Remix Heaven

Kleptones - Come Again (Beatles vs Rare Earth vs Beaties vs Daft Punk vs Cypress Hill vs Boston) Video by Crumbs Chief from The Videotones on Vimeo.

It's Friday and so I wanted to share this delightful remix. May you all have a sunny and enjoyable few days at home or on your travels.

A Sunset of the City

The hot dry summer days loll on. I’m still seeking employment. Though I should say, I do have meaningful employment; lots of projects being juggled both here and in Kimilili, Kenya. Now I just need employment with a salary.



Listening to poetry these days. Find it soothes my restless soul. Today’s find was Gwendolyn Brooks’s, A Sunset of the City. Please go to this link and her speak the poem. I love how she describes growing older,

“It is summer-gone that I see, it is summer-gone.
The sweet flowers in drying and dying down,
The grasses forgetting their blaze and consenting to brown.”

There are moments now when I feel such, but I try and let them flow away with the summer breeze.

Pace of Life

Something to consider. If the pace of life differs between countries, cultures, and religions, do you think it differs throughout your life various phases?

"Past-oriented vs. present or future-oriented personalities differ across many landscapes, and factors like religion, geography and culture greatly influence how individuals experience time."



linked from Neatorama

Renewed Hope

As you guys know, I've been seeking a new job position for the last months*. After many ups and downs, I had lost my spirit.  That is, until a friend and I sat down and worked through a list of possibilities: narrowing and prioritizing the possibilities into Plan A, B, C, and D. My spirits picked up knowing that there were concrete tasks I could do towards finding a job.

And as it so often is in life, I was working through this list late last week, when all of a sudden I tripped across a job description that exactly fit my credentials and hopes for a Plan A job. It took me two reads before I could believe that even though the times are tough, there are still jobs out there that I reallyreally would like to do.

I've just received word that the organisation has been inundated with applications and so they ask for my patience. This might mean that I won't even be invited for an interview. But, you know, this will not be the end of the world. Now that I have found the job description with my name stamped on it, I just have to find another organisation with the same sort of viewpoint. My hope has been renewed.

Announcement

I've been wanting to announce the following for a while now. It is quite exciting partake upon such a venture and I am forever thankful to the group of friends who have agreed to help organise this ambitious program.

"Woman On A Journey is an art and culture program that is to take place in the Frauenhotel in Luebeck, Germany throughout the year of 2011. The program includes an art exhibit of collages by lilalia, as well as contains various workshops and seminars exploring the central theme of ”Inner and Outer Journeys Of Discovery”.

The seminars are informative and inspirational presentations, whereas the workshops are participatory or exploratory in nature. Various themes are explored, such as,

• Women traveling Solo
• Luebeck: A city seeped in culture and of many cultures (perspectives from migrant women on International Women’s Day 2011)
• Growing old with all your senses and common sense
• Africa: A Continent of Resourceful Entrepreneurs
• Social-Marketing vs. Social Engagement

Woman On A Journey is the brainchild of lilalia and Sabine D. whose intention is the support of women networks through artistic and cultural exchange. In the background of the art exhibit and public events is the promotion and support of a community of businesswomen in Kimilili, Kenya. The central goal of the program is to create a lively conversation amongst women who aspire to living life as an inward and outward journey of discovery."

Let's All Play Some Football

Well, don't know if you guys are interested, but tonight Germany plays Spain in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Everyone around here is just going through the day as if all is normal. I suspect though that they, like me, are just going through the motions and their concentration is not really on the task at hand.

If you have time please watch this video where Raphael Honigstein talks about whether Germany has a chance of winning against Spain.

No matter who wins, it is bound to be a great show of fine football playing. So those of you who haven't ever cottened to this game, give it a try. You might be surprised.

Windows of my Journeys III

Many many years ago, when we were sailing the Venezuelan coast, we came upon an island that had been hit by a great tidal wave. The regional lush landscape was replaced by desert terrain. Initially, I thought this island to be far less interesting than the jungle bush, but soon I was a convert to the diversity of desert landscapes. This collage is a homage to those times.

Windows of my Journeys II

Life is ridiculously busy since I returned from Toronto. Everyday I start with a list of items that need to be done. The end of the day comes with having crossed off quite a few, but there are always more left only half-done.

It is not yet noon today and the list looks something like this:

• write three blog posts for up-and-coming Football Tournament in Kimilili (not done)
• go for long walk with A. (done)
• work out job search priority list with A. (done)
• create mock-up text for website my son is creating for sponsor company in Nairobi (mostly done)
• write S. in Germany who is going over to Kimilili as a volunteer in August with the list of contents of the two boxes I sent to him yesterday that he will take with him (not done, left over from yesterday)
• ask A. whether she knows anyone with an old laptop for the women's co-op in Kimilili (forgot)
• rework "Women on a Journey" concept (started, needs lots of work)
• write C. about whether her family is willing to help if needed for young woman I know who is going to work in Capetown's townships (not done)
• wish C. happy wishes on starting new job tomorrow (not done)
• prepare for charity shop monthly meeting (not done)
• attend charity shop monthly meeting (not done)
• need groceries (not done)
• 5 other items that I forget what they are (typical, ssheesh)

Mid-day... time to get going...

Collage makes me feel calm when all around me chaos rules.

Windows of my Journeys

I've started another series of collages. For now, I will call them "Windows of my Journeys".



This is one of the collages I am making for a exhibit. The exhibit is part of a year long art exhibit and series of workshops called, Woman on a Journey, that is going to take place at the Womens-Only Hotel in 2011.

