Planet Nilknarf

August 2015
Welcome to Planet Nilknarf
Remember last month when I said that July might be the last issue? Well, I guess I was wrong. It was
late, all right. And so might this one be. I don't know. I just must admit it's been a slow time for news in
my life. And that's probably a good thing, judging from the way things have been in the past. You know
the old saying: no news is good news. It means no unwanted drama either. And frankly, is there ANY
OTHER kind?
All systems are go for this year's National Carousel Association convention. I've registered,I have my
plane ticket, I've made my hotel reservation and I am donating a quilt to the auction and selling my
Christmas decoration horses at Roundabout Faire this year. Still on my to-do list is booking my shuttle
buses both here and in Virginia. I hope there will be other conventioneers arriving in Norfolk the same
time as me so we can split the fare.
Cover Photo: This is one of my favorite non-carousel-related pictures taken during last year's
convention in New York. This musician was playing at Central Park. He sings all Beatles songs.
Some useful links: Both Janette and I have suffered from depression on and off over the years. I
recently came across these two links on Facebook which I thought re4aders might appreciate:
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/04/lies-about-negative-people/
http://www.alternet.org/culture/please-everyone-can-we-stop-pretending-we-must-all-be-constantlyhappy
Creepy Clown Motel: I just HAD to share this!!!
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nevada/nevada-clown-motel/
Maybe Janette and I will have a look at this place when we do our Vegas trip someday!
Canalside Carousel: http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/buffalo-news-editorials/community-shouldget-behind-the-effort-to-place-historic-carousel-at-canalside-20150707
That will be an easy place to get to!! Next time Janette and I go on a Niagara trip, probably during the
summer of 2017 or 18, whenever this thing opens, we would like to extend our journey to Buffalo and
visit this carousel as well as revisit the Allan Herschell Merry-Go-Round Museum. I haven't been there
since Dave and I were on our honeymoon and you know what happened on that day! :(
http://buffalocarousel.org/
Boy George and Jack Black sing The Doors
http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/boy-george-jack-black-hello-i-love-you-robby-krieger/?fb=dd

21 with 30 Years Experience

One of the advantages to publishing later than I used to is that now I can share highlights of my
birthday in this issue instead of waiting until September. Last year at this time Janette and I enjoyed a
salubrious getaway in glorious GUELPH! I'd definitely have to say this has been one of our best trips
ever. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to do anything that special this year. I had to be content with just
making my own fun here at home, but I am happy she could be here to share it with me. Janette
arrived on Monday, July 27th and stayed here until Wednesday the 29th. My birthday was the Tuesday.
Festivities actually began on Sunday afternoon when my in-laws,Ted and Marnie took me and Dave

out for a lovely drive through the country. One of the things we saw was a huge solar energy field and
we also saw new stretches of highway under construction. They asked me ahead of time where I'd like
to go for supper. Applebee's or Ajax Downs Casino. I chose the latter as I figured the former would be
more likely to be sprogulated in the summertime! We all enjoyed a good meal. Ted had liver and
onions, Dave had the pot roast and Marnie and I both had the pasta with seafood. I also had my
MARGARITA!!!!! I love those!!! I would have had two if the waitress offered, but she didn't. Just as
well. Sometimes a second one makes walking difficult! ;) For dessert Ted had carrot cake, Marnie had
the pecan pie and Dave and I both had the bread pudding. It was excellent!
On our way out of the building, a man wanted to take my picture because he liked my outfit. I got
Marnie to take a picture of me and Dave:

This one's going into my next scrapbook for sure! When it was time to say goodbye, Ted and Marnie
handed me a gift bag containing my birthday presents from them. First, there was a tiny box
containing a silver pendant shaped like a pretty little cupcake with sprinkles. They are still waiting for a
piece of extension chain to add to it. Without it, the chain won't fit around my neck! I also got from
them a copy of Judy Blume's latest book In the Unlikely Event. Review to come later...!
While Janette was here we watched National Lampoon's Las Vegas Vacation. We spent most of our
time quietly chatting and working on our latest sewing projects. We were thinking of going to the buffet
place for my actual birthday but ended up just staying here enjoying tomato sandwiches and watching
Partridge Family reruns on DVD. That's what Dave bought with the HMV gift card I gave him for our
anniversary.
Here's what he gave me for our anniversary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VLDmmlq6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSta5VJL3BY
My birthday gifts from Dave were a DVD of the second Spongebob Squarepants movie Spongebob
2: Sponge Out of Water and World Beyond Your Head by Matthew B. Crawford. I shall review this
next month as I haven't finished reading it yet. Dave and I watched the Spongebob movie the other
night and it is FREAKING BRILLIANT!!!! It's even better than they made it look in the commercials.
The commercial used to make it look like it was all CGI, but the CGI doesn't actually kick in until at

