Packed and ready to go!

 

 

It's just around the corner now, Summer Camp 2024!  Let's review the list:--  I didn't have a pre-camp physical check-up, but I had my last dental work done.  I never gave a thought to sewing little name labels in my clothes – but after all, at summer camp, you might want to invent a new name for yourself.  I suppose my down-at-heels walking shoes could be repaired, but when you have a full box of crayons, what else do you really need?

 

School is out for the little guy next door, and there have been hints of blue sky.  It can only get better.

 

 

There was only one last thing to do – the final piece in the "Minutiae" series, and it popped right out at me two weeks ago.  I'd been invited out to dinner and went looking for a bottle of wine for my hosts.  I know nothing about wine selection but am semi-famous for choosing quirky labels.  I could barely believe it when a HARLEQUIN popped out at me!

 

YES! But first I'd paint it.  I'd had the bottle for three days, planned the layout, and started to paint when I suddenly realized……..this was not Harlequin.

 

It was The Fool from the Tarot Deck that originated in the Middle Ages – by golly, I'll bet those travelling Commedia actors passed their time with these playing cards!

 

Remember my new hero Gino Severini?  From his two Harlequins and wine bottle, you can see why I'd jumped quickly to the wrong identification.

 

Never mind.  Here's the last in the Minutiae series:  "One for the Road" (copyright 2024)

 

On to summer camp!  If it's half as much fun as the one pictured below, where I spent two weeks each in the summers of 1952-54, it will be memorable.  Can you spot my friend A and me?  Not likely – we tended to hang out around the edges, not in this kind of mob scene.

 

No way! We did “Empty Frames” last summer!

My plan to spot minutiae on my birthday excursion to Capilano Suspension Bridge was almost hijacked. I'd barely passed through the turnstile when I saw this new touristy attraction – a big frame for photo-taking.

 

The funny thing is – it reminded me of how much I've missed doing people in movement.  And there were a whole lot of people on the bridge.

 

At day's end, I wondered if "mob scene" might morph into "minutiae."  You see, there had been a funny episode, almost at mid-span. Of course, photos were snapping everywhere (not by me – I was holding onto the railing with both hands).  A couple who were about five feet ahead of me were determined to get several photos of the young woman in various poses sitting on the bridge deck. 

 

Of course, this held up walkers in both directions but these two were undeterred, even as the loudspeaker repeatedly announced, "Please consider others. Take photos quickly and do not block bridge traffic."  Evidently, the two were visiting from the Land of It's-All-About-Me.

 

Eventually, they moved on – and for the next day or two, I tried to immortalize them.  These studies took a while and before long, I realized that with all those people, it could take all summer to develop a painting.

 

 

Well, I would have to look elsewhere for a Minutiae topic.  Conveniently, that day's mail brought a pamphlet from The Dance Centre  – the source of many of my movement studies.

 

Now wait a minute.  Doesn't this print layout suggest……….a frame?!? 

 

There was no option but to give in – and at least satisfy my cravings to get people in motion. Here's the quick finale for "About to Be Framed – Minutiae Series" (copyright 2024).

 

Summer Camp will be here before we know it.  In anticipation, I'm getting my cohort moved outside.  In my childhood, I secretly longed for a garden gnome – are these a little more…. grown-up?