January 2013

Published on May 2016 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 53 | Comments: 0 | Views: 500
of 20
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

Planet Nilknarf

January 2013 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Welcome to Planet Nilknarf

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope all my readers out there have had a wonderful Christmas holiday season! This month's cover is the most recent patch on my latest “Carousel of Friendship” quilt, which features smaller horse pictures from a lovely little colouring scroll that came in our gift bags at this month's featured carousel, the 1912 Parker at Crossroads Village in Flint, Michigan. This was the first carousel we visited on the first day of our bus tour and while we were there we celebrated its centennial!!! I also had the pleasure of being interviewed by the media and ended up with my picture in their local paper, which is the shot you see at the top of this page. What an exciting time! These are just some of the many beautiful horses on the Crossroads Village carousel:

Here is some footage of the carousel in motion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3p_BAA2uRU As you can see, this carousel is FAST!! And that day they seemed to play that particular song to DEATH!!! LOL! ;) Crossroads Village is also home to a wonderful vintage C.W.Parker Ferris wheel: (pictures of Ferris Wheel courtesy of Diane Radewald)

Here is some video footage of the view from up there as I ride the Ferris Wheel with Jim Schulman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSEWYoo2-w8 Crossroads Village also has a darling Pony Cart ride and a delightful half-hour Boat Cruise

Here's some of the footage taken on the Boat Cruise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAEo3KlK2uw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8n9k8vMufc&feature=relmfu My favorite part is when we all started singing along with “Yes, We Have No Bananas” Here are more pictures from Diane of our group enjoying themselves on the carousel:

Bobcaygeon Art Show

Left to right: Lorraine, me, Tina and Jan! A deep heartfelt thank you goes out to my team here! Where would I be without your help!

On Saturday, December 1st, my in-laws and I piled into their van with my huge pink suitcase, a purple duffel bag, two big shopping bags, three garbage bags and a Christmas tree. I'd been rushing around like a maniac all week packing everything and making sure nothing was forgotten and I had to make a special trip to Zellers to get the Christmas tree which was on sale cheap even though we had some issues with my VISA pin number. I'm thankful that the guy was able to put me through after all. He says he wasn't really supposed to but he didn't want me going home empty handed which was so good of him and I really appreciated that! :) On the morning of this event I dragged my suitcase out of the garage and up the front steps so it would be the first thing brought out to the van and we knew for sure it wouldn't be forgotten. Still I actually did have a moment of panic when I thought we HAD forgotten the suitcase. It was a long, boring drive which is why Dave didn't want to go. There wouldn't have been room for him anyway. My papier-mache animals took up the entire seat next to me. They were wrapped in garbage bags in case of any percipitation. When we arrived in Bobcaygeon we all pulled into the Grilled Cheese Hideaway. It was easy to find with its big, green sign right next to the butcher shop on King Street. Ted and Marnie and I were at least 15 or 20 minutes early so we had a coffee while we waited for my friends to show up. First Lorraine and then Jan and her friend Tina who I met for the first time. We enjoyed an excellent lunch and had one more pleasant surprise. Jean and Joe showed up and sat near us. They hadn't left for Florida yet because she brought the MURAL I did for her to be part of the exhibit! Grilled Cheese Hideaway had an amazing assortment of sandwiches. I want to try something different each time I go there. On my first visit I tried something called the “Culture Club”: Swiss cheese, bacon, tomato and smoked turkey on marble rye. Jan had something with BEETS! She's allergic to gluten so she asked for “no bread” and they actually made it into a nice salad for her. And Lorraine had the “Practically Hip”, named after the band Tragically Hip. That's what they call their basic grilled cheese sandwich here and besides Lorraine had helped out at the Tragically Hip's concert in Bobcaygeon selling “Tragically Chip” cookies. I'm going to have to get their DVD one of these days because there is an interview with her on it! Their desserts are good too, their two-bite brownies. Lorraine had the cheesecake one and I had the chocolate mint which I ate slowly and took tiny bites to make it last.

