mexico city in the past

I was in mexico city recently with my mum and dad and aunt and sister and we did all the usual touristy things, for me some of them for the fifth or sixth time.

One place we went where I had only been once before was the templo mayor in the Zocalo beside the cathedral. It is the old centre of the aztec civilisation and is now of course tumblind down and in ruins. There is a good museum attached to it with statues and finds from the area. I love the old statues from old mexico. The faces are so expressive.

These were my favourite. Stone knives with faces on them, they look so comical, like childrens toys.

And of course the ever present spiral. Had a thought about this one, like the spiral was been received by the bottom piece.

Of course if you are ever in mexico city you have to go to the Museum of Archeology. Amazing place and standing in the place of honour right at the back gallery is the sun stone. It is the aztec calender stone and was found buried under the zocalo in 1760. It is impressive in its size and carvings.

Had a thought about the mayan calender when I was there. All the meanings of the mayan calender will not be relevent after 2012. They will have to start again. New beginning, fresh wind, rewrite the world.

new jewels

to be found at heartworksbylori

I got one of these for my brothers girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife as a kind of welcome into the family present but then according to mum it is her birthday soon so she will have to wait (and daire, if you are reading this before her birthday don’t let her see!)

It arrived in the post I showed it to mum and we both decided we had to have our own. They are soooo yummy actually shine better and more luxuriously in real life than they do in the photo.

These are the photos from her etsy site. I figured she did a very good job of taking them so its better.

They are butterfly wings, (which she assures us do not come from live butterflies but ones which have died naturally) and I can think of at least two other people who would love one. I am wearing mine right now. Its like a precious stone and glows with an intense blue.

totally wonderful….

a very cool website

Stories from Space

Hi, I just have to put this up. I found this website ages ago and was fascinated by it. I love the little worlds she creates and makes us see what is around us in such a different way. It appeals to my sense of fantasy and reminds me of some of my favourite movies. The Dark Crystal by Jim Henson (youtube link) or the Labyrinth come to mind.

yellow things

I have figured a fun thing to do would be to pick a colour and see what i could find. I decided on yellow for no other reason than it jumped into my head.

I love yellow.. a rich warm sunny yellow. I don´t wear it I paint walls of kitchens and bathrooms with it (and eat it, paul just handed me a yellow M&M) and revel in the warm light it makes in these rooms. I would probably paint my whole house yellow if I could.

Yellow is sun, warmth, light, happiness, simplicity, joy, childish playfulness. At the moment here there are yellow flowers everywhere, shining in the sun and making far away hill look orange. I had an idea to make a coat. A chinese cut, green with yellow flowers all over it. It is forming in my mind as one of those future projects I might just accomplish if I don´t get distracted by more in the moment ideas.

I found this wonderful book on the web. I like her style. Julie Paschkis is her name

And these soaps on etsy.. there are so many yummy soap shops on etsy, I had about thirty tabs open and had to be really strong, favourite a few of them and take just two for this blog.

Skin Journey Shea Butter

Dennis Anderson Lemon lustre shea butter massage bar

These victorian tags are kinda interesting, from Farouche

Yellow citrine, one of my favourite stones…. from Lee Ohio Designs

Quince, known here as Guayabana. It sets into a jelly when mashed up. They use it make a sweet called membrillo here. really good. I also have a recipe for quince cake which I took with me from Ireland to try. I will try it soon I think and let ya`ll know…

a cute baby wearing a yellow hat….

and of course please refer to my yellow umbrella two posts down for extra cheer in an already sunny climate!

x clio

a poem…

THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK

by: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo
Questa fiamma staria sensa piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero
Sensa tema d’infamia ti rispondo.

• LET us go then, you and I,

  When the evening is spread out against the sky

  Like a patient etherized upon a table;

  Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

  The muttering retreats

  Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

  And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

  Streets that follow like a tedious argument

  Of insidious intent

  To lead you to an overwhelming question …

  Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

  Let us go and make our visit.

