A little Halloween art and a story for you

Tales from The Museum of Mind ManipulationThe first time we heard of Sulphur Rumenum it was only a whisper, an evil, little malicious rumour, which suggested that the Museum of Mind Manipulation had been discovered after all. We began our search at once, sent out queries and letters and then, just last month, our plea for an audience at the museum was granted.We spoke with Sulphur at length, and discovered that he took enormous pleasure walking about the catacombs of the museum listening to the artifacts whisper their stories.We asked Sulphur how long he had been the curator of the MMM. He replied that he'd rather lost track of the years. He recalled his previous tenure as professor of epistemology at Oxford. He wasn't sure of the year exactly but made a reference to the St. Scholastica riot as the turning point in his career path, by which time he had gathered enough curios to begin cataloguing full time.We asked to be allowed around the museum...in the name of professional research.He answered that, whilst professional research is all well and good, walking around the museum is a task which requires a subtle sensitivity and tremendous inner mind control.After much diplomatic bargaining, (and a small amount of pleading), we were allowed to visit one of the least dangerous parts of the museum – the Transgressor Guidance Circuit Control Bank.We must say that, while the terminology he used was a bit recondite, we have developed a deeper understanding and a deep fondness for Sulphur Rumenum.Our camera managed to capture a few images before it mysteriously stopped working.We did everything possible to repair the camera and worried about not being able to bring the images to you, dear friend.Sulphur proceeded on through the Control Bank not noticing our camera predicament.He conducted us to the exit, thanked us for the visit and asked us to come and see him again at some point in the future.Then he looked at our poor non-functioning camera, smiled his half smile and reminded us not to worry as these things tended to sort themselves out...We thanked him and, clutching the museum map, we stepped out into the light without any apparent side effects.Miraculously, our camera began to work again and we found that we had recorded four files which we are proud to share with you:The circuit board from The Queen Anne's Revenge. We understand that Blackbeard comes round for tea every now and then.The circuit board from Dr Frankenstein's lab. Apparently the good doctor builds a new model for every...er...new model.The circuit board from the Magic Mirror on the Wall. Unfortunately the fairest of them all shattered this version and has had to endure seven years of bad luck.The circuit board form The Nautilus. Apparently we just missed the good captain as he's gone on a fishing mini break.And now, as we recall our inner transgressor, we must allow ourselves an evil Machiavellian smirk…quite out of character…err…we may have been slightly affected…Art: An old circuit board plus found objects built into the back side of a deep square canvas (making it function like a drawer) painted black. A little Photoshop manipulation of Dr Frank's circuit board to make electricity flow around it.Happy Halloween!

Leaf tea

It's so beautiful out on the patio overlooking the shade garden.That part of the garden is under the canopy of my two beautiful maples and their leaves have been falling everywhere.I have a leaf carpet and tablecloth. What could be lovelier.I decided to try to tempt Chloe out for a cup of tea but she feels nervous and a bit out of sorts because she has to write her last midterm this afternoon.So I've set the table with this lovely Delphine rose hip cup for me. You can't feel it thru the computer but the paint raises the rose hips in a relief. It's really pretty. I love art deco type designs.And with this little modern cup for C. It's by Burton and Burton and features playful monkeys...which was C's nickname when she was little.But in the end, the soft sunshine, the hot tea and a little personal pumpkin pie won out and she grabbed the blanket from the living room and came out for a little lunch.We only shared a few minutes out on the patio but long enough to relax a little and talk out some pesky business management questions. (C wants to know why she needs to take business management and learn to think like a project manager for her CMNS degree.)As usual, being the girly girl, Morgan wanted to be part of the tea, but more to the point, she wanted a piece of apple and a piece of cheese. This chocolate box cat loves fruit. I dropped a piece of mango on the floor and she pounced on it and now is crazy for any fruit, especially avocados.We had the loveliest few minutes and now C is off to write her test. She'll be feeling loads better after.Sharing with Teri and Martha and Sandi and Kathy, and sending much love and sympathy to my friend Bernideen who needs her family right now.

