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Examining life; playing with thanks

A tool, this litany of gratitude.  Like a key that opens a door or a gate,  secures a roller skate,  winds up a music box or a clock,  starts the car - we don't need to believe a key works or understand how it works;  we just need to use it to bring about a result.

A recent 'playing'.  Driving down Foul Bay Road from Lansdowne to Oak Bay Avenue.

I am grateful for the sight of those Olympic Mountains far in the distance and the memories of, at times,  sensing the snow on their peaks,  and for now realizing I can travel through my eyes to a different country without leaving home.

I am graterful for the garage sale signs on telephone poles that I can READ clearly as I drive by, the date and time and address.  

I am grateful for the group of wallflowers against a stone wall, their brilliance and their fragrance.

I appreciate being able, on this yet-chilly morning, to have the heater on in the car and the driver's window open for both incar warmth and outcar fresh air and sounds and scents.

I am grateful for brick houses.

I am grateful for seeing, in a driveway,  a small, round cat sitting on the roof of a van and bending down to watch as a  person loads or unloads something into the vehicle.

I am grateful for the construction at the intersection of  Foul Bay and Oak Bay which has traffic in a stop and go pattern with human directives;  for the chance to sit and watch a backhoe revealing what is under the road and the bucket lifting and dumping the contents into a truck;   for the thought that if the grandkids were in the car they would share my interest.

I am glad to watch and respond to the flagman's (actually a flagwoman's) gestures;  graceful and no-nonsense;  are they taught how to do these signals or learn them by rote or are they purely instinctive, I wonder,  as I am arm-swooshed  through the intersection, and drive, gratefully, on.

 

Laburnum!

Laburnum trees have special  meaning for me.

They grow profusely here in Victoria  BC  and are presently in full bloom.

I first became aware of them nearly forty years ago, in southern Ontario,  in an English gardening book.  I had never seen one growing or in bloom.

It came.  It grew.  It blossomed!  People stopped to admire and  inquire.  It did not survive a harsh winter.  The nursery replaced it.   It came .... it grew .... it  blossomed .... ditto.  The nursery did not offer to replace it and I did not ask when I called to alert them to the fact .

So when I arrived on the west coast twenty years ago and saw them growing in gardens, on boulevards, in nooks and crannies (isn't that a lovely phrase),  I was overjoyed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That feeling has  returned  each spring ever since.

Weave-it loom; work in progress

Things have moved along since I came across Margaret Jager and the exquisite red shawl  from squares produced on a weave -it loom she made from an old book. 

The creator of the pattern for the shawl is Jana Trent at Eloomanation.  There is a wealth of information on weave-it looms at that site.

I decided to make a large weave-it loom and used this 10 in by 20 in frame from the free pile at a church sale.  The idea of a rectangle appealed to me.  And a modular piece of weaving that is simply warped back and forth in two layers with the third layer being the weft and then can be lifted off the loom - completed -   wow!

Here is the template for where to place the brads (headless nails);  the corners are the important part -  I adjusted for the sides.

The warp threads are heavy duty Irish trolling line (a fibre archeology find at a thrift store dig) and it has taken me several days since the warping to decide on the weft. I wanted something light and airy to  contrast with the warp;  something substantial to hold its own;  something that could still be threaded through the eye of the long metal bodkin because the warp is taut and there is no easy shed as in my backstrap loom so I wanted to be able to weave the weft in and out.

Many ideas came to mind.  Cheesecloth, muslin, netting .....  I had come across (and been given) two brand new nylons which were not a pair at the weekly church sale .  ("Why on earth do we have two odd nylons and no one would buy them who planned to wear them," the church lady said.   I had not planned to wear them;  pot pourri twists were what I had in mind.)

What would happen if I used the nylons as the weft -  but first put some of the fallen bushmint leaves and dried daffodils into them.  The nylon would keep the pot pourri secure but release the scent nicely.

Well, it is working.  The fragrance of weaving with scented plants enhances the experience of playing thusly with fibre.

 The nylons provided a line of weft for one complete round.  Then I took the warp and used it as weft for another round on the outside of the nylon weft.

What next?  

Hmmmm.  Waiting ......

Lampshade; black screening

This lamp has lovely bones (simple, wrought iron) but had a most unsuitable large ivory paper shade which is likely the reason the lamp was still unsold  near the end of the church sale when I showed up.

(Caveat: I had thought to check if the lamp worked and the sellers kindly obliged finding a light bulb and an electrical outlet to show that it did.  But when I got it home and took off  the shade support it was to find the housing cracked and the wiring iffy.  I could and did rewire it;  caution is a good idea with used items. My experience over the years has been that the majority of people do not donate/want to get rid of things that are in perfect condition.)

