Come to the cinema?

Maybe it’s because I work so hard when Robert and I are apart that I don’t go to the cinema. It’s seriously been a hell of a long time since I’ve gone to see a movie without R...apart from a mother’s day venture out for a sky train ride with mom and Chloe to see The Great Gatsby at the end of the line...apart from that it’s seriously been years. I’m not sure why exactly. Possibly it’s because I’m naff at evenings. Usually I’m so tired, or still have to process photos, or just need to finish the paints on the palette so maybe tone seventeen more canvases with the left-over paint because the stuff is expensive folks and I hate letting it dry on the palette. And then there’s brushes to rinse, supper to make plus all the mundane things like laundry, shopping, C’s latest assignment to help talk over...well, like I said, I’m pretty naff at evenings. And maybe it’s a thing we do together in England and Vancouver, you know, like a favorite restaurant or Sbux or park walk that you’d never go to without your favorite person, or worse yet, bring someone else there because it would...how to put it...pollute the place for you. Taint it in some way. Maybe that’s what going to the cinema without R means to me.Either way you want to think about it, we’ve been to three movies in two weeks. Holy smokes, that’s like ten years worth of cinema sans R for me. Not quite sure how that happened, and maybe it’s because there’s such an adjustment period when we get back together that going to the cinema takes everyone’s mind off some built up tensions, but when you’re sitting in those comfy chairs with a huge bag of chocolates in your pocket...you know, those crazy mixes where you get a bag and pick one of these and three of those and then you’ve just got to get some licorice and one of those jelly worms and, oh, a couple of those caramels and before you know it you’ve got so much candy that it won’t even fit in your pocket...yup, that’s me...and then everything goes dark and you hear that crazy surround sound system engage and you just tune out and say, “Ok, entertain me” in that super dark, super awesome auditorium. Isn’t it the best feeling?So it didn’t really matter what films we watched, and by the way they were The Fast and the Furious number 6, (what happened to 1-5? Loved the Jensen Interceptor though), Iron Man 3, (really? There was an Iron Man 2? What aliens), and Star Trek into Darkness. Great Captain America filled testosterone fests. Really enjoyed them.But actually I probably would have loved seeing any movie. Any movie at all...except horror, I can’t do blood and guts at all...and if I’m the least bit worried about the story, I have no problem reading the plot in advance so there’s no shock for me. I know, in one way I’m an ideal cinema companion and in another way I’m a nightmare. But I never give away the ending. So if you chose to come to the cinema with me you’ll be safe...although you’ll have to wait till R’s at home. :)

What the sign says, a Wordpress weekly photo challenge

When I read today's Wordpress weekly photo challenge I had to laugh. I love signs. I have several signs in and around the house. Some inspirational signs I've written, some which have been gifts, but my two favorite signs are the brass sign hanging on the front post of my house in Vancouver. It reads, "On this site, Sept 5, 1782, nothing happened". Robert gave it to me as a reminder that I cause too much daily drama...in a loving way. (Me?) But my ultimate favorite sign is the one in my studio:The Latin motto is "E Pluribus Smart Assimus" and sometimes describes my mood rather accurately.But then, this is my space. (See?)And I can stay here till I feel like coming downstairs...or till someone needs something and calls me down...(sigh)I must send a great big thank you to my friend Diane who took some brilliant photos of her beautiful corner of Virginia and kindly let me save a couple in my files for painting inspiration. :) A little study for you to see using one of your photos Diane. This is a second layer of oils on this little canvas. Tomorrow, if I get back into the studio, I'll paint some sunlight into the scene.

Finally, a break from the rain

Spent some time with my daughters and our little girls today.The girls and I went to have breakfast together and after breakfast look what we found! Raindrops glistening on everything but a tiny bit ever so jewel-like.We had to come see for ourselves. What was that? Could it be our long lost sun? It is!So, while everyone still has to get on with their business today......maybe we can take a little time and just soak up some sun. :)

Useless, pretty little things and tea cup Tuesday

Yesterday it rained all day. As a matter of fact it's been raining all week. Well actually, typical West Coast spring.I spent some time with mom and as the morning wore on, we both became more and more reluctant to go for that walk we thought we'd go for.So we went shopping instead.I think the rain got to everyone because my hosting company had a nuclear meltdown yesterday, with the end result that I couldn't upload any photos.So my tea cup Tuesday is turning into a tea cup Wednesday post.Stuff is real folks, stuff is real.Mom was after some sandals in case the sun ever comes out again, (wishful thinking), but we had a good mooch around Oakridge mall in her neck of Vancouver.Boy there's a lot of orange out there for the spring.And spikes...what's with all the spikes...yikes.Later, at home, I started thinking of all the shoes we saw, tried on and rejected. I thought that some shoes were very pretty but a little useless for me, whether it was the $356 price tag or the spikes, they felt a little like my Victorian shoe pin cushion and my British grandmother's silver cigarette case. Lovely to look at, but I'd never use them.Same with this, my Czech grandmother's little cup.I mean, who in the world wants to drink her tea one thimbleful at a time?I suppose it’s a little like these vintage stockings. I mean, if you can get decent tummy control hose, who wants to fiddle with garter belts and baggy ankles? Sheesh!What do you think? Here are my Czech grandmother’s crystal, ruby and gold tea cups. Aren’t they just too beautiful? Is it worth drinking thimblefuls at a time just to use them?No, I think not.Time to put away all useless, pretty things.And so pardon me while I get my tea in my ubiquitous Sbux mug, because stuff is real folks, and sometimes a girl just needs a decent cup of tea......and some beautiful shoes.Linking with Terri and checking out the progress with her chalk paints...looking great Terri, with Martha and feeling happy about your Memorial Day family get-together, with Sandi and loving all that peachy creamy beauty, and with Bernideen, and thinking, oh, girl, wish I could have tea in the garden too.  :)  

