MOA : the masks

 

The collection at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, was amazing.

We had seen some Native American’s masks at the Portland Art Museum, but it was nothing compared to the size of this collection.

I could have spent a whole other day just studying and reading about them.  But we didn’t have more time. I think I’d like to go back to Vancouver and visit the museum again.  I thought it was amazing.

 

the bees + the swarms + bee-sharing

This year, with two hives, we saw more swarms.

This one, was the first one from our top hive, in the back yard.

Here’s a video I took.  You can hear a little the bees flying, but nothing really compared to being in the middle of it.  I recommend it, if you are not allergic to bee stings, or don’t mind getting a little closer.  I haven’t gotten stung watching them.  It’s just amazing.

I love how intense it is.  The sound, I find it paralizing.

Incredible.

Just totally incredibly amazing.

First of all.  How do they decide where to swarm to.  How do they all communicate with each other.  How do they know when to go.  How can they hang on to each other in this huge, very huge mass, from one branch.

Mark decided he was able to get this swarm down.  We have some friends that built a hive and were ready for them.

So they got up there.

So much fun to see them calm and working together getting all these bees in a box.  Making sure they get the queen.

Justin making sure he got all his new ladies (and gentlemen.)

One more bunch and they got almost all the bees.  Great work!

And time to take them fast to their new home.  Bee-sharing, a great thing.

One more video of Justin and Mark shaking the tree to get the bees into the box.  Hoping the queen got in there and knowing later on, it had.  Almost all the bees were taken to their new home at Justin’s.  Bye ladies!  I’m sure you’ll be well taken cared of.

MOA : the baskets

Those that know me, you probably guessed (and maybe even secretly hoping) that I would devote a whole post on baskets.

So here I leave you with amazing First Nations of Canada basket making and weaving.

(not the best photo, but I love this basket!)

I wonder if I put all the baskets I own in a display like this one, what it would look like.  Mmm… I won’t do it though, just so the co-habitants in my house don’t try to thin them out.

[ right now ]

I am…

… feeling thankful for our friends who shared three weeks with us.  From stories to meals.  From their help around the house to painting together by the ocean.  From folding clothes to being on the side lines in baseball games cheering for Lucas.  From sitting in a very hot swimming pool amazed at Siena’s swimming to planting seeds and helping in the garden.  Two beautiful and amazing friends.  Thank you so much for coming to see us from all across the Atlantic.  We can’t wait to spend more time together.  Thank you for everything.

… enjoying their beautiful present and remembering our days together here, as I sip my tea.

… overwhelmed in the most beautiful way by their friendship.  Thank you our dear friends.  We already miss you.

… feeling the house a little empty.

… very sad to hear the news of a woman in the crafting world that did so much and her life was ended too short. Kathreen Ricketson and her husband Rob died tragically last week while on an adventure of their life, together with their two young children.  She created the Whip Up website, and wrote few books, and the Action Pack magazine.  I feel very sad for the tragedy and wishing much strength to their families and mostly to their two children.

… feeling loved and lucky.

… gathering again  our Ancient Egypt books and supplies to finish our unit.

… thankful to our friend Ros for helping Lucas get started in his reading.  He was having trouble but now, he’s so proud of what he did the past three weeks. We all are.

… counting the days for Mark get out of school.

… enjoying watching this video.

… enjoying the rain these days have brought with them.  They make it OK to hang out and have a slower day with a cup of tea.  I love it.

… taking deep breathes and catching up with things and projects I’ve put aside for many weeks.

… happy to see Lucas excited about his very own first (non-competitive) swim meet in few weeks.

… thankful for Mac helping me re-finish this nice (new to us) island for the kitchen.  Actually, he did most of the work.  Thank you Mac!  It looks so nice in our kitchen and I love all that extra space.

… seeing my beautiful blooming poppies getting sqooshed by the rain.

… amazed at all the work Mac did in our garden to get it started, while we were busy doing many other things, and some times even just sitting down for a moment.

MOA : the canoes

 

I have no words really to describe these…

… the amazing work

… the colors…

… the details…

… oh, the wood …

  … the size, the smooth-ness… everything just perfect.

MOA : Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia : Part 1

For spring break we went to Vancouver, BC.  You can see some of the first part of our trip in my other posts.

It all started because one day when we were learning about the Pacific NW Coastal Tribes, in January of February, Mark and I remembered our last trip (10 years ago) that the University of British Columbia’s Museum had an amazing display of totem poles.  We thought it would be fun to see them again, and that Lucas and Siena get to see them.  So I did some travel planning.  After many variations of our spring break, we headed up north to Vancouver.

And yes… we visited the Museum.  Still, the most amazing display of Native Americans artifacts I’ve ever seen (I haven’d done a lot of research on places to visit for displays, but this is amazing!) Really, really amazing!  I’m glad I have digital pictures now and that I’m posting them here to remember later.  It is an incredible place.

Oh… the totem poles…

 

 

We followed a tour guide for the Native American part (‘First Nations’, in Canada), and it was fun to hear the stories and information on what the Museum has.

Cedar bentwood boxes.

Cedar bentwood box made from yellow and red cedar from 1870.

Tsimshian bentwood boxes from 1860.

A Haida Bear donated to the museum.

 

 

There was so much beauty, there’s more tomorrow.

[ making + tutorial : baseball t-shirts ]

Like last year, I’m making our baseball fan’s t-shirts.  Lucas’s team is called The Red Whipper Dogs.  After some talking with the team members, and asking them how they came up with the name, I did some research online.

As you can imagine nothing came up under Whipper Dog.  I guess I knew that, but you never know what you can find online. Right?  Like now.  Maybe you do search now Whipper Dog my post could come up.  Kinda’ fun I guess.

Anyways.  I did some research online and I found a few designs and clip arts for Whipper-Dog-could-look-like.  Lucas decided on the perfect one.

And then I set myself to make our freezer paper t-shirts.

I made the drawing on the freezer paper.  I cut it out with an X-Acto knife carefully, to make a stencil.

I stick it to the t-shirt with a hot iron, and then I paint what was cut out.

First I tried it as a whole piece cut out, making the Whipper Dog white on the red t-shirt. Which then made me think, that I was actually making a ‘white’ Whipper Dog, which is not the case.

So then after Mark asked me to make a border, just like last year’s, I gave it a try.  I wasn’t sure about it.  It didn’t look right when I set it on the shirt.  But did it anyways.  And you know what?  It looks really good!

Don’t you think?

So on Lucas’s first game we all wore it.

It was so cute and Lucas (and everyone in his team) loved it.

So now, I have a few more to make as the other Whipper Parents want to have one too. I love it! I’ll take a picture later in the season with everyone wearing it! And now, let me know if you ever see a real Red Whipper Dog.  I would love a photo of it!