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One Morning.. A journey within, that routes to every heart.

  • SumoMe

How gracious it is to see the morning sun rising and how magical it is to feel its blessings as a part of energy we possess in us. While sipping my morning tea my heart suddenly colligates itself to the brightness of the sun. It felt as if something’s waiting for me, something that might change a part of me forever and ever.

After finishing my tea I cut an apple into two and started eating it bite by bite looking down from the balcony thinking of nothing. Just like any
other day everything seemed normal, usual and quite earthy. And then within a second a thought transported itself to a dimension unknown to me. The delicious apple turned into a tasteless thing that might have never existed if my mouth would not have taken pleasure in eating it. Within a moment my whole existence is questioned by an unconscious self. A self that resides within me but hidden like a shadow in darkness. It came to me like a shock. I could not react. It took me around fifteen minutes to come back to my senses though I never wanted to. But then it is only death that could save a senseless living body from its suffering. So, I had to come back. Those few minutes of my life have changed or rather transformed a part of me completely, probably desired by destiny.

I owe this transformation to him, an old, pale, weak and helpless person, who was covered in hardly anything to warm his body at a temperature unbearable even for a well to do person. It is that particular second when I saw him and remained dead for minutes. That second in which generations passed, that second was a second in which thousands of universes took birth and got destroyed, that second of infinity, still constant. That second is now a part of me.

A month has passed, I still remember that day clearly . I can still feel the intensity of that feeling of feeling-less-ness, getting stronger and stronger,
deeper and natural. It has become inevitable to ignore, irresistible to apply. I am also aware of the fact that application of it might cause the
destruction of my material self and doubting might leave me at the deepest level of wells of ignorance.

Perplexed and confused. To find answers my mind started its job to analyse the logic behind it and started evaluating the cause and effect. As my mind was busy in searching the matrix of perspectives, mobile vibrated giving a body-quake. Obviously I was not in my worldly senses to pick it up but how strange it is that the same call is going to give me the clue that helped me getting close to what I just experienced. I picked up and the voice came “hello! How are you?”

I replied “Can we talk later? I am thinking.”

Fortunately, I am surrounded by people wise, noble and profound enough to understand my last sentence. So he further asked “what happened? Why are you sounding so low?”

I replied “Yes I am but you might not understand.”

“Just give it a try. What’s wrong in it?” he replied in curiosity. There is a long pause.

Then he said “you cannot concentrate on your studies like this. Tell me what happened?”

As he gave me a satisfactory reason I narrated everything in a very usual manner. Then he asked “did you give anything to that man?”

I replied “no, I could not do anything, I was in shock, you cannot understand why and neither can I right now.”

He said in persuasive tone “Alright! I cannot understand but let me tell you something that I have also faced similar feelings when I was in my
struggling days. I could also not bear elderly people begging, half naked children on footpath, women leaning with five to ten children around. I always felt that I have to give something to them and so I have to make a lot of efforts to reach a position where I could help them.”

I said “But I did not feel that” there is silence.

“I felt something I cannot explain to you.” I replied with guilt of not feeling the same.

He asked “Did you give anything to him?”
I said “no.’

And then he said something I might remember throughout my life and it’s the clue I was in need, indeed. He said “Do you know that the apple you were eating actually belonged to him? That is why you could not eat it after seeing him. You should have given him one.”

Suddenly I felt good about the way my friend is thinking. I smiled and replied “wow..! I did not know you think like that. I am happy you said that.”

That sentence of his ‘that apple belonged to him’ triggered something in me and again my mind started exploring the answers.

But the next sentence diminished the vivacity and purity of the previous one.

He said “you should have given him something to eat or some warm cloths. God wanted you to give him something. That is why you felt
that way.”

But my thought had more doubts. I asked “No, that is not right. It is being partial to him. He is elder to me, I cannot just give him charity, and I am ashamed of doing so. He should be in a position to give me. I am a child for him. Secondly, I can give him food today, what about tomorrow and all the other days? If I will give him now I might think of him every day. I will be worried about the fact that he will come there every day in search of me and I might not be able to satisfy his eyes all the time. Then I will have to hide myself from him at least till the time I cannot deliver to his hopes. And this help-less-ness is unbearable for me.”

After listening to me my friend got angry. I could not understand the reason for his anger. He then said in anger just before
hanging up the phone “I expect a reasonable explanation from you next time we talk.”

I said “I hope the same. Bye and take care.”

After he hung up I could only think of one sentence of his “that apple belonged to him”. I was not thinking that the apple belonged to him
or not but I knew that the apple definitely did not belong to me. It did not belong to anyone. How ironic it is that an old, pale, weak and helpless
person has left me helpless with my own existence and made me realize that nothing is in our possession.

I leave it on my readers to decide who thi ‘him’ is. And while realizing the fact that everything belonged to him, every
atom of my body swallowed in the pleasures of contentment and in a blissful satisfaction.

Dolly Jamwal

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Friday, May 4, 2012

A Little Bit About Postcards

One of the great things about collecting cards is that the only limits to what "belongs" in a collection is limited only in the mind of the collector. Simply put, a collection is only as big or as small a collector desires it to be.

Some collectors consider baseball-themed postcards as a subset of baseball cards. Several teams have issued their own sets of player cards over the years, many featuring single players. Many players have used their own photographs for autographs (I featured a Yogi Berra postcard here), and postcards have even been used for hobby-related subjects (Here's a reprinted photo, and here's a show announcement).  Even Exhibit cards were sometimes used as postcards.

While going through my images, I found a few that are baseball-related postcards:

Postcards appeared shortly after the postage stamp in the 1840s and printed pictures showed up in the 1870s. In the U.S., private companies weren't permitted to offer their own postcards until 1898, but they caught on pretty quickly after that.

At first, the U.S. Postal Service held the right to the word "postcard," so they were called "souvenir cards" and required a notation that they were private mailings until 1901. After that, they were divided on the postage side (which allowed the mailing address to take up one side) in 1907.

While the previous images were only related to baseball in a generic way, I like this one because it's more specific to the sport. Plus, it's humorous rather than sentimental:

1 comment:

  1. I count them as cards and they are the bane to my Virdon collection. The team issue ones are hard to find and the nationally produced ones are highly collected and expensive.

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Firecracker to reissue first four sought after EPs on vinyl

Firecracker to reissue first four sought after EPs on vinyl

Edinburgh label repress a quartet of 10″s and announce Unthank 9.

Founded by Lindsay Todd, Fudge Fingas and Linkwood back in 2004, Edinburgh label Firecracker have built a formidable reputation for highly selected, forward-thinking dance music with hand-printed artwork to match.

Back in 2014, we selected their Panoram LP as our album of the year, while their crafted limited editions are consistently among the year’s best artwork.

Released between 2004 and 2009, the label’s first four 10″ EPs have been increasingly tough to get hold of (despite EP’s 1-3 getting a repress in 2008), putting deep house gems like Linkwood Family’s ‘Miles Ahead’ out of reach for too long.

Sourcing artwork from Marvel comics, the 10″s helped define the Firecracker aesthetic and are now set to be reissued at the end of April.

The label will also release the ninth instalment of their gorgeous and intricately printed Unthank series, this time featuring Lemme Kno (Future Times boss Max D and Morgan Buckley), with a three-tracker described as “breakbeat experiments, shplittin’ atoms and 90s jeep beats”. [via RA]

Listen and check out the tracklists below:

A1 Linkwood Family – Miles Away
B1 Fudge Fingas – Gettin’ Together
B2 Linkwood – Fate

A1 Linkwood – What’s Up With The Underground?
A2 Linkwood – What’s Up With The Drums?
B1 Fudge Fingas – Escape
B2 Skit
B3 The Complainers – Bacon Rolls

A1 Linkwood Family – Piece Of Mind
B1 Skit
B2 Linkwood – Hear The Sun
B3 Fudge Fingas & His Fidgety Friends – Aksman

A1 Linkwood & House Of Traps – Barely Eagle
B1 Linkwood – Who La La (Linkwood Edit)
B2 Fudge Fingas – Situation Diminished

Lemme Kno – Unthank 9
A1 The Tie With The Most Stripes
A2 Way (188 Krew Mix)
B 1234567

Firecracker Recordings will release UNTHANK 9 in April 2016 and EPs 1-4 on April 31st, 2016.

Read next: Talking records with Linkwood


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Monday, March 14, 2011

The Ghost Writer

After making a major comeback with 2002’s The Pianist which won Roman Polanski an Oscar for Best Director as well as the Palme D’or. Polanski was on top as he took a break and returned to filmmaking for 2005’s adaptation of Oliver Twist. After contributing a short for 2007’s To Each His Own Cinema, Polanski was preparing a project about Pompeii that fell apart due to the actor’s strike in 2007. Yet, the strike gave Polanski a chance to create another project that was in line with some of his other films in a political thriller called The Ghost Writer.

