the-hot-spot-blog

The Sun and Moon at the North Pole

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:14:25 +0100

What an amazing photo of the sun and moon at the North Pole!

It made me remember my own experiences of the far north when I was just out of high school.
My girlfriend Joyce had some connections somehow and told me where to go and apply. It was
at a place called Echo Bay on the edge of the Great Bear Lake, 20 miles from the Arctic
Circle. There was/is a silver mine and a small mine settlement. It was fascinating to me!
The miners worked deep in the ground and I went for a tour. I have samples of all the
different ways they would find the silver expressed.
I think it was October through to January that I was there. The winter nights were so crisp
and beautiful! The hoar frost would be inches long...crystals stretching outwards...
I learned to curl up there and I was pretty good. My mom was a curler for many years and
skipped her own team. She won many trophys and even an eight-ender!
My mom also won awards for her marksmanship. She said she learned to shoot by hunting gophers when she was young. It was a way to earn some spending money.

The people who choose to live in the far north are a strange bunch. When the rest of the
world is so far away the focus of the peoples lives becomes much narrower and it is the
immediate, day to day events that governed the conversations... with a lot of strong
emotional currents over-lapping or slipping by...

Linda Westrom

Icicles

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:24:50 +0100

Icicles

I had the idea to make icicles in the middle of summer while I was driving north on the Malahat many years ago. I was returning home from Victoria and was listening to CBC on the radio. Someone remarked how one person takes a pound of steel and makes a steel bar while another person takes a pound of steel and makes pins. I thought, “What could I make using just a small amount of glass?”... “Icicles!”

I excitedly began to think about how I could make these. I turned off the radio so I could concentrate. By the time I returned home to the farm where we lived west of Duncan, I had a plan. Claude and I figured out the idiosyncrasies and gathered up the necessary equipment and set up an appropriate configuration. We worked on our prototypes for a while then decided to go to the river for a swim.

While we were away another glassblower from the mainland stopped by and left us a note saying, “I was here but you were not.” We did not even get one season to bring out our new item. He immediately returned to his studio and began to make icicles. Some people have the ideas and some people just take them. As we did our Christmas shows all across Canada other studios saw our nifty little items and began to make them as well, though not until the following year…

As each icicle was unique I priced them at $1.00 per inch. I scanned a ruler and used the paper as a guide for calculating the length. I always rounded it down so the customer felt good about their little purchase. We had icicles in all the various colors of glasses that we make. I also was happy to have something that anyone could afford to buy. Children could come into our beautiful glass booth and enjoy the experience and also be able to find something that they could buy that was special and handmade. Those are the kinds of experiences that stay in our memories and I know that those little icicles will be around for many lifetimes to come.

When Lochlin and I went to Toronto to do the winter season One of a Kind Show, we had the good fortune of having our friend, Marion, take us to see the Niagara Falls. I have a great picture of icicles that formed at a ninety degree angle because of the constant wind and water spray generated by the Falls!

Linda Westrom

Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens Show

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:38:24 +0100

This show is held twice a year, once on the Victoria Day Long Weekend in May and again on the Labor Day Long Weekend in early September. The show is located a short drive from Courteney at Brian Zimmerman's Woodland Gardens next to the Kitty Coleman Provincial Park on the Strait of Georgia looking over at the Sunshine Coast. The Gardens are a peaceful, wonderful retreat with thousands of flowering shrubs and exotic trees, with ponds and meandering trails opening up to beautiful vistas and secret secluded points of interest. The show has juried exhibitors from many media displaying and selling their work.

Sand Castles, Long Beach, Vancouver Island

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:46:47 +0100

We got up early and drove out to Long Beach yesterday. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there. We have stopped at many of the interesting spots along the way many times : Coombs Country Market, Englishman Rivers Falls, Little Qualicum Falls, Cathedral Grove (with the giant trees), Sproat Lake, Kennedy Lake, the water-carved rocks pull-out, all the beautiful places that you can stop, just for a few minutes, and enjoy the Island. But yesterday we wanted to drive quickly out to the Beach to enjoy the day.
We got there around noon and bought our parking ticket for the day and headed down to the beach. It is always a wonderful feeling to be on the edge of the continent, where the water meets the land. There is a special energy there at the cusp. The white sound of the surf and the wide expanse of the ocean in front of you... I love it!
We walked and talked and looked for gifts from the sea... We took Sugar Bear and Spice Girl with us and I tied their leashes together so they could not run off in different directions and they would be easier to control, if necessary. When we went past the rocky outcropping as far as we wanted we turned around and walked back, but higher on the beach, where all the big white driftwood sculpts the edge. Then we returned to the car and got out our picnic lunch.
We took it down to the beach and parked ourselves next to a driftwood hut that someone had constructed. Sugar & Spice dug themselves a hole and settled in. Then Lochlin decided that this would be a good place for us to build our sand-castle. While I went back to the car to get all the tools and molds, Lochlin set out the base structure, a large rectangle formed with pieces of driftwood. When I brought back the shovel he began to dig "the lake" as we called it and to form "the mountains" for our setting. I constructed the large lower floor, then started making the ramps that sloped up to the higher structures... It enjoyed working and playing together in the cool ocean breeze and warm summer sun. We finished up around 6 pm and took our pictures of our fabulous structure. I had called it "the Temple of the Sun".
We took a bit more time to walk down the beach to the South this time, then a cool wind came up and we decided it was time to head home, happy, tired and hungry.

