Sunday Seven

A roundup of this week's shenanigans --

LUNCHED: with friends at The Cajun House restaurant in St Albert. Foolishly, I didn't order the Louisiana Alligator Boudin appetizer. What was I thinking?

SAFETY FIRST: all the sprinkler heads in our apartments were checked and cleaned of drywalling/painting debris by a technician this week.

DRUM TALK: while checking the sprinkler head in my storage closet, the young technician spotted my deer hide hoop drum and told me he was making a moose hide drum with his elder. We had a great chat about drumming. He was worried his drum might warp after the wet hide was laced and dried, so I told him to buy a cedar drum hoop from British Columbia if he could obtain one, because cedar (unlike other wood) does not warp.

WATCHED: my favourite swashbuckling hero's latest movie, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Five out of five stars for the only feline with more cattitude than HRH!

HADDOCK HEAVEN: went with a friend for dinner at Brits Fish and Chips. For authenticity, to go with salt on our chips, we hit the vinegar bottle hard -- white for me, malt for her.

WENT TO: three (3) Holiday Craft Markets! My Christmas shopping is now done! At one of them, ran into two friends I haven't seen for awhile and had a lovely catch-up chat.

LAUGH OF THE WEEK: my sister is a major Chris Evans fan, so I emailed her this fanart I found on the internet celebrating Captain America A.K.A. "America's Ass." She very cheekily asked "Is this the Two of Pentacles from a new tarot deck by any chance?"

Sunday Seven

Some things that happened this week --

ATTENDED: a musical called Crescendo by Edmonton playwright Sandy Paddick, based on the true stories of women in a community choir. All the cast members were very good singers and performed a range of music from opera to folk and pop. My theatre buddy and I had a good time at this!

BINGE-WATCHED: Season 2 of the Marvel/Disney+ series Loki. With a lot less of the first season's charm, humour and whimsy, season 2's storyline is exceedingly complex and darkly metaphysical. However, Loki does finally find out exactly what is entailed by being "burdened with glorious purpose."

LISTENED: to my CD of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem to mark Remembrance Day. It's a beautiful and moving setting of the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead interspersed with some of the war poems of Wilfred Owen.

SADDENED: by the death this week of Dr Dick Smith, Winnipeg's "Gay Hero Doctor" during the HIV/AIDS crisis of the late 1980s/1990s. He had been my family doctor before closing his private health practice to focus exclusively on fighting HIV/AIDS.

BECAME A HOARDER: I use artists' quality Prismacolor Premier coloured pencils. Just learned that the company will no longer be selling individual replacement pencils, but sets of pencils only. Immediately rushed to my local art store and bought one of every individual pencil they had in stock so as to fortify myself against the coming drought. The store owner very kindly gave me the "bulk sale discount," LOL!

WATCHED: both the Eastern and Western Finals of the Canadian Football League. Next weekend those two winning teams, the Montreal Alouettes and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, will compete for the Grey Cup in Hamilton at Tim Hortons Field. I'll be watching that too!

BAKED: a batch of banana-walnut muffins. Behold the yum --

Sunday Seven

So here's what I got up to this week, in no particular order --

VAXXED: got my flu shot & covid booster at the same time. For 24 hours, felt like I'd been beaten all over with a big stick. I signed up with the Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network to fill out some surveys over the next little while about side effects, so I have a handy outlet for complaining.

BOUGHT: my poppies for Remembrance Day. This year I also purchased and replaced the black felt centres with new black enamel tack pins especially designed for that purpose. No more lost poppies or stab wounds from the straight pins that poppies traditionally come with!

REALIZED: my last 3 clothing purchases have all been made at Costco. I just bought a new fleece top there for winter. Sheesh, no more Paris Fashion Week for me, I guess.

LISTENED TO: Dwight Yoakam's classic country hurtin' songs. Such an inventive songwriter, a great hook in every hit, a true master of rockabilly style. I had quite the little binge with this fave 1990 album --

STARTED: my Christmas shopping. Last year I had it all done by Halloween, so I'm running late. I must have it done by the end of November, though, because I refuse to set foot in a mall during December's Christmas rush mayhem.

FEASTED ON: my kitchen creations this week included beef and barley soup, plus cheddar and bacon quiche.

WATCHED: Kubrick's classic 1980 horror film The Shining starring Jack Nicolson and Shelley Duvall. This is how I celebrated Halloween on October 31. Can you believe I've never seen this movie before? It only took me 43 years to cross it off my "to watch" list, LOL! I'm not a big fan of horror, so there was no rush. The film is certainly chock full of iconic visuals, isn't it? However, I found the script was patchy and inadequate in quality. No wonder Stephen King hates this adaptation of his book. I haven't even read King's original version, but I know it would have been better at making the story hang together.

"One Day Late" Sunday Seven

CONSUMED: a tasty lunch of upscale burgers and onion rings with friends at Woodshed Burgers.

ATTENDED: then we went to a book launch event for Into The Midnight Garden, a collection of magical watercolour images and lyrical responses showcasing the work of Barbara Hartmann, illustrator, and Jessica Heine, singer/songwriter. The original framed watercolours were on display and available for purchase, as was the book.

