material witness

Simple Stitches

2009-10-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

New friend Sam has just been introduced me to the beautiful clothing designs and textile processes of Alabama Chanin. So completely delightful.

Thoughtful, organic, simplicity re-defined, and appealing to my old prairie-hippy chick sensibilities. Check out her web https://alabamachanin.com

Yummy.

SPLASH

2009-10-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Will be attending SPLASH, the fundraiser for the Art's Umbrella. I have donated some work for the auction and am excited to see who else is involved.

Art's Umbrella has done such amazing things to involve Vancouver children in the arts.

I have an excuse to dress up in more than my splotchy art clothes. And I get to spend time with Celine. Just hope my work brings in something for them at the auction.

Found Books

2009-10-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

I am busy making my share of the Thanksgiving meal. My specialty is the Tarte Tatin. Currently up to my ears in pie crust, salad makings and spanish potatoes.

My son Bren is cooking the rest of the meal at his house.

I spent the morning cruising old magazines and realize that I need to start my design file instead of packing all this crap. Last night's insomnia was the perfect time to do research for my next project. So great when everything comes together information wise. There is a connection, at least in subject, between all of my characters and their obsessions.

Most of my kids are not home this year. Steph is working, Chris and Vashti are in Golden repairing their house and Dane is recuperating in Winnipeg. Bren and Meg are cooking dinner.

Things have been leaving the house and room is appearing. Space to think. The bathroom is nearly finished . It is really lovely with the window and new floor and ginormous footed tub.
Installation is expected tomorrow. I won't climb out for a month.

I am now completely accomplished at peeing in a bucket at 20 feet and having a bath in a cup of water.

Wondering

2009-10-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been exhausting and upsetting. I arrived home from Wells. Both galleries were closed and packed up and so was the little apartment. More work than expected.
Packing up a gallery is complicated because everything has to be listed and carefully wrapped for each artist. Pick up or drop off has to be arranged to deliver work back to owners and shipping has to be done. Visits and calls to post office, credit machine people, banks, etc.

Farewells are expected when you leave a lovely place like Wells. Time is so limited when you are hundreds of miles from your home destination. You get one shot at packing the truck. No returning to pick up a few more things. Not everyone gets said goodbye to and hurt feelings result.

Arriving home has been a whole other issue. It was a complete disaster area and a construction site when I arrived. The manure hit the fan within a few days of arriving home. Tim's father developed pnuemonia and an aortic anuerysm and my son ended up in hospital with heart issues and very scary lung x-rays. My sinus cavity erupted into my tooth and emergency surgery had to happen. They have decided it might be a bigger problem and have sent me back for "explorations" regarding a potential larger issue. I wasn't allowed to fly. Tim had to leave me as I was to get to his poor father. Son had to cope with support by phone and computer.
Tim had gone for medical testing and his results came back quite scary. And an armed man was arrested under our house. Dogs, screaming man, screaming armed cops, blood, terror, etc.

Then a message about my darling Barry's death came.

Everything is now under control or in waiting stage. Not sure how to manage this level of stress but know that I will.

Yesterday I actually went into the studio. Almost all the artists have got their work back. I managed to unpack tons of boxes. Hilary showed me her incredible experiments from the summer. I sat at my little work table and put down my head. Floods of inspiration came to me. Enough for many explorations. We got in first description of our next show completed and in to the curator.

I listened to an interview with Swanee Hunt. She talked about woman in refuge camps internationally who keep going in times of disaster. She said that much to her amazement they carry on with routines and put one foot in front of the other. One step at a time.

I will finish up unpacking and prepare for life again. I am grateful today for all of this. My home, my little family, the construction disaster and creativity.

The Celtic Cross and the Torah

2009-10-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

I found out in the last hour that my very dear friend and amazing textile artist and teacher , Barry Goodman, died of cancer a month ago. I am in shock and feeling so sad that I was not here to be of help.

Barry and I had a friendship that goes back to my time at Capilano University. We made friends immediately. It was impossible not to. We were both carried away with the threads of textile creation. He was a year ahead of me and offered an incredible amount of support, information and stimulation for me at school. He was primarily a weaver and I was a surface designer. We were both carried away with more conceptual play. I was a hopeless weaver and ended up finding it very difficult to load my loom. He would come in late and patiently help me set up and correct my mistakes. All for a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.

