Morning Pages: regentisland.com

Thursday, April 30, 2009: Bit Crushing, Thumb Cutting

I managed to run this morning. I am growing used to my new route and have expanded it a bit. I like to run early though as to avoid the traffic and people.

Morning trees i

Morning trees ii

Morning trees iii

I had some breakfast then met up with Bobo. We went down to Spadina and I went over to Moog Audio after we parted ways. They have a few new crazy stomp boxes so I tried them out. There was this nice bit crusher but it wasn't cheap. I still have my hands full with the Little Phatty anyways.

I managed to get home just before it started raining. I also cut my thumb while slicing tomatos. It wasn't a big cut but it was deep enough and I probably should have had it stitched but I don't want to deal with the hospitals here so I just taped it shut and put some antibiotic cream on it. Hopefully that will be enough.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009: Sore Leg

BAD sleep last night. Bad dreams ~ very bad dreams. Woke up at about 6:00 am but was in such physical pain in my leg that I couldn't run. I'll try tomorrow perhaps.

Wendy is back in town from The Rock for a bit so there has been much activity here and many visitors.

Headed up to the GFM this afternoon and had some food. Afterwards I went over to Bobo's for a bit. It was a lovely day out actually. Hopefully this weather will continue.

I couldn't decide which shot I liked best

So I put up both

Walking home at sunset

Sunday, April 26, 2009: Lazy Sunday

No Knox for me today so the day seemed rather lazy. I got up at around 8:30 am and went up to the GFM for breakfast. There was a lot of branches laying about due to the big wind storm yesterday.

GFM Breakfast

Powerline down after yesterday's storm

Branches and wires

Street blocked off

There was no Prog-jam tonight. It was cancelled by the pub owners. That marks the end of all Druck Farben events at that unfriendly pub. New digs for the Prog-jam are now being saught after.

Saturday, April 25, 2009: 27 C

Spring finally arrives

Today was absolutely beautiful. The first time since August I've actually been warm enough. I got up early and walked up the the GFM and had a nice breakfast. Afterwards I went over to Bobo's and we mucked about cleaning up his yard and porch area to prepare them both for the advent of spring and summer.

Nice weather at last

We ended up grabbing some steak and some vegan hot dogs for Treasure Cat who is a vegetarian then cooking them up on the barbeque. The three of us sat out on the newly cleaned up porch and ate just in time for the weather to turn stormy. Rock Steady Matt called me while we were eating and reminded me (which I'd forgotten) that there was a Harold rehearsal tonight.

So...

I had to head out in the rain and walk back to SsW. I sorted my kit out and Matt picked me up and we headed over to get Phil. Then it was on to Chez Harold for a night of rehearsal.

Some new video thingy Jeff has access to

Harold Street after practice

I got home at around midnight. No Knox for me tomorrow.

Friday, April 24, 2009: Roc n Doc

I headed up to the Annex today and met up with Bobo. I have often heard the story of how his cat sits on his computer any chance it gets. I actually witnessed it today.

Cat verses computer

Unware of the problems it might cause... or is he?

Sitting on the keyboard until the computer crashes

We ended up at his club for the late afternoon and met up with some folk. We sat out on the roof top patio until the weather turned sort of crappy. The event went from afternoon on into the evening.

Roof view

Clouds clearing

Druckfarben played tonight at some place in Port Credit called "Roc n Doc". Chris wasn't playing anywhere and Harold was off tonight so he and Richard picked me up at 9:00 pm or so and we headed over to see that. It was a good show although we only stayed for the first two sets before heading out at around 1:00 am.

Druck Farben

Monday, April 20, 2009: Rains

It was a very cold and rainy day today. I had to head down and around so I was nice and damp by the afternoon. I met Chris C at around 4:30 pm for some Pho.

Sign

Tonight I stayed in. I watched some TV and practiced guitar. I love my guitar.

