Tag Archives: hospitality

A Family That Lays Down Track is a Happy Family

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DSC_2734I’m feeling elated.  A 6:30 a.m. drive, delivering my son to work…sleepy-head chatting…setting the digital clock in the car…making observations of Deerfoot Trail at this time of day.  A nice way to experience daylight savings time!  Max and I stopped on the way home and stepped into the center of a huge field of crispy dry grass.  As he bounded to and fro, I had time with the sky, the stars, bright studs in the darkness, revealing themselves more clearly, the longer I was present.  I am so graced by morning.

Seated in the sixth row pew each Sunday, I have the chance to connect with my friend, Johanne. I seem to have a little home in that row, having always shared it with people like Carol and Adam and for years, Johanne, when she travels from Sudbury to make time for her Calgary children. Another beautiful homily was delivered by Father Cristino-Bouvette at Mass and such grace received in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

So many reasons today, to feel grateful…

I think that some of the joy I feel today is a result of the evening spent with my children.  Family dinner was changed to Saturday and my daughter and her husband hosted.  On the menu, a wonderful Jamie Oliver light caesar salad minus the anchovies.  It is an excellent recipe!  Try it!!  We then put together our own home made pizzas on Cobs pizza bases.  Topped with a lovely sauce, mozzarella cheese, mushroom, roasted bell peppers and artichoke, these were amazing.  Yummers!

We followed good eats with a game of Ticket to Ride and all seemed well with the world!  I knew I was returning home to a nice smelling dog, given the earlier Saturday afternoon shampooing at the Car-Dog Wash.  A weekend doesn’t get much better than this!

 

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CTV News Welcomes Gorilla House LIVE ART Artists

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It was dark.  There was a chill in the air.  I got up at 4:30, made coffee, brushed my teeth.  When I arrived at Tim Horton’s to pick up Elijah, it was chilly and there were only a few people shuffling in for their morning coffee.  I bought two fruit explosion muffins and waited for my buddy-in-art to arrive.  It was all very exciting, but in a very surreal, understated way.  I had only curled into bed at 1:30 a.m….this, after uploading Terry Storey’s fantastic time lapse stuff onto movie maker after a more than exhilarating night at the Gorilla House.

Elijah navigated the journey up to the CTV location…we entered, with the guidance of the security guard and found Chen, Des and Rich waiting.  Nina did a wonderful job of orienting us with the program and how to conduct ourselves and arrange all of this artist-stuff that we had heaped into the space.

I thought Rich Theroux gave an exemplary interview that can be viewed on the CTV website.

We were all very proud and excited. Jefferson Humphries and Aisling Tomei were both genuinely interested in our process and were very helpful.  It was just such a fun thing to do.

Photo Credit: CTV News

When in just a few minutes, the wheel was spun, we were given the concept….“feeling anxious one hour after another”.  I thought this suitable for the moment, but once again, wondered what would actually land itself onto my panel.  I felt the space was charged with the sense of team players, both in the news component AND on the tarp, where we began to paint diligently.  Some of us were just beginning to feel awake.

Photo Credit: Chen Li

The news monologues and the interim conversations amongst the anchors hummed in the background…E. coli….rats in Medicine Hat…weather….traffic blocked in so many directions…time passed quickly.

Photo Credit: CTV News Battle in Progress

I thought of the twelve hours, representing them through the figures.  I kept the eyes closed…limiting outside visual stimulation for the subjects.  I allowed the colour palette to dictate a sense of anxiety.

Jefferson Humphries and another gent from the control room continued to visit with us as we heaped our belongings into our cars.  I really was so impressed by the hospitality and the engaging conversations!  A wonderful time!

Overlooking the city at the end of the Battle.

Driving home was peaceful…quiet exchange of stories…a good off-leash exercise for Max-man…and a day filled with positivity.  I am grateful to CTV Morning LIVE for hosting an event that supports the visual arts in the city of Calgary and showcases a relationship between viewer and artist.

The scariest moment is always just before you start. Stephen King