What I Did Today

This is what I did today with my darling friends Sharon Brown and Laurie Landry.
We went to the Havana on Commercial Drive in Vancouver and ate very nice things and drank too much wine.

Laurie, Sharon and I getting a little lunched.      Photograph Laurie Landry

I love the wall at the Havana with all the carved signatures. My name is in there somewhere.

Somehow I find a little inspiration there every single time. Conversation was about sensitivity in small art's organizations, the snow in Wells, the sun in Vancouver, how to set up studios for artists working at home and heartbreak and disappointment.  We also talked a lot about cheese.

New vs.Old: The W.I.P. Pile

Work in progress avalanche. Patricia Chauncey

Organizing W.I.P.'s



Having the equivalent of a room full of W.I.P.s is a problem when you have a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis and are on the edge of a big move. I am waiting to hear if I will be moving and that is most likely. I put a bid on an incredible property that is a Court sale. It is a huge house and it is surrounded by forests and meadows.
No details yet but the house and property will mean I can be surrounded by friends and family who will not have to sleep on the couch. It goes to Court next week. No other offers have come in.


This property is a dream Tim and I have been trying to accomplish all the years we have been together.

My life has a way of bringing me what and who I need.

Currently we live in a very small cottage (480 sq. ft.) in the middle of an inner city neighbourhood in Vancouver. We have lived here for 14 years. There was even a point where three of the children lived with us in this squeak of a house. This family have always been accomplished at folding up and fitting in tiny spaces.
Bren, Tim and I are all nearly 6 ft. tall and the others range from 6'3" to a slash under 6"6".

We are both shivering awake in the middle of the night with this apprehension and feel like runners waiting for the start pistol. READY, FIRE, AIM!! Tim is completely excited and hasn't wiped the smile off his face all month.  

So it may be premature but I am packing. And the W.I.P.'s are staring me square in the eye.

Melted wonders yet to hit the needles and scissors Patricia Chauncey photo

Hours of work but not yet complete. Patricia Chauncey photo

Don Slade

My friend and fellow artist Don Slade died on March 1st and I found out today. He was one of those talented souls who very quietly and with determination worked hard at making art. Humble despite a skilled eye and hand. Drawings so beautifully sensuous and with a knowledge of  human anatomy and spirit that comes with a mature hand that has experienced a full world.

He has been one of the members of Williams and Clark Studios since I arrived. There was always time for a little chat in our communal kitchen or lounge where we all retreat from singular work. His soft voice and gentle nature were sure to encourage and support. He provided an atmosphere of calm and didn't ever buy in to the drama that is inevitable in shared artistic work spaces.

His health has been challenging for awhile now and he very reluctantly decided to give up his studio a few months ago. Very sad for all of us there. I was walking down Commercial Drive to pick up my veggies and ran into him a few weeks ago.   He saw me while he was driving and turned his car around so he could have a little street visit with me. I hugged him and he hugged me and he told me he missed us all. He was wearing his distinctive big Aussie Drover's hat that kept off the rain.

I guess his last exhalation is shared now with Hugo Chavez and Stompin' Tom Conners who have also just died in the last day or two. I have a feeling Don would be very pleased by that!

There is a celebration for Don's life this Saturday at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver. I hope I am well enough to go.

Knit Purl

Check out Nicole's fanatical knitter's tattoo Photo Laurie Landry

The WISE Club knitting in the pub group is getting a little wilder. Beer and knitting seem to agree.

Tonight we discussed Fontana, California, arming the schools and statistical facts around school shootings in the US and wondered why the paranoia was happening. More than 70,000,000 school children in the US and an average of 8 children killed a year since 1980.  The knitters talked about the science around labial piercing and the best location for perpetual orgasm, the development of local breweries, and how to spin metal with yarn to produce a product with sculptural potential. And nasty,nasty gynecologists.

The very cute bartender Norm became intrigued and checked out my needles and watched with fascination as a single cord turned into inches of cloth. He was scared to try the pink yarn. He said he'd try next time if there weren't too many people around.

Turns out the majority of us are Irish descendants. Which explains why we can knit while drinking and guffaw louder than any of the other patrons.

Next week I will be taught how to knit a hexy puff with round size 4 sock needles. And Em promises she will teach me how to knit obscene moose. Check out Nicole's knitting fanatic tattoos.

New Look

New look for "material witness" today. This happens once or twice a year

Spring is here!
 

Pubs and Knitting Circles

Accountants can knit.

Proof anything can happen in the pub.

Knit one Purl one

Writers can knit while drinking a nice glass of ale.

Midwives can rattle a stick.

Spent last night in the Wise Hall Lounge at the first meeting of my knitting group.
Interesting women from 30 - 60. A range of skills from beginners to knitting two socks at a time on one needle. Included a writer, an artist, a midwife, an accountant and others.

So we sat with our ale and knit the night away. We talked wool, stitches and knitting sites and stores.
Turns out any people learned to knit off of You-Tube.

Em was the most experienced knitter. She talked needle sizes and wool thickness. She pulled the raggedy group together. We all talked about different knitting styles and how hard it was to learn in the beginning.

Double projects done to show the rest of us up.

We talked abut life, birth, relationships and death. Law, community politics, housing, education and teen boys. I had the most experience there as I had four and did it pretty well if my kids are any indication.

I think I talked Em into knitting me naughty hats for small talk Gallery.

So I will meet them next Tuesday for a drink, a bitch and a stitch. And I will finally learn how to knit properly. 

Travels With Vikings

Rod, my favourite Viking, called today to tell me he wanted to take me on a little creative journey.
He did a gallery tour of Seattle and thought it would be more fun if I was there and that it would even be more fun if we went to Portland for a few days.

Very nice.

I told him I was retiring my status as a fun weekend date. I was cutting my hair, putting on painty sweat pants, blowing my nose on my sleeve and signing up for the Legion Bingo games.

Lovely Viking said that would be even better because no one else would pay attention to me. He bought and refurbished an antique projector to go with the antique films he gave me last year.

Oh dear...

He has this fantastic collection of felted monsters in his little Smart Car and lots of wicked finger puppets to play with. He collects incredible places to eat and drink. Waters me wth hot sake and aquavit. And hand feeds me things like candied hibiscus flowers and juniper soda.

I told him I was tempted but I was still throwing up and if he planned on kidnapping me he would have to keep me in his beautiful house on the beach. And that I was going to out the fact that he liked pitiful women artists. He agreed and said something in Danish that sounded appropriately rude.

So Seattle it is. With a rude Viking. When I can find my glasses.