After our good salubrious feast we headed to the gallery and went straight to work. I was delighted to find out that the walls are made out of some kind of burlap/carpet/upholstery so we could just pin the quilts in place. They provided pins but there weren't enough so I gave Tina two dollars and she popped out to Pick'n'Save and got us some more. We put T-shirts and the Honeymoon Horses in one cabinet and dolls in another. The bears and puppets sat on the counter beneath the most recent quilt. I found I had to sit down and have some quiet time every now and then because I felt a little overwhelmed by such a flurry of activity going on. At first they didn't know where the mannequin was and I thought they wouldn't be able to display my wedding dress. But close to the end of the day Barb McFadden showed up with the mannequin. And it wasn't just ANY mannequin! It was the one that actually used to belong to my MOM! She must have donated it to the museum before she died! My wedding dress was probably the last thing she made on that thing so it fit on there perfectly. Unfortunately, this was the first time my gown had seen the light of day in almost a decade and it looked pretty shabby after sitting folded inside a box for all those years. Even more dismaying were a few nasty brown stains that looked like rust. Go figure. My poor dress had been in a cupboard above the stairs sharing company with rusty old paint cans and crap like that. Last summer when I wanted to display it at the previous show I thought it was lost and gone forever, that I had probably gone and hung it on a tree somewhere during my manic episode! But last year at around this time our landlord actually found it when he was tearing out that cupboard over the stairs. I was ecstatic! And now that my dress is being displayed the museum staff will freshen it up and make it look a bit more presentable. I brought two wigs and my tiara but they're just going to have to stay in the bag as it is just a dressmaker's dummy and therefore has no head.

We did our best to display the quilts in chronological order. These are my first three. In the corner you will see at least part of my Interactive Art table. I spread out the first row of my latest quilt, a work in progress, along with its original drawings, horse pictures for guests to decorate and quilt squares that they can take home to embroider for me if they so desire. Here is a virtual tour of my show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWyqhaKh5y4 You can take your time and get a close-up look at all these things in person between now and the end of January and even buy most of it. The Boyd Museum is located at 21 Canal Street East,

Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Here are some more pictures of my show:

Beetlebomb's Book Nook

Other People's Weddings by Noah Hawley and This is Your Song, Lola Rose, by Donna Hay. Other People's Weddings is the story of Laurie, a wedding photographer who decides to do something a little bit differently. As she is already in her 30's she feels like her romantic options are dwindling. Her nineteen-year-old assistant Jerome becomes a “friend with benefits” as she takes it upon herself to create an unique project of doing “Follow-Up” photos of the brides and grooms she photographed years earlier. Not all marriages have withstood the test of time. Some have ended in ugly divorce and domestic abuse has taken place. More misunderstandings take place when she shows the man she's attracted to the “wrong” family photo album. This album was an art project using actors to portray her family life the way it REALLY was rather than the idyllic shots that depict the happier moments of her childhood. Other People's Weddings was a fascinating read from start to finish and would make a great movie. This is Your Song, Lola Rose is the story of a young woman whom at her father's funeral finds out that the bully who abused her and her mother wasn't her real father at all and that her real father is none other than Rick Wild, a very famous rock star. Seeing that her boring life at home in Leeds, England is going nowhere in a hurry, she ends up getting a job as Rick's tour manager where she gets to know her new extended family as the adventures continue to unfold before her. I really enjoyed this book although there's one inaccuracy I have to point out. American midways do not have Coconut Shys! At least none that I know of. The Coconut Shy is a staple carnival game of British midways. It is the subject of the song “I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.” The idea is to win a coconut by knocking it off the top of a pole. Okay, so I realize I'm going off on a tangent here but carnival games and fairground trivia is my thing. Another British fairground staple is the Lucky Dip. Players stick their arms deep into a huge barrel filled with sawdust or shredded newspaper to grab for prizes hidden within. Anyway, enough said about the midway. Lola meets Rick's ex-wife, Dinah who has been their tour manager up until now and his present wife, Britt, as well as her half-siblings, Tiffany and Jay. At first Jay really hates Lola but they gradually become friends. And Tiffany's life has been a train-wreck, in and out of rehab, abusing drugs, etc. However love blooms between Tiffany and Rick's roadie, Hamish. This was another enjoyable read that I didn't want to put down!