We left Capilano and Barry continued on to Concordia to get his M.A. and returned to teach at Vancouver Community College and to take over chairing the Weaver's Guild. He was successful and beloved.

Barry and I stayed in touch after school and sat down and tossed around ideas. He was honest enough to tell me when he found my work conceptually weak. He was honest enough to praise and respect me when it was good. He shared ideas. techniques, and struggles with me.

Barry had another side. All sides were lovely. He would not give panhandlers money. He would purchase meals in restaurants beforehand and would make up coupons and an agreement with restaurant owners that they were to feed the bearer of his coupon. The panhandler was to be able to come and go like any paying customer and no fuss was to be made except that which would normally go to a favourite customer. He preserved dignity.

Barry was also an incredible musician. He played all kinds of music but had a preference for Klezmer. His energy was gentle and very, very funny and clever.

He married Kym after he graduated from school. He took on both of her children and took his relationship with them as seriously and lovingly as he took on his relationship with Kym.

Barry's textile work is very intellectual and of spirit. He played with simple techniques like cross-stitch and told stories about the development of complex technologies and accomplished inventors, He broke down portraits into the most simple form using out of date and obsolete computer equipment. He wove Torahs. He was consistent and thoughtful.

Above my spice cabinet is a little cross stitch Barry made for me as a gift. I had done a project about my Irish Quebec family and spent time exploring Irish Montreal. The cross stitch is of the Celtic Cross that sits in my family's Catholic Church in Montreal. The Jews and the Irish Catholics lived side by side in the neighbourhood.

We all live and die. Some deaths hurt more than others. Some deaths remind us that we are here for a reason. Sometimes we are just lucky enough to have someone like Barry to help us thread our loom.

Finding Ponies

2009-09-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have now found part of the laundry room, living room and kitchen.

I keep reminding myself of the story about the two children who found a barn full of manure.

All I can say is that I know there is a pony under here somewhere.

Tomorrow I go find herds in the studio!

Returning To Normal

2009-09-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

I have spent time unpacking and cleaning up after my exhausted and upset partner. He spent time at the clinic today and has discovered that he is exhausted and not very well. He is completely shocked to find out he is mortal.

I know I am mortal having faced serious illness in the past and have a tendancy to take better care of myself.

There is no bathroom in the house yet but part of the house is starting to show up as boxes unpack and construction proceeds. The hangers have been found and the washing machine is in constant use. Meals have been prepared and served and people have come over for visits.

Today I went for a walk and a little shop. Met a friend for lunch and heard good news.

New paint brushes!

Home

2009-09-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Home or...what is left of it. Not one room in the house is clean or even functional.
I am exhausted and completely horrified. There is a difference between construction mess and
what has happened to my house. Not one room in one area protected and safe. Nothing was covered . Nothing was cleaned.

The bathroom now has a toilet but the window is now out. The window is beautiful and so is the floor.

Clear that there is a serious problem here. If I blow up it creates a reward system. I will not be a foil in this passive aggressive dysfunction any more.

Dried Out

2009-09-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

My eyes have teared up so much that I can hardly see. So hard leaving all my wonderful new friends in Wells. I am happy to be going home with the prospect of a proper bath tub and my own bed and lovely family but I will miss it here somethin' awful.

Each morning I was greeted with the mountains and the beautiful birds. Each night I go to sleep in the silence of the wild and look at sheets of stars. The water stunk. The bugs were thick but the people were lovely almost to a person. I really had a beautiful time even when it was not going well. I coped when I wasn't sure I coould. I was independant.

I didn't get much art done but have a burning brain full of ideas. I'll post lots of pictures when I get to my own computer.

How Many?

2009-09-12T10:11:00.001-07:00

How many paintbrushes and thread spools does one artist need?
Should I give stuff away? Should I save it for later? What should I bring down to the share shed at the dump?
Can I just leave it all here and run away to somewhere else?

Highlight of the Summer

2009-09-10T11:24:00.001-07:00

Last night at dinner my friend Bill asked me what the highlight of my summer was.
I talked about my moose adventure, my bear adventures and the wildflowers.

He looked at me quizically and explained that his summer highlights were always about experiences with people.