Anthropologie is a state of mind, not a $30 candle

The other day C and I were driving x town and she said she'd kill for a Sbux green tea lemonade and I realised I'd kill for a sip of a Sbux green tea lemonade, so I pulled the car over into a parking spot and said Ok, let's go.Now I know that there are about seventeen million Sbuxs in Vancouver, but I pulled over at least five blocks before the closest one and C said, "hey, there isn't an Sbux here, it's down the road!" And I said, "Oh yeah, well, either we have to walk to it past Anthropologie, or we can just get back in the car and drive down the road and try to find a new spot."You should have seen her eyes light up!I think I should explain that the one Anthropologie store here had opened in 2011, but, I completely managed to ignore it for 2 years before C caught on to all this Anthro-mania. (Ok, I must admit that I do subscribe to their emails and do now have a customer number, so I'm not as pure as all that either, but that's beside the point.)So high excitement! We walked down the block and into the store. Chloe fell in love; just like that. She wanted to buy everything and, at one point, my brilliant fourth year communications student, who completely understands and writes 17 page long academic papers about marketing, hegemony, opinion makers and the trap of consumerism, said, "I have to buy something...anything...but I have to buy something!" 8OThere was a store here in Vancouver called Hobbs. It existed for about a million years until Thomas said that the store will close because his new store, Southlands, the most beautiful garden centre in Vancouver, has taken over his life.I used to walk thru Hobbs every chance I had and used to have that same feeling of wanting to buy something...anything. But then I started having art and craft sales in my home and realised that something exists which I call the "Hobbs effect".I had these sales for several years...I think 6 or 7...in a historic house I owned prior to this one. The house was beautiful and, at the sale time, completely staged with exquisite hand crafted gifts and vintage treasures. And only open for one weekend, Friday to Sunday, (Friday afternoon/evening by invitation only). I usually had a sell-out due to the Hobbs effect. People would come into my beautiful, twinkly home and buy several things hoping to transform their home into a like replica, just like I would always come home with something exquisite from Hobbs.So it would seem that Hobbs effect is still very real in me, and apparently, in my child too. I can't say that I blame her. Each time I go to Southlands I'm so tempted to buy something out of the antique greenhouse and bring it home to somehow magically transform my house into an antique greenhouse complete with stone floors and mossy benches and orchids on rusty iron Victorian stages. I live in a Craftsman cottage with amber coloured fir floors and plaster walls...it isn't going to happen.But this house is a special home. It's the home of an artist...me. And I do unusual things, like weld together railings to make a fire guard screen (above) and then leave it out in the rain to rust just right, or paint some hideously Fleckstoned lamps with my oils to make them look like rusty iron.And maybe that's the whole point of the Anthro style as I see it, and I'm the first to admit I might be completely wrong, but there seems to be a huge amount of artistically influenced goodies there, from sweaters which look and feel handmade to leather covered journals and painted cafe-au-lait bowls.So, while we thought about buying an exquisitely scented candle in a reproduction mercury glass jar for $30, home we went without buying anything except the green tea lemonade we were craving, (because I'm difficult and want an authentic vintage mercury glass jar to put an exquisitely scented candle in anyway).And when we came home C sat on the sofa, looked around and said, "Mom, you know, our house looks like Antropologie already."Nice :)Linking very late with Mary for Mosaic Monday

DCX

Friday I broke my heart. It's a very private matter and nothing I want to talk about and, anyway, I'm not in the right frame of mind to spill everything in here and then try to pick up the pieces and I'm afraid that everything I would say about the matter wouldn't help and would never bring about any kind of resolution.But the end result of this Friday night in floods of tears is that I woke up Saturday morning with barely 5 hours of sleep and the Dixie Chicks concert in the evening after a full day of work and running around. Still, we must be brave and gather our best Dunkirk Spirit and carry on.So, after supper, I put on my cowboy boots and some red lipstick and Chloe and I headed downtown, via seabus and sky train, to the concert. We walked into Roger's arena and felt the Girl Power!There were grandmas with their tween granddaughters, mothers and daughters of all ages, girlfriends, husbands and wives, couples and friends of every description. We loved it.(photos gently borrowed and collaged from photos in this morning's news paper)The Dixie Chicks came on stage to absolute thunder. I haven't seen our arena so packed and, with over 18K seats, I think maybe three seats were empty, and that was probably because the people who bought those tickets were abducted by aliens. It was that full.C and I loved being there to pieces and, especially loved the power of the folks around us. We sang along to every song that we knew, and although it's damn near impossible to drown out Natalie Maines' beautiful, powerful voice, the audience did give it a good try!Here are a couple of photos of C in the stage light. (no special effects on my part) :)But the thing that made the evening special is that I managed to calm myself down and get to a place of Zen tranquility, despite a broken heart. And do you know how? It was all to do with mine and Robert's phone calls Friday night and Saturday morning. He's so patient with me. He's so loving and kind and understanding and brings me such peace and clarity. I'm such a lucky girl to have him beside me in my life.I was waiting for this song to be played. I especially love it because it came straight into my head just after our conversation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fVTiKXpaUgThank you Robbie; love you.My ears are still ringing and I can hear the music in my head!

