Category — Appreciation

It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her linens,  
 the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins  
 knowing their warp and woof,  
 like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.  
 It has to be loved as if it were embroidered 
 with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.  
 It has to be stretched and stroked.  
 It has to be celebrated.  
 O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it. 
 It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet.

The trees must be washed, and the grasses and mosses.  
 They have to be polished as if made of green brass.  
 The rivers and little streams with their hidden cresses  
 and pale-coloured pebbles  
 and their fool’s gold  
 must be washed and starched or shined into brightness,  
 the sheets of lake water  
 smoothed with the hand  
 and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness.  
 It has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness.

and pleated and goffered, the flower-blue sea  
 the protean, wine-dark, grey, green, sea  
 with its metres of satin and bolts of brocade.  
 And sky – such an 0! overhead – night and day  
 must be burnished and rubbed  
 by hands that are loving  
 so the blue blazons forth  
 and the stars keep on shining  
 within and above  
 and the hands keep on moving.

 It has to be made bright, the skin of this planet  
 till it shines in the sun like gold leaf.  
 Archangels then will attend to its metals  
 and polish the rods of its rain.  
 Seraphim will stop singing hosannas 
 to shower it with blessings and blisses and praises  
 and, newly in love,  
 we must draw it and paint it  
 our pencils and brushes and loving caresses  
 smoothing the holy surfaces.   – “The Planet” © 1994 P.K. Page

Celebrated poet P.K. Page died January 14th, 2010 at the age of 93 in Victoria, B.C.  She will be missed.

I’ve decided that if you simply ignore watching TV or listening to the radio that life isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. I swear letting your head being filled with so much negativity, doom and gloom ends up self perpetuating. It’s viral. It’s exponential. Anyhow, I’ve decided not to take part in spreading the virus.

In retrospect, 2008 was good to me and it’s going to be an even greater 2009! Spread that around if you must spread a fresh rumour.

The holidays are unfortunately, quickly coming to an end. I’ve had some time off to visit, to over-indulge and simply put my feet up. I haven’t had to drive at 7 am every morning in the sometimes rather nasty winter weather. I’ve avoided being on top of email at every given second. I have a new ipod that is now my newest best friend.

I’ve had some time to dye as well. There’s a new crop of pretties with more to come in the next few days. Here are my favourites:

These frothy, heavily detailed little beauties seem to be becoming my signature these days. As I was uploading pictures to the new ipod, I even surprised myself at how things have evolved; one technique merges into the other and becomes something else that I can’t even put a name to. That’s the wonder of hand dyeing that keeps me fascinated and eager to experiment with every piece to this day; there are as many variables as hands and souls creating it. I swear, there’s magic in your hands if you just set them free!

And for something completely different, I’m adding it to my faves, just because the results were unexpected:

This is also the traditional time to thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you that have fed my mind and supported me, made 2008 such an excellent year.

I lift my glass to you all! Cheers!

Enough with all the doom and gloom out there! Upon the eve of this holiday weekend Thanksgiving, I’d like to take this slight pause to give thanks. Yes, Thanksgiving comes earlier in Canada.

I give thanks to my friends and extended family who are supportive and loving to me everyday. They support me in ways they are not even aware of and that I cannot even put into words. I owe it to them that I was able to transform myself and my life in these late forties. I give special thanks to my son who doesn’t take things for granted and appreciates both his parents, quirks, creative madness, warts and all.

I also give special thanks to all of you who have supported my art, my craft.

How lovely to get this in my mail box this morning. It is people like Elise who create great beauty with their own art and allow me to do what I love over and over again.

How wonderful. It makes me want to take a little leap in the air too …

P.S. Canadians : don’t eat too much and on Tuesday, October 14th, get out and VOTE!

A perfectly gorgeous Saturday morning brought me out to the Canadian Museum of Civilization for a little business in preparation for a weekend of children’s workshops where I will be the invited guest/teacher/artist. I can’t tell you how scary that is, but slowly the idea is growing on me. I dislike limelight intensely, prefering that my work be seen instead of me. I will have to do a little of both this time, or a lot of … considering I’m told to expect up to 200 kids over the course of eight workshops! The CMC is a world-class facility; when an institution like that calls on you, I think you better pick up the call. I can be an introvert again … later.

Not a great picture, but it’s humungous, so it’s the best I could do under the circumstances. It’s an incredible series of buildings, the architecture reflecting the many landscapes and natural resources of Canada. If you drive by, you might very well drive right off the road as your eyes are drawn in by its mesmerizing, curving, terraced walls. I don’t think there’s a harsh right angle anywhere to be seen. Very soothing.

The view from there is fantastic, suspended almost, over the Ottawa River and overlooking Parliament. This is my city and I love it!

If you’re interested in seeing just a few more pictures from today’s foray around my town, (or a few more pictures of that shibori vest) you can see the Flickr set here.

I had an awesome Sunday. A great big resounding thank you for all of you that might have come to see the new collection at the Dancer’s Bazaar, either to buy or just to say hello. It’s so nice to get to see so many returning faces, all of them with a great big smile. I’m still smiling at the fact that I had my best sale day ever.

It takes a few days for me to come down; it’s exilarating yet exhausting for me to be “on” successfully for so long. It’s an adrenaline rush that takes it’s toll on me. I finally slept a decent night’s sleep last night and will be ready to get back to work tomorrow.

Not that I haven’t been working. I’ve been puttering non-stop it seems since I got back home with the last few remaining veils. I unfortunately decided to redesign the eBay store’s look at the same time as everything else going on. I think I just finished the new listing template with an updated look that will be both functional for me and pleasing to the beholder. I like to have a cohesive look, and like most looks, they need an update once in a while. My aim these days is for a clean and simple, common look and feel that doesn’t detract from the content. Presentation is everything. Not really, but you know what I mean, don’t you?

Anyhow, today is dedicated to writing new listings and giving the new template a spin. I posted a few last night from veils that had been listed before and everything seems to look right at this end. I try to design things so they show up nicely at different resolutions and on different browsers, but you never really know till somebody kind enough to speak up says “Hey, your pages are too narrow … too wide … off kilter …”

And it’s snowing again. Still.