SCRAPED: the passenger side rear fender of my car during the first wet snowfall of the season, when my poor little Yaris slipped and grazed a yellow utility protection pole in my back alley. D'oh! Oh well, now it just matches the other side, LOL.

BOUGHT: a new humidifier for my bedroom. The old one stopped working due entirely to my own negligence in not descaling its heating element in a timely fashion. Lesson learned.

VOTED: in a pumpkin decorating contest held by the property managers in my building. I didn't decorate and enter a pumpkin myself because I was too busy. But these three excellent pumpkins were done by kids in the building. I'm sure they will all win prizes! 

ANNOYED BY: Blogger software which has changed how images are uploaded to posts -- but it doesn't work! I sure hope this pain in the butt gets resolved soon.

BAKED: a batch of yummy Pumpkin Hermit Cookies with raisins and pepitas (pumpkin seeds). It's my Halloween treat to myself!

This Week's Sunday Seven

ENJOYED: the last few days of summery weather we'll see in Edmonton for the next six months. Sub-zero temperatures are imminent and we'll have snow next week.

ATTENDED: the "Night of Artists" Art Walk at Bonnie Doon mall. Lots of different styles of art with artists in attendance made for a pleasant walkabout experience.

GOT IMMORTALIZED FOR POSTERITY: in a caricature done by one of the Art Walk artists, Laurél Hawkswell. She did an amazing job, even capturing my Hawaiian shirt with its turtles motif --

AND SPEAKING OF POSTERITY: retained a lawyer to revise and update my will, enduring power of attorney, and personal directive. Had a very productive and informative meeting with her.

UNEXPECTEDLY RECONNECTED: with an old friend from my Women's Drumming and Goddess Chanting Circle days. We ran into each other at a seniors recreation centre where I take an art class. So nice to see her again!

RIPPED UP AND THREW IN THE GARBAGE: my drawing from this week's Pen and Ink art class, because it looked like a bad acid trip. I'll just tell the instructor that my dog ate it. Note To Self -- go to Humane Society and adopt a misbehaving dog.

BINGE-WATCHED: I must be one of the last people in the world not to have already seen the BBC series Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, but I finally crossed it off my "to watch" list. Oh, this series is SO clever and well written! I love how the original stories are updated for our modern age and sensibilities. Plus I admit to being a bit of a fangirlish Cumberbitch. Those cheekbones! That turned-up coat collar!

This Week's Sunday Seven

ACCOMPLISHED: Put away my balcony furniture in its wintertime storage space. Another summer gone!

ATE: Had a lovely lunch of baked brie in puff pastry and a salad at Café Bicyclette, located in Edmonton's French cultural centre, La Cité Francophone. Got caught up with a friend who just got back from Greece.

SAW: My lunch friend and I then went to the Women's Art Museum of Canada, also located in La Cité Francophone, to see its current exhibit called "MATRI-Art-Key," portraits by Western Canadian women artists of older women who embody resilience and perseverance. This portrait was one of my faves: "Rare Bird in the Garden" by Ann-Marie Brown --

BINGE-WATCHED: Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building (streams on Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the USA). Another outstanding and hilarious romp involving my favourite amateur sleuths! I laughed out loud several times in each and every cleverly-written and witty episode. In addition to the central murder-mystery plot, this season also satirizes cloying Canadian Maritimes-themed musicals (à la Come From Away), patter songs (à la Gilbert & Sullivan), and superhero movies/actors (à la Marvel).

SHOPPED: At an early Christmas Gift Shop set up in the St. Albert Botanic Park.

LEARNED: Burnishing techniques for putting the finishing touches on coloured pencils art.

And the most important

thing of all this week . . . .

CONTEMPLATED YET AGAIN: That there is no greater blessing in this world than to live in a country at peace.

This Week's Sunday Seven

I like reading various blogging buddies' weekly summaries of their activities, so I'm starting one of my own using a "Sunday Seven" format --

1. SAW: Went to the Art Gallery of Alberta to see the pop art exhibition "From Warhol to Banksy." I've seen lots of art by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and other 1960s pop artists over the years but this was the first time I saw the more timely Banksy works exhibited, so I enjoyed them the most.

2. HEARD: Attended the first concert of the season by the Alberta Baroque Ensemble. This is the first live concert I've attended since the pandemic (sheesh). The music was a balm to my soul! Plus I had great catch-up conversations with a friend from law school and one from tai chi.

3. ATE: Pumpkin pie! Canadian Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I've been indulging in an early, private, shameless Pie Fest all this week. Appropriately enough, here's the Thanksgiving card my sister sent me --

4. CELEBRATED: So happy this week to see Wab Kinew, leader of the Manitoba NDP, elected as the 1st First Nations premier of a Canadian province!

5. ACCOMPLISHED: Went for my biennial mammogram this week. All is well with The Girls.

6. ENJOYED: The gorgeous autumn colours which are at their peak now in Edmonton!

7. LEARNED: How to render a realistic caucasian skin tone in coloured pencils. We did an ear, so here it is in all its glory.  Please disregard the terrible shadow behind the ear which would have looked more realistic done in shades of dark blue or indigo, not the dark browns I used.

[Art & photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2023]