My head spun. I am always about people and about interactions. I have four children and endless relatives. I have many friends and neighbours in need of my support. I didn't realize
how much I needed a break from my interactions with people and with social usefullness.

I have been mostly alone in my endeavor here. Not without companions. Certainly interacting with people every day. But alone in goal setting, decision making etc. I like it. I like having the time to think about moose.

The highlight of my summer, though, is also about people. The "Bogman" will stay with me for a long time. Who wouldn't relate to a tall, slender man who spent days dressing up in bog flora and some real, live fauna to make a statement about the environment at the Wells Fashion Show.

I am coming home to Vancouver next week after being gone for five months. The frost is now coming back to Wells and the season is changing. Fires are lit again in the Saint George's Gallery to keep us warm and Claire is bringing in hot cocoa and fresh biscotti.

I will miss all aspects of this place. I will miss the people here. I will miss my bus trip to Quesnel and being offered morning coffee by Mark as I wait for it. I will miss being seen as just Patricia.

The boxes are being packed and the truck home is booked.

Fishbowls

2009-08-20T11:12:00.001-07:00

Living in Wells is like living in an aquarium. Other gallery owners watch me come and go. They always mention when I open late or decide to close for a day for a workshop or something. I have had to close the Good Eats a few times because of construction or the overwhelming noise from musicians practise.

I am the only gallery owner in my end of town that has not operated within my own home and with a partner. I don't have a car. I walk through the middle of town to my gallery and am usually greated with comments about how late I am because I open at 10 o'clock when they open at 9:00 or so.

I have one other gallery owner who constantly phones me and leaves me a message to tell me what time it is and wonders why I am not there. Sometimes I am in the back or at the general store where my only access to the computer is. I have to run back and forth to do things like eat or go to the bathroom.

I have fantasies that other gallery owners open in their pajamas or eat toast at the desk. They have washing machines, cars and computers in their buildings.
I don't. I know other gallery owners have naps and go for showers later or walks around town when their partners help. I don't.

I had an offer of help when I came in exchange for studio space from one artist. She had offered a couple mornings a week for the right to work in the St. George's. Her stuff is there and I don't know if she works in there. I know that she has worked in the gallery once since I arrived. I also know now based on feedback from others and from direct comments and contact that she is one of my biggest critics.

I really have tried hard but have learned that I would rather do anything but keep a shop. I just want to go back home now. I like to swim in a much bigger pond than this.

Neglectful

2009-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have been so completely neglectful with my little blog because of business.

The Arts Wells Festival was amazing. So was Artwalk and the Auction for Island Mountain Arts.
I donated some work and the work was bid on and won by an assistant deputy in the Ministry of Culture and something or other. John Hall also called for the work after it had already sold.
I had such positive response to the work and really feel motivated to do better work in future.

Finding time to work however is really difficult. I now have at least four commisions to make and deliver. Two shows are being worked at for fall and Valentines Day.I have been able to do a workshop or two and have another one planned for this week with a woman who won me for a day at a local fundraiser.

Hilary Young 's show is now installed at the Good Eat's Gallery in Wells and it is stupendous. It is called Burnt Offerings and is a moody and poignant display of what extreme textiles look like when very finely worked. People drop when they witness them. Rather like looking through a keyhole into a very private and feminine boudoir.

The Good Eats Gallery is my favourite place to be. Having the luxury of an installation space with work from people I admire gives me reason to keep doing this. I get to live in the same space as this gorgeous work.

I have to remind myself of greater purpose when I end up feeling like a shop keeper. I am here to show artists that I love and to try to work and see how people respond to what I offer.

Deluge and Downpour!!!

2009-07-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Illuminaires Festival in Vancouver was nearly rained out by the sounds of it. People who were brave enough to attend in the monsoon that occured were rewarded by the sight of the Ascaphus Truei eggs collapsing. They became completely water logged according to observers and slumped under the weight of the water.

The poor organizers had to deal with the potential of fire because of the extremely dry weather in Vancouver and had prepared themselves. The fire marshall showed up and told the organizers they might have to avoid all of the electronics, fireworks and candles. The weatherman provided a great forecast and the weather decided to do it's own show. Thunder, lightening and a downpour like no one has seen in a long time.

