More treats from mums house!
An oldie and a goodie, Successful Dressmaking, this is my bedtime reading. I have plenty to learn, so it’s good to have a book to refer to at the moment, and I LOVE the illustrations.
These are the inside cover images…
And this one, the only colour plate.
I remember reading this when I was a kid.
I found this tattered copy of A A Milne‘s When we were very young at an op shop a little while back, 50 cents even! And I LOVE it, so do Luna and Blake. I have been looking out for some books with poetry to read with the kids for a while, and I have a copy of The House at Pooh Corner from when I was a kid, and I still enjoy it. Childhood so different to the business of kids these days.
We have three favourite poems, here are two of them…
I met a Man as I went walking:
I met a horse as I went walking;
We got talking,
Horse and I.
“Where are you going to, Horse, today?”
(I said to the Horse as he went by).
“Down to the village to get some hay.
Will you come with me?” “No, not I.”
I met a Woman as I went walking;
We got talking,
Woman and I.
“Where are you going to, Woman, so early?”
(I said to the Woman as she went by).
“Down to the village to get some barley.
Will you come with me?” “No, not I.”
I met some Rabbits as I went walking;
We got talking,
Rabbits and I.
“Where are you going in your brown fur coats?”
(I said to the Rabbits as they went by).
“Down to the village to get some oats.
Will you come with us?” “No, not I.”
I met a Puppy as I went walking;
We got talking,
Puppy and I.
“Where are you going this nice fine day?”
(I said to the Puppy as he went by).
“Up to the hills to roll and play.”
“I’ll come with you, Puppy,” said I.
I went down to the shouting sea,
Taking Christopher down with me,
For Nurse had given us sixpence each-
And down we went to the beach.
We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.
The sea was galloping grey and white;
Christopher clutched his sixpence tight;
We clambered over the humping sand-
And Christopher held my hand.
We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.
There was a roaring in the sky;
The sea-gulls cried as they blew by;
We tried to talk, but had to shout-
Nobody else was out.
When we got home, we had sand in the hair,
In the eyes and the ears and everywhere;
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is found with
Sand-between-the-toes.
I love this illustration, by E H Shepard.
This has been one of Luna’s favourite books, so I had to share it, first published in 1967. Moon Man saw everyone dancing and having a great time on Earth, and he wanted a piece of the action, unfortunately, humans panicked and called him an invader!
The illustrations are cool too, bold and stylised.
This is one of the pieces I have been working on for Desire Lines, a group exhibition happening in July this year. Actually I’ve been quite frantic and distracted by the Crochet Coral Reef Project happening at the Auckland Museum as well, so these little babies have been on the sideline, but serendipitously both projects work really well together and I want to make even more weird crochet forms!
For Desire Lines I have been thinking a lot about how we humans mess with our environment and the possible ramifications of our destructive behaviour. This was highlighted by the recent toxic sea slug scare in 2009 after a few dogs died apparently after eating the little slugs on beaches around Auckland Habour, these sea slugs now are possibly an ever-present danger! Not that anyone wants to be panicking about it all.
This news of toxic sea slugs reminded me of John Wyndham’s novel, The Kraken Wakes, (here’s a good review by another reader..) one of my favourite reads. The deep sea trenches are colonised by aliens, aggression between ourselves and the aliens ensues resulting in catastrophic environmental changes, remarkably similar to what we are experiencing due to global warming and the damage we are doing to the marine environment.
So little is known about the deeps and the creatures that inhabit them, yet we continue to overfish and degrade the oceans. Perhaps it is no surprise that there may be creatures that can be a threat to ourselves and our enjoyment of the marine environment? Or perhaps after thoughtlessly dumping toxic, and even nuclear waste in the oceans, the sea itself or the animals that inhabit them are now becoming more toxic to our own life?
Rob bought me a copy of issue #2 of World Sweet World magazine at the last Craftwerk we went to – and it’s great! I love it so much I have even subscribed, and for $30 a year who can complain?
World Sweet World is all about sustainability and creativity, two of my favourite things. Issues profile crafters and artists, and other clever people making a positive contribution to our world, they even share some of their crafty ideas so you can make some fun stuff you can use or give as gifts.
As a craftster, it has been very inspiring for me, especially as I have a wee baby, not so wee any more, but she does keep me busy. In the latest issue there are some interviews with other craftsters, also mums, who manage to get busy making their work while caring for their children… if they can do it so can I! And the dishes will stay stacked beside the bench while I sew… ah, bliss.
