Happy Halloween

Bath with a View, Fireplace, and Room for a Pony

At times, I wonder just how different I am from other people in North America! According to the real estate shows, everyone wants a huge bathroom, and couples want to be able to use the bathroom together. These seeming facts reflect neither my desire nor my experience.

My first question for those wanting (and spending enormous sums to achieve) a large bathroom is just what they want to be doing in there. There is the list of usual bathroom activities that everyone knows, and, as far as I can see, none of them requires much space. We sit on, stand or lie in the three or four major and necessary fixtures with not much need (or ability in most cases) to move very far. And who would want to try?

Maybe dancing in the shower would be fun, but ballroom style isn't necessary.
Drying off doesn't take much room, nor does dressing. Parents bathing kids need space to move around, especially for the multi-child bath, but even then the same limitations on activity and needs apply.

Other activities that designer bathrooms accommodate are not ones that I want to indulge in - at least not in the bathroom! Lounging in front of the fire is nice, but not in the same room with the toilet - no matter how large and well-designed the space is. Reading has its traditional use in this room, but why on a separate chaise for that purpose? - fireplace or no, it's the same issue.

The other problem for me is the desire for togetherness in the bathroom! I don't want my husband in the bathroom with me for any activity whatsoever.  Nothing, nada - privacy, please. On one show, both husband and wife felt unpleasantly like "just roommates" because they had to get ready for work each morning in separate bathrooms. And I thought that not having to share a bathroom was a bonus for people. Even if we had only one bath for us both, I wouldn't want company. What's wrong with taking turns?

Don't get me wrong: Luxury in the bathroom is nice - nice finishes, music and custom jets in the shower, a deep spa tub, a heated floor and towel racks.  If one can afford these things, they make some sense. But I so completely do not understand having the space for non-traditional activities, for lounging, and sharing.

Maybe it's just sour grapes. We have enough bathrooms, but they are small - no room for lounging, twirling, dancing. But I do know for sure that if I had pots of money to add to my home or to buy a splishy new one, a bathroom big enough to share and spend more than the necessary time in would not be on my list of "must-haves."

I can't help it. When people on a reality show claim that the master bath is so nice that they would spend hours, even days in there, I seriously wonder about them! Really, no matter how we dress it up, the bathroom is for elimination and ablutions, and it's beyond me why anyone would want to spend more of their life there!

Sheared Peony

Actually sheared, cropped, lassoed, unsharpened, and a few other things!

A Bright Idea

Wearing Purple on Spirit Day

Today is Sprirt Day, a day when many are wearing purple in solidarity with the LGBT community, to remember the recent suicides of several young people, to stand against bullying, to lobby for peace among people, generally.

Although they are not the first, and unfortunately will  probably not be the last, the tragic suicides/deaths of several young people in the last weeks have focused attention on the large and growing problem of bullying and homophobia.

I began to search for the names and ages of these most recent cases - the list is longer than the names in the news now.  Scratch the surface and the facts stun, not only because of the hatred and all the sadness, but because of the sheer number, as well.

Names and ages of those in the news now:

Tyler Clementi - 18
Asher Brown - 13
Seth Walsh - 13
Justin Aaberg - 15
Raymond Chase - 19
Zach Harrington - 19
Billy Lucas - 15
Cody Barker - 17
Chantal Dube - 17
Jeanine Blanchette - 21

That is 10 - TEN - young people in such pain that they chose to end their lives. Ten young people who will not be here to share their talents with the world. Ten families who are forever altered by grief and doubt.

TEN is not all. TEN is the number in the news recently.TEN has impact. TEN focuses our attention. But even one is one too many, and we have already heard the story of ONE several times over the years.

The other, happier large number I found while doing research is of the projects, places, agencies, blogs, and organizations (in government and otherwise) trying to understand this terrible problem of bullying, generally, and homophobic bullying, specifically and to help in any number of ways. Cher, at Askcherlock, investigates the reasons for and some possible solutions to the problem.

One project that reaches out by example and with encouragement from many, many people is the It Gets Better Project, started by Dan Savage.

