When the garage door goes up and daylight comes streaming into the shop it is a reward like the hot zing of candied ginger on your tongue ….there is a palpable sense of accomplishment after having worked three hours in the morning and a few more in the afternoon the next best thing to do is build in a little ‘bounty’ in order to honour the physical work accomplished and the sense of feeling productive towards the end of the day is much like the rising of small bubbles to the surface now you can take a breather or two and feel somewhat complete and done although seven or more projects still await their end we press on while deadlines loom large clients call expectant of results after they have placed their trust in your ability to fabricate and assemble a useable commodity it is your assignment to deliver whether you are winning all along or fall down too many times to count. —Freyja Frigg

I gave in the day I went to pick up my math book for practice and of course it was 20% off, they made it attractive and all of a sudden my longing to finish the trilogy kicked in and I was ready. I had waited a good amount of time, trying to discipline myself to not rush ahead! I have less than 20 pages to the end of Eleven Minutes, so the ending of my almost fourth novel by Paulo and the beginning of the third novel by Steig awaits me in the next few weeks.

So while Advent proceeds; which means the coming of something or someone significant I read a political thriller and a “An adults only fairy tale” says the Washington Post of Eleven Minutes. There are other books I am enjoying which help me to enter into the winter season, this beginning of a new year that urges me to be in the present while preparing for the future….

see: …I gave

Not in any particular order I am almost finished reading Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coehlo, while waiting for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson to come out in paperback.

Out on the coffee table is Metropolis (original short stories) Edited by John Scalzi, I read The Red in the Sky is our Blood by Elizabeth Bear an interesting primer to the film I saw the last week, The Greenhorns. Last but not least Captive by Donalda J. Reid, oh…. and I might have another go at The Life of Pi by Yann Martel because Colin Wright of ‘Blue Canoe and Galiano Island Inn Fame’, highly recommends it and because I am partial to Tigers, Ligers and Lions—well cats in general!

I put books out hoping to pick them up in between working at two jobs and being with my boys. Add to this my modules on welding and I have my reading list for the rainy days ahead.

I am telling you the truth when I write that often the sky out here is looking like a painting by J. M. W. Turner (1775-1881).

I chose this one, The fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up painted in 1838 since it reminds me of industry that goes on out here (Steveston, on the Fraser River) everyday.

Earlier this week, I was very excited to hear the news of Seaspan winning the $8 billion dollar contract to revitalize BC’s shipping industry. I am quietly hoping that there will be a place for me to weld too. Weather I work as a union or non-union welder, I am thinking there will be a few more women who will have their work cut out for them weather it be aluminum or steel.

Though I haven’t seen any battle ships lately a few months back the tall ships were in town for a three-day weekend and it was a dramatic display from my studio balcony.

I quickly sketched out with chalk pastel my view of the ships from the balcony. It was romantic moment and in the early days of summer when the air is warm and inviting —plein air, which always feels such a luxury and something I have yet to enjoy more of.

Continuing on with View from Studio 217 VI. What drew me to the place I live is the light, the south east-west exposure and the spectacular changing face of Garry Point.

On this rainy October day the greens are greener and the snow geese come and go flying their familiar formation while  each day, Oliver at Action Welding, runs out to watch while Jim and I smile at his childlike joy of seeing the birds that remind him of his homeland.

Since the new dock went up and the permanent pylons forever cast in the ground, there has been a new sound at Garry Point of an unwelcome nature.

It is the sound of the swaying aluminum ramp as the waves from a sailing vessel sweep under. It stands alone and is rather reminiscent of something you want to put down in order to let it out of its misery.

Without a warm characteristic hum or drone, it is like a horribly out of tune instrument that does not know quite how to fit in.

“As a musician for over 40 years I have heard a lot of ugly sounds in my life time, from ear piercing microphone feedback through a 500 watt P.A. system, to out of tune instruments playing out of time.

I must say however the offensive squawk of the Garry Point Aluminum bridge is now included in my top ten list. Walking down the bridge slowly gave me the creepy feeling that I was walking through a gauntlet of GIANT and very angry crows.

Standing in the base of the bridge made me think of what aluminum might sound like if it had flatulence…”Aluminum Flatulence,” also a good name for a “Light Metal Band”. Standing on the float the squawks created a vision in my mind of a very LARGE Siamese cat in heat. From the middle of the Park the squawks sounded more like squeaks.These squeaks introduced an image in my mind of an older upstairs couple copulating very slowly and carefully on a broken box spring mattress.

I hope any one who reads this will now see these images in their mind as well, when their ears are assaulted. Lets hope that City Council doesn’t promote the bridge as Steveston tourist attraction.”—Ted Hesketh, Musician and Visual Artist

I am hoping that as long as I live close enough to hear the waves, the dredger and working tugs that it will blend into the milieu of industrial sounds that I daily listen to, yet somehow I have a feeling it is going to take awhile.

If it were possible I wish to find a way of tuning it to give it a slightly more appealing voice which harmonizes with the natural sounds of Garry Pt. Maybe now that I am working at Action Welding I can learn from Jim all the secrets to working with aluminum. Come to think of it, I don’t think they make tuning forks out of aluminum, hmm, then again maybe they do.

Aluminum is characteristically somewhat hollow and lightweight depending on the weight of it and a premium metal for marine fabrication, many years ago dubbed “the miracle metal” by those working in the industry. There may well be a few instruments out there, I’ll get back to you on that!

ps: I did find a beautiful double bass…

Available at: 1stdibs

In 37 minutes with Sandra Bilawich, I view her shop in the beautiful rough hewn urban industrial setting of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

I like women who like to work, weld and express their life and art through working with stone and metal. Attentive to the telling of whatever the material asks while listening to mathematical formulas, applying endless experimentation with knowledge of how materials will behave helps complete an artwork, its no small endeavour.

I say goodbye and thank her for allowing me to intrude upon her work schedule.

I ask myself again: What do welding and mothering have in common?

In welding there are predictable outcomes and results. In mothering — Is it a crap shoot or an act of faith?

The common element in the two endeavors are this:  the intent is to join and form a strong bond between the two sides which first have to be prepared for joining.

The beautiful thing is that I remember the sound and taste of metal, to this end I let it lead me to the place I have waited to see for a long time, it was taken three lifetimes to arrive here

—I [will] keep the faith as Sandra said upon parting.

Blue Star Iron Pour from Mark & Angela Walley on Vimeo.

It had been a while since I had checked in. This beauty of a Vimeo Video awaited me by Mark and Angela Walley.

It is all the same to me. I am in the background watching with bated breath, the pour. Fire refines and casts a shape that cannot be easily changed until the flame is lit again.

Thy dangerous flame I miss

Thy heat is long felt and broken upon my skin

My only hope is that one day

Thy fire, water, earth will mix with wind

To produce my felt desire to be with you

I think I would combust if I had a four to six digit following. My brain is fast adapting to multi-complex communications in shades of social as I know yours is too.

Fragments shatter every thought and my thinking becomes your public domain. Pieces are available on the open market for further morphing …. ask Keira she will tell you….~ff