winter personality

When the snow comes and covers each object with a blanket, something in me changes. I love the changing of the seasons, and so I put on my winter personality as each day grows colder. In years where there is not enough cold, I feel as though something is missing. The change of the seasons give me a marker of time to measure where I have come from and where I will go. My winter personality is the one that braces its self for darkness and cold. Winter is the time when I spend hours creating, beading on leather, painting, dreaming and planning. I also love to tell stories to my kids, and seek out the companionship of friends. I wonder if I would do those things if my world was constantly warm and bright.

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Does your touque make your head itchy?

glance, judge, carry on.

They were on my left as I turned the corner in my warm car, he on his unicycle and she on her electric scooter. Her poodle paced impatiently underneath her feet. As they glanced at one another, the same thought crossed over their faces...' wierdo'. I continued to navigate the rush-hour traffic, but they left an impression on me.

not for the faint of heart

My days have settled into a peaceful routine. I have finished two large freelance jobs and I now have time to relax. I am still teaching Digital Art and Media at the College of New Caledonia, but the class will finish by the end of April. What will I do with all that free time? My kids are still in school until June 29th and there will only be me and the dogs here most days. I am thinking this would be a great time to finish smoke-tanning my deer hides. It is an unusual hobby, but one that I really enjoy. Nothing feels softer, or smells better than homemade leather. I am hoping to finish 3 deer, one moose, a buffalo robe and a bear skin rug. The deer, moose and buffalo were killed by others for food, and it seemed a shame to waste the hides so they brought them to me. Sorry, I guess this post is not for the faint of heart. This work can be messy and smelly. And those of you who have emotional feelings about using animal skin for clothing may not like what you hear. In my defense, I am doing the same work that my great-grandmother and her family did when my dad was a boy. The resulting garments are ecologically congruent in that they will wear long, and return to organic material to nourish the earth when we are done with them. In contrast, think about what happens to those lovely synthetic garments once they hit the landfill. Post a comment and tell me about your own interesting projects you've planned for this spring.

note to self...

update your blog!

we could all go crazy

In Gabor Maté's book, "Scattered Minds", a book looking at Attention Deficit Disorder, he says, "But what if illness in not a separate category, if there is no line of distinction between the "healthy" and the "non-healthy" if the "abnormality" is just a greater concentration in an individual of disturbed brain processes found in everyone?...we could all go crazy. Maybe we already have."

Kind of gives a new meaning to "normal" doesn't it? Perhaps everyone does have similar potential for abnormality and we are all sitting at different levels. I would speculate that levels rise and fall daily or weekly similar to a barometer. Too much of a bad thing can raise a barometer from healthy to non-healthy, and it can take a long time to return to *normal*. If things start to heat up for me I occasionally feel as though I am going to "lose it". Stormy weather can bring on the blues, sunshine can inject me with energy, and too much stress shuts down my short term memory completely. The key to keeping my barometer steady has been learning to say no. I said no to a lucrative career that was very stressful for me. I look forward to my days now. It was difficult at first, but the change has been worth the sacrifice in earnings. Yes, we could all go crazy, but is it necessary? If your barometer is feeling a little low, take a look at the things in your life that are causing the low, then prepare yourself for a change of weather!

no leap this year

Yesterday I celebrated my 41st birthday, sort of. I was born February 29th, 1964 at 11:57pm and therefore I am considered a Leap Year baby. My mom chose February 28th to celebrate for the years which don't leap. Last year I turned 10 birthdays old, while my son turned 10 years old. It was a special time when we both could be considered "10". This year I had to endure "over the hill" jokes from my younger brother who feels that 50 is just around the corner for me. I think I will always feel young as my true birthday only comes around ever 4 years....here's to birthday number 11 in 2008!

sob...I'm so confused!

Have you ever tried to do business through email? If you have, you'll be able to relate. I have been working on Freelance illustration projects with my good friend Angela of Angela Chan Design for more than 10 years. Angela lives in Vancouver and I live in Prince George, a physical distance of at least 1200 kms. Creating via telephone and email has always worked for us. We joke that we work faster now than when we lived in the same city and relied on courier service. This last week was different. After 4 phone calls, copious emails and 3 rounds of drawings I had to admit that I was confused. Confused about the content for the drawings, confused about the deadlines and confused about my work relationship with Angela. But then I also find myself entering a room with a pencil that needs to be sharpened, and leaving the room carrying a sock. And occasionally I'll stop whatever I am doing and just scratch my head as if stirring up the dander will some how complete those synaptic whatevers that happen when one thinks. Maybe I have too much going on, or... maybe it's mental-pause.

the human need for control

We've been taking a beating from the weather here for the last 3 weeks. The rain came down so hard that it ran down our steps and under our basement door. There it proceeded to spread out and make itself comfortable in warm pools on my floor. Nothing turns a sleepy Sunday morning into a state of emergency faster than a battle with nature. A sump pump and several hundred dollars later, things were under control. Looking back over the preceeding 5 days, it seemed as though no one was in control. City and school buses were canceled, residents were warned not to travel, even the university in this town closed it doors. Parents of elementary aged students were asked not to send their kids to school as there was a chance they might not be able to collect the kids at the end of the day. Several high school students spent a night in their school as helpless parents had no way to reach them. One letter to the editor of the Prince George Citizen, lamented that in today's world there should be no reason to keep children home from school. This individual scolded the district for a shoddy attempt at occupying the few children who arrived. Has society become obsessed with the idea that people should be able to control everything in their environment? It seems to me that attempts are made through legislation, and civic law to prevent any *bad* event from happening. Seat belts, helmets, knee pads, shin pads, chest protectors, vaccines for everything, inquiries into every accident are examples of this obsession.
Even as I listened to broadcasts about the mudslide in North Vancouver, individuals were saying, "Will there be an inquiry? How can we prevent this from happening in the future?" Well, you can't. Nature happens. Our grandparents worked with nature, rather than trying to control her. One thing is for sure, they weren't stressed out about their kids missing a day of math in the middle of an ice storm.