Leaves and wind and sun

We've had some blustery weather of late, denuding the trees and leaving us scrambling to pull the mitts and hats out of storage for another year.  I'm of the opinion that it is far too early for such things but chilled kids win the vote every time.  Over the weekend things warmed up considerably.

It was warm enough to get a few jobs done.  My workshop needs to be winterized but first things first - it had to be cleaned.  Once it was cleaned it seemed like we should finish Trixie.  Remember Trixie?  She the albino black cat my daughter and I made for Hallowe'en.

She's almost done:

Complete with scary teeth.

It was supposed to be a Cheshire Grin but didn't really turn out that way.  All we need to do is light her up from the inside and she'll be ready for the big night at the end of the month.

It was also nice enough that the crew working on the park for the Heritage Committee made some real headway.  They did a bit more over the weekend, but this is where they were at as of Saturday morning:

The Corner is coming along really nicely and everyone I've spoken to has been pleased with the results.  I have been told that most, if not all, of the landscaping work should be done by the end of the week.

Across from the park in the Fergus Market Building is a place which offers archery lessons.  My son has expressed an interest and even went as far as to build his own play bow over the summer.  I took him over on Saturday afternoon and he proved to be a quick study:

He looks pretty excited, right?  With good cause.

That's a Bullseye from about ten yards out.  We'll be going again soon, I'm sure.

To finish off a brilliant autumn day - what better than a fire...

And yes, that big jar next to the kettle on the table behind me - jam packed with marshmallows for roasting.

Hard Frost

It has been a while since my last post.  Thanksgiving has come and gone and the first really hard frost hit us the night before last.

A few weeks back the family headed out to the farm I grew up on to make a few repairs to my mother's house.  While we were there I took the kids for a walk around the perimeter of the property.  A lot has changed since I was growing up there and yet a lot remains the same.  During the walk every hundred yards or so we'd sample the ripening apples on the trees we passed that grow in the fence rows.  Apart from the tree in the barnyard with the enormous pie apples, I don't really recall sampling the fruit from the trees scattered along the edges of the property.

We were surprised at the variety and the bounty.  Some were tart but one tree has these amazingly sweet apples.  Most are snow white on the inside.  One tree has whitish flesh with red tints bleeding through.  All of the trees were heavily laden and all about was the evidence of deer.  Apparently the trees are a favourite among the local ungulate population.

Last weekend we made an afternoon trip during a break from what has seemed like constant rain to pick apples.  Here's what we came away with:

We've now sorted and stored most of these apples in the root cellar and the rest have been made into sauce and used in cooking.  The front porch still smells comfortably of apples.

With Thanksgiving came the fall colours.  Some trees are mid-change:

Others have completely changed like this great tree just down the street:

And others, like this one in our front yard, have lost their leaves completely:

In writing news, I continue to plod away at Patriot.  I haven't been writing as much as I would like.  Holidays and school PD days have been playing havoc with anything like a schedule, as has the park I am working on for our local Heritage Committee.  Yesterday I returned to a project that has been shelved for a while and since the story starts on a sunny autumn day it seemed appropriate for me to work on it while the sun shines and the leaves blow in whirlwinds among the trees.  The story?  My children's story about an orphaned giant who has to find his way in the world.

Speaking of the Heritage park - BT Corner is coming along nicely.  The stone wall is being built.  It's a joy to watch the masons work.  They're real craftsmen and I am a huge fan of craftsmanship.  Yesterday they began to lay the paving and I'm thinking today they might be in a position to level the limestone screening.

Here's where we stand as of about 6 o'clock last night:

Coming along nicely...

Introducing Trixie

Last time I spoke about Tim Murton's Twilight Zoo and the workshop my daughter and I attended to learn how to make fabulous spooky creatures.  Well, the workshop ended Wednesday night and we have a mostly finished kitty named Trixie.


That's my daughter applying a little acrylic concrete adhesive to the crepe paper that goes over the chicken wire shell.

Once the entire shell was covered with crepe paper our little cat looked like this:




Next we needed to add a layer of cheese cloth or gauze to add some strength to the piece.  Every time a layer is added you use a little more of the acrylic concrete adhesive which not only adds strength as it dries but also imparts a degree of weather-proofing.

Unfortunately we forgot the camera the first two nights of the workshop so I can't show you how we made the wire frame skeleton and the chicken wire skin but here's a picture my daughter took of Trixie's underside. It doesn't show much, but it gives an idea of the underlying structure.



And here's Trixie.  She's almost completed.  After the layer of gauze there are a few final layers of crepe paper to get a smooth texture.  Tim also showed us techniques for creating effects to simulate hair and scales. Trixie needs a little touch-up and some work on her tummy.  I also need to cut out her eyes and mouth.  I'll also mount some sort of light inside her so she glows.

Here are a few examples of what other folks at the workshop came up with:

This witch's head, I'm told, is to be hung in the Fergus/Elora Tourism Office in Elora.

This Starfish was a joy to watch being made.  The woman who assembled this thing took forever on the wire frame and chicken wire but her results are inspired.

And this next one was built by a mother/daughter team at the table behind us and to the right.  Ladies and Gentlemen - I give you...

THE DOOM TURTLE!