Farewell to yearbooks

This article in the Economist regarding the decline of yearbooks is so sad!! Or so I think as a former yearbook nerd and one who has recently been going through my old high school yearbooks 20 years later.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no luddite & am all for Facebook and My Space and whatever new online (mobile? refrigerator-based?) communications tools come along. But these are great immediate tools - nothing beats flipping through real paper several years later and reliving (or re-cringing) old memories.

Plus -- wherever will young whippersnappers of tomorrow write 'You're great, stay sweet! Wish I'd known you better while we were in school!'

Another quiet weekend

An especially quiet one this time -- we headed over to Henley Saturday mid-morning, for a delightful lunch chez Agar (senior), and then Ashley headed off to play cricket for the day, leaving me sunning, napping, reading, and more napping. Bliss.

And Sunday was a little more of the same -- less the sunning. Oh, and a little less napping as well -- rather I headed out to watch Ashley play yet another day of cricket, after first stopping by the gorgeous Stonor Park grounds for the annual Craft Fair. Hmm... mostly jewellery and clothing I'd be unlikely to wear. However there were some clever crafts, my favourites being the guy who reclaims and frames prints from dilapidated childrens' books (Babar and Winnie-the-Pooh) seemed to be his speciality; and the woman who frames old postcards with glass on front *and* back, so you can still read the message should you choose. I kept my wallet in my purse, however, and came home empty handed, but with some interesting crafty ideas!

Monday -- the 'August Bank Holiday' -- like Labor Day but without an ostensible honoree. Home this day, a little more active. We started the morning with the 'Best Breakfast on the Green' -- our local has started serving breakfast, and the menu is quite extensive, including some American treats. Note to Mel (the landlady), however: If you serve pancakes & bacon, the former should definitely outnumber the latter! A welcome addition to the food choices on the Green, though - and we'll definitely be back.

The afternoon saw us traipsing around the Gardens with friends -- and of course more food; tea and cakes this time. Movie on the couch in the evening, and sadly the 3-day weekend crept to a close, along with the summer. Bring on woolly jumpers and chilly nights, it's time for Autumn coziness!

Psycho Buildings

Finally made it to the Hayward this weekend at Southbank to see the Psycho Buildings exhibit -- phew, closing in 2 weeks so got there just under the wire. The exhibit has installations from a number of artists showing their take on architecture -- it's all quite fantastical, this is *not* an architecture show, it's an exhibition. I like the Hayward because it's not too big -- you can really take in a show in full, rather than feeling like you're rushing and only skimming by, like in so many massive museums.

There were about 10 - 11 pieces, each taking most of a room, and each taking a different take on space, enclosure, and architecture. My absolute favourite was Do Ho Suh's 'Fallen Star 1/5', which was an amazingly detailed 1/5 recreation of two homes from past (Korean and American) colliding, literally. It was reminscent of Dorthy's house colliding with the new amazing world of Oz. The way the exhibit was arranged, you first came across the piece from the outside -- seeing this simple Korean cottage crashed into the corner of a large New England-style home. And on the inside? Room after room showing the incredible detail from miniature Syracuse and Boston banners and a Rhode Island School of Design sweatshirt, to mini-Metallica posters (must be a boy's room!) And then all the internal destruction that would happen if one home collided with another. It was like a surreal take on the Smithsonian Dollhouse. (Oh, how I looooved to visit that dollhouse. And so wish I could find the book I once had elaborating room-by-room... )

Unfortunately, the Hayward wouldn't allow photos -- so the best I could do was this pic of the shot in the exhibit catalogue (hey -- I liked the show, but not enough to buy the book!)

I'm famous-ish

How cool is this?! My absolute favourite cross-stitch designer, Michael Powell Art, has started a stitcher's gallery, and my personalisation effort made it in! Here's a link to the 'standard' design from the little gems series, and here's my work in the gallery. (Stefanie from London, 2nd entry down - that's me!)

Today Michael Powell, tomorrow the world!

Dog-tastic

If I had a dog, I would make him wear this shirt. And looking at this site, the majority of the online dog-t-shirt buying public is Democrat as well... (or even non-buying, as my vote seems to have counted too!) Not that I take this as a very accurate poll, but still, it's cute.