Football Fever

Sorry, you guys. Bad case of Football Fever and can't make it to our regular tea party. Will be back soon.

Concentration at Work/ Working with Concentration

It took six days for a group of Buddhist monks to create a mandala of compassion out of coloured sand. I think this is the first time-lapse video that I’ve seen that was captures the work of someone producing a singular piece of work over such a long period of time. The monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery who created the work apparently then destroyed the mandala and scattered the sand into a river for it to be carried off into the world.



To read more about the creation of this mandala you can go to the following links (here and here).

Special Times with Friends

Toronto has apparently experienced a fantastic warm and sunny spring. One of the funny things about this trip was the rainy cold weather I brought with me. Yet, the photos I took on the two or three good days seem to defy this impression that I gained as the Bringer of Bad Weather.

This trip was unique in the amount of time I spent walking and talking with friends. What a delight this was. Particularly, we walked through two neighbourhoods (Cabbage Town and Dundas/Bathhurst) I hadn't known before. We also went to museums and saw the normal tourists sites, but I didn't take any photos of these because there are much better ones to be found on Flickr or other photos sites.

From Another Perspective

One of the reasons I so delight in going to cafés is because I love looking at the mundane day-to-day dealings of life viewed through the eyes of a stranger (me), yet also that of a participator (customer).

This lets me sit and watch two fellow customers idle away the morning waiting for the rain to stop.



Or just watch a veteran waiter work the espresso machine with an ease of movement that is highly enviable.



Or, consider how our choice of footwear can say about our personalities.



In the end, the experience of sitting in a café is similar to being both an insider and outsider all at the same time.

Gil Scott-Heron, I'm New Here

Something so mesmerizing about Gil Scott-Heron's voice and the moving images along the walls and piano keys...

There are still some posts that I am composing concerning my trip to Toronto and Montreal. Been trying to catch up on my google reader and all the emails. Thought I would be able to get so much done today. Not so. Slow as a snail actually would be the best way to describe the pace.

Wonderful to be back, though the time spent with family and friends was brilliant.

Big news... oldest child officially finished with high school (grade 13). How marvelous! Congratulations, dear son of mine.

Nothing Left To Say

Always appreciated John Clarke and Bryan Dawe's input.

Rainy Toronto Morning

The Old Portuguese man with the long grey beard stands outside the cafe smoking his cigarette. He does so in a manner that doesn't tip the ash off, instead it leaves the ask attached to the glowing ring forever descending closer to the filter.

His cup of coffee awaits him patiently at his table in the corner.

The owner of Wah Fook Seafood Trading, a shop that is walked with hanging plants and vegetable garden seedlings, stands under the awning finishing his cigarette just at the same time the Old Portuguese is lighting his. When Mr. Wah Fook is done with his quick smoke, he begins to shift some of the plants from under the awning with those potted plants standing on the sidewalk away to the left of his shop.

He subtly, but irrevocably, crouches over to the sidewalk space of one “Manuel R. Bentes, Denture Specialist” before he opens up his office this rainy morning.

Curiously Lacking in Representation

As so often happens in life, a common thread of an idea has woven its way through my reading over the last week or two. This common thread is the lack of vital representation of  women leaders in our society. It started to make itself present through a  lecture I listened to that Stephen Lewis gave called, Women: Half the World, Barely Represented. (This was the 4th of the 5 Massey Lectures he gave in 2005.)

Then my son sent me this rather whimsical video called The Bechdel Test,



You would think with such minimal requirements contemporary films would manage to past the test, but it does not appear so.

Then this video by Women's Media Center that was a winner of the Vital Voices youtube contest discussed the curious lack of representation of women in media.



It really makes you wonder doesn't it about how long it has taken to move such small a distance? Or maybe not, the news I read today lifted my spirits. Congratulations Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessa!

International Travel

These are some of the observations of my trip yesterday:

What is it with people traveling in their flip flops? An international airport and an airplane where you are squished together, are not the places to wear beach gear. Enough already.

Having an hour in the earlyearly monring to sit and watch the "ramp agents" (kid you not, that is what was written on their polo shirts), window cleaners, shop people, and waste disposal people clean up and prepare their shops and the departure lounges for a busy day, was like watching a symphony of efficiency of motion.

A note to Air Canada: taking the very bad idea of a corn dog, stripping it of its stick and hot dog, squirting some chickpea mush back in and serving it in a paper container with Air Canada stamped in the corner, does not make it a meal.

Boy, can I talk up a storm when I am dizzy with exhaustion, joyful at seeing dear friends, and so excited at the prospect of sharing their company for the days to come.

New Trend

The newest trend that's cropped up in the last while in restaurants and cafes, is their practice of moving away from common American soft drink brands towards locally made brands. The soft drink above is called, "Sauer", which translates either to "sour" or "mad". And, it's rhubarb flavour is sour and madly wonderful. It's list of ingredients (rhubarb and red currant concentrates, sugar, and water) is refreshingly simple as is it's taste. No chemicals. No perservatives. There is only enough sugar to insure that your cheeks don't pucker inwards.

What I like most of all is the thought that going local can mean many things. 

Not all things go wrong...

Was listening to Felix Dennis' poem, "Not all things go wrong..." this morning and thought it went well with the collage I made yesterday.

The last paragraph of the poem,

"Not all things go wrong - and after
Winter's famine comes the spring,
Kindness, beauty, children's laughter -
Joy is ever on the wing."

rung so true of these days, like today, when the sun shines and all members of this household are pleasantly preoccupied with various adventures.