The salmon eggs and the dark constellations survived the downpour but were only seen by a few people because most left the grounds after braving the deluge. I am waiting for pictures to be sent along. Soggy steamy pictures!!!

Planning for events is such a challenging process if they are outside. One never knows what the elements will bring.

This weekend the Wells Festival starts and Hilary and I will be giving Extreme textile workshops at the St. George's Church. Out in the grounds if the weather cooperates.
We can crowd into the church if it doesn't.

Lost it and Lanterns

2009-07-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

The Ascaphus Truei lanterns will be installed for the Illuminaires Festival of Lights this weekend at Trout Lake in Vancouver. the crew has pulled together my designs and has
now conquered the problem of lighting the things. They pulse and glow!

I can only wait for images of them now! I am so grateful for all the help people gave to help build them.

I am nearly chewed to death by Northern bugs. Bugs in clouds like shirts or socks. Masses and masses of bugs. I love it here and will have a hard time leaving this beautiful place and my beautiful new friends. Only about six weeks left until I return to Vancouver

Installation Gallery

2009-07-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Having the Good Eats Gallery open in the evening has done what I hoped it would do. It has inspired meaningful conversations about the shows. Tina Ozols show Accumulations has brought in the best kind of conversation regarding the snapshots of her inheritance.

It seems that people want to talk about all the stuff they own or don't own. Most people are embarrassed by stuff and are flumoxed about what to do with the extras they own.

Every night another group of people come to talk about stuff, crap and accumulations. Some people are visibly upset and some are very self enlightened about why they have so much stuff.

I think this is my favourite show to date.

Accumulations

2009-07-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I picked up Tina Ozols incredible photographs depicting her grandfather's accumulated treasures and belongings. They will be featured in the new show at the Good Eats Gallery.

Falling into the photographs was so soothing last night. I have been flying around for days and hadn't even really had a sit by myself to just be. Tina has taken the photos in a most recognizable and comfortable way. Each photo is composed to capture both light and object in a quiet way. Each object somehow recognizable and common but so poignant.

I can't wait until they are all in place.

In the meantime I dismantle and mantle all over again.

Road To HELL

2009-06-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well....all I can say is that my trip home was from hell!!!!

Picture a bad cold, a lost purse, locations with no restrooms, everyone with head music on a different channel, a cranky two year old behind me who had just learned to spit like a dock worker, a screaming and exhausted baby whose mom didn't help by scolding her, a gaseous octogenarian whose chair kept flipping back on my already sore knee and a little boy with Down Syndrome who repeated one or two words over and over again from Vancouver to Quesnel.

Thankfully Laurie was there to pick me up and drag me for dinner. Pasta never tasted so good.
Groceries then home.

The biggest thrill was that we got to encounter a newborn moose with her aggressive and protective momma. We were in a little, little car and the moose thought she could take us. Laurie saved the day again and was savvy enough that the moose allowed us to pass.

I arrived at the Good Eats long enough to collapse after looking around at the beautiful bog and the sunset.

What a Ball!!!

2009-06-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

I had an absolute ball over the last two days. the workshop-work parties turned out to be very productive despite the fact I had a ferocious cold. Tons of work was accomplished as I floated around in a daze trying to keep track of what I was trying to accomplish.

The wonderkind from the Public Dreams Society turned out to be efficient and creative with work ethics as long as your arm. It was wonderful to meet with Jody, Kirsten and Rachel. They ran around and pulled together tons of work from long distance and also were the most accomplished papier machers.

Each work party had amazing artists. Cara Manning came. She worked with me during the winter at Williams St Studios. Karen Barnaby, the chef , showed up to help with a stream of other artists. Everyone brought delicious food and I had my first taste of basil since I left for the North. Fritatta, strawberries, cous cous with lemon grass and tons of nuts and fruit, muffins and cookies, Fresh berries of every kind and yumcious cherries. There was even Chinese dim sum buns and lovely things to drink and eat with cheeses and fresh pears. Chefs turned into terrific extreme textile artists and artists turned into fabulous cooks.

We worked hard and made dozens of complex lanterns for the installation for the Illuminaires Festival at Trout Lake. We made salmon eggs, ascaphus truei eggs and umbilical cords, mushrooms and cocoons. We also made stalks and stems and talked about inspiring nature and ways of working.