The Godin

Sunday, April 19, 2009: Knoxing

I got up at around 5:30 am and sorted myself for the day. I headed out at 6:30 am and got the street car over to Spadina then headed south to Union Station. I caught the train and once at my destination I walked down to the Crossiant place for breakfast.

Early morning

Going to Union

Union

Choir was good although I was having some difficulty staying awake for some reason. After the service there was some sort of big meeting that didn't concern me so Will and took a stroll down along the lakeshore then over and up to this ice cream - coffee shop where we got a snack until it was time to return.

Lakeshore i

Lakeshore ii

Lakeshore iii

I went back to Wyndham for and watched a DVD of Christmas 2007 that I had burned for Wee Fred's Birthday. It was two hours of nearly unwatchable camera work and foolishness. Afterwards I took the GO back into the city. There was no prog-rock jam tonight.

Saturday, April 18, 2009: Bollywood Saturday

Not much sleep last night even though I was knackered. I still got up and managed to get over to the GFM by 9:00 am for some breakfast.

Morning traffic light

Morning traffic light ii

Some spring-like activity

After breakfast I went over to Bobo's and hung out there for a while. We ended up watching this three hour Bollywood spectacular which featured equal parts of cheese ball romance, goof ball slap stick, and mullet-power action adventure all intermingled with big song and dance numbers. It was quite awful.

Afterwards I went over to Long & McQuade and paid a bill then walked back to SsW.

Trees & sky

More trees & sky

Friday, April 17, 2009: Harolding Spring

Had dinner at Wydham last night before Choir. I got back to SsW around midnight. A long hall. I mucked about today with Chris C. I had to look for some office space so he joined eventually and we had a chow down at Pho Hung. The weather today was great. It was sunny and nice and warm which made the walk about even better. We ended up at Moog Audio as per usual. I am itching to buy a toy but am exercising unheard of restraint.

I got back to mine and sorted my kit for Harold. I met Matt and the Mattmobile at the corner and we headed over and got Phil. Then on to Chez Harold. It was a good night for playing. I was rather tired though which wasn't so good for me. The change in when the sun goes down still seems odd.

Jeff blurry

Jeff not as blurry

Another view of Jeff on drums

Phil and a bit of me

A bit of Matt and some of me

More Matt

We went to when we stopped then packed it in. I caught a ride with Matt and Phil back to my zone.

Monday, April 13, 2009: Burlington

A very bad sleep last night. I slept exceedingly well in Pittsburgh, now I seem to be back to the diabolical 2 hours maximum followed by an hour of being awake. Some weird dreams, the most notable being that my Chapman Stick was repaired and Chris C and I were playing "Red".

Today I went with Jayne and Will to see Tom, the Knox Choir conductor at his place in Burlington. Will has an interest in Pipe organ music so Tom was lending him some CDs to listen to. We drove over and had a grand tour of the place. He has a rather large apartment and it is absolutely full of all sorts of interesting art and stuff.

View from Tom's

Angel i

Angel ii

Dining room

Wyndham shadow & light

Wyndham shadow, light & door

Sunday, April 12, 2009: Easter Beagles

I woke up at around 7:00 am this morning. I felt oddly "myself" as if I was waking up in Bangkok on a Friday in 2007. I'm not sure how to explain this feeling.

I got up and had coffee. Bob was up already and gradually everyone else came down. At 10:30 am, after a big good-bye we headed back to Canada. I have to say I was sad to go. Hopefully I'll be able to visit longer next time.

Flower

Cat watch

Panorama i

Panorama ii

Indoor cat i

Indoor cat ii

The drive back was nice. I sort of faded out at one point and woke up as we pulled into the Pilot. We fueled up the car and ourselves then headed on to duty free and across the bridge to Canada.

