Grace and Miley

Grace Kelly at 21 and Miley Cyrus at 21

If you ever had any doubt that the human race has reached its peak and is now devolving ... oh, dear goodness.  *heh*

Dear goodness...

Far Away Places with Strange Sounding Names

I'm not sure if anyone reads my boring-little-blog anymore, I have been away for so long, but just for fun I have decided to hold a contest, with the prize being a box of Purdy's chocolate hedgehogs.  They deliver anywhere in the world, so there are no restrictions.  The rules of the contest are this: correctly identify each of the four cities I have posted here.  For some folks, it should be very easy, for others ... not so much.  The relevance of this post is that each of these cities has a fairly high profile, and each of them is newsworthy in its own way.

The first person to correctly identify all four cities will receive the prize.  There are no clues, and no hints.  The prize is waiting to be awarded to the first person who guesses correctly.  Have fun, and good luck.

City No. 1

City No. 2

City No. 3

City No 4.

Far away places with strange sounding names
Far away over the sea
Those far away places with the strange sounding names are
Calling
Calling me
Goin' to China or maybe Siam
I wanna see for myself
Those far away places I've been reading about in a
Book that I took from a shelf
I start getting' restless whenever I hear the whistle of a train
I pray for the day I can get underway
And look for those castles in Spain
They call me a dreamer
Well maybe I am
But I know that I'm burning to see those
Far away places with the strange sounding names
Calling, calling me Me ~~ Willie Nelson

 

Winners:  In just a few short hours, we have two winners:  Leslie and Hilary.  Congratulations!

City No. 1 is Baghdad, Iraq.  City No. 2 is Damascus, Syria.  City No. 3 is Tehran, Iran.  City No. 4 is Nairobi, Kenya.  The reason is posted this is because all four cities have been in the news lately, and I have actually been hearing people say things like, "Does the Middle East have running water and electricity?" or "Where do people tie up their camels?"  Regarding Nairobi, I have heard people say, "Do they have malls made out of grass huts?"  These people were serious.  Tehran is twice the size of the city of New York, and all the other cities are larger than most North American cities.  How will we ever have peace and tolerance in this world, while we still have so much rampant ignorance?  These far away places with strange sounding names are actually sophisticated cities.

Stay Classy, My Friends

Last night I settled down to watch the Emmys, and in one of the opening numbers with Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Silverman, they made a point of using the word "vagina" in their song and dance number. And then they made a point of saying they made a point of it. I'm not a prude, and we're all big kids here, but is that really necessary during a family show at 6:00 on a Sunday evening? It's bordering on vulgarity, and completely unnecessary. Shock value? Just crass. I turned the show off and did something more productive with my time.

 Stay classy, my friends.

Hummingbird at the Feeder

Painting has once again become something that I enjoy, but, as with anything, it takes practice, practice, practice. I wish I had dedicated my life to it, but it's never too late, is it? Here is my latest little doodle. My friend Russell took a picture of a hummingbird at the feeder in his back yard, and I thought it was rather pretty, so I did a painting of it. It's amazing how he managed to capture the bird, frozen in the air. I have always loved hummingbirds, so now I have one forever -- at least until next summer.

Red

Today is the anniversary of the day my Dad "went to meet his Maker", as he used to say.  I think about my Dad every day, and sometimes I still talk to him.  I have this picture on the wall next to my desk at home, because it reminds me of how much alike we are.  I inherited his nose -- "the nose knows".

My father was the most intelligent man I ever knew, and I recognized that from a very early age.  He had an extensive library of wonderful books, and he instilled in me a love of reading.  He once told me that, if I were going to read a book, I might as well read a good one.  To that end, I have never read a Harlequin Romance novel, but I have read all the good authors.  Name an author, any author, and I have read him.  That was a gift from my Dad.

One of my fondest memories of my childhood is of my father and me, on a bright summer's day, sitting on the banks of the Somass River, eating lettuce and tomato sandwiches and having deep, philosophical discussions about life.  I was only four years old and my father was teaching me how to swim.  We would take a little picnic and sit and chat while we waited to go back into the water.  I remember thinking at the time, this will always be one of my cherished memories -- the bright sunshine, the green grass, the cool water of the river, and my father talking with me about all the mysteries of the universe and beyond.  He called me "Kidlet" and when my daughter was born, he called her "Kidlet" too.  I used to watch him sitting beside her on the chesterfield, talking to her the same way he did with me.  He used to tease her affectionately that she was a "hidebound reactionary" because she had very conservative views, and he was liberal.

My Mother was a wonderful artist, but my Dad also liked to paint.  He was particularly fond of Native art, and our house was full of baskets, totem poles, paintings and carvings that Dad had collected.  When my parents sold their house, they donated all of their art work to the local museum.

I later asked my mother, "Do you have any idea how much all of that was worth?"

"Don't even tell me," she answered, "I don't want to know".

