Old movies
5) (can't think of anything else right now)

Doh.
A couple of months back i was asked if i would donate a painting to a silent auction. This wasn't for work, it was for another government organization. They said they'd pay me 25% of whatever they got for it. I thought the subject of a minimum bid had come up and i had mentioned $20. I guess they didn't do it. I got a little envelope in the mail today with my 25%. Total received: $1.25
This painting garnered a grand total of $5.00 at the auction making them a net total of $3.75, less really because it would have cost nearly 60 cents for the stamp to send me the money. Hardly worth it to them or to me. I guess i won't be doing that anymore. At least at work they put a minimum on it even though i don't get any proceeds from the sale. The painting is 12x16, too, not a little one. It was one of my favourites and it kind of hurts that someone only bid 5 bucks for it and won it. It's worth so much more, well i thought so anyway. Even $20 isn't much but at least it's some value.

Bah.

I donated The Ship to the Silent Auction for United way at work. They were starting all donations at $20 and mine has a $25 bid on it already! They're taking online bids through the intranet until the kickoff in November. I got an email today from someone at Fire Services wanting to know if i would donate a painting to another auction which is raising money for a local youth swim club. Of course, sez I. I think i might send over the Lighthouse. It's not framed but i will get an inexpensive frame for it on the weekend.

Scheduled myself for a hair appointment for after work on Tuesday, highlights and the works. I saw the big grey streak down the center of my head where the roots have grown out and it wasn't pretty. I"m feeling my age, let me tell you!

Long weekend for us in Canada as we celebrate our Thanksgiving in October. Supposed to be good weather all weekend too! Yay! Probably the last of the nice weather, too.

Work is having a United Way charity launch in November and they are going to have a table of items donated by staff for a silent auction. They are looking for crafts, artwork etc. and I thought I would donate one of my paintings but i don't know which one. So here are the candidates, with description and size and of course a poll. I will be getting a frame for whichever one i submit so don't worry that they aren't framed.

( Thumbnails and the poll )

CBC in it's ever infinite wisdom is seriously considering dropping the theme tune to Hockey Night in Canada. This was written in the late 60s which surprised me because it's so ingrained into our consciousnesses here in Canada. You just don't think of hockey here without that tune running through your head. Apparently the contract with the company that owns the rights to it ended and CBC is saying they can't come to an agreement though the company is saying CBC isn't really pushing that hard either. I think public outcry is going to make the decision for CBC. I don't watch hockey anymore so it won't make any impact on my life whether it's there or whether they use Happy Birthday for the theme tune. Whatever. But I just can't imagine it without that tune and a lot of people are very passionate about it. You can sing that tune anywhere in the world and if there's a Canadian in the room, they'll know it. Getting rid is like changing the Coronation Street theme tune of nearly 48 years. Unthinkable really.

Mom's neighbourhood is having a yard sale tomorrow and she's got some stuff she's putting out. I brought a stack of cds and some dvds i didn't want but i offered them to the guys at work this morning first. That got rid of half of them right there. Someone might as well enjoy them. I wouldn't be asking for much for them at the yard sale so i don't mind giving them away here. I am also going to see if a few of my paintings will sell. Hard to know what to ask. I might just duck out of it altogether and see what someone would offer first and dicker from there. What do you think?

Friday five...

1. What's your weather?
Looks semi-sunny, it was cool this morning and it is probably going to rain later on.

2. Where are you on your way to?
After work, to mom's for the night. Neighbourhood yard sale tomorrow and it will be my nephew J's birthday tomorrow as well.

3. Are you good with directions?
Usually yes.

4. Do you know your neighbors?
I have a passing acquaintance with a few, exchanging friendly words and such. One or two over the years i've actually been friendly with. Living in an apartment building, you don't tend to see them other than in the elevator or waiting for busses and such. In a house, you're out in your yard, or out shoveling snow etc. You have more interaction.

