paper/less

Every room in the house has bookshelves, and nearly every bookshelf looks like this:


Yes, I know - we need to use the library more often, do a better job of donating or otherwise getting rid of books. But we tend to hang onto a lot of non-fiction and reference, and we are all re-readers. In fact, I'm often guilty of returning a book to the library or a friend, only to run out and buy my own copy. As for taking books to the used bookstore, I inevitably exchange them for credit, and come home with more books anyway.

Will these be our saviours?



I got the Kindle as soon as it became available in Canada. I was quite skeptical about how useful or readable an electronic screen would be till one of my research participants came into the lab with her Sony eReader, which she took travelling while on an archeological dig. Not only did the idea of carrying a whole pile of books along in one small package intrigue me, a good look at the Sony screen convinced me that it would be no harder on the eyes than printed paper.

At the start of the year, only the Kindle and the Sony were available in Canada, now joined by the Kobo. This is what my husband chose, after experiencing considerable eReader envy on our recent holiday. Compared to the Kindle, it has quite a few advantages - as a no-frills reader, it is much much cheaper, even after Amazon's recent price drop in order to compete with the B&N nook. It doesn't have connectivity - content has to be transferred via USB or bluetooth from your computer, but that isn't a dealbreaker for my husband nor many others, I suspect.  I love the smaller, lighter size with the same size (maybe even slightly larger) viewing screen and I like the page navigation from the blue button on the right hand size - it bugs me a bit that the "previous" page button is lefthanded on the Kindle.

But the biggest advantage it has over my Kindle is that it is compatible with the eBooks available through the public library. I think that is fantastic, not least because it will expire at the end of the lending period - no overdue fines!

Both the Kindle and the Kobo have access to free public domain classics, and the Kobo comes preloaded with 100 books. Both allow a certain amount of sharing among multiple devices and family members (or trusted friends) linked to the same account. Both have apps that allow the books to be read by an iPhone, iTouch, or other such device. Choosing one over the other probably comes down to whether one really wants connectivity, and some social sharing - Kindle just introduced the ability to share book passages through Twitter or Facebook. I don't see myself ever using this, but some people might like it. The only distinct disadvantage I can think of for the Kobo is slow loading for a book when you first open it up (you can probably go get a cup of tea in the meantime) but after that, the screen refresh rate is fine.  Tim hasn't had his long enough to really know how good the battery life is, but I can't honestly see how it would be a problem.  And of course there is also the Sony - I don't have personal experience with it, but family and friends who have it are also very happy with theirs.

The REAL question, however: will it actually reduce the pile of books by the side of my bed?



Sadly, it appears not.

215800 - what ARE those mysterious numbers?

A few weeks ago, I blithely put up a shiny purple badge on my sidebar then promptly fell silent without an explanatory word. This is because it only took me a few days to realize that this wonderful project, which I think everyone ought to take the opportunity to consider, is in some ways unsuited for me right now, which is not to say it won't be suitable for other people right now, or for myself, a few weeks down the road.

It came to my attention via my friend, original yogalilan, and life coach Lianne Raymond, who has been sharing her practices on the community blog, yogalila . It's been great to drop in on the writing and shared practices on the twitter feed, and the daily musings of originator Bindu Wiles.  Most of all, in provided me with the inspiration and momentum to get out of my yoga slump - I seem to have one every late spring, to the unhappiness of my lower back, especially. So, just by virtue of putting a badge on my sidebar and reading what others are doing, I'm slowly coming back to a habit of consistent practice.

I tend to use my own sequences, tried and true poses that my body needs for regular maintenance, so I infrequently use media. But when I do, right now Jill Miller does what my body needs; I love the approach she takes in YogaTuneup, either with rolling on balls in the form of self-massage or movements that break me out of my habitual patterns - because even in my yoga practice, I tend to have habitual patterns.

My newest interest is a blogger I ran across through Jill's links: Katy Says.  Her approaches often defy conventional wisdom, but she makes persuasive arguments; I love her article You Don't Know Squat, with a terrific biomechanical breakdown of an exercise that hardly any one thinks about, but I'm convinced is essential to our health - even independence - as we age.

