friday forte: fine

clouds, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

As in the musical term, fine.

Some things sit like a cloud.
Well today one of them is gone - I finished my 'what i did in my summer holidays' essay for class. Even the Wee Guy cheered.

Now I can go back to messing around creating epubs.

self portrait thursday: light studies

SPT August 30th 2012, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

Still AWOL from blogging.
School starts for Wee Guy and me on Tuesday next week.
We've not really done much this week.
Frustrating is the word of the moment.
And unfocused.
Darn.
Clarity would be a much better word.
Roll on Fall.

wordless wednesday: innovation and risk taking

day out at SFU, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

tech tuesday

tech corner, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

We're in declutter mode currently, so piles of Things sit on Available Surfaces until they are Dealt With.

Of these, only the prehistoric Olivetti laptop (with its heady 1G hard drive ZOMG) and the unhinged Psion Revo are in danger.

The VTech kiddie pc is still loved. The Dell desktop still wheezes onto the interwebs. The sony digital camera still captures the moment in 2 mega-pixel luxury.

All tremble before the Remington typewriter. It functions during blackouts!
whatever next?

friday forte: m.i.a.

crabby, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

No apology - life's busy as the summer winds to a close.

This week I've mended two toilets, had a haircut, been edited, reached 47y old, visited the PNE, parented almost full time, and escaped to a gallery opening for some sanity.

Tomorrow I play catch up.

My android

wordless wednesday: blueberry pancakes

self portrait thursday: collage me

thrifted dress (H&M); thrifted shirt (Phase Two); thrifted sandals;
ceramic pendant by seaurchin on Etsy; copper ring and earrings by ebbandflo

Life.
A mixture of images.
Some overlap. Some are close. Some are miles apart.
Not all of them fit neatly together but together they go to make a collage.

Some people have neatly ordered regulation-sized accurately margined collages - row after row of uniformity, nothing out of place, symmetrical ... precise ... regimented ... predictable ... lifeless.

Not me.
Though I started off with a neatly collaged life, once I left home under my own steam the borders became wavy, the images scattered or overlapped at willy nilly, the whole collection undulated unpredictably and at times seemed hell-bent on dropping from the frame. Somehow it all stayed together, and, out of what was not a terribly pretty picture for a number of years, a very pleasing composition is emerging.

It might not be everybody's choice, but I'm not everybody and I make my own art.

wordless wednesday: feeling beachy

day at the beach, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

IT, ancient and modern

IT, ancient and modern, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

Are you getting too much screen time this vacation?
Are you feeling the pinch of time swallowed up by the tech world?
Is your personal internet world a big black hole?

Welcome to our tech table - laptop, iPod, typewriter, paints, brushes, paper and electronics. We rotate our tech time in this house.
Happy summer :)

scenes and dialogue from a typical saturday

Wee Guy: So I played my Wii game this morning before you woke up.
Me: (sleepily) hmmm...
WG: and I got on to a nudist batch
Me and mr ebb: (suddenly less sleepy) eh? what?
WG: a nudist batch - I completed a level and got a nudist batch.
Me and mr ebb: (trying to stay calm and keep the concern hidden) So, what does this nudist batch mean? How do you play it?
WG: Well, a nudist batch means you get another mission to go on ...
Me: (penny finally dropping) Ah ... a new dispatch?
WG: (somewhat irritated) Yes, a nudist batch. New puzzles.
Me: In your clothes?
WG: (freely dispensing funny look) You guys haven't woken up yet, have you?

friday forte: go see my carp

disclaimer: it's not an actual fish - carp is Etsy-LOLspeak for crap, as in 'i make carp' - a common typo in the early days of the community forums

I have a few items in another gallery exhibition, this time in New Westminster. The Amelia Douglas gallery inside Douglas College is hosting a staff/student/faculty exhibition, a big to-DO. The gallery's normally closed Sundays but this weekend is the New Westminster Culture Crawl so it will be open 11am to 5pm.
Please visit (pretty please).

self portrait thursday: einstein ... not

self portrait thursday: einstein ... not, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

this isn't the Higgs Boson post which I really must get around to writing soon

Much as I would like to get back into my old academic life, this is probably as close as I'll get . And a whiteboard covered in symbols is a pretty tenuous link.

Tomorrow is my last day teaching a jewelry design summer camp at Place des Arts. Today was chainmaille day, and as usual my wonderful group of teens completely bowled me over with their enthusiasm and ability.