Based on Robert Harris’ novel The Ghost, The Ghost Writer tells the story of a ghostwriter hired to write and complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister. During the process, the ghostwriter uncovers a dark secret relating to the prime minister as well as what happened to the previous ghost writer. Directed by Roman Polanski with a screenplay written by Polanski and the book’s novelist Robert Harris. The film recalls all of Polanski’s themes of fear and intrigue while bringing humor to his own imprisonment situations including the recent troubles he had in 2009 over his 1977 statutory rape charge in the U.S. Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, James Belushi, Timothy Hutton, Robert Pugh, Eli Wallach, and Tom Wilkinson. The Ghost Writer is a chilling and entertaining suspense-thriller from Roman Polanski.

An unnamed ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is called upon by publishers to help write and complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister named Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). Under the instructions of publisher John Maddox (James Belushi) and Lang’s lawyer Sidney Kroll (Timothy Hutton), the ghost writer travels to Martha’s Vineyard in the U.S. to meet with Lang about the memoir. The ghost writer meets Lang’s assistant Amelia (Kim Cattrall) who gives him details about where to stay nearby and what to do with the copy of the memoirs. Even as the six-hundred page memoir proved to be a challenge for the writer as he also meets Lang’s wife Ruth (Olivia Williams).

Knowing that the previous writer had died mysteriously while his body was found washed ashore at a nearby beach. After meeting Lang and discussing with him about what to write, Lang is suddenly hit by a scandal relating to war crimes as he’s targeted by former colleague Rycart (Robert Pugh). Forced to stay in the U.S. and not go anywhere where he’ll be arrested, Lang goes to Washington D.C. to meet with the vice-president as Amelia and Kroll join him while trying to handle the scandal. The ghost writer reluctantly moves into the Lang home where he finds photos and documents relating to Lang‘s years in Cambridge. After finding some clues about when Lang really joined the Labour party, the ghost writer wants to know more about the man who previously worked on the memoir as he went around the island where he meets an old man (Eli Wallach).

Realizing that the old man’s clues about the currents along with Ruth’s stories about her early years with Lang. The writer learns about the pictures that the previous writer had and what happened to him the day he died. He decides to go into Massachusetts to meet with Lang’s old Cambridge schoolmate Paul Emmett (Tom Wilkinson) about Lang and the previous writer who went to meet him. Instead, Paul claims he didn’t know Lang that well as well as not meeting the previous writer. The writer suddenly realized he’s up to something as he’s being chased while he calls the mysterious number in the back of one of the pictures. What he learns from the man revealed to be the caller is someone who knows what is happening as the writer pieces on what is really going on and why Lang is targeted for crimes he supposedly committed.

The film is about a man hired to complete the memoirs of a politician only to find some things in this man’s life that doesn’t make any sense along with the death of his predecessor. That plot description does bring ideas of what a thriller or suspense film could be if its told in a conventional manner. Yet, in the hands of a master like Roman Polanski. He plays with the conventions but also allows those conventional ideas to be toyed with while he’s most interested in what this man is trying to discover.

Polanksi and co-screenwriter Robert Harris create a thriller that allows this unnamed character to enter the world of a politician that is being caught up by a scandal. At the same time, he meets associates such as an assistant who is possibly having an affair with the politician along with the politician’s icy, burned out wife. There’s also individuals outside of the Lang home that the writer meets that are very mysterious such as a man revealed to be a war veteran who lost his son and an old associate of Lang who claims to have never really known Lang. What happens is that with the possible exception of Lang’s assistant, the people that the writer interacts with are people who are very mysterious.

Notably the character of Ruth who is this neglected wife that is starting to unwind due to the home she’s living in along with the chaos of the scandal her husband is dealing with. When she and the writer are alone together with only a few people working at the house including security, there is definitely an idea of what is going to happen. Yet, the way Polanski presents the situation is through some subtle humor knowing it’s a cliché of what is going to happen. The screenplay also includes some witty dialogue including an exchange between Ruth and Amelia about who is to meet Lang first. Lang is also a complex character as a man dealing with scandal while wanting to give the public a story that will put him a place in history. The overall screenplay is truly superb from Polanski and Harris.

Polanski’s direction is truly mesmerizing in every scene he creates from a simple dramatic moment where not much is happening to the feeling of terror when something is about to happen. It is clear that from the first shot of the film where it’s all about an abandoned car in the middle of a ferry that it’s a Polanski film. Polanski makes it clear that objects such as the 600-page manuscript of Lang’s memoirs play an important part to the story. Even as it brings clues to the mystery of who Lang is as well as what all of Lang’s connection with the war crimes he’s accused of along with what the writer’s predecessor discovered. The way Polanski plays the mystery is by creating a sense of dread but play around with what is expected in the genre. He also doesn’t go for any tricks to scare people while doesn’t underplay the drama.

While the film is set in London and parts of Massachusetts, it’s all shot mostly in Germany where it plays both London and the towns of Massachusetts while there are some exterior shots on location in Massachusetts by a second unit group. Still, Polanski allows the locations to help set a mood of where the characters are trapped in a place inside of an island not really knowing where they are. It’s also a chance for Polanski to bring humor to his own situations of being imprisoned and not being allowed to travel to certain places. For its mixture of humor and light drama, Polanski still brings suspense and intrigue to the film right to its ending which is a surprising moment. Yet, it’s done in a Polanski fashion since the mystery is finally solved and that’s it. Overall, Polanski’s direction is truly hypnotic and entrancing as the famed Polish director proves once again that he’s a master in the world of filmmaking.

Cinematographer Pawel Edelman does an excellent job with the film’s eerie yet cold cinematography as there is not a lot of sunlight in the film. Even as it’s dominated by rain and gray skies for many of the film’s daytime exterior settings along with more chilling nighttime scenes where the look is about where the character is. The interior shots are truly wonderful from the lush look of the inn that the ghost writer was staying to the spacious though broader look of the Lang estate as Edelman’s work is superb.

Editor Herve de Luze does a wonderful job with the editing of the film by creating an effective yet leisured pace for the entirety of the movie. Even as de Luze creates suspense in the editing by maintaining a rhythm that builds up the chills without doing any fast cutting. Even as he slows things down for the drama while creating subtle moments in the cutting for the little moments of suspense. Production designer Albecht Konrad, along with set decorators Bernhard Henrich and Ulli Isfort, does an amazing job with the art direction. Notably in recreating Berlin as London along with the small towns as Martha’s Vineyard including the natural look of the inn that the writer stays along with the posh look of the Lang estate. Costume designer Dinah Collin does a very good job in the costumes from the casual clothes that the writer wears to the long clothes that Ruth wears.

The visual effects by Jens Dunkel along with various team members is brilliant for the minimal use needed to create the look of the towns as if it’s shot in Martha’s Vineyard . Sound editor Thomas Desjonqueres and mixer Jean-Marie Blondel do a superb job with the film’s sound work from the cool air of the locations they’re in to the sounds of helicopters and cars all over the location. Even in the sparse moments when the writer is looking around the house. The film’s score by Alexandre Desplat is definitely one of the film’s highlights. Featuring Desplat’s trademark chime flourishes and soothing string arrangements, the score plays to some of the film’s light-hearted moments with its mid-tempo pieces. For the film’s suspenseful and heavier scenes, it has a bombastic approach to the score as Desplat creates another superb score that belongs with his already rich catalog.

The casting by Fiona Weir is amazing for the memorable performances from actors big and small. Notable small performances include Soogi Kang and Lee Hong Thay as the Langs’ servants, Tim Faraday as Ruth’s bodyguard Barry, Morgane Polanski as the inn receptionist, Jon Bernthal as the writer’s agent Rick, and David Rintoul as the stranger whom the writer encounters at the inn. Other notable appearances from more well-known actors include James Belushi as publisher John Maddox, Robert Pugh as Lang’s old friend Rycart, Timothy Hutton as Lang’s lawyer Sidney, and Eli Wallach in a great cameo as an old man who reveals something to the ghost writer.

Tom Wilkinson is superb as Paul Emmett, a mysterious professor who went to Cambridge with Lang as Wilkinson brings a calm yet cool approach to the character who is very evasive. Though it’s a small role from Wilkinson, he definitely creates a memorable performance from the veteran actor. Kim Cattrall is very good as Amelia, Lang’s assistant who shows the writer what to do with the manuscript while bring some witty humor through the dialogue she’s given. Olivia Williams is excellent as Ruth Lang, the neglected wife of Adam Lang who is dealing with her diminished role along with the chaos surrounding her husband as she befriends the writer.

Pierce Brosnan is really good in a small but crucial role as Adam Lang. While it’s a character that features elements of former British prime minister Tony Blair, Brosnan definitely brings some charm to a shady man who is also evasive but also willing to play the role of somebody famous. Brosnan also succeeds in the fact that he can be very ruthless during a confrontational scene with Ewan McGregor as it’s definitely Brosnan at his finest. Ewan McGregor gives one of his best performances to date as the unnamed title character. McGregor delivers an everyman quality of a writer unsure of what he’s doing while realizing he’s entering into some serious trouble. McGregor definitely sells the fear and determination of a character that just wants to find the mystery while knowing that he is going to make stupid decisions. It’s definitely McGregor giving a performance that is needed for a film like this.