However....while the yoga part of 215800 is going great, the 800 part - writing 800 words a day, just doesn't fit with what I need to do in my life right now. This part of the challenge was designed for writers, though with considerable flexibility - Bindu points out that it can be anything that involves words. Participants have shared wonderful blogs posts, memoirs, prose and poetry.  And, I do write, all the time - in the form of my personal journal entries, and academic writing. Up until the time 215800 began, ironically, I was also doing morning pages a la The Artist's Way. But right now, due to abstract deadlines, funding submissions, and other academic responsibilities, all my writing is technical; what often seems like the same 800 words in variants and revisions, distilled into the required formats. I write and draw mind maps, outlines, schematics. I write notes to myself to be used in my thesis. I actually like this kind of writing, and enjoy it. Bindu suggests:

THE WRITING: The writing can be ANYTHING. Memoir, blogs, business plans, essays, fiction, free-writing, letters,……..ANYTHING. The point is to get writing again daily and to have the boundaries and challenge of a daily word count to reach.

 Boundaries and word counts I certainly do have - but determined largely by academic constraints.

I notice that Bindu is extending 215800 by 10 days - fantastic! I plan to keep up my practice regardless - it's for life, after all. But perhaps after getting a few more academic chores behind me, I can spend some time writing a little more freely, and personally, and come more into the spirit of the original intention of the project.

Meantime, a little video love for Jill here - her shoulder routines have done wonders for a chronic injury in this area, and are now part of my regular maintenance.

in bloom (and stupid lens tricks)

At last, we're getting some semblance of spring and summer, and the few flowers we have that bravely survived the snow, rain, and hail are showing their faces.


Yay columbines - I'm always kind of surprised when they emerge, because the foliage is usually buried under a pile of faster-growing, more aggressive plants.



some sort of daisy - I don't know the name, but I sure wish we had more. They're so showy and neon like, they almost seem fake. And of course, the bleeding hearts are blooming prolifically. I look forward to these every year.



the back spurs of a columbine, in macro:



I have been playing stupid camera tricks again, as in this earlier post about free-lensing.  The above macro is the result of  holding the 50mm prime backwards against the camera body, without a mount or protection for the rear element. Suggesting this has elicited cries of horror on other boards, and despite the fact that I recently had to clean dust off my sensor (not as a result of free lens or reverse macro - more from changing lenses on a dusty bus in Turkey), I can't resist doing it again anyway. I  actually do have a very nice macro lens - a non-metering 55mm/3.5 Nikkor, but the ability to just whip your lens off and turn it around - well, I just think that's cool.

Using the free lens the right way around - the rear element held towards the camera body, but not mounted, allows a bit of light leak. I'm trying to get a lensbaby-ish effect, but didn't quite succeed this time. Still, I like doing it, and I like the unpredictability of it, and indeed, lack of control.



I can totally understand why people find the idea of a loose, unprotected lens reckless. But I like experimenting, and really, I am not careless with my things; most of my possessions last decades, and I take good care of them. But I like to use them, even if it means using them in ways the manual might warn you against, and sometimes, just because I can.

inside, looking out

inside, looking out, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I haven't touched my camera in nearly a week. Could be because of the incredibly depressing weather? Why yes, yes it could.

The early winter with its blizzards, followed by late spring with blizzards, has now turned to constant rain. We're used to rain in June, but not quite this much, and not quite with this depressing temperatures.

Till I can get out into the coulees, it's a good time to look at some interior landscapes - these are from inside the student union building at university.

webbie in the bag

webbie in the bag, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

answering Stephanie's question on Rhodia Drive.

I don't normally carry this notebook with me, actually. It's just that after coming back from my holiday, it seems to be helpful to start the morning letting my brain unload, and the act of writing seems to set the stage so I can get actual work done, rather than just daydreaming and staring off into space (not that there's anything wrong with that). So my journal has turned into a morning pages kind of thing, which for the time being, helps clear the mental space in preparation for the tasks ahead.

My bag is also not normally this empty. I had to take out several things for the photo - a small handful of pens, a small Habana, and a tin of Neocolor 2 crayons.

