Painting

My friend Shelley Houghton is a painter. She does some amazing work. When she paints water, it looks almost like a photograph it's so realistic.

I have bought a print of this painting of a South American Lady doing a Smoke Ceremony. The smoke in this painting is incredible.

I'm so excited about getting it next week.

Enough is Enough

You may or may not be aware, my first name is Wendy. All of my life, I have only known a few Wendys. For the most part, I've only needed a first name; kind of like Cher. Yeah, that's it, kind of like Cher.

In the past couple of years, in our village, in the middle of nowhere there has been a sudden influx of Wendys. I believe it is now up to six. People are starting to call me Wendy L---- (which doesn't feel like me), Wendy L or Wendy E. Unacceptable!

On the way home from a social engagement the other night, I decided that I need a new name, so that I can be an individual again.

Henceforth, I will be known as

Zeke

Thanks for your co-operation.

The Fashion Show Trip

On Wednesday, a group of us went to Hamilton to a fashion show/ silent auction (fund raiser).

Here is the beginnings of the group checking into the lobby at the hotel.

Lynda and I got to our room and first things first we checked out our view. We had the best view, we could see Lake Ontario and we saw some lake boats (ships?) out there.

Next we stowed our luggage.

and made sure there were no unexpected guests in our room.

We were happy with our digs, so it was time to wander down the hall.

We brought a few little nibblies to have in the hotel room with our wine after checking in.

Then off to the fashion show. The pictures during the show didn't turn out very well because of the lighting, so this was before it all got started.

The next morning we went to Blackbird Studio to check out more of their designs than we saw the previous night.

We all had a great time trying things on.

Here's the whole group ... time to think about heading home and let them get to work for their next fashion show.

Sheet Metal Art

How cool is my Dad - aka Gryper?!

One of the things we have to do while building the double bass is take these thin "sheets" of maple that we have planed to around 2mm thick, and bend them to form the sides of the double bass.

We have a bending iron which is a tool that is about 6 inches high and heats up, then you bend the sides around it shaping them to fit the sides of the double bass. The sides of the double bass are about 9 inches high.

So here is a picture of the bending iron.

Gryper did some sheet metal art and built us an extension for it so our bending iron is now 9" high. Despite his being frustrated and it having taken quite a few hours, it works incredibly well. Here is the bending iron with the new extension fitted.

Here's Bethany starting to bend the first piece of side rib.

We found that, as with everything we've done with this so far, it goes much easier with four hands than two.

Here is the mould and you can see the ribs have been glued in on the "C bouts" (the waist)

The first one took us well over an hour to get bent to fit exactly, the second one was bent and glued in in half an hour.

Once again, Gryper's sheet metal art saves the day.

Progress

We are making progress on the double bass. The mould has taken us some time to figure out and then build. We spent yesterday and today shaping the blocks at the corners and the top & bottom. We're really pleased with our efforts.

We decided to put the pieces together (sort of) in their current state. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it was exciting to see it taking shape. You can see the iguana that Bethany has carved on top of the scroll. It's very impressive and is going to be gorgeous!

Another First

This was given to a friend of ours, but it needed some repairs.

With my vast experience, I volunteered to do the repairs for him.

There was a crack in the front and some other small bits of damage, and it just looked tired. Here it is with the front crack glued and clamped.

Then I added some purfling where a piece had broken out. Although it looks very white in this picture, you'll see later that it barely shows when I finished it.

There was some damage to the edge preventing it from being properly glued together. The edge was ragged and there was a gap between the top and the sides.

So I made little patches to fix the two spots. They too look very white, but I took care of them.

There see, they barely show.

I put a lable in it.

Then glued it back together. Here it is all clamped up.

It looks really good, I'm so pleased with it.

There's the seam where the patches are.

Last of the gluing and clamping.

Tomorrow, I'll finish setting it up and put the strings on her.

I'm so pleased. It's the first time I've done repairs and it went so well.

Sisters' Trip To Niagara

For those of you not on FB here are some of the pix ... there are more on FB because it's much easier to upload them in batches.

When we met Susan at the airport, we wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss us at the arrivals gate.

The quiet little restaurant we "invaded" and changed the ambiance.

Meeting some of the locals.

Finally in our room.

Bed time ... it's a bit grainy 'cause I took it without the flash.

First thing in the morning, the hyper-active one got started early!

Absolutely an awesome time!

Blisters and Bruises

This is the front of "Lucy", my cello, waiting for her back. The front is ready to do the purfling (that black line of inlay around the perimeter on the viola and the violin). As you can see her sister Lily still awaits the varnish. I did a little shaping on the back of the neck today. I'll get to it pretty soon.

This is the back of the double bass that Bethany and I are working on. The top is asymmetrical so the player can reach around more easily. The grain in the wood is outstanding ... it doesn't really show in the picture that well yet.

Tardy Again

For those of you who aren't on FaceB00k, last weekend we went to the annual corn maze/corn roast at Cheryl & John's.

Gavin & Mya both enjoyed the corn maze, as they wandered through they played with ears of corn. Picking the corn off row by row was a favourite pastime as we wandered through the maze. (Mya is in a Snow White dress, but she had to wear a jacket so you can't see the top.)

After we finished the maze, we went and played in the "corn box". I have never heard Gavin laughing like he did when Devon, then Dad piled the corn on top of him.

He can see what's coming and his eyes are all lit up.

Around the fire afterwards, Mya climbed up on Dad's knee. It was so cute!

A great time was had by all!

Walk In The Clouds

Yesterday we went on the canopy tour in the Haliburton Forest.

Ever since the last time when I heard that Andrew had hung from his harness over the side of the walkway, I wanted to try it.

I got really nervous just before I did it but Andrew and Devon encouraged me to do it. After the first time, it was great.

I got a whole bunch of pix that are on my Facebook page, but here's a few. Cheryl and John took a bunch too so you'll be seeing more.

Our friends Michael and his daughter Brittany.