The Regatta

Before bed meltdown

Here is a recent photo of my 18 month old grand daughter having a little tantrum before bed one evening. I don't love the photo because she's obviously unhappy, but I do love it because it shows such natural expression. Can't we all identify with that total breakdown of frustration and anger that we'd sometimes like to express like this, but have to keep bottled up inside because we're adults?

Life's unfair my baby, but you get used to it.

To escape some of the madness that I call work, I'm taking a couple of weeks off. During that time I have some personal things to take care of and some art to catch up on. I hope to do a little travelling, even it is only exploring some of my surrounding areas. There are many places and sights that I pass by, some even on a daily basis, that I overlook. Details that they provide turn them into something extraordinary and turning those details into drawings or paintings make them unique not only to me but to others. I will still be posting when I can during this time. I haven't been posting as frequently as I have been and find that many bloggers aren't during the summer months. There are so many other things to catch up on during a short warm season.

Here, on the first Wednesday in August, the Royal St. John's Regatta, the oldest organized sporting event in North America., is held and it is a municipal holiday. The holiday for the Regatta is also a floating holiday which is weather dependent. The wind plays a big role in this so the committee must decide early in the morning whether or not the forecast is suitable.

The purpose of the Regatta is competitive rowing in fixed seat shells. The shores of the lake on which it is held are also lined with concession stands and if the weather is good, you can find 50,000 attending. This year weather has postponed it and it may not go ahead tomorrow either. This has been one of the worst summers on record. We had a slow start with a cold wet spring and early summer, then a blistering heat wave and now back to chilly temperatures and drizzly rain again.

I haven't attended the Regatta in years as I don't like being jostled in the crowds. The races can be interesting but more so the championship ones at the end of the day. So most of the time I take the holiday that goes along with the day and catch up on other things at home which I likely will be doing again this year.