Day 53: Emily 8

(Ed. note: there was no text with this picture but I assume it is a picture of the rare and endangered Emily Floor which has recently had a sighting.  Now to try and catch a picture of it in the wild.)(There won't be a picture of an equally rare Clean Parent Floor - it is a much rarer animal.)

Day 52: Sort of...

I should have blogged this yesterday but I was obsessed with finishing a book.  This book, in fact:

.Chapters.indigo.ca/books/Switch
I'm going to have to read it twice, at least, to begin to really get my head around it's content.  I understand now why some of the changes in the church and in my life aren't working but I haven't yet figured out how to integrate their methods into a positive outcome.  It's in there; I just haven't worked out how I'm going to do it yet.

Day 51: Is that like Area 51?

I've been working on a creativity workshop -- just because.  Someone mentioned to me meditating in front of a fractal generator.  Interesting, I thought.  So I spent part of the day playing with a couple of generators.  The one that worked (Ultra Fractal) is a demo version which you'll see on the video.

Anyway, here are somethings I generated today.  I'm not convinced yet about the software.  But it's a step along the learn-something-new-everyday path.  Apparently the video won't load so you'll just get the stills.





Day 50: What have I done?

I did it.  I bought a Dungeons and Dragons starter kit for Emily and Dan...just when I had gotten rid of the antique stuff we owned because we'd never play it again.  I must be nuts.  Hopefully nuts in a creative way.

Anyone for an adventure?

Day 49: I've been kidnapped by an interesting thought

I've been surfing around more websites and blogs lately.  I'vebeen trying to feed my voracious need for 'input' for my brain without buying more books or magazines.  I'm trying to do this for two reasons; first, expense and second, storage.

I came across this blog today: http://doingitallforaleyna.blogspot.com/   She started this thing called Seven Words, trying to sum up in seven words how she is doing at this moment.

I've spent a while contemplating what I wanted to say.  How's this?  (After looking at it and playing with it, I can't even figure out if it is grammatically correct anymore!)

Trying to stop sabotaging my own success.

Day 48: Let's rock!

I was going through my photos and realized: I take a lot of photos of rocks.

Sleeping Giant Rocks

Cottage Rocks

Peggy's Cove Rocks with Ocean

Maine Rocks with Barnacles

What does this say about me?  I look down a lot?  I feel an affinity to rocks?  I wonder...

Day 47: Back to basics

For various reasons, work and personal, I've developed something of a block, artistically.  I have accomplished little things of late but nothing particularly exciting.  I have been struggling to find something positive to say here.

So, as is my wont, when I get stuck, I return to The Artist's Way.  A book on working through the rough patches of an artistic life.  There are lots of suggestions and exercises in the book.  Basically, I recommend it to you.

My first step is usually to return to journalling.  Somehow, once I get the stuff out of my head, my dilemma comes to the surface.  Part of this comes from being an introvert in a household of six people.  I can't think through the words floating in the air.

Next step?  Talking to my support network.  Which is what I'm going to do now.

I close with a picture of a random work of gourd art.

More on this to follow.

Day 46: Emily 7

Day 45: Incremental movement

There are an infinite number of quotations that feature how to move forward.  The one that runs through my head is 'Just put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be marching out the door'.  I am definitely not Kris Kringle or the Warlock either but I am moving toward a cleaner house.  I hope.

I also managed to get myself sewing/quilting again.  After several years of solid quilting, I developed a ?sewer's block?  A blocked sewer: a dangerous thing.  So far, it's not much:

but it is more than I have done in years.  Yeah me.

Day 44: Blah.

I spent about an hour and a half in the basement 'tidying'.  I'm not convinced I am doing more than shufflling it all around at this stage.  The current goal is to return the guest bedroom to a usable state; what with me having guests coming.  I think I will only be able to make progress when I can let a large amount of craft supplies go to Value Village.  This is a tough one for me.  All I can think is: don't waste anything!  Except that stuff sitting in my basement gathering dust is definitely a waste.  As well as an annoyance.

I will contribute to the art thing with a picture from my vacation.

I dyed some of the corn husks with tea...I'd like to refine this project.

Lest you think I'm not doing art every day, I am actually moving some stuff along.  Today I ripped back a sock that has been in time out for months.  A heck of a lot of work lost but since the sock wouldn't fit my foot, it wasn't likely to be worn anyway...  Now to figure out what sock to knit instead.

Day 43: Organization? What organization?

