We Call It PAM



Are you having a wonderful Labor Day? We are having another quiet day at home, mostly avoiding the extreme heat and humidity.

The clouds are so lovely, but the humidity adds to a seriously uncomfortable heat index.

Yesterday we went to the Phoenix Art Museum – the PAM! – to take advantage of someone else’s air conditioning for once. There are always good reasons to go to an art museum: the changing exhibits, the multitude of different art forms, and creative inspiration are some of my reasons. The PAM also has nice gardens and a good restaurant. It all makes for an excellent afternoon or weekend activity.

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I just discovered another wonderful thing about the museum, and that is that there are several ways to get in free. When I decided to change my economic status from “retired” to "unemployed” (facing the fact that my nest egg was nearly gone), I realized that I would have to entertain myself more cheaply than I ever thought possible. I sadly cancelled all my subscriptions and memberships and gave up my more costly activities, and became an aficionado of things that are free. A free entrance to the museum is a big win for me!

As always, I enjoyed something new and unexpected. One of the smallest exhibits was called The Politics of Place, Latin American Photography, Past & Present. Works by sixteen artists depict revolution and violence, decay and corruption, as well as work, faith, and humor. The piece that I found most interesting and beautiful was Requiem NN by Juan Manuel Echavarria.

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NN stands for no name, for the people killed in Colombian drug massacres and dumped in the Magdalena River. Some of the corpses are “rescued” by local people and given individual tombs, which are then decorated and cared for as if the deceased were family members. These are the tombs that Echavarria photographed.

The magic of this piece is in the lenticular photos. They look like one thing when you approach straight on, and they change to another image when you move to one side or the other. Here’s a link to Echavarria’s site where you can watch a simulation of the effect. I think it was an incredibly effective way to draw viewers to the piece and get them to stand there long enough for the idea of all the lost, nameless dead to really sink in.

 

Photos were not allowed in most of the exhibits inside the museum, but I took a few shots in the outdoor sculpture garden. 

Tumbling Woman, Eric Fischl

Five Dancing Figures, Magdalena Abakanowicz

We ended our visit with a delicious lunch in the museum café, and headed home feeling quite cultured and sophisticated.

 

Here are some ways to see the Phoenix Art Museum for free:

• On certain Wednesdays and Fridays they have free admission in the evenings. See the schedule here.
• If you have a Phoenix Library card, you can get a seven-day Culture Pass for free museum admission for two people. See here for requirements.
• If you have a Bank of America card you can get one free admission to each of several area museums (in several states) for free, every month. See here for all US locations and monthly schedule.
• And finally, many local employers offer free or discounted access to museums, gardens, and zoos as part of their benefit package.

If you live elsewhere, this should at least give you some ideas of how you might get free admission to your local museums.

Katrina

I Feel So Guilty

People who live in the desert (or anywhere, actually) have to learn to live in harmony with a number of animals that are considered dangerous. Of course, the term “dangerous animal” is like the term “weed” – the definition changes according to one's outlook or circumstances. Animals are usually not dangerous unless you provoke them by threatening their lives, food, or offspring. Humans are often dangerous for reasons that are less comprehensible.

spiders: I see "cute", others see "scary". source

Hawks and owls are an integral part of our ecosystem and a common sight here, yet some people have the urge to shoot them on sight.

Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis. source

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus. source

 

Coyotes have adapted to living in towns and cities all over the US. We have a small pack living nearby, and occasionally one of them visits us for an afternoon.

Coyote Canis latrans, relaxing under a tree

Many people find this worrisome, but in spite of a few highly publicized incidents it is rare for a coyote to attack a human. They will eat your dog or cat if it is convenient, so just use common sense and don’t allow your small pets to roam freely if you are fortunate enough to share your property with wildlife.

 

We have a seemingly infinite array of critters that slither and crawl. I generally don’t care for bitey things, while I strongly support those that help pollinate plants, and those that gobble up the other crawlies that can hurt me.

I love the pretty snakes



Love the cute bees



Centipedes are kind of yucky, but they would be okay if they would just stay outside!

Which is why I had extreme mixed feelings about this lovely creature:

She is, of course, a Black Widow spider. We have lots of them here, mostly living in the tall brick wall that surrounds the back of the property. They hide in little crevices during the day and come out on their long, sticky webs at night, looking for the flies and mosquitoes and beetles that got stuck. I am happy to have them since they stay out of the way and do a lot of pest control work for me.

