Around The Joint

Oops, I am still inconsistent when taking pictures from my phone. I haven't taken that many pics with it yet and I shake or wobble sometimes. Here is one of the little cat paintings we bought from a woman in New Orleans. She painted it with her fingers in oil. I just love it and here it is in the fresh painted kitchen.


Downstairs the basement has a whole stove and set of cookware because Grandma used to cook Polish sausages in the oven broiler for parties. I found these two cabinets and have put them together to make a little island for working in the kitchen up stairs. They have cupboards and shelves and they have really improved the traffic flow and work area for making soup and serving. We were in a department store the other day and they had much smaller islands for sale at $250 so I feel so good about repurposing these cabinet pieces.

Here's our little buddy all upgraded and online with FB. We have the tv and computer set up nearby each other for a change to see how that works out.



We found this huge lamp down the basement and I thought it was really beautiful. I love tassles and plants and curlycues which are motifs on this 4 foot high lamp!. The lamp doesn't have a shade yet...so I've been looking around and I think a huge black and white stripped shade would be cool on this lamp...so I've put a black and white shade above this pic to see if I can get an idea of what it might look like...

There is a cafe down the street for the retirees in this neighbourhood and they often have art on the walls for sale. One week they had all this art work by someone who had seemed to have taken some lessons like the ones seen on PBS or cable programs on how to be an artist. There were about a hundred paintings all of landscapes with the same repeated techniques of using a brush in one way to "make a tree" or "make a river" or "make a waterfall". It was fascinating to see so many paintings knocked out by one person...all following a system of artmaking. They were for sale for $10.00 each and I found the one above that I thought the colours were kind of cool. Most of his paintings were in browns, and blues straight from the tubes...but this one showed a unique sense of colour...I liked the red clouds...plus I wanted to support someone out there trying something new in their life. Many people say when they retire they are going to take up art or music...and this idea has always fascinated me...because artists don't retire. Other jobs...people look forward to retiring but artists are one of the few jobs where we don't retire. I remember there is a famous anecdote in Canada about the writer Margeret Atwood at a party and she meets a neurologist and he says to her" When I retire I want to take up writing". And she says to him "Thats ironic because when I retire I want to take up brain surgery". Anyways...I liked this painting and for $10 thats a great deal huh?


I picked up some fabric and sewed new covers on pillows. I went to a fantastic second hand store in Wi. and got a velvet skirt which I cut up to cover a pillow here. The little green footstool is from our back alley someone was throwing out It's so fantastic to have a tv again i must say. ha ha...I did really well not watching my stories all these months but it sure has been terrific to catch up on last seasons Celebrity Rehab, Bill Maher and The Closer etc etc. Celebrity Rehab was much better than I expected...i thought the program might have run its course but I found the stories of the people very touching. I was shocked to see Sean Young involved on this tv show...although all these years I suspected she was an alchoholic when she was on interviews and some of her behaviour and comments back in the 1980's. I absolutely love Sean Young back in the day. After I saw Blade Runner. I used to try and get my hair and dress like her "replicant" character and I just loved her...she wasn't in a lot of movies but she had such a wonderful energy in the movies she did make. (Dune and No Way Out). I was also very surprised at how much I cared about Amy Fishers story. I thought at fist it was a real all time low for tv getting Amy Fisher on this reality show...but I was wrong. Her story is compelling and emotional...and the people on this show demonstrate so much of the contemporary human condition. It is a real gift on tv for this program out there. Amazing. I also fell in love with Bai Ling who is an actor. She grew up in China and served in the army stationed in Tibet and in her therapy she revealed abuse by high ranking soldiers. She was such a victim and so low esteem that she actually didnt even see that something wrong was done to her. Her story, her personality, her mixture of sorrow and style is really touching to witness. During this season, a former patient, and rock star, died. I found the montage of his time in rehab lovely and sad...Mike Starr from Alice In Chains had been on several seasons of the program in various treatment programs. I think this tv show is so incredible and so spiritual to see on television and hopefully helping young people.

Here is Stagg doing some painting in the kitchen. Right now we've been mostly doing some small paintings in the kitchen...but we have options in the coming weeks. I think I might insulate the garage which might be a nice place to set up some painting space. We also have a decent potential in the basement...but there is some water leaking from the furnace which we are getting fixed next week or so...and then I want to paint up the floor. The basement could also be a great game room and place to paint. The pictures below are Stagg's Man Cave. He's got his guitars and magazines in there with a small stereo and he likes hanging out in this little side bedroom off the living room. We're going to move a couch in there too pus pick up his drums he's had at his friends place up north for years. So it's kind of fun for Stagg having this extra room.


Check out the photo of Stagg meeting Keith Harring! Wow!