monday morning man

The following is a poem my son Wesley wrote earlier this year. I think it is a beautiful piece and wanted to share it with you.


Monday Morning Man

The man next door might seem to be a very standard person,
Someone, if whom he disappeared, the world no more would worsen,
But if you get to know him and you listen all you can,
You'll learn the hidden knowledge of the Monday Morning Man.

I asked him once why Mondays should be held in high regard,
And he answered with poetic skill, like that of any bard,
"As the cycle of the universe comes to a close on Sunday,
It's only right that all should resurrect itself on Monday.
A day of new beginnings and of things about to start,
What ended on a Sunday then on Monday shall depart."
Enigmatically he talks of what will stop and what's began,
But to most he's just a simple, normal, mundane morning man.

He likes to tend his garden, and one day I saw him there
Walking through the rows of herbs and trimming them with care.
I looked up at the sky which seemed to be one massive cloud.
"It looks as though the rain'll come," I said to him aloud.
And then he smiled a vulpine smile, the mark of someone clever,
And said, "My lad, it never rains on Monday mornings, ever.
At least as long as I'm around, for after that, who knows?"
At that he turned back to his plants and realigned a rose.

A Monday was, in fact, the day on which the man was born,
And as it happened Monday would be, too, a day to mourn.
But just before he went away, he used his final breath:
"Hello again to Monday, even if it means my death:
The journey which for nobody can ever be ignored."
And when his eyes were closed for good, the organ played a chord,
The sound of which resounded out while all the while it poured
As though the clouds had suddenly been fractured by a sword.

As well I know he had no formal training at a college,
Yet everything he did spoke of some great clandestine knowledge.
It may be he had insight into some great cosmic plan,
But all we know for sure is he's our Monday Morning Man.

cards

Here are a couple cards I whipped up tonight. My son commissioned me to do them (whether I actually receive payment is another story...but hey, he's working and if I didn't make them he would have to buy Hallmark...is that wrong?). On the Mona card, I used some of my Traci Bautista technique paper I made a while back.

just desserts...take two

Through the magic of photoshop we now have a pic with the whole gang. Thanks to Bette for providing me with another shot to work with.

just desserts

We felt that a treat was deserved after our walk (can anyone say "defeats the purpose"?). Thanks to Dave for sending me this pic of the Sunday Morning Walking Gang (sans Dave, behind the lens). Nice cheesy smile, Deb.

stanley park seawall

Today the 'Sunday Morning Walking Gang' (a small group of good friends that try and get out for a walk of some sort each Sunday morning) walked the Seawall in Stanley Park.


The entire circut was just over nine kilometers (almost six miles) and the temperature was about 30 degrees celsius (81 F). Beautiful day.







Here are a few pics from the walk. Brockton Point Lighthouse; Lions Gate Bridge crossing over the entrance to Burrard Inlet, looking over to the North Shore Mountains; Siwash Rock; and these fabulous balanced rocks (the fellow was literally using only balance to stack up the rocks...pretty cool); and a funky art piece in English Bay.

my little contribution

...to the silent auction, which was part of RubyDog's Arthouse 2nd Anniversary Celebration last Sunday. Check out the link for collage joy for a look at some of the fabulous items that Leanne has available on line.

It is a 7x7 (approx.) journal made with a quilted embellished cover. The base fabric was a piece that I had indigo dyed in a recent class taught by Catherine Nichols. I recommend everyone try indigo dying at least once. To work with something that is "alive" (chemically) for only a certain about of time and needs to be treated with such respect, provided a wonderful, organic art experience.

The event at RubyDog's was a great success, in most part thanks to two special art friends of mine...you know who you are!! I did my first demonstration; fabric embellishment, and was even asked to teach a class in the new year. That would be another first. I may take that leap in the spring of '07. Stay tuned (Eek!).

progressive dinner...the dessert phase

Well, here is my contribution to Suanne's dessert plate portion of our progressive dinner swap. It is a felted lemon meringue pie. It was my first attempt at felting and I think it turned out not too badly. Hope Suanne likes it. If you want to check out some of the other contributions, check out Laurie's bacon (added to my breakfast plate) and Lori's sushi. Both have done amazing work.

camping with teens...sort of...