Heading back

Border

We got to Wyndham at around 4:30 pm. It is sunny out but its still rather dull, brown and at only 9 C it remains cold. The Wyhdham crew went out for dinner. I stayed here. The big event of the night was watching "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown". I had recorded the audio of this onto a cassette as a child and must have listened to it enough times to have memorized it. Amazing as I watched it I knew exactly what they were going to say.

Saturday, April 11, 2009: Warhol Museaum

I got up at around 8:00 am or so. Anna and I went to this little diner called Pamela's for breakfast. We'd tried to go last time I visited after her swim meet but the crowds had prevented us. This time we headed down and got there by 10:00 am just beating the line up by about ten minutes. It was a good breakfast and we were both stuffed afterwards. We walked around the area then headed back to Chez Cheryl on foot. It was absolutely beautiful out today. The lawns were green, the magnolia trees were in bloom as were all the flowers. A truly beautiful spring day.

Breakfast

Spring in Pittsburgh

Leaves bud

Magnolia

Squirrel Hill

Yellow

Flowers

We got back and hung out for a bit. Sandra and Anna started making Easter eggs with a dye kit which brought back memories of mine from when I was very young and my sister Anne did this with me. Including the drilling of the hole in the bottom of the egg and blowing out the insides. Max joined in which was amusing to watch.

Eggies

Dip & dye

Sandra dyes an egg

This afternoon Cheryl, Max and I went to the Warhol Museum to see the "Vader Project". We drove down and parked then walked over and checked out the Museum.

The Vader Project was amazing. From the guide:

The Vader Project

This exhibition includes 100 works by contemporary international artists utilizing 1:1 scale authentic prop replicas of the Darth Vader helmet used in the Star Wars films. Each helmet was a blank canvas for the artist to paint, design, and customize

After we'd looked through that we checked out the five or so floors of the Museum. To see Warhol's art in person was outstanding. I'm used to seeing small postcard sized versions in magazines or where ever, but to see the actual pieces in their real and often massive size was great.

The Warhol bridge

Parking

Downtown buildings

The Warhol Museaum

I like traffic lights

Walking back to parking

Parking

Once we were back Cheryl and Sandra did some gardening. Anna hung out and read that Twight book and Bob trimmed hedges. I did a bit of recording using my Kaoss Pads and an old Alesis drum machine someone had given Max or Eric.

Gardening

Finished Eggs

Recording

Sunset

I recorded for quite a while. Tonight Chris got back from New York so we had a big dinner. Some of Eric's friends were by for that. Another outstanding meal. I was pretty knackered afterwards. The youngsters all congregated upstairs to watch TV while the grown ups hung out in the dinning room. I crashed around 9:30 pm.

Cat waits for dinner

Table set

Friday, April 10, 2009: Museum

Today the whole crew including the addition of several of Anna's friends and some of Eric's pals went over to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for a few hours. The weather is warm but unfortunately it was raining which I suppose made it a good day to wander around and look at dinosaur bones. We parked at Cheryl's work and saw her Lab before checking out the Museum.

Magnolia

Cheryl's Lab

Even More lab stuff

More lab stuff

Lab stuff

The Museum was amazing. It was as most Museums far too much to see in one visit. We saw the Horse Exhibit which was good then Cheryl toured me through the dinosaur bone department. The kids ran off in their groups, all very familiar with the place no doubt.

Marble

I'm a dinosaur

Somebody's digging my bones

The security guards kept stopping me from video taping or taking photos which was mildly annoying. I did manage to take a few photos on the sly though. I wasn't using a flash so I don't agree with their Nigel Tuffnel fits about looking at.

I'm not sure how its arranged but some how I ended up in part of the museum devoted to architecture. I'm not sure if the was technically a different museum or some part of the Natural History one but there was an amazing exhibit by the mexican architect Fernando Romero which was outstanding.