Chainmaille, the ancient art of weaving together tiny metal rings into arrow-proof undergarments, is a fiddly technique. Fingers become thumbs and both seem the size (and usefulness) of bananas.

But my class of ten managed to decipher the 3D-into-2D whiteboard diagrams as I attempted to explain orbital weave to them. It's a fairly straightforward beginner weave but with a tricky step in the middle, and looks great as a simple bracelet.

As for the previous academic-life-of-me? that was before-baby (BB), when I could plunge headlong in 110%. It was hard work, fun and exhilarating but not something I contemplate for my near future. My BB self could not imagine a life without career until faced with the Wee Guy in the flesh. Quite simply, my life changed.

Although I recognise I personally need alternate interests to fuel me through parenting, the total immersion career isn't something I want in addition to motherhood. It's very easy to label this a failure, a waste of education, a slap in the face to all the feminists who struggled before me to win parity, career choice and more, but my choice is personal and I'm lucky to be able to make it.

wordless wednesday: apparently ...

Apparently, it was World Cat Day today ...

midlife monday: vacation day

Happy BC Day!
Today I prepped for a jewelry design class I'm teaching at Place des Arts this week, finished off some writing, and then dragged the boys out for late afternoon hike along the Shoreline Trail for fish and chips at Pajo's.

Not too exciting but it did rain (right after I finished watering the grass).

fibre friday: the power station, a WIP

fibre friday: the power station, a WIP:

I'm still ploughing (or stitching) on with what's turned into my magnum opus, based mainly on how much guilt it's accumulating sitting untended in the embroidery basket in the corner.
This week I added some couching to vary the lines of pipework (and omg, there is an awesome amount of pipework to complete) using two different shades of grey for texture.
The grey, oh the grey of it.
Just for some fun i'm planning to add some splashes of colour in odd places.
But for now I plug away with the grey.
On a side note, and somewhat more inspiring, the embroidered floral initial is bound for framing soon. I washed it last night after checking in with the framer for matte board, stand offs and frame yesterday. Today - ironing then off to the framer.
Yes - i'll update with pics :)

August's Featured Artist: Alina Markiewicz

August's Featured Artist: Alina Markiewicz:

This month's featured artist is photographer, Alina Markiewicz. Alina has been a Blackberry member for a few years now and is responsible for the beautiful shop displays you see when visiting us.

Alina kindly answered some questions about her art for the blog.

• How long have you been an artist? — I've been a photographer for a little over thirty years.

• Where did you train? — Photographic association in Warsaw, Poland.
• Do you work in a studio or at home? — The world is my studio, usually outdoors.
• Do you work as an artist full-time, part-time, or do you squeeze in the creating as a hobby? — Mostly as a hobby, as a form of expression.
• Describe how a piece progresses, from first inspiration to finished object in the gift shop. — First as a photographer I look for inspiration connecting to the beauty that I see around me. Then it takes time to physically produce a silver print.
• What's your favourite piece to make? — Natural and city landscapes, people and their environments.
• Who inspires you, and why? — Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Fred Herzog and many other painters and photographers alike.

Please visit the gift shop to see Alina's marvellous display, including some pinhole camera work in limited edition prints.

friday forte: complete

See the full gallery on Posterous

self portrait thursday: calm before ...

... before what?

- the calmness of a house before the reappearance of one of its inhabitants?
- the mellowness of solo parenting about to end?
- a sunlit evening dinner out on the deck with the Wee Guy?
- the relief of a hamster recapture before any more electricals were lost?

Inner calm, inner peace though outside my world is moving on but I feel good about it.
Things may happen or they may not. I'm OK with this.

The Wee Guy and I are at the end of three weeks of solo parenting, and we've survived in style.
Life slowed right down to a very mellow him-and-me pace which seemed to agree with us both.
Meals were calm and unhurried.
Weekends were come-and-go at no dictated pace.
We talked about his camp and my work.
We discussed summer projects for our 'vacation'.
We chatted about more work for me, maybe a day or two of childcare for him.

I haven't been out in the evening but I feel satisfied.
I've felt motivated to clean, to tidy, to de-clutter and decorate.
I've been creative.
I've felt a new pride in my nest, our nest.

Yes, I'm tired.
But proud we've made such a good job of it.
The two of us.

wordless wednesday: my day in some of its glory

See the full gallery on Posterous