crooked house

Children Not Looking at Art

This is a great photo, as fellow Nova Scotian Chelsea Nichols, the curator of The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things, points out. I bet there are a lot of photos out there of children not looking at the art in museums. I bet there are a lot of photos out there of people in general not looking at the art in museums. Wouldn't that make a great art show?

Adventures in a Certain Wallpaper Pattern

 

Some of my legions of readers may remember the wallpaper on the walls of my childhood bedroom. And by some of you I mean my mom, my brother, and my oldest friend from childhood, Sara. And by legions of readers, I mean those three, although Sara doesn't get online much, and maybe two or three others.

I've framed a scrap of that wallpaper and it's there on that shelf by Vivi's bed. Do you see Vivi's sheets? The pattern is very similar -- I found them for a song at a store in town that was going out of business. And that's the quilt from my childhood bedroom. You can see that I am reliving my own childhood through my daughter's bedroom decor, whether she likes it or not.

And now I've started dressing her in the pattern, poor thing.

You can get a good view of the dress from all angles in this impromptu performance. If you can't stand the song about how she is a pink-red rose, fast forward to the rear view, which happens around 34 seconds.

And thus endeth the "let's forcefully relive our own childhoods through our children" post of the day. (It's nice that so far, she still cooperates.)

What I Want for Mother's Day

Someone on facebook named Mary Carpenter posted this touching Mother's Day request to her children and I have seen it popping up all over the place. You should go read it. I will wait.

Mary's request is nice but I decided to write my own version. Here it is:

So I've decided to be proactive and tell my kids what I want for mother's day. Here it is:

Dear Children,

Mother’s Day is coming up, and I thought I should tell you what I want. This way there’s no guilty panic or last minute purchasing of flowers at the closest gas station. So, this is what I want, this year and every year after; it’s pretty simple really.

I want your father to take you away for the entire day so I can spend it reading in bed.

See, simple.

Love,
Mom

Crystal Palace

Last weekend, we took the kids to the Crystal Palace in Moncton, New Brunswick, along with a couple of other families. That's Luke in the back, his friend Jack in the front, and Jack's mom Krista. Krista is brave. This is what that swing thing looks like from the ground.

I went on the merry-go-round with Sylvie and felt like throwing up.

Sandwich Bag Art

David LaFerriere, a graphic artist, has been decorating his sons' sandwhich bags since 2008. There are hundreds of them. Watch a video of him here.

Alice and Dorothy

This made me laugh. (I can't figure out where it came from.)

Homeward Bound: The New Domesticity

I'm really looking forward to Emily Matchar's new book Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity. Check out her insightful blog.

Books and Buildings

By artist Frank Halmans.

Obsession, by Jennifer Rodriguez. It is a book of photographs of doors.

Banned to Protect Children: Guess Which One

Photographs of Children from Around the World and Their Most-Prized Possessions

Lucas, from Sydney, Australia with his Thomas stuff.

Tangawizi, from Kenya, with his stuffed animal.

Photographer Gabriele Galimberti took pictures of children all over the world with their favourite toys. They're very interesting photos. I think it would also be interesting to have the children pose with ALL of their toys. (I would be mortified to have my children photographed with all of theirs, however. We practically need another house to keep them in.)

For some reason, this reminds me of Vera Saltzman's portraits of middle-aged women posing with their childhood dolls. (You have to click on "Sue and Winnie" on her portfolio site.) Maybe it's because the photos are interesting but I think they could've been even more interesting. In the case of Saltzman's series, all the women are wearing rather grim expressions and, as you look at more and more of the photos, it begins to look rather staged. I think they'd work better as a collection if they wore more natural expressions.