Dear Mom and Dad
Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 Dear Mom and Dad Hello; How's everything in Heaven? Say hello to all those children from Connecticut for me. If I don't get my carousel built here on earth within this lifetime I like to think that when the time comes I'll be building it up there for them. The media has been running the story ad nauseum from every conceivable angle, even to say that the guy who shot them was on the autism spectrum like me! As if we don't already struggle enough with our reputation! Seriously, though, my heart goes out to all the parents who are facing a very sad Christmas without these kids. Christmas can be such a difficult time of year for families who have lost a loved one. These kids had their whole lives ahead of them. Why would God allow them to be taken away so soon? It was difficult enough for me losing both of you even though you'd earned your rest and served your purpose. One thing to remember is that for every ending there is a new beginning. I really wish you could be here to see all the exciting things that have been happening lately. My art show in Bobcaygeon is doing really well. In fact the folks from the gallery have been so good to send me the article from the local paper! Mom, I want to thank you for donating your dressmaker's mannequin to the museum! It was a lovely surprise to have it right there for my wedding dress. That must have been one of the last things you ever made on it so it fit on there perfectly. Wish I could say the same for me but I'd probably have to lose at least 80 pounds to get back into it. NOT...GOING...TO...HAPPEN!!! At least not in this lifetime! School has been fun lately. I want to thank you for teaching me how to knit. Mom, I will probably never get to be as good at it as you are and the pencil case I made is so NOT perfect. I should have waited until I was closer to the end before attempting to make my buttonhole, but what the heck. Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

Remember how when you taught me how to knit I started a knitting club at school during recess. I think I brought a bunch of kids over after school to our place and you helped me teach them although some of them may have already known how. We wanted to piece together a bunch of patches to make

a quilt to raise funds for the Humane Society. Back then we really believed they really helped animals. Well I guess they do to some extent but it makes me sad that they can't find homes for every one. Do you get Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe up there? If so you would have noticed that the most recent episode just happened to go with what we've been learning in school. Morley decided to start a new tradition and have the family make gifts for each other so she took a course to build Sam a chair and Sam decided that he wanted her to teach him how to knit! I wanted to make a COAT for his sister, but after several failed attempts all he ended up with was a headband. Meanwhile, he brought his knitting to his friend's house. Morley was afraid he was going to be teased but instead he ended up teaching his friends how to knit. It was hilarious to imagine all these ten-year-old boys at a hockey game knitting!! Our project in class was to knit a cell phone cover, but since I don't have a cell phone I decided I'd go bigger and make a case for my pencil-crayons! Speaking of pencil crayons, today was our raffle in school. Every year before Christmas we have a draw and they try to fix it in such a way that nearly everybody wins something. Each student gets three tickets to fill in and put into the bucket for whichever three prizes they'd like to win. There were gift certificates, kids' toys, groceries, etc. I voted for the candy dispenser, the gingerbread house kit and a set of Crayola art supplies. It would have been nice to win the gingerbread house kit although knowing Dave he'd rather just eat the walls without assembling the house. I would have wanted to build the house because it would have been an interesting creative challenge for me. I've still never built a gingerbread house before and I likely would have shared my step-by-step pictures in this newsletter! Anyway, I ended up winning the Crayola art supplies. I was really only interested in the pencil-crayons. They're just like the set I have now except that I'm running low on several in my previous set, especially red! The other things were a kit to make reusable stickers and a kit to colour jigsaw puzzles and both came with special markers that could only be used on a special kind of paper so they can't make a mess anywhere else. I let one of my classmates have those because she's been looking for non-mess markers for her kids. Anyway, tomorrow is a really big day at school. We're having a CRAFT SHOW! Since last Thursday I've been working away like a maniac to try to make as many carousel horses as possible because the rest of my herd are all in Bobcaygeon!! I wanted to make an even 30 but I'm just short of enough stuffing to not have enough for the last one so there's only 29!

I'll probably have more stuffing left over when I buy quilt batting for my summative project that's due at the end of the term. That's going to be a surprise which I hope to feature in the February issue of Planet Nilknarf.

The other night I had an extremely vivid dream about both of you. We were standing in a parking lot. It almost looked like my old workplace in Lindsay and I was hugging you both and crying begging you not to leave or take me with you. Then the dream changed and I appeared to be riding in some kind of a wagon. There were no horse or driver of any kind. It seemed to be moving under its own power and I'll never forget the night sky above me. There were more stars than I've ever seen in my life and the moon was HUGE, bigger than I've EVER seen it. Then the dream changed and I was at some sort of social gathering where I didn't know anyone. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time but I felt lonelier than ever because nobody could see or hear me. I figured that if I was already in heaven nobody could see me because it wasn't my time yet. I just KNOW God has something REALLY BIG planned for me and this art show is just the beginning. Love and Hugs, Margaret

Shocking Truths and Opinions
This month's topic: It's Okay to be Angry at God Now and Then Okay I know what you’re thinking: W...T..F? Seriously. We all get angry with the people we love. Especially when it seems like they've disappointed us. Getting angry is a normal part of the grieving process. Keeping it all bottled up inside is counter-productive. It's okay. God understands. He's willing to listen. Even if He seems distant He's right there waiting for you to bombard Him with your angry rants about the injustice He's allowed to befall you. I got the idea to share this topic when I was listening to CBC radio and there was a rabbi who said he had written a book about this very subject.

