the mhyana family: whimsy

Showing posts with label whimsy. Show all posts

7/02/2008

Miniature Family Scrapbook from 1999

This is one of the first miniature books I made (around 2000, in Japan). It's just about two inches tall. I made it from old photo proof sheets, bits of tissue paper, a silk flower, gum wrappers, and (of course) gold thread.

I'm a gold thread junky. Mythology's Ariadne unspooled a golden thread for Theseus as he ventured into the Minotaur's labyrinth. Like Hansel and Gretel's bread crumbs and shining moonlit stones, the golden thread would bring Theseus back to the light of day, to his home, his love.

The word "clue" derives from the ancient word "clew," which means thread. I use gold thread somehow in everything I create. It is my clue, my sign post directing me toward love, light, and family. Of course, these are all the same thing. My lifeline.

6/28/2008

Our Family Names, Embellished with Japanese Mythological Symbols (2002)

6/19/2008

Manga Madness

The kiddos are taking a Manga cartoon class at the youth center this summer, and as we were researching Manga online, we found this funky site that transforms your photos into Manga pictures:

Lvov

Akychame

6/15/2008

My Flower Children

Please click on the mosaic to enlarge

Almost every day my girls bring me little wildflower bouquets and heart-shaped rocks and 4-leaf clovers. There are always flowers by my bed, on the windowsill by the kitchen sink, and on our dining table. Their sweet bouquets make my heart so light and ecstatic. The girls even bring me breakfast and coffee in bed now and again and give me foot rubs! Akychame and Lvov, you are my heart's delight!!!

5/20/2008

Some Musical Inspiration from a Lamentably non-Musical Jalina

It's so strange that all of my songs and photographs can fit inside a slim few inches of metal (there in the middle, in the blue case). I love iPods, MySpace, blogs, Wikipedia, and navigational systems just as much as I love gardening, getting hopelessly and serendipitously lost on road trips, making earth-friendly cleaning products, and reading mythology with my kids. What can I say? I'm a 21st century mama.

Tonight I updated my iPod with lots of great songs: a jazzy old Nina Simone song "Feeling Good," "Dissolved Girl" by Massive Attack, and "To Build a Home" by The Cinematic Orchestra featuring Patrick Watson. I'm so in love with this song:

Also... "Beyond" by Bluba Lu, and "My Moon, My Man" by Feist. Lovely music...

I just checked out Bluba Lu on MySpace, and coincidentally their top friends are Cinematic Orchestra, Portishead, and Brian Eno. I totally love that scene. Here's a great video from Bluba Lu (though I prefer their music with Androniia Popova):

Here's a video of them creating the song "To Love You," featuring Androniia Popova's enchanting vocals. This is one of my favorite songs, right up there with practically every song by Portishead. It's beautiful:

TO LOVE YOU at STUDIO ONE

And of course I also downloaded lots of free Radio Lingua German podcasts. I listen to these on the Autobahn all of the time. Haben Sie ein Doppelzimmer? Kann ich mein Gepack hier lassen bitte? That was this week's lesson about staying in a hotel. I highly recommend these 3-minute "quickie" podcasts. They're easy fare for a drive to the store or 20 minutes on the tread mill, and they offer many different languages. You could learn to ask if you can leave your luggage at a hotel in many different countries. ; )

4/20/2008

Lvov's Apology Gift Left Outside of Akychame's Door the Morning After an Argument

Inside the tissue paper baggie is Lvov's prized possession: the smoky quartz rock she bought at Idar-Oberstein, the mining village where we visited the church in the cliff. These girls are always leaving little love notes and gifts for each other, and for us.