Thursday, 2 July 2009
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Canada Day
I am listening to CBC doing just what one of the musicians (Hawksley Workman) said last night at the taping of the Vinyl Cafe show: that Stuart McLean and CBC are all about making us aware of our country, our place, its people and its values.
The dogs and cats are in various places around the house figuring out where they are. It has been a bit of traumatic time for all of us, including their family who have never left them before.
The cats are upstairs in the bathroom with their food, water and kitty litter. Kenya absolutely LOVES the kitten (Kitty) and wants to give her far too many kisses for comfort. The kitten, surprisingly, is not too upset by all this attention. Tom Cat disappeared (who knew where?) but showed up when I came back without Kenya. He wants out ... is not used to being inside all day ... but his family is afraid he will try to come home, so we have no choice. I will visit them often today and introduce Kenya to Tom when he is less skittish.
I have to keep Chelsea, the old lumpy lab, tied when she is outside because of instructions and worries that came with her. Olive, the young lab, was the one I thought would be a breeze, but she did something I've never seen a dog do before; she growled at me and kept her distance ... wouldn't even come for cookies ... terrified.
I brought Kenya out and she played with her, but was still suspicious of me.
After a while I brought Chelsea outside. Well! The difference was instantaneous. Olive ran straight over to us and licked Chelsea all over her face and was calm and good with me. She must have thought I'd done something to Chelsea when she couldn't see her.
Reminded me a bit of a time I babysat Debbie's kids and put on a wicked witch voice while we played. Billy was terrified and ran away from me and hid in a corner. Kati, who was about four, flung herself at me screaming, "Don't you hurt my baby brother!"
Kenya is being very possessive of her bedding, which is also a first. As always she prevents Chelsea from stealing cookies, but this is the first time she has given a damn about her dog pillows. Maybe too many strangers in the house at once? She was not impressed when Olive tried to climb into my lap, either. Maybe she is afraid she will be dispossessed.
I am trying giving everyone as much love as possible, but I was forced to crate Kenya for a few minutes until she could be nicer.
As the day goes on it becomes clear that she would love a kitten or cat of her own to love.
Last night's performance by Stuart McLean and the two groups of musicians that were there with him was wonderful. I hadn't thought about what a radio personality would look like when he was not a disembodied voice and so was surprised by his gestures and body movements which all seemed exaggerated. At first I found myself closing my eyes so that I wouldn't be distracted, but by the time the second half of the evening began, I was used to him, and he had established such a connection with his audience that it no longer mattered. He and the young musicians were all such genuine people with no hint of arrogance that it felt in many ways like being with friends who were entertaining.
The dogs and cats are in various places around the house figuring out where they are. It has been a bit of traumatic time for all of us, including their family who have never left them before.
The cats are upstairs in the bathroom with their food, water and kitty litter. Kenya absolutely LOVES the kitten (Kitty) and wants to give her far too many kisses for comfort. The kitten, surprisingly, is not too upset by all this attention. Tom Cat disappeared (who knew where?) but showed up when I came back without Kenya. He wants out ... is not used to being inside all day ... but his family is afraid he will try to come home, so we have no choice. I will visit them often today and introduce Kenya to Tom when he is less skittish.
I have to keep Chelsea, the old lumpy lab, tied when she is outside because of instructions and worries that came with her. Olive, the young lab, was the one I thought would be a breeze, but she did something I've never seen a dog do before; she growled at me and kept her distance ... wouldn't even come for cookies ... terrified.
I brought Kenya out and she played with her, but was still suspicious of me.
After a while I brought Chelsea outside. Well! The difference was instantaneous. Olive ran straight over to us and licked Chelsea all over her face and was calm and good with me. She must have thought I'd done something to Chelsea when she couldn't see her.
Reminded me a bit of a time I babysat Debbie's kids and put on a wicked witch voice while we played. Billy was terrified and ran away from me and hid in a corner. Kati, who was about four, flung herself at me screaming, "Don't you hurt my baby brother!"
Kenya is being very possessive of her bedding, which is also a first. As always she prevents Chelsea from stealing cookies, but this is the first time she has given a damn about her dog pillows. Maybe too many strangers in the house at once? She was not impressed when Olive tried to climb into my lap, either. Maybe she is afraid she will be dispossessed.
I am trying giving everyone as much love as possible, but I was forced to crate Kenya for a few minutes until she could be nicer.
As the day goes on it becomes clear that she would love a kitten or cat of her own to love.
Last night's performance by Stuart McLean and the two groups of musicians that were there with him was wonderful. I hadn't thought about what a radio personality would look like when he was not a disembodied voice and so was surprised by his gestures and body movements which all seemed exaggerated. At first I found myself closing my eyes so that I wouldn't be distracted, but by the time the second half of the evening began, I was used to him, and he had established such a connection with his audience that it no longer mattered. He and the young musicians were all such genuine people with no hint of arrogance that it felt in many ways like being with friends who were entertaining.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Some Thoughts on Creativity
"You cannot be really first-rate at your work if your work is all you are."
