July « 2010 « KateWares

July, 2010

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Penguin to the Rescue

I guess it’s that time, isn’t it? You know – the time in your life when you discover at the very last minute that there’s something you’re supposed to do for your kid? Or rather, something you should have done…yesterday? Like 6 dozen cupcakes for today’s bake sale or signing a bunch of permission slips right as you’re walking up to the school doors. You would think that one wouldn’t have to deal with such things over the summer, being on holiday from school and all – but, no. It turns out that daycamps can be just as…um…surprising.

Yesterday, as I was picking my eldest up from his camp at a local rec centre, his camp leader cheerfully says “Remember – tomorrow is animal dress up day!” Wait, what now? Please tell me that means your kid is supposed to bring a stuffed animal that’s dressed up – because that, we’ve got covered. No, huh. I see, it’s more of a costume party. Oh, goody. I suppose I should have read that handout you gave me a bit more thoroughly, huh? *sigh* So, as we’re driving home I ask my son what he is going to dress up as, and he gets all sulky because the only animal costume we have on hand is a kitty costume – from 3 Halloweens ago – which will be small and “girly” and hot for a sunny, summer day. What to do, what to do.

“Mumma, it’s Chairman Meow’s birthday TODAY and we need cake!”

Normally this wouldn’t have been such a big deal – we would have borrowed or bought or made something, just like we have always done in these “last minute” situations. But as it was, I had been on the way home to finish up work on yesterday’s swing refurbishing, get a post up about it, and then get ready for dinner out with a friend. I hadn’t banked any time for this whole costume thing! Now, if it had been my mother, she’d have left me to my own devices – and I’d have probably made some paper ears on a headband and gone as a bear or something equally 6-year-old-crappy. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my mother, it’s that I want to be infinitely better at my job than she was.

So. I ask my son what it is that he really wants to dress up as…and he says a penguin. “A penguin, not THE penguin, right?” Yes. Woo-hoo, JACKPOT! Years of making last minute costumes for my job as a Natural History Interpreter out in Kananaskis Country have taught me that of all the possible things he could have chosen, this is by far the easiest to make quickly. I find a black shirt and pants for him. I dig out an old tank top from the rag bag, and some pieces of ShamWow that I had cut up for another costume last year. A little black paint on an old ball cap and some foamy eyes glued on and tah-dah! In well under 30 minutes, he’s a penguin.

My penguin boy “hamming” it up with a foam fish.

Yes, I was totally rushing to finish my other sewing. Yes, I kept my friend waiting for 10 minutes while I got the blog posted. And yes, I went out to dinner in a bit of a disheveled state. But it was totally worth it. Not only did I feel like I had made a “good mommy” decision, but the gratitude my son lavished on me about the whole thing nearly brought me to tears. I just hope he remembers such things when he gets older and things get harder between us. Oh, wait. That’s why I take pictures…riiiggghhht.

Tags: good mommy, last minute, penguin costume, ShamWow

Posted in Crafty | 2 Comments »

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Give Me Shelter, Part 2

Okay. Yesterday I started refurbishing our garden swing. I had gotten a new roof constructed when, naturally, the baby woke up and my time was up. So today, I aim to finish the job. Here we go, now.

Step 2 – fixing the seat. As I was trying to figure out how to attach a new cover to the seating, I noticed that the current fabric-cushion combo is actually detaching from the frame – it is quite literally coming apart at the seams. So, I had two choices. The easiest was to use a seat from another set. See, we inherited a second swing last summer, but it was missing an important joist and to use it, I would have had to jury rig a new one (plus another way to keep the roof from flipping up in the wind). But the seat was still good – plump detachable cushions and a sturdy frame – so I dug it out and put it on the old frame … with a little effort.