Wider view

a young student taking a break along the clifftop promenade in Antalya.

young student, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Since I live in a mostly homogeneously WASP town, I really liked seeing the diversity of people while we were in Turkey.

this one is a bit artificial, I suppose, being at a pilgrimage/tourist site, but I did like the juxtaposition between the security guard and the friar.

written in stone

turkey-33, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I really love these old letter forms - I hesitate to call them a "font", and they're certainly not a "hand", since they were carved with a chisel. But running your fingers over them, you can't help but marvel at the skill of the long-gone artisan that carved them.

April experiments from Daisy Yellow

Time to check in with how things went with the April Creative Experiments suggested by Tammy of Daisy Yellow!

April is usually a pretty crazy month at the best of times, and this year in particular I knew my schedule was going to be really tight. So I kept my goals from the list trimmed down to the ones I really wanted to try, and keep them achievable. Here's what I managed to do out of the ones I chose:

Document one day of your life in 5 photographs
Write the blurb for the back of a book about your last vacation
Follow an art lesson or tutorial from a blog, video or book
Sketch something from a photograph
Adjust the artistic process. If you doodle with a pencil, try markers or calligraphy pen. If you shoot digital, transform to BW using editing software.
Practice drawing using product packaging as inspiration (ex: Line Practice: More Ideas)
Create art focused on a book, inspired by the story, characters or location or just climb into the book
Write morning pages (ala Julia Cameron); 3 stream-of-concious pages first thing in the morning on 3 days this month.


Looks like it was a good thing I kept the list short! However, I really enjoyed what I did do, and made good use of my camera.  I documented the day of  Snowmaggedon for my five pictures, experimented with free lensing, photographed some of the buildings on campus for drawing practice.





The prompt I think I enjoyed most was starting the morning pages. I had started reading the Artist's Way about a month ago, and though not all of it seemed a good fit for me, the morning pages alone seemed as though they'd do me some good. And then, coincidentally, one of the women in my project mentioned having worked through the book and having written her pages that morning. That was just enough of a gentle push to get started. Even if I never do anything else from Cameron's book, this practice - and it is a practice - seems to be worth continuing.

Tammy has posted her list of the May Creative Experiments and as always, they look really great - check them out! However, I'm going to take a break from them this month just due to my schedule - except perhaps for the Create-your-own-Experiment joker card, as she calls it. I'm musing on how I can perhaps merge that with Leah's Creative Every Day theme for May: Intuition.  I'm sure there's something that can come out of that.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Before the storm

big nest, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I thought I had posted this earlier, but I guess not. This is how the nest looked before the storm. I am not sure how much was built this year, and how much is leftover from the previous year.

I'm really amazed anything is left at all. They must have been sitting right on it and clinging for dear life. The wind was dreadful and there's very little shelter here.

Actually, now that I look at it again, maybe that stuff to the right isn't really the functioning nest at all any more. Maybe it's like renovation debris - if you view it large, you can see that there's all kinds of feathers and pellets and crap embedded in the twigs.

hold fast

hold fast, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I really wanted to see how the owls were doing after the snow/rain/windstorm of the last few days. They're there, and the little guy looks strong and hefty, but wow, there isn't much left of their nest. I hope he'll be able to fly soon, because there sure isn't much space to sit.

undisciplined

undisciplined, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I was too restless to sleep, so I cracked out the pen and paper and wrote down a line from a song I was listening to, and thought I'd draw something related to it. But I didn't.
Instead I started a mandala, but soon lost any semblance of order as the lines started to escape the original pattern. Following life, I now realize.

Now that I look at it again, though, maybe it's not so much lack of discipline, but an irresistible force - after all, it's spring.

back on campus

great horned, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

on my "must get out of the lab or lose my mind" walk today, I found that the great horned owls had returned to their nests on campus. The light was really harsh this evening - I'll probably try to get better pictures later this week.

Here's how they looked last year - pretty much the same.

Light in the West

west window, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I had an "eep"! moment when I saw that the  Quo Vadis blog sent out a tweet (tweeted? twitted?) mentioning a couple of folks, including myself, who have contributed to the Exaclair and Art Flickr page. I immediately felt the kick in the butt I needed to scan in some older sketches.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I draw in church (and have also lost many drawing pens there - I've looked under the pews, no luck) but hesitate a bit to post those sketches, lest they be perceived to have gratuitous Catholic content. But it's part of my day, and this one isn't too much in your face.

