Finished making a new mask last night and I’m rather proud of how it turned out. This one is an album cover that I painted on using fabric paint. I was able to use a paintbrush and apply thin layers when painting this one because the fabric is lighter than the paint colours I was using (unlike my kid loki mask). The album I painted on it is Love Run by The Amazing Devil and the original is actually supposed to be upside down, but people (dad) would keep telling me I have it on upside down.
As things are slowly re-opening around Calgary, I am finding myself out and about more than before. It’s good to see a lot more people wearing masks. It feels more and more normal to wear one, especially when I’m shopping and I think about the risk that the people in the shops are taking day in and day out. The least I can do is wear one to help keep them safe. My original fun animals mask is still working great, but I wanted to try making some more that were a bit more… subdued. Cooler? 😎
And yet Miranda was the first to try her hand at making another mask. She made one that had more of a supervillain vibe. She used this video’s pattern and decorated it with the Kid Loki armor pattern from the Marvel comics with fabric paint. And when she did that, it got me off my butt and sewing.
I chose to try the pattern that Brianna used, because it was quite a bit simpler than the one we made. I picked a couple of older t-shirts that I didn’t mind cutting up and would be a good look on the mask. I used the Cricut Maker to cut the fabric (t-shirt material is stretchy and the Circuit cut it beautifully). The North of Hadrian’s mask couldn’t have ended up better. The logo ended up perfectly positioned. I can’t take credit: it was more of a fortunate accident. Each of the masks has a liner from the other shirt: the inside of the black mask is white and the inside of the white mask is black.
So we had been talking about an extension to the catio and finally got down to it. Tristan and Brianna worked on it (building/painting) and after two days…voila!
They were hesitant at first but Willow barreled out and made herself at home. Willow was the first to pop her head into the penthouse 😁
It’s only the second since we moved to Calgary from Victoria, but it is a reminder that things are different here. Last night at 9:40, the kids were in bed and Tammy and I were watching TV when my phone made a horrendous noise. There was a tornado warning on the screen. I immediately did what any modern person would do: opened the Weather Network app and then went to take a picture out the front window.
Thunderstorm in the distance
I was aware that there were a line of storms moving to the north and east of Calgary, but I guess this one got bad enough and brushed up against the NE corner of Calgary to warrant hundreds of thousands of people getting the warning.
Wrong! All it meant was that Tammy and I were worrying about them out there as the weather shifted in the night. 😴
We set up the new tent on Thursday night. The weather wasn’t super, but it was supposed to be dry.
Tent ready to go
Miranda was tired and cool from her BCC ride, so it was less of an event and more of just sleeping in different environs. They were warmly dressed and in their sleeping bags, but still their comment on the experience was that it was cold. Then last night the weather was much more summery. It was still 20 degrees at 10 pm and the kids took a laptop out there and had a “late movie”.
But then the wind picked up around 2 am and was gusting at gale force by 3 am. We went out and shepherded the kids inside at that point, but the night was already written off. I think I might have gotten about 2 hours of broken sleep and 2 or 3 of decent sleep.
That wasn’t a good thing, because at 9 am I had my Saturday bike ride, and today we headed out to Airdrie. It was beautiful in the morning. The pace was fast and the route was rolling, which really burnt me out. Too many times into the red and I bonked on the last major hill of the day.
Our group. Derek took the picture. I’m the one with the crazy socks
We barely made it home before a big thunderstorm hit Calgary. I got home about 12:45, and by 1:00 the thunder was rolling while Tammy barbecued kebabs. We’d only sat down when the hail started. No damage, but you certainly wouldn’t want to be out on a bike in it.
The kids had already packed up the tent by that time, so the tenting adventure has come to an end for the moment. Perhaps they will give it another shot when the summer weather is truly here and we can go more than a few hours without wild stuff happening.
One of the presents on Father’s Day was a DIY hot sauce kit:
It came with pretty much everything you need, and a recipe booklet with a few different hot sauce recipes. Ian had been waiting patiently for two weeks, and today he and I made “Smokin’ Sauce”: a hot sauce that is predominantly ancho pasilla and chipotle peppers.
We’ve tasted little dabs, and it’s a smoky, zesty flavour, not scorching hot. That’s what it said on the recipe: only 🔥🔥 compared to the hottest one that uses the ghost pepper.
There may or may not have been an accident where I dropped the food processor lid thing and it splashed everywhere. But don’t tell Tammy.
Time flies, my daughter grows up even more. Brianna had a McDonalds lunch and a pretty lazy afternoon. Part of her present was a picture of her made into a cartoon at Hogwarts. We had a small get together with friends. Chinese food and donuts for “birthday cake “
Been trying something new with painting. Paint by Numbers. They have evolved from when I used to do them when I was a kid. Challenging to say the least but turn out pretty good. Funny thing is that they look like crap up close but from a distance the details pop and the picture looks amazing!
Tammy and I were out for a walk before work this morning and were near the intersection of Tuscany Valley View with Tuscany Boulevard when we heard a crash and then tires squealing. There had been an accident at the corner of Tuscany Boulevard and Tuscany Springs Boulevard (the lights downhill from our house).
We started running, not because we wanted to be bystanders and not because we have first aid training, but because Ian might have been a part of it (he wasn’t). He left our house at the same time to go down to the park at the bottom of the hill to continue his project to take a picture of the sunrise from the same place at 8:00 every morning (that’s before dawn in winter, but now it’s way past dawn: he’s learned that now). The place where he takes his picture is near there.
It turned out he was not near there at the time, and didn’t actually see the crash. We left him to take his picture as the emergency crews were arriving to help the people. He’s home now.
Not what we expected when we walked out this morning. 💥🚙 🚒💨