Unfortunately, they recently started a new colony on the patio furniture. I saw this lady one night, with her huge web stretched across the legs of one of the chairs. I worried about what to do, since the Piemaker sits out there with his coffee and paper each morning before work, one of his few pleasures on a workday. I had just about worked up enough courage to try to catch her and move her to another location, when I noticed there were webs like hers on the other chairs, the table, and a bench, as well as one on the grill.

At that point I felt the whole situation had gone way beyond my capacity, and with a very heavy heart, I called the pest company. Yesterday morning they came out to the house, and killed my Black Widow spiders.

I keep telling myself that if it was between the Piemaker and the spiders, I made the right decision, but that is just oversimplifying. There was probably another answer and I just didn’t work hard enough to find it.

I feel very, very guilty.

 

Do find yourself in conflict with wildlife? How do you resolve it?

Katrina

Mauve Madness

It doesn’t matter how many times you reorganize things, if there’s simply not enough space for the stuff you have, there’s always going to be overflow and messy piles. This is why my sewing room and fabric are never completely under control.

Not pink, not rose, not lilac, not lavender...I'm calling them all mauve.

In one of my recent attempts to get all the fabrics into the bins, shelves, or hangers, I noticed that things were not only messed up but they were not in their proper color categories. Horrors! There were blues in with the grays, and pinks in with the purples, even some browns in with the greens. Ugh! Actually, it was mostly those troublesome colors, like russet (between green and brown), slate (between gray and blue), and mauve, which is an odd color all around. Is it rose? Is it violet? Well, it just wouldn’t do. All the mauves had to come out and sit on the floor while I thought about it.

(l) vintage 80s rayon, (r) raw silk

While I thought about it, the fabrics started looking kind of nice together. Now, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about mauve. Do I even like it? I don’t wear much true pink, but I do wear all the purples, from pale lavender to dark red violet. I think dusky shades are very elegant but I don’t know how well they suit me. Still, it seems I have rather a large selection of this odd in-between color. I might as well try it out.

(l) calcutta cloth, (upper right) ribbed cotton knit, (lower right) waffle knit

So, instead of working on things that I need (like new pajamas), or things I should make (like holiday gifts), I’m busy preparing fabric and patterns for a Mauve Madness Collection. So far I think there will be 3 skirts, 2 blouses, a cardigan and a pullover sweater, a dress, and possibly one other blouse. I don’t need any trousers, as the color looks beautiful with all of the dark neutrals that I already have.

cotton voiles

Most of the fabrics are lightweight, and should get me through our so-called Fall, which consists of one month of over-100 degrees, one month between 90 and 100, and then finally November-December which usually gives us a bit of relief in the 70s and 80s. (Yes, this is why our population increases substantially in the winter.)

That’s my plan. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of it. Do you have any exciting sewing or crafting plans for Fall?

Katrina

Project Runway Hunger Games

I watched the Hunger Games movie and several episodes of Project Runway in quick succession last week, so it’s no surprise that I had a dream in which I was selected by lottery to participate involuntarily in a Project Runway-like design competition. In my dream we did not have to kill each other, but we might as well have, since the regimentation of the “games” pretty much squashed all the joy out of the creative process.  

Hunger Games source

Which, if you think about it, is what Project Runway does anyway. Sixteen creative personalities are thrown together in a fishbowl, with various unnatural pressures applied, to see what they will do. Who will explode in a rage? Who will break down in a sobbing confession? Who will be rushed to the hospital?  Who will break their contract and disappear in the middle of the night? I don’t think a single one of the contestants enjoys designing clothes while they are on the show. They are just trying to survive.


Project Runway source

I can’t stand Project Runway’s focus on the arguing and sniveling among competitors when all I really want to see is how they come up with a design, and how they drape it, cut it, sew it, and fit it. I guess the producers don’t think that’s good entertainment. Sometimes I just skip the first half of the show and watch the finished looks go down the runway. 

could be either Project Runway or Hunger Games?

Generally I avoid reality TV, since it seems to have degenerated from an interesting and educational concept to a spectacle in which people are subjected to pain, fear, or humiliation for the viewers’ enjoyment. We’re not that far away from Hunger Games. Is this really what the majority of viewers are interested in? I don’t want to believe it.

Maybe there are still some positive, interesting reality shows out there and I just don’t know about them. I do like shows about history, science, etc, pretty much anything where people aren’t competing. So I guess it’s the competition and the associated viciousness that I can’t stand to watch.

Are there any reality television programs out there that you find interesting or enjoyable?

Katrina