20 things I love about Parki

Parki and me on a hiking trip. Photo by Jeff.

Happy birthday, Parki!

In the past I've done "Things I Love About..." Jodi, Allison, Dave, Rand and Luisa. In honour of Parki's birthday, I offer:

20 Things I Love About Brian Parkinson

- He's a technonerdboy.

- He's one of those rare technonerdboys who has a strong creative side: an irresistable combination.

- He designs and makes furniture, for instance! Check out this incredible dining room table that Parki designed and created out of snooker materials, as well as his other projects (see navigation bar on the left of that page).

- He's a great hiking/canoeing/cottage companion.



Visiting our cottage.


- He can write poetry.

- I love his cartooning style. He drew a little cartoon guy on our kitchen whiteboard called "Mr. Buzzwordy" years ago...and it's still there; neither Jeff nor I could bring ourselves to actually erase him. I'm sure we couldn't erase Mr. Buzzwordy now even if we tried.

- His herbal tea collection.

- His living room has My Favourite Armchair In The Whole World. Pleasantly worn-looking, great to curl up in under a blanket, super-comfy.

- He's comfortable with silence.

- He was darned cute as a kid:





- Then again, he's darned cute now. ;-)

- He's handy with a hammer.

- Our regular lunches at Queen Mother Cafe. He always orders ping gai. I sometimes stray to other menu items. Food may vary, but the conversation's always great.

- He's a great cook.

- He let me plant some herbs in his garden. (Ok, so they're dead now because I chose the wrong plants for his backyard's sun exposure level, but at least he let me plant them.)

- He's introspective.

- He collects hood ornaments.



Jeff, ScottM and Parki.


- His wicked sense of humour. Check out his Anti-Blathering. :-D

- He's done amazing things with his house.

- He follows intention through with action.

- He's an accomplished Ultimate player.

- He makes killer roasted red pepper and goat cheese sandwiches. YUMmmmmmmmmm...


A cool mask that Parki made. We had it up on the wall
in the Inkspot office. He also designed and created all the
ceiling light fixtures in the office!


- He has an amazing sense of design.

- His love of the outdoors. Loves camping, hiking.

- He's not afraid of change, nor of taking risks.

- His cool sister, Kate.

- He and Jeff share a close friendship separate from the friendship between Parki and me.


Parki, me and Jeff on Parki's couch.


- He's not afraid of goofy fun.

- The great relationship he has with his cool sister, Kate.

- His love of music. He's always open to new artists, different kinds of music, and has the most extensive CD collection of anyone I know.

- He's spontaneous, willing to try new things, doesn't always colour inside the lines.

I'll stop now. I adore Parki, and value his friendship tremendously. It's impossible to capture this in a single Blathering, so I'll just end with this:

Have a very happy birthday, my friend. :-)

Parki and Jeff on Parki's couch.

August 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

helenvisit

Helen and me yesterday. Photo by Jeff.

Our friend Helen is visiting from Alberta. We took her to Mildred Pierce for a birthday dinner; her birthday isn't until Sunday, but she's flying home that day.

Helen's an incredibly creative sort (see her Web site for a glimpse), and has most recently been creating furniture. The following are all pieces that Helen designed herself AND built from scratch.

Told she had to name all her furniture designs, Helen named this chest of drawers "A Boy Named Sue":




This one was inspired by George Nakashima and named "I forgot more than you'll ever know":




She hand-carved this table leg:




..and won $1000 for creating the following lamp in J.P. Mitchell's "Great Two-By-Four Challenge", in which competitors were supposed to create something from a single plank of wood:




The following was made from tigerwood, and named "I Got Stripes":




And this is Helen's cat, Tamerlane the Mighty:





June 2004 comments:
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20 things I love about Dave Clement

Dave and me. Photo by Beckett Gladney.


Less than a week to FilKONtario, woohoo! Allison, Jodi and I are hosting a Tolkien/fantasy theme circle on Friday night; hope to see some of you there. We are excited about the Urban Tapestry DVD, which will be auctioned off to raise money for the convention.

This DVD contains edited song videos from our concert at The Gathering of The Fellowship in December, a Tolkien convention held in Toronto; the DVD also contains a photo slideshow. Many thanks to John Durno (Allison's husband), who did an amazing job at putting together this project. The DVD will not be for sale, but donated to one or two Interfillk auctions in addition to the auction at FilKONtario.

I'm also very much looking forward to a visit this week from my friend, Dave Clement. A while back, I posted my list of things I love about Allison as well as Jodi. I figure it's about time I posted...




Dave and me playing music a couple of years ago.

20 things I love about Dave Clement

His singing. I love the texture of Dave's voice: warm, chocolately, velvet, wraps around you like a hug. Check out songs like Canadian Lady, Windego or Fisherman's Wharf on this page of sample soundclips, for example (or click here). You can also hear him singing on our first CD on "Sex and Chocolate".

His optimism and benevolence.

His chili. Last time Dave was visiting, he made his famous chili, which Jeff declared to be the best he's ever tasted. Dave has promised to make more this time, and our mouths are already watering.

His generosity.




Chef Dave cooking chili.


His courage. Dave's courage manifests itself in so many ways and situations too numerous to list here. But here's a more direct example: A mugger once made the mistake of attacking Dave and his wife, probably thinking them easy target because of their age and Dave's blindness. The guy didn't count on them fighting back, especially Dave whalin' on him with his white cane. The would-be thief ended up fleeing sans money. :-)

He has a cool house! The Bhigg House is one of my favourite places, a house with personality, rooms with cool names/themes, and wonderful people.

His encouragement of other performers, no matter what their level of talent. See this citation when Dave was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame.

He's a good writer.

His storytelling abilities. Can't wait until his first book comes out...

His appreciation of chocolate.

His ability to connect like-minded people with each other.

His guitar-playing. He's one of those musicians whose instruments seem to become a part of them when they perform.

Not to mention the other instruments he plays, like penny whistle and drums!

He's a steadfast friend and a good shoulder to cry on.

His wholehearted enthusiasm for life. Tom (Dave's music partner in Dandelion Wine), about Dave: "Dave decided to go bowling with us one day. I was quite skeptical about this until he stepped up, threw a strike, and sat back down. This was after I had just thrown a gutter ball. I have never doubted his ability again and he has done everything from riding a bicycle while playing his guitar to shooting pool at an RCMP barracks."

His tact and sensitivity.

His very cool music partner, Tom Jeffers.

His love of folk music.

His love of reading. He and I trade tips on audiobooks.

His hugs. If he could bottle these up and sell them, he would be a zillionaire. And the world would be a much happier place.

If you want to find out more about Dave, check out Dandelion Wine's Web site (managed by the talented Beckett Gladney).

March 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