Now don't get me wrong. I know Joyce Meyer has said a million times “Praise and Be Raised, Complain and Remain.” But sometimes you have to allow yourself an angry rant so you can get it out of your system before you're ready to move on. It's okay. God really does understand. The important thing is that although it's okay to express your anger toward Him, or more accurately the injustices He's allowed but don't let the sun go down on your anger. Easy for me to say when things are going well at the moment but I admit it's been easy to be annoyed when I've been sick. Even to the point when I temporarily renounced my faith and decided to stop believing in Him for awhile. NOT OKAY! During my temporary stint as an atheist I had never felt so lonely in my life. I KNEW SOMETHING was missing. I guess you could say that the best thing about being angry with someone is making up. I guess it depends on the situation. There are some people who are out of my life forever. Ex-boyfriends, a former boss, an incompetent friend who lost my merchandise. But God is always there and He will wait patiently for you. His mercies are new every morning. When you say you're sorry and are ready to let go of that anger He will gladly welcome you with open arms. Not enough lately has been said about His mercy or unconditional love. Many of us have left the church because of all this talk about judgment. We look for comfort. We even flip through the Bible looking for words of encouragement only to find passages about patience and discipline. No wonder we get frustrated and give up. After my breakup with Butthead, the story of the Prodigal Son seemed to turn up everywhere. It was just what I needed during a season where I knew I had blown it and begged for God's forgiveness. I stepped into a season of exciting new adventures and new friends. But the season starting with the day Michael Jackson died was the start of at least two or three years of tribulation tapering off ever so slowly after my mom passed away. The day of Michael Jackson's death was the start of my first annual two/three-month period from hell. All these medical tests. The Bartholin cyst. Finding out about my mother's illness. Alopecia. Even the carousel convention wasn't as good as it should have been. But God was there all the time carrying me even though He seemed distant. 2011 didn't totally suck. Despite the fact that I was so sick during last year's convention I rode some pretty amazing carousels and got some great pictures and it was my first show at the art gallery and my first Bobcaygeon quilt show at the Heritage Pioneer Village. And when I finally had my surgery I was finally healed from my period problems. I may never understand why God took my mother away or allowed me to have all these tribulations but the important thing to remember is that He gave me what I needed to survive and He was patient with me even when I was angry with Him. So next time you feel like life is unfair and you feel angry with God, remember, this too will pass. He's waiting and listening. It may seem like nothing is happening at the moment but he's got amazing things going on behind the scenes that you haven't even begun to imagine. You may be feeling angry now but a year or two you will look back and realize that He brought you through. You survived. You may have been angry and yelled at Him, asked Him “WHY” and ranted about how unfair everything was but once you got it out of your system, allowed yourself to cool down, and asked for forgiveness you were ready to move on and things gradually started falling into place. Another thing that Joyce Meyer has often said that I wholeheartedly agree with is “I may not be where I need to be, but Thank God I'm NOT where I USED to be.” Remember, we all get angry with our loved ones every now and then but it's important to repair the damage to those relationships before it's too late. Even Janette and I went through a season where

we weren't speaking to each other. It was one of the worst times of my life that started before Christmas of 2005 and lasted until practically the following Valentine's Day. I'll spare you the details of the argument. The most important part was how good it felt to finally make up again. Those had to be two or three of the longest months of my life and we couldn't let something like that come between us.