The attaching hooks are different for each swing, so I had to double-hook the inherited seat on the old frame to make it work. The result is that the swing is lower and wobblier. Hmm. Plus, the colours of the metals don’t match. Not the best solution. So, on to plan B – removing the fabric (which has attached cushions) from the old frame, replacing it with just canvas, but adding Velcro tabs so we can use the plump cushions that we inherited on it. Of course, this required a dismantling of the seat frame to get the new fabric back on, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

Step 3 – recovering the cushions to match the roof. Just a matter of making a few pillowcases, really. Except I’ve just added zippered closures so the covers can be removed and laundered if the need arises, and some Velcro tabs to keep them from slipping. And voila – the refurbished swing is done!

Not only did I save money by not having to buy a replacement swing, but I kept some useful stuff out of the landfill AND made the swing better than it was in the first place. The cushions are comfier and the roof and cushion covers are removable, so I can bring them in for protection when winter comes. It may not have been the most artfully creative project I’ve blogged about, but I’m sure glad I did it. Besides, it will give me a wonderful place to ponder new projects. Like whether or not I should refurbish the other swing and try to sell it. Hmm. Anyhow. Time to enjoy an ice cold glass of sun tea as I swing in some newly made shade.

Awesome Sun Tea I found this old Martha Stewart recipe years ago – nowadays, she’s promoting fancy loose herbal teas, but I like the old way just fine. Fill a clear jug with cold water. Add one tea bag per cup of water, mixing the varieties (I have a 12 cup glass jug, so I put in a dozen different tea bags – mostly herbal, but a few not). Cover and let steep in the sun for about 4-6ish hours. Take inside, add sugar to taste (I put in about 1/2 cup of raw cane sugar) and the juice from a freshly squeezed lemon. Mix well and put in the fridge to cool down. Serve over ice and garnish with mint or lemon slices or whatever. Mmm. Summer in a glass!

Tags: canvas, garden swing, refurbish, removable covers, sun tea recipe, Velcro

Posted in Crafty, Recipes | No Comments »

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Give Me Shelter

So, this morning I asked my husband what I should write about today. The baby just recently got his 18 month immunizations and has been both out of sorts and sleeping poorly, leaving me a little less than inspired for a topic. Anyhow, my husband in way of an answer looks up towards the sky – no-no, not in an eye-rolling manner, but rather at the false ceiling I had put in over our living room. We have a very strange layout in the living room, you see – half of it is a regular 1-story room, while the other half has one of those 2-story cathedral ceilings. It makes it very difficult to know exactly how to arrange things, let me tell you!

Looking down at the previous owner’s living room from the stairs.

Now, the open ceiling concept can be quite beautiful when done right – but that’s just not the case in our house. People don’t even notice that it’s there most of the time, and when they do, they wonder why it’s there at all. There’s nothing to look at up there – except drywall and a row of windows that you can’t even see out of from the main floor! Plus, in the winter time, cold drafts from the second story windows sink down towards us while the warmed air from the fire place rises away from us. Ultimately, we’d love to put in a real floor and open up the space as a playroom for the boys, but that’s still several thousands of dollars away. So until then, I came up with a temporary solution – thanks to IKEA.

Looking up at the “false ceiling” I installed.

With just 9 metres of canvas fabric, two curtain rods, and a couple of cedar boards for decoration, we now have an inexpensive and nice looking way to conserve energy! Plus, it’s easy to clean – just pop it in the washing machine a couple of times a year and you’re done. Not only do people admire the way it looks (and the ingenuity, I assume), but it makes the living room feel cozier and more intimate somehow. Maybe it’s some primal desire for shelter, but a roof over our heads is just what we needed.

Of course, this got me wondering exactly how I could tie in a creative project to the whole roof / shelter theme. And then I looked outside and saw our poor, old garden swing. My husband’s been threatening to throw it out, it is in such a state of disrepair – even the Cedar Waxwings have been pulling stuffing out of the seat cushions for their nest. But it’s been a wonderful addition to our yard, being a soothing temporary solution for many tearful baby days and the site of many renditions of “Would you like to swing on a star?” And even though it looks less than stellar right now, it still works well enough. Once again, IKEA saves the day with several metres of thick, inexpensive canvas material…and a little gift derived from mother nature – Velcro.

The garden swing before the grand make-over.

