Thursday, December 10, 2015

asceticism wheedle dreary

"I love all things, not just the grandest, but also the infinitely small."  
                                   Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet 







Got a few things out of the way yesterday, a visit from the Pool Guy, the Plumber Guy, and the Bug Assassinator.  Then TY and I hit the shade store and picked out some blackout shades for his office and a privacy shade for the loft since with a light on at night you can see e*v*e*r*y*t*h*i*n*g going on up there-  like me in my jammies watching cooking shows surrounded by dogs.   Not the neighborhood image I want publicized.  Also forgot about the wide view of me available from the window over the tub- not a pretty site, so when he comes timesaver today I'll add that one in- don't need folks seeing how much Epson salts I use.  Next I took a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond which was a major mistake-  seems the whole east coast is filling their shopping list there so I was glad to grab my toilet brushes and beat feet out of that mayhem.  

Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

Then a friend asked me over for some wine which was perfect timing since TY was at a BBQ for Italian Guys (they made him an honorary Italian falling under the heading of 'Mediterranean'.).  We watched the sunset and talked Kaffe fabrics and she showed me the array she has all cut out and ready to sew.  Told her if she is wanting to enlarge her vision I just might have one or two of the shot cottons and the amazing stripes-  or every single one ever printed!  Those are, I must say, my FAVORITE fabrics ever-  they go with everything, and I don't think I've made a single quilt that doesn't rely heavily on their subtly and blend-ability.  No, I don't get any kickbacks, just loving the fabrics.  AND my friend with the wine!



LET'S TALK ABOUT BEEZ, K?








 In North America, Europe and many other parts of the world, bee populations have plummeted 30-50% due to colony collapse disorder, a fact not lost on artist Aganetha Dyck who for years has been working with the industrious insects to create delicate sculptures using porcelain figurines, shoes, sports equipment, and other objects left in specially designed apiaries. As the weeks and months pass the ordinary objects are slowly transformed with the bees’ wax honeycomb. It’s almost impossible to look at final pieces without smiling in wonder, imagining the unwitting bees toiling away on a piece of art. And yet it’s our own ignorance of humanity’s connection to bees and nature that Dyck calls into question, two completely different life forms whose fate is inextricably intertwined.






Street artist Louis Masai Michel is on a one-man mission to raise awareness of the plight of the humble honey bee through his Save the Bees mural project . The murals began shortly after Michel returned from a trip to South Africa where he was painting endangered animals, when he began to learn about about bees and the grave implications of colony collapse disorder. He immediately set out to paint a series of murals incorporating bees on walls around London in May of last year, but the endeavor proved wildly popular and has since spread to Bristol, Devon, Glastonbury, Croatia, New York, Miami, and New Orleans. Many of the bee works were done in collaboration with artist Jim Vision, including pieces in Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, and Hackney.









When trying to protect farms in east Africa from elephants, it would seem that nothing short of a giant reinforced fence or a chasmic ditch could safely keep the largest land animals on Earth away without causing harm. Unfortunately, building such barriers around every field is impractical, and the interactions of people protecting their crops frequently leads to accidents or even death of both farmers and elephants. But zoologist Lucy King had a much smaller idea: bees.
It turns out elephants are terrified of bees because when the insects sting the inside of their trunks the pain is excruciating and there’s little they can do about it. The sound of buzzing alone is enough to make elephants leave an area immediately. King wondered what might happen if a string of suspended beehives at every 10 meters around a field might be enough to keep elephants away. A pilot program in 2009 proved widely successful and soon The Elephant and Bees Project was born.  PERFECT !




2 comments :

Christine Nielsen said...

In 2014 I got to see a piece of Agenetha Dyck's work which is in the collection of the Confederation Centre for the Arts in Prince Edward Island. It was stunning in person.

Malone said...


when there are no bees, there will be no food. it's just that simple.