Fall Garden

My little garden is over flowing. Most of it has been harvested, but some is still going strong.

Butternut Squash (Flowers but no squash at this point. We will see)

Pumpkin (a number of flowers, and one pumpkin is started)

Red Pepper Plant (the plant got choked out by the other plants. I transplanted it once and then the pumpkin choked it out. But one little pepper did grow.)

With this late season heat the strawberry plants have gone crazy!!! It should be a good summer for strawberries next year.The asparagus is going strong. Next year we will just watch it again. Year three!!!!

The herbs are taking over. Compact Thyme, Thyme, Tarragon, Mint and Sage.
The tomatoes are turning red, finally. There are about 25 on the plant. They are ripening one at a time-which is nice.
And our raspberry bush has fruit. The tag promised fruit the first year, I was skeptical as there has been no fruit until now.
Two Mondays ago Stef and I got together and made Pickles, Pickled Carrots

And Borscht. (please note the open jar of pickles in the background. The perks of making pickles while there are still some from last year - no waiting!)

Broken Rules

In theatre we have a lovely little thing called 10 out of 12s. That means that you are in the theatre to tech 10 out of the 12 hours that you are called. At Theatre Calgary that usually means a noon start. So for stage management that means we come in at 11:00 to get set up. We start at 11 and go home around 12:30pm. So I am only supposed to work for 10 hours - but I work closer to 13. But that is okay, because I am allowed to work 13 hours without being compensated a span of day penalty.



Each show is allowed 4 of these "special" days. But I guess that means by the title 10 out of 12. On any given day that you have a performance before you official open you can have a rehearsal. That means that you have a Preview Performance in the evening (so a four hour show call) and a 5 hour rehearsal during the day. So including the hour prep before the rehearsal I am working 10 hours again. So why make the rule that you are only allowed 4 of these long days if that is not in fact the truth. On this show we only have 3 previews - which is not bad. Some shows preview for two weeks. That means we would have 16 days in a row (not counting our one day off on Monday) of 12 hour days.


On a higher note...we have opened. People seem to like it. This image is of the final scene, Jake with his Rain Making Machine. Doesn't it look heavy? I push it up hill 8 times a show.

Time sheets

I finished tech week last night at 12:30am. I filled out a time sheet for 60 hours. I have had a full nights sleep and my feet still hurt. This show's set is on a rake. A rake is when the stage is on a slant. In our case the back part of the stage (upstage) is 3' higher than the front part (downstage). From the side of the rake their are ramps that go from the rake to the floor. These ramps have compound angles so that they are flush with the edge of the rake on one end, and flush with the floor on the other. My legs and feet ache from dealing with these angles all day.

The most exciting part of this show is that it rains. There is a 10' wide rain zone. A pipe and the front and back that provide a sheet of rain and then a pipe that holds 10 fire sprinklers that cover the space between the sheets of rain.

When we had spent two full 13 hour days in the theatre, and had started the 3rd we had a time block to work on our special effects. For three hours we worked out the pyro and rain effects. In that moment, when the rain first came down, I remembered why I do what I do. It was very cool.

See you opening - Friday.