Home Archives - Page 20 of 22 - Marja-Leena Rathje

by Marja-Leena

remembering Dad

It’s Father’s Day here in Canada and USA. I awoke very early and started thinking of my father, who passed away 15 years ago. I pulled out my parents’ worn old family album that they carried with them as we emigrated to Canada. This photo of my courageous and handsome father was possibly taken just before that life-changing event (or was it on his wedding day?). We miss you, Isä and Ukki.

We also miss Papa and Opa, who emigrated to Canada around the same time, with his family (including the little boy who was to become my husband) following a year later.

A newer tradition for us is to revisit a wonderful poem card written and designed by two of our daughters to their Dad three years ago. Long-time readers may remember it.

Time to make some coffee for the father of our children. Happy Father’s Day to all Dads everywhere!

June 17, 2007 in Culture, Home by Marja-Leena 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

June green

June is often a wet month here in the Vancouver area and this year it’s been even wetter than normal, as has been this year so far. The last two weeks of May were dry and I got much of my planting done, but not quite all of it. During rare dry moments since, I’ve been out there staking tall perennials flattened by showers. I’m capturing slugs and snails feasting on moist and succulent plants, some of which will have to be replaced with new ones, sigh. The weeds are growing too. Yet all is so very beautiful, lush and green like a tropical jungle (but cooler) that I can’t help being swept in by the heart-filling beauty of this world. So, instead of feeling blue, I’m feeling overwhelmed by green.

As I’ve been composing this, I’ve been visiting a few of my favourite blogs. Dave at Via Negativa wrote a lovely post with a link to a poem that swept me away with its bittersweet beauty and seemed so timely with my own – Federico García Lorca’s Romance Sonambulo. Here are the first few lines:

Green, how I want you green.
Green wind. Green branches.
The ship out on the sea
and the horse on the mountain.
With the shade around her waist
she dreams on her balcony,
green flesh, her hair green,
with eyes of cold silver.

(The photos were taken this morning while it was raining and I was tidying my studio – one outside, one looking through from my studio corner window into the solarium. I should have gotten something ‘green’ but at the time I didn’t know what my post’s title was going to be.)

June 15, 2007 in Being an Artist, Home by Marja-Leena 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

catching up

This blog has taken a back seat for a few days while I’ve been enjoying a visit from our eldest daughter. She lives with her partner some five hours by car northeast of Vancouver in a tiny community, half an hour east of a small city. So, shopping in the big city is important for her. I’m not much of a shopper anymore but I did go with her to Ikea. She’s still in the home making and decorating stage of life, while we need very little. Still, I oohed and aahed over many lovely things with her.

I bought something we did need though – several large glass storage jars with those rubber seals on the lids. We had a major moth infestation in our grains containers last year that I wished to avoid a repeat of this summer. I’ve also been concerned about chemicals leaching out of our present storage containers, the tin canisters from the beginning of our married life plus various plastic ones. So these seem to be an excellent alternative.

Well, as soon as daughter left, a chain reaction began in the kitchen, as you may imagine. Because the jars were too tall for the drawer where the old containers had resided, rearranging became necessary. Wash the shelves and the new jars, let dry. Transfer the grains and sugar. Arrange the jars on the shelf. Store the bowls, sieves and other kitchen paraphernalia in the drawer. Wash the old containers and recycle. Clean the kitchen. Now I must bake something!

Oh, I know this is boring and has nothing to do with art, but some artists still have kitchens, hmm? And I did capture an image…

But wait, I must tell you about what’s on at qarrtsiluni, which always features wonderful writing by many master word crafters. Today’s entry Facing Impermanence by Rachel Barenblat is a must-read, truly beautiful and very moving. I’d read it before on her blog and am happy to reread it today. Rachel also wrote a wonderful post about qarrtsiluni’s current theme on her own blog, which saves me the trouble.

While I struggle with words, I love image making, so I’m very pleased that the editors chose to publish my old post, scanning.

June 11, 2007 in Being an Artist, Blogging, Home by Marja-Leena 8 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

gardens and bees

The first half of the month of May was cool and showery. Last week was very pleasant, a comfortable temperature for doing the garden work, the busiest time of year. But this week it’s suddenly very hot and I am struggling to get it all done. Any newly planted annuals or transplanted perennials are suffering and wilting easily. I’m wilting too as it’s too warm, too fast. This afternoon when I stopped for a break, I checked our thermometer on the west side of the house, though it was still in shade – it read 28C (83F).

I’ve noticed that we have a lot of bees on our garden, what we fondly call bumblebees with the fat furry tiger striped bodies. I tried catching a photo of them feeding in the chives flowers. Here’s one in flight, enlarged.

Curious about the name, I learned that they really are called bumblebees and even have their own website, bumblebee.org! After reading this spring about bee colonies dying by the thousands, I’m really happy to see them around here. Perhaps they are organic bees, which have not been decimated like the others.

May 31, 2007 in Being an Artist, Home by Marja-Leena 9 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

garden tour

Every mother, grandmother, and friend who has been like a mother to another –
You are invited on a little tour of a few highlights in my spring garden:

Here are the winter pansies in a pot by the back door,

tulips%26forgetmenots.jpg

over there are the last tulips amongst the forget-me-nots,

see these bluebells under the currant bush,

a mexican orange bush by the front steps, doesn’t it smell heavenly?

and there are the lilacs that evoke memories of my mother’s garden.

Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow!

