Snow Day

How many centimeters have come down so far? Reports of 15-20 seem reasonable. I took my daughter Georgia with me this morning to check on the boiler at St. Paul's. The boiler looks fine; I didn't perform any chem tests today but emptied the return valves and blew down the main part. The wind is whipping at the window....

Back outside again where Georgia and I gazed upon an expanse of white, undisturbed snow that is the Charlotte Street parking lot. Scratch that; the plow (Darrell Bruce) had made one sweep earlier and there was a good sized snowbank to the right which Georgia made a beeline for. I bent and tested the snow for 'packiness' - how sticky, or 'packy' the snow was for making snow balls. Perfect stuff! While Georgia tumbled down the snow bank I started work on a snow man. Eventually she joined me and we made two great big snow people and positioned them at the entrance to the Charlotte Street door. Hers is wearing an evergreen wreath. I know it will bring a smile to the regulars who come through that door to do their volunteer work, or attend exercise class, an AA meeting, a play group or a quilters' circle. I look forward to Cathy's reaction!

This is the first time I've ever been caught at work, when not working. This job may be turning into a vocation.

I have a donkey in my office!

It has been suggested to me that my one liners regarding Sextoning should be shared with the world at large. Indeed, being a sexton has some very unique challenges and rewards, not the least of which is the legitimate occasion to say "I have a donkey in my office!". I like this idea. It may also cross paths with some thinking and reading I am doing regarding service vs. servitude, and a nifty book that Peter Short gave me titled 'Shop Class As Soul Craft'. One challenge I face in maintaining a blog regularly is being regular - I often get distracted by fatigue, other projects, beautiful women and the like. I don't think there is a shortage of material...so perhaps you could help. Leave an encouraging one liner comment and I'm sure this will spur me on! One cannot create in a vacuum....

So back to the donkey in my office. The week before Christmas and the hooligans have come out; baby Jesus is missing and I had to dig out my spare (yes, He is a hot commodity apparently. Last year He was stolen as well, but returned after The Big Day. I can only imagine the hilarious photos of baby Jesus' travels those lawless hooligans took Him on...). A poor hapless donkey also got vandalized, and is awaiting repair in my office. Unfortunately, there is no replacement donkey as he is not central to the story...PETA will be up in arms, no doubt.

On my last day before vacation, on the last hour before vacation, a storm window in the bell tower blew off and shattered glass came flying down the roof onto the side walk. Thank God no one was walking underneath when it happened! Now the already fragile stained glass window is exposed to the elements, but I see no way of protecting or repairing it that doesn't involve scaffolding or fall arrest harnesses, or general danger and mischief. It's not something I want to take on, but I will have to figure out some solution or the stained glass window will not make it through the winter, of that I am sure.

So let me know what you think. Encourage me. Pummel me. Do what you will....

Update on Ridgemont

Hi. Hey. Hello again. I wonder if I'm really cut out for blogging...or at least, this type of blog - one that is not journal-like in nature. One that I need to keep focused on the whole art scene without just randomly spouting emotional tirades about something bad (or good) happening on a particular day. Well, maybe I need to carve out time to devote to it; I would like to try my hand at critical writing, like art reviews. First I need to learn how to do that though.....
So, I spoke with Gene today, the man who interviewed me for Wayves. Turns out we are to be on the front page of the November issue! Oh God...What have I gotten myself into? I suddenly feel so self conscious . It's more of a story about me, and coming out, and being a gay artist rather than a review of my work. That's fine. Gets my feet wet talking to reporters, right?

Fast Times at Ridgemont High!!

Tomorrow I have an interview with Gene, a writer who does work for both Wayves and Gaze. Wayves is a monthly Atlantic newspaper for the gay/les/bi community in NB, NS and PEI. Gaze covers the same territory but is a quarterly glossy magazine. This is very exciting news, though I wonder how the heck I'm going to answer his questions...what will his questions be? I hope it doesn't feel like a job interview...
There are these other open calls for submission opportunities floating around, but I just don't think I have the head space for it. I really think I need a break for now...because making is bordering on the mundane for the past short while. It has sort of lost its magic, so I think a restorative period is appropriate.

Ramblings of a Sexton

Today at work I had about 300 kids in my church and you could hear a pin drop - it was incredible. I love being a Sexton. I also learned a bit more about my building; a few years ago the east wall of the original church had to be restored and the masons removed each stone, numbered them, did the repair work and then rebuilt the wall exactly the way it had been...I find that a profound testimony to human resilience but it's also such a cool metaphor for the ultimate fallibility of the human church. A long time ago someone had a dream to build a beautiful symbol of worship to a God that loved everyone (if you did things 'right' anyway...like put this brick there,put that brick here). You know, so much love, so much posturing...the walls hold for a time, quite a long time till we think we even need them; but when the walls start to break down, the human design starts to fail....rather than find a new, better way to rebuild, rather than take the original dream of community worship and make it work today, we decide it would be best to make the same mistakes again. Put the bricks back in the same place, though they crumbled and fell and actually separated us from people, not brought us all together. Kind of a negative interpretation, but one way to look at it...

Who's the one rambling now? I love history, architecture and theology (among other things) so this job is great. Plus I get to explore the bell tower, which is amazingly fantastic. I plan to photograph it, once I clean out all the pigeon shit.

Done. Huh?

Well, kind of. Of course I have to scramble tomorrow morning to find a couple of correct-sized nails, but then it's taxi time, and off to The Playhouse...
I apologize for the less than verbose blog entries as of late; I am burnt out, world. I seriously intend to store those paintbrushes for awhile...I really need a break. I want to read some poetry. I want to take some pictures. I want to read The Dark Tower again. I want to visit friends and listen to music and drink wine.
I can't believe I'm done. Thank you, Lord.

Need to Breathe

I am having trouble breathing because I can't find enough time for work, Georgia, sleep and painting. Something's gotta give, and it aint work, or Georgia - I've tried cutting back on sleep but my body has a way of asserting itself....and so I am so behind on this painting and making the other pieces exhibition ready that I am feeling the air being squeezed out of my throat faster than I can take it in.
But no worries! I'm good at flying by the seat of my pants...