Labor Day Weekend

Nothing to crow about, but I'm here to bring in the new school year. Hope it's a great year for all the students and teachers - and parents and everyone.

It's been a busy week in Truro. Since Sheri was home , there was a lot more activity around the place. There was a trip to Five Islands and there was a "chemo" trip to Halifax.

Family get-togethers and communicating with friends made it a very special week.

Now, it's back to the routines of autumn. Meetings resume.

Cheers (Cockle-doodle-do).

(That's kokekokko in Japanese. Wonder what it is in other languages ? How my mind wanders.)

Fall and School Approach

It's been a busy week and it has got colder.
It used to be that falling leaves were a sign of autumn, but now it's the flyers and the school ads. Teachers have been getting their classrooms ready, and the stores have been saturated with school supplies - and it doesn't matter what stores: drug stores, grocery stores, office supplies, hardwares, ...

To all you teachers, whether you meet before labour day or afterwards, HAVE A GREAT YEAR!

I loved September. I prefer the cooler weather, AND I always looked forward to meeting my classes and getting to know new students. It was true in the regular school system but even more at T.C.

Elvis - Aug. 16, 1977

Yesterday Weekend Morning featured Acadian music to honour the World Congress. This morning, they were featuring either the music and memories of Woodstock or Elvis. I remembered that I had done a caricature of Elvis at one time and for some reason it was on my computer. So, I'll begin the week with Elvis. His death occured on August 16, 1977, 32 years ago.

Meet Vesta

Every church should have a churchmouse. I'm trying to convert a powerpoint to a video and upload it and I'm having trouble. No one said blogging would be easy. Video and audio formats are a pain. I once did a history of Brunswick Street United in Truro. Then I told the story to the children with a Big Book about Charlie Churchmouse and his ancestors, showing the earlier churches. Vesta, however, is the present day churchmouse at Brunswick Street, and we've gone digital. She can introduce herself - I hope. - Professor Tassel.

Retirement Thoughts

Yeah know, retirement isn't all that bad! Relaxing on the deck with a Clancey's. Of course, you have to hope that the hail doesn't fall and the weather doesn't change just after you're settled in. I cannot believe I've been retired for fifteen years. And I am surprised when I meet former students who have been retired for awhile. The main thing is to get involved in the community and keep doing things, particularly those things you like. Now, excuse me, I have to go for coffee with a friend and then visit the Little White Schoolhouse. (Oh, the Clancey's was yesterday afternoon - NOT this morning!) Cheers.

T.C. Hawk

Rooting through my closet, I have found some Tassel and TC stuff, including these cartoons of the college mascot, the TC Hawk. They were in black and white and I used shading sheets to add some colour (gray dots) then. I took these sketches into the computer and added some real colour.

Tassel at Work

As you can see, the deck is stained and so am I. We had two beautiful days to do the work, and we're supposed to have another beautiful day tomorrow. That will be great for the Farmers Markets, the Paul McCartny concert and the Atlantic Jazz Festival. Hope you too are having great weather for summertime and holiday events.

Two Art Shows

Short note today. I've been working on converting some
powerpoint presentions (short) to video and we'll see if they
work or not at a later date.

Thought I'd let Arty announce a couple of Art Exhibits. Pam Swainson has an exhibit "The Figure Made Landscape" which opens tonight, July 2nd, at McCarthy Hall Gallery at seven o'clock. Tomorrow night, Judy Arsenault's exhibit "Trees" opens at the Fraser Centre in Tatamagouche. Both exhibits run through July.

Arty appears on the Truro Art Society website www.truroartsociety.ca on the newsletter page. Check out the site.

CARO

CARO began life named Houdini. I always name my characters and cartoon figures. They develop personalities and they assume a real identity to me. When Donald Cox at FailSafe Computers asked if he could use my mouse, I agreed. He felt that Houdini might create copyright problems.

I have searched for names, and I've settled on Caro, a Slovak word for Magic. The name suits both my magical mouse and the magic that FailSafe Computer (http://www.failsafe-computer.com) does to solve my computer problems.

The Little White Schoolhouse Museum

It's Monday, the start of a new week and the second day of my Blog. Here I am in front of the Little White Schoolhouse Museum. Some of the old gang meet there on Tuesday mornings. It is both a museum - suggesting a typical one-room schoolhouse as they once dotted rural Nova Scotia, and a place where Normal college and Teacher college stuff collects. Summer students will be there now so the museum is open most days during the week. During the winter it is open either on Tuesday mornings or by appointment. The school is an actual one, moved on the campus from Riverton, Pictou county. I believe the web site for the LWSM is http://lwsm.ednet.ns.ca/ . The email address I have is lwsm1979@msn.com . I'll check these out tomorrow. Have a good week and come back to check on my blog from time to time.

Tassel and TC

Here I am in front of Forrester Hall. It was the main administration and classroom building of the Nova Scotia Teachers College when I was there. It is now part of the campus of the Nova Scotia community College (Truro). The Truro Art Society has a gallery in McCarthy Hall.

Sunday evening and time to add a second post. How about a few pictures suggesting Paint the Park event yesterday. One is a tote bag with the Paint the Park Logo on it. (Its design was my small contribution to the project.) In the middle is the tent where framed paintings were posted for sale and the "new" paintings were auctioned off. The third, the first one I posted, is a view of the brook running beside a trail in Victoria Park in Truro, Nova Scotia. (PS I have no idea why the pictures appeared in a rather staggered fashion as I write my post, but will probably appear differently in my blog.) Let's send this aloft and see how it looks.

A Beginning

Hello. It seemed so simple when I started, but now there's a blank space, and I don't see anywhere to post pictures. I am

a cartoonist, ex-professor, Professor Tassel, and you have stumbled on my site. Yesterday was a beautiful day and the Truro Art Society celebrated their 40th year with a Paint the Park event which seemed very exciting and successful to me. Congratulations to all involved.

I think I look a little apprehensive, don't you ? Well, I am. I'm dusting myself off and appearing in public after some years in retirement.

I was at the Nova Scotia Teachers College for 30 years, from 1963-94. My picture used to appear in college publications and in the classroom of a certain English professor who'll remain unnamed at the moment. He is creating a Cartooning Website. Until that gets done, if it ever does, I'll fill in here. I'll see if I can find a picture with NSTC in the background. I did, but every time I try to post it, it comes in at the top, instead of here where I want it. O, well, I'll add it my next post. This is enough stress for one morning.