Entering the Hall of Architecture

Statues

After we'd all had a chance to see the Hall of Architecture we met and headed back to the car. Eric and his pals had already bailed on his so there was more rom driving back to Squirrel Hill. Later on I rode with Cheryl when she drove Anna's friends home. The three of them we sugared up beyond belief from easter and other treats and completely out of control which we found highly amusing. By the time the two friends had been delivered to their respective homes the sugar crash hit and Cheryl and I enjoyed a far more quiet ride back to Squirrel Hill as Anna zoned out.

Stop light

Sleepy cat

Dinner was great; barbaqued pork chops with rice and salad. Afterwards I watched Anna and Max play Guitar Hero as well as watching TV with them. Later on Cheryl, Sandra and Bob joined us and we all watched the last (and rather confusing) "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.

Guitar Hero

A late dinner

Thursday, April 9, 2009: To Pittsburgh

I met up with Sandra and Bob at Appleby GO this morning at 9:30 am and joined them on their drive to Pittsburgh to see Cousin Cheryl and crew. It was a lovely day, not unlike the last time we met up and headed down back in October.

We drove down by way of Buffalo and the processing through the border took a great deal of time. The line we were in was processed by a trainee and his trainer and we were asked many questions. My passport, which is full of strange stamps from distant lands was of particular interest to trainee boy but all in all it was fine and we were sent on our way.

We saw a rather odd three wheeled contraption on the highway in PA which I managed to get a few photos of. It even had a license plate. I'm not sure what you'd call this but it was interesting to see.

Mr. Crazy's Crazy car perhaps?

Rear view

Close up

Side view

Room for two

We stopped at the Pilot Gas place and fueled up with gas, coffee and snackage then proceeded on to Grove City for shopping and savings. I bought a nice little laptop bag for 30 bucks as well as stocking up on other clothing items.

From Grove City we headed on to Pittsburgh proper hitting it just in time for the beginnings of rush hour. Traffic wasn't too bad and we made it to Chez Cheryl in good time. All the flags around were at half mast due to the recent deaths of three cops who were gunned down by some survivalist lunatic with an AK47.

Pittsburgh traffic

We were welcomed at Chez Cheryl by the cats, no longer kittens. We stowed our stuff in the appropriate guest locations and then settled in and awaited the return of Cheryl and family who were out and about. The weather was considerably warmer than Toronto so we sat out on the back porch and enjoyed the rest of the day. We were soon joined by Cheryl, Anna and Max. Both of the kids have changed since October especially Max who seems a full foot taller and less boyish.

Cats welcome us

Pet me!

Contemplation cat

Indoor cat

Hot Chocolate

The kids had some sort of soccer thing to attend so Cheryl took them to that later to return. There was a play to be seen at a local theatre but I opted out due to feeling less than good and took some sleep instead. Cheryl and her Mom went to that and Bob began rebuilding the house as is his way.

I woke up at around 8:00 pm by Anna who brought me more hot chocolate then was required to watch That 70's Show with Max and her. Max played Guitar Hero on the computer while we watched. Cheryl and her Mom got back around 10:00 pm and said they'd enjoyed the show.

Paper cat

Tuesday, April 7, 2009: Gravity Express

Here is the new Harold video for "Gravity Express", the first track on our debut CD.

Sunday, April 5, 2009: Palm Sunday

I was up in the early and took the street car to Spadina then down to Union. I caught the GO train then walked down from the station to the Crossaint place for breakfast.

The Wyndham crew showed up eventually. I walked over to Knox as it was nice out. Today was Palm Sunday so the Choir didnt have to sing. That was sort of odd. The childrens choir did the service instead and we dinosaurs were allowed a rest.

Walking from the Crossiant place

Knox morning view

Thursday, April 2, 2009: Knox Choir

A rather nice day out today. Sooner or later (later I think) spring will arrive. Today was a hint though. The patios were busy in the SsW area. It sort of clouded up at one point then cleared nicely.

I took the TTC down to Union this afternoon and headed out to Knox for Choir rehearsal. The trip out isn't so bad but the trip back is tiring. I got home at around 11:30 or so.