Step 1 – constructing a roof. We get some fierce winds up where we live – over 90 kph on some days. The old canvas roof ripped right off and blew away long ago – and as you can see, I’ve had to jury rig some supports to keep the top level on a blustery day. I made the roof removable this time – sewing a long tube to slide along the front bar and keep it securely in place, but attaching it elsewhere with Velcro tabs. The seat cover will also be removable, when I get around to it. Now, when the winter comes (or a particularly bad storm), I can simply remove the covers and store them for safe keeping.

The garden swing – with it’s new and improved removable roof.

Of course, there are only so many hours in a day, and nap time is over. But, at least now I have a shady place to work as I try to figure out the best way to make a cushion cover. Hopefully, I can finish it off tomorrow. Ooops, gotta run and pick up the eldest from camp. Stay sheltered. y’all.

Tags: canvas, false ceiling, garden swing, IKEA, sewing, shelter, Velcro

Posted in Crafty | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

See You Later, Alligator

One of the joys of having kids is getting to re-experience a bunch of the fun stuff – except this time ’round, you have the wherewithal to really appreciate it. Things like the magic of Christmas…getting lost in cartoons on Saturday morning…having a water fight on a hot summer day. Unless you are one of those rare individuals who has maintained their joyous youthfulness well into adulthood, it’s these little things tend to get overlooked or abandoned as we get older. Until “Junior” comes along, just begging you to share your secrets for a happy childhood with them.

My eldest – right as he figured out we were going to Disneyland.

For me, reading stories at bedtime is an extra special treat. See, when I was little, this wasn’t really a part of my “routine”. In fact, the only time “reading with my parents” came into play was in grade 4, when I was tested and found to be reading at a grade 1 level…at which point my mom would force me read Nancy Drew books out loud to her nightly, yelling at me whenever I messed up. Yeah. Not so much fun, really. So curling up in bed with my son and a good Dr. Seuss book – or better yet, Dogzilla or Bad Cat – well, it makes me feel like I’m getting a “do-over” of some kind.

Somewhere along the way, we read a book that made use of the “See you later, alligator…in a while, crocodile” rhymes. Naturally, from that point on whenever one of us would go out somewhere, we would call-and-answer our farewells this way. After a while, we were making up our own rhymes – “See you soon, you big baboon,” and “After that, my kitty cat.” Aww. With me wanting to work with well-known animal phrases for the quilty critters, I just Googled these phrases and found there are in fact many more to play with.

Bye bye, butterfly
Give a hug, ladybug
Toodle-ee-oo, kangaroo
See you soon, raccoon
Can’t stay, blue jay
Manana, iguana
Be sweet, parakeet
Blow a kiss, goldfish
Take care, polar bear
Out the door, dinosaur

Crazy! Who knew there were so many ways to Marco Polo a goodbye? And on that note, I thought I’d tackle the most well known of these phrases, to “get back on the quilty critter horse” after some dismal butterfly attempts last week. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the results.

Okay. Well, then. I guess it’s time to go, buffalo.

Tags: bedtime reading, fun stuff, goodbyes, kids, later alligator, quilty critters

Posted in Crafty, Musings | 6 Comments »

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Garden Perspectives

I read a fridge magnet one time that said “A weed is just a flower growing in the wrong place.” Even though the gardener in me thinks “What a crock! Thistles are just EVIL, period,” the hippy in me can’t help but nod in silent agreement. I mean, beauty can be found just about anywhere, if you look with the right eyes. Abandoned buildings, creepy-crawlies, old ladies in bathing suits … yes, even “weeds” can be enchanting – with just the right lighting.

Goatsbeard going to seed – THAT’s how abundant the weeds are.

Even though I have yet to find a good chunk of time to seriously tackle the annoyances in the garden, I have eked out a few minutes here and there snapping some pics of what’s in bloom (or going to seed, as the case may be). It’s really hard to think of the borage as a “weed” though, even if it is growing far from where it was originally planted. At one time I had a definite “plan” for the garden, but I am trying to let nature do her thing and leave some plants growing wherever they have decided to. Just not the weedy-weeds. After all, she probably has way more experience than I do at this sort of thing.