The Ghost Writer is an engaging, entertaining, and masterfully-crafted thriller from Roman Polanski. Featuring a great ensemble cast led by Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan along with wonderful supporting performances by Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, and a cameo by Eli Wallach. It’s a film that definitely plays to the ideas of what a suspense-thriller should be and how it emphasizes on characters and intrigue without any of the tricks in a lot of mainstream films. For fans of Roman Polanski, this is a chance to see a master do what he does best as he creates a film that definitely lives up to his legendary career. In the end, The Ghost Writer is a smart, thrilling, and entrancing film from Roman Polanski.

Roman Polanski Films: Knife in the Water - Repulsion - (Cul-de-Sac) - The Fearless Vampire Killers - Rosemary’s Baby - Macbeth (1971 film) - (What?) - Chinatown - (The Tenant) - Tess - (Pirates) - Frantic - (Bitter Moon) - (Death and the Maiden) - The Ninth Gate - The Pianist - Oliver Twist (2005 film) - Carnage - (Venus in Fur) - (D)

© thevoid99 2011

The Mad Hatter said...

The final scene of this film is one of the best scenes I've ever watched, complete with one of the most iconic shots of the year - MrGregor with his glass held aloft to toast Olivia.

Great write up of a tracically underexposed film.

thevoid99 said...

I agree. I love that scene. It really one of the best and that ending I think was great. We're not sure what happens but that doesn't matter. The mysterious is solved.

The film definitely needs more love and it's from one of the great-living directors working today. I'm psyched for what he's going to do next.

edgarchaput said...

I've always been a Brosnan fan. I'm interested in almost anything he does except Mamma Mia. Nice review, although I skipped a few parts because I don't want to know too much about the plot heading in. I'll check this out.

thevoid99 said...

@Edgar-I agree with you about Brosnan in Mamma Mia. That was fuckin' awful. Never have him sing again.

I can understand not wanting to read the plot although I try not to reveal too much and spoil anything. I don't do that. I believe that is unprofessional. I'd rather give a plot summary and only reveal little.

dtmmr said...

Polanski grinds the gears to entertaining effect, never losing pace from beginning to end, while not necessarily offering anything new. Nothing amazing, but not anything bad in the first place. Good Review!

thevoid99 said...

@Dan-It's already in my belated list of the best films of 2010. It's still in the works. I'm just amazed that when it comes to a film like this. It was never boring. Polanski is always engaging in what to do with the mystery and let the audience play along.

That's why he's a master of cinema.


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Fox News has been awarded a front row seat in the White House briefing room after the retirement of long-time UPI reporter Helen Thomas. Following a heated battle for the position, the White House Correspondents Association actually gave Thomas' position to the AP's Liz Sidoti — but Fox will take AP's old seat, giving it a berth in the front row for the first time. Liberal groups had championed NPR for the seat, with one claiming that Fox News was a "right-wing propaganda outlet." How did Fox prevail? (Watch a report about Fox News' seat)

It's tribute to Major Garrett: The WHCA's decision to give Fox the vacant front row seat was unanimous, notes Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. While that is recognition of its "reach and its audience," it's also tribute to "the respect [Fox News correspondent] Major Garrett has earned from his colleagues in the White House briefing room." It will be difficult for the White House to diminish Fox now.
"WH Correspondents Association awards Fox News front row seat"

Fox is being rewarded for shouting the loudest: It's hard not to see this as "reward for [Fox's] excellent achievements in propaganda," says John Cole at Balloon Juice. "This isn't about journalism," it's about who is best at glad-handing the Beltway boys who oversee the seating chart. I think it's "obscene to reward them," but "who cares about these people. It isn't like any news has ever been broken in the briefing room."
"Pravda in the front row"

A victory for non-partisanship: After the White House's "ill-advised" battle with Fox News, this is good news, says David Zurawik at the Baltimore Sun. The liberal campaign to appoint NPR "oozed ideology," so it's good the WHCA made its decision "on the basis of non-ideological factors" such as longetivity and its commitment to covering the White House.
"Fox News gets front row White House seat over NPR"


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Jun 22, 2011

Cheap "Tiger" Tix

This may be an unconventional use of my blog, but it's come to my attention that a friend has a block of good orchestra seats for this coming Saturday night's performance (June 25 at 8 pm) of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. He paid full price but is willing to unload them for $50 a pop. Anyone who's interested, please contact me at my gmail account (username robkendt).

I've meant to blog about the play for a while, incidentally; I happened to see an early reading at the Lark in 2007 because Rajiv Joseph was then a teaching colleague of my wife's, and I must confess I was a bit underwhelmed; there was promising writing but I didn't see the play. Shows you how much I know; the play that made it to Broadway, I'm happy to report, is surprisingly strong, supple, pungent, and haunting. Disarmingly funny, too. Definitely worth (at least) 50 smackers.

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day!

One year ago, on the eighth anniversary of World Down Syndrome Day, we committed to adopt “Mimi”, known as “Maeve” on

Six months ago, we flew across the ocean and met Mimi and “Buddy” for the first time.  Three weeks later, we passed court in their birth country, making us parents of three one year olds.  THREE ONE YEAR OLDS! J

Five months ago, Mimi and Buddy landed on US soil and officially became US citizens.  Within hours, they were both admitted to the hospital.  Buddy’s stay was more precautionary and only officially lasted two days, but we stayed together as a family of five (thanks to RMH!) for the duration of Mimi’s 23 days as an inpatient.

Four months ago, we came home from the hospital on a Saturday night.  I was in as much shock as I was the night we arrived home from Europe.  It seemed too good to be true.  After nine weeks away, having no control over when we could return home, it just felt so unreal.

When God called us to this adoption last February, and we prayerfully answered that calling though it seemed impossible to us, many of you said yes along with us.  You said yes to praying faithfully and giving generously.  You supported us, loved us, and cheered us on – and we are so very grateful.

You, the body of Christ, were His hands and feet scooping two small babies out of abandonment and into their forever families.

To God be the glory - great things He hath done!

Matthew 19:26 - But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Really Home

Even after nearly a week, it is hard to believe we are really home.  Six weeks in EE, three weeks in the hospital, plus a few more days of travel added up to nine weeks and three days on the road.

Now that we've returned, two precious and innocent former orphans are "home" as well.  They have full bellies and warm beds.  They have the same caregivers day after day.  I'm sure that is still confusing at this point.  We saw so many different nannies at the orphanage that we lost count. Children adopted from these types of orphanages and institutions join families without having any concept of what a family actually is.  They can have a lot of behaviors and psychological issues as a result of never forming appropriate attachments to primary caregivers.

All orphans have experienced loss, no matter how young.  Each transition in their lives has meant another loss.  This article touches on the lasting effects of experiences stored in implicit memory:

In country, we did not see or hear some of the things other adoptive families have testified about. We trusted the Lord to protect our oldest daughter that was with us, and He surely did.  But we saw enough.  And now, we see our two youngest children living with the consequences of being orphaned in EE every day.

We are praying for God to restore our little one's hearts and bodies as only He can.

A couple of days ago, I read this, written by a sweet RR mama:

It is short and to the point.  Please take a moment to read it.  Not for me, but for two orphaned girls who desperately need families.  Two out of millions.  Millions is so overwhelming.  So many little souls.  What can we do??

Only pray.  The Lord will take care of the rest.

Those millions of orphaned children are not just numbers. They have faces.  And stories.  Please go look at these girls' faces.  They need disciples of Jesus whose hearts are burdened to pray for them.

It's the least we can do.  As we enter into this holiday season and enjoy God's provision in our lives, let's give a gift that will only cost us our time.  Let's lift these two girls up in prayer, along with sweet Miranda whose face pierces my heart.

Oh, those eyes.  I've seen a more recent picture of her and it is heart wrenching.

Let's lift these girls' families up in prayer.  Somewhere, God is calling someone.  Let's pray for their hearts to trust Him.

We are home, but they are not.

A couple of weeks before we left for EE, I wrote this:

I wasn't always like that, but I hope I always will be.

We had no idea as we prayed for the Lord to supernaturally sustain her, that Mimi's very life was hanging in the balance.  That she was one of the orphans left to suffer alone.  We have no doubt He sustained her.  She would never have made it otherwise.  She has lived in tremendous pain, enduring the effects of a bowel malformation that would have been corrected shortly after birth if she had been born in the US.  Into a family that wanted her.

Thank you again - though it will never be enough - for your support, your prayers, your generosity.

Though our two newest additions came a little later into their families, they are very much wanted, and desired, and loved.

Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LordAlmighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Harsh Realities

This is the blog of another Reece's Rainbow family.  This is a glimpse of the profound ramifications of being an orphan with special needs in some parts of the world.

At sixteen years old, this boy is the size of a five year old.  At sixteen years old, his cognitive level is that of a baby even though he should not have been this way because of the special needs he was born with.  A life of neglect is the culprit in what you can see in his pictures and videos.

Human development requires more than food and shelter.

Please say a special prayer for healing for Tommy and all of the orphaned children that right now, at this very moment, are suffering from abuse and neglect.

Tommy has been adopted, but countless others are starving while we enjoy our meals, lonely as we hug our loved ones, and physically attacked as we take our safety and comfort for granted.