Anyway, here's something more secular: a rough map of my work environs and the fastest route to relevant locations such as my supervisor's office and coffee. 

Drawn at the end of last month, as one of Daisy Yellow's March Creative Experiments.

Pioneer Woman picks a horse

pysanky horse, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I was quite excited this morning to find that my Pysanky picture was picked by Ree (Pioneer Woman) for group 4 of the current photo assignment, Macro photography. Given the incredible number of entries and talented photographers that contribute to her PW photography assignment pool, I am quite stunned.

I don't take pictures, post or submit them, for the purpose of getting attention, but for this group in particular, I like to participate in the spirit of sharing  images that catch our eye, and have personal meaning for us. I love looking at the pool and seeing what other people see. It's fascinating and inspiring.

Getting picked is just gravy - good, drippy, beefy gravy, to be sure (probably on top of home-cut fries) - but the process of seeing, creating and contributing is really the main purpose: the joy of sharing our individual and collective visions of the world around us.

(Although, I admit I keep going back and looking at the group page to make sure I didn't just dream it)

Snowmaggedon

A late spring storm that started as wind and rain turned to snow, and overnight, a blizzard which effectively shut down most of the city. Even before I knew that, though, I looked out my window and watched  my neighbours struggling to get out of their driveways, eventually abandoning cars and minivans and catching rides with truck-driving neighbours. So I'd already called snow day for the kids before we turned on the radio and realized that they had closed schools and were sending kids home, and that much of the other side of town had lost power.

Thus the kids and I spent the day at home. I had every intention of making them do useful chores, and to get some work done at home myself. We were off to a good start, before finding out that we had been asked to minimize water use and power consumption - thus, no laundry, washing dishes, or vacuuming. But come on. We figured we should at least cook, and I reasoned that turning on the oven would also help warm up the house (I use this rationale a lot in the winter).

So I finally had the chance to test drive the new Kitchen-Aid and  make french bread, while the girl made tiny cupcakes with ganache frosting.





I tidied up and decluttered the reading space in my bedroom so I could do some actual school work. But really I was too curious and interested in what was going on outside the house, and spent an inordinate amount of time checking the twitter feeds for Lethbridge to see how things were progressing and whether it would be safe to take a bath without feeling guilty.  My powers of concentration were not at their peak.



Everything began to melt with gratifying speed by late afternoon, and the neighborhood kids were out in force doing snow removal, but more importantly making sure there was a clear channel through the slush to the grate in front of our house, since it drains the entire street. There was great glee in this task.



We realize that we were incredibly lucky not to have lost power, as did the other side of town, and I don't think it's been fully restored yet. I could probably write something deeply philosophical about how dependent we are on electricity, clean water, and communication. But I'll refrain from pontificating, and just close out the day grateful for the safety of my family, for warmth, and shelter.

(This is my day in five pictures, by the way - one of Tammy's creative experiments for April)

Honest Scrap: ten things

I fully admit that I am a sucker for memes and will fill out questionnaires at a drop of the hat, even satisfaction surveys from my internet provider. So how can I resist, when Tammy of Daisy Yellow tagged me with  this Honest Scrap? These are so fun, and I love reading the things other people come up with!

Except that now I have to quickly think of ten arbitrarily interesting things about myself, and even more quickly, seven interesting bloggers to tag. The latter can be challenging - there's always an element of "quick, tag her before someone else does".

Anyway.

1. My current ambition is to be a homeschooling expatriate. I'm not sure how to actually accomplish this.

2. I'm an immigrant - sort of. I came to Canada when I was two, and so grew up fully assimilated, but with the indelible marks (read: quirks) of my parent's culture.

3. I've gained about 5 kilos since beginning graduate work in exercise science, and am probably at the poorest fitness level I've been in about five years. I find that deeply and painfully ironic.

4. I've practiced yoga for almost 15 years and taught for 8. I sincerely believe that everyone can find some form of healing through yoga.

5. I grew up in the '70s with a feminist sensibility and thought I'd never, ever marry. But my husband is the funniest and smartest man I've ever known, so I couldn't help marrying him.

6. I love to run, and I love being outside. I become really hard to live with when I've gone too long without one or the other.

7.  I'm the oldest of five siblings. My closest male friends have (almost) always been the youngest of three or more children. Weird birth order stuff, eh?