Lucky Penny Ice Breaker
This is my feature where I select at least two or three random coins and reflect on what happened during those particular years. This time I just happen to have a penny from 1967. It was Canada's Centennial year. I was three years old and my parents took me to the Centennial celebration at Shopper's World. There was a train whose horn played the tune of “O Canada”. Inside the train was a traveling museum with exhibits of Canada's History. I don't really remember that much of it myself, mostly from what my dad tells me. It was there that I rode my first carousel and met a real live clown for the first time! Clowns and carousels have been two of my favorite things for as long as I can remember. I'm lucky I was never afraid of clowns because I had several clown toys when I was that age including a yellow plastic rollpoly and two inflatable clowns whom I called “Harvey” and “Charley”. We didn't take any pictures at this Centennial celebration but somewhere in the family album are pictures of me sitting on the couch with all my dolls lined up, holding a flag in each hand. This was also the year I got Nancy. Aunt Jean and Uncle Alex gave her to me in Sarnia and she was the biggest doll I'd ever seen! In fact we were both about the same size so we could wear each other's clothing. In many ways Nancy was more than a doll. She was a member of the family. This was the year we moved out of Scarborough and into our townhouse at Forest Manor. And just a few short months later we had to stay at a motel somewhere in Flesherton and nobody remembers why. All my mom remembers is that the whole time we stayed at that motel I wouldn't stop crying. Mainly because A. I thought we were moving again and B. I couldn't take Nancy with me. I was devastated because I thought I'd never see her again. Go figure I went through months without finding any change on the sidewalk until recently when one day I found a1996 penny on the sidewalk and the next day I found one from 1991. We'll start with 1991. I was living in Lindsay, working at Victoria Laundry, living in my very own apartment for the first time. I'd been living there since September of 1990 and it was September of this year that I went to my very first National Carousel Association convention in Sandusky, Ohio, which is where I met and became friends with Richard Concepcion. It was my question about the Partridge Family at King's Island that broke the ice. We've been good friends ever since and I created close to a hundred “Life With Louella” episodes for his cable TV show Rapid T. Rabbit and friends. 1996 will always be special to me for the year of the KISS Reunion Tour. Prior to that it was the year Janette and I moved out of the basement apartment we shared at 80 Mintwood and she relocated to 106 Kennard while I moved to 506 Westmount, also both basement apartments. It was shortly after that we both saw KIDEO in concert in Markham, but since they had three consecutive shows that day they did not come out to sign autographs. We did see them in Peterborough that fall though. But off course the KISS Reunion tour was the big buzz that year and I knew I just HAD to get tickets for that. I don't remember how I got through. The phone is usually so busy when I try to call about that sort of thing but I remember picking the tickets up at the box office on my way to the bowling alley where our church group was playing and while I was there “Rock and Roll All Nite” was playing. On the night of the concert Janette came over to my place first and I did our makeup. She was Ace and I was Gene. A guy in Paul Stanley makeup was playing his guitar and singing KISS songs outside the

Sky Dome so I sang along with him. The concert itself was amazing. There were four giant inflatable figures, two on either side of the stage. It was everything a KISS concert should be. Another special thing about 1996 was that it was the year Janette and I took our second Niagara trip together. It was our first overnight trip and we stayed at the Maple Leaf. Janette's family have stayed there several times over the years and so have we since then, however it no longer exists nowadays. That was the weekend that it took forever to get the last batch of dolls filled before I left work and Janette and I took a taxi from the Dufferin Mall. Worst Mistake Ever. The subway would have been faster. The driver we had had super-scary fingernails like Freddy Kreuger and took the longest, most complicated route to the bus terminal hitting every red light and stop sign imaginable and it cost us something like $11 to get there. That was a lot of money in those days. We managed to catch the bus at the last second and it absolutely CRAWLED through some of the worst rush-hour traffic we ever experienced! And that was the Saturday it rained all day!! It was the Mother's Day weekend as well as the weekend of their Blossom Festival parade. After half an hour hunched between a pathetic little umbrella, just after the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile went by we got up and marched along the parade route in the opposite direction where we watched the rest of the parade from inside the Niagara Museum gift shop!

That was perhaps one of the few rare times Janette's hair was actually longer than mine. And there were these big fiberglass dinosaurs outside the museum where I had this picture taken. The Niagara Museum is no more. The building has been gutted and in its place now is the Aviary or Lost Birds Kingdom, as it is called. I found out about that place in 2003 when the bus went through Niagara on my way home from Binghamton. I love Niagara Falls and when I was on that bus looking out at all those happy tourists I was tempted to just get out there and stay a few days but that's another story . I must not go off on tangents. This was the year that we walked across to the States side and went to this greenhouse at this mall and everywhere we looked there were all these weddings being photographed. At that point in our lives it was so depressing because neither of us had men in our lives and we felt like nobody would EVER want us. We both went to Tommy Ryan's restaurant for supper where we ordered a carafe of white wine and got roaring drunk. Poor Janette. Alcohol just makes her sleepy, whereas get a few drinks in me I was getting quite loud and boisterous and would laugh at anything. I was so hyper and talkative I was surprised when Janette was almost finished her meal already. Usually I'm the one who's finished first. She tends to be a slow eater and no matter how slowly I eat I always tend to inhale my food whether I want to or not! “GORDON BENNET!!! You're finished ALREADY???!” I exclaimed. Our buzz wore off by the time we got back to our hotel room and we were watching the movie “City Slickers” The next day was nice and sunny out and we visited the greenhouse and the Minolta Tower. It was the first time I'd been to either place. The Minolta Tower has changed so much since that visit. When we came back to it on our 2010 trip we were practically the only ones there and the place had gorgeous carpeting and comfy chairs and couches where we could sit and enjoy a nice long quiet time.

