Oct 2020 **** I cannot believe it - I got myself scammed online today. 😒A friend emailed to say that had an urgent favour to ask and could I help. I did notice it was a different email than usual, but weirdly decided it didn't mean anything. IT DOES!!!!! Anyway, suffice to say I bought something for them, and when it dawned on me what had happened, I quickly contacted Paypal to cancel it, and put a lock on my Visa and called Visa too (but of course they NEVER answered - Visa is useless with the phone). Paypal quickly refunded me, thank goodness but I felt stupid the rest of the day! On another subject I am going in for a heart ablation next week. It's a bit daunting in that I have to get to Victoria the day before since they need me at the hospital for 7am. Ugh. My friend (not the scammy one) will drive me an stay with the night after the procedure. Last time I had no real trouble afterwards so I am hopeful for the same this time. Such a production though - we have to find ca...

 Sat., Sept. 5, 2020 *** This blog is kind of turning into my morning pages, in a way. I blather on about whatever is on my mind today. I do not think it would be of much interest to other people, but then again, who knows? I am not a deep thinker but I can be mildly interesting sometimes, and occasionally even funny. No promises, however. THEATRE - Last weekend we had an invited public reading of Wendy Judith Cutler's new play, Undutiful Daughter. (See photo)  There were about 15 people in the audience, a cast of 4 and of course Wendy and Cory. Everyone wore masks as they entered, and they took them off once seated. We had sanitizer and paper towels available, too. Dr Bonnie would have been proud of us!   The cast was ( left to right in PHOTO ) Wendy Beatty, Barb Slater, myself and Kevin Wilkie. Robert was the usherette and also facilitated the short talkback; Cory handled the front gate and telling about protocols how to socially distance in their chairs. Jean brought ...

 Sunday, Sept 6, 2020 Is it STILL 2020? When will this end please? Anyway - had a lovely socially distanced meet up with Diane who is leaving the island, and Sandra and myself over at Kareen's place outdoors. She is going back to Kimberly where she knows she can find a good rental - indeed already has. Here is impossible nearly. We lose so many people due to lack of rentals. We are always short of nurses and restaurant staff of all sorts, including chefs. But I guess there is no money in building rentals or someone would be doing it! I heard that POD is also closing, as well as Frankly Scarlet - both clothing, jewelery and shoe places. Also Rhubarb has moved to Victoria. We don't have enough tourists now to sustain those places, plus they have very high rent. Landlords refused to budge on rental costs so now they will have no one renting those spots. C'est la vie, I suppose. Today we have a plumbing emergency - the toilet appears to be backed up - not overflowing (gross), b...

 Sept. 27, 2020 *** ACTING! I do miss it and I wonder about getting back to it. I did a little acting of a kind today with a friend who was doing an audition self tape for a tv show. I was her reader. It was very fun of course, and done over Zoom. Isn't everything these days? Anyway, she's in Vancouver and telling me that Netflix has just bought a bunch of studios there, plus all the Hallmark movies that are done over there. Sure, Hallmark scripts are cotton candy fluff with no real drama or point, but they are work! And being on set can be so much fun. I will be thinking about talking to my former agent about it. I am in a different category now that I have long white hair, I am a lot older, and not quite as fat as formerly but still robustly rotund. Not sure what roles they would consider me for - probably anything loud and obnoxious. I don't look like the sweet granny type that's for sure! Something to chew on. My first headshot - Gah! So dreadful. Maybe 1996? My las...

 New pottery - some from a workshop I took with the fabulous Julie MacKinnon and some I did on my own (which is not fired yet.) I always have fun at the workshops and this time my friends Sue and Susannah were also there, which adds to the enjoyment. <I like making slab work like this open bowl.  And I tried throwing a plate at home on my borrowed-from-Julie wheel. ^ I think it's the new speckled clay, which is not as soft as the white but definitely softer than the curry. I will underglaze this one, I think. And this big bowl - WOW. Love it. Meanwhile, down in Idaho miss Stevie Dirks is going great guns, throwing mugs like a pro and selling already! What! I spawned an artistic genius. It sure didn't come from me, her talent. It is all her own. I will keep playing with clay and hopefully improve on all my skills, but I do not see selling anything in my future. Hey I tried painting some clouds too. Youtube was very helpful. It is not finished yet, but I am enjoying adding de...

Wed Sept 2, 2020 🌀 "Another gorgeous morning in paradise!" This is a standard greeting on our little Salt  Spring Island. It points out how lucky most of us feel to live here. Currently, the Covid crisis seems far away - no cases here that we know of! We are surrounded by beauty, and the ocean, and we all walk on incredible beaches and forest tails, and swim in clear warm lakes, and eat from our overflowing organic gardens. Yesterday morning a pod of Orcas wandered into my own Fulford Harbour, and I see Eagles every single day and every manner of songbird and woodpeckers. Hell, we don't even have skunks here in paradise - just racoons, mink and the ever-present huge population of island deer (smaller than your average deer so they all kinda remind you of Bambi.) Yes, it's another gorgeous morning in paradise. I will partake of the beauty today and go for a forest walk this morning, and perhaps a beach walk later in the day when the sun is hotter. My dog enjoys swimmi...