I felt extremely humbled by the capacities of everyone who showed up. I got to learn new things and try out old skills and pass them on. I heard about projects, grants, artist residencies and got to connect with old friends like Fay Logie and Haruko Okana.

I will talk later about how awestruck I felt while working with humble paper and glue. And about how exciting it was to play with a cadre of skills and wonderful women. Imagine that I actually get paid to do this!!!

It is now late and I have one more evening in my little Vancouver house. I leave for the bus to Wells early in the morning and I have to wash my clothes because I want to use my own washing machine and not have to hand wash or drag things up and down mountain roads to the little laundromat in Wells.

It is going to be hard to leave tomorrow but I really do love what has happened for me in Wells. I am reminded that Vancouver is my home. Wells is a place that just dances in my heart.

Lakes and Lanterns

2009-06-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

I am home in Vancouver to do a workshop with the Public Dreams Society. They have given me the honour of designing and creating a series of lantern sculptures for the beautiful Illuminaires Festival at Trout Lake. I will work with thier volunteers and staff to accomplish an installation at the lake.

Subject matter is the microscopic, the fragile and the environment around the Sea to Sky route to the Olympics. There will be a myth created about Ascaphus Truei, my favourite little tailess froggy. Rumour has it that there are dancers, a guy with a bike providing electricity through a human powered generator, and a musician playing ancient Austrailian wind instruments.

The bus trip down from Wells was glorious. The weather was neither too hot or too cold. The landscape was just beautiful. The bus driver was friendly and kind. The food wasn't even horrible.

So ,flu or not, I immerse myself in paper mache glue today. Will also show others how to rip, tear, slash and burn.

Then for cosy cuddles with my old chum Tim!!! Hot and Sour Soup sounds good.

Selling stuff

2009-06-18T11:06:00.002-07:00

Stuff is selling!

All hung and people are showing up to both galleries.

I am learning how to do this. The bugs are really big and hungry here. I am still doing it!

Selling Stuff

2009-06-18T11:06:00.001-07:00

2009-06-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

Tim and Louise have come and gone and now the St. George's Gallery is officially open minus the credit card machine. The labeling still needs to be done and so does some of the P.R.

I have been struck with the most unusual but annoying problem. The people I lived with for four days at the beginning of my stay in Wells have decided to spend time doing acts of unwanted kindness? Boundary problems abound. They have repeatedly come onto the property of the Church. They planted a garden of sorts. Kinda laid down some railway ties and planted a pansy in a log, spread dirt all over and generally made a mess. They took a number of questionable objects but Church owned property, relaid the lattice in their yard and mine, changed the wood pile around, moved the lawn chairs, and stole a number of the pansies I was just in the process of either killing or planting.

I have a problem addressing the Pansy Liberation Army! The male in the partnership scares me. He has approached me asking for money and has acted completely unpredictably, apparently upset by my lack of gratefulness. When I ask him not to do things he says that I didn't. He tells me what I need to do and how to do it. He also tells me how to fit in around here.

In the meantime I have been trying to set up my gallery. It has been slow going because of delays with the powers that be. All approvals in. All machines for transactions here. Instruction being forwarded. Soon, I hope.

Cory Hardeman and Claire are now also setting up studios in the St, George's Gallery.

Tim and Louise have just left after a weekend of setting up, parties and an amazing Celtic pub night at the Well's Hotel. They hung, packed and carried and scrubbed and painted. They planned and organized and negotiated. They were most appreciated. They left leaving me with real life in Wells. Less spoiled and more lonely. Maybe a little harder than last time.

I am now a consulting artist for the Illuminaires Festival in Vancouver. I am in the midst of planning a huge lantern installation for summer, a small one for winter and a show in February at Numen. I have also been invited to consider collaborating at the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute for this fall. Feeling a little overwhelmed. Setting up galleries and doing art and planning are two very different things. Each seems to come from a completely different part of my being.

My goal was to knock myself out of my comfort zone. Accomplished. I seem to spend a lot of time being uncomfortable and awkward. I saw a stuffed moose yesterday with long gangly limbs and dissonent movement. I completely related.

