Weekly photo challenge … signs
We have recently welcomed the freshers to the university; it is always a busy time and organised to the finest detail. However, we have spent the summer refurbishing the library and in a bid to declutter our new look we have removed certain signposts. Nonetheless ; it remains very important to ensure the new students do not get lost and most of all able to find the books and facilities they need.
Even so bearing in mind most of the freshers will not have been in an academic library before they do need a lot of hand holding in the beginning … so not matter how many signs we have there is always a need for a human signpost.
So in the absence of a suitable selfie; rest assured I am a perfect signpost! I do not know much about quantum physics, mathematics or much else; but I do know where the toilets are and can find my way around the Dewey decimal system.
Monday and the weeks ahead …
For the coming weeks I have a series of weekend workshops. On Saturday, there is a two day course of wood engraving. It is a follow up to a session I attended earlier in the year. Wood engraving is difficult and I haven’t practiced as much as I hoped and anxious that I will look a fool among those who are skilled and well practiced. .
A lot has happen in my life in the last few months and I am not sure how this will affect my ‘performance’
My daughter’s accident, my lose of hair has been bitter, bitter … sweet the repeated ‘bitter’ is intentional. I would not recommended such a trauma, no matter how sweet the recovery and after effects!
Nonetheless, it all has made me feel that if I can cope with all this and smile at my bald shiny head each morning. Then to become obsessed about a weekend of wood engraving then it is foolish.
So while I may not become a fine wood engraver, I will have fun. So in preparation ; yesterday I enjoying sketching and drawing some teapots. Note also this exercise did include polishing the things before I started. So while, I spent longer than intended buying the polish and having the obligatory coffee these works are unfinished and need to be hone down to a drawing of 2×2 inches … so to the drawing board again!
Silent Sunday
Saturday … is fine
This week has been ok!
The weather has been kind, for those of us who cycle to work and have no hair. I know, we need the rain but this pleasantness is fine!
Work also is nice ; while still waiting to hear from the powers that been when my hours can be reduced the conditions are more than bearable. There is still plenty to do and it remains a joy!
Home also is fine even the balance of art and chores has been acceptable.
Communication between Brazil and UK has been good ; two parcels posted a little under a month ago arrived safe and sound. With no problems ; this has marked a significant improvement in the system that was previously negligent and corrupt.
‘Where is the ‘but?’ ’ I hear you ask, I am always blabbing about the swings, to and fro and ups and downs of my life. Even I am perplexed there is no end to this post … no desperate plea for an answer …
Seems I have it; live is good for now…
Thank you!
Novidade impressa!!
For my son-in-law promoting his first book … soon to be translated into English … gives a first hand account of life in Rio and its favelas … it is not as it might seem in the mass media and the Tabloids as seen around the recent World Cup and coming Olympics
O Morador de Ipanema e outros contos cariocas
Como a maioria dos que me conhecem sabem, estou me iniciando no mundo da literatura como autor independente, com o livro “O Morador de Ipanema e outros contos cariocas“. Mediante as dificuldades que todos os escritores e artistas independentes passam para produzir, divulgar e emplacar seus trabalhos decidi optar por esta forma de realização de meus afazeres no âmbito literário para não me submeter a exploração que é comum às editoras em geral.
Pois bem!! Estou buscando realizar um lançamento de meu livro de contos em Novembro deste ano e necessito de uma quantia razoável para adquirir estes exemplares, algo pelo qual estou tendo muita dificuldade, inclusive pelo fato de que como a maioria deve saber passei por um sério acidente de trânsito no início deste ano do qual ainda necessito ter gastos referentes à fisioterapia, hidroterapia entre outras coisas para…
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Friday’s library snapshot …
I came across this little book of verse this when researching for a ‘Tweet’ to celebrate National Poetry day on Thursday. The theme was ‘Remember’ so this one really fitted the bill.
When grandmamma was young : Victorian verses for young persons / collected by a great aunt ; with lino-cuts by William McCance ; published by Four Elms Press.
As Grandmamma I grimaced at the experiences she ‘remembered’ My mother didn’t punish us by putting us in the corner but our teachers did … it is cruel and degrading.
While it is interesting it really isn’t a book I will be buying or looking at again.
Alphabe Thursday … T is for Tom, Tom
Tom, Tom the piper’s son,
Stole a pig and away he run;
The pig was eat
And Tom was beat,
And Tom went howling down the street.
Children are often concerned about the stolen pig being eaten immediately. It would seem modern illustrators depict the scene incorrectly. The pig was not a live one but a sweetmeat model sold by a street hawker, as it is narrated in chapbooks.
The man would make pigs from paste and filled their bellies with currants and added two in the head for eyes.
Vendors of such pigs were common in the 18th century and their street cry became a nursery song.
A long tail’d pig,
Or, a short tail’d pig,
Or a pig without any tail,
A boar pig, or a sow pig,
Or a pig with a curly tail.
Take hold of the tail and eat off his head;
and then you’ll be sure the pig hog is dead.
Wednesday’s Wood Engravers …
Still celebrating early female wood engravers I discovered a couple more. Mary Betteridge who is a lesser known pupil of Noel Rooke (1881 – 1953) and Vivien Gribble (1888 – 1932) who became a leading engraver along with Clare Leighton, Lady Mabel Annesley and others. Her wood engravings while modern were in the black line tradition of Edward Gordon Craig and Lucien Pissarro.
Weekly Photo Challenge … Night-time
I was well prepared for this challenge ; for the last few weeks my husband and I have enjoyed having our meals in the garden. We have especially enjoyed having a brazier as the evenings got cooler. So I have some nice images at hand.
However, I have been overtaken by events and am able to celebrate with a super night time image.
My daughter and son-in-law had a motorbike accident 8 months ago; each suffering a broken leg. While my daughter has recovered almost fully, my son-in-law has taken a little longer. They live in a favela in Rio and notoriously they are built precariously on the side of a hill. Babilona is no different. So it has been very difficult for them both but particularly my son-in-law to make those first steps to recovery. Walking up and down a steep hill is not easy even for the able bodied let alone those with badly broken legs.
Nonetheless, without any alternative they have persevered. This week end I have evidence that my son-in-law made it down the hill to watch a football match and now he is walking up up. I have walked this route many times and know he is a third of the way up and has long way to go yet … but this night he is getting there.
Last Week …
Last week I went to London for the day. My first stop was Paddington from where I walked to Little Venice. Such a short way from one of the busiest stations in London is a little space of quiet and calm. I don’t suppose it was like always like this. The junction between the Grand Union and the Regent Canal completed in 1820 and provided an important industrial link between Birmingham and London in the the pre-railway era.
Now, it not so busy, the barges and horse gone leaving the only pedestrians and cyclists along the towpath. While its is mooring place for the narrow boats that come and go there a also a vibrant community of permanent homes.
Coat Hanger Doll's House 