AGA Stoves and a Winter update....

I haven't posted much about my new village, the sweet little hamlet of Woods Hole.  I was traveling a lot in the fall and with the shorter days the town seemed to go into a winter hibernation mode.  A summer tourist draw, each restaurant in town gradually shut-down between October and January and now only the Capt. Kidd is still open.  The still beating heart of the village is Pie In the Sky bakery where I get my coffee every morning.  Today I was chatting with owner Eric about the pros and cons of Aga stoves, a connoisseur's ultimate "comfort stove", and remembered my pics from a showroom I stumbled across in London a while ago.

Behold the beauteous AGA!

Okay, the polka-dots are bit much but how about that mint one!?!  And a truly fascinating short history of the AGA, including the story behind its invention by a Nobel Prize winner, can be found here on wikipedia.

I also popped into Smallbone nearby, purveyors of bespoke kitchens that have inspired past renovations of my own.  Here is a detail of a beautiful wood countertop.  For a lot less money you can call up your favorite carpenter and go to Lumber Liquidators--the unfinished cherry butcher block countertops are waiting for you to arrive.   Here's a link to another post about my home-made wooden countertops.

Infinity and Dreams, Hillmer and Borge

I saw the most beautiful photography exhibit recently by Karin Hillmer at the Silvermine Guild Arts Center in New Canaan, Connecticut.  The title of the show was "Infinity and Dreams" and it featured a series of photographs inspired by the work of Jorge Luis Borge, the famous South American writer who is credited with inventing the literature genre magical realism.  These crappy screen shots below don't do justice to the beauty and mystery and depth of these photographs but hopefully they will inspire you to click through to the artist's web site and see better reproductions of her many photographs.  Each photograph had a title that was written in lovely script on the mat of the originals.  And yes, the ink monkey always drinks every last thick black drop.

I was wondering how magical realism might be related to the fantasy genre whose invention is often credited to William Morris and found this  excerpt on wikipedia that explained it nicely:

"Prominent English-language fantasy writers have stated that "magic realism" is only another name for fantasy fiction. Gene Wolfe said, "magic realism is fantasy written by people who speak Spanish,",and Terry Pratchett said magic realism "is like a polite way of saying you write fantasy". However, Amaryll Beatrice Chanady distinguishes magical realist literature from fantasy literature ("the fantastic") based on differences between three shared dimensions: the use of antinomy (the simultaneous presence of two conflicting codes), the inclusion of events that cannot be integrated into a logical framework, and the use of authorial reticence. In fantasy, the presence of the supernatural code is perceived as problematic, something to which special attention is drawn, whereas in magical realism the presence of the supernatural is accepted. While in fantasy, authorial reticence creates a disturbing effect on the reader, it works to integrate the supernatural into the natural framework in magical realism. This integration is made possible in magical realism as the author presents the supernatural as being equally valid to the natural. There is no hierarchy expressed between the two codes. The ghost of Melquíades in Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude or the baby ghost in Toni Morrison's Beloved who visit or haunt the inhabitants of their previous residence are both presented by the narrator as ordinary occurrences; the reader, therefore, accepts the marvelous as normal and common."

2010 Visualization Challenge, First Place

Every year Science Magazine and the National Science Foundation team up to run a competition to recognize the most effective and cutting-edge efforts at visualizing scientific data, principles, or ideas.  Below is this year's winner, an illustration of the HIV virus (you can read about what you are seeing here) by Ivan Konstantinov, Yury Stefanov, Aleksander Kovalevsky, and Yegor Voronin.

(click to enlarge)

I was immediately struck by how much it looked like the Star Wars Death Star....cue evil shiver down spine. 

 Here are two less scary, warm and fuzzy, winners.....

A tomato seed by Robert Rock Belliveau

 Map of links between the genes of the mustard plant Arabidopsis thaliana by Insuk Lee, Michael Ahn, Edward Marcotte, and Seung Yon Rhee.

Right now, somewhere far away....

Just in case you were wondering what the Sun looked like today.....it was, in fact, stupendously beautiful!

Images taken today (at various wavelengths) by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.  All click to enlarge.

Dianne Ayres's beautiful textiles

Last week a WMFC follower sent me a link to Dianne Ayres website Arts and Craft Period Textiles that sells gorgeous hand-embroidered pillows in Arts and Craft designs.  Even more enjoyable, you can buy the designs and materials as a full kit and make these pieces yourself.  Really beautiful.  I wondered who stitches the finished pillows?  If I find out, I'll update post.  Kits run about $45 and finished pillows around $150-250.

 

Heaven or Hell?

Detroit has over 12,000 abandoned houses, a small number of which have been documented by photographer Kevin Bauman's in his haunting 100 Abandoned Houses project.  The city is offering many of these homes free or for trivial amounts of money and in a few places little island of anti-blight are growing.  My first thought was "a renovator's dream!" but the scale of the urban decay soon overwhelms. 

Valentine...

Toronto's giant thimble

 

(photo by Peggy Hilliard)

When I saw this out of a taxi window today I knew I must be in a fashion district!  Wish there was time to explore the fabric and button shops....

Craft guerrillas

In praise of DIY - Outdoor furniture

These pieces, a glider bench, glider chair, small table, and chaise lounges, were all made with hand tools (some electric) and materials from the local hardware store.  The cushions for the chaise lounges were made with regular pillows.  All click to enlarge.

 

A young woman who helped spark a revolution!

 

26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz of Egypt was featured in the New York Times yesterday.  On January 18th she recorded this video and uploaded it to YouTube and Facebook where it quickly went viral.  It called for her fellow citizens to join her in protest in Tahrir Square on January 25th. 

“As long as you say there is no hope, then there will be no hope, but if you go down and take a stance, then there will be hope.”

Thinking of the people of Egypt

 

  

Van Gogh Pie Charts by Arthur Buxton

(click to enlarge slightly)

It says: "28 van Gogh paintings visualized as pie charts showing the five most common colours in each as a percentage.  Can you tell which one's which?"

Art meets science and makes beautiful children.  Would love to see more!  Artist Arthur Buxton is having a show at The Arts House in Bristol with a reception on Friday the 18th of February. 

Knit the Dr. Who Scarf

 Jodi's comment on the knitting post a few days ago reminded me of an awesome Xmas gift she made a few years back for one proud geek we both know....a Dr. Who scarf.  Above is actor Tom Baker in the original scarf and below is Jodi's scarf.  A website devoted to the history of this iconic scarf, complete with free knitting instructions, can be found at doctorwhoscarf.com.