The lampshade - lovely in itself and in perfect condition - got donated back to a thrift shop and I have been trying out other shades for the past few weeks.

An old roundish wicker shade from a hanging lamp from the Sixties was considered (50 cents at a church sale for the whole thing;  the wiring was 'toast';  the long chain salvaged).  It was ... okay.

The lamp seemed to want an elongated shade.

Another of the weekly church thrift shops turned up a very large rectangular shade. It was - too big.

I had very much liked the shadows the wickery shade  made and black fiberglass screening came to mind.  I have used this in garments.

I wrapped it around a white frame (from a free pile)  - did not like the shape.  Formed the screening into a rectangle with outer seams and pagoda points.  Nope.  

Made a rectangle with inside seams and narrow ends;  bent the round white frame into a flatter narrower shape;  put the screening over it.

I need to tweak it more;  but it is evolving.

It is quite stunning at night.  Maybe the white frame needs to be painted black.  

Pleasures of grandkids

One of the many joys of experiencing child- raising through the next generation is the 'permission to play' factor.

I came across this in a toybox at a charity sale and asked one of the women selling if it really stuck to a surface when thrown.

She didn't know.  She took it,  pulled her arm back and gave a pitcher-proud overarm toss. Whap!!!

It stuck neatly to a nearby filing cabinet.  We grinned at each other.

At home I discovered that it sticks for a longer period of time if moistened first.  

The grandboys and I will have fun discovering who can make it stick the longest and whether or not it will stick on skin and if spit works better than water for the moistener.

 

 

 

 

Memories occur of similar questions arising from suction cup darts and the father of these grandboys, and his siblings.

 

Mid-century design mirror(s)

Kilshaw's windows looked intriguing and a nearby parking space was available so I stopped and went for a look.  A wealth of mid-century modern pieces. The auction is tonight.

That pleasant browsing motivated a stroll back along Fort and then down Cook Street with stops in the book shop, consignment store, and Country Comforts.  

I am looking for a  'chest of drawers'  and the puncutation denotes something that will serve the purpose of a chest of drawers but in an interesting way.  As the vintage suit cases are doing but I feel like a change.

Kilshaw's had a lovely eight drawer teak chest with distinctive recessed handles and I spent some time staring at it ..... but it was too specific.  And a bit too perfect and impersonal.

I wandered into Country Comforts with 'chest of drawers' in mind,  mid-century modern in recent thoughts.

Nothing in the way of chests.  But this mirror.....

Well, it is now in my home.

Interesting how something has instant appeal.

And how the resultant cognitive dissonance  to an immediate, seemingly impulsive,  acquisition can take either  the "what was I thinking...."  or  "well, welcome!"  response.

This mirror was totally the latter.

And I am liking it more and more.

I have no history of  it;  I do not think it was commercially made.

The random sizes and placement of the mirrors (they are all bevelled!) is delightful:  the  single tiny one is captivating.

It is meant to be hung square, as indicated by the two brackets, but Allister had hung it as a diamond and this was brilliant.   I positioned it as square, just to see.  Stodgy.  The quarter turn makes all the difference.  Frank Lloyd Wright and falling water comes to mind.  I wonder if I would have been so attracted if I had seen it  hung square.  I wonder ,  had I purchased it from this aspect, if I would have thought - been inspired - been guided! - to give it that turn.  Fun to speculate.

 

 

 

 

 

Flower stance

My practice of flower arranging consists of replacing the arranging with providing the container and letting the flower, be it a single stem or many, assume its own position:  to take a stance.

This exquisite lilac was broken thoughtfully and with gratitude from the tree by the front door.

It exhibits the beauty of symmetry with the leaves given an equally starring role, not as supporting cast for the blossom.

Flowers picked thusly give more of their fragrance.

Flower petal confetti; Victoria BC

Our urban orchards are in blossom later than usual this year.  But, oh ..... so welcomed.  A pounding rainfall in the night resulted in this early morning carpet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weave-It Looms

I have a couple of old Weave-It looms found at church sales and they are useful and fun.  

This way to make them using old books is  simple and wonderful!  I am going to the Times Colonist book sale this morning (in the Curling Rink on Quadra; went yesterday and found it a cool and spacious site)  and plan to get an old book of some sort to make these looms in a size that suits me more -  BIG!  

Humming bird diner: sitting down to eat

The humming bird feeder on the left was a lovely gift months ago but it was only today that I had an "aha" moment.

(The "aha" moment about it being blue and not having to be red to attract hummers occured as soon as it was hung and the birds flocked to it!)

Today's epiphany had to do with the feature that allows the hummers to perch and eat - like a diner.

Past feeders have been like the one on the right -  the bird must keep its wings in that astonishing motion to eat - sort of like a drive-through.

They don't ignore the fly-through.  But they seem to enjoy the diner more.