Dave Bonta posted: " Dear April what have we learned from this so-called diary? blogging the way i used to blog is still fun and apparently i still have things to say (not such a surprise since i live alone)it's possible to create blog posts entirely on the phone by assem"
Dear April what have we learned from this so-called diary?
blogging the way i used to blog is still fun and apparently i still have things to say (not such a surprise since i live alone)
it's possible to create blog posts entirely on the phone by assembling notes, scraps of poems and photos during the course of the day
creating this additional daily post did mean i sometimes had to sacrifice a full night's sleep, so for that reason i'm glad it's over—finishing the Pepys diary erasure project is a higher priority right now
i don't have a whole lot to say about what i read. i don't read nearly as much literary criticism as i used to and it shows. sadly (or not) i have no immediate plans to rectify this situation for the simple reason that life is short
i'm clearly incapable of separating poetry from other aspects of my life. why i thought i could write a poetry-focused diary is a mystery to me
so glad i decided not to try to use the series plugin for the pepys project years ago. it's still as buggy as ever
today i put in all the cole crop seedings from the nursery. after two years of deep mulching the soil is in much better shape than it was last year, so i have high hopes. i even talked to the seedlings as i tucked them into their little hills
also went for my usual walk but it was work. guess i was tireder than i thought. the best thing i saw was two black-throated green warblers having a sing-off from adjacent trees up on the ridgetop where the canopy is lower so i had pretty good views for once. they'd sing, grab an insect out of the air, sing some more, it was a pretty low-key contest, really
now sitting up in the woods after supper i find that the ethereal beauty of a singing hermit thrush becomes almost unbearable the moment i recall some of the unimaginable human suffering elsewhere on the planet. maybe this is why when i do listen to recorded music it's something harsh and pounding. it makes the heavy truths of the world a little easier to face
(but most of what i hear in the course of a day is natural sound, by which i mean ambient sound (but a high proportion of that is nonhuman in origin, which is sadly a huge luxury in today's world (but really what i hear is words. words in my head words on the page words on the screen audible words on videos words on podcasts words with other actual humans words words words. from the time i wake up till the time i fall asleep. not even my dreams are free of them. but when you listen really listen to something without words, whether instrumental music or the soundscape of a complex natural ecosystem, that can feel like you're accessing a higher consciousness and i suspect that's because a lifetime of language use has trained us to associate complex patterned sound with communication. to listen to natural sound means to hear everything as if it were a composition – a practice very akin to seeing natural landscapes as if they were wild gardens, something i do nearly every day. the concept of found art and found poetry goes far beyond art and literature proper, for me)))
this dullness in my head all day. i can't even imagine writing a haiku right now
some say it was poems that drove him mad. some say henbane
"that's not the wind it's just old Mr. Thimblesticks out counting catkins"
sm0lorla posted: " In order to prepare us for making our own business cards, we were given a workshop where we tried letterpress, embossing and decorating with foils. I enjoyed this workshop a lot as I like doing practical art. "
In order to prepare us for making our own business cards, we were given a workshop where we tried letterpress, embossing and decorating with foils. I enjoyed this workshop a lot as I like doing practical art.
The first 3 photos are of the demonstration of how to make an embossing logo. The image has to be printed white on a black background, this allows the light through in the next step. The image is placed over a plate of resin, inside a UV light machine. When the resin is exposed to UV light, it hardens. Then the plate needs to be gently washed, removing the soft resin and leaving the hardened logo. The 3rd image is of the logo after the plate had been clean; these pieces can then be used in letter pressing and embossing.
Images 4-7 are of the letterpress process. We had to arrange our names and tagline in the tray, which went onto the printer press. This rolled ink onto the letters and pressed it onto the paper, leaving us with examples of business cards. Pictures 8 & 9 are the outcome from the prints, mine was a bit wonky as the letters had tiny gaps between them that meant they could move in the press.