  In the room the women come and go

  Talking of Michelangelo.

  The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,

  The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,

  Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,

  Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

  Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,

  Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,

  And seeing that it was a soft October night,

  Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

  And indeed there will be time

  For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,

  Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;

  There will be time, there will be time

  To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

  There will be time to murder and create,

  And time for all the works and days of hands

  That lift and drop a question on your plate;

  Time for you and time for me,

  And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

  And for a hundred visions and revisions,

  Before the taking of a toast and tea.

  In the room the women come and go

  Talking of Michelangelo.

  And indeed there will be time

  To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”

  Time to turn back and descend the stair,

  With a bald spot in the middle of my hair–

  (They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!”)

  My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,

  My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin–

  (They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)

  Do I dare

  Disturb the universe?

  In a minute there is time

  For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

  For I have known them all already, known them all:

  Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

  I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

  I know the voices dying with a dying fall

  Beneath the music from a farther room.

  So how should I presume?

  And I have known the eyes already, known them all–

  The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,

  And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,

  When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,

  Then how should I begin

  To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?

  And how should I presume?

  And I have known the arms already, known them all–

  Arms that are braceleted and white and bare

  (But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)

  Is it perfume from a dress

  That makes me so digress?

  Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.

  And should I then presume?

  And how should I begin?

  Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets

  And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes

  Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? …

  I should have been a pair of ragged claws

  Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

  * * *

  And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!

  Smoothed by long fingers,

  Asleep … tired … or it malingers,

  Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.

  Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,

  Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?

  But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,

  Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,

  I am no prophet–and here’s no great matter;

  I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

  And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,

  And in short, I was afraid.

  And would it have been worth it, after all,

  After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,

  Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,

  Would it have been worth while,

  To have bitten off the matter with a smile,

  To have squeezed the universe into a ball

  To roll it towards some overwhelming question,

  To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,

  Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”–

  If one, settling a pillow by her head

  Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;

  That is not it, at all.”

  And would it have been worth it, after all,

  Would it have been worth while,

  After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,

  After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor–

  And this, and so much more?–

  It is impossible to say just what I mean!

  But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:

  Would it have been worth while

  If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,

  And turning toward the window, should say:

  “That is not it at all,

  That is not what I meant, at all.”

  No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

  Am an attendant lord, one that will do

  To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

  Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

  Deferential, glad to be of use,

  Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

  Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

  At times, indeed, almost ridiculous–

  Almost, at times, the Fool.

  I grow old … I grow old …

  I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

  Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

  I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

  I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

  I do not think that they will sing to me.

  I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

  Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

  When the wind blows the water white and black.

  We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

  By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

  Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Its good to be the King

Ya’ll have to go vote on this t shirt so I can buy it for Paul. He is always saying ‘It’s good to be the man’ to get a rise out of me and when I saw this shirt and the name of it its just too perfect. Its on another t shirt submission site I found called Design by Humans. I put their link in my blogroll.

What else… I left my camera in the internet cafe, big bummer, I am going to put up a notice for reward to get it back and everyone in the mine is covered in a really strange rash that we reckon is from the water but the doctors keep saying its insect bites and give us medication that doesn’t work. Why is it that doctors don’t listen to people? Its reaaaaaalllllllly itcy. I keep saying we have the mange, like dogs get!

dancing people

So my threadless submission didn’t get very far. I think I am not hip enough for threadless or else I am not involved enough to get comments. Oh well, not really worried. Would be nice to get a design printed though and get 2000 dollars!

So I took the design I did and made it into an embroidery. I stiched the people up seperately and stuffed them and then stiched them down onto the backround fabric so they stand out. To make the people I patchworked strips of fabric together first and then embroidered the people on top of that and then made them into the dolls ready to get stuffed.

Words in the corner, sky dancing, growing, singing, dancing…

It is good to get back on the sewing machine again. I have one more project on the go and another one sitting in my head ready to leave.

