Growing Versions

Spring cleaning is about taking off the wool blankets, airing them out and packing them away.  Spring cleaning is about remembering and behaving as if, we need less. Less clothes, fewer shoes, fewer drawings, fewer broken toys, and crumbs, and magazines, and furniture, and food, and Christmas trees (long story), less Netflix. We need less. Now, let's prove it.

Yesterday, after a day and a little more away from home, my son and daughter returned.  Soon after, my son asked for a rice cake, something that was well within his reach, Since I was busy doing something else, I suggested he get it himself.  With that, he burst into tears.  With a little cuddling and probing, he shared a minor mix up that had made him "almost" cry before, but he had held it back because he wasn't with us.  I asked him if he had almost cried any other times in the past 24 hours.  He told me about two other times when he was faced with some minor injustice, i.e. his hot dog got cut up, not left whole, and his sister got a seat he wanted.  Then I turned to my daughter. She "almost" cried when March Break was over. I told them I "almost" cried the day before, during a presentation I was part of delivering on mental health. My thoughts turned back to learning about  Crying Debt  from my son.  For some, they feel the need to i...

We are watching a movie backwards. The mouse just put the cheese back in the trap.  How do you entertain yourself during a storm day? I am toggling between twitter and melting mittens and shovelling. Watching a movie backwards is a better plan I think.

It is March Break eve and we have minimal cash to make this break easy. We are not alone, lots of parents struggle to fill the gap when schools shut. The gap seems so wide. We are meant to fill it in. Or let it be filled.

We made the annual  trek to the school gym for the family bingo night. Wild horses could not keep us away. The thrill of the call.  The mounting tension as each subsequent call comes, and then finally, the defeat.

  We finally decided that ice had its purposes.

My grandmother had a formica kitchen table with flower designs all over it, just like the ones you see here. I distinctly remember taking a piece of paper and tracing the flowers.  It was so satisfying...easy and yet eye appealing. Trying to force spring a little, we went to an art store and bought some paper to make into curtains (another post, another day).  On the way home, wetting our whistles, we discovered how fun it could be to trace the flowers that showed through. Everything fell away, as we traced those lines.

Image: Mary Pratt To find out how things actually look is a revelation. — Mary Pratt, 1997 I got to the Mary Pratt exhibit on the very last day of the show.  I took my almost ten year old with me and she was astonished.  It was exciting to be with someone who had never seen her work before.  She kept repeating over and over, "I can't believe they are not photographs."   She put on the headphones and heard Mary Pratt speak about her art. At one point she relayed that Mary Pratt thought she was cheating because she painted from photographs. My daughter shook her head and said simply, "She's no cheat." I have been to a Mary Pratt exhibit before at the Art Gallery of NS back when I was a university student and she continues to be my favourite artist.  She has definitely made a noticeable impression on my own work.  However, I had not yet seen an image of hers that you can see above called Between the Dark and the Daylight (2011). ...