They are ignored day after day and year after year as we enjoy one another's company, interacting as much or as little as we desire with the many people we encounter at home, work, and church.

"How is this possible?" we think.  Someone has to feed them, dress them, monitor them.

That's true to some degree, but they don't have to care.  See for yourself.

Friday, August 30, 2013

The Ride

Remember that lil tid bit about adoption and waiting your turn on the playground?

Well, slide schmide!

Adoption is a  roller coaster!!

It's gut wrenching, breath taking and filled with suspense at every turn. It's punctuated by so many moments of excitement mixed with uncertainty, doubt, awe and wonder that a day without ALL of these emotions swirling becomes a day of dull.

The journey of adoption makes praising God in the storm the norm.

And praise Him we will, every step of the way!

Psalm 150 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Pray for this one: M&M

Throughout our adoption process, God has put it on our hearts to intercede for several different children listed on Reece's Rainbow. Usually one or two at the time, we would pray for their needs along with Maeve's, and pray that their families would find them quickly. It has been such joy to see so many of them receive families.

For several weeks, two little girls have been on my heart.  Little "Mirabel" is turning four this month, and praise God, a family has stepped forward for her!  Instead of being transferred to an institution, she will be taken home by her family.  It won't be easy.  There will be sacrifice on their part, but she is so worth it and they know that.

She was a hidden treasure in a back room, as another adoptive mom so eloquently put it, but she has been found.

"Mirabel" has been spared the fate of so many.

There's another hidden treasure with a birthday in August who turned nine years old yesterday.  Miranda has been living in an institution for far too long already.  I read things like this blog post by a mom who has adopted from an institution in EE, and my heart aches for Miranda and God's other children in these places.

This is her listing on Reece's Rainbow.

Girl, Born August 25, 2004
Cerebral Palsy

What a beautiful little girl!    Wispy blonde hair and bright blue eyes!  Miranda is healthy and developing well out side of her CP.    She is an orphanage favorite.   Waiting for more info on her ability to walk/speak, etc.
She has two younger siblings, their status is not known.

She was transferred from her baby home, and still waits for her family.  She has been listed for SO long!!
$27.00 is available towards the cost of my adoption

Miranda has been waiting for a long time.

There are so many parts of the body of Christ.

God uses each one of us so uniquely.

He has asked me to be a voice for this princess.

HIS princess.

Please take a moment to pray for her.  It's the best birthday
gift most of us could possibly give her.

Somewhere, though, there is a family that could give her the
gift of themselves.

Please help them see her, Lord.

Friday, August 23, 2013

I Wasn't Always Like This

I recently bought a box of 76 trash bags and every single time I look at it, I wonder if  "Maeve" will be home with us before all 76 are gone.

When I vacuum, and our 16 month old dances off to the side (because ever since she was born I sing the same song to her when I run the vacuum cleaner), I wonder what Maeve would be doing if she were here also.  I find myself accounting more often for two children, when one of them is still in an orphanage on another continent.

I've always tried to remember to see the "big picture".  The "this won't matter in ten years" or "Wow, we parked really far from the door, but at least I can walk myself to it.  Some folks can't." kind of thinking has always helped me keep things in perspective.

Of course, perspective changes over time.  And with different life experiences.  We are five months into our adoption process now, and just as with the arrival of any child, our thoughts are filled with anticipation of our newest daughter's life here with us.

Except that unlike the end of pregnancy, instead of carrying my daughter in my womb and seeing her thriving on ultrasounds, I look at her picture and wonder how she is being affected by what she is lacking in nutrition, stimulation, and love.  I pray for God's supernatural provision for those things until we can be the ones that lavish His love on her.

When I look at my daughter here, I think of orphans lying in cribs untouched, unnoticed, over there.

When we pray over our food, I think of hungry bellies on the other side of the world.

When I pray, I ask God for his eyes to see as He sees so that my heart can break for what breaks His, knowing that even a hint of that buckles my knees.

When I'm being petty, I remember how blessed I am and wonder how I can possibly complain.

When I wonder where we will live, I think about how blessed I am that no matter where it is, my children will be with me, and I think of the anguish of mothers in this world who are forced to abort, give away, or witness the abuse of their children.

I might get glassy-eyed in conversations about things such as which vacations to take, which clothes to buy, or how to redecorate a room because I am thinking of how we can pile all of the money for those things together instead and rescue one more orphan.  I don't begrudge anyone their blessings.  I'll take a vacation again, too, I'm sure.  My children will get new toys, clothes, beds.

It's not that I think we should all be martyrs.

It's that I am not lukewarm.  I am hot about these children because the Lord has burdened my heart with their plight.

I wasn't always like this.  I didn't even know about orphans in Eastern Europe this time last year, but I am thankful my eyes and heart have been opened.

I cannot rescue them all.  But I can pray for them.  I can care about them.  I can think of them when no one else might.  I can love them because Jesus first loved me.  I can advocate for them just as He advocates for us.  I can be their voice when they have none.

When we get to heaven, the Bible says the last will be first. Certainly among the last here on earth are innocent newborn babies cast aside to suffer and die alone.  Oh, for the day that they would be first.

Revelation 21: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

No more pain for orphans left to suffer alone, writhing in agony in urine soaked beds.

No more tears for those still bothering to cry, as many orphans have learned that there will be no response, and for some, even harsh punishment.

No more sorrow for "little ones" who wait for years for a family to choose them, growing into "older ones" who know their disability has rendered them less desirable.

No more death.  Though it is appointed once for every man to die, no child should have to suffer the death of their innocence and the stripping away of their dignity.

Oh Lord, please come soon.

But until that day, help us as your children to listen when you speak, and obey joyfully.  We want to be a living sacrifice unto you!

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Pampered Chef and Usborne Books: Purchases with Purpose!

Two sweet ladies are doing online fundraisers for us!  Right now!   The last day to make your purchases will be my birthday!  What a great birthday present!!  :)  Thank you Kathy and Heather!

The first one is a Pampered Chef party given by a fellow adoptive mom from Reece's Rainbow.  If you need a gift or have been meaning to purchase something for yourself, please go here to get your Pampered Chef items now through August 14th.  Free pizza cutters are being given with purchases of $60 or more!

Our other fundraiser is an  Usborne books eshow.  There are some really cute books perfect for the little readers on your shopping list like these cute sticker doll books:

If you need any books, please consider buying through our link:

This is also a great time to get some Christmas shopping done!  I did that one summer and it worked out great!

Someone else's birthday is also coming up soon:

Our sweet "Mimi" as we like to call her is turning one in September!  We are hoping to travel by the end of September or the beginning of October at the latest to finally meet our precious girl! We want to get to her as soon as possible of course, but we are trusting in the Lord's perfect plan and praying for His timing.

Please feel free to share this blog post on your facebook pages to help us get the word out.  We appreciate your help!  Thank you!

Thank you mostly for your prayers!  I know Mimi looks so sweet and cute in the photo above, but the reality of orphans in Eastern Europe is not sweet.  If you are new to the blog please look around and let me know if I can answer any questions.  These children really need us.  Please pray for their families to rescue them soon.

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress,and to keep oneself unstained by the world.


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HorrorPops Sue Mattel Over Rockabilly Barbie

January 5, 2011 by
Filed under Daily Music News

HorrorPops are suing Mattel over their “Hard Rock Barbie Doll” claiming that it’s a ripped off version of lead singer Patricia Day.  Day alleges that Mattel stole the likeness from their Hell Yeah Album cover (pictured to the left.)  In her complaint Day states “as a feminist objects to being made into a doll and subjected to “the erotic male gaze … a vision that runs contrary and antithetical to everything for which Mattel’s Barbie line stands.”

According to this report on : “Day says her fans recognize her from “her black hair meticulously done in 50’s pin-up fashion; her retro hairstyle juxtaposed against conspicuous and heavily applied black eye shadow and liner and deep red lipstick; her form-fitting ’50s-style pencil skirts that go just past the knees; her full-color ‘sleeve tattoos’ on both upper arms; and, most importantly, her distinctive instrumental extension of her personality: her giant tattooed upright bass. This final element – the giant tattooed upright bass (also known as a bass fiddle or double bass) – has become a singularly distinctive hallmark of Day’s public persona.”

The doll appears to be part of a collection Mattel released that includes Debbie Harry, Joan Jett and Cyndi Lauper, all of whom Mattel allegedly paid for their likeness.

Here’s our side by side comparison – what do you think?

The Barbie is available for purchase here and you can check out our full gallery of live HorrorPops photos here

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9 Responses to “HorrorPops Sue Mattel Over Rockabilly Barbie”
  1. Christy says:

    It is pretty close, especially compared to some other pics of HorrorPops as well as this one. The only difference I see is Barbie doesn’t have streaks and she is wearing (gasp) pink.