I am just back from two days of camping at Alouette Lake, a provincial campground located just north of Maple Ridge about 45 minutes from our place. I agreed to be the "parental-unit" to a group of ten 17 year olds, including my son. I drove up with three teens and when we arrived, I learned that my site was located a significant distance from the kids' sites. Good thing I took my bike.

My teen has many years of scouting under his belt but he pretty much sat back and let the camping rookies do their thing. I checked in on them a couple times a day, even played a bit of Texas Holdem with them yesterday afternoon. They spent most of their time eating various carbs (their main staple) around an ever-burning campfire. Even though I advised them to keep their food put away at night, when I arrived at their site this morning, they had not only left food out, but there was an open box of cereal on the ground next to an open box of graham wafers. Amazingly enough, it doesn't look like there was any critter activity. I, on the other hand, have been trying to catch the critter that had taken up residence in my van. I discovered it when I opened up my van the morning after arriving to find a critter had snacked on my peaches and nectarines as wel as had a good chew on the box of tissues. I am REALLY hoping it didn't make the trip home with me. I left the doors open on purpose to encourage it to vacate while I was packing up. Guess I will find out tomorrow when I get in to go to work (fingers crossed).

I spent most of my time alone on my site, reading the collection of art zines I took along...including my first issue of Portals which had arrived the day before I headed out (Heather and Joleen, it is amazing!!). I also took up some colorwashes and lumiere paints and dyed paper towel and tissue paper. I have to say I had the brightest campsite around!

quiltlet

Here is my contribution to the quiltlet swap. I tried to upload it in my last note, but it didn't seem to want to let me upload more than five in a post...not sure if there is a limit or only so much space. I'll chalk it up to being a blogger rookie.

treasure

I was absolutely delighted to receive my quiltlet hanging yesterday.



It was from a swap I participated in for ArtFiberFest this past June. My friend Shari hosted it and did an amazing job putting them all together. Just to be able to touch it and look at all the detail up close was wonderful and it brought back lovely memories of those four days at the end of June that I cherish so very much.



I took the hanging into work this morning and hung it up in my office. It looks amazing! Everyone was ooohing and ahhhing over it. And why wouldn't they...it's spectacular!


Attached are samples of the quiltlets that make up my treasure. Anne, Pam, Shari, Kathy, Dot...what can I say...WOW!

Thank you to all of the participants. It was great fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

more code...

HTML is my friend. HTML is my friend...ah, yeah, right!

Okay, I was a little frustrated because I had to rely on two teenagers to help me put my header picture on my blog and they were more focused on just about anything else. I honestly couldn't have done it without them. Thanks guys!

I was actually surprised at all I was able to do with a wee bit of direction. I did get some additional links posted...still more to come. I also took some of my photos and sized them to fit in the header, but the most satisfying part of my blog-related activity today was getting my little "snickering licorice" logo added. I have been creating him over the past two days and he came together better than I expected. Well, I think he's cute anyways. I still want to tweak the blog design a bit more, and then I can concentrate on the actual "blogging" part.

Better sign off for now. Over and out.

code, code and more code...

...I have been busy playing around with the format of my blog. Still trying to wrap my head around the whole blog thing.

Well, it's late and I better stop for now. 'night all.

progressive dinner party exchange

I met a wonderful bunch of artists at ArtFIBERfest in Washington this past June and as a result I am participating in an interesting round robin. We are all making plates (or bento boxes or TV dinner trays, etc.) out of fabric and sending them on to the next participant to add a portion of the meal and so on and so on. There are six of us participating, so you will end up with five items on each plate. For my plate, I have choosen a "breakfast" theme. I have just received Suanne's plate. Hers is a "dessert" theme, as she has a lovely covered cake plate where she plans to display her high fibre, low cal treats.


Here is a picture of my plate which is on its way to Laurie in Sacramento. I also included a little journal I made using DJ Pettitt's fusion technique on canvas which I learned at ArtFIBERfest. I included a guest list of all participants and have provided room for all the guests to share their thoughts and techniques used during the exchange.



Let the creating begin!

happy anniversary

Here is a picture I took some time ago of one of our orchids. It reminds me of the orchids I had in my bouquet twenty-four years ago today.

It is because of my wonderful supportive hubby that I have been able to jump into the magical world of art with both feet.

Love you, Stephen!!

let the adventure begin...

I have decided to dive into the online world of blogs and websites...stay tuned!