July 18, 2008

July 18, 2008

Late last night while reading the Keremeos Review, the local weekly newspaper, I found an ad that intrigued me. A new party and events planning and provisioning business, located in Okanagan Falls, between Penticton and Oliver, was looking to hire "entertainers" ; jugglers, magicians, clowns, costumed characters, etc.. This morning I phoned and had a discussion with the owner. We arranged for a meeting / job interview at 6:00 P.M. at her place of business.

I needed to trim a dead branch off our huge Douglas Fir tree. I climbed up on the ladder, and while sawing off the dead branch ... HEY ... OW ! I was stung over my right eyebrow by a wasp. Last summer I purchased a cedar bird house and mounted it in the tree. I was disappointed this spring when I saw no evidence of it being used by any birds. Now I know why. When I looked away from the branch I was cutting, to see how and why I was stung, my head was surrounded by wasps coming out of the bird house. YOW ... I scrambled down the ladder quickly and went inside the trailer for first aid and sympathy. ****ing wasps !

At 5:00 P.M. we departed for my interview in Okanagan Falls and to attend the Beach Blanket Film Festival in Penticton. My interview went well, and I was hired to perform occasionally as a juggler / magician / clown. The business is very new and just getting started, so I don't think they will want my services often, but they do want me to work at the Red Bridge Centennial celebrations in Keremeos next weekend. Hey ... I'm an "entertainer" !

After my job interview we drove to Penticton. We were a bit early for the Beach Blanket Film Festival, so we went to Gyro Park to eat our picnic supper which Joanne had prepared. Oh, boy ... a classic rock band was performing a free concert at the Gyro Park Bandshell. We ate our picnic supper watching and listening to The Blackbirds, a classic rock band from Keremeos.

After supper we wandered over to Okanagan Lakeshore Park to attend the first of three evening performances of the 15th Annual Penticton Beach Blanket Film Festival. The audience sits on the beach, lounging on beach blankets or lawn chairs, facing Okanagan Lake, surrounded by mountains, with the sun setting. Absolutely gorgeous ! For an hour we were entertained by a young woman playing a guitar and singing folksy love songs. She was very good ! I think I fell in love with her, a green eyed blonde about 18 years old. I think she wants me ! HA HA HA ! Last time I felt that way about an 18 year old green eyed blonde on a moonlit beach, about 36 years ago, look where it got me ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Then came a half hour performance of a Greek musical ensemble. HMMMMM ... remind me to cross Greece off my list of places to visit ! The films were projected onto a large screen mounted on scaffolding out in the water. Sort of the beach version of a drive in movie. There was a cool breeze blowing in off Okanagan Lake, just enough to justify wearing a sweater and wrapping a blanket around oneself to watch the movie. The Beach Blanket Film Festival introduces new Canadian made films. The feature film was preceded by three film "shorts", each about 5 minutes long, produced by CATO, the Centre for Arts and Technology in the Okanagan, a technical school in Kelowna, and a major sponsor of the Beach Blanket Film Festival. The three CATO produced "shorts" were ... well ... not great !

Tonight's feature length film was Breakfast With Scot. It was about a couple of gay men, one a former professional hockey player and now sports broadcaster, who inadvertently become guardians of a young boy, about 12 years old, with gay proclivities and mannerisms. The little boy is a real "queen", fond of wearing makeup and adorning himself with feather boas. The former pro hockey player, now sportscaster, keeps his homosexuality largely in the closet because of his profession, and is exasperated by the young boy's behaviour and openness. They develop a funny, touching relationship. The man teaches the boy to be a man. The boy teaches the man to be himself.

The film ended about 12:30 A.M., and we got home at 1:30 A.M., trying to sneak quietly into Riverside RV Park Resort and not wake everybody up with Lanoire’s Cummins diesel engine.

DSK