We are hoping to go there again in the summer of 2013 but I am very worried about finances. It will be a miracle if I can afford to go. Part of the reason I'm so broke is because this year I took THREE trips. If I have to choose ONE trip for 2013 it will have to be the carousel convention. Niagara Falls isn't going to run away. The NCA goes somewhere different EVERY year.

The Carousel of Friendship
This has been a very exciting year for The Carousel of Friendship. True, I may be no closer to having it actually built than I was last year but it has been an exciting year for Merchandise and Models. The three papier-mache models are on display at the Boyd Museum in Bobcaygeon, along with my first batch of “Collector's Edition” soft sculpture miniatures. 2012 has brought us the stuffed version of Janette Tansley's “Honeymoon Horse” and 2013 will bring us a different horse. For now it is a surprise.

The REAL triumph will be when my first animal is finally CARVED OUT OF WOOD! I don't know how or when that will happen but when it does it will make the front page. Meanwhile, I think this art display in Bobcaygeon is the biggest thing that has happened to the Carousel Project so far! And I hope I can make it an annual tradition with something different to see every year! Especially if visitors show their support by participating in the Art Table and taking home a horse or two to decorate and return to me so it can be featured on future quilts. Don't forget, my exhibit will be on display at 21 Canal Street in Bobcaygeon until the end of January so if you get a chance go for it!! In the meantime I created one more square for the quilt:

I decorated that horse in Sabrina's class last year and I KNEW that I wanted to trim it with this particular fabric. Here's the original drawing that inspired this horse:

I drew that years ago when Janette and I were living in Toronto. I can hardly wait to see what the other artists design! Meanwhile I am happy to say that the craft sale last Thursday at school went very well despite the fact it was only half an hour long. I sold ELEVEN horses!! We are planning to have ANOTHER Craft Sale on Community Day which is some time in February so the rest of my horses will be back from Bobcaygeon and I will get to give another speech to one of the classes. There will be no art class next term, sadly, but in that case I believe they will have me giving my presentation to the Cultural Anthropology class. My previous Community Day presentation was very well received:

It was a good year for the Symposium and it was a good year for SATH (Special Attention to Handicapped) in Pakistan. They have completed the embroidery of ten squares and have lots of artwork done, however we are at a standstill because we don't know how we are going to get it here to me in Canada because they can't afford the postage and I don't know how to pay them for it. At least not yet. It shouldn't be that expensive. I'm sure it would all fit in a big envelope. They have done a very good job so far though. Javed, a young lad with polio, designed this horse and

so far I've used it on the first square and a “stained glass” (cellophane) window in art class:

Here's the “logo” square and a young lady at work on one of the squares we sent:

When I finally assemble the quilt and trim each square I want to use strictly fabric in red, white and green to match the Canadian and Pakistani flags. 2012 being an even-numbered year was also my fourth Geneva Autism Symposium. I did really well, considering that this year I could only be there for one day. I probably would have made even more money if I could have done it for two days as usual but this year they had to do things differently because they have so many artists and not enough room for all of them at once. Last year they had crowding issues because of this and crowds are SO NOT a good thing for people on the autism spectrum! Even though I wish I could have sold more by being there longer it was actually nicer this way because A. it didn't get as packed and B. Commuting two days in a row gets to be too grueling! I am thankful for Maria and her son who delivered my suitcase to me the next day so I wouldn't have to lug it on the train. This was the first Symposium without any drama! 2013, being an odd-numbered year, will be the next Bobcaygeon quilt show in September at the Heritage Pioneer Village. I hope to do this event again and this time have even more quilts than before for sure! It would be nice if I had Joey's project done by then but I'll be lucky if I finish three or four new squares by the time Jean and Anne get back from Florida. It would be nice to have her mural done by December so it can go in the Boyd Museum show too. Here's the progress I've made so far:

