20 years

Lesson planning never ends, especially when you have to clean a restaurant every morning to pay the bills.
Last night I had dinner at Vaughan's and will eat the leftovers tonight. Ron and I went to Theatre Beyond Words for a script reading. Here's the premise: After the American Civil War, the elected Confederate President and several other officers moved to Niagara-on-the-lake. Considering the play has a basis in historical fact, I wanted to check it out.
Today was full; after cleaning I had Mad Science in Welland, where I saw Dan Brown. He's a teacher there. Dan was preparing a project for his students - the artist-trading-cards. He says the students have been enthusiastic about this project for years. I had told him years ago about this website and that we had a club doing it at the NAC. Dee and some Suitcase in Point people were into it too. Well, folks are STILL into it. The kids will actually send their cards away, and get someone else's randomly selected cards in return.
I showed Kim to the Fine Grind for an Art Under Glass proposal. Mori has sent me alphabet images too, but I haven't opened them yet.
I saw one of my old art class students at one of the schools today. She teaches now. After teaching for 20 years, I guess I can't be surprised. Where's my anniversary party?

Picture

www.niagara.com/~elbows/pics/t.gif

Convergence day

Monday was some kind of weird convergence day. People who needed to get back to me for whatever reason all did it yesterday.
Here's the list:

1. A guy who owed me money for a painting dropped off a cheque at the Strega (Summer)
2. A guy who wanted a commission last year got back to me (December)
3. A hostess for a Halloween potluck returned my dish (a two-fer)
4. She also dropped off photographs from a photo exhibit (since last year)
5. LTTA officials explained their payment schedule (since August?)

Weird.

I got to do a Mad Science show in Crystal Beach - as a reward for some students who did some fundraising.

Mad Science Christmas

Sunday was a long day. The meditation group met at Sue's at 10 a. m. to do a Chenrezig practice with Fred. Then I was off for breakfast, and a Mad Science Christmas show at the Electricians' Union Hall in Port Robinson. There's a ferry across the canal there! Then right away, off to Market Square in St. Catharines for a 2 hour Mad Science slime giveaway after the Santa Claus parade. We got swamped! Then, off to clean the Mansion House. I had an apple/walnut/bacon salad at the Fine Grind, and told Rob about a photographer Matt Vizbulis recommends for the Art Under Glass. Then a Jackie Chan movie and bed. There's my weekend.

Four star day

Four star day.

I cleaned for a while, then went to Rodman Hall for my classes - with 2! thermoses of green tea! Yum! The kids in the classes were great. My 'client' came after class and paid for the painting. She thinks it is great and went to go have it framed. Then I had to zip to the Lab to pick up gear for a bunch of Mad Science shows.

Then I had to finish cleaning.

There was time, so I treated myself to dinner at the Strega. (Stella! Ste-eh-eh-lla!)

Now it gets interesting. A table of four sat down during dinner and had some wine and salads waiting for their food. I was done my pasta and was reading the paper, when a woman started to raise her voice. Not unusual, but I looked up. The yelling continued. She yelled that a fellow at her table was having a seizure, but that wasn't really clear to me. He seemed rather calm when I looked. She started to exclaim that he was diabetic and that he needed some honey. The staff were getting water, and were on the phone. I knew where the honey was, and brought it over. She asked for someone to call 911, but another at the table said that wasn't really necessary. I hoped she knew what she was talking about, because she was the only person anybody could hear. Lots of stuff happened quickly now. The fellow fell to the floor from his chair and she got really loud. "His head hit the floor! His head hit the floor!"

I moved the tables away from the fellow, and went to the front door to flag down the coming ambulance, in case they couldn't find the place. Kelly's brother was on the floor next to him making sure he didn't swallow his tongue.

I had to be in Thorold in a half hour at this point, for Mad Science. When the paramedics arrived, I had Kelly let me in the back door, to get my stuff. (There was no way to pay her what with the to do, so I left a book behind as a hostage.) This Thorold event was to be a 40th birthday party, and I was to entertain the kids. I was feeling my mortality the whole way there. The show was amazing and I got more compliments from the kids than ever. Then I drove back to the restaurant and paid up. Everything was back to normal, with Bill Wong and Cathy Evans there performing for charity.

How's that for a Saturday night? I hope I can fall asleep, because I have a 2 hour Christmas show tomorrow at the Market Square after the Santa Claus Parade. I would like to think that if I was ever in an emergency, that there could be people around who would know what to do.

June Etta rawks!

So, I'm still carrying around a painting, after I finished it days ago. It's a habit - this way I can get tired of it and won't mind selling it. Tomorrow the new owner will pick it up. I tried a few times to scan it, but the thing is too large for any scanner bed I could find. June Etta at the Strega offered to scan it for me, and took it upstairs. She'll give me a disc this week - it looks good, but 63 MB is too big for me. I can't display it yet, because the thing is a Christmas present for someone. I can send a mini version to people who want to see it next week, if they promise to keep it a secret. Lots of people are still giving me compliments - another reason for the Elbowsarts portable gallery!
Bought a used stainless steel thermos today, complete with a electricians union sticker. I masked the sticker, and spray painted the thing. Good as new.

vegan Fridays

I got a bit of neat news tonight, during my art class at the Strega. A family had come in to learn to draw, and the daughter was wearing a vegan shirt, complete with a definition and pronunciation key. The mother told us about a vegan potluck that goes on at a church next to the Delta Bingo. They started in September, and have people bring in their food on the 1st Friday of every month. St. Catharines isn't Guelph yet, but it may get there eventually.
I also heard a rumour about a vegetarian restaurant that may be opening up next to the Party Bar! ("Party Bar" is actually the name of a bar on St. Paul Street. We have so many bars now that I suspect they ran out of names.)