me and my neighbours....

...we are cold, but this is the sort of thing Canadians live for, because we are demented. It was -20C last night and we want to feel tough, going without power in the winter*. See, the power went out at 10 pm last night, after a broken water main flooded the Toronto Hydro station. The article, if you read it, is silly and misleading, and the comments, as usual, are worse**. It states that 22,000 people remain without power. I heard it reported that 100,000 people were without power (I guess that was last night). However, that seems ridiculous to me. There must be more people living between St Clair and Queen and Spadina and Jane! That's a serious chunk of a city of 4 million. Plus, there are no traffic lights and no subway service, so a much greater proportion of the city is affected. The power might not be reinstated until 10 pm tonight.

I called Reynardin to see if her power was out too, curious how much of the city was down, last night. When we realized that power was clearly out from my place to hers and beyond, that was the hint that this was a bigger problem. This morning at 8:37, Dad called. He actually volunteered to pick me up and drive me to work. I declined - since I'm not teaching this term, the chances that I am ready to leave at 8:37 are nil. He gave a mangled version of what public transit was working - I'm glad I didn't listen to him. He asked if I didn't have some sort of news sort, like one of those wind-up radios. I was proud of myself that I had candles and matches and I could find them in the dark - I actually used the glow-in-the-dark tusks of my winged walrus as a sort of flash light. I don't have a wind-up radio. I decided to walk to Roncesvalles, since he said he'd heard something about Dundas West station. The streetcars are obviously on a separate power grid that the rest of us - we know this because we've all seen the streetcars stop when we still have power. Incredibly, they weren't even short-turning the cars, and we had "normal" service.... but the traffic made things so slow it took an hour to get here. At Roncesvalles and Howard Park, there were about 30 people waiting... they were chatting and waxing nostalgic about the last blackout - but how much nicer that had been in the summer. I think this is very Canadian, to consider trials and tribulations a bonding experience.

I fussed about Minouette. I was worried she would get cold today. I watched her systematically try sitting on each rad in vain. She settled on the warmest sun-beam. I brought her a blanket.

*Though the ice storm in Montreal - that must have been too much.
**One ninny asked how could there be a flood if it is so cold? It's a water main, silly. It is designed to keep flowing even in sub-zero temperatures. They heat it if they have to. The obvious way to get a flood in winter is because of the cold... one frozen pipe, water under building pressure and pow! Flood.
Really, if your head serves only as a hat-rack, must you power commentary on the national newspaper's website?

Happy Birthday Faunalia

[Arnold Böcklin (1827 - 1901) Faun Whistling to a Blackbird, 1875, Oil on Canvas]

Iguana

I knew the iguana had a dewlap (the flap of skin below the lower jaws) and a row of spines running down their back to their tail. I had no idea the two species of iguana had a third eye on their head. This eye is known as the parietal eye, which looks just like a pale scale on the top of their head. Clearly this is an animal unlike any other.

This is an original, first edition, lino block print iguana in olive green on handmade mustard yellow Japanese gampi paper. It is ~11" wide and 8" tall (28 cm by 20 cm). It is one of only 6 prints in the edition. The print reflects the intense colours of the iguana's Caribbean home.

Minouette's Home For Unloved Chairs

Yesterday, I joined and for PROJECT OTTOMAN, which entailed a Dark Horse coffee-fueled treck from the east end antique shops to the west end antique shops, looking for raw material. We failed to find a single ottoman. Where have they gone, I wonder. Instead, I got a $20 damaged antique chair (as shown, complete with spring bursting out from underneath), three lamp shades and yellow stocking (haha!). Apparently, I now adopt unwanted and unloved chairs. I have yet to finish the previous set, because I want to replace the one missing wooden bar before re-finishing... but I did re-upholster them in woven silk (salvaged from the designers who work below R & F's loft).


After a lovely day with the girls, I re-wired an antique lamp, placed the lamp shades on said lamp and the wall sconces in the back room and then attacked the broken chair seat. The seat contained a lot of burlap, horsehair and an astronomical number of nails, which I painstakingly removed.



Slowly, the back room is progressing.

In other news, i is for iguana. Thought you might like to know... Here is a short run of iguana lino block prints on mustard-yellow Japanese gampi paper in olive green water-based ink, drying on the lines. I will put the iguanas on gampi in the shop and use an iguana on fabric for the interminable alpahbet quilt project.

Milky Way Transit

That's right - it's a map of the Milky Way in the quintessential subway map form (à la Harry Beck's London Underground Map). He's made an effort to faithfully represent arms of the galaxy and have stations at reasonable, real, locations. Too cool. {by Samuel Arbesman via The Map Room}

Craftster Best of 2008

I feel like a crafty superstar this morning ... oh, er.. @#$% alarm clock didn't go off afternoon! Craftster has selected their best of 2008 which includes:


The chair in HOME SWEET HOME: Crafty Housewares: Completed Projects: General




Copernicus in IMAGE REPRODUCTION TECHNIQUES: Other Image Reproduction Techniques: Completed Projects




The Chunky Page Swap Gallery, a swap I participated in for ORGANIZED SWAPS > Most Popular Swaps of 2008




A Book of Hope... by alteredmommy - a collaboration to raise funds for cancer research, to which I was proud to contribute for PAPER CRAFTS, JOURNALS & BOOK MAKING: Paper Crafts: Completed Projects: General

I'm flattered. The great thing here is that I think this has kick-started calls for Round two of the Chunky Page Swap, and alteredmommy is planning a similar fundraiser this year. I love the idea that things I create are making their way out into the world. Also making something for a good cause is more my style than, say, running for a good cause.

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