  2. Lochtessmonster says:

    As another female upright bassist who has been a rockabilly kid for 20 years, this doll looks more like me than Patricia. It could just as easily be me, her, or any other long black-haired rockabilly chick. I think that it’s great that we’re being recognized in a way that shows tattooed, gorgeous rockabilly girls as just that. If it were based off of her, I’m sure her name would be all over it. Going so far as to sue Mattel over what is clearly a generalized and glorious image of girls in our scene (using an upright is just an accessory that people associate with our genre anyway) is pretty vain and selfish. I for one, am buying one. It’s a commemoration and glorification of things that are generally overlooked as beautiful by mainstream society.

  3. Ashley says:

    It is NOT part of the Debbie Harry, Cyndi Lauper, and Joan Jett collection – those dolls are part of the “Ladies of the 80s” series and are Pink Label. This doll is part of the Hard Rock Cafe series of Gold Label dolls, each which represent a genre or mishmash of genres such as Goth Punk Barbie from 2008 in this series. This doll is just a generic rockabilly woman. I think it’s ridiculous that this singer is trying to claim red lipstick and retro hair – I guess she should sue the whole scene. What a douche bag move. She mentions her half-sleeves, too, but the doll only has one arm done. Is she trying to lay claim to tattoos? Haha! Her whole genre is about imitating a look… how ironic!

  4. Jane says:

    i think its ridicules since this barbie looks like every “bettie” out there…and nothing like her…really?? i have pinup friends that look more like this doll than she does.

  5. Burt Blood says:

    all i’m going to say is that they are both PLASTIC

  6. Stupid lawsuit. I think the Barbie looks NOTHING like Patricia Day, much less that cover photo!

    She lost my respect for throwing this temper tantrum of a lawsuit. I hope she loses it!

  7. First off I love the HorrorPops. But I agree with alot of people here. This is not for the Woman of 80’s line nor is it to be of a specific musician. It is to symbolize rockabilly woman as a whole. In all honesty I think it’s pretty bad ass to finally see Barbie not her typical blonde hair, California bikini wearing self. She looks much hotter with some tattoos, retro clothing and pin up hair in my opinion. I would actually love to own this one for my curio cabinet. I think it is one worth actually purchasing.

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Friday, May 28, 2010

The Octopus and The Squid

Except for my original line drawings of Mr Octopus and Ms Squid...which I scanned and loaded into Photoshop Elements...the rest of this little under-sea frolic was made digitally on my computer. I'm beginning to collaborate with a machine!
I was introduced to computers rather late in life. Now, every time I sit down in front of my PC, I feel the magic. The computer opens a window to the world. I communicate, I learn, I dig for information, I send photos or even videos to one or a dozen people at the touch of a key. I share my art and thoughts with those who care to look at or read my blog. And now I use my computer as I would use a canvas and paint. I would sorely miss this wonderful tool if I couldn't have it. Oh, sure, I would still have real paint, real paper, pencils, inks, brushes, books, telephones, radios, TVs etc...but now that I've made friends with this new and ever more powerful tool (it boggles the mind when you realize just how quickly advances are being made) I wouldn't want to let go it go.

When I was a kid....Dick Tracy's wrist radio seemed like a fun idea but impossible. And going to the moon?......the stuff of science fiction. Well, the future got here at lightening speed, didn't it? I think that asking Scotty to "beam me up" will be something that I'll be able to do in my lifetime. Interesting to think about. It sure is!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Dreaming of Venice

As usual....I'm taking several online the same time. I've already talked about Pam Carriker's year long "365 Journal" workshop. Now I've also signed up for two of Gail Schmidt's Digital Art classes. All of these are at Creative Workshops.

After struggling and failing to understand how one goes about merging wonderful images into a unified whole...a piece of art created digitally...I decided that taking a class was the only way for me to go. So go I did. The Dreaming of Venice piece is my first successful piece of digital art. I'm beginning to understand how to manipulate and layer images. I'm using Photoshop Elements 8 to create art! It's a very powerful program that is not only for touching up and cropping's also a tool for art making. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of all that Elements can do. But I am going to learn. Not only because of the challenge of learning something new...but because it's a whole lot of fun. Art is Fun. Learning is Fun. Living is Fun....yes it is!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

30 Years Ago - May 18, 1980

It's not a great photo....but it sure brought back memories when I got it in an e-mail from my son, Chris this morning. The picture was taken from the deck of my home in Gresham, Oregon (south of the volcano)...probably at the time of a later eruption (there were several....and ongoing eruptions) of Mount St. Helens. I'm guessing that the ash plume in this picture is probably more steam than ash...because of its color. You can see what was left of the mountain (extreme left of the photo) looking more like a cloud caught on the distant hills, than a mountain.
I remember the day of the first, and most violent, eruption. The mountain had been threatening, with small plumes and puffs of steam and ash for weeks. There had been earthquakes on the mountain too...not big ones...but rumblings...occurring with greater and greater frequency in the weeks prior to the eruption. We were all aware that something big might happen. But no one, including geologists with the USGS, could predict with any certainty, what or when that something would occur.
I was standing at my kitchen window, looking out (I had the same view of the mountain from the window as from my deck where the photo was taken). I had my morning cup of coffee in my hand and I was talking to my Mom (in California) on the phone. I turned away from the window briefly, then turned toward it again. In the minute or two that my back was turned...the whole landscape had changed. All that I could say was "Oh my God!" Then I told my Mom what I was seeing. You've all seen photos and film footage of the eruption and its aftermath. Well...I saw it from my kitchen...and all I can tell you is that all the photos and film just don't compare to what it was to see the eruption in person. I can't even find words to describe what I saw and felt. It was everything at once.....Amazing. Unbelievable. Terrible. Fascinating. Even beautiful, in a strange way. I've never seen such force and power. Nature really put on a show...and I feel privileged to have been there to see it. And no...I never even thought of taking photos that morning or any other day during the mountain's most spectacular eruptions. I knew that there would be plenty of film used and shown...and I also knew that no picture that I could take would ever be as real to me as what I had actually seen.

Monday, May 10, 2010

I Am Who.

I Am Who is the least on this journal page. The question : Who Am I ? Being Who is not at all strange. After all, Horton heard they exist. And there you are. I strayed from the one-color scheme. I didn't set out to break that rule (month 2 of 365 Journal workshop)...but as soon as I had sketched her, she demanded color. That happens to me a lot. I start out with something in mind...a plan...and wind up with something completely different. I drew an exaggerated figure on purpose....because that was where my head was today (on a flight of fancy)...but then the drawing decided that being monochromatic was not in her future. So I went with the new plan. I usually have no choice. Things just happen. That's the way it was today. So here she is, minimalist palette and all...asking, almost whispering, "Who Am I ?" ....and answering her own question with: "I Am Who." I'm not going to try to figure out what the heck that just is. Bye for now.

Monday, May 3, 2010

365 Journal Workshop

I've been so busy with on-line workshops...learning about and doing art...that I haven't made time to write anything in my blog. So here I am again. Hello.
Today's picture is something I did this afternoon for my 365 Journal workshop taught by Pam Carriker. This is actually a technique for month 2 of this workshop. I made a couple of 2-page journal spreads for the 1st month of this can see them on my Flickr site if you want.
The portrait class (Suzi Blu's) is coming along well. After I decided which of my drawings was going to be Elizabeth Tudor...I charged ahead to draw the young King Henry VIII. And before I could scan the drawing I attached him to my wood substrate and went to painting and collaging. Now that made him too big for my once I finish the piece I'll have to take a digital photo (I always forget how to use the I'll need a how-to-use-the-camera's a good thing that my husband is understanding and patient)....then I can download him (Henry) to the computer and display his royal highness in all his royal glory. There was a time...when still a young man...that Henry was really not bad looking. His fat and sloppy days came on later....after several marriages, lots of trouble with the church, a Pope, France, Spain, a revolt, a war, a plague, a jousting injury that wouldn't heal, and whatever else came down the pike to stress him out as King of England. I've been watching several seasons of the Tudor series that ran on Showtime. Interesting stuff....not unlike a soap opera in that there's plenty of intrigue, murder, adultery, heads rolling off the chopping block...but this soap opera will only last until after Henry has married and gotten rid of six wives and jumped into the sack (randy goat that he was) with more Ladies in Waiting than one can keep track of....yes, there are a lot of female breasts and male buttocks exposed in Showtime's version of The Tudors...but it's a cable channel (a pay cable channel at that) that's to be expected...I guess.
Anyway....I've finished watching season 3 and just have season 4 left. The costumes are beautiful. The characters are all gorgeous and have great teeth....and look like they actually bathed every day and didn't stink. The castles look quite if they had central heating and working ACs in Summer. Fleas and bad teeth weren't in the script.
So I've come to the end of this post...and all I have for show-and-tell is one journal page...and a paragraph or two about Tudor World. That's the way it is some days. Maybe I'll be more entertaining next time. And then maybe I won't.


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Saturday, March 26, 2016

The Change Generation

Hillary Clinton says she understands why Donald J. Trump supporters are so angry
Posted by NowThis Election on Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Politics fascinates our nine-year-old, Katie. Her fourth-grade class is studying the current United States Presidential election.

Katie, overhearing me watching this video: "Is that Hillary Clinton?"

Me: "Yep."

Katie: "She sounds good."

Me: "Yeah, I like what she's saying here."