Borage blooming in entirely the wrong place – a beautiful accident.

The lavender is particularly enjoyable too right now, though for a very different reason. Yes, it’s pretty in it’s petite purple ways, but I love wandering by it and giving the unopened buds a gentle squeeze to get the scent on my hands. Of course, this results in me sniffing my hands all day, which is more than a little peculiar to those not in the know, but oh, well. A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.

There’s nothing more sweet smelling than fresh lavender.

There have been a couple of things I’ve been able to keep up with this year – like the produce boxes and the flower pots on the deck. Somehow, having things contained like that make them easier to tackle weed-wise. It’s like housecleaning, I suppose. If you think “I have to clean the entire house” it’s far more overwhelming than simply “I have to clean the living room.” Baby steps and all that.

A geranium on the deck, getting a cuddle from the baby snaps.

And last but not least, for today that is, the rose. I have absolutely no idea what kind it might be, as roses don’t tend to over-winter well around here, and I’ve stopped keeping track of the varieties I try out. But this one is clearly in the perfect sheltered place in the garden as it’s been around for several years now. Whether it’s a single bud in a little glass vase or a scatter of petals in the bath, you can’t beat the simple elegance of the rose.

A rose is a rose is a rose.

Well, would you look at that. I guess this might be one of those times when I don’t want to see the forest for the trees. Every time I sit on the front steps, I am filled with a sense of dread about the overall chaos in the garden right now. (I’m a bit of a control freak in case you weren’t aware.) But, when I actually head out to take photos in it, I can find no end of beautiful little vignettes that capture my eye. It’s funny. “Getting some perspective” usually involves taking a look at the “big picture”, but I see now that that’s not always the case.

Tags: baby steps, big picture, flowers, garden, Lessons From Nature, perspective, weeds

Posted in Musings, Photography | No Comments »

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

T.G.I.F.

Gentle readers. As you may have figured out (by the clear scarcity of creative projects over the past few days) it’s been a challenging week for me. Long story short, once again several nights of very little sleep have had their sinister way with me, leaving me tired and uninspired. Yes, I tried a few quilty butterflies and movement photos, but overall, have produced nothing to “write home about”. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. *sigh*

On the plus side, I’ve done a few housekeeping kinds of things that will hopefully make things a bit easier when I actually do get some more sleep. Like deciding to use an organizer for my paper leftovers (which had previously been shoved haphazardly into various envelopes) and sorting pieces by colour for easier access. Yes, I will likely still be pulling out a bunch of pieces and scattering them all over the table as I work, but at least now I won’t have to search through multiple envelopes to find just the right pieces to sprawl.

The new paper organizer – my son helped me with the labels.

I also did a little shopping this week. I found some nice 5×7 wooden frames (for a whopping $3 each!) to “finish” the quilty critters and make them “craft sale ready”. I also picked up a couple of designer paper pads – where the colours and themes are already coordinated for you – and am giving myself permission to use them for the quilty critters instead of relying on just my leftover scraps. I rounded it out with some new watercolour paper and a rainbow of felt-tipped markers, so I’m excited to play with my new toys when time permits (i.e. when I’m once again using nap time to create instead of to try and catch up on a few ZZZs).

Designer paper pads…ooh, fancy.

I also decided to change my mind about some books. Even though I am still not going to actually sit down and read The Artist’s Way right now, I found a few books on-line that totally caught my attention and made me want to know HOW to do some things. Like digital layering and photo manipulations. Like different techniques to inspire oneself. And, well, some good old fashioned Walden and Leopold for the nature girl in me that doesn’t get “out” as much as I’d like. At least not alone and in silence so much these days.

A quick “nature” shot. From the car. As I was driving. *sigh*

And aside from throwing together a few posters for a contest for Loose Moose, and working on their new web page – all things that you may see elsewhere at another time – that was my week. Well “creatively speaking”, at least. It’s weird. I feel like I’ve let you down for some reason. All six of you who regularly tune in, that is. But, as my friend Christine reminded me, ultimately this blog is supposed to be to motivate me, and I shouldn’t worry so much about my people pleasing tendencies. Old habits die hard, I guess. And with that, I’m off to work on some costumes for a Star Wars themed birthday party. Yup. That’s how we roll around here. Have a great weekend, y’all.