Sunday whirl from a CMNS perspective

These were interesting words, or maybe I've been in a funny mood. I couldn't come up with anything romantic out of them even with the words heart and close. All I could keep thinking about was marketing. Oh well, went with the flow. :)I took this image at West Cottage in the industrial estate a year or so ago and it seems to fit the feeling of this poem.beam, anchor, shift, close, heart, phrase,range, connect, current, fertile, layers, yieldI am aspiring to the current position of rebellious cult genius of influence.I think the honour I strive for is waiting for me somewhere up there on this broken-rung ladder.So I’ve fallen a few times but I always bounce, always repeat, it’s the plush layers of my skin.I wouldn’t want to whisper the truth of my boredom from the bottom anyway; I want to shout like a firecracker at the heart of a party.Don’t talk to me of a sudden shift or my imagination will falter and yield to the fear that this happened here already just a close while ago.For now just pace back and forth and back and forth on the floor of the office; my mouth tasting of floor, my brains crammed with floor, the flavour of my movements, floor.You know, my impeccable spirit beams with a meat-hook reality, but perhaps no one will notice.Being a charming, out of touch, rebellious cult genius of influence was easy in previous decades.Now, I drag those decades behind me like an anchor.Now it’s like struggling to grab water and drag it back to the shore.But I only need one phrase to connect, to allow everything to make sense like it always does.My boring complaint is that every fertile position has already been taken up and championed into depths of crumpled worthlessness.Until some charming idealist comes along and smoothes out its broken, wrinkled form and contrives it into an endless range of product placement and domestic penetration.And on any given Saturday I can go buy rebellion at the department store.In plastic of course, but a relatively good imitations.

A little jewel of a painting and a view out of the door.

I rarely do this...you know...because the "Hey, look what I did!" approach feels like so much boasting, so please forgive this little bit of boasting in this post.A month or so ago I started a new little painting and I showed the under painting on my FB page. And then I put it aside till today. (I do that)Today I think I finished this little jewel in sapphire. I'm really pleased with it, but the main thing is it felt so good to paint for a couple of hours.Why don't I do that every day?Also, my friend Celi of the kitchen's garden asked what we see out of our door...the daily view. This is what I see Celi.I'm really enjoying seeing the fellowship's daily view on Celi's blog. It's one of my daily reads. :)

A British car show influence on our tea cup Tuesday

I’m so happy it’s Tuesday again because I missed you all last week. :) On the heels of our British car show, I took out my little vintage car tea and luncheon plates for afternoon tea.These sweet little luncheon plates are Georgian china, USA origin and are perfect for our afternoon snack of oat cakes and brie.I also used our chrome tea pot. It’s the most perfect tea pot in the world! You know how you get tea pots which don’t hold the heat in, or which drip as you pour the tea? This one is so perfect it’s crazy.C couldn’t come to the car show, (rock climbing), so we told her of the day and showed her the photos......while we drank cup after cup of Earl Gray stirred with our commemorative spoons of WWI leaders.Tea may have slightly collapsed into a fun-fest of who can out British who.But we had so much fun catching up and sharing fun stories of our day.Oh, almost forgot. At the jumble sale I picked up two authentic 1959 mini hubcaps. Lucky, lucky find. And the man selling them let me have them for free!!! Holy smokes, I would have expected to pay anything upwards of $100 for them. (Must be my charming way with people...er)One last shot of our afternoon tea. Here’s my scrubby cat Morgan trying to get in on tea...well, actually she could care less about the tea, it’s all about the brie for her.Sharing today with Teri from Artful Affirmation and voting for a lovely chintz on that chair, with Martha and wishing her mother a happy birthday! Love seeing your photo pretty girl. :), with Sandy and coveting that beautiful parasol, and with Bernideen and thinking, "gosh, I want to come where you are and have some sun for a garden tea party too." Love to you all.