Celebrating!

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:04:30 +0100

Today is the anniversary of our wedding. We were married 33 years ago but we have actually been together since high school! I was only 16...
One day I heard Joni Mitchell on the radio. I decided that I wanted to learn to play the guitar and sing too! When I got home I announced my intentions. My younger sister, Bonnie, asked me, "Who is going to teach you?"
I replied, " I don't know yet."
She told me that there was a new family in town and that she knew that James Duperron played the guitar and was in one of her classes. We looked up their phone number and called to make the inquiry.I had decided that I would write a song and play it at the upcoming high school queen competition.
James said that he was too busy but maybe his older brother Claude would be interested. Claude and I spoke briefly and agreed on a price and time. I went over to the Duperron home for my lessons.
I was not happy when I learned that I had to cut my fingernails! I have always liked having my nails a bit long; my fingers seem to get cold if a nail breaks off and I have to keep it bandaged for a while... (we all have our idiosyncrasies).
Also, I was not aware that it hurt your fingertips and that you had to develop little callus's on the pads of your left hand in order to push down the strings. It was a lot harder to do than how it sounded when Joni played!
With Claude's guidance, I bought myself a small, warm-sounding Gibson guitar that I still have. It was built in 1953, the year that I was born!
I wrote a simple song called "Smile" that I nervously played on stage at the competition. I thought to myself, " How could I have been so foolish to think that I could do this so easily?" Live and learn...
As I went to my weekly lessons and fell in love with music, I also fell in love with Claude, the Music-man.
We were together for many years and had many experiences before we took the time to get married. By then I already had a strong sense of self that I was trying to get to know and I did not want to give it all away by changing my name. The woman's movement had begun and I read many books by strong female authors. I was awakened to see that I could develop my own direction and make my own contribution to life. It was the times that I grew up in...

Waterfalls

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:14:19 +0100

We just finished making a large beautiful piece from my Waterfalls series. It took us over 3 hours! I am exhausted... I look forwards to opening the lehr tomorrow morning! I will set up my pattern so we can do one more tomorrow...there is just enough glass left. The image takes a lot of glass as I make many trips back and forth to the piece adding more rivulets until I get the feeling of cascading, cool, frothing water...

The Medium is the Message...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:21:28 +0100

Coincidence?

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:16:49 +0100

Yesterday morning I was reading my book about the life and times of Camille Pissaro. The author was describing the newspapers that were read by the local Parisians. He talked about how Camille was deeply moved by the serial chapters of a story published in the Paris Revue by the author Gustave Flaubert. Flaubert was arrested and tried on the grounds of 'violating public morality' for his novel, "Madame Bovary". When I read this I thought, " What kind of story could get an author arrested for its' character development?" I made a mental note that I would like to read that book and I would check with the library to see if it was available.
I went out to the studio and got to work, choosing, crushing and preparing the colors for my next Series and for the friendship balls that we would do in the afternoon. We changed colors last night and now we are working in a beautiful turquoise glass. Claude made some wonderful, iridescent, silvery seashells. I made a bunch of bubble bags that we use for packaging our pieces. We worked until 7 p.m..
When I came in I sat down to rest with a glass of red wine before starting to prepare supper. I flicked on the TV and was totally amazed when I discovered that the movie "Madame Bovary" was just beginning! It opens with the trial of Gustave Flaubert and goes on to describe the story that caused such a sensation through the tragic development of a female character.
I will not tell you any more.... This theme could probably be updated and redone...
Life is full of serendipity!

Sharing

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:43:20 +0100

Yesterday Claude and I made a large pocket in the Autumn View Series. It turned out great! I also made a fairly large cylinder with a tree drawn on it. Claude made some seashells.
I am currently reading "Depths of Glory" written by Irving Stone. He wrote "Lust for Life" and many other great books about great people's interesting lives and explorations. I read one about the life and times of Freud that was very informative as well. I recommend probably anything that he wrote. I like historical biographies.
"Depths of Glory" is about the life and times of Camille Pisarro. He lived in Paris during the years of many other great artists. I am really enjoying it every morning.

July 20,2011

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:30:49 +0100

Happy 189th Birthday Mr. Gregor Johann Mendel, father of genetics!
Happy Moon Day, too!