A handful of random thoughts about how BAD I really am

I woke up with a migraine this morning so everything makes about as much sense right now as this photo:I think it's C's legs in the shadow of the display of some green bottles (?) You know, when I wake up with that migraine mirage of arcs of shimmery lights, I'm inevitably dreaming of having an argument (usually with my ex) and feeling really angry. What's that all about?Anyroadup, was going thru my photos and kept coming up with images of how bad I get, so here's a little confession time.When I see something and that idea of "how hard can it be to make that" comes into my head, I take a photo of it and later make my own version.Do you remember that piece of broken jade plant I found in San Francisco? I smuggled it into Canada and planted it in a pot. How bad is that? It gets worse. I also nipped a little sedum off of a plant in a park and that's planted too. The only saving grace here is that I have Master Gardener status and know better than to allow anything dangerous (pest or disease) to escape into the environs.I sneak photos of random strangers. Sometimes I just love the light or composition and want to hang on to the moment, and sometimes I love to send it to C and caption it with "your new look...lol".I take photos while I drive...gulp! I use my iPhone or a little Canon. The saving grace here is that I've taken umpteen defensive driving courses and am a brilliant driver. (I know, no excuse)I still haven't started that etsy shop I said I would in my New Year's resolution. The things stopping me are: ME!Sharing the randomness with Nancy and looking forward to catching up with everyone. I love our random Fridays.

X town and lunch

The lovely bright October sunshine. Sometimes it feels just too bright.Do you have that kind of light where you are? It's the oblique angle of the autumn sun I think.I almost want to wear sunglasses inside the house. :)I was so lucky today to drive across town in this glorious light to help my mom out with some computer work.Vancouver neighbourhoods are so lovely right now. It's a special magic time, a beautiful golden autumn, and we must hold on to it, crush it to our hearts because we know that soon the rain will come and dissolve it into a million blurry puddles.We went to have lunch at the same little French bistro in mom's neighbourhood.Yes, we asked for a table outside. :)It actually was really warm there on that little patio in the sunshine. The forecast said 12 degrees but it really felt more like 18. We were very comfy with our coats off.I had some lovely mussels. (my hemoglobin has dropped quite a bit lately and believe it or not, shellfish have a very high amount of iron, not to mention that they really are my favourites) The restaurant supplied me with a spoon and a special little narrow fork to help me with the mussels. I always think that's a little silly when the empty shell of one is the absolute perfect tool to pry the next mussel out with. I know it's the European way, but then, being born in Prague, I am the original Bohemian, aren't I? :)After lunch it was too lovely to leave, so, a little tea for me and a little coffee for mom......and a bit of people watching before I had to drive back home. :)While I was downloading my iPhone photos I came across a little something I wanted to show you. These days with C just into midterms, our Sbux mornings look like this: C in full study mode and me picking up any little bit of leaf/flower/twig as we walk in, (it's always a treasure hunt, that short walk from the car to the Sbux), and I sketch whatever it is I found while she studies and tries out theories on me. Sometimes she asks me to put my pencils down and quiz her at her cue cards. :)

Lovely mornings

You know how I say that I love mornings?I've been a morning person my whole life. I guess it started when I decided that figure skating was for me and my mornings began at 5:30-6am for daily before school ice time.So when Milo decided he wanted out at the break of dawn, I happily made a cup of tea.Why do people say dawn's breaking, the crack of dawn...like some sort of fracturing, when it's actually such a gentle, quiet, calm time of the day.This is one of the first mornings in several days where the fog isn't blanketing everything. Usually my neighbourhood is in the fog line, but this morning the sun is warming the air and the fog has dropped a block or two down to the ocean.While Milo wants out first thing, Morgan is very happy to stay inside until the day warms up a little more.Never mind the fog, she doesn't even like the dew. I asked her if she wanted to go out and offered to hold the door open but she gave me "a look".But then, an hour later, she asks to go out. The warm golden glow of the dawn is over, I've had my tea and sunlight is just beginning to stream into the sitting room. It's going to be a lovely day. :)

If the mountain won't come to Mohamed for tea...

