by Marja-Leena

summer in the backyard

A glimpse into some of the best in our backyard right now:

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a type of trailing lotus plant, maybe this one, in the hanging basket,

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a red bee balm or monarda,

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and ripening red currants for a sweet tart taste of summer!

This July is a hot one, at least for me, who dislikes the heat and what it does to me. Ten months of the year we have rain, then two months of drought in the summer. Usually Vancouver’s hottest period is mid-July to mid-August, but now I’m dreading that it will be all summer. Most of us in older homes do not have air-conditioning here, and we have still not installed my hoped for watering system in our large garden, so both garden and I are constantly hot and dry! I have so many blogposts I’ve wanted to write but I’m too hot and tired for words, so then I fall back on more garden photos to show off.

How is your summer, my friends?

July 12, 2008 in Home, Nature, Photoworks 12 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

dinosaur rock

   
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This cool find on the beach this morning is making me wonder about the geological journeys it has gone through before arriving on our shores.
   

July 7, 2008 in Photoworks, Rocks 12 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Friday July 4th

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I’m still very busy in the domestic front these days, alternating between gardening outdoors and purging indoors. My studio is looking less like a hurricane hit it, but I can’t speak yet for the areas where the returning family has moved in, for it is hard to downsize!

All this work during a heat wave too! This morning we had a light shower but it’s still humid and too warm in the house. Taking a break from work, I was sitting on our deck and spotted the first bloom on my young tibouchina plant – a deep velvety purple that this camera could not capture accurately – but here it is.

Wishing a happy Independence Day to my American family, friends and readers!

July 4, 2008 in Being an Artist, Home 7 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Happy 141st!

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It’s Canada Day today. Despite all the hoopla, crowds and fireworks everywhere, we’re just enjoying the holiday around home, puttering about and trying to keep cool in a heat wave. This thoughtful Canada Day meditation, written by a Canadian blogger in northern Ontario, really says it all for me. (Thanks Peter!)

July 1, 2008 in Canada and BC, Culture, History 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

purge or save?

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As I mentioned in the previous post, I’m going through some major shifting and sifting of stuff in our house. One area of purges is through my very old issues of art magazines, mostly from the 90’s and a few older. The majority of these are Canadian Art, Vanguard, an art criticism mag published between 1976 and 1984 by the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Border Crossings from my old home city of Winnipeg.

There are also some Finnish design magazines and small exhibition catalogues from around the world passed on to me over a decade ago by a good friend whose well-travelled and arts-loving Finnish mother was moving into a care home at that time. Inside one of the magazines, I found some delicate and lovely pressed leaves that I will preserve digitally. During breaks, I’m enjoying rereading a few articles, such as about the rebirth of Marimekko in the 90’s under the creative and brilliant direction of Kirsti Paakkanen.

I’ve hung on to these for too many years thinking I will reread them, but since I have not, it’s time to say goodbye. I love well-done print design and articles about art and artists and hate to just throw them into recycling, so I hope to find a new home for them, via something like Freecycle. Instead of the more violent act of purging, I can choose the gentle act of sharing. Is there an art student out there eager to have them?

What do you do with your old but good magazines and catalogues?

June 30, 2008 in Being an Artist 16 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

inside

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Buried deep inside blowsy peony petals, like the parts of a heart…

Have been too quiet here because I’m overwhelmingly busy with several family members returning home. This has set in motion a mind-boggling chain reaction of moving furniture and stuff from room to room to squeeze in yet more. And a desperate need to purge the accumulation of years of packratting; it’s time to Freecycle! Alternating with work is play with our granddaughters who are delighted to have adoring grandparents at their beck and call. The empty nest is full again.

June 26, 2008 in Being an Artist, Nature, Photoworks 10 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

white nights

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Awake at 3:30 this morning, unable to get back to sleep, I made myself a soothing cup of hot cocoa (with goat’s milk and stevia) and sat at the table reading yesterday’s paper. Looking outside, to the northeast I could see a band of light contrasting against the dark blue lines of the mountain tops and the darker clouds above. As I sipped my drink, my eyes wandered to that ever brightening view more often than to the words on the paper.

