Chasing your tail is so old school...

Yesterday I came home and the sun was streaming through the windows - I love the light at that time of day. I was standing in the living room and noticed that my silhouette was showing up as the sun from the front door was throwing it's image on the wall. The camera was on the table, so I picked it up and thought ya, might as well take a photo, it's kind of neat. The problem was I moved, so the shadow moved. And so did Thomas, quickly launching himself at the wall. Which brings up the issue of Thomas and Shadows.

I get ready for bed, undressing to the sound of Thomas hurtling himself against the shadows I'm casting on the wall. I walk through the kitchen, and have to watch my step as a large grey cat flies by to land on whatever shadow moves along with me. I walk into the kitchen on a sunny day and find him sitting on the floor with his nose and inch from the wall, watching a shadow. What is weird is how serious he seems about it all - usually, a cat plays for a while, then the ears move out to the side, they look bored and wander away (perfectly exemplified by Maggie, who caught a mouse at my old place, carried it for a while, dropped it, then bellyflopped on it and looked incredibly bored and blase...ok, that was only for a few minutes, then she started torturning the thing again). Thom just looks desperate. Like shadow hunting is somehow his own personal burden. Maybe he knows something about shadows that I don't. Or maybe his brain is just smaller than the walnut-size I imagine.

In other news, I succumbed to my fantasy world and bought a "Million Dollars for Life" ticket today - it's the last day they are for sale. I walked by one vendor and thought Nah, silly waste of $5, then suddenly started to panic - what if I could win? what if I didn't buy a ticket and it was the worst mistake of my life? - so went to the next vendor and put down my $5. We will see. But the $5 was worth the last 2 hours of wealth-ridden fantasy (in which, by the way, the Bunkle does NOT get sold and replaced by a bigger home, it just gets renovated more quickly). Dream on, dream on...

Saturday night at the Bunkle....

Not the best photos today I'm afraid. Flock is slowly growing. The little guy with the perky tail is a house wren - quite pleased with him, not only because of his boat-shaped body he can actually sit up on his own (the rest tip onto their heads - which I could say is intentional as they are supposed to be pecking for seed...ok, maybe not). The junco's head is a little too defined, but oh well, maybe my junco has a larger brain that the one in the drawing. I borrowed a couple of bird books from my parents yesterday so we will see what happens...

I realize the whole bird thing isn't all that exciting, but it's my blog and I can bird if I want to.

It's the Academy Awards tonight. One bonus of living on the west coast is that it actually airs at 5pm, which makes watching it somewhat less painful that having it start at 8. Why would I watch it if it is painful? Very good question. I'm not that interested in the outcome, and as always the nominations are predictable... I guess I watch for the cringe factor. I wait for someone to say something really dumb, which is guaranteed to happen. As is an abysmal musical number. I hope for something to match Jack Palance's one-armed push-ups. There are a couple of things I'd like to see that won't happen - Ryan Gosling winning for Half Nelson for instance. I'd also like to see Jennifer Hudson win for best supporting actress - not because I've seen Dream Girls (I'd rather rub salt in my eyes) but because the best supporting actress win seems to be a bit of a career kiss of death, and I would miss her the least. And I'd like to see Pan's Labyrinth win for Best Art Direction...or best foreign film, though The Lives of Others is also a very very strong film. OK, finding myself starting to care, so I'll stop.

Friday night at the Bunkle

Time for a bigger couch?

Let me go wild, like a Bunkle in the sun...

I'm sick. And it's sunny. Which I guess is better than being sick when it's rainy? I'm leaving that for tomorrow - it's supposed to rain all weekend.

One thing the sun is bringing out are the bulbs in the garden - still a suprise to me as this is really my first Bunkle spring. As you can tell by the weeds and rotting leaves, last year (and this year so far) did not include focussing on the garden. At all. I'm hoping that this year I can at least get it looking less completely unloved, but there is so much inside I still want to do. Dilemma, dilemma. I try to remind myself there is time, lots of time, it doesn't all need doing RIGHT NOW. But then I wonder where exactly all that time is, because it seems surprisingly scarce to me. Oh well. We'll get there.

Did someone say Baltimore?

I'm not ranting am I?

It is a gorgeous, slightly sunny, slightly cloudy day...I just came back from a walk, ear buds of my mp3 player cutting me off from the rest of the world and providing a soundtrack to go along with the purple and yellow crocus buds that are starting to nose their way up from the dirt. All very nice, and one of my favorite ways to pass the time - walking, looking, listening. I started thinking about the listening part of that equation, a result in part of my experience last night, when my brother and a friend and I saw a band last night at the Plaza, a dance club that has started to have live music in the 'early hours' before they open as a club. Yes, there is a bit of a rant coming on. Sorry.