Ellen Degeneres, one among many, many voices, comments on the tragedy of youth and gay suicide:



So today is a good day to wear purple, to mark the passing of young lives, and to reflect and act on this awful and growing problem.

Who's That Lady? Three Images

Over a year ago, on Canada Day, I took a photo of a colourful mannequin on display at the park:

Lovely as she was, she has been altered in the service of learning. I'm not sure which alteration I like best:

This one:

or this one:

What does everyone else like?

Type Mask for a Gnome

My Photoshop projects are quite random - months of diligently working through the book from start to finish wasn't very productive; I was bored and kept seeing things ahead that looked like more fun than what was in the current chapter.

So, when a fellow blogger offhandedly said to make something for her, I had today's project. (Check out her blog.)

The original image:

The finished project (masking with type and applying layer styles)  - 

Blend Modes and Opacity

Yesterday, these functions in the Layers Palette were somewhat of a mystery, so I tried them out. (This after only just being able to put some layers together that stay together!)

The background "before shot" is a crop of a picture of flowers I took earlier in the summer:

The before of the next layer is of frost on the glass walls of the deck this morning (alas!):

The following results are 1) Color Burn 68% opacity; 2) Color Dodge 48% opacity; 3) Hue 52% opacity. I chose them simply because I liked them.

So, six new things learned yesterday and today - only 887,346, or so, to go!

The "Before" Shot for A Steep Learning Curve

I didn't make huge changes to the photo: I used the impressionist brush with a long curl/ light colour to lighten areas of the sky; the wire has a sort of corona from a brush from special effects - scattered crystals (I think); some of the foliage is greener than in the original - another pass with the impressionist brush.

This is the original - no alterations yet.

A Steep Learning Curve

I have been concentrating on working with Photoshop and have decided to do something new each day, when possible. For too long, I have been poking around here and there in the program, but at that rate it would take several lifetimes to learn much of anything. With each new command or pull-down menu, I am totally amazed by what is possible!

 The photo is an experiment with brushes, mostly (and some frustrating attempts at fixing a boo-boo!). The image was taken on the road from Kamloops to Sun Peaks BC.

Fun with Fall Photos

Trees across the river.

Red hedge

Something to crow about

Autumn at North 54

Mellow days for contemplation.

Vibrant light and colour.

Autumn and beauty are complementary.

When Honesty Isn't Honest

Jack Kerouac, in On the Road, has characters Dean Moriarty and Carlo Marx do an experiment in which they try to tell each other their full and complete thoughts: "We're trying to communicate with absolute honesty and absolute completeness everything on our minds."

The experiment does not work:

They began with an abstract thought, discussed it; reminded each other of another abstract point forgotten in the rush of events..."it started a train of my own, something real wild that I had to tell you, I'd forgotten it, now you've just reminded me of it..." and two new points were born.

Thoughts "going viral," that's how thinking works. One point leads to five or two, filed for later in the conversation, but it just gets worse as we progress. The brain works faster that the mouth!

All of this proves the point that some people are being something other than honest when they insist that they must "honestly" tell others everything in their hearts and minds - even, and especially it seems, if what they say is cruel and hurtful. (These folks are closely related to those who say terrible sexist, racist, mysoginist, homophobic things in the guise of a joke - "What, can't you take a joke?")

As Carlo and Dean readily demonstrate, we simply cannot say everything that passes through the mind; it's not humanly possible. That means that we are being selective in what we choose to say to others; we have no choice but to be selective.

In short, what comes out of the mouth is chosen by the speaker from among all those thoughts and ghosts of thoughts, sensations, memories. Cruel and hurtful speech is not necessary for the full expression of all we think, which we can't do anyway. It is a purposeful way to be cruel and hurtful.

We should call people on this, just as we should call people on those jokes that are not only not funny, but are also usually bigoted.  We should call out people for hiding behind humour and honesty, for they are being neither funny nor honest; in fact quite the opposite.

So the next time someone pulls this on me, I will say that those more literate would know from reading On the Road, that it's just not possible, and that those more intelligent see the cruel bigot in them - and as I want also to express the fullness of my mind, I just had to say so. And that's no joke.