My sweety came for four days and I felt normal. He left and I felt different again. He is so reassuring and kind to me. He even hand feeds me. He works hard to make this happen for me but I wonder how up to this I really am. Operating in Vancouver is so easy in contrast. Operating in New York is easy compared to this. Operating in Wells is made much easier because the people here are mostly so very lovely.

Now I must go back to the gallery and label some art. Maybe someone with cash will come by today and buy something.

Dead Bugs and New Beginnings.

2009-05-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Naughty Peter has done it again. He always manages to do something delightful unless we are attempting to travel together. Then I am the less delightful of the two.

Naughty sent me an amazing collection of images related to slime and gooey bits from an
io9 article called The Bizarre Conciousness Of Slime Mold.) I am currently living in and running a gallery in Wells, B.C., Canada. The Good Eats Gallery and my apartment are located just before miles and miles of bog. Hence I am obsessed with nasty slimy things and am out belly crawling unless I am overcome by bear terror.

Corey Hardemen is one of the painters in my other gallery on the hill called the St. George's Gallery. She is a biologist and a painter. She also has three little children and is living in a travel trailer for the summer with her blacksmith husband, Michael. Corey and her children are kindred spirits relating to muck and goo. The children can be counted on to drag in some inspiring offal or other.

Life in Wells is going well. I am making friends of all ages and am being included in lots of activities and fun. There is a seriousness here. People are hardworking. Artists, loggers, goldminers, retired people, children and musicians all struggle together to make a living. There are also lots of dancers, actors, historians, costumers and the various people who keep Barkerville running. You make friends if people think you have a commitment to this beautiful little town. People pull together to create a little utopia of sorts. If you don't pull you don't really belong except for the season. I am learning to pull my share.

There is also a kindness here that I didn't expect. Yesterday while sending faxes in the Well's General Store the newest resident arrived. She is one and one half days old and her middle name is heaven spelled backwards. Mean and crusty looking forestry workers, a local artist, a goldminer and the shoppers all came over to greet her. "Welcome to the world and welcome to Wells little one!" How moving is that.

The other children here appear to be cherished. It isn't unusual to have a five year old deliver your sandwich at the restaurant. She is included. The children call out to you when you pass by.
There are only a dozen or so children in the school. The community garden is in the school grounds. People watch the children very carefully.

I have asked the children to tell me when they find something like a dead bird or interesting bug.
A number of them have come into the gallery and spent time looking at the low shelves that now have magnifying glasses. I have decided to set up a little children's gallery and a little play area in the St. George's.

Work is proceeding and I had 50 people in the Good Eats last night. School groups are coming through from places like Terrace, Smithers, Chilliwack and Merrit. Sometimes I run into the street and pull them in because my signage isn't very good yet. Hopefully this weekend the sign gets painted.

Island Mountain Arts is selecting applicants for the workshops this summer and also have a scholarship program. I have been asked to help select the scholarship students tomorrow. I look forward to see who is coming for the summer.

Gallery Set Up

2009-05-13T12:33:00.001-07:00

The Good Eats Gallery in Wells is now being officially set up for it's first show this weekend. the show will be an installation of my work called 'metamorphosis' and will feature some of my work related to cocoon and egg forms as well as a collection of textile and sculptural experiments relating to natural surface.

This is the May long weekend celebrating Queen Victoria's Birthday and the town of Bakerville is in full costume for the event. We are living in Wells and it is also celebrating but with an event to rebuild the Sunset Theatre after a snow collapse this winter.

There will be a large benefit tomorrow at the Wells Community Hall and all kinds of musicians are coming into town. The place is buzzing with energy.

Claire, Bill, Ron and Gail delivered Claire's show to Prince George yesterday and the opening is coming up shortly. More about that later.

I have been building, assembling and painting display units for the Good Eats Gallery. The final process on insurance and business set up is well under way and hopefully the credit card machines arrive eventually. Tim usually does this stuff for me and I am doing it on my own and discovering I really can. Screw drivers and drills aren't that hard.

New cadre of skills include reading directions, hammering, screwing on my own, using a level, putting together and running a projector, sign painting, hauling heavy things with a dolly, climbing ladders (no likey), filling out B.C. Government forms, and negotiating with banks. I also have the luxury of eating vegetarian most of the time. The rest of the time seems to be spent eating bacon.