Skip to main content

From Luxury to Necessity: A Weekend Recap

This weekend, I have felt things keenly.

Yesterday, it was a visit to Bluebird, and a conversation with a woman who has recently made her artistic endeavours her livelihood. We had a great chat about life and art. I wanted to buy out the store.

In the evening, I felt exhaustion come over me like a wave. Emotional, mental exhaustion. So I caught up on The Mentalist (and nearly cried, but that is a whole other topic) and went to bed.

This morning, I read a blog entry from the mother of a family I have never met, but am fascinated by (and slightly in awe of). She is asking many of the same questions that have been rattling around in my mind lately, despite our geographical, generational, and general differences.

I don't usually get teary-eyed at church. Today, I teared up no less than three times. Once was a photo and a song. Once was a story about death. And once was the beauty of rescue and redemption.

During an afternoon wander through The Distillery District galleries, I struck up a conversation with an employee about light and colour and serenity in a series of portraits. It was beautiful to talk about it all, even if I am untrained in the visual arts.

Just around the corner, I looked into an Art Market booth and recognized a print I'd nearly bought at Bluebird. A brief conversation with the artist made me decide to purchase work from her in the near future.

I craved time and space to create today. It didn't happen, which left me a little sad. But I know that it will happen. The more I expose myself to art, the more deeply it moves me and the more convinced I am that it is not a luxury, but a necessity in my life.

Two other necessities in my life that I used to consider luxuries:
1. "downtime/space/alone time" - whatever you want to call it. I need an afternoon or an evening free from tasks and free from company every week.
2. massage therapy. It has changed my life...literally. I need to find someone here in Toronto who will keep my body in better shape than I can.


These three artists are among those on display in the Distillery.
Go and look and be moved.
(Take me along, if you'd like.)
Nava Waxman
Tadeusz Biernot
and Marie-Josee Roy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The ROM, The Earth & Procreation

Disclaimer: This post is intended to generate discussion and a sharing of many opinions. It is NOT intended to judge or condemn anyone's life choices. I had an unexpected moment at the ROM last month. C and I were listening to a presentation for kids on wildlife conservation (or rather, I was listening, and C was eagerly anticipating what live animal would come out next), when a statement caught my attention and still hasn't let go. For most of history, the earth could provide enough resources for the earth's human population. But today, our population is growing rapidly, increasing by 250 000 people every day... Forty years from now, it will require 2 Earths to provide sustainably for our survival as a human species. But we only have 1 Earth. 250 000 people. Every day. That is roughly twice the size of my hometown. In one day. So I did a little math. (First, I rounded down to 200 000, just in case the figures were inflated or failed to account for some sort o...

Women And Our Ways: Intro

Last summer, I started writing a blog entry that I never finished. There are several like that, actually. This particular one starts out: If you are male, you probably don't want to read this entry. I mean it. If you were grossed out by my entry on placenta lasagna , didn't understand the problematic tea commercial , or were surprised by my thoughts on the curse of Aunt Irma , this one is bigger, badder, and more bold. I'm going for broke. I've been meaning to write this girls-only series ever since. But then I realized that I want to write a series that may frighten or surprise men, but is not meant to exclude them. Then I thought that maybe I don't want to do that, as it will stir up controversy and I will be misunderstood and I will unintentionally offend both men and women and I will write about things that don't often get talked about. But I think I'm willing to risk it. Titles in the series Women and Our Ways may include: The Mo...

Sunday Starters

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep up with a different 'theme' for blogging every day. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes I hate it. But what I do know is that Sundays are no longer Fundays. (well, in reality, I'm sure they still will be). Instead, I want to do this: I start a sentence, and we all fill it in. However we want. There is only one rule: You have to play the game too. Example: Happiness is... ...a warm puppy ...time with my family ...a myth ...knowing that in the end, he/she's got my back. ...impossible to pin down. This week's starter: When I was six, I thought...