Last attempts for pin cushions

This is my third and fourth attept to do a decent pin cushions.  It is the two last attempt I decided to makes.  I can call them a success.  I am satisfied with them.  The sizes are way better.  The two smallest will be perfect for travelling.

See for youreslves:

This is the two more recent attempt compared with my twi first attepmts:

It is definitively an improvement.  So, it took more than I thought to get a perfect result.  It been a long road but I made it, finally.  Now, I will have to find a project to put to use the remaining of the fabric.  I have a lot left of green fabric.  Time to brainstorm!

Here is the light

Light is bright.  It can also be a bit spooky.  It sure put an effect on it's surrounding.  As seen on the photo above.  I found this illuminated door.  I found it interesting.  If the corridor was a bit darker, it would show more.  It would be brighter.  It would be more striking.  It would be a good Halloween photo if I want to scare people.  With some photoshop, I could put some Christmas decorations.  It is a versatile basic photo that could go either way.

I like taking photos like that.  LIght and shadows bring everything else to life.  It is opposite and it gives contrast.  I find it bring something interesting to the photo.  I just need to practice more to put contrast in good effect.  It reinforce the idea to always have a camera.  I was lucky to have one when I saw this illuminated door.

Ice maiden

I have found a few videos on the Ice Maiden.  It is an archaeological discovery in Eurasia.  I think it is the Altai region.  It is kind of a follow up on the Amazons interest I have.  Tribes from the steppes, like the Scythinas, the Sarmatians, etc..., seems to had an interesting lives.

This ones are a series of videos.  It explain well the tribes of the steppes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDQgMCmnBNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPb_tGn-blM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uFVV214HY8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tCVhoCKEhg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doedZDcYdDo

For me, it gives a more visual side to the book I am currently reading (https://www.amazon.ca/Amazons-Legends-Warrior-across-Ancient/dp/0691147205/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513701101&sr=1-1&keywords=amazon).  There are other videos on that subject.  I have not looked at them yet but I will.

Learning about that is inspiring.  Would be fun to learn that in school.  I know it is far away.  It is a place lost in the steppes.  But it is part of world history.  We do not really hear about nomads.  It should be talk about more, be it in the steppes or plains, be it in Eaurasia or in the Americas.  A big part of our history had been in the nomadic way of life.

I am inspired.  I would like to write something related to these nomads.  It will be fiction, of course.  I think I will have to think more about it.  I am nost sure I will be able to stick with the discovery.  I never tried something like that but I would like to try.  If I am not satisfied, I will turn it into an Amazons story, purely fictional.

Chimera

I found a channel on youtube where they are mythological videos.  What I like is it is a good introduction to mythology, at least from what I seen until now.  It is mainly on Greek Mythology.  I think I will dig a bit deeper for place to cover other mythologies.  I had found a few videos here and there but that's all.

I found one interesting particuliar video on the Chimera.  The video explain well what the Chimera is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YB01R9km2M.  It is a monster with various animal parts.  It seems to be an theme in Greek mythology.  There is plenty of animal with various or extra parts on them.  Pegasus, for example, is a horse with wings and he can fly.  Cerberus is a three headed dog.  Hydra is a many headed kind of dragon.  Well, it is the depiction that I always had seen.  Even human may have some animal parts, think of Medusa with serpents as hairs.

Mythology is also inspiration for some human conditions.  I think the chimera was the inspiration for peoples sho have a particuliar condition related to their adn.  More explanations here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)  It is not the only condition having a link with mythology.  Hermaphroditus is linked with intersex.  Oedipus have a link with the mental but I think Freud may had smoked a little bit too much.  Or Freud was not as much knowledgeable on mythology when he found his Oedipal complex.

There something that got me on the Chimera path.  It can be yet another monster but as my knowledge of this beast grow, there something that makes me wonder.  Chimera had been put on the bad guy side.  Is it truely that?  Who knows the emotions this beast have?  It would be fun to explore the worldview of this composite being.