The 10th photo is of the heated press we used to do embossing and foil decorating. Using a provided example plate, we printed into card to practise embossing. When the coloured foil is heated in specific areas, it can print words and pictures in one colour at a time. The next photos are of the embossed business cards I made, and the foil written cards. I really enjoyed this process as the embossing came out very sharp.
I would like to try some of these processes in my own business card design. I particularly enjoyed the embossing as the outcomes were really satisfying.
elizabethprata posted: " By Elizabeth Prata In the early morning the mist rises off the little lake. Sometimes geese swim in it. Fish crows perch there too. I always laugh when I get up on a Saturday morning and the covers are almost still as perfect as they were when I ma"
In the early morning the mist rises off the little lake. Sometimes geese swim in it. Fish crows perch there too.
I always laugh when I get up on a Saturday morning and the covers are almost still as perfect as they were when I made the bed 18 hours before. Obviously I slept like a log!
Today I'd had plans to go to the Parent-Teacher Organization's fundraising Yard Sale. It was right in town, in a park, and I could combine two other errands as I went. I wanted to do my part in helping to raise funds for our school.
I saw a beautiful bookend with a sticker on bottom saying E&R Golden Crown Italy 1886. 'm always looking for bookends so this one filled the bill at a quarter. LOL! I gave them a dollar for it.
"Zeh, Ebeling & Reuss Co. was established by the German emigrants Theodore Ebeling and Frederick Reuss in Philadelphia which had teamed up with the owner of a glassware and china business, John E. F. Zeh. The company imported porcelain, earthenware, and ironstone from several Bohemian, Czechoslovakian factories and other European countries, including dinnerware, decorations, and gift items. Zeh withdrew from the company in 1900; it was renamed to Ebeling & Reuss Co. before moving to Devon, Pennsylvania." Source: Porcelain Marks & More. This particular mark was registered in 1956. So that mean my one bookend is midcentury.
I also got an aloe plant that I placed outside by my door, and a basket of tomatoes. The tomatoes looked fantastic. I ate two of them for lunch. One friend was selling books, I bought 4 kids' books for a quarter each!
I also bought a Scotch laminator for $15! It was new, in the box, never used and still wrapped. When I got home though the reviews on it weren't so great. The most recent ones say the thing quits after a month. I laminated two things and they came out terrific. The laminator I have doesn't seal well, the plastic peels before long. We'll see how this goes. Maybe between the two of them...I'll get a well-sealed lamination on my items.
Then I headed up to the next town to my favorite vintage store, because they were having a buy one book get another half price. I got the following:
The Broadman Comments 1953: International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching by Paul Caudill seems to be a Sunday School lesson curriculum for teaching. "First Quarter: John - Gospel of Divine Love, Second Quarter: John - Gospel of Divine Love (continued), Third Quarter: Growth of Christian Living, Fourth Quarter: Wisdom and Worship in Old Testament Literature."
The Overboard book is one I remember when it came out in 1977. I love a good ship story.
Katherine Anne Porter's Ship of Fools is pretty interesting. Wikipedia describes that the novel is:
"telling the tale of a group of disparate characters sailing from Mexico to Europe aboard a German passenger ship. The large cast of characters includes Germans, a Swiss family, Mexicans, Americans, Spaniards, a group of Cuban medical students, and a Swede. In steerage is a large group of Spanish workers being returned from Cuba. It is an allegory tracing the rise of Nazism and looks metaphorically at the progress of the world on its "voyage to eternity". "
It seems to be a magnum opus for Porter, a literary writer, depicting the depravity of humans in search of the perfect way of life. She won the Pulitzer the next year for her Collected Stories so I surmise the book is well written. It was a huge bestseller when it came out in 1962.
Ellery Queen is a series that lasted 42 years in the last century, mid century. Ellery Queen are mystery novels so I'll shelve him next to Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming, but mainly, I bought the book for the cover art! It's by Alex Tsao. This one is also a first edition.
I got home in good time and had a salad of what else? Tomatoes, along with a tuna sandwich. Then, a nap.
I hope the rest of your weekend goes well and you can rest or be active, whichever suits you.
