book reports: coming clean about my dirty reading

I normally practice book-monogamy (one book at a time) but ever since finishing Moby Dick I've been a real reading-slut; jumping in and out of tomes, one book to another - often in the same reading session!

See, MD took over my literary-life for like 4 or 5 months (because I'm a painfully slow reader)... so now I'm over-compensating for the variety I missed while I was stuck in that one book for so long.

I'm also on a mission to read more of what's on my personal bookshelves before buying or borrowing any more books. I'm sure I'm not the only person guilty of picking up lots of second-hand books before finishing the last batch. And, I'll admit, I sometimes buy old books just because they're pretty...

So I'm trying to go through some of those.

From my stack of "pretty-looking" books, I read the slim volume,"The 39 Steps" by John Buchan (a former Governor General of Canada dontcha know?). Alfred Hitchcock made a movie of it too. It was a great farce and a quick read. I really like books from the 19-teens. I like how they used language then. Efficient but still poetic. Oh, and I finally read The Great Gatsby also.

I just read "Just Kids" by Patti Smith and now I'm reading a biography about her. She's cool. I didn't know much about her before - I just knew that I should think she's cool. Now I can confirm that I do believe her to be very cool.

I'm trying to read "The Secret Daughter" because my mother-in-law said it was good but the infertility issue raised in the first few pages has kept me from getting into it any further. Still too sensitive for that I guess... but it stares at me from the table while I avert my gaze.

.

.

.

.

.

Well, enough preamble, I'm really here today to come clean with my recent, dirty, little reading secret: I've been reading self-help books.

I got them all a couple months ago at a thrift store on the same day. I guess someone was finished with all of them- for better or for worse. The ones I got are among the "classics" of self-help so I was interested to look inside and see what has made them household names.

Here's my stash:

I bought them with an ironic shirk but I'm reading them in earnest. I want to do better in life than I feel like I'm doing (mostly when it comes to social anxiety)... and I'm sure there are many people in the world who can give me advice on that - so why not read some of these and try to learn something? Or at least get better ammunition to bash them with...

Anyway, I put the proud-looking ostrich on top there as a reminder to get my head out of the sand, as I'm wont to do, and keep it out!

I haven't gotten through them all yet but I will admit that so far they have offered more than simple common sense.

This is where I'm at:

* I've read most of "Feel The Fear". Key learning, if it doesn't actually kill you (and most things don't), then you will be able to handle it... you WILL be afraid... but you can handle it.

* I'm about half way through "7 Habits". I'm really liking its emphasis on character and principles versus personality and trends.

* I'm also part way through "Early Retirement Extreme" -which is actually NOT from the thrift store. The Husbo got that one. We aren't planning to retire very early but do really like his ideas about saving money, being self-sufficient, wasting less, needing less, how much and what you "really need", etc. I think more people should read this one.

Another In-Betweener

Here's another "in-between-other-projects-painting".

This one has been hanging around for quite a long time now and has at least two potentially complete paintings under this version. I just couldn't commit to them.

In a rare twist (for me), I added a 3D element to this one. It's a woodblock #8.

8s, looking like infinity signs, go well with the ever-expanding-star-bursts... Then I sat Pinko-Homer in front of the whole thing to add an extra pinch of "epicness".

My ugly radio is sufficiently disguised now I think!

I'm often more impressed with the mess left after art-making than the art I make.

I like the colour-combo of the paint water below...

... and the shadows cast by the measuring lines on the glasses in this one...

Thanks for looking/reading!

.

damn Nature, you fancy!

In the workshop this afternoon - the room had a nice glow - took some pictures.

painting and thrifting

Watched the Ontario election debates and (re)painted this (from Bert Grimm flash). Will do some other stuff around it later. They always tell artists (writers usually) to do "what they know"... and I know I love coffee...

The debate put me in a bad, cynical mood but finding cool, old stuff at thrift stores puts me in a good mood. It's my version of retail therapy. I wish I wasn't so addicted to it actually - I may need to take a break from it.

But in the meantime... some cool finds:

Old hiking bag - $2

(I hung it on the door that goes out the apartment to hold all my grocery-shopping bags)

A genuine Walnut humidor with engraved initials and plaque - $3,

(Paraphrase: To T.W.B for good work in the Ontario Electrical Utilities from his "Manufacturing Friends", 1955)

A suede and fine needlepoint clutch - $1.

Thought: I think maybe part of the reason I like collecting old stuff might have to do with the seeming lack of heritage/family heirlooms in the house that I grew up in. Even as a child I always craved heirlooms...

.

Johnson Circles

I just learned of this and I think it's neat and pretty: Johnson Circles

.

International Plowing Match

I went to the International Plowing Match this weekend. Here are some pictures in no particular order:

intention: leave a positive mark

It's a thing you learn in highschool, that the swastika is an ancient symbol with positive meaning... (or maybe i didn't learn it IN school but looked it up in my highschool-era after discovering there is a town in my province called, "Swastika"...)