It’s been an ants-in-the-lilies kinda week, that’s for sure.

Tags: t.g.i.f., tired and uninspired

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Raindrops On Roses

A couple of days ago, my friend Christine posted some of her favourite things over on her site A Bunch Of Pansies. It got me thinking about what some of my favourite artsy/craftsy things to use are, so I thought I would share them with you…before I head out for a playdate with her. Drum roll please.

At # 5 – The Hand Roller. When it comes time that I actually have to use glue to decoupage something, I usually use a UHU Glue Stick (they’re the stickiest) and my trusty roller. I picked it up on a whim at an art supply store during my first year of university, and it’s proven to be indispensable. Perfect for making paper adhere flatly to frames or suitcases or whatever, and excellent for getting out air bubbles, I don’t know how I would have gotten this far without it.

At #4 – The Serger Sewing Machine. I volunteered during my first summer out in Kananaskis Country, trading my skills at costuming for a free room in the mountains (nice trade!). Up until then, I’d been using a regular old Singer, sewing seams with straight stitches, then going back over the unfinished edges with a zig-zag to keep them from fraying. But as luck would have it, they had a Serger out there, and after a few quick lessons, I couldn’t understand how I’d lived without one before. Yes they’re prohibitively expensive, yes they’re complicated to thread, and yes they’re a complete pain to undo if you should make a mistake, but man – are they worth it! If you could cut your other work in half, wouldn’t you?

At #3 – The Self-Healing Mat. Whether I’m trimming photos or cutting quilt squares or even carving beeswax for candles, they protect my desk and kitchen table from getting super sliced up by my trusty X-Acto knife etc. I only wish they could protect my fingers half as well.

At #2 – The Herma Vario Adhesive Tab Dispenser and Tab Refills. Not only has this thing enabled me to get away from using glue for several projects, but it’s so quick and easy to use that, again, it cuts that kind of work in half. Though I mostly use it in the papercrafting arena, I have also found it helpful for other photography projects and anywhere you might need a small piece of double-sided sticky tape. Awesome.

And last but not least, my absolute favourite…

At #1 – The Nikon Coolpix S10, my beloved “spycam”. My friend Erin was using hers at a party years ago, and even though we had a perfectly good Sony Cybershot 2.1 at the time, I just had to dip into my savings and rush out and get one. Ten times optical zoom, swivel body, 2.5 inch LCD display, awesome macro capabilities, and compact – so easy to just toss in your pocket – what’s not to love?! Makes taking photos (especially self-portraits and top-down shots) a breeze and sneaking shots, well, sneaky. They no longer make cameras with this kind of swivel body, so I am going to be crushed when this wonderful piece of equipment finally gives out. Seriously. If I disappear for months, you’ll know I am likely sobbing quietly in a corner, grieving the loss of my camera.

What about you? Do you have any tools of the trades that you’d like to share? Any little gems that make your life easier and more enjoyable? They don’t have to be craft-related, you know. Aw heck, at this point, I’d be excited to learn just about anything about you.

Tags: adhesive dispenser, favourite things, hand roller, Nikon Coolpix S10, self-healing mat, Serger

Posted in Crafty, Photography, Scrapbooking | No Comments »

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Well Isn’t That A Coinkydink?

Sometimes I really hate coincidences. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing quite like the magical thrill of thinking about somebody you haven’t thought of in a while, only to have them call you or e-mail you out of the blue. Or waking up a few minutes before you alarm clock goes off with a song in your head, only to have that exact song start playing when it does. Or even running late for an important appointment, only to hit all of the traffic lights right as they’re turning green. Maybe there’s something more to it than just being “happy accidents”, who’s to say, but I’m pretty sure we’ve all had it happen to us in some form or other at some time. It’s kind of like the universe’s way to balance out “Murphy’s Law”, and most of the time, it’s really cool when it happens.