Anna Quindlan
Anna Quindlan
I just wrote the following comment in response to a Robert Genn letter about an artist who had lost her source of creativity, that inner something that made her produce art that mattered:
I am a writer who is still in the process of feeling emptied out and unable to do more than squeeze inferior words from deep inside me where I search for something magical, some excitement that can again make me forget time while I write.
One day I just stopped trying. And something magical happened ... no words ... but I began creating folk art furniture from cast-offs that wouldn't mind acting as canvases as this non-artist gave them new bright life. I continue to be happy doing this and the hours fly by as I meditate and paint.
I have discovered a confidence I never had before. I know that I can always sand back mistakes and try again and so I am freer to explore possibilities. And I am climbing a learning curve that is gentle enough to allow me to stop and enjoy the view. The only writing I do now is on my blog. Maybe one day I will start "really writing again", but for now it is enough that I am exploring a whole new part of my creative self, and I no longer feel that self loathing that comes from being stuck producing inferior art in a field where I know I should be better. Painting allows me the freedom to fail because I am not a painter, just a writer gone stale.
When my writing was at its best I found myself living in the imaginary world I was creating far more than I was living in the one inhabited by my body. I drew on memory and my work was tinted by the experiences I was also living, but I lost the ability to have real conversations with real people. I became a little odd. I have a feeling that many fiction writers may not be very interesting people in real life. It is not easy to create a world when you are busy living in the real one.
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Life is good ...
Update that doesn't read like a to-do list, I hope ...
Yesterday I visited my daughter and her partner and delivered the happy cat chair ... a convalescence gift. She lay on the couch with her huge orange cat looking absolutely beautiful ... serene and healthy ... for the first time in a long while. I suspect it is a combination of not working, finally getting enough rest, and feeling surrounded by love. The cancer has been removed and the worst fears have been faced and eliminated by competent medical care. She is still in pain because of her back, but the pain killers are helping, and we all hope that she will get real help for that soon.
On my way to and from her place I stopped at garage sales where I bought a doll's crib, a child's rocker, a dark green sweater for felting, and a huge comfortable maple chair. I also dropped in to the Parkdale market for veggies and bought maple syrup at a roadside stand.
That's about my limit for any one day, but when I got home I brushed Kenya, slung my camera around my neck, and set off to deliver fur to a neighbour who uses it to discourage animals that like her garden produce. Rowboat Flo was working outside and asked for some so I gave her half. Enroute I visited with Claire and Tom who were swimming (Tom, doing the length of the lake and back, and Claire, wading up to her waist with a floatie, getting exercise). Not too long ago, before her cancer, Claire would have been jogging miles for that exercise. After the delivery we visited with several other neighbours we met on the road and then came back home to swim. Playing in the lake with a dog who loves water, watching the Merganser family leave my shore with great squawking, and just breathing in the sense of peace and neighbourliness on this lake was wonderfully therapeutic.
I have decided that I am less likely to meditate while doing yoga than by staying home and swimming, painting, knitting, or just looking at the lake and sky from a deck chair, so I am not going back to yoga. I would like to find an aerobics class for older people though, one like the morning class I attended when I lived in Cumberland, easy on the knees and other joints, non-competitive except with yourself, and fun. It was the only place I felt a sense of community in Cumberland ... and it is far worse now with all the development that has scarred the landscape. Everywhere you look you see the facelessless of identical houses sitting on muddy lots, your ears blasted by the roar of noisy earth moving machinery. Almost all shopping is done in the atomized anonymity of box stores except for the bagel shop run by the Kenyans, and I bet the Ray Friel Centre is still providing its dose of neighbourhood.
Today I will finish arranging books in the bookcase that once housed the DVDs, and then it is back to painting chairs (and that table for beside the couch).
On Wednesday I may receive a passel of household pets for five days ... two Black Labs and two cats ... that will be a first ... and I suspect I will have my hands full. But I also think it will be fun to have such a houseful of loving creatures. Don't know how much painting I will get done ... but maybe that will give me a chance to do more sanding outside with the dogs, and then base coating in the porch to escape from their demands. Have to remove the winter windows first though or I will succumb to heat exhaustion and paint fumes!
Yesterday I visited my daughter and her partner and delivered the happy cat chair ... a convalescence gift. She lay on the couch with her huge orange cat looking absolutely beautiful ... serene and healthy ... for the first time in a long while. I suspect it is a combination of not working, finally getting enough rest, and feeling surrounded by love. The cancer has been removed and the worst fears have been faced and eliminated by competent medical care. She is still in pain because of her back, but the pain killers are helping, and we all hope that she will get real help for that soon.
On my way to and from her place I stopped at garage sales where I bought a doll's crib, a child's rocker, a dark green sweater for felting, and a huge comfortable maple chair. I also dropped in to the Parkdale market for veggies and bought maple syrup at a roadside stand.
