Dying to Be Photographed

People who've heard some of my talks, especially the Crazy one (!!!), know about the Victorians' penchant for commemorating death. Not only were they big on mourning ribbons, clothing and such, but loved ones' clothing were cut up and included in quilts. Even their hair was carefully clipped, then used to make jewelry. Hair was also used as 'thread' to embroider seams, or woven into lace!

They really got into this sort of thing. 

There's actually more reason for it than you'd think. About 1 in 4 children died before age two...another reason why people had so many kids. Wars and disease outbreaks decimated more, adults and children alike. It was considered respectful to stay in mourning for up to three years. Men got a break - they could resume regular dressing after a year. Younger women were allowed to wear gray and lavender, at least, after the same period. For the rest of us, it was unrelieved black -- unless you wanted people to think you were a slut, or even worse, an actress.
     Bear in mind: this was a time when black generally wasn't colorfast, either. (It still isn't, as New Yorkers can attest.) Wearing black meant that your skin and underclothing were liberally stained with the leaching dye, and you would be re-dyeing your clothing regularly. It also meant exposing yourself to dangerous toxins; all sorts of chemicals, including arsenic, were used to set dye back in those days. Some experts believe that Civil War widows died much younger than they should have, thanks to clothing that slowly poisoned them as they mourned.

Now there's a gallery exhibit that showcases another Victorian penchant: combining the new trend for photography with commemorating their dead. It's called "post mortems;" or, in the words of Daughter #2, 'dead baby photos.'

It wasn't just photographing Civil War dead, though James Brady was well-known for doing that. (He also wasn't beneath lugging bodies from spot to spot, and positioning them for more striking results.) Criminals were photographed in their coffins...but so were everyday people. Sometimes the corpse leaned back in the arms of loving parents, or was positioned in a chair. Eyes were painted on, or eyelids propped open in an effort to appear more natural. Children are in the majority of post mortems, since they died in droves.

Queen Victoria had one entire floor of one of her palaces cordoned off. She spent many hours there, refusing to admit anyone else. After her death, her son, the Prince of Wales, discovered who she'd been keeping company with: literally dozens of photographs of dead people. Victoria had family and friends photographed in their beds and coffins, then arranged them in her rooms. Granted: this was a monarch who stayed in mourning several decades after her husband died -- in fact, she never really stopped wearing it.

Post mortem photos go for big bucks nowadays on Ebay. But they're also a valuable look at love and loss during the Victorian period. Go take a look at the exhibit and story. It's well worth viewing, in spite of the occasional grimace.

Should You Always Believe What You're Told?

PostSecret.com put this up on their Facebook section:

It's a report on John Gurdon, from his science teacher. Gurdon, at age 15, was last in his science class. Gurdon pretty much gave up on science; it was only through a clerical error that he was allowed to continue studying -- in zoology.

   John Gurdon.
The same John Gurdon who won a Nobel Prize in medicine last year for his amazing work on cloning.
     He still keeps this report framed above his desk at the Gurdon School in Cambridge. (Yes, it's named for him.)

     Obviously, Sir John isn't the first person to be classified as an idiot by his teacher. Albert Einstein's teacher thought little of him, and there are others in the same category. 

What stuns me about this is that some students, when told it, will believe it.

And they give up.

Where would our world be without John Gurdon...or John Lennon, for that matter? What if Albert Einstein stayed a patent clerk for the rest of his life, because he believed what his teacher said?

I am no genius. (In fact, I'm probably closer to idiot status.) But I can still vividly remember a 7th grade math teacher, Miss Russell, who insisted that I take a handwriting course, because my writing was so atrocious.
    Yes, a math teacher. For handwriting.

I was so humiliated that I took the reverse course -- began having so much trouble understanding math that I nearly flunked out of it in succeeding years. I only took the barest minimum needed, and chose lit and other classes at the other end of the spectrum.
    I also kept writing by hand in a way that was fastest and most effective for me: a mix of printing and cursive. 
    So what do I do today? Write, of course. A lot. Mostly computer work, but I continue to do some hand-lettering. (One employer insisted that I be the one to hand-letter her party invitations, "because your writing is so distinctive.")
    And design quilt patterns -- quilt patterns that need math to figure them out.

 It was a good lesson, learned early on: it's not always that bad to be different.

Take that, Miss Russell.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"When you have problems like an experiment doesn't work, which often happens, it's nice to remind yourself that perhaps after all you are not so good at this job and the schoolmaster may have been right." -- Sir John Gurdon

Just Flew In From Chicago...

