2010 Catch me if you can!

2010 is a year of playing catch-up: with family and friends, with work and play, with old traditions and new adventures. There has been important milestones worthy of highlighting. Clement received his 35 Year Long Service Award at Concordia University and looks forward to formal retirement come 2012. Lily looked back at the past decade as a retiree from computer software development and feels firmly grounded in her creative pursuits using needles and threads. Sigmund and Edmund discovered their Chinese roots and made plans for the future to come. The world marched on with long strides in the direction of social networking and we put in efforts to keep pace. So with a fewer words, and a selection of images, I am setting down the 2010 marker. No more catching up, just moving onward.

Ying & Yang

This is my first post since returning from Hong Kong.

Denna Crain invited me to take her Class at Quilt University. I chosed her recent Crystal Quilt session and had a fabulous time. Making these two Crystal Quilts had been a wonderful way to get me back into the quilt making grooves. Although there remains a few finishing touches, I declare my CQ # 1&2 finished.

I showed my CQ's to my visitors yesterday. While discussing them, my friend convinced me that what I have made is a sequel to my 'Taiji Journey'. These two quilts can be seen as representing the energy balance of Ying and Yang. There is Ying within the Yang (CQ #1) and in a similar way, the Ying (CQ #2) is supported by the Yang energy. Out of Nothingness, the two poles of the Supreme Ultimate are born.

Happy New Year!

As 2009 prepares to leave, making room for 2010
may there be
Peace on Earth and Happiness for All!

Dream Catchers

We spent a good part of this summer on the road again. Ever some often, our travel bugs bite and we will head out to see the world. This time we head out, just the two of us, with the final destination as the Upper Peninsular of Michigan State, Houton to be exact. Clement attended a Math conference and did some work with Tonchev. I tagged alone and visited some friends on the way. We visited Algonquin Park, Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsular. These are Ojibwa country. On this trip, I really feel the presence of the Great Spirit. There are many small things that touched my senses, but I was most pulled by seeing the hand made dream catchers in one of the few shops I visited.

So back home I had to complete the circle by making my own dream catchers. I took branches from my kiwi vine that has been growing for years in the back yard. I wove with last year's silk threads that I dyed and spun. Each of them features a white swan feather that I picked up by the lagoon of the Victoria Park in Kitchener where we went to see this year's Grand National Post Card collections on the very last morning before we came home. Here is where you can see the rest of the dream catchers.

Home sweet home! Sweet Dreams!

Les nomades

Recently I was given an opportunity to do something special with and for groups of school children from 10 different inner city schools in and around the City of Montreal. It was an experience I looked forward to, somehow knowing that it will come to me and that I should take up the challenge. The challenge came as a request from the McCord Museum to participate in their project "Les adventuriers nomades".

It involved my effort to develop and conduct a series of ten 2-hour workshops; during each of which a group of up to 50 Cycle 2 students undertook a creative adventure to put together a personal quilt block using colourful fabric. The creations express their thoughts on the theme of "nomad".

The sets of quilt blocks were assembled into 19 separate quilts - traveler's blankets. It was a considerable amount of work, but I marvel at the spontaneous creativity of these children and the results are quite wonderful to look at.

To see the quilts, go to

http://picasaweb.google.ca/MoonGlowStudio/LesAdventuriersNomadesAtTheMcCordMuseum#

Throughout this week, the 19 quilts - traveler's blankets - were exhibited at the McCord Museum. The children came to the museum for the final visit of the project. They saw all the quilts displayed together and each school gave a performance based on their story. It was such a wonderful experience.

Imagine - the talents in Hong Kong

The current exhibition at the HKCL Gallery features the young artist Johnson Tsang entitled "Imagine". My gallery visit was a unique experience. It points to one reason why Hong Kong is such a special place - so rich, so predictable, yet ever-changing. I am impressed.

The New Face of Central

Yessterday, life started to pick up pace. With a late start in the morning, we headed out to Quarry Bay Park. Passed by Tai Koo Estate and saw the Wan Fung Art Gallery and spent a good hour there. Quite impressive to see the work of the new generation of Chinese painters, mastery of traditional technique with a modern sensibility. Mr. Kwok, the owner was being interviewed for a tv program so I listened in for a bit. The work of a Mr. Suen Jianlin with his "colourful manifestation of lines & curves" combining western modern technique with traditional Chinese folk art is especially inspirational. I'm very tempted to buy the catalogue of his work.

Back to the park, I found a quiet place to do my taichi routine, first time since over a week, felt much better after.

Salted chicken lunch at Tai Gar Lok, then took the West Central Tram to the end. That's where the Western Market has been converted into a tourist point. I discovered that what remained of Fa Bo Gei has been moved to it's 2nd floor - great browsing but not really with any intention to shop, not for now at least. There was a French lady there buying up yard after yard of Thai silk. Must felt like great bargain.



I didn't really have any objective in mind. So since I saw the harbour looking our the window on the top floor of the Western Market and was pulled by it, we headed out and got onto the skywalk. The extensive skywalk system connects us all the way to East Central so we started strolling east. I like strolling along the skywalks for many reasons. It is away from the hassel and bussel of the city; it affords great views; we can sit and rest from time to time; the interconnecting shopping areas break up the monotony.

At the HK/Macau/China terminus I looked at the holiday packages advertised by the travel agents. They were also selling cheap last minute boat fare to Macau, shouting at the top of their voices. Outside the Four Season Hotel, the landscaping is modern and tasteful. Between the 4-Seasons and the IFC is the new Lane Crawford, high style as usual. In the mall is City Shop, the fancy grocer that will satisfy any international craves and desires on an unlimited budget.

As the office workers started to pour out in all directions, we hurriedly made our way to the MTR which took us home in a jiffy.
For more photos, go to
http://picasaweb.google.ca/MoonGlowStudio/HK20081102#