Eaton Viking Superb

a few months ago i bought an old electric typewriter called the Eaton Viking Superb. i love typewriters and it was this beautiful green and gold colour. it was $5 and i assumed that it didn't work because there was an "as is" sticker on it. i also figured that the tape in it had dried out and i wouldn't be able to replace it.

anyways... my dad brought it back to haliburton when i was cleaning out my studio so i had forgot about it momentarily. but this weekend when i was home we pulled it out and dad stuck a piece of paper in it. to my surprise and delight (i mean actually jumping up and down) it works!!! AND it works in both red and black ink. on top of that it actually seems to have a whole role of ink tape left to feed through! i love the sound it makes while you are typing and the 'ding' when it gets to the end of the page. it is all just so lovely.

i am obviously very excited about this and so i have decided that i am going to type letters to anyone who leaves me their address below. if you don't feel comfortable leaving your address then you can e-mail it to me at wave_2_me@hotmail.com. i can't guarantee that you will receive it right away, but i will definitely send one to you!

making up ones mind and such...

hmmm... so this might sound silly since I was so dead set on living near the ocean last month, but I am human... and we tend to change our minds regularly. Therefore... I have decided that I am going to put off Victoria for a while. Me and my stubbornness were not really listening to ANYONE (including the little voice inside my head) when they told me I might be making the wrong choice. But, I have come to see things a little more clearly this past week and it will definitely be to my own benefit if I stay closer to home this year. Victoria will still be there when I am ready.

So now I am looking for a job. Hopefully something in or related to the arts. It would be wonderful to find something in a gallery but I am not really getting my hopes up. I have been looking pretty much everywhere - Ottawa, Toronto and area, Kitchener, Barrie, etc. - I won't be picky about the place if I can find a good job. I have also been looking at calls for submissions. I think this year will be a good year to focus on making art and trying to get it "out there" as they say. Plus I have been collecting so much over the past 4 years that I need to do something with it!

I am slowly getting excited about the idea of staying here. It just feels right.

your heart will dance, sing, and make art inside of you...

have you ever had a random conversation with a complete stranger? one that gave you insight into the life of that stranger and maybe made you think about things from a new perspective?

i am not taking about a "hi, beautiful weather we're having" kind of conversation.

i am referring to something a little more in depth. a conversation that you walk away from with a sense of greater understanding. a total stranger has just shared a part of themselves with you and maybe you gave a part of yourself in return. it is about vulnerability, and honesty, and ultimately a NEED to share your story with someone who will listen.

i had one of those conversations yesterday while i was waiting for the bus. a little old lady was sitting beside me at the bus stop and she was staring at my grocery bags. she was tiny and fragile but looked very strong willed and had snowy white hair and bright pink lipstick. she was wearing a pretty purple dress and a scarf to keep the wind from blowing her hair into a mess. she was beautiful.

i pulled out the dried mango i had bought at the grocery store and offered her a piece. (I am not sure why i did this... i don't usually offer food to strangers - especially dried mango - but she was staring at it so i felt guilty just keeping it all to myself) she declined my offer and instead started talking to me. what she told me was a story...

i won't tell you all of our conversation because i feel as though it was private information shared between us. i will tell you that it was all about her life between the ages of 19 and 25. she talked about family, life, love and growing into a young woman. mostly though, she told me stories about boys, courting, and her first love. i teased her saying that she must have had all the boys chasing after her, and that she was very beautiful. she laughed at this and blushed. (by this time we had missed our bus and were waiting for the next one to come along. she didn't seem to mind so i didn't say anything and just kept listening) she said i was a delightful girl and then later gave me some advice...... she told me i was sweet and lovely, and that lots of boys would come calling, but i shouldn't settle for just any one... i should wait to find the right boy to give my heart to.