May 12, 2007 in Being an Artist, Current Events, Home by Marja-Leena 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

spring!

May the longer days put a spring in your step, dear readers in the northern hemisphere.

As if in honour of the vernal equinox this evening, today we’ve had a respite from the November-like monsoons. The sunshine is a gift to weary Vancouverites. Even the cold wind coming down from snowy peaks doesn’t matter. It was 10C today, going to 2C tonight. Sunrise at 7:16, Sunset at 19:24. I’ve finally started a few tomato, pepper and basil seeds, rather late I know.

Happy Spring to you all!

March 20, 2007 in Canada and BC, Current Events, Home by Marja-Leena 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

my Monday

After breakfast, I took my tea with me and sat down at my computer to read emails, some news and a few blogs, as I usually do most mornings if I don’t leave the house early for the printmaking studio or an appointment. Today, I wanted to make another collagraph for my ongoing Silent Messengers print series. I wrote about one of them a while ago, in case you missed it.

I had an idea of what I wanted but needed a little inspiration to clarify it. I decided to have a look at The Bradshaw Foundation website, and was excited to find some new additions to the already rich collection of rock art images from around the world. Some of the Baja, California petroglyphs seemed along the line of what I was after, so I started sketching my own idea.

From time to time, I looked out the window next to me and noticed that it was snowing big fat white feathers! This kept on going all morning, though melting on the ground. I could not resist taking a few photos. I think the one above of the wet snow on a skylight is rather interesting, even though I’m not impressed with this weather this late in February!

Later I moved into my little home studio to make the collagraph. First cutting some matboard into the desired shape, I then began slowly cutting and gluing paper shapes including crinkled tissue paper onto it. I used acrylic medium as a fixative as well as coating all the surfaces including the back. Tomorrow, I’ll have another look at it, and will add more detail if needed and more layers of medium. I found a way of applying gloss acrylic very smoothly onto areas that I want to wipe clean (ie. white) when I ink it for printing. On Wednesday I hope to print some proofs of it. Wish me luck, and maybe I’ll show you how it develops!

February 26, 2007 in Being an Artist, Home, Printmaking by Marja-Leena 15 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

snow day

I wish you many new successes, new joys, good health, peace and contentment, and abundant creativity. Hauskaa Uutta Vuotta! Bonne année! Allen ein frohes Neues Jahr! Happy New Year!

SnowDayJan10.2007.jpg

I seem to be writing about the weather more than anything else here! It certainly has been a big part of our lives the last couple of months. The latest windstorm yesterday was followed by a big dump of snow overnight and until mid-day today.

Our crazy weather even made national news including this video.

I’ve stayed home today, letting my husband take our car to work instead of letting him struggle with a bicycle. Thankfully we had no fallen trees and power outages in our neighbourhood this time. Instead I’ve been taking immense pleasure in gazing out the window and being hypnotized by the swirling falling fat clumps of snowflakes. Now all is calm and very bright in this lovely winter wonderland and I must go for a walk.

January 10, 2007 in Canada and BC, Home by Marja-Leena 14 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

another storm

The west coast continues to have numerous windstorms, making for an unusual number this fall and winter. On Friday (January 5th) we had snow in some areas, including ours. That night a short but powerful windstorm caused another power outage, our second one in three weeks, though not as bad as the last one.

We had been watching a movie on DVD that had been lent to us – In Her Shoes (I like Shirley MacLaine). About two-thirds of the way through suddenly there was a pop and the power went off. That’s when we noticed the fierce windstorm outside.

The next morning, my husband went outside to check the street and noticed that a huge maple tree between our next door neighbour and the property on her other side had cracked and split, dropping its branches on the high voltage power lines, the street lamp and on the cables running to her house. Later I noticed her huge old apple tree in the backyard had fallen over, roots and all, fortunately not touching her house!

This was pretty close to home. Once again our neighbourhood was out of power for about 36 hours, and without internet for a bit longer than that. We heard that there had been lightning in some areas, and there were power outages in many locales but haven’t found anything about it online, yet. Local news is being dominated by the collapse of the roof of BC Place Stadium.

Anyways, we’ve been distracted and busy keeping the fireplace going and candles lit when dark, having cold meals and hot tea. Mother Nature continues to reveal (and revel in) her power over us and remind us how we take our modern conveniences for granted, and how helpless we can be, but we are thankful to be OK! And I keep writing about the weather. Now I hope we can see the rest of the movie…

January 7, 2007 in Canada and BC, Home by Marja-Leena 10 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

the longest night

Photo from inside the chamber at Newgrange, Winter Solstice of 2004, by Alan Betson

Once again in the northern hemisphere it is the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year, the first day of winter. It amazes me how very many cultures around the world have celebrations around this time. If I were able to choose a special and ancient way to celebrate, I’d go to Newgrange.

Instead I’ll be happily continuing preparations for Christmas here at home, looking forward to Joulu (Finnish for Christmas). I baked Christmas bread yesterday, and today I’m making two kinds of cookies. Then there’s the house to clean and food to restock and prepare for the feasts. We take immense pleasure in the lights of candles, wood fires and Christmas light strings to brighten these long dark nights.

Happy winter solstice to all, however you may celebrate!

(See my previous posts on the solstice in 2005 and 2004)

December 21, 2006 in Being an Artist, Culture, Home by Marja-Leena 5 Comments »

Marja-Leena Rathje

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remembering Dad

June green

catching up

gardens and bees

garden tour

spring!

my Monday

snow day

another storm

the longest night

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