It was worth a lot, a small fortune in fact..  Two paintings they did, keep, however, were these lovely paintings of the otter and the killer whale.  If you look closely over the killer whale, you can also see the crow dive bombing the whale.  It's hard to see the detail in these photographs, but the otter has little prickly bits of fur all around him.  It wasn't until just a few years ago that I learned these paintings were done by my father.  He even made the frames and carved the detail into them.  Who knew!

At one time a tiny green frog took up residence underneath our house.  You have no idea how loud a tiny green frog can be in the middle of the night.  Oh, goodness.  My mother wanted to send our Scottie dog in after it.  Oh, no, my father wouldn't hear of that.  He managed to trap the frog, and then we drove thirty miles out to Sproat Lake, where the frog was released to live happily ever after in a grove of bright pink lily pads.  A few years ago I was going through my father's books, and there was a small book of poetry that he had had as a teenager.  Inside the front cover was a poem he had written when he was a young man, a wonderful sprightly little poem called "An Ode to a Little Green Frog".  I laughed.

My Dad was definitely unique, and the older I get and the more I look back in hindsight, the more I realize just how unique he was.  It was a privilege to be his daughter, and I'm very, very happy -- finally -- that I inherited his nose.  A part of him is with me forever.

Rest in peace, Dad.  You are not forgotten.

Bell Peppers

Here is another of my little sketches/paintings in my "kitchen" series. Does it even get any more exciting than this? I tell ya. More over Leonardo and Michelangelo. Oh, goodness. But it's fun, and it's sort of like meditation. I get lost in it. I'm not totally happy with the final result, but it's all a learning process, isn't it? And I know if I do one more thing to the picture, I will ruin it. Anyway, paintings always look better when they're framed.

Now, a hot milk and off to bed. The excitement never ends...

Peaches in a Green Bowl

It seems to have been eons since I last posted here on my blog, and I'm sure the world has gone away from my door by now. But I just had to take some time away from everything and get in touch with my spirit again. The job I have been doing for the last ten years has decimated my creativity, and my painting has become sadly rusty. In any case, here is my first attempt after many, many months, to pick up the brushes and see what I can do. It was fun. My favourite medium is watercolour pencils. They are so versatile, and the colours are wonderful. Using the pencils, you just put the pigment down on the paper and then go into it with a small, wet brush. Et voila! the colours come to life. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them.  And enjoyed eating the peaches when I was finished the painting.

I also had some fun painting this little Tin Man tea pot. He is also done with watercolour pencils, and I tried to get as close to a "tinny" effect as I could. I can almost hear him speaking:

Wizard of Oz:  "As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."

Tin Woodsman: "But I still want one."

Wizard of Oz:   "A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved, by others."

Or as a friend of mine said to me today: "Life is short, Jo. Carpe Diem!" That is very true, isn't it?  Expect to see more of my odd little paintings here on my boring little blog.  Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Blogger Burnout, Beethoven and The Joy of Life...

I have not blogged for a little while because I have been busy with other things, and I’m not sure there is anyone out there who still reads my boring-little-blog.  But I haven’t forgotten you, and I will be back blogging regularly very soon.  In the meantime, I have a treat for you.  Well, I think it's a treat anyway.

Ever since I was a child, I have always loved music by Beethoven.  I used to sneak out of bed and hide under the dining room table so I could listen to it, whenever my parents played it on the record player.  Beethoven is arguably the  greatest composer who ever lived, and his Ninth and final symphony is universally regarded to be the greatest piece of music ever written.  The choral is taken from a poem written by a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785.

The Ninth Symphony premiered on May 7, 1824 in Vienna.  The performance was conducted by Michael Umlauf, because by that time Beethoven was completely deaf.  He could not hear one note of his extraordinary symphony.  Over the years millions, perhaps billions, of people have listened to Ode to Joy, a beautiful composition that the composer could hear only in his head.

This performance of Ode to Joy is wonderful.  Imagine living in a city where this could happen.  The video is just slightly over five minutes long, and I know folks have no patience for things on the internet that are longer than 45 seconds.  But you’re in for a treat, so pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee – or whatever --- sit back in your chair and relax.  Be sure to watch it to the very end, not the middle, not almost the end, but the very end.  You will get goosebumps and your heart will soar with joy – which is what Beethoven intended.

Enjoy!  I will be back soon.

A Body in Motion...

Newton's First law of motion is: An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by a force. An object in motion remains in motion, and at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force. Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. In other words, I have been enjoying a wonderful laziness this past couple of weeks. I go to work, come home, sleep ... rinse, repeat.  A body at rest.  It's good for the soul.

Sometimes a body in motion will defy Newton's first law of motion, and to that end I invite you to watch this wonderful video.  It's not about the children, it's about the seal.  The video is not very long, but you have to watch it to the end.  I once did a blog post about whether or not animals were sentient beings.  This video will leave you no doubt whatsoever.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful day, everyone.

Party Like It's 1976...

 

In case you have not seen this video yet, you're in for a treat. Put on your white go-go boots, turn up the sound, and dance like it's 1976.  I want to be her.  Talk about joy of life...!