Winter, spring, creativity, serendipity, and goats

 It doesn't feel like winter tonight, but I know it still is - at least it certainly felt like it yesterday. I know it's still winter, but I know we're coming to the end of it. I'm running out of time. 

I had hoped to fill this month's blog posts with images of half-built set pieces, the beginnings of something amazing emerging from the darkness of the shop, and maybe even a few glimpses of what I hope will be a transformational year in the visual design of our Ennotville productions. But alas, as always, my plans are thwarted by reality. 

The reality is that I've been too busy. Weather notwithstanding (I don't feel very creative when I'm freezing cold) there just haven't been the minutes to get stuff built. Yes, I'm still plugging away on the boxes, as those of you who read my last post will likely recall, but they're still not done, and it will take a huge effort to get them done this month. To say nothing else of the half a dozen other things that I need to build before spring (not to mention the long list of repairs I need to get to in the barn). 

Most of my time these days is taken up with the day job - we're in a period of unprecedented activity, and there just aren't enough resources to meet the capacity, and the consequence of that is that I lose control over my time. However, I hope we're moving into a slower period, at least for the next few weeks - I guess I'll let you know when I sit down and write the post for April.

So what else has happened this month? I'm going back to the Guelph Fringe Festival! My last festival in 2022 was a ton of fun, and this year I'll be going back with a two-person play, called Couch Surfing, that I'm really looking forward to. Expect to hear much, much more from me about that in the months ahead. The Fringe Festival is a lottery, and I knew there were lots of entries, so hearing my name drawn was a pleasant surprise. 

The other big news that happened to me this month was also completely unexpected - I'm now in a play! My longtime friend Deb called me up and asked me for a favour - someone had to drop out of a role, and she was in need of a male actor. I've been in that place before many times before, and I know how hard it it is to find enough men to fill the roles in community theatre productions. I'd have been an hypocrite if I didn't say yes, so I did say yes, though with some trepidation, as the part I'm playing is described as "young, handsome and rich" - I've never been any of those things! But nonetheless I'll give it my all, and you can see me this May on stage at the Fergus Grand in Elora Community Theatre's production of Pride and Prejudice. I'll be playing Mr. Bingley - the catch of the county.

So now that I've got lines to learn and rehearsals to go to, my time is even shorter than it was before. Maybe by the time we get to April I'll have time find a picture of something other than a bunch of baby goats. After all, who would want to see that?