...and boy, are my arms tired.

Daughter #2 and I repeated the November trip to go see the Mama. We took the single daily Spirit flight from Denver to Chicago; other than crabby attendants and a full plane, the flight was the same. Reasonably comfortable seats, your basic 2-hour flight...and we saved a BUNCH of money. ($90 roundtrip.)

Then we stayed overnight in a hotel and caught a 7:30 a.m. Megabus out of Chicago. In spite of rain (that eventually turned to snow), we did just fine, and got into Grand Rapids around noon. (Daughter did complain that the WiFi connection kept fading in and out. Other than that, everything went as before. Including the price: $8.50 roundtrip for both of us.) Foggy and rainy for the rest of the time -- it's supposed to turn to ice and cold the next few days.

We're here for a week, and the Mama has big plans for us, including a stop in Frankenmuth, Michigan's Christmas capital. (They have good chicken dinners, too.)

I'll be in touch.

Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Off to Michigan

 Packing for a quick trip to Michigan to check on The Mama. Daughter #2 is going along for the ride; we'll get some work done (including buying more handkerchiefs for the Hanky Panky kits), go out to eat, and do the tourist bit, as well. Meanwhile:

Five ways to spend less and reduce clutter, courtesy of Apartment Therapy.

A faux shell chandelier...made out of wax paper! (Beautiful, Decorating Diva's Diary.)

Decorating with pallets... like this interesting windowed table. Take a look further in the post, and there's a link to a pallet shelf. I'm even thinking this would make a great coldframe! Thanks, Marty's Musings.

Don't quit your job to follow advice, until you're sure that advice is worth following. Financial Samurai's got an excellent argument here.


Thirteen freebies to take advantage of. (Thanks for mentioning them, Jeff Yeager and AARP.) 

A tab belt...made of soda tabs! This crocheted beauty is easier to do than it looks; Steampunk fans, take note.  (Whoa, this is cool, Gingerly Made.)

An Oakland, CA art museum gets hit twice -- can you help find the burglars?

Remember the discovered-in-Goodwill painting I told you about? It went for $11,205.00. Plus shipping. 

I wish life (and work) would go a bit more smoothly. At least it's getting done, albeit longer than I'd planned. (Notice the posting time on this? In case you're wondering, it's nearly 2:30 a.m.) But it's getting done -- and I'll be soon on the way to Chicago.

Have a great week. 

Now, THAT'S Unusual Fabric!

Spoonflower Fabrics has regular design contests...and if you haven't visited them, you should. Now that retail fabric prices have gone up, Spoonflower's prices for one-of-a-kind fabrics are almost reasonable. (And terrific during a sale!)
    I love their stuff for adding zip to scrap and memory quilts. (And they cut beautifully for small details and accents.) Along comes the latest contest:

MURDER MYSTERY TOILE!

That's right -- every one of the top ten prints has a secret within the fabric design. Here's the winner, "Who Poisoned the Roses?" by chicca_besso. (Order some here.)

Plus oddball stuff like  "Killed: Two Birds With One Stone." (I'll let you look up that one.)

Go here to see the entries -- very, very cool.

 Your bee neighbor probably won't have these in her next quilt!

Think About This

 Charlie Reese just retired from the Orlando Sentinel. This was his final column.

545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. [The House has passes a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President's proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Aid for Monty Python...and Free Pizza!

Poor old John Cleese has money troubles.

He divorced Wife #3 some years ago, and married Wife #4 last year. Now he's having trouble coming up with the bucks for Wife #3's settlement. (Yet another powerful argument for sticking with Spouse #1, and working the problems out, if you can. Or at least Spouse #2.) 

He had to sell his favorite car. Now the helmet he wore in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as well as a number of photos, are up for grabs.
    You can buy the helmet for a cool 999 pounds. (Isn't that about $3000 American?)

The photos are more reasonably priced, and include stills from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Still one of my favorites, though the lumberjack sketch is also a honey.

Hey, we all have copious amounts of cash to spend on stuff like this. Help the poor guy out...you'll find the full report here.   
    (I love the man's work -- but really, he should know better.)

****** From the Grab This Now! Department: Papa John's is giving away a free 1-item pizza, if you can guess whether the Superbowl coin toss is heads -- or tails!
      Go here to register. If you're right, you get an e-mail coupons after Feb. 4.