She Who Seeks

Friday, 10 April 2020

Ukrainian Easter Eggs

Don't you just love Ukrainian Easter eggs (pysanky)? So colourful, so detailed, so exquisite, so full of ancient symbols celebrating Spring, fertility, culture and faith (with deep roots in paganism). And all created using melted beeswax and dyes.

My Rare One creates lovely pysanky and I too (as a major Ukrainian wannabe) have been known to turn out a few in years past. We blow out the raw eggs first, using a little hand pump attached to a long needle. Then it's an exercise in skill and patience to write on the eggs with a stylus of melted beeswax, dye them, apply more beeswax, dye them again, etc. As many layers as it takes!

The gorgeous egg is revealed once the ugly, blackened wax is melted off in a low, warm oven, just like Spring arrives following a long, hard Winter! After all that work, however, the egg can still break at this final stage if you forget to unplug the blow-hole's wax plug before putting it in the oven. (Steam will build up inside the egg and crack it.) It's heart-breaking but still, a valuable life lesson. "Never get too attached to an egg."

This Spring, I was really looking forward to attending the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts' Gigantic Pysanka Exhibition here in Edmonton featuring local, professional pysanky artists, but of course it got cancelled due to the pandemic.

However, the gallery operators made and posted a wonderful video of the exhibit instead! Now, I forewarn you -- the video is 25 minutes long but it does showcase all kinds of traditional and modern pysanky styles using all sizes and types of eggs -- chicken, duck, goose, pheasant, quail and ostrich! It's the next best thing to being at the actual exhibit. But feel free to turn off the soundtrack's churchy Ukrainian choral music if it gets on your nerves, like it did with My Rare One. Cultural loyalty only goes so far, you know.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, 8 April 2020

JUST DROPPED IN . . .

. . . To See What Condition My Condition Was In (yeah, yeah, oh yeah)

It's sad news that Kenny Rogers died a few weeks ago. Like many, I was a fan right from his days as lead singer for The First Edition with its evolving rock/folk/country sound, through to his even more successful solo career as a country singer.

Here's Kenny Rogers' first big hit with The First Edition in the late 1960s when he was almost unrecognizably young, hairy and handsome. Now considered to be an early classic of psychedelic rock, it's also a classic cautionary description of drug addiction.

This song went on to even greater heights as the musical backdrop for the drug-fueled dream sequence "Gutterballs" found in the cult classic movie The Big Lebowski (1998). This surreal dream sequence has it ALL -- bad visual double entendres, bowling, a valkyrie, a fabulous Busby Berkeley-esque dance sequence, and (best of all in my opinion) the hilariously exuberant, but completely atrocious, dance routine of Jeff Bridges as The Dude.

Please pardon me, but in the true spirit of over-the-top Lebowski excess, here's a third version of the song that I simply must include in this post. I found it while looking for the other two. It's a great cover version done recently in a more folksy-bluesy-country style by a band called Front Country. As you can see, they perform it while dressed as the main characters from The Big Lebowski, LOL! Their lead singer, Melody Walker, does a superb job -- it's definitely worth a listen!

And this concludes our musical interlude for today!

Monday, 6 April 2020

Time To Go Grocery Shopping!

Remember to put everyone's needs on the grocery list.

Suit up!

Once you get to the grocery store,

be ready to rumble!

Grab a cart! Disinfect the handle!

Remember to social distance yourself from others!

And then hit the aisles!

Don't forget the fresh produce!

And when you arrive home,

hope you get back in!

But let's be truly serious for a moment --

So it's very important to . . .

Here are guidelines that come from

front-line grocery workers themselves --

Don’t bring your whole family to the store — come alone if you can.
Don’t get in an employee’s personal space.
Don’t ignore any markers on the floor that encourage social distancing.
Don’t go to the store if you feel sick.
Don’t give employees unsolicited advice on how to protect themselves.
Don’t come to the store “just to get out of the house.”
Don’t touch stuff you don’t intend to buy.
Don’t tell employees how “lucky” they are to have a job.
Don’t complain about items being out of stock.
Don’t ask them to “check in the back” for out-of-stock items, either.
Don’t complain to your cashier about having to touch the keypad to complete your transaction.
Don’t try to sanitize the credit card machine before touching it.
Don’t fight with other customers over hard-to-find items.
Don’t complain about the store’s new hours.
If your store has set up special shopping hours for elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised customers, don’t violate them.
Don’t whine about store limits on how much toilet paper or hand sanitizer you can buy.
Don’t pay with cash if you have the option of using a credit/debit card.
Don’t tell employees that you think all these new precautions are an “overreaction” or “unnecessary.”
Just don’t be rude!

Friday, 3 April 2020

My Two New Pastimes

Every day, I watch both the local and the national news on all three major Canadian networks. (Yes, I am, and always have been, a news junkie). Social distancing, self-isolation and working from home have greatly affected broadcast news lately, same as for the rest of us. And this development has given me my first new pastime.

These days, the vast majority of "talking heads" -- politicians, pundits, experts, even journalists themselves -- now appear via video link from their places of residence. And I find it fascinating! Not because of what they're saying necessarily, but because of what I can see behind them.

Yes, I have become a shameless Looky-Loo and a major Judgy McJudgerson as I harangue the talking heads from the comfort of my couch --

Oooo, you clearly used a professional decorator!

Your taste is appalling!

Your taste is non-existent!

Look at that clutter!

Why is there nothing at all on your walls -- does nobody live there?

OMG, who chose that hideous painting? Or that beautiful painting? I want it!

My gawd, get some better lighting on your face! And brush your hair!

For Christ's sake, put your laptop camera at eye level! Do not look downwards at it -- it makes you look like you've got three chins!

You may well ask where I have acquired my impeccable interior decorating and personal style expertise all of a sudden. Which brings me to my second new pastime --

Yes, I'm watching endless re-runs of Colin & Justin's Home Heist, which is a Canadian home makeover show from about 10-12 years ago. I am totally smitten with its two outrageously campy, gay interior designers, Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan. Partners both in life and business, they are Scottish in origin and have the brogue to prove it. Another charming aspect of the show!

Every episode, they wail, shriek and deride some hapless Canadian couple's bad home decorating taste and then design a much improved look for the residence. Their large home reno crew usually gets the whole job done in less than a week. Notable personalities on the crew include fashion-conscious Cheryl, the long-suffering project manager in charge of purchasing, and Graeme, the cute but whiny carpenter who usually screws up something every single episode and incurs the (temporary) wrath of The Boys.

Anyway, the show is great fun (and educational, too). A number of episodes are available on YouTube by searching the series' title, if you're interested in checking it out further.

What, you've got something better to do these days?

Clearly, neither do I, LOL.