Katie: "I thought you liked Bernie Sanders."

Me: "I do."

Katie "But you like Hillary Clinton, too? I thought they were running against each other."

Me: "Yeah. They are. But they're both way better than the candidates on the Republican side. I like both of them, I just like Bernie more. But if for some reason Bernie doesn't win the Democratic nomination, I'll vote for Hillary Clinton."

Katie: "So Bernie's your favorite and Hillary's your second-favorite?"

Me "Yep."

Katie: "Who's your least favor--"

Me: "--Donald Trump. Hands down."

Katie: "Yeah, I thought so. So who's your third favorite, Cruz?"

Me: "No, John Kasich."

Katie: "Who's that?"

Me: "He's the governor of Ohio, and he's running for president."

Katie: "Oh. So Cruz is your fourth favorite and then Donald Trump is your least favorite?"

Me: "Yeah, of the major parties. There are other people running for president, too, but those are the five from the Democrats and the Republicans."

Katie: "And you want Bernie to win but if he doesn't you want Hillary to win?"

Me: "Yep."

Katie: "It'd be kinda cool to have a girl president."

Me: "A woman president? Yeah, that would be cool."

Katie: "This should be called the Change Generation."

Last night, we were discussing what the names of the various generations are, such as The Greatest Generation, The Silent Generation, The Baby Boomers, Gen-X, and The Millennials. Katie asked what the name of her generation is, and I said I didn't know, that sometimes it takes a while for a generation to develop its name.

Me: "Oh yeah? Why should it be called The Change Generation?"

Katie: "Because our presidents are about change. Like, if Hillary Clinton wins, she'd be the first girl president."

Me: "The first woman president. She's a woman, not a girl. We don't call Bernie a boy. He's a man. And anyway,  he'd be the first Jewish president if he wins."

Katie: "Bernie's Jewish? Like, Jesus?"

Me: "Yep. And Barack Obama is the first black president."

Katie: "Yep. See, we should be called The Change Generation."


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In Which Rome Takes A Lifetime But London Only Two Hours

Westminster Abbey

If a visitor had only two hours for all of London, I should tell him, go direct to Westminster. There he will find, within a few yards of ground on the banks of the Thames, the Houses of Parliament with all their recollections for the history of democracy. Westminster Hall, chief court of England, and the great Abbey which records and illuminates so vividly the growth and revolutions of freedom through a thousand years.

I went into the Abbey yesterday by the little door that leads to Poets' Corner. The path to it runs from old Palace Yard. You find it by turning your back on the Houses of Parliament and the Thames, and going under one of the great flying buttresses which support the Chapter House.

Poet's CornerMy first visit to the Abbey was about sixty years ago, as a child, and I have been there often enough since, but on this occasion I was struck for the first time by the really bizarre contrast between the magnificent nave, which is pure early Gothic throughout, and the confused mass of statuary that covers the lower walls and floor.

The reason why I was so strongly and immediately impressed by this violent clash was the remark of an American friend. I had told him I was to write this article and asked him what had struck him most forcibly at the Abbey, and he answered unexpectedly that he had found it all mixed up.

Pantheon, ParisAnd now I saw very much what he meant. The Abbey, for instance, is completely different in effect from the Pantheon in Paris, with its ordered dignity, its carefully selected and arranged memorials. It was not built or set aside as a memorial church, it was simply as an Abbey church where anyone could be buried by leave of the Dean. And the Dean of Westminster still has sole power to decide who shall be buried there. In 1824, the Dean of that day refused Lord Byron.

There is not even so much order in the tombs as a stranger expects. He has heard that the poets have their corner; that scientists like Darwin, Wallace, Joule, Huxley, are together; that the North Aisle, with the graves of Purcell, Blow, Gibbons; that St Edward the Confessor lies in his chapel surrounded by kings and queens.

Handel is not with the musicians; his grave slab is next to Dickens, in Poets' Corner, and on his other side lies a General Campbell who fought in the Indian wars.

Still more strangely, you find here, within a few feet of Browning, one Thomas Parr, an ancient Shropshire farm-worker who claimed to be 152 years old. He died on his first visit to London to 1635.

A Crusader lies in the pavement beneath Dryden's bust. He was murdered in the Abbey, where he had taken sanctuary. And the Abbey was closed for four months until it could be reconsecrated and confirmed once more in its rights of sanctuary.

It seems to me now that this very mix-up gives the Abbey its unique quality. How that Crusader, murdered in some savage political struggle, gives depth and meaning to the names of poets and novelists about him. Here is the life they wrote about, breaking in among the cold records of their fame and affirming its own tragic magnificence.

Not all the tragedies of the Abbey magnificent, or even dignified. Everywhere you see the tragicomedy of fame itself, which so often comes by luck and disappears by change of taste; which is no more secure than a soldier's life and does not make so picturesque a death. Who hears nowadays, except professors, of playwright Shadwell, or even of Prior, whose drawing-room verses amused the courties of William III?

Hardy wrote dope poemz tooBut Prior's monument, in Poets' Corner, is the biggest of all. It over-tops Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton; it weights perhaps fifty tons of stone, while Thomas Hardy's heart lies under a single slab two feet square.

The variety of monuments in the Abbey gives richness not only of fancy and art but of feeling. Read some of the epitaphs; this in Poets' Corner to Gay, who wrote those brilliant satirical farces, The Beggar's Opera and Polly:

Here lies the ashes of Mr. John Gay, the warmest friend, the gentlest companion, the most benevolent of men; who maintained independency in low circumstances of fortune, integrity in the midst of a corrupt age, and that equal serenity of mind, which conscious goodness alone can give, through the whole course of his life.

And this from the magnificent tomb of the Duke of Newcastle in the North Transept: 'The loyall Duke of Newcastle and his Dutchess.' What pride and humility in that 'loyall'. The duke spent a fortune in defence of Charles I, and went into exile at his sovereign's death.

And on the tomb of Anastasia, Countess of Kerry, at the end of the North Transept, we read her husband's testimony of gratitude to her:

hoping that his merciful God will consider the severe blow which it has pleased his divine will to inflict upon him, in taking from him the dearest, the most beloved, the most charming, and the most faithful, affectionate companion that ever blessed man...as an expiation of his past offences.

But the great Abbey is not simply a pantheon for the great and famous. It is full of simple memorials to people whose only claim to remembrance is that their names are recorded there. Here are a few words of one from the Cloisters, recording that Albany Charles Wallis was drowned at thirteen, 'being his father's only hope.' What heartbreak comes down to us still in these words.

And from the dozens of inscriptions to local tradesman, servants or churchmen: 'Elizabeth Atkinson, body laundress to Queen Anne.'

And from the Cloister pavement: 'Here lyes the body of Philip Clark, plumber to this collegiate church, 1707, in the forty-third year of his reign.'

The Unknown Warrior's grave lies just insie the great West door, between the towers of the West Front. He represents a million British dead in the 1914-18 war. He is a powerful symbol, but the power is in the fact of his mystery.

As symbol he is more than any man, but for that reason he is less than a person. The unknown soldier does not represent for me the real people, who still have names if only on the Abbey wall, whose lives, whose tragedies, were so ordinary, so unglamorous, so much in the common run of lives and fates, that they are forgotten, except here, in the Church of the British people.

And there is a particular fitness in their memorial. For the church has suffered along with them, through a thousand years of history, the same common fate: virtually every kind of accident, neglect, sudden glory, and undeserved outrage, the magnificence of coronations, the grand robberies of kings, of petty crooks; the spite of fanatics.

St. Edward the Confessor, whose chapel is still the centre of the church, whose shrine was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages, was robbed by Henry VIII at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, and again by the Puritans. You can still see the structure of the shrine, but it is a shell. Yet how much more telling is this ruin than the splendour of Henry VII's tomb, in the middle of his lovely Chapel.

The world has robbed its saint. It has always robbed its saints. But how little the saint needs the magnificence, the gilt bronze of Henry's monument, which brings crowds from all the world to admire a renowned masterpiece of the Renaissance—but only the masterpiece.

Without his tomb, Henry would be forgotten except in the history books. Amid the wreck of his shrine, Edward is still more nobly the king of our imagination.

Whatever space of time you allot to the Abbey, spare at least some minutes for the museum in the undercroft. This crypt, the last surviving fragment of the Confessor's Abbey, is itself beautiful. But no one who has not seen them can imagine the effect of the effigies that stand there. These were the figures made in old times for the funerals of kings and great persons. And made to the life.

charles II, known as the merrie monarch

Here is Charles II as you might have met him in the street; and the famous Duchess of Richmond, his mistress, La Belle Stuart. I do not know anywhere a more telling portrait of a great courtesan than this, in all the form and colour of life, with its arrogant pose, the mischievous smile, at once aloof and provocative, of the conquering beauty. She wears her own dress, as made for her in life; even to the underclothes and the stockings, two pairs, one of silk, one of wool.

Here, too, is the wooden effigy of that queen who makes so charming an appearance in Shakespeare's Henry V — Katherine of Valois, daughter of the French king, married to Henry V in 1420. Her life was not charming. She died in childbed at Bermondsey Abbey, where she had taken sanctuary from political enemies, and this figure faithfully reveals the sufferings of a woman still young and lovely.