The recipes are also inspiring and easy to make, thanks to the easy bread recipe (issue #3) by Jo Sweeney a clever lass living and working Raglan making ladies accessories. And the delicious walnut slice (issue #2) by contributed by Anna Ridley has been a great quick bake for unexpected visitors… anyhow, I’ll be ordering a copy of the first issue, and I can’t wait!
So go on check them out, maybe at the next good crafty event, or just visit their website:
A collection of short stories by John Wyndham.
This was a nice surprise sent to me by my father in law, and it was a great little read! The first in the collection, Consider her Ways was fascinating, a woman time travels into the future to discover that men have been wiped out by a mysterious virus and that women have proceeded to procreate independently and are now inhabiting the earth. The reasoning behind how and why it may have happened is just as bizarre, you would have thought it was written by a feminist, it speaks of how women have been controlled and oppressed by a society dominated by men.
Wyndham is obviously obsessed with time travel, as all but one of the stories is about it one way or another, mostly about people travelling forward into their own bodies, or into a parallel future – all quite cool to think about, there are so many different possibilities that are a result of everyday actions or decisions… anything is possible!
The text is available online here.
The classic vampire novel that has inspired spin off films and piqued interest in the macabre tales of the un-dead.
The tale is told through journal entries and letters written by key characters -bar Count Dracula himself. The story centres around the journey undertaken by the young solicitor Jonathan Harker, who travels to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania to facilitate the completion of a real-estate transaction. A naive Harker almost loses his life, and unwittingly assists the Count in his sinister plan, which you will discover for yourself when you read the book…
Stoker is a great story teller and beautifully sets the tone for the novel, as you sense the disquiet creeping into the lives of Jonathan and his associates.
The complete text is available for free download here:
This book left me feeling optimistic about the future, and the potential of humankind to begin to make changes for the better. It should be in use in schools, to inspire the industrial designers of the next generation.
Many of the ideas put forward in this book are based on observation of nature, specifically in comparison with how industrialisation grew and has spread globally. Interesting to note is the abundance of the natural world, plants produce huge quantities of petals, leaves and seeds in order to reproduce, but the petals, leaves and other organic materials are not wasted, but are part of the life cycle, breaking down to become compost. Human design is so short-sighted when it comes to considering the ‘afterlife’ of products, beyond recycling or the landfill.
The beauty of diversity is also covered, that the one-size-fits-all approach human designs sometimes have is not reflected in organic development. Traditional or indigenous buildings being an excellent example of this, having developed in response to varying weather conditions and needs of the occupants.
But enough from me, track it down and read it for yourself!
This was available at my local library, for more information visit this site:
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Penguin Books, London.
I picked up a copy of this book and began to read at Nostromo Books in Grey Lynn(now Lord Jim’s Books on Surrey Crescent). It had that familiar theme ‘humankind has been almost completely obliterated, except for a random group of individuals struggling to survive’. The writer of the zombie flick 28 Days Later has most certainly pinched the beginning for the film from Wyndham’s classic, not to mention borrowing snippets from the rest of the plot in The Day of the Triffids and Wyndhams’ The Kraken Wakes.
This is an exciting read that I was unable to put down over the course of a weekend, and is probably more timely than I initially imagined. Isolated groups of humans survive a mysterious global disaster, as London’s city structure and amenities begin to crumble, it becomes apparent not only must they rebuild and form stable communities of strangers, they are also under threat from killer plants – a strange engineered creation by human scientists trying to find a new source for quality oil.
People of the Land – A Pacific Philosophy by John Patterson. Dunmore Press, Palmerston North.
An excellent read, presenting an alternative view to traditional Western ‘ownership’ attitudes to land. Environmental kinship, Mana and the respect for life and the planet being paramount to a harmonious existence as humans. Stopping the cycle of using and depleting resources buy focusing on adding value and beauty, for example using materials such as wood from a majestic tree to create a functional but beautiful chair, or on a larger scale a house or building. A major contrast to the exploitive consumer culture we exist in, encouraging the reader to stop and think before acting.
Highlighting the idea of humans being caretakers rather than dominators of the earth, and without the ‘airy fairy’ attitude that is sometimes associated with environmental philosophies and ideals, this is a book for anyone who is concerned about the environment.
As someone considering the prospect of ‘owning’ my own home and land in the future, I feel it is even more important to treat the earth with high regard. Being determined to enhance and protect rather than simply take from the earth.