Its funny about what other people think is cool or not cool or marketability. Just read this post today from Florence Forrest. Sometimes I do work which I don’t really value until years later when I look at it and see that it is actually a good piece of art work that I just didn’t think was good enough at the time. Or I understand more about the image and why I did it. I think rather than ‘not being marketable’ I think we are just not ready to expose them. They sit until we recognise their value and recognise the value of who we were at that time. She does the coolest toys too, check them out.

I think sometimes I can get lost in needing to be professional and advance my ‘career’ and forget that the best art comes from the heart in the moment and if we loose that then we have lost our connection to ourselves. Marketability comes when it is ready. Of course actually getting out there and showing the world what you do helps also! Its a balance.

and of course to leave you with,  the usual picture of a beautiful sky!

girly things

check these really cute shoes out! I want a pair. I have them in my favourites list and I go and look at them every now and then. It is a site called Fairysteps

She makes them herself. You measure your feet and send her your measurements and she makes them to order. She has certain ones ready to sell. I love the idea of getting shoes made up for me. I want a pair of high leather lace up boots in bright red.

I just showed these to Paul and he hated them! we have very differant tastes in clothes and things. I think they are adorable.

Also for the girly girl working in a mans world I love this site. Oshatoes

Its safety gear and steeltoes shoes but they are for girls! There are pink hard hats and pink safety glasses. So cute. I look around this mine site and I think it would be great to have everybody wear pink hard hats! I shalll take some pictures today of this place for this blog.

What else, oh yes, the puppy turns out to be a girl so she is back being Pala again. Its strange how we treat things differently as to whether they are male or female. I found myself thinking differently about the puppy when I found out she was a girl.

And I sold two purses from my etsy store! surprised I was, I haven’t sold anything from there for ages. I had kinda left it alone. Cool.

xx clio

my birthday portrait

I got a text message from my brother today that my birthday portrait was up on flickr. Its strange looking at photos of myself but I really like this one. His site is at Flickr his sets are down the side. Some great ones in most interesting and some cool places in places mostly from his trip round the world a few years ago when he was laid off and given consolation prize of lots of money!

He is a really good photographer. he messes around with strange old fashioned cameras and at one stage was using coffee and lemon juice to develop the films. If you ever want portraits done give him a shout. i am constantly asking him when he is going to get an exhibition together or show his work in a cafe or a restaurant for sale. Since Mark has been born there has been nothing but baby photos and photos of mother and baby This one is one of favourites of Mark.

The colour is wonderful. Very subtle.  The next one is my sister with a double exposure. I love the way the  foliage is over her. She would prefer it without the camera around her neck.

And a cool one of a weird skyline developed with coffee..

and an amazing one of our dad looking very wise man of Aran

and I love this one

and of course the artist himself

5 Random things

Five random things I have picked up over the last while.

First is for those of you who either love fabrics or who love words. It’s a list of fabrics from medieval times and their description. For example samite medieval. a rich silk interwoven with gold or silver threads. or vervise medieval blue cloth similar to plunket. At  Rosalie Gilbert you will find it.

Second, 10 Socks, I just love these, I will have to get them for someone. Not that expensive really at the end of the day when you consider that really good socks last for many years instead of two washes. And no matter which ones you lose you will always have a match.

My favourite artist on threadless. Priscilla Wilson. I love her illustrations.

A website about Kefir. An amazing culture drink, along the smae lines as yoghurt but has other miniature organsims just dying to set up in your digestive system and set about repairing/protecting it. It sits in milk/soya milk/almond milk and does its thing and you strain of the liquid drink it and put more into your kefir. Endless fun.

And lastly for the feelgood factor, I am sure most of ye know these cards, having seen them in health food stores and angel/fairy/hanging crystal stores. Doreen Virtues cards. But if you want words of happiness and nice things and fluffy bunnies then go here.

enjoy, x clio