Tiles

Sometimes, there are place where I found something that makes me wish I could do some shopping.  The shopping would be on the discovery I just made.  I found a place with tiles.  There was one tile that I found interesting.  It was a decorated tile that was in a pattern.  There was a few decorated tiles that were lost surrounded by undecoreted tiles.  I found it elegant.  It was not overly charged.  Just enough to make it interesting.

Here is the decorated tile:

A simple flower basket.  It is in monocrome tone but it is a very good idea.  I like when it is not heavy on the eyes.
Here is the wall, well I took a photo of a corner:

It show how disperse the decorated tile is.  There isn't many decorated tiles but I find it enough to bring a small punch to the wall.  I just wonder if the decorated tiles are made with durable pigment and if they will stand the test of time.  Having them fading would remouve something from the wall.
I womder how tiles are done.  I know how it is installed.  My mind is a curious one for sure!

Strange discovery in public bathroom

I found a bottle of perfume in a public bathroom.  It is shown above.  Never seen this kind of perfiume before.  It smell nice in the air.  I was not tempted to sample it on my skin.  I was a bit shy to test it.  I was more surprised to see it on the counter, just beside the faucet.

The bathroom is isolated on a floor.  It is at the end of the corridor, in a place where not much people seems to go.  It is perpendicular to the corridor:

It is at the left.  There is two bathroom, one for women and one for men.  I found the perfume in the women one.  I wonder if there is one on the men side.  I have not thought to have a peak.  Next time I go there, I may have a small look at that side, just out of curiosity.
:

A day at the office

I work in a library.  What I like the most is to be deep in the shelves.   It is fun to have interaction once in a while with people.  There is also fun when I want to be alone, to think.  I find it restful.  I have great ideas in this kind of place:

This parculiar place is huge and not very populated.  It is a restuful place.  The access of this place is restricted to personel only.  i would easily see myself working at this desk:

Or this desk:

Both desk are not that far from each other.  I could see myself going from one desk to the other.  The only problem is there is a hearse and a cadenas between them.  Beside that, it would be a blast to work full time there.  There would not be much distraction except occasional noise coming from stairs behind a door:

Working space or Working Office

I find some people lucky.  They work in unsual working space or working office.  I do have a taste for the unconventional, so those places are a bit attraction for me.  I would like to work in a uncommon place.  I would become familiar with the place eventually but it would be worth the time getting use to the place.  I also wonder if I would get easily inspired while working in this kind of place.  Would it be exciting to work there, even in more difficult time?

What triggered this thinking is a building.  I pass regularly in front of it.  I wondered, for a long time what it was hosting, what was the activities inside.  I finally found out.  It is an old church that is now hosting an recording studio.  More here: https://www.mechanicland.com/  I do not know if they will stay at this place.  In recent weeks, there was a panel saying the building is for sale.  I wonder what woulc replace the recording studio.  A old church and a recording studio seems to be an very good match for me.

There is not much buidling like that around me.  Would be fun to have more.  It would be way cool.  Of course, I live pretty much in a no artistic land area.  There is not much inspiration around either.  I feel that my area is a place where people comes home to only eat and sleep.  There is no intesresting stores.  Only the bare essentail.  Buildings all look blank and similar.  Nothing really exciting.  So, not much inspiration when I look around.  The rare exception is the old church that is currently a recording studio.  I always like pass in front of that building.

Left handed products

I admit it, I am a southpaw.  Being left handed, the whole world seems to be on the wrong side.  As a child, I rremember that some items like scissors and some sports gears must be ordered from the store.  As time goes by, it is getting easier to get some products more adapted to us.  Of course, there are a few things that I use that are more right handed than left handed.  Think can opener.  I use an electric can poener and it is a bit easier tu use even if I am left handed.  The non electric manual can opener is a pain in the behind for me.  I go very slow and my right hand hurt after so much effort.