That's about my limit for any one day, but when I got home I brushed Kenya, slung my camera around my neck, and set off to deliver fur to a neighbour who uses it to discourage animals that like her garden produce. Rowboat Flo was working outside and asked for some so I gave her half. Enroute I visited with Claire and Tom who were swimming (Tom, doing the length of the lake and back, and Claire, wading up to her waist with a floatie, getting exercise). Not too long ago, before her cancer, Claire would have been jogging miles for that exercise. After the delivery we visited with several other neighbours we met on the road and then came back home to swim. Playing in the lake with a dog who loves water, watching the Merganser family leave my shore with great squawking, and just breathing in the sense of peace and neighbourliness on this lake was wonderfully therapeutic.
I have decided that I am less likely to meditate while doing yoga than by staying home and swimming, painting, knitting, or just looking at the lake and sky from a deck chair, so I am not going back to yoga. I would like to find an aerobics class for older people though, one like the morning class I attended when I lived in Cumberland, easy on the knees and other joints, non-competitive except with yourself, and fun. It was the only place I felt a sense of community in Cumberland ... and it is far worse now with all the development that has scarred the landscape. Everywhere you look you see the facelessless of identical houses sitting on muddy lots, your ears blasted by the roar of noisy earth moving machinery. Almost all shopping is done in the atomized anonymity of box stores except for the bagel shop run by the Kenyans, and I bet the Ray Friel Centre is still providing its dose of neighbourhood.
Today I will finish arranging books in the bookcase that once housed the DVDs, and then it is back to painting chairs (and that table for beside the couch).
On Wednesday I may receive a passel of household pets for five days ... two Black Labs and two cats ... that will be a first ... and I suspect I will have my hands full. But I also think it will be fun to have such a houseful of loving creatures. Don't know how much painting I will get done ... but maybe that will give me a chance to do more sanding outside with the dogs, and then base coating in the porch to escape from their demands. Have to remove the winter windows first though or I will succumb to heat exhaustion and paint fumes!
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Whoosh! Updated
Another flying visit is over. Mud Mama, Maurice, Sprout and Micah all left this morning to return to Nova Scotia, leaving behind them lots of dog hair, several items placed out of reach of 1 1/2 year old hands, and an empty space in my heart. I always breathe a sigh of relief when they leave and then feel as though I'm much more alone than I was before they arrived. This time, however, they will be back in a month so it's easier.
Daughter #2 has come through her surgery with flying colours and no invasion of the lymph nodes ... I am breathing again.
I started cleaning a couple of hours ago and am now melting ... and my place is cool compared to the city. Kenya and I are going to take a swim as soon as I finish this post. Tonight I will try out the yoga class again and tomorrow I will get two more DVD holders from Ikea. Then I will paint a table to put into that niche in the living area and create a painted shelf to secure the four tall skinny cabinets together and anchor them to the wall. As soon as I name the photos taken with my new camera I will retrieve and post them so you can see what I mean.
Then it will be back to the chairs and the knitted socks. I am attending a meeting of interested artisans who live near Wakefield on Friday evening. We are trying to set up some kind of artisans' co-op so that we can work together to sell our products without having to always be with our things.
The camera is proving its ability by taking excellent photos of Kenya. It is very hard to take a good photo of a black dog with an inferior camera. Soon you will be able to see just how beautiful she is without having to smell her now that she is swimming every day and trapping smelly things in her, still-shedding, undercoat.
The first photo I have tried to upload is the Sprout in motion ... WHOOSH! ... it is taking a very long time ... hope that doesn't mean that the camera is incompatible with dial-up! Can anyone tell me how to save these photos in a smaller format? I am an absolute novice with an SLR and know far too little about the technology we all use daily. I have been trying for half an hour and am now giving up.
I must get ready for my day!
Daughter #2 has come through her surgery with flying colours and no invasion of the lymph nodes ... I am breathing again.
I started cleaning a couple of hours ago and am now melting ... and my place is cool compared to the city. Kenya and I are going to take a swim as soon as I finish this post. Tonight I will try out the yoga class again and tomorrow I will get two more DVD holders from Ikea. Then I will paint a table to put into that niche in the living area and create a painted shelf to secure the four tall skinny cabinets together and anchor them to the wall. As soon as I name the photos taken with my new camera I will retrieve and post them so you can see what I mean.
Then it will be back to the chairs and the knitted socks. I am attending a meeting of interested artisans who live near Wakefield on Friday evening. We are trying to set up some kind of artisans' co-op so that we can work together to sell our products without having to always be with our things.
The camera is proving its ability by taking excellent photos of Kenya. It is very hard to take a good photo of a black dog with an inferior camera. Soon you will be able to see just how beautiful she is without having to smell her now that she is swimming every day and trapping smelly things in her, still-shedding, undercoat.
The first photo I have tried to upload is the Sprout in motion ... WHOOSH! ... it is taking a very long time ... hope that doesn't mean that the camera is incompatible with dial-up! Can anyone tell me how to save these photos in a smaller format? I am an absolute novice with an SLR and know far too little about the technology we all use daily. I have been trying for half an hour and am now giving up.
I must get ready for my day!
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