I remembered then that today is the summer solstice, (or properly June solstice for it’s winter in the southern hemisphere). Memories of magical midsummer nights in Finland, Denmark and Sweden made me long for those white nights of the north, and to feel again that amazement with how joyful and energetic the people were. Celebrations rooted in pagan times abounded. It seemed like no one slept much, just soaking in the light, as if refueling after the long dark winter. How could you sleep when the sun hit your eyes where you lay in bed, with only sheer window coverings?, I thought the first time I visited as a teenager, grumpy from jet lag.

This is the time that most Finns start their summer holidays, their trips to summer cabins by serene lakes, leaving the cities behind. Businesses reduce to minimum, it’s as if the whole country slows down. How come here in Canada, a northern nation, we don’t celebrate midsummer night? Oh, the Scandinavians communities have their events in various cities this weekend, but is that all there is? Where is the magic? Even up in northern British Columbia where we lived a few years, there was no celebration, no sense of the ancient rituals of the seasons.

At 5:00 I crept back to bed with the light in my eyes, thinking I was not going to be able to sleep. But I dreamt of midnight sun glimmering through birch trees, shining on smooth lakes, of bonfires on beaches and smoking sauna chimneys. This, then, was my own private Juhannus ritual.

Hauskaa Juhannusta! Happy solstice, all!

Related posts:
When “the Sun Stands Still”
summer solstice 2004
midsummer nights 2005
midsummer dreams 2006
solstice memories 2007

June 20, 2008 in Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Home 17 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

June garden

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Still working much too hard in the garden.
Here are a few images of what’s lovely today,
a drizzly day and a relief after yesterday’s heat.
How does your garden grow?

Addendum June 18th:
Leslee asked for a wider shot of this part of my garden, where the above photos were also taken.
It was cloudy so the colours aren’t very bright.
I have not yet put out all my potted plants and the garden bench.

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June 17, 2008 in Being an Artist, Canada and BC, Home 21 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

older female geeks

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from cover of The God Interviews by Natalie d’Arbeloff

Natalie d’Arbeloff, artist, cartoonist, author of the amazing The God Interviews and blogger with alter-ego Blaugustine continues to inspire me with her colourful career and many talents, her humour and her energy. Recently she won a prize to be a guest editor for the Guardian newspaper’s Women’s section.

Here’s the first fabulous article she wrote: Where are all the older female geeks. As Natalie invites older women to take up blogging, I’m thrilled and honoured to be one of the listed bloggers; thank you, Natalie!

This week must be a very good one for older women bloggers, as I’ve also been mentioned by Virginia DeBolt at the BlogHer conference blog, thank you!

I’m looking forward to checking out the new blogs I’ve been introduced to by virtue of being in their company in this way, via these connections that are made and woven like a giant web. Like Natalie and Virginia and many bloggers, I am an ambassador of blogging, raving about its benefits and pleasures to everyone. Even after over four years of blogging, I’ve never thought of myself as a geek. Blogging software is enabling and easy after the initial learning curve if you are reasonably competent on a computer, plus I believe that a MAC is easier. I’m fortunate in having a couple of ‘geeky’ family members help me in getting started and with any rare problems that occur that I cannot handle.

If you are a new visitor here thanks to Natalie, the Guardian and Virginia, welcome! If you want to know more about why I blog, you may be interested in reading this interview. For a quick look at some of my art work, please visit the gallery (top left bar). Comments are always welcome and appreciated and I try to respond to each.

Finally, on the subject of older bloggers and issues of aging, I wish to point out Ronni Bennett’s excellent and well-researched blog Time Goes By. Today I learn that she is now contributing occasional articles to the Wall Street Journal on the same subject!

UPDATE June 15th: Thanks to Erika’s comment below, I’m eagerly checking out Came of Age Before Computers, a blog by Nancy Strider, an older female new media artist and geek! To quote her byline:

This website looks at some issues faced by “COABC’s”. These are elders, often our parents, who find themselves isolated on the other side of the digital divide because they came of age before computers. Nancy Strider examines the impact on daily life that results from lack of skills, access – or interest – in electronic tools like computers, email, and cell phones. She also makes positive suggestions for using the internet itself to facilitate a more lively engagement in the face-to-face world.

In contrast, I look at our granddaughters, 7 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old, who are already computer literate!

June 14, 2008 in Blogging, Books, Other artists 8 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

pattern study

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a study of light, textures, patterns…

June 12, 2008 in Photoworks, Textures 6 Comments »