My day was called on account of inclement health.  I don't know what it was.  I don't want to remember the details.  I don't want to share them with you either.  The upshot was that any fierce organization has been postponed.

I did want to include some photos from when we were at the cottage.  I didn't get a picture of Emily's wide mouthed bass because it flipped off the hook before the camera arrived.  Which was probably a good thing since I wasn't sure how I was going to unhook it.  Of course, I didn't have a net with me since I thought we were fishing for sunfish not 3-4 pound bass.

Sunfish

Rock bass

Perch

The perch also flipped itself off the hook but Daniel caught it before it bashed itself stupider on the dock.  My attempts at teaching my kids to love nature have resulted in kids who want to do MORE FISHING.  With things other than worms.  For bigger fish.

I draw the line in the water after worms.  I will not participate with leeches.  Or fish with teeth, if I can help it.  Or, god forbid, spines.  Dave?  Dave!  I need you.

Day 42: Emily 6

Our week at the cottage

One day that was a Wednesday
We decided to go away
To our cottage by a lake
but we had to decide what to take

We packed a suitcase and closed the lid
We brought the clothes (or thought we did)
Mommy suddenly gave a groan
Her suitcase had been left at home

After shopping had been done
We decided to have some fun
We went swimming in the lake
Lessons are what I should take

The day before we left, it's true
we went fishing and caught some too
I caught a fish that was big enough to eat
Grandma would have wanted to have it as a treat

We all liked swimming and you can bet
For most of the week the dog was wet
Fishing, swimming, and reading too
In the city there's nothing to do

P.S.  Happy 57th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Day 41: Nope. Not gone away yet.

Emily wanted to stay in the city for her birthday tomorrow.  So let it be written, so let it be done.  Ultimately, I was in no mood to try and pack the car and drive in this heat anyway.

So Monday is organizing day.  I didn't take any pictures before or after today because I filled the car and took about 5 medium boxes of stuff to Value Village.  It wasn't particularly visually interesting.  And just in case you thought I was a champion getter-ridder of stuff, it was my mom's car not the van.  The van was in for servicing (and expense...).

So I did organize some stuff.  I did enough sorting to realize I've lost an envelope worth of stuff that I needed.  Grrr.  This is the thing about a messy house that gets me crazy; when I can't find what I'm looking for.

I decided to do a bit of artwork to give me something to take a picture of...

This is a 'Curler Unit Ball' from Trash Origami by Michael G. LaFosse and Richard L. Alexander.  It is made up of 12 identical forms folded separately ( Kusudama).  I'm not sure what I would use it for but it was interesting to make.  In general, I prefer origami to make something useful - I already have too much stuff.

P.S.  Why, yes!  That is Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  I found it today at the Value Village.  You've been looking for one forever?  Oh dear.  I'm sure they didn't have a second one.

Day 40: Oops.

I forgot that today is Sunday.  I must be on vacation.  Usually Emily does a post on Sunday but that will have to come later.  Sorry, Emily fans.

I thrashed all over today, artistically.  Mom and I did some sorting.  I washed the celestine ball.  I finished annotating one of the books on creativity I've been reading.  At 9:30, I had bubkiss (how do you spell that?  My spell checker has choked on it).  It's not like I didn't do anything -- I even made jam!  Ooh.  I could have taken pictures of that.  Shoot, my brain is fried.

Instead, I stumbled down to the studio and made myself do something.  In this case, finish up some eggs I've been trying new techniques out on.  If nothing else, the photo is cool, I think.

If I don't post for a few days, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I've buggered off to the cottage for a few days.  The book that spawned this 365 day thing doesn't mention going on vacation.  Oops.

Day 39 and a 1/3: Blog will be delayed due to ...

I had everything more or less ready for the blog yesterday and was stuck down by cranial renovations.  The noise of the hammering inside my head was unignorable.

So, I finished the Celestine Star from the other day.  The last point wasn't much fun but the final thing is fun.  A paradox, a paradox, a most ingenius paradox.

More later.

Day 38: Sshhhh, we're hunting wabbits

Actually, I'm on another bird hunt.  If you remember a few years ago, I was teased by a little hummingbird at the cottage.  It would flaunt it's stuff as long as I wasn't holding the camera.

Now it's the blue heron at the pond.  Dan and I have taken to lurking with the camera but so far nothing.  Or, at least, nothing blue heron wise.  Just laughter from the reeds.

I did manage this, on the side:

Day 37: Damn dog...