But unfortunately, the overwhelming association we (the "western we") have remains with the Nazis - and it always seems like that topic is a sleeping dog we really just want to let lie...

But not today! Time to refresh our collective memory...

The swastika was used by cultures all over the world (including North America right up to the war) before the Nazis adopted it and caused some extreme rebranding for the symbol.

I say they "caused" it not "they changed the meaning" because I think they probably used the symbol for one of its actual/original intentions: good luck. It is horrible that they had such success with their plans. The swastika, by association, became a potent symbol of evil and wrong.

Really, it's not evil. It is potent though - which, I think, is why the association stuck so well. It is a great-looking symbol and the German war-machine exploited it very effectively.

Reading more about the almost universal use of the swastika made me realize just how well it's original forms and uses have been masked/obliterated/hidden/obscured from the eyes of the western world since WWII. (Example: The Navajo, Papago, Apache and Hopi people signed the "whirling log proclamation" in 1940 deciding not to use the symbol in their textiles because of the Nazis' co-opting!)

Until I was somewhere in my 20s (and the internet came along) I would guess that over 95% of the swastikas I had ever seen in my life were the Nazi version - usually in a movie or a textbook. When I happened to spot one, maybe on some local architecture or a book about India, I would literally get a rush of adrenaline because I didn't understand why I was seeing this "evil symbol" in a different context. I thought maybe there was something suspicious going on there that I needed to be wary of. It was very confusing actually.

The swastika was so universally prevalent before WWII that I imagine it must have actually seemed quite strange to some people when the association with Nazism became stronger, Hitler's intentions became clearer, and the symbol's meaning shifted.

Anyway, with the combination of time-passing, the internet/information-age, the interesting and widespread cultural history of the symbol, and it's satisfying aesthetics I don't think the exclusive, Nazi-association (in the western world - have to keep qualifying that) will hold much longer.

Rumblings have already made it to me, a fairly mainstream gal, from the far reaches of the internet that the shift back has begun. There is reclaiming and education going on and I don't see why I wouldn't want to be a part of it.

So this is the beginning of my particular spin on the matter. I like and identify with the word "hobo" - so I started sketching up a little, personal symbol combining the radiating arms of the swastika with the word "hobo". Just in the sketchbook phase at the moment.

* I was really inspired to start doing something personal with the symbol by this post from Virginia Elwood, a tattooer that I admire: Positive Swastika

** Here are a few interesting resources if you want to know more:

Reclaim The Swastika

Lucky Mojo

Little Swastika

The History of an Ancient Human Symbol

And lastly, in honour of the fresh NHL ice, here's some CANCON:

(from The Birthplace of Hockey website - which has some great information despite the fact that I don't agree with Windsor being the birthplace of hockey...)

.

.

.

.

.

Oh what the heck. Here's some more eye-candy:

autumnal equinox

A photo ode to the autumnal equinox...

It happens at 9:04am Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on September 23rd. Then we're across the line and officially falling into le froid d'hiver.

It's time to change our stripes. I'm not complaining because I love this time of year.

Sleeves appear where once there were none.

Goodbye beach blankets. Hello wool blankets.

Swapping swimsuits for snowsuits.

Toes go into hiding. Modesty returns.

Fashionable neckwear becomes relevant/necessary again.

Aloha Endless Summer. Aloha New Seasons!

.

.

.

I'm a Homersexual

"Girls, what talented singer wanders between you, the sweetest of them all, that makes you more gay?"

- Omero

Are you turned on by the epic poetry of ancient Greece? If so, you might be Homersexual* too.

OK. That silly interlude was just a catchy hook to introduce this little bit of craftiness I did yesterday while my building's hydro was out ALL DAY**.

My bust of blind, old Homer, with all his sexy hair, was pretty beat up - so I refreshed it with some funky spray paint. See before and after below.

Homer is the guardian of my radio mainly because there are super-annoying lights that flash behind where he is positioned and I can't tolerate them (or turn them off).

I found this stereo in the basement (free) and it serves its function (plays CBC) well but it's rather ugly. I'm thinking of deconstructing it and putting the remains into a smaller wooden casing with only an On/Off button and volume control. Nice and minimal.

But that's a project for another day... for now super-pink-homer will continue to stand guard because he cuts a fine figure and represents greatness.


Homie also fits well into this bell-jar I just got. Maybe if I ever do the stereo project, I'll move Homer in here permanently with a funny speech bubble or something.... we'll see...

* Just in case any family is reading this... I'm NOT referring to my brother-in-law who is also also named "Homer".

late edit: I just goggled "homersexual" and was surprised to find many other definitions for it via Urban Dictionary. hahaha!

** The power outage was a planned maintenance outage but it went 2 hours longer than anticipated. Oh boy was I getting antsy by the time the power came back on! When I could start using beautiful, yummy electricity again I realized I'm also hydrosexual. I like electricity A LOT!! It's really very awesome.

..