From my experience, left hander must be creative.  There is a market for being left handed and for sure, it show a lot of creativity.  I would had found useful to have an hand guard when I learned how to write.  I am sure I had seen one in the past but it does not seems to be available.  I found a left handed store (https://www.leftyslefthanded.com/) and one in Azmazon.ca (https://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=left+handed+store&tag=googcana-20&index=aps&hvadid=232470673860&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15144966106202280547&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=p&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000376&hvtargid=kwd-317310773941&ref=pd_sl_5xc22qy070_p)
The problem is even with all the good intention, does all those products works good?  I think it is not the first time I would like to see some test drive on some objects before using them.  Of course, there are some items that look a bit too frivolous.  I think of things like spoons.  It goes a bit too far for me.  I am okay using a normal spoon. it work well for both side of handedness.  There are notesbooks that can be unsed backward as a left handed.  Less useful when it comes to engagement calendar.

I do have found an engagement calandar that work (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1449483526/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)  It is a weekly one.  It will have to fit even if there are a few busy day in the year.  I came to that engagement calendar as a try.  It was a good trial and error.  In this case it was a trial that ended up in a success.  I was lucky for that one.  I can not always rely on my lucky star.  What I find out being an left handed: it is quite a wild ride.  It is also fun to be outside the mainstream, even if it is not always visible.

Myths and Reality -- The Amazons

There are myths that cross with reality.  Troy and Delphi are two towns that are good examples.  Both have a foot in myths and also in reality.  There had been archaeological excavation in both cities.  Troy is the setting of a war.  The horse used to enter the city is well known as the Trojan horse.   It is all myth.  There was signs of war on the archaeological site.  It must be doubted it was as described in the myth.

For Delphi, it was the seat of the Pythia, a prophetess that speak in the name of Apollo.  In real life, other cities and various people came to Delphi for advices.  In myth, it was also the case.  In myths, the Pythia always was saying the truth.  The problem was in interpreting correctly the message.  I guess it was for dramatic reason, the people consulting the Pythia, in myth, never interpreted the message correctly.

There is also another less know element of myth that cross reality.  It is not as well known as Troy and Delphi.  Both cities are celebrated in myth and today too.  The myth that I am thinking about is not a place.  It is a people: the Amazons.  In myth, the Amazons are a tribe of women that goes to war.  Many Amazonian Queen had been against many famous heroes.  Heracles and Hippolyta,  Theseus and Antiope or Hippolyta depending on the myths.  There is also a myth where the Amazons goes to war with Athens.  There is also Achilles and Penthesilea, in the Trojan War.

This is mythological stories.  There are been discoveries that put some credit to the myth of the Amazons.  It is in the steppes of Eurasia.  There been kurgans, big tumulus that host tombs, where women had been discovered with weapons.  People living there were pretty much nomads, so everyones had to be able to defend themselves.  Herodotus, among many others ancients, spoke of those tribes in his writings.  From what I read, it is fairly recent that archaeologists had become conscious that grave goods can be misleading.  There is an entry in the Encyclopedia Mythica on Amazons.  (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/amazons.html)

Why I am talking about it?  I am reading a book on Amazons by Adrienne Mayor (https://www.amazon.ca/Amazons-Legends-Warrior-across-Ancient/dp/0691147205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513001237&sr=8-1&keywords=amazons).  It speak of many tribes in that region.  Be it Thracian, Sarmatians, Maeotians, Scythians...  I had also read a book on Warrior Women (https://www.amazon.ca/Warrior-Women-Archaeologists-Historys-Heroines/dp/0446679836/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513003113&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=jeanine+davis-kimball) by Jeannine Davis-Kimball and Mona Behan
So, the Amazsons have some roots in reality.  It is not a perfect match but there is a coonection.  It may be there that the Ancients Greeks took their inspiration for their Amazons.  It only show how the Ancients Greeks were inspired by their own world and by their neighbors.

It really interesting to see the reality of those tribes from the steppes be turned into a myth.  In turn, the myth does not have total connection with the origin of that myth.  Learning about the origins of a myth help to see how the reality become myth.  It is also fun to go from the myth to the reality.  It is discovering a new world that could inspire something else totally.  I would like to write something ispired from the steppes and it's people.  It would be closer to what I am reading in the two books mentionned aboved.  Of course, it will not be totally 100% close to that but I want to borrow some concepts and gives them my own spin.