Of course, there is always a flip-side to these sorts of things. Like being in the presence of the local gossip when something completely embarrassing happens to you. Or like telling a joke at a party, only to hear that somebody just told that joke 5 minutes ago. Or even…like being in the middle of writing a post about good and bad coincidences when your friend Jenny blogs about her trip to NYC and it just happens to touch on several things in your post. Weird. I’ve heard of several cases where somebody comes up with what they think is a clever new idea only to find that somebody else has already used it. Not that people are stealing ideas from each other, but rather it’s like they’ve creatively arrived at the same place at the same time. And when you look at the definition of coincidence, that actually kind of makes sense.

coincidence - (1) a sequence of events that although accidental, seems to have been planned or arranged, (2) the state or fact of occupying the same relative position or area in space.

I ponder the coincidence of poor spelling.

So. Here I am, pondering where to go next with the quilty birds I’ve been making, and I decide to try the technique with another animal – an elephant that never forgets or a flying pig perhaps. But, being a busy stay-at-home-mom, I haven’t actually gotten around to making one of them yet (except in my mind’s eye), when I am cruising around the blogosphere and I find this awesome whale at Donna Heart’s site (please follow the link, as I don’t want to reproduce it without permission). Well, poop. Suddenly, I feel like I’ve been beaten to the punch somehow, and the wind slips right out of my sails.

Being who I am, I start analyzing the experience in great detail. I’m pretty sure that even though I’ve visited her site before, I’ve never seen patchwork animals on it. Yes, a while ago she had done a few birds that I liked and wanted to do something similar to, but my birds are clearly different from hers. Plus, it’s not like she sews her patches together like I do, and it’s not like I would paint over my final work like she does. Normally she does motivational pieces using female figures – so where did this whale come from?! Now, if I were to make a whale, it would look nothing like hers, I’m certain. But still. I start questioning the authenticity of my creations.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Abandon the whole quilty thing altogether? Strive to make my work even more different than hers somehow? Down an entire pint of chocolate ice cream? *sigh* I guess this is just one of those cases when I have to remember Monday’s quote by C.S. Lewis and just keep going. Who knows where my birds will lead me – or where Donna’s whale will lead her. But instead of feeling like a fraud or thinking of myself as unoriginal, I am choosing to believe it is as if we both arrived at some universal creative consciousness for quilty animals at the same time, and then moving on.

Well, I decided to try “Butterfly Kisses” as my next quilty critter. Maybe it was because of the crappy sleep the night before, or because my “domestic assistant” didn’t actually show up to help me out, or because I was already in a bad mood because of finding the whale, I don’t know. But I’m not really happy with the results.

Fist attempt. I like the heart-shaped wing idea, but not the inside patches. I didn’t even bother stitching it down.

Second attempt. I returned to the “old” way of stitching as I go, but it feels unbalanced somehow. Not surprising, really…considering.

Ah, well. I guess they can’t all be winners, can they? Or when would the learning happen? I can only hope that next time there’ll be a little more “happy” in the accidents.

Tags: authenticity, balance, coincidence, creation, happy accident, Murphy's Law, originality, quilty

Posted in Crafty, Musings | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Six Degrees Of Kate

Kevin Bacon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (only 2 degrees).

One of the things I just love about this whole creative blogging adventure is finding cool stuff quite by chance. Years ago, when I first started “social networking” on Myspace, I could spend hours just clicking on Person A who would randomly lead me to Person B who would randomly lead me to Person C and so on. I found it interesting to play a “Six Degrees” game for myself – what kinds of people existed beyond my usual social circle, and what were they willing to share with the world? I’ve tried this with Facebook recently, but it’s not nearly as fun with everybody (myself included) cranking up their privacy settings – a dead end at the third degree? *sigh* But the blogosphere…now here’s a whole new frontier just begging to be explored!

