Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Y'all! This is my attempt to caricature myself as the Easter Bunny.  Of course as every Mom knows you've got to put the sucre out or even the most jaded teenager will regard you with a baleful eye and make you feel like a squished Peep.  By the way, have you ever tasted these Dow Chemicals Nightmares?  "Blech" is too good a word!  The best Easter goody is the Cadbury Egg..."yum... gooey caramel, crappy milk chocolate."
These were bunnies that my students made.  I love the one with the eyes on the side of the head and the dapper green mustachio!  Although it was fun, the frenzy that is Easter is a bit much.  The kids kept seeing the Easter bunny in the schoolyard and would run to the window looking for him.  (Um... I think the reason for the holiday is actually based on someone else returning, if I'm not mistaken.)

Yesterday I took the eldest down to Fremont for a poke around.  Although it was very much against his "gangsta"  mentality he did enjoy disparaging the "hipsters".  We talked about this and that and managed to skirt some of the more provocative issues (Colombo).  I'm really lucky that I do get these fleeting moments with him because soon he'll be gone.  Which is the way it should be but still....

Getting pretty excited about New York City.  Somebody the other day said that I was very brave to go by myself.  Gosh I've never thought it that way.  I don't really have a choice, nobody could come.  But it did make me feel rather proud of myself.  I have travelled alone before but it was ages ago.  I'm looking forward to be quick on my feet, seeing what I want when I want.   What a luxury! 

This is my Easter project, redoing this Buddha's paint job.  I wasn't fussed with his putty colour to begin with and I had left him out all year.  The Seattle rain did a serious number on him.  It looked like he had experience some major head trauma!  So I've gotten some paint and am going to spiff him up a bit. This is my first attempt.  (Upon reflection:  he looks like a giant Peep...this is not a good thing!  Hope my karma doesn't suffer for this!)


It's really fun to teach myself something new and do some thing creative.  After the Buddha's done, I've got a lamp project to do.  My bro-in-law was down last week and he's a really creative guy so I bounced a few ideas off him and got really inspired.  He's got the "mechanical/electrical" background that I don't have so it helps to chat him up a bit.  I miss being able to exchange ideas with people.  It's hard when you "see" one way and others "see" another.  Most creative problems are so easily and obviously solved but lots of people can't figure it out.  Creativity, for some reason, intimidates a whole lotta people.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

I wouldn't mind the rain it's what it does to my 'do...

Yuck, all of us in the PNW are being tormented by crappy weather, rain, wind, and cold temperatures.  But what really ticks me off, is that everyone assumes that because you were born in Canada you can stomach sub-zero temps and are genuinely surprised when you're as pissed as they are...sheesh!  Time to get the sun lamp out and crank it up to Super Nova, (though I don't want to look like the Nazi at the end of Indiana Jones!)

 Today was a culture vulture day.  I realize that I have seen more museums in Seattle in the 2 short years that I've been here than I have anywhere else ("Oh, Versailles was in France?!' Callow youth that I was.)


His later label.
I went down to MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) in SLU (South Lake Union) (they like their acronyms in the PNW!).  The crowd for the talk: Only Fashion Spoke Here: Celebrating John Doyle Bishop’s 100th Birthday was so interesting.  There were young hipsters to painted up old dollies who had probably shopped at his boutique in their prime. As it turns out, he wasn't a designer but a very savvy retailer and merchandiser.  He was also apparently quite charismatic and had a number of friends among the fashion glitterati in New York.  That's how he was able to bring back the latest fashions to the West Coast.  Some of the members of the audience had brought clothes they had either bought or inherited from his store.  It all lead to a very impromptu fashion show.  There was one lady with a black swing coat with 3/4 length sleeves.  If there hadn't been so many witnesses I could've taken her...she looked weak.  But I digress...

Clara Berg, Curator @ MOHAI
The fun part was afterwards we got to see some of MOHAI's clothing and textile collection with a special focus on the clothing that bore John Doyle Bishop's label. The curator was really good but I was a bit disappointed that she didn't really know her sewing terms and was reluctant to let some of the people in the audience wade in on the discussion.  (Okay she didn't let me wade in on things!) It was exciting to see a real Dior couture piece up close and be able to appreciate all the thought and work that goes into those pieces.  It actually made  me a bit nostalgic for those days when every town had a "good" dress shop where you went for something special.  As a child, I used to love the luxurious feeling of the fine fabrics, knowledgable sales ladies, and playing with those paper lips that they used to provide in dressing rooms to protect the garment (dating myself) from lipstick.  Do any of you remember a special store or a time when you went with your mom and the way it made you feel?




Saturday, March 16, 2013

Saturday Date @ SAM



I've given up thinking that I'll be able to be bright and witty for an evening "date night" so I've changed things around a bit.  G and I go out on Saturday mornings (when I'm not in class).  It's been great!  The kids don't even notice we're gone, we get to do what I like, and I can usually get a coffee or a lunch out of the deal!  "Brilliant, if I do say so myself!"

Today we went to visit the Seattle Art Museum.  They have some "Old Masters" exhibit on, which I enjoyed but they had some exhibits from Ghana and other parts of West Africa that really caught my eye.  Well, my textile eye that is!  I've had Dutch Wax Prints on the brain for awhile and I love how the artist used them by styling them in an Edwardian manner.  I'm sorry I didn't get the name of the artist!

The prints hanging on the back wall are fun too.  I'd love to make a "Bob Mugabe"  nightshirt if he wasn't such a sh*t!  I've asked my sister in law,who travels to Africa quite a bit if she'll pick some up for me.  She has excellent taste so I'm not too worried!  Besides they're not really known for being subtle anyway!

We ate at the Pike Pub which was okay but had so many olde timey geegaws that I doubted how many were authentic.  It's like how can every "Hard Rock Cafe" have Elton John's platform shoes?  Hmmm....
The other "white" meat!



After that we cruised up to Pike's Central Market where we saw these men loading pork carcasses out of a van.  It was very "Francis Bacon".  (Gawd I crack myself up!) We bought bread, got caught in a "St. Patrick's Day" parade, and returned to the confines of suburbia. "Phew!"






Endings...and Beginnings


Hey, I'm really excited to blogging about the stuff going on in my life right now.  We're in the process of packing up and leaving Seattle for Colombo, Sri Lanka.  Pretty pumped about it.  My teenage son, less so!  Oh well.  He'll thank me one day!

So aside from that, I'm off to New York City in April.  I'll have it all organized by tomorrow.  Cripes I've talked aout it enough!  It's a treat to myself for finishing up my University course and for turning (gulp!) 50!  (Sheesh, when did that happen?!)  I plan to spend my time drooling, nay gawking, over shoes and fashion history at all the fab museums in NYC.  I want to do, what I want to do, when I want to do it!  Does that sounds selfish?  You betcha!