least 2/3 of the way through the movie. It is as hilarious and imaginative as all get-out, the way a
Spongebob movie should be! Full of rollicking sight gags! Definitely tons of laughs nearly every
moment!
On the evening of my birthday I had a surprise visit from Mark LaFlamme who brought me a lovely
little cupcake with colourful sprinkles and a musical candle, and a bag of licorice allsorts.

The three of us tried to squeeze in for a picture as I blew out my candle. That's him on the left and
Janette on the right.
These are pictures that were taken last year when Janette and I celebrated my birthday in Guelph:

I was idsappointed that I've been unable to find anymore of those corkscrew balloons this year...but at
least we still wore the same KISS T-shirts:

This year's birthday festivities included the completion of my wonderful and exciting Extreme
Scrapbook!! It was only fitting that I finish that last empty channel on Louella's T.V screen with a
picture of myself celebrating my birthday!

The rest of my scrapbook can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?
set=a.554208641385568.1073741870.100003893116310&type=1&l=9440203e3d
I am trying to hold off until AFTER I come back from this year's NCA convention in Hampton, Virginia
before I buy myself a NEW scrapbook. True I can buy a cheaper one at the dollar store. But I want one
that's the SAME as this one because I want to have a series of these books like a set of
encyclopedias!! This first book has been mostly full of things from over this past decade, with its share
of Blasts from the Past. The second one should take longer to fill, but I have my ideas for other
things that will go on these pages . I shan't say much for now because I want it all to be a surprise.
This book got started on April 13th of this year and wound up during the days of my birthday festivities.
So it took about three and a half months. Mainly because I did a lot of catching up. This time I hope to
just capture things as they happen, depending on where my imagination also takes me. The Giant, the
flying pigs and the clowns turned much of this book into quite the wild ride!! It's one thing to share my
pages on Facebook, but quite the other to experience them up close in person!

20th Anniversary of the Subway Accident

On Friday, August 11th, 1995, Janette was in that famous subway accident, back when both of us were
living in Toronto sharing that famous basement apartment at 80 Mintwood. I'll never forget that day.
Even though I wasn't actually in that accident myself, my journey home was affected long before I
knew what had happened. I used to work near Bloor & Dufferin. But that night I went to a Vineyard
Church service somewhere near Queen & Spadina. My subway ride home took FOREVER!!! The train
crawled along at a pace that would make your average snail look like Speedy Gonzales and stopped
at least a dozen times in each tunnel. The last leg of the subway trip that goes from Bloor to Finch, a
journey that usually only takes 15 or 20 minutes at the most, took TWO OR THREE HOURS!!! Muffled
announcements came over the speaker system but I couldn't understand a word they were saying. It
was like Charlie Brown's school teacher!
I FINALLY got home sometime after midnight. Did you hear about the accident? Janette asked me.
And then she preceeded to tell me what had happened. She was reading a book when the train jerked
to such an abrupt halt that she was jolted from her seat and her glasses fell off. Everything went black
and everyone on the train had to be evacuated and led out through the tunnel where they came out at
Dupont station. She was at one end of the train, farthest from the carnage where she didn't get to see
anything, which was a good thing because it was pretty horrendous! I forget how many people were
killed. What happened was that the front end of one train collided with another and they were crushed
like pop cans. I forget how many people were killed. One woman had to have her legs amputated to
get her out from under the wreckage and she died before they could get her out anyway.
Janette was lucky to escape the scene uninjured but it was still a traumatic incident just the same and
she took the subway the rest of the way home because she had no other choice. This incident made
for a very tense atmosphere around the house as her mind kept having flashbacks to the moment
when she got onto that train.
She was also one of several who were interviewed in the Toronto Star.
And now, 20 years later, she has been interviewed for a follow-up story. The story should come out in
the Toronto Star on or some time near August 11th. I can hardly wait to see it! The woman who
interviewed her also must have spent about half an hour taking pictures. I will share the article here
when I receive it.

