Happy Halloween
[photo by danncer]
A snortingly funny moment, courtesy of danncer.
October, 2005
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When Pigs Fly
October 31, 2005 by Gail
Category Other Photogs | Tags: | 3 Comments
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Halloween at the House of Fielding
October 31, 2005 by Gail
We carved the pumpkins at the appropriate time — the witching hour — and David finished his in a fraction of the time it took me to do mine. You can see why. I don’t know what I was thinking when I started carving; I had a loose plan for the eyes, but I was stuck on the nose and mouth. I took a marker and started something vaguely Maori-ish, then freestyled with the knife and ended with Easy Serrated Teeth in a Big Mouth Because I Was Tired. The appendage hanging down the middle started off as an uvula, looked more like an unmentionable, so I cut a couple of nostrils into it.
Category House of Fielding | Tags: | 7 Comments
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Haunted Halloween House
October 31, 2005 by Gail
Category Local Colour, Photography | Tags: | No Comments
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Meet Our Ghoulish Neighbours
October 30, 2005 by Gail
Category Local Colour, Videoclips | Tags: | 2 Comments
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We Pay a Visit to Zero-Two-Papa
October 29, 2005 by Gail
Category Flying, Photography | Tags: | 1 Comment
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It’s Pumpkin Carving Time
October 28, 2005 by Gail
Well, HEY — it’s the 28th already, and David and I finally got around to choosing our pumpkins, three days before Halloween.
I liked the one with the dent in the middle — was considering getting that one and making it old and toothless.
We bought the pumpkins due north at Roba’s Family Farm, after David’s appointment at the radiation clinic this morning where he got tattooed for next week’s session with The Machine.
We were going to take Melissa there, but there just wasn’t enough time during the wedding weekend to stop by. We’d like to take all the MJEs there, if we could! They’d have a ball!
More farm photos here.
I had to see the immigration lawyer this afternoon and David was exhausted, so the carving’s been postponed for now.
If you haven’t carved a pumpkin yet, have a go! (Thanks to Marivic for the link!)
Category Photography, The Ms | Tags: | 2 Comments
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Weathered
October 27, 2005 by Gail
Pentax K-1000 (film)David first carved our initials into the giant magnolia tree beside the house back in May.
It was for a Flickr photo project called “Love Letters”, and my idea was to illustrate ‘puppy love’.
I don’t know if the recent spate of weather-related disasters was the trigger, but last night I had this semi-conscious dream state feeling of being on a boat getting tossed around in a storm. It reminded me of a trip I took once from Stranraer, Scotland, to Larne (near Belfast), Northern Ireland.* The journey is less than two hours, but the Irish Sea is known for being temperamental and the cause of many a stagger to the loo by the seasick-prone.**
In this quasi-dream (I was too lucid for it to be a proper dream state), David and I were clinging to each other while wave after wave buffetted the side of the ship. David was nauseous, but more queasy than in agony, and I was ridden was anxiety. I tried to look away from the window, beat upon by grey sheets of rain and heavy winds, but there was no avoiding people’s worried faces and sharing in the feeling we’d embarked on a hapless journey. What else can one do in a storm but ride it out?
It took me a long time to go to sleep.
* In those days, the routing was Stranraer to Larne, but according to directferries.co.uk, now one can only get to Belfast from Stranraer, and Larne departures arrive in Troon, Cairnryan, or Fleetwood.
** In those days, there were no cheap airlines such as Ryanair, who’ve since spared many people from having to take the ferry.Category House of Fielding, Living with Cancer, Photography | Tags: | 1 Comment
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On Why Hugh Is a Housecat
October 27, 2005 by Gail
There’s a reason why we keep Hugh indoors, and it’s not just because he’s declawed in the front. Can you see this cat surviving out in the “wild”???Category Critters + Creatures, Hugh, Photography | Tags: | 4 Comments
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AwfulSara’s Print Drive
October 26, 2005 by Gail
One of my favourite photographers on Flickr has recently been diagnosed with skin cancer and is facing a huge healthcare debt because she’s just started freelancing.
This being the U.S., I am learning firsthand what it’s like to be without socialised medicine and having to pay for doctors’ expenses out-of-pocket. Heaven forbid you should ever lose your job, be between jobs, or for whatever reason aren’t covered under a health care plan, because the costs can be astronomical and the health care providers — as well as the individual — are at the mercy of the insurance companies.
Today I received a refund cheque from MSP (Medical Services Plan) of BC for my monthly payment in September of $54. Yes, that’s my premium, which went up from $36 a few years ago. The premium sat at $36 for a very long time. If you make $20k/yr or less, the premium is reduced, as mentioned by Toren here. But $54 is still a very small price to pay when faced with the alternative (U.S. health care model, in this case). There are indeed problems with socialised health care, but it’s downright tragic that when you’ve decided to go independent the new threat is not just falling ill, but to be possibly bankrupt as a consequence. It’s one thing to bring misfortune upon yourself, but poor health can strike anyone at any time… as we’ve become acutely aware of, ourselves.
(I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to seeing a cashier’s office at a hospital.)
How this pertains to Sara Heinrich is that she, being newly self-employed, is not going to get her photography business off the ground unless she does something drastic… and I think she’s doing the right thing here by starting up a print drive.
Sara’s work is stunning. It deserves to be up on walls — in offices, homes, wherever visual art is meant to be. If I had half her talent (and not in my currently restricted situation), I’d be forging ahead, too.
Click on the pic or her links below and check out her stuff — it’s fantastic imagery, even on a computer monitor rather than a wall.
Category Expat Life, Other Photogs | Tags: | 9 Comments
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Smarties, eh?
October 25, 2005 by Gail
Thanks to a very intuitive lady above the 49th, I got a package yesterday that included Special Edition boxes, and David was introduced to Smarties for the very first time (and no, they’re not the same as M&Ms).
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! They’re all gone now!
The Ms and their parents sent massive boxes of Rogers chocolates, which we’re still working our way through because there’s copious amounts of it. At this rate, it’ll be Christmas chocolate, but note: that’s not a complaint!
Category Acts of Kindness, Expat Life | Tags: | 10 Comments
