WEEKLY WRAP UP
Zoning In On Our Latest Mural Project
My Weeks in Photos — Week 62 & 63 — May 12 — May 31, 2023
When I went to look for my last weekly wrap-up to see where I left off, I was surprised to find that I haven’t written one in a couple of weeks. I won’t lie, I have felt little desire to write much in the past 8 weeks. It all shifted when we came back to Canada, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around why.
Thankfully, though, we are now well into our mural project, and having some sort of creative project to focus on, always helps me to get clearer somehow.
For those that don’t remember, we were hired by the Canmore Legion to paint a mural on their exterior wall. The mural depicts a soldier mourning at a cenotaph, with fields of poppies and graveyards in the background.
This is the initial mock-up image that we did with our proposal:
As you can see from our lead photo, we are certainly well on our way with the project. We hoped to finish at the end of this week, but the weather hasn’t cooperated, so it will be delayed somewhat. Either way, it is looking really good and we are very satisfied with our progress.
It is located on a bustling corner in Canmore where a lot of traffic will be driving by it. So we are happy to have such a high-profile location to showcase our work. Plus, I must say, I couldn’t be prouder to not only paint a mural in my hometown but on the Canmore Legion in particular.
If you are not Canadian, you may not know what the legions represent in Canada. To put it in the most simple of terms, it’s basically a clubhouse for war veterans. Of course, others can go to the legion as well. Any civilian can go in and get a beer or play pool.
Legions host many community events. Bridal showers, anniversary celebrations, birthday parties, you name it. Growing up here, I attended many parties at the Legion and even had my own bridal shower there, plus the Legion hosted my parent's 50th wedding anniversary in 2019.
I guess you could say that it is like a community hall, but it has a specific function to serve the veterans.
You will find a legion in every town, big or small in our country. They are where our Remembrance Day celebrations stem from as the nation pays tribute to those that have fought for our freedoms, and remembers the ones we lost.
Most legions have a bar in them, and sometimes a kitchen, so these establishments become gathering centers in small towns.
The Canmore Legion is a mainstay in Canmore. It is one of just a small handful of establishments where the long-term members of the community congregate. It is one place that I can go to in Canmore where I know I will likely see somebody I know inside. It’s certainly not possible to say that about most places in town.
So, I have to say, it is the utmost privilege to be able to put a little piece of myself on the wall of this building that has been a part of my life for over 40 years now.
The design of the image pays homage to the poem In Flander’s Fields. I found it on Wikipedia and it goes like this:
In Flanders Fields In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
This is likely the most solemn mural that we have painted so far. But I have to say that the bright red and bold colors also really bring joy to people. We have had many very excited people stop to tell us how wonderful they think the mural is, and it’s always humbling when somebody says ‘thank you’. I often don’t know how to respond to that.
Spring has certainly sprung here in the Rockies. Or should I say summer? We seemed to almost entirely skip spring although it has cooled down a bit in the past week. Hopefully, it stays at more seasonal temperatures as Alberta has already been fighting many wildfires.
Lots of beautiful flowers are popping out but my absolute favorite is the lilacs. The smell that comes from them is just heavenly and you can’t help but to stop in your tracks and just sniff it right in.
So many other blooms are erupting now as well and the trees are just beautiful!
We also had the privilege to watch a family of Elk wandering around town the other evening. They were eating the dandelion heads that had gone to seed and it was quite cute when they bit down on a bunch and a big puff of white fluff came flying from their mouths.
I really loved this little guy and his adorable antler stumps that are just growing in.
We were also visited by a beautiful yellow and black butterfly one afternoon as we were walking down to have lunch on the river. It was my grandma's birthday (she would have turned 98) that day so I figure it was her stopping by to say hi.
Eating our lunch down by the river is such a nice treat. It’s just a short walk from our painting project, and we try to bring a picnic lunch each day so that we can enjoy it down there. The other day we took our socks off and put our feet in the water and it was seriously cold!
Friday night also brought us to Bingo! It has been many, many, MANY years since I last bonked a bingo boinker! A couple of friends of ours suggested we go and do it so I asked my mom if she wanted to join us. Of course, she did because she hadn’t been to Bingo since Covid started and she used to be a regular.
It didn’t really click in that it would have been my grandma's 98th birthday on that day when we planned to go. She passed away at the end of 2021. My Grandma was the ultimate Bingo Queen, I swear. And the fact that we ended up at Bingo, accidentally, on her birthday, is no random act, I can assure you.
Everyone knew her at Bingo and she was so loved by the community.
Little did they know that her bingo competitors were her mortal enemies! Well, only on Friday nights, I guess.
We told all of her friends that were there that it was her birthday, and we all sat back and waited to see who she would pick to be the lucky winners. At least, that is what I want to believe happened. Mom Bingo’d once and I Bingo’d twice. Of course, we aren’t playing for huge sums of money, but it was fun to win anyways! Thanks Grandma!
The Bingo caller even went out of his way to have the mystery game be the letter E which is the first letter in her name, Esther. I won’t lie, there were a couple of tears and we were so grateful that he made that effort.
Grandma would have been giggling her head off and embarrassed at all the attention she was getting that night.
That about sums up my past couple of weeks. Today it was raining and we weren’t able to paint, but it allowed me to get to do some writing, which is nice.
After being in our current housesit for the past 2.5 weeks, we are finally starting to feel settled and relaxed. I can’t tell you how good it feels to know that we can be here in this spot for another 2.5 months. We can feel our bodies relaxing bit by bit as the craziness of the past three years melts off of them.
We are really realizing that we have been on one hell of a journey lately. Covid added more stress and worry to traveling, which is already a difficult thing to do long term. We had some crazy experiences in Uganda when we helped a starving village, and we have painted a ton of murals. We didn’t really realize it, but we needed a break.
Canada is providing that for us, and we are so grateful. We are still happy to keep busy with artistic projects, but it is so nice to just stop moving for a bit. We don’t know what the rest of the summer holds for us just yet, but we are excited about the potential and possibilities to come.
As usual, we will take it day by day.
We hope that everyone has had a great week! Fingers crossed, we will be finished the mural by next weeks update and you can see the big reveal!
xo Jill and Chris
I’m tagging those who have requested to be tagged in my weekly wrap-ups. If you would like to be tagged, please let me know and I will add you to the list.
Robert | Louise | Adrienne | Kim | Mia | Michele | Ivy | Erika | Anne | Sandra | Julie | Bruce | JoAnn | Louise | Lysergic World Design
I write a wrap-up each week on my personal publication Artistic Voyages:
Stories I wrote in the past couple weeks:
A Disastrous Reintegration Into the Western World — Part One
A Disastrous Reintegration Into the Western World — Part Two
Some Ancient Ruins Are Still In Use Today
If you like my writing and want to read more, subscribe to Medium through my referral link (I will earn a small commission) to get full access! Plus sign up here to get my articles by email. We would also be happy if you considered leaving us a tip using the link below:)
We have been nomadic since 2017! Join our journey by hitting these links:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn| Patreon| YouTube | Medium