So I'm getting close to finishing a handknit children's ball, spikey.  It's basically a dodecahedron with points instead of sides.  Pattern: http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/celestine/celestine.html

The colours are rather bleached out by the flash.  Just saying.

However, the dog decided to run off with it to get my attention.  Guess what?  She did.  However, she drooled all over it.  This is for a baby - I'm going to have to wash it.

Before I can finish, I stuff 11 of the 12 'sides' and centre and then knit the twelfth point to close it off.  So do I wash it before stuffing it and risk having it shrink and become a problem for the 12th point?  Or do I finish it and then wash it, hoping the stuffing dries well?

Somehow, all of my knitting experience isn't quite coughing up an answer today.  Though my parenting experience suggests that I should wash the whole thing since the mom is probably going to have to do that at some point anyway.  That's the way I'm leaning, anyway.  Got any suggestions?

Day 36: To do mindmapping, do you have to have one?

A mind, that is.

Today I started learning a new way of organizing information called mindmapping.  I've read about it a couple of times lately and I wanted to try it out.  There are a couple of free kinds of software for it and I decided to try XMind (http://www.xmind.net/ ).

Mindmapping is a flow-charty way of getting a whole pile of ideas down in a loosely organized way.  By drawing loose connections and adding filters, you (theoretically) can see unusual connections and generate new ideas.

While this doesn't give me a pretty picture to present to you today, I am enjoying trying out something completely new to me.  I hope that this system will be useful in the future. Initially I thought I could 'map' my brain but the free software doesn't make it look likely.  Of course, my brain map might be a pretty scary thing.

I also got a lot done artistically today.  Hopefully there will be something to show soon.

Day 35: One day my Prince will come...

Actually, I spent this last weekend with Prince Arthur.  Prince Arthur Hotel, that is.  http://www.princearthur.on.ca/  Janet and I stayed there while we were in T. Bay.  It has a great location; just overlooking the waterfront parks and train station.

The hotel was quite dated but clean.  The room was strangely laid out but spacious.  It was a good deal, I think.

What really set fire to my imagination was the hint of old that it exuded.  All I could think about was buying this hotel and renovating it into a steampunk masterpiece.  How fun would that be? Could you make the antique elevator see-through so you could see the floors as you were travelling?  Restoring the main entrance to a suitable level of grandeur?  Ripping off the back pool addition and making a fabulous patio walk-out for the restaurant.  Making doors that disappeared?

Sometimes I wonder about my brain.  Couldn't I be using some of this creativity for my own income?  It feels like I'm wasting it by spending so much time developing ideas for something that will never happen.  I read today that creativity can't be turned off without killing it.  Apparently so.

Day 34: Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

Janet and I were talking about ... well...many things while we were away together.  One of them was this need to constantly start over.  Why can we live our lives slow and steady like the turtle?  Not that I really want to be an amphibian but that building up to success part I think I would enjoy.

I feel that way today: home today and tomorrow, start over at cleaning, sorting, organizing my life.  Sigh.  Though I did do my organizing bit today since it is Monday.

Before:

After:

Here the suitcase is empty, ready to go back to the basement.  I can't quite make myself do that tonight but definitely tomorrow.

I've enjoyed the thinking time I've had while I was away.  I finished Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From.  A very interesting read.  Many different parts are going into my thoughts on Church Organization and Creativity Thereof.  More to come on that, I hope.

P.S.  Happy Birthday, Daniel

Day 33: Emily 5

Summer Vacation

Beach towels are red
the ocean is blue
I like summer
what about you?

Part of the cool part about this is that Emily is in Toronto and I'm in Thunder Bay.  I love the fact that I can travel and stay in contact with my kids at the same time.  Maybe this means I can travel more?

Day 32: Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

Just some pictures of our hike today.  Quick summary: sun - hot, water - COLD, toad - surprised, beach - lovely.

Made some art ... left it behind.

Oh and legs - tired.

Day 31: Canada Day in Thunder Bay

Let's play High/Low.

High for Canada Day in Thunder Bay: the food.

Perogies
Bannock Burgers
Thai Satay
Tacos
Corn on the Cob
Indian
Three different kinds of ice cream
Free cake
Hot dogs
Sausages
Hamburgers
Hand cut french fries
Kettle cooked popcorn

To quote Mom: "I think I ate too much".

Low: Fireworks Fizzle in Fog

The fireworks didn't do more than give the sky some interesting colours occasionally.