randvisit

Rand and me. Photo by my niece Annie.

Ok, I admit I found some of your posts in response to my Squirrelbuster Triumphs! entry highly amusing. Just a few samples...

Teddy:
"Let the little bugger starve. -- Teddy
(You don't get to be an Evil-Bunny without having a Mean Streak)"

Gnomedude:
"Considering it is the end of winter and considering water freezes in winter and considering the squirrels do not have indoor plumbing (just a wild assumption on my part) probably means they are mangy looking due to there outside shower facilities being shut off due to freeze damage. I think you should not only set up a permanent squirrel resturant but add a community center next to it with bath facilities. This way you can keep them clean and fed and also give them activities to keep them off the streets.

I can see it now. The Debbie Ohi Memorial Community Squirrel Restaurant and Recreation Building. Keep in mind that the birds will probably take you to court for discrimination so you'd best have something set up for them too. Do this and all the local cats will LOVE you for supplying them with an easily accessible food source ... ummm .... I mean supplying them with .... errrr .... playmates! Yeah, that's it. Playmates.
Have fun!!"

Graham:
"You've taken me in and fed me, too, you know. I don't even look scrawny. HA HA! Since when does being kind-hearted make one a loser?"

My friend Rand came to visit today. We talked about our poetry project and life in general, browsed a used bookstore, shared cake and black sesame ice cream, bought Nyquil and Neo Citran for Jeff. Poor Jeff is sick with the flu and spent the day in bed unconscious.

I forgot to take photos during Rand's visit, so am posting some pics from previous visits instead. :-)


Rand, Jeff and Parki.

Every so often, I browse archives of my Blatherings to see what I was doing however many years ago. I find this exercise useful sometimes, if only to remind me of how quickly time is passing and therefore how important it is to make every minute count. :-)

So here's what I was doing eight years ago:

Being asked by post-graduate Italian students if I like pineapple on my pizza.

I co-wrote "Another Story" with Allison and wrote an X-files song.

I went to California and visited with friends as well as surprising Rand and Adam at Consonance.

The subscription base for my newsletter for writers hit 30,000 subscribers.

I tried to implement a new Javascript navigational tool in Inkspot.

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Dan Gibson

Just found out that Dan Gibson passed away this morning. :-(



Dan was a longtime friend of the family's and a close friend of Jeff's father. My interactions with Dan were always at the cottage; I found him to be an incredibly positive and cheerful individual, full of energy and good humour. He encouraged me to bring my flute over to his cottage so we could jam together.

I was aware Dan's recording and film work were fairly well-known in Canada, but his international influence only really hit me when Jeff and I were in Tokyo and saw a Solitudes display in the lobby shop, along with a bio and photo of Dan, all in Japanese.



Dan Gibson's career in nature sounds, film and TV started in 1946 when he started Dan Gibson Productions Ltd. His method of synchronizing nature sounds (that he recorded himself) with visual content was groundbreaking and earned him two Canadian Film Awards (now called Genies) for best movie soundtracks. Dan also invented a type of parabolic microphone that is still used today.

In 1981, Dan founded the Solitudes line, named after his favorite song by Duke Ellington, "In My Solitude". In April 1994, Dan was named to the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada. The distinguished civilian honor was presented to Dan for his work in "filming and recording nature and for his role in creating public awareness of conservation, wildlife and our natural heritage." At the 1997 Juno awards, Dan was awarded the Walt Grealis Lifetime Achievement Award.

My strongest memory of Dan was from early one morning at the cottage: seeing him in a boat drifting slowly across the lake through the mist, holding up a parabolic microphone to record a loon call.

Dan, you will be sorely missed.

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Walter at FilKONTario!

Walter, happily drilling a hole in our new house.

Yay, I just found out that my friend Walter is attending FilKONtario for sure! It's going to be his first filk convention ever, so I encourage those attending to please make him feel welcome.


Just before we went to see the One-Man LOTR show.

In case you missed previous Blatherings about him, Walter has been incredibly helpful to Jeff and me during the whole moving process, including providing engineering input during the house inspection, physical help during the move and renovations, and also pretending to be my husband during the occasional open house (thanks so much to Trish for the generous loan).


Walter and Jeff carry the washer/dryer unit
down four flights of stairs.

Walter was also the one to drive out to our new house in the middle of the night the first official day we owned the house to set up a practical joke that involved yellow caution tape and the following official-looking "Order To Comply" notice on our front door (click on the image to see a bigger version):



Walter will only be able to attend on the Saturday, but hopefully that will be enough to get him hooked. >;-)

Just over four weeks until FilKONtario, woohoo!

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