Art in motion

Very cool...

Jerome murat
Uploaded by rockette

winter biking - moving stuff

Last week we got a dump of snow that finally looks like it's going to stay. So winter arrives in mid-January...

And so Kyoto is finally put into hibernation, and I still have to get my drums to gigs. When the weather is unpleasant, or I've got just too far to go (or too much stuff to bring) I have to rely on others with motor vehicles. But for those times when I can do it by bike I use a trailer, which my jazz kit just fits into. This trailer was built by me for my friend Bridget, and since she doesn't use it in winter she has kindy loaned it back to me (in the Spring I'll give the wheels a bearing overhaul as thanks).

Towing a load like this is why I run a 7-speed internal hub on my winter bike, and not a single! And while I can get up to a quick speed on flat terrain, the load is heavy enough that emergency braking gets challenging, and who needs that kind of fun on winter roads? So steady as she goes and I get there eventually...

Like I said, the kit just fits in the box.

Art! Pt. 2

Our family is quite scattered about, so at Xmas time we don't always see each other, and often have a get-together just after New Years. My older bother Jon and his two teenage daughters Marianne and Rebecca came to Ottawa, and since the ongoing warm winter precluded doing the usual fun things like skating on the Rideau Canal, we opted for a visit to the National Gallery. Now, Jon's girls are lucky in having some really cool uncles (according to them!), and being a Cool Uncle I thought they might find a trip to the Gallery to be a bit boring, but they enjoyed it!

The one thing I needed to photograph there was the giant Baby Head. This is one weird piece of work, but very well done. It's mainly made of latex, and the eye lashes and brows are made of stiff wire, and the hairs were all installed piece by piece. I took two photos, one with the flash, one without.



It sits in the room by itself, and is now one of my fave pieces of art. The next one took me a moment to figure out, and then I realized it's a pile of bicycles!


The girls continue the family tradition of making faces:


(Of course, Marianne may kill me for posting this. hehe)

After the gallery it was back to Mike and Jane's for dinner, where I learned how to make sushi! It all came out quite nicely, and tasted great.


And Xmas cookies, ice cream, and sliced nanaimo bars for dessert! (my sweet tooth is genetic).


And I have a new fave photo of moi, taken by Mike after our Xmas day road hockey game:


We'll call this the Curmudgeon Look. Not bad, eh?