(i thought that this was really cute and was happy to be reminded that there were still some true romantics living in the world) so i asked her how i would know when i had found the right one. this is what she said; "My dear, there may be boys that make your heart sway, but when you meet that one special boy, the one that you are meant to be with forever, your heart will dance, sing, and make art inside of you ... and you will know without a doubt that he is the one for you." (these are fairly close to her exact words because i wrote them down as soon as i got on the bus.)

in between telling me her story, she asked me a few questions about school and my life. she shared so much with me that i felt like i should give something in return. i thanked her and she said; "no, thank you, this world has gotten much too fast for me and it is nice to find a young lady who still has the time to sit and listen to an old woman." i told her that i would gladly listen to her stories anytime. and then we parted. it turned out that she wasn't even waiting for the bus. she was just taking a rest on the bench in between her daily walk around the block.

decisions and oceans

i have not been blogging lately...

i think this is because i have been trying to make this really BIG decision in my life and my mind has been occupied with nothing but a pros and cons list for the last 3 weeks. but i have weighed the pros and i have weighed the cons and i have come to a final decision...

i am moving to Victoria in the fall. YAY!

my alternate location for this fall was actually Toronto... but in the end, my Victoria pros outweighed my Toronto pros and my Toronto cons outweighed my Victoria cons. it is true that i would probably have a better chance of finding a good job in Toronto (one in the arts), but i am not sure that the Toronto city life is for me. Victoria on the other hand is a lot smaller, so job hunting will be harder, but i like smaller, and i love the west. i have faith that things will work out.

I am so stoked to see the ocean!

"Yes, that's it," said the Hatter with a sigh: "it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles."

i have decided that i want to start a tea-cup collection.... it might have something to do with the fact that i just read Alice in Wonderland (and one of my favorite scenes just happens to be the Mad Hatter's tea party) or it may have been inspired by "tea at three" (a tea time / chat time event we used to run at the Rails End Gallery). The Gallery has this great collection of old tea-cups with matching  saucers that i LOVE.... and the best part about the collection is that each tea cup and saucer pair is individual and unique... there are no two that are alike! 

so... i have been thinking that i want to start a tea-cup collection and i want every tea cup to be unique... i will probably begin looking at antique stores and such... but in the meantime i was getting ideas from googling... and here are a few of my favourites! (in no particular order)

'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. 

           'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't take more.'

'You mean you can't take less,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take more than nothing."

           'Nobody asked your opinion,' said Alice.

- From the tea party in Alice in Wonderland 

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.

it is one of those rainy days... the kind where you want to curl up on the couch and read a good book. i am currently on my couch reading Alice and Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and contemplating things like life and when recycling day is... wishing i could escape down a rabbit hole and play croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs in the queen's garden.... instead... i will focus on getting my trash out to the curb before the garbage man comes. wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all just escape into fairytales sometimes? 

yesterday i was looking at my house....

... and i was thinking to myself how wonderful it would be if the top floor was actually an attic and if that attic was filled will old chests and books and memories.... i began imagining the amazing adventures i would have in the attic, exploring all the old trunks and finding incredible stories that would take me away to distant places....

 ...i have possibly been reading too much lately... but i take comfort in the fact that i still have the ability to imagine these things. as we grown up i think we can easily forget what it means to imagine. and i don't mean imagining yourself rich or with a glamorous life.... i mean imagine in the sense that you can create worlds and adventures that breathe life. it is sad to think that such a simple pleasure... one that brings people such joy can become lost on the path to growing up. maybe Peter Pen had it all right... maybe we should never grow up.

a post to begin all posts...

so...

i decided to start a blog because a little bird whispered in my ear that it would be a good... no, i believe the word was AWESOME... idea. so here I am

with my blog. 

i created it last night while i was supposed to be studying for my exam... you can call me the procrastinator... because that is what i do best.

                     i procrastinate. 

and now here i am... just finished my last exam, and i am sitting in my studio at school wondering where the year went. i am also wondering where i am going to put all this odd junk that i have gathered over the course of the year. all of these strangely mundane, yet wonderful objects... my belts, lampshades, nut bowls, wood lamps, framed paint by numbers, harlequin romance novels (i love the titles), and cross stitches. 

my dad will probably end up with most of them in his basement until i find a good use for them again. for now... i will go on gathering my objects and displaying them in my increasingly curious ways... perhaps one day i will come to some sort of conclusion as to why i feel the need to do such things.