8.  Everyone in my family of origin is obsessed with cameras, flashlights, luggage, and saucepans. It sounds like I'm joking. I'm not.

9.  Now that my son has a drum kit and my daughter's playing the piano, I think I'll dust off my gee-tar and see if we can't become the next Partridge Family.

10. If there was one food I could miraculously eat without it making me fat, it would be fried chicken. Sorry.

Passin' it on!
Though I don't know if they will actually have time to answer, I will nevertheless tag:

A Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens - she'll make you more thoughtful yet
Writing ....or Typing? of amusement and obsessions diverse
Lianne Raymond (of the near-legendary free eBook, What is Dying to be Born)
Daybooks,  even if she is unlikely to answer - go look at her sketches anyway
Spiritual Evolution of the Bean - what this woman can do with ink and paper boggles my mind
A Penchant for Paper - her drawings have a freshness I really enjoy
Em2a Cartoon,  because I just never know what she's going to say next.

Thanks for the tag, Tammy - this was fun!

garden shed

garden shed, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

the only green thing in the garden right now. Except maybe the first blades of lilys (sp?) and chives.

Also, an experiment in free lensing, which doesn't even look like a real word, but which means holding the lens in front of your camera body without mounting it. Thus the strange blurry effect. But for the moment, I am filing this under "stupid camera tricks".

picture test

I know it looks like it's a kitchen gadget, but it's really a test: is a picture marked as private on Flickr visible on Blogger? Yep, looks like it. But it should not be clickable to the Flickr photo page. Let me know if you discover otherwise.

The March Experiments at Daisy Yellow

As I've done in the last few months, I've been using Tammy's fabulous prompts at Daisy Yellow.  Some of this dovetailed a bit with Stories,  the March theme for  Leah's Creative Every Day Challenge.

Tammy's full list for March is here, and the ones I chose for myself are below:

♥ Create art focused on a square (the concept of a square, something square, the shape)
♥ Skim 2 non-fiction books and jot down ideas
♥ Finish an unfinished art journal page
♥ Write a page of thoughts on 2 days
♥ Use colors you don't typically use in an art or craft
♥ Explore a new-to-you aisle at an art supply store or a non-fiction aisle at a book store
♥ Listen to a creative podcast (I like The Creative Mom Podcast, CraftyPod, CraftSanity)
♥ Send a handwritten note to thank someone for doing something
♥ Sketch, write, play a musical instrument in a public place
♥ In line at the grocery store, take note of a person in line; write a character description for this person.
♥ Draw a rough map of a place in your life - a favorite vacation spot, your house, school, the grocery store

Not too bad - though I squeaked in under the wire with the "square" and "map" prompts - both sketched within the last two days of March. I really need to do some scanning. In the meantime, here's some squares:



I've given myself quite a bit of liberty in defining "art journal page". Although I had some fun playing with acrylics and photo transfers earlier in the year, this is very much something I need quite a bit of time, and a clean countertop to work on. Those are few and far between in my life these days, which is probably the main reason that I keep coming back to quick sketches in my notebook, and photography. Both, for me, take up less room in the house, and less room on a physical desktop. I really enjoyed playing with those other mediums though, especially acrylic, and will probably do it again - not this month, though. So my definition of "finish an art journal page" is to complete or add color/commentary to a sketch I started on the spot - usually in church or while waiting for the kids.

Most items on the list came fairly naturally - for instance, I had long been planning to make some notes on Kelly McGonigal's excellent Yoga for Pain Relief while prepping to teach a stress management workshop, and as for a page of thoughts on two days I probably shouldn't really even have included this one as a challenge, since I do it regularly (perhaps even obsessively).  I used the character sketch to frame a story - however, this is the sort of thing I find utterly unpost-able. Maybe another time.

And I also caught up with one of the January items: play a board game with your kids - sequence and Clue.  My daughter kept reminding  me till I did.

I have no reason for not writing a handwritten note! I am AGAIN carrying that one forward. And despite having many art-y podcasts saved on my iPod, I totally forgot about them, even while stuck on a 6 hour bus trip with my kids and their judo teammates. This month.

Thanks again Tammy! and now, onto the prompts for April - looking forward to them.