Her tragedy did not end with her life. She was buried in the old Lady Chapel. And when it was pulled down to make way for Henry VII's magnificent new building, her coffin was placed beside the tomb of Henry V. No doubt the intention was to find her a new grave. But for two hundred years nothing was done about it and she lay in the open. The coffin rotted and every casual visitor could look at the mummified body within.

Pepys, the diarist, in 1669 was allowed 'by particular favour' to take up the lid, and he writes, 'I had the upper part of her body in my hands, and I did kiss her mouth; reflecting upon it that I did kiss a Queene, and that this was my birthday thirty-six years-old.'

One might despise Pepys for such an act of silly and mean brutality. But the queen, poor woman, if she could have seen her body exposed helpless to this fat-bellied busy little go-getter, what would she have cared? It was not she who was diminished, but little Pepys. Her tragic dignity was beyond insult.

Pepys' life was easy and prosperous. He enjoyed his profession, his whores, his books and his success. She was a princess born to be a queen; and destined from childhood to be a pawn in high politics. She loved her second husband, the Welsh squire, Owen Tudor; but he was taken from her and ended on the scaffold.

Royal history is a tale of high tragedy from first to last. And it is these royal tombs of Westminster which give it most significance. Kings and queens are, for the most part, ordinary people; genius is as rare among them as in any simple family. But they are called by destiny to a work which is the hardest, the most demanding, and the least rewarded, in the world. They are condemned for the least mistake and receive no thanks for a lifetime of duty. They are exposed to the impertinences of every fool, bore, and crank, without right of self-defence, and a good proportion of them are murdered.

How lonely these kings seem even now, in their tombs on Westminster Abbey among the statesman who, by one lucky turn or another, achieved the triumph of office; the scientists who were permitted to spend quiet and peaceful lives in some chosen research; the poets who could follow their dreams.

Here is Henry III, chief rebuilder of this splendid Abbey; he died bankrupt and despised. Here is Richard II, deposed and starved to death by his rival. Here, in one small stone box at the east side of Henry VII's Chapel, are the bones of Edward V and his brother Richard, the royal children murdered by their uncle Richard III. Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded in 1587, lies in the queen who could not marry because marriage for her was a political impossibility, and her sister, who imprisoned her, and who died in despair, hated by her subjects.

mary queen of scots getting beheaded

Here, too, is Saint Edward in his ruined shrine. And Katherine of Valois: political wife, political widow, political refugee.

These kings and queens do not belong among that crowd of star-blessed notables that crowd the aisles of their magnificent Abbey; they are with the mass of those ordinary humble people whose fate it is to endure a narrow destiny as chance has dealt it to them; with such as old Parr, Elizabeth Atkinson the laundress, and Philip Clark, 'plummer to this collegiate church.'

The Abbey is a mix-up of values as well as reputations. But for me is is just this mix-up, brought in from the living world and its conflicts, that gives Westminster the very richness of life and makes of it the most fascinating, the most touching, of all London sights.

April 1956

"Sweet Pea" — Amos Lee (mp3)

"Supply and Demand" — Amos Lee (mp3)

"Skipping Stone" — Amos Lee (mp3)


text:
Wednesday, 28 January 2009

... Finishing ...

The Japanese bead embroidery that I have recently completed also requires 'finishing'. For beadwork there is a slightly different but equally lengthy process.

Before I describe whatI did, I would like to remind readers that I am a student of Japanese Embroidery, not a tutor. I like to show you what I have done. The best way to learn these techniques is from a tutor; mine is a Kurenai-Kai Graduate Authorised tutor. A full list of authorised tutors is available on the Japanese Embroidery Centre web site. The book "Japanese Embroidery Through the Millennium", also available from the JEC, has detailed instructions for all the Japanese Embroidery techniques that I have used.

If you decide to try this finishing process on your own embroidery there are a few things you should bear in mind:

- if you are not absolutely certain that the products you have used are colour fast, stitch a small sampler incorporating a little of everything used and test the process on that to see if any of the colours bleed;

- it goes without saying that water and electricity do not mix; I cannot stress strongly enough to unplug the iron before putting it anywhere near a wet towel;

- equally obvious are the risks to both your hands and your embroidery of being in close proximity to a hot iron; the towel also gets extremely hot during this process.

If you do plan to try this technique, please exercise all appropriate caution.

So back to the bead embroidery. I began as with the silk embroidery by examining the front for missing or lose beads. I then examined the reverse for loops of thread. Loops occure when the thread becomes over twisted; the thread begins to twist around itself and can form a knot. I did not cut of these threads; if the knot comes undone at a later date, the beads will come undone. Instead I secured each loop with a stitch, pulling it taught and snug to the back of the fabric. I then trimmed any long thread tails to 2mm.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Using a spray bottle filled water, I sprayed the back of the work, wetting the threads thoroughly and left it to dry over night.

When completely dry, the process of making up the finished object can begin. For this project I cut 1 piece of foam and 1 piece of interfacing to the same shape as the beading but trimmed the foam to 2mm smaller than the beading on all sides. I attached first the sponge and then the interfacing to the back of my work with spots of glue around the edge of the design. I placed the work, beaded side down on a folded towel, placed moderate weight on the design (several books) and left it to dry over night. I'm not a fan of gluing textiles but this is in accordance with the instructions I recieved and the PVA glue has not come through to the front or marked the embroidery at all.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Next, I trimmed the excess fabric 1cm from the beaded edge and clip the curves. I turned the seam allowance to the wronge side and secured it with glue. Again, I weighted the work and left it to dry overnight.

I then cut the lining fabric to the same shape as the design but a little narrower allowing for the fact that it will be folded in halve when lined. I hand stitched the lining in place, using blanket stitch and easing to fit. I folded the work in half and stitched the bottom and side edges together, leaving the top open.

Finally, I stuffed the item to shape, steamed it for several minutes and left it to dry overnight.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sunday, 25 January 2009

Finishing ...

I often stitch a design because I want to do the embroidery even if I have little or no interest in the finished article. Once the embroidery is complete, I move onto my next project and as a consequence, I have a large number of UFOs - Unfinished Objects.

Back in September, I wrote that Karahana was finished but not 'Finished' and she has remained in that state ever since but now I need the frame for my next Phase piece. I invest too much time and effort into my Japanese Embroidery to allow it to languish as a UFO. Besides I am rather proud of them and want to see them framed and hung.

I’ve mentioned 'finishing' several times. Many forms of embroidery benefit from some finishing, even if only a light press. In Japanese Embroidery the finishing process is rather long and more than a little scarey.

First I examined the embroidery; confirming that I truly have finished the stitching and checking for lose threads.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I then examined the back of Karahana and noticed two large loops of thread. Normally, I would trim long threads to 2mm but because these are couching threads I did not want to cut them and risk the gold work becoming lose. I dealt with those in different way.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Next I beat the work with a velvet pad to remove any dust or lose fibers.

The stitching on the reverse was then glued with wheat starch paste. In Japan these embroideries usually adorn a kimono or odi, the 'glue' secures the stitching and prevents it from too much movement. I used the wheat paste to secure the loops of thread behind a stitched area.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Next I used a damp towel to first wipe over the glued areas to evenly distribute the paste and then, with a clean part of the towel, I wiped over the rest of the fabric before ...

... I steamed the entire work from underneath by draping a wet towel over a hot iron. I have a cordless iron that make this process a little safer but a corded iron should be unplugged from the mains before putting it any where near a wet towel.

I began the drying process by holding a cool iron just above the stitching, which is protected with a piece of 'finishing paper'. I keep the iron moving continuously to prevent scorching the silk and hold my free hand below the work to check that the iron is not too hot. I then left Karahana in a warm place to dry thoroughly.

The first time I went through this process, I was horrified and I still have my heart in my mouth every time I do it. While working the embroidery I take every care to keep it clean and dry, silk is easily marked even by water. Can you imagine what it is like doing this to work that you have spent months lovingly creating?

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Just when you think it is finally Finished, begins the process or removing your work from the frame and mounting it.

Can you see any difference between this and the first picture?

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I hope not.

And here is the lacing on the reverse of the mounting board.

Now she is Finished!

Happy Stitching

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

The Final Bead

As I near the end of a project, I am always instilled with a sense of urgency. This is a desire to see the results rather than to finish working on it.

Over the past few evenings I have spent a longer beading than is good for me. By the time I stop, my neck and shouldeders are stiff and my eyes sore (especially as I spend the entire day on the computer) but the beads have totally seduced me and I just want to do it every spare moment. Even thought there is still a certain amount of 'finishing' to be done, securing the final stitch or adding the final bead to a project always gives me a 'woo hoo' moment when I punch the air and literally whoop with delight. Then I sit quietly and just look at the finished project for some time and savour the moment.

Not long ago I stitched the final bead onto my Phase I Japanese Bead Embroidery. I've had my 'woo hoo' moment and I sat in quiet contemplation with my work.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

This has been a really enjoyable project; one that has totally absorded me for the past couple of weeks. All that remains to do now is the finishing and look forward to the next Phase.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Totally Seduced by Beads

I really should be doing the finishing on Karahana, so I can take her off the frame and begin the prep work for the next Phase V but the beads keep calling to me and I cannot resist their pull.

