Friday 11 March 2011

Failing Revolutions, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and More Rain

Is this Armageddon?  Today's news reports certainly suggest so.

Kenya was anxious all night because of the high winds ... and as a result I was too.  Twice I crept downstairs to make sure that the wet snow was not forming a river ready to invade my house.  The last time it was caused by a tree felled across the stream.  The winds are shaking the biggest trees here.

I gave Leonard a container of the beans yesterday.  They taste like candy.  Today Peter will be helping me get the staircase ready for painting, and I will package his food and send it home with him.  I will likely tuck in a helping of pasta with meat sauce for Leonard as his luck needs a boost these days.

But ... on the bright side, the little box is coming along and I am liking what it is evolving to.  I was asked to make a jewelery box for a baby.  It's not that easy to think of ideas for a grown-up present for a baby, so it has taken me a long time to figure out what to do with the jewelry box I found last summer at a garage sale in Wakefield.  I took it apart and sanded and primed the exterior ages ago but was hesitant about how to proceed.  I think it will be whimsical enough for a baby but grown up enough to last till she is older.

And here is what Robert Genn says about painting and art in general  ... he says it well ...

Art establishes and makes tangible a time, a place, a thought, an idea.
Art, properly made, enhances and enriches the lives of others.
Art gives an opportunity to endow new life and new meaning into the ordinary.
Art gives an opportunity to design your own world, and, as in your children, create a significant immortality.
Art is hard-earned work that is its own reward and has a degree of permanence.
Art, because it's so easy to do, and yet so difficult to do well, encourages humility in the human soul.
Art is an apprenticeship that can be stretched into a lifelong education.
Art thrives on democratic ideals, freedom of expression and rugged individualism.
Art permits you to step out of the labyrinth and into a quiet corner of your own private joy.
 

4 comments:

Barbara Carlson said...

Armageddon for Japan's northeast. And a worry for little self-obsessessed me who sat eating my brunch downtown and watching CNN reports of the tsunami heading -- at 30 mph -- towards my family's property which is a block from the ocean...but it seems the main thrust of the water is going to hit South America and, alas, up on Canada's west coast.
Someone told me the wall of water was going 800 mph when it hit land and the city of Kamaichi, among others. Hard to believe. I could believe 80 which is horrible enough.
Sounds like your house survived the night.

kingmisha said...

Please don't even think *Armageddon* anywhere near an evangelical Christian. You will be told it is God's goal to rescue the "saved" while the world is consumed in the Apocalypse. So repent now and prepare. These are all signs that God means business. How does one explain to such zealots, that any God this cruel, is not one I want to join in paradise.

On another note entirely, I was stunned to see my letter about Sun Media's right wing propaganda, (see Paws Awhile) published in yesterday's Examiner. It was pared down a bit, but without prejudice. Good on them for having the guts to print something so critical of their media masters.

Keep speaking the truth is my advice. It's a luxury not enjoyed in many parts of the world.

Oma said...

I hope that your family home is safe, Barbara ... and that the Japanese people with their advanced technology are able to rally their resources to get past this disaster. Technology is a double-edged sword of course ... the nuclear energy plant that was damaged for example ...

And kingmisha ... congratulations ... it was a wonderful piece ... and there is hope when the editorial staff of a newspaper can rise above its owners' interests and publish an alternate opinion.

As for the Apocalypse and Armageddon comments ... yes ... what more can I say?

Barbara Carlson said...

I guess we heathens/atheists/"haters" will know The Truth (of the Armageddon, etc.) soon enough with the upcoming Rapture on May 12th, 18th or 21st (!). God Don't Save Our Souls.

@Oma -- family home fine. This time...

@kingmisha -- Look forward to your letter. The Sun Media provide a spewing platform for the Western world's equivalent of terrorists, along with Christianists and all other -isms.