Mars is everywhere!

Well, we can all agree that Mercury/Hermes is a busy body,  That god is having a lot on his hand: trade, communication, travelling up and down and everywhere in between in addition of every compass direction, a god of thievery too.  Mercury is also leading death souls in the underworld.  This god is also a messenger.  He deliver messages, faciliting communication.  So, maybe he is goind postal?  Message delivery is akin to letter delivery.  The stories doesn't says if Jupiter/Zeus messages were written.  Due to Mercury thieving side, I also see him a bit dabbling in trickeries.   Mercury/Hermies is full of ressources.  If there is a problem, he was sended in situ to resolve complicated situation.  One of Zeus'/Jupiter mistress called Io, Mercury/Hermes was there to get her out of trouble.  He even have the fastest planet of the solar system named after him.  He have the caduceus.  He created the lyre, a bit an ancester of the guitar.  I guess he could also be linked with laywers.  After stealing cattle from his brother Apollo, Hermes/Mercury had a nice speak to get out of trouble.  So, Mercury/Hermes is a polyvalent god.  The most polyvalent god in the pantheon.  HIs godly porfolio is varied and I am sure that this god isn't sitting down getting bored.

Even if Mercury/Hermes is keeping busy, he is not the only one that gives inspiration.  I am thinking of Mars.  Of course, Mars is a god of a very few string on his bow.  The Greek equivalent, Ares, is only known to concentrate on war, fighting and blood.  On the Roman side, I think there was a small tie with agriculture.  For sure, if agriculture was linked with Mars, it was not something we remember now.  So, then, why talk about Mars being everywhere?  Well, Mars is very imprinded in our world.  Just think of all the frenzy about the planet Mars.  This planet gather more interest than the planet Mercury.  Secondly, Mars is liniked with the calendar: there is the month of March.  In French, there is also a day dedicated to Mars: Mardi which is Tuesday.  And who could forget the memorable performace of the actor (Kevin Tod Smith) who was doing the god Ares in tv show Hercules and Zena?  The pertrayal was so good!  It is a shame we can't have this kind of perfomance now!  It was instrumental in giving Ares/Mars some big notoriety in our modern world.  Because of Mars, we have the name for the martial arts umbrella,  Various kind of fighting goes into his domain and it is useful.

Mercury/Hermes is not the only nice humky god on Olympus.  Mercury is everywere and can be a source of inspiration.  It is just not the only god that can give inspiration.  Mars /Ares deserve a bit more recognition.  Ares may be extremely brutal but having good self defence is also a good thing.  I do think that Mars/Ares deserve to have a place in our lives.  It is already in our lives and we are not always conscious about it.

Small kitchen

I think that I found the smallest kitchen ever.  Here how it look:

Pretty small.  It is in a place that is not that small.  I wonder about the logic of this small kitchen.  I don't see the reason for it's existence because there is another room that is larger and have the same function.  This room could be used to store other things like toys or to have an photocopier.  The room could have nnother use to it. 

Personally, I would use it for personal use like work there.  It would be very small for an office room.  It is not large enough for a desk and a chair.  What I would see is a shelf as a dexk on one wall.  A chair in fron of the self.  Highter shelves could handle papers.  No need for a desktop.  It would be perfect to write with pen and paper.

Well, small spaces are fun to look like anyway.  I do not know if it will be set for another use.  It just amazing what can be done with a small space.

New try for pin cushion

Still a work in progress for my pin cushion project..  I start to wonder if I will end up with the perfect handmade pin cushion.  Here is my second try:

Here is a comparaison with my first try:

So, I am on the right track: my second attempt at a pin cushion is smaller.  NOt that much but an improvement on the first one.  I wonder how moch try I will need to end up in a good sized pin cushion.  The positive point is that in either cases. it was easy and quick to make.  I made them both in an afternoon.  So, let's hope that 3 will be the charm and a sound success.