On the first half of the design I had stitched more red flowers than blue, inevitably there were would be fewer red flowers on the other half. I wanted to stick with the method of random selection but did not want to risk all of the red flowers being grouped into one area. I continued with my random selection method but either returned a red bead to the bag, or manually selected red, a couple of times to ensure that the red flowers where not all grouped in one area.

With only the final few flowers remaining, I began to run out of beads and needed to calculate how many whole/part flowers I could complete with the remaining beads. Although the petal colour or the final few flowers was determined by the beads I had left, I continued to select the center colours randomly.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I am really pleased with how the colours are distributed.

Previously, I was concerned that the design was becoming lost when I added the green seed beads to the back ground. I hoped that the black tricut beads that fill the spaces between the leaves would help to give it sharpness.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I think that they have.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

A photograph cannot do justice to these beautiful beads; the tricut beads, in particular, sparkle and glint like a twinkling Christmas tree. How can a girl resist?

Happy stitching

Friday, 9 January 2009

A Lose of Nerve

I kept selecting either red or taupe for the petals. When I drew dark taupe for the final flower in what will be the lower half of the back, I lost my nerve and chickened out. I overruled and manually selected blue for the petals.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Tackling Random Head On

Following our trip to Amsterdam, I had three free days before resuming work. The first, a bright sunny day, was spent gardening. The remaining two days were so cold and that the overnight frost remaineded all day, thus ruling out gardening. Yippee, some stitching time. My Japanese Embroidery was put away for Christmas to make room for the tree and out of harms way. Embroidery frames, excited children, food and drink are best kept apart!

In fact I had tidied away most of my embroidery things but never fear, I had kept my Japanese Embroidery easily to hand to whip out and stitch when ever the opportunity presented itself.

The flowers each have a center bead of either red or blue that is surrounded by a ring of either gold or silver beads. The six petals are beaded in one of four colours; red, blue, light taupe or dark taupe. The idea is to combine these elements randomly, and to arrange them in a random fashion. As previously stated, I am not really a 'random' type of girl, so I devised a plan to assist me in my quest for randomness. I put one bead for every flower into three small zip lock bags. In the first bag I put a mixture of the red and blue center beads; in the second, gold and silver beads, with slightly more gold than silver; and in the third bag a mixture of the four petal colours.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

For each flower, I select one bead from each bag and use those colours, no cheating. Sometimes the same combination comes out for adjacent flowers, but whatever comes out, I use. I have an area that seems to have too much taupe (the light and dark are not that different from each other) but I trust that when all the flowers are worked, things will have balanced themselves.

Between the flowers, the background is filled with moss green seed beads and black tri-cut beads. I have begun to add some of the green beads and I think that the design is beginning to look a bit lost; perhaps it will sharpen up when the black beads are added!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The original fabric supplied for this Phase is a floral print in the colours of the beads, with metallic gold highlights. That fabric is no longer available and the design is now supplied on a plain red fabric. From what I have done so far, I think it looks much better on the original fabric. There is a picture of the design worked on the original fabric here.

Happy Stitching

Monday, 5 January 2009

Sumptuous Surfaces - eyelets

Following a very busy Christmas period, J and I headed for Amsterdam to spend the New Year with his sister. We like to get out and about as much as possible while there but I always take some stitching with me in case the weather makes staying indoors a more attractive option. Japanese Embroidery is not terribly portable nor is it a very sociable activity (unless shared with other Japanese Embroideries). I prefer to take something that I can pick up and put down easily. This year, I took my Sumptuous Surfaces sampler.

Between short forays in below freezing conditions, I filled an area of the first sampler with eyelet stitches.

Most of the stitches are worked in Mulberry Silks. I've tried to vary the size and shape of the eyelets as well as the threads. I started by scattering some larger eyelets around.

And then added more and more until I had filled the entire area. In a few gaps, too narrow to work an eyelet, I have worked a satin stitch block.

I am beginning to feel more comfortable with random. I suppose like most things, the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. Gradually I am becoming more willing to put my hand into the bag of threads and work with which ever presents itself.

Happy Stitching

Sunday, 4 January 2009

The Last Day of Christmas

My long Christmas break is coming to an end. At the outset, two weeks seems like a such a long time and I imagined that I would get so much stitching done. Now, on the final day before I resume work, it seems so little time and so very little of it has been spent at the frame! I have found time for stitching, mostly exploring Sumptuous Surfaces or practicing my Japanese Bead Embroidery, but the 'qualitity time' that I expected to spend on my Japanese Embroidery did not materialise.

In the weeks preceeding Christmas, I spent many a pleasant evening working on a gift for J's sister. In September, when I learnt to make these 'Fabulous Fob Dangles' at a beading class, I immediately thought that they would appeal to J's sister. Purple is a favourite colour of hers (and mine) so I ordered a selection of beads in shades of purple to make her a necklace festooned with these beautiful beaded tassels.

We interupt this blog to enjoy an extremely rare experience ...

Fifteen minutes later ...

A few years ago, a Princess came to stay the night.

She is still living here, dining on the finest cat food that money can buy. This is a very cat-friendly environment, living as we do at the end of a Cul-de-sac in a quite village. Beyond our garden is a school playing field, a happy hunting ground for a prowling pussy-cat. Tinkabell, or Smelly Cat as she is otherwise known, is most ungrateful for the luxurious life style she enjoys at our considerable expense, shunning all attempts at affection and even biting the hand that tries to groom her.

As I was writing this blog, completely unbidden, Tink decided to sit in my lap for the first time ever and remained there for 15 minutes, even permitting me to stroke her. Then, just as unexpectedly, she decided enough was enough and was gone ...

Mean while, back at the blog, the day aftger boxing day, I finally completed the lariat and wrapped it just in time to take with us to Amsterdam, where J's Sister lives and where we spent New Year.

Happy New Year.


text:
Sunday, June 22, 2008

Some quotes by Robert Hughes

  • The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.Fr
  • On the whole, money does artists much more good than harm. The idea that one benefits from cold water, crusts and debt collectors is now almost extinct, like belief in the reformatory power of flogging.

  • Drawing never dies, it holds on by the skin of its teeth, because the hunger it satisfies.. the desire for an active, investigative, manually vivid relation with the things we see and yearn to know about.. is apparently immortal.

  • Drawing brings us into a different, a deeper and more fully experienced relation to the object.


text:
Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Gratitude Challenge -- Day 8

This afternoon, I'm thankful for a "Slushy Day."

Nearly every afternoon I pass Sonic during Happy Hour. Occasionally, if all has been going well at our house, I'll declare it a "Slushy Day" and pick up half-price slushies for everyone. Today was one of those good days:

a day when all the schoolwork got done,

a day when we actually read a whole chapter of our read-aloud (it took nearly an hour),

a day when there weren't too many fights over who was breathing too loudly,

a day when the grilled cheese sandwiches weren't burned,

a day when there weren't too many messes to clean up,

a day when the laundry getes washed and put away,

a day when I actually rested during rest time,

a day when I'm proud to be the parent of three wonderful children.

I like celebrating the days when everything goes as planned. It gives me hope that there will be more good days in the future.

If you're having a good day (or even just a slightly-better-than-horrible day), you can share what you're thankful for at Brenda's Gratitude Challenge.

  1. Those are all very good things! I'd be thankful for a day like that, too!

  2. Ths is a great idea. It makes me wish we had a Sonic nearby. I'll have to think of a substitute.

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Ahmedabad to host workshop on safe stock markets investing

| TNN | Jul 19, 2013, 09.26 PM IST
AHMEDABAD: Consumer rights organization, Consumer Education Research Centre (CERC) will conduct a workshop on 'Stock Market Investing- Products, Process and Problem Resolution' in collaboration with Indian Institute of Financial Services (IIFS) and Bombay Stock Exchange on 20th July at CERC premises in Ahmedabad.

The workshop is open for CERC members with prior registration. The aim of the workshop is to render knowledge on the process of the investing, keeping in mind the spur of stock market scams prevalent in the investor's domain. Eminent industry experts will share their views on the pros and cons of the investment process and investors right. The workshop is not about where to invest but on how to invest.

The one day workshop will be segmented among three sessions, after being initiated with a welcome address by Praful Amin - trustee, CERC and chairman TORCH. The discussion point for the first session would be 'Investing through BSE-The Products' by Anoop Dwivedi, manager, BSE (Ahmedabad). The talking point for the second session by Siddhartha Shah, country operation head, HDFC Securities Ltd, will focus on 'Investment Process and Participants'. The third session is a panel discussion about the 'Problem Resolution, Complaint Procedure and investor's right'.

The equity world is a virtual exchange of security and the one day workshop intends to deliver knowledge on the products, process and problem resolution mechanisms available when investing or trading in the stock market. The speakers will share inputs about the nomenclature of the market dynamics, plethora of options, risk and profits related to stock ventures, hedging techniques.

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