Saving the Day

Halfland Hero, Dick Kaneshiro

Friend and Halfland Hero Kyelynn took a full-time job in her field and will now be enjoying two full days off each week for the first time in six years. She and I spent those years, one day a week, building and caring for the gardens where I live. She was the perfect fairy god friend and quality builder who transformed an empty, narrow desert into a lush oasis filled with every kind of fruiting vine and tree, several raised beds to grow vegetables in, and the main feature of a custom pergola, all made from a giant pile of pre-industrial vintage reclaimed wood from the house's attic.

She also helped me repair everything inside and outside the house as broken or needed improvement, all while we talked about life philosophically. She was the most kind, intelligent, and practical help I could have imagined.

Equally so, the very next week, it turned out that Dick Kaneshiro was willing to step in for a bit to help me complete the main Halfland set and develop a technical workflow for filming. I'll drink in his help as long as possible, realizing he comes from further away to get here and will likely have production offers in the weeks ahead. He's well known in stop-motion production circles as someone you want to grab for your projects. He is profoundly skilled and a joy to be with wherever he goes.

Like the other day, because these were things I needed help with at the moment, he kindly helped me paint vast amounts of batting and brown fabric to top the topography of paper we completed laying down edge to edge in the set room (despite being badly bitten* by nasty zebra mosquitos in the backyard that devoured him and despite the paint marking his forearms until his next shower.) These will get dry brushed with greens to suggest grass on meadows in the distance from the cottage. He also built Birch trees from cardboard tubes and salvaged branches.

We keep the visits brief to stay energized because I get overly excited seeing things happening in the project and wipe myself out if the day is too long. But it's enough to stoke the tasks and keep things steadily moving forward.

Crafting trees from found material,

and yeouch! No more backyard beast exposure without hazard pay!