Some days I’ll just go to a friend’s Blogger page and hit the “Next Blog” button at the top and see where it leads me. This is the most random technique, as I could end up at a page about anything from clothes for dogs to finding Jesus to somebody’s vacation photos of Spain. Talk about random! Some days I will check out the blogs that my friends know about and suggest to me, which has proven to be somewhat enlightening too. Lately I’ve been a little more focused, however, starting out at a friend’s arty/crafty page and clicking through subsequent blogroll entries. Which is exactly how I ended up at Women At Rest – “an oasis for the frazzled and overwhelmed”. Ooh, now there’s something I can relate to!

While perusing this site, I noticed they had a Facebook page I could become a fan of, and it was there that I found the following entry:

A good day doesn’t have to be big, splashy and flamboyant. Life is not a pie-eating contest. Listening is good. Hugs matter. A 30-minute run is enough. Short blog posts count.

It’s like it was written just for me. Well, except for the running part. There was also a link to this manifesto that can’t help but make you feel good, if you’re looking for a warm fuzzy feeling today.

And so with that, I am keeping this post short and sweet and heading out into my poor, neglected garden while my “domestic assistant” is here today. Time to create a little order in my yard so I can once again enjoy it without feeling guilty for spending so much time creating other things.

My garden in happier, less weedy days.

Tags: blog, Facebook, Myspace, six degrees, social networking

Posted in Musings, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Monday, July 19th, 2010

I Know You Are, But What Am I?

I have long had a fascination with quotations. Ever since high school, in fact, which was over 20 <ahem> years ago. It was a very challenging time for me (as it is for most teenagers), and the well articulated thoughts of philosophers and artists, scientists and world leaders, were comforting somehow. These fine people opened my mind to a wealth of possibilities, providing me with hope for the future (thank goodness). My interest in what other people have to say about the things which are important to me continued into university and well beyond. Upon moving out for the first time, I even went so far as to provide some of my favourites for those who frequented our washroom (of all places) to read.

A little “light reading” for the washroom.

To this day, I continue to scrawl these gems of wisdom into the margins of my journals. Now, I’m not what you would consider a big Bible reader or anything, but the following quotation caught my eye the other day.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. ~ Ecclesiastes 1:9

Hmm. Really? Kind of relates to the previous post, Doing A 360, doesn’t it? But I wonder what others have to say on the subject.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. ~ Voltaire
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Originality is the art of concealing your sources. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Utter originality is, of course, out of the question. ~ Ezra Pound
Originality is undetected plagiarism. ~ William Ralph Inge

I see. Ahh, the irony. Well, if that’s truly the case, then why bother creating anything at all?

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. ~ C.S. Lewis

Well, then. I guess there is that.

Now, perhaps you have noticed me saying previously in this blog that I wished to copy things created by other people. For example – “I noticed the coolest garden angel that I may somehow have to try and duplicate…” (Sleep, Perchance to Dream), and “Somebody’s cool fridge magnets – a future project I think!” (It’s A Sign, People (Ha!) ). With all of my recent research into copyright and intellectual property and the like, I thought it best that I should clarify a few things. For starters, I do NOT wish to outright copy the work of another person. Period. Try to recreate the joy I experience when admiring someone else’s work, and do so in my own style…yeah, sure. But at most, the work of others should be used as a starting point – a peak of inspiration from which to leap from.

A little while ago, my friend Don posted a link to some of his recent (and stunning, I might add) photos of Paris. I really liked the ones he had taken of people on bikes and scooters and such, and wanted to experiment with taking some similar ones myself. Well, as luck would have it, neither the baby (with nap times, etc.) nor the weather (extreme rain or bright sun make these kind of shots tricky) has exactly been cooperating lately, so I decided to start goofing around with capturing the motion in our everyday business instead.

While taking the boys on the carousel, I snap this as a first attempt.

Then I started playing ball with the dog and managed to get this one.

And last of all, here’s our youngest as he navigates the stairs.

Not the best images in the world, I know, but it’s a start I suppose. I have discovered (with the dozens of attempts it took just to get these) that reinventing the wheel is a lot harder than it looks. Ah, well. I guess you’ll never know until you try.

Tags: capturing motion, copyright, irony, originality, quotations, reinventing the wheel

Posted in Musings, Photography | 2 Comments »