5. What do you smell?
Couple of coconut cookies that I'm having with a mid morning cuppa.

Many of you know blueberrymoon and if you don't, you should definitely check out her journal. She's an artist and a photographer. She sells her paintings on eBay and prints of her paintings and her photography on Etsy.com and today she greeted her friends and family at the Love, Me boutique on Birmingham Street in Halifax. Love, Me features crafts and hand made items including local artists and they are featuring her photos and other items made from her photos and paintings such as buttons, cards, mini purse mirrors, and her prints, framed and unframed. You can see the framed prints i the pics through the cut. I went after work for a little while but my back was not up to standing for too long. The shop was filling up when i left, though. Shelagh's work is always wonderful. Her paintings are bright and cheerful folk art and her photography is just *that* good! One of my favourite photos is this one that she took of her daughter's checked socks and red shoes against a black and white tiled step in London. I bought a set of cards, one of which is this one so i can get a red frame for it. I also bought a button of one of her paintings, cat looking at a night sky. Seeing a photo or painting on her LJ always brightens up my flist :)

( Read more... )

I haven't done one of these in awhile, mainly because i started this one and it didn't inspire me and it took all summer long until today to get it finished. I'm not really all that happy with it. It's not really very special. It's larger than i usually paint too, 12x16 and i'm not sure i like the larger canvases. Not for this one anyway. Next one will be a small 5x7 one again as the photo i'm using for the source really only lends itself to a small painting.

My lovely niece Staci's 19th birthday today. She's been counting down the sleeps with great excitement. More than usual. See, the legal drinking age in Nova Scotia is 19 and she can now go to a pub or bar downtown without worries of being carded and turned away. Her boyfriend is older so when a group of them go out downtown, she has not been able to go with them. Her paternal grandparents are celebrating their 60th anniversary today too so she and her brothers will go there in the late afternoon/early evening. She got a big surprise yesterday, her father called and he had arranged to come here on business to time it for his parents' anniversary (and her birthday). She didn't know he was coming and was thrilled. He moved away to B.C. in March i think it was, for a new job, and she's really missed him. I'm really pleased he was able to be here for the anniversary too, because it would mean so much to his mom and dad.

There were some really nasty thunderstorms in parts of Nova Scotia yesterday but they bypassed us in the city completely though i think some of the outlying suburbs got some rain from what i heard. It's overcast again today. No change there then. I've done some more on a painting that i am doing for sammantha's Rick which is a commission, done for his parents' anniversary this summer. I have to let it dry now again, to put the finishing trim on it. Then it has to dry out really well before it can be framed. I may hurry it along with a cool hair dryer setting.

Today is Canadian Armed Forces Day, well, this Sunday is. This morning, there was a proclamation ceremony across the road in front of City Hall and an email went around a few days ago to let staff know that anyone that could get away would be welcome. It's important to show the support for the troops, i always feel, regardless of whether you think the policy of sending them to places like Afghanistan or anywhere else is wrong. It's not the troops' who make that call. they're just there doing their job and as it happens, pretty much all of the men and women who are serving in Afghanistan believe strongly that they should be there. Living in a military town like we do here in Halifax, you tend to be on the side of the troops, it seems. I've had relatives that served in the navy and i lived for 5 years on an army base when i was married before.

Anyway. P. and i went over from our office and there were others from the other departments there. Red shirts on many backs. That's a growing thing here in Canada, wearing red on Friday to show your support for the troops. I don't always remember but i did today and quite a few others did as well. That campaign was a grass roots one that started in the U.S. but Canadians picked it up after two wives of soldiers picked it up and started a campaign for it here, making lots of noise and publicity in the media and on their website. It seems to be fairly popular apparently. Canadians identify with red since it's the main colour of our flag.

So the ceremony. Nice. Military brass band played the anthem at the start and God Save the Queen at the end. Raising of the flags on the pole, opening remarks by the Mayor, a soundless speech by a general (the sound system was only good if you were right on top of the microphone.) and a prayer by another military person. That last one i did hear fairly clearly. A few photos starting here.

I think i've only seen my desk at work for about a total of 2 hours today, and one of that was lunch. I even got pulled out of one meeting to have another one and back to the first one after that. Two more this afternoon. Gah! Don't anyone mention the word "meeting" to me all weekend, kthxbye.

I started a painting a few weeks back. It's not going well. I may rethink and make it more of a folk art type thing than a "realistic" look because i think that's the only thing that's going to save it's sorry canvas.