Rant #1 - Venues

The band we saw was Grizzly Bear - a quartet from Brooklyn NY. Enjoyed the show - their recordings are quite subtle and atmospheric, and I suspect not that easy to bring to a live show but they did a good job given the circumstances. And what were those circumstances? As mentioned, a dance club being used for live music. Nothing wrong with that really I guess, and for some artists it would be just perfect - but when you are dealing with a band that is relying on quite complex vocal harmonies and subtle instrumentation, and the contrasts between soft and loud, lulling and jarring, the fact that my brain is being pulled between what I am hearing from the stage and the general din from the centrally placed, glowing, sparkling bar lodged on the dance floor was making me a tiny bit CRAZY. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I go to watch, and to listen. CLOSELY. Don't get me wrong - this type of venue has its place, and is great for seeing louder, high energy acts where any bar glass clinking and chatter is going to be drowned comfortably out. Vancouver does not have enough seated venues that would be appropriate for this kind of act - and I'm afraid a seated venue is the only way things are going to be quiet enough to really let a band like this really shine. And what is the final kicker about the dance club venue? The crowd has to be out by 10 to let the heavy drinking/profit-making club kids in. At 9:50, last night's show ended - and the extremely devoted crowd hollered and cheered waiting for the encore that never came - not time for that sort of thing when you've got that line up waiting to come in and shimmy up to that glowing, centrally placed bar.

I have a whole other rant dedicated to audiences. I'll leave that for another time.

In other news my Mum dropped off some inspiration for some more flock members, shown above - a bit of a preview of what's to come in the land of felty feathered friends!

Let there be...an acorn

Finally, a real bunkle update - the installation of a light from Rejuvenation, home of many many things to tempt the easily seduced owner of an old home. This very cute acorn light is in the red den, replacing a really....special....piece of track lighting (which I must admit worked really really well with the star and sun wallpaper border that graced this room when I moved in...yikes). Look carefully though and you will see that the job ain't done yet - still have to patch and paint around the holes where the track came down. Couldn't resist taking a photo of it anyway :)

Shall we go out and find something?...

I came home today to a package leaning against the front door - wrapped with the most fantastic piggy tape. Funny how getting mail never gets any less exciting...sounds silly but there is something sort of amazing about holding onto something that someone far away you care about was holding not so long ago. This time, it was an unexpected treat from my pal Tracy - two books - one which I can tell by the dust jacket is really based on my life story: sensuous and talented Nina Ashton comes to LA to carve out her career in fine art restoration...plunged into a series of adventures that require finesse and artful skills, Nina assumes a variety of personae: a lady of the night, a high-powered female executive, and exotic dancer...

why did I leave art conservation again? I can just imagine her mischievous smile as she wrapped them. Thank you lovely!

Wireless or bust...

Aaahhhh the joys of sitting on my couch beside Thomas (sitting on papers beside me, as you can see) to update my blog! Wireless at last. Gotta say so far I LOVE MY MAC! It just seems so much...smarter...than my PC. I know I'm tempting fate saying that, but so far so (very) good. There is something so decadent about being able to sit on my couch, listen to Pandora.com (the English Beat at the moment...bit of nostalgia), type this, tickle the pushy cat beside me all at the same time.

Once again not all that much to report. There will be a minor Bunkle update this afternoon when new blinds are installed in the red den...small steps. I am also contemplating getting the foldout couch version of this - the photo doesn't really convey how cute it is - what works for me is that it is quite small, tightly upholstered (not a big fan of poofy things),the fabric choices are endless, and it nicely balances traditional styling that suits the Bunkle with a bit of a modern touch. You don't get that sense at ALL from the photo, so you'll have to trust me. I have to figure out if I can comfortably fit a full couch or loveseat in the den - that is part of this afternoon's non-taxing chores. It is review time at work and that includes this year's bonus, so this might where the bonus goes (other than the house taxes - SIGH. That's what you get for not paying the damn things monthly). Or maybe not. I'll let you know.

And for those of you that have sent admiring notes about the growing flock, it's still growing...more snaps soon if I can make them sit still for bit ;-)

Another member of the flock...

Not as flashy as his red-breasted predecessor, but he has a much prettier song...

The Littlest Birds...

Well, this is my first post on my new MacBookPro....still a little intimidated by it, but I'm sure we'll become friends soon enough. I work with a mac at work, but weirdly actually work in a Windows environment (won't bore you with how or why) so never really have to deal with the supposedly intutitive Mac side. I'm so very comfortable in Windows, so very confused in Mac-land! All that being said, it was way too great a deal to pass up on :)

Anyway, here is the latest creation. I had a heck of a time trying to photograph this little one - think I was getting too close and the perspective was getting really whacky. These are taken from a greater distance and I've cropped them. Looks a bit better I hope.

So, yes, a bird to add to the christmas collection of felties. Sewing this one made a few of my very characteristic... characteristics ...that much more apparent. I sat down with scissors and felt and just cut pieces until things looked like they might make a bird if sewn together correctly, stitiched, stuffed, stitched some more, looked at it, smiled, thought Gee I think I'm on to something here, maybe I can make another bird? and then realized that ONCE AGAIN I had failed to make a pattern. That would be waaay too organized. I am all about instant gratification & lack of organization. How often have I found myself at this point - making the pattern after the fact. Oh well.

And now for some input - the other thing I forgot with this guy was a method of adhereing to a tree - should I get wire so I can perch the little bugger, or attach some sort of hanging contraption?

As an aside, Ive also been forced to upgrade my Blogger version. Now my photos appear as script until I post or preview them - fellow blogheads, is there a way around this I'm missing?