Hello from the British car show

Aint it the truth?!?I was just telling Robert that I'm a pretty lucky girl. I have the potential of driving seven cars, three of my own, three of Robert's highly experimental beasties, (two of which I can't quite control), and my mother's waaay too much car for her Mercedes. (If you've ever seen my mother drive you'd take over too. )But you know what I really love?I love the sculptural aspect of practically any work of art, and, to me, cars can be a sculptural bit of art...and ours certainly are, which eventually led me to opening an auto dent repair in Kansas City.So we thought we'd wend our way to the British car show this weekend and have a look.Everyone who knows me knows that I'm crazy for minis. Love them to pieces. And this is where our tour always starts, at the mini stand.But along the way there is so much glorious sculptural beauty to see.From the engine bays to the interiors.I love the badges. Some have been restored, some are new. I remember painting the badge of my own mini from the inside out to restore the colours. That was a job and a half that was!The hood ornaments are also so beautiful. Don't you love the heron one? I think it's my favorite. Although the winged angel is amazing too.Some are custom made. I love the queen. She's got a little photo cell in her handbag and it powers her wave. She stood on a Land Rover waving at all her subjects. (Got to get me one!)One more shot before we have to go. Some of the most beautiful bums in the world: E Type Jags. In my next life....

The bookstore and a Sunday Whirl

Hello Sunday Whirl! Haven’t seen you in a while.Actually it’s been a while for a lot of things round here.Number one thing is Robbie is in Vancouver.Number two thing, we need more books!Isn’t that the way it always is. I can never bring enough books from our library in Vancouver to our library in Oxfordshire and vice versa. Robert is reading thru the Wheel of Time series and he’s on book nine. The speed he reads at he’ll blast thru the remaining five books by next Tuesday! The only practical thing is to visit Dalyce in her magical book store and stock up.It’s lovely to hang out with Dalyce and chat for a while and find all the books our little hearts desire.Number three thing: it’s been so, so incredibly busy round here that I’ve started my Sunday whirl poem three Sundays in a row and haven’t finished a single one to post.Well, I’m proud to say that there is whirl for this week; the effort of a couple hours this morning.  Thank you Brenda for the wonderful words to play with. Now to go visit all my whirly friends.nebulous, bleak, cut, vision, timing, touch, hovercrush, opaque, blazing, torch, slab, breathThere was nothing said, there was no timingYou stayed in your room all day and wrote a “this is how I’m feeling” poem...this small and sacred piece of it... printed a hundred copies, and sold them at a “this is how I’m feeling” poetry stand out on the street for a quarter.There was a summer day and there was your vision.There were June bugs sunning themselves on the screen door. They hovered expectantly around the windows hoping to touch you in the cool of your room.You read each cut of your intensity; your torch blazing undiminished even after multiple copies.Virtue standing strong even as it was spat out of a slot over and over again in a mechanical burden that follows after you loaded the slab of paper and pressed one-zero-zero and the Print keyYour parents were proud holding their breath and peeking at you from behind the living room curtain.“Our little girl breaks all the rules. How cute, how constructive” they said while you beamed optimism from your bleak little table where stacks of carefully arranged emotions gleamed under the sun.You, to whom the answer came easily with only a bit of hair pulling and a few bitter post cards. You, who were all seeing and all knowing, who camped out by a stream in the heart of me until you knew your way around in the dark. You are still there, you are still made of that nebulous wilderness which cuts thru my darkness.You looked down the road and saw the bends filled with a crush of sports cars and mini vans trickling in an opaque haze towards your emotional stand, pulled there by the magnetic force of your turbulence; your printed piece of art.Quarter-filled hands hanging out of rolled down windows

When you think of France, what do you think of?

Paris? Provence? Bordeaux?Today, the lovely Anita from Castles, Crowns and Cottages invited me to share what my France is.My France almost always is the High Savoy.One of my ancient family seats is the village and the Castle Allaman in Switzerland, on the north side of Lake Geneva, (Lac Leman).As a matter of fact, my maiden name is Von Alemann, a gentle spelling deviation thru the centuries since my family began with a strong Saxon tribe in 1218, but the same name none the less.I’m drawn back to Geneva, where I’ve lived for great lengths of time in the past and each time I do, I spend every second day in France. France is just a short drive across a simple open border and then suddenly you are in the glorious Haute-Savoie.I’ve been dragging my children around from village to Alps and back to village since they were very little. Hiking, swimming, eating... living.I think Chloe’s fondest memories might be of a great big St Bernard named Lou-Lou and raclette, (it’s a long story).The French side of Lake Geneva has two special villages so close to my heart. Yvoire and Thonon-les-Bains.Yvoire, the magical, medieval village with the spectacular le Labyrinthe Jardin des Cinq Sens, and Thonon, in which there is a pool right beside Lake Geneva, is where I can be, normal to me, and suntan topless with the other moms while our children play in the crystal waters. Chloe still has a friend she made at that pool when she was nine who she corresponds with today.But then it’s always into the mountains we go. La Clusaz, Chamonix, Mt Blanc. Where the most delicious mountain air makes for the most delicious hikes and small chalet lunches.My most favorite has always been the complex salads of that region and a baked potato, lardons, reblochon dish called Tartiflette. I make it where ever I am and instantly bring my France back to me. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll make it tomorrow and post the recipe.So please go dig up your treasured memories of France and tell me about them. :)