I am grateful for a bit of time spent painting this morning.
I am grateful for family fun night, stilly pick..we went for a kayak around smugglers Cove at 10 mile point. The water was calm in there, but a bit too choppy to get around to Cadboro Bay as I’d hoped to, but the thing about being in a kayak is that it’s fun just to tootle around, which we did, for a good long while, and I really enjoyed being out in those boats.
I am grateful for the way Farley can get deep into observing small things in nature. He found a small jellyfish he was pointing out to us in the photo above.
I am grateful for takeout sushi for dinner. Oh sushi, how I have missed you!
I am grateful for my utility trailer. Farley and I did a run to the landfill this morning, and it felt great to get rid of all that junk.
I am grateful for family fun night: my pick. We dined on my grandmother’s recipe for sloppy joes, then screened It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. It was not as great as I thought it would be, but was still a good show. It was much more sedate and slow than I thought it would be, and the story was much more adult, but I was impressed at how my kiddos were able to sit through it and even enjoy it.
I am grateful for time spent painting this morning.
I am grateful for time spent on a project making the walls of my utility trailer a bit taller, so I can throw stuff in there more easily. I really do enjoy that kind of project, made entirely out of rescued materials.
I am grateful as all heck for a first for us since March, we all got into the car, and ordered food from a food truck (Taco Justice on Cook Street), and gobbled it up on camp chairs we brought with us in an adjacent park. It was the perfect day for such a perfect experience; not too hot, not too cold, in the shade of a big tree, all of us so pleased to stretch timidly just a tiny bit outside of our usual pandemic comfort zone.
I am grateful for a walk around Playfair park after that, throwing a baseball around with my kiddos, and taking in the plentiful rhododendrons.
I am grateful for time spent with Julie this evening watching a movie.
I am grateful for time spent in my sunny front yard flogging paintings to friends and neighbours. I had a request from a customer who wanted to see some of my work, so I decided to put it all out on the front lawn and told the world to drop by. It was a nice way to spend the day; after a while I set up my easel and spent the afternoon painting out there, with intermittent breaks to chat with folks who were kind enough to come and peruse.
I am grateful for Julie, who kept the kids watered, fed, and as far as I know, out of trouble for the day.
I am grateful for time spent shooting hoops with Cooper.
I am grateful for time shooting photos of one of our lizard neighbours with Farley.
I am grateful for time spent painting, while in a Skype meeting with a bunch of old friends like we’ve been doing every Sunday morning.
I am grateful for time spent huddled with the whole dang family when Farley managed to get an aphid under the digital microscope he recieved for his birthday. The aphid was kind of a cute little feller, it turns out.
I am grateful for the Boardgame Cafe, which remains open, and was where a masked Farley and Coop managed to get their hands on some D&D figures they could spend their money on.
I am grateful for the fleeting glimpses of the European Wall Lizards that have taken up residence under our front steps. They are also cute little fellers.
I am grateful for a screening of Pacific Rim we all watched this evening. That movie was better than I remembered it.
I am grateful for that Farley kid. It was his birthday today, and I really wanted him to feel the birthday love, but I was afraid it would be tough under these pandemic circumstances, but it was great.
We started off with the opening of one present, then another from his brother – Coop got him, amongst other things, bubblegum. We then had the crèpes he requested for breakfast, followed by rampant cartoon watching with intermittent phone conversations with grandparents. After he’d had enough of that he played with a pal outside for a bit, then back in for lunch, which was Kraft dinner, again, as requested.
Julie made it back for lunch too, because she knew as I did that the Victoria Fire Department got wind of Farl’s birthday, and they were planning to do a drive by. They arrived with lights and modest “Boop boops” on the siren button, had a sign that read “Happy Birthday Farley”, and stopped for a good long chat and some photos. Then there was another present or two, and a chat with his uncle and cousin.
There was more playing outside, this time with brand new remote control car. Soon Julie came home with the requested takeout from the Fifth Street Grill, then an obscene amount of presents, and then it was time for the program we’d planned.
The other three of us performed in song, rap, standup comedy, and participatory experiential installation art, all for an audience of one.
We had ice cream cake with Skor bars in one layer and Skittles in the other, again, as requested. We followed that with a screening of the new Pixar film, Onward.
I a grateful to Julie and Coop for making his day so great. It was a team effort. I hope he remembers it for a long time.
I am grateful for help from my print shop and my spouse in the delivery of a print to a customer today.
I am grateful for the discovery that pasta and sauce can be prepared in one pot with no strainer. I’ve done mac and cheese that way, and now spaghetti with marinara sauce. Makes lunch with kids during this pandemic a bit easier.
I am grateful for time spent with a 3 year old who helped me remove a handle from an old door and install it on the treehouse. He didn’t make a particularly quick job of it, but it was fun seeing him pick up the basics of it pretty quick, and he was an enthusiastic helper.
I am grateful for completion of the treehouse. It now has a door with the handle I mentioned, and a pulley system that can transport a basket of stuff to a window. It also features a hammock inside, and is equipped with a small cabinet containing playing cards and several books of The Far Side cartoon strip. I am sure there will be ongoing projects to do in there, but I’m ready to clean up and put my tools away for a while, and let kids do with it what they will.
I am grateful for Coop, who left a note that I discovered that is intend for his brother to find tomorrow, to wish him a Happy Birthday.