...then Mo will go to the mountain.In this case the mountain is Chloe who has a scary midterm tomorrow at 8:30am and has decided not to budge from her notes for the day. And, in this case Mohamed is Mo, (short for Milo) our antimatter cat. Also, if there's a warm bed with a feather quilt on it, Mo will go to Everest. :)It looked like the only way I was going to have tea with C today is this way:I made some tea in an old ironstone tea pot and put it on a tray and brought it in to C's room for us to share.No time today to fuss about pretty, dainty cups being endlessly filled. What we needed were a couple of bigger cups and so I chose a Johnson Brothers The Road Home cup for me and a special cup from Aston Pottery, a pottery in the next village to ours in England, which is hand painted with clovers...for Clover.I wanted to show you the little tray I brought the tea in. This was the wooden top off a broken table which I sponge painted with some silver paint, painted a moon and a star on in oils and then varnished over it with a golden varnish to tone down the colours. I made this twenty years ago but still love to use it.So we had our tea and I made sure C had a little chocolate, some protein bars and a cat-proof jug and cup of water, and now I have to leave C in peace and quiet.Good luck C, I know you'll do well. :) Sharing with Teri and Martha and Sandi and Bernideen and Kathy

A little bit of extraordinary red

Robert sometimes suggest that I add more colour into my life.He sometimes teases me and says that I only will wear black. I say that's not true, it's only until someone comes up with a colour darker than black, then I'd be happy to wear that. :)It's true, I'm a basic black kind of girl. I do really love neutrals. Any shade of black, grey, beige...etc, that's for me.But I do love surrounding myself with splashes of colour, as long as I don't have to be committed to it. Like, I don't think I'd like to paint the walls blue or yellow or orange. I know paint it the cheapest design mistake anyone can make, but I prefer to have colour in pretty things I can always move away and change.Except red. I do love red. I can say that I'm committed to red. I did paint the front entry hall a hue of Chinese lacquer red that I mixed myself. (Oh, don't get me started about trying to get Benjamin Moore to live up to their lacquer red colour swatch. Bunch of wana-be players!)Anyway, red. I love red. So, when I got five burrs tangled in my two feet of hair getting these rose hips at my cabin, it was totally worth it. I love them and I'll love looking at them for a while.Speaking of love, Chloe asked me for a recommendation for a book. She wants a lovely romance, somewhat sexy, but no...er...pulsating organs. (I guess that leaves Jackie Collins out of the picture...lol) I suggested Katie Fforde, but she said she'd also like a 20 something heroine. I suggested some lovely period books; she said, "in the present day". Hmm, I'm a bit fresh out of ideas.I think she's looking for a romance book to make her feel like the Twilight books made her feel when she was 14.Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone have a 20 something child who has any suggestions?This book is my Waverley by Sir Walter Scott. I like this quote from it:“Nothing perhaps increases by indulgence more than a desultory habit of reading, especially under such opportunities of gratifying it.”(Except if you're a fourth year uni student like C and have to read terribly dry essays about hegemony and how it related to post modernism. Then you need a lovely romance book to balance life a little.)Sharing with Mary for mosaic Monday and with Kathryn at Make it pretty Monday and with Inspire me Monday

If I had that organic farm I keep threatening everyone with...

...it would look like this:There would be a huge open barn with a chandelier swinging from the ceiling.Lovely, fresh organic produce would be available seasonally.Every inch would be lovely to look at.It would be family welcoming with lots of play areas for children.There would be places to sit beside a warm fire.And not just any old fire pit, a beautiful, huge metal disk of a fire pit.There would be a few farm animals and horse drawn wagon rides out to the pumpkin patch.And there would be a little store where everything would be golden and warm and seasonal, with a little bakery and good coffee and a few tables and chairs.This place really does exist. It is North Arm Farm and it's conveniently right on my way to the cabin. If you ever head up to Whistler, you should really go a little further and stop by. It's a lovely place.