Year-End Reflections
2012 has been an interesting and exciting year, full of its ups and downs. School has been great. I've enjoyed my art and photography classes and I am really enjoying this Fashion and Creative Expression course. Dave's leg is gradually getting better and now instead of having to wait for a nurse to come to the house from St. Elizabeth's every few days, he goes to a clinic on Bond Street to have his dressing changed. At first this seemed like it would be a pain but this way at least has more certainty. No waiting for someone who might not show up if they haven't received any word about his shift change. We are also very glad that the strike at his workplace only lasted two days. It would have been a lot nicer if he didn't have to strike at all because it was so cold rainy and miserable at that time due to the tail end of Hurricane Sandy brushing up against our neighbourhood. We are so lucky we weren't hit even though we endured cold rainy weather as a result and at least all the antique wooden carousels we've known and loved have been safe and protected. I may have to skip the 2013 Niagara Trip this year because I'm scared I can't afford it. I'm afraid I'll be paying off my debts forever! Niagara Falls will not run away. In fact I'll probably appreciate it even more in 2014 when we go there to celebrate my 50th birthday, but the National Carousel Association goes somewhere different EVERY year even though after the last convention I thought I might skip the next one because I felt so knackered after that one! Part of the reason I'm so broke these days is because I took THREE vacations in 2012. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown back in March and Janette and I agreed we just HAD to spend a few days in Niagara together!! I'm glad we did because it was our only vacation without any unwanted DRAMA!!! One of these days I am willing to give North Bay another chance but we'll probably take the TRAIN and we will DEFINITELY stay at the NEW Days Inn!!! I am hoping that next year will be full of exciting new adventures to share between these pages of Planet Nilknarf, another year of colourful artwork, carousels and hopefully some things that are completely different. It makes me sad that I missed this year's Royal Winter Fair. For some strange reason it just wasn't meant to be. It also annoyed me that I had to get two colds in a row toward the end of this year. I was hit with one on Thanksgiving Monday that dragged on and on until just before school started in November and then the day after my friends helped me set up my exhibit at the Bobcaygeon gallery it hit me like a ton of bricks without any warning! Usually when I'm getting a cold it starts with a sore throat and I can take something and go to sleep to ward it off but this time I woke up with it. My lungs were squeaking like a rusty hinge and I had the most horrendous chills. No amount of blankets in the world could get me warm and even a hot bath was useless because the parts of me that didn't fit under the water were even colder! It's times like this when I get frustrated with God and wonder what I must have done to deserve such a punishment! I just have to keep reminding myself that I've been through this before! It WILL end! I WILL get better. I am pretty much over it now but I still get the occasional nagging cough, especially when I'm trying to settle down to get to sleep at night. As for New Year's resolutions I have but one. Once the school year starts again I want to start getting up at 6 so I will be used to it by the time next term starts because my Grade 12 Computer class starts at 8:30! The class I'm in now starts at 11. I'm afraid I am SO NOT a morning person. In fact left to my own devices I am DOWNRIGHT NOCTURNAL!!! In fact last night I went to bed early but when my aunt phoned I was unable to go back to sleep so I ended up staying awake until 5 am and sleeping

until NOON!! This is a very bad habit to get into especially if I go to another carousel convention because we always have to be up so early on these bus tours! I need to start training months in advance so the transition won't be such a shock to me by then. I think that's part of the reason I crashed and burned so embarrassingly at the last convention! I also resolve to stuff my face on everything in sight and and gain as much weight as possible so I won't be able to fit through the door and have to stay in bed for the rest of my life so maybe they'll make a reality TV show about me!! BAZINGA!! I wrote that knowing full well that when I make a New Year's Resolution I ALWAYS end up doing the OPPOSITE!!! We have been enjoying a lovely Christmas holiday so far and I'd like to thank Ted and Marnie for having Dave and I over for supper on Sunday night and driving us around to see the Christmas Lights. Perhaps this will be another exciting new tradition: This is the first of many videos I shot during our tour around town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG_6zjkFwfI My apologies for the shaky camera work. It was a bit of a bumpy ride. And there's more where that came Wishing all my readers all the best for 2013. I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate!!

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close