Book Review
In the Unlikely Event, Judy Blume
Plane Crash City. That's what they called the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey sometime back in the
early 1950's. And for good reason. In less than two months, the town of Elizabeth New Jersey was
plagued with THREE plane crashes, the first one just before Christmas and the last one near
Valentine's Day. These were real events that actually happened. And all three crashes happened near
schools, as well as an orphanage. The adults of Elizabeth, NJ, all try to be stoic and get on with their
lives as if nothing has happened. But for 15 year-old Miri and her friends, imaginations are running
wild! Could it be aliens? Could it be zombies! It's a plot! It's a conspiracy! It happened near schools! It
happened near an oprhanage! It happened right outside the building where kids were having a
Christmas party! Someone's got it in for the KIDS of this town!
Miri is raised by a single mother, Rusty, and reunited with her father, Mike Monsky who changes his
last name to Monk.
Miri's best friend Natalie is affected by the crash and plagued with horrendous mental health issues
that cause her to be taken away from home.
And EVERYBODY wants to move to LAS VEGAS!! Need I say more?

In the Unlikely Event was a fascinating read from start to finish! I did NOT want to put it down!! Judy
Blume has triumphed once again! No wonder she is one of my all-time favorite authors!
Somewhere among the clutter in my room is an ancient, yellowed and well-worn copy of Are You
There God? It's Me Margaret, that I got her to autograph for me several years ago when she was
promoting her latest book at the time Summer Sisters.

Life at the Livingroom

My Happy Place has been WONDERFUL!! I am SO GLAD to be back where I belong!!! I've been
making so many wonderful things and getting to know so many wonderful people!!
And we have had so many amazing workshops! A couple weeks ago we learned how to do these
incredible marble designs on paper by covering a Styrofoam meat tray with shaving cream, dribbling it
with spots of acrylic paint, ink and/or food colouring, stirring it around with a toothpick and pushing a
sheet of paper on top of this mess and then scraping it off. Here's what I got:

Pretty cool, huh? And there's more where that came from!
If you've been watching the video about the Minion Dave gave me for my anniversary, you may have
noticed the quilt I was working on in the background:

This one's not for sale. UNLESS someone REALLY WANTS it badly enough. This is my picnic blanket.
The question is, when am I ever going on another picnic? The clowns are my favorite, as well as the
candy apples. This quilt only took me about a week or two. I also had a lot of fun with that big, black
square that has all those swirly colouful beaded necklaces printed on the fabric. Photographing this
was a pain though. It's been SO WINDY out lately and I WISH our landlord hadn't gotten rid of our
GRASS! Even with shoes, that gravel hurts to walk on! It's so lumpy and mush and nearly caused me
to stumble a few times! It was even windier TODAY when I tried to photograph THIS quilt!! So I did it in
the laundry room:

I call this my Happy Hands quilt. Maria, at the Livingroom, gave me all these interesting bits of
fabric, including the two big pieces with hands printed all over them. She's right, I probably should
have added rings, too, but I did embroider fingernails on each and every hand. No two are alike.

Too bad it's hard to get a closeup without them being blurry! This quilt would make quite the whimsical
wall decoration for someone who runs a manicure studio!
What else is new?

Well, last weekend our workshop was on Wish Flags. The idea is inspired by Tibetan Prayer Flags.
People would write their prayer requests on flags and as these flags flapped in the breeze, the wind
would carry their massages to God. So we all made flags decorated with messages to share all our
hopes and dreams. This is mine, of course:

On Saturday August 22nd, we are having a TIE-DYE workshop! Even my husband is interested in this
one!!! He's always wanted a colourful tie-dyed T-shirt!!

Carousel Convention
At this point the countdown is down to 43 days and counting. These are the carousels I will be seeing,
and hopefully riding, during this year's trip:
1. PTC #50, Hampton VA
2. Trimpers 1902 Herschell-Spillman, Ocean City, MD
3. Chavis Park 1920-25 Allan Herschell
4. Pullen Park Dentzel 106
5. Kings' Dominion
6. Busch Gardens
I'm afraid these lists aren't very detailed. It looks like I won't know what kind of carousels I'll be seeing
until I get there. I can't seem to find anything on these last two places.
Until next time, enjoy the rest of your summer.