In working through the diverse arts experiences of the last four years, I have come to this simple conclusion - we “make special” because we love. That is what my grandma knew - that is what I want to give away. So come sit at the table, enjoy some shortbread and let’s be friends!
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,"
said Piglet at last,
"what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?"
said Pooh.
"What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to
happen exciting today?"
said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.
A. A. Milne
Creating a portfolio that reflects me and my learning has been the most challenging and awful process I’ve been through in awhile. Self-reflection can be such a trap for me as I think and rethink and change and modify and re-evaluate and then start all over again. I thought of several visual metaphors that would have worked well but nothing grabbed me as ‘IT’. I thought of doing something with hands as the theme. I tried making some pastel silhouettes rubbings of shapes that represented me or parts of my life - a light bulb for ideas, a question mark for questions, an exclamation mark for the ah-hah moments, a heart for my family, a cross for my faith, etc. I soon scrapped this idea as I considered making a Grandmother’s fan quilt pattern out of paper, showing that my grandma has had a huge influence on my life. I thought about making some kind of wheel with several layers all held together with a brass fastener. I toyed with the idea of bringing in my daughter’s lunch bag and talking about its contents. I asked my friends and family what they thought I should do and I heard words such as colourful, diverse, thinking, unpredictable and fun. This still did not give me the artifact for my portfolio. With all the thinking that was going on, something had to result and eventually it happened. I can not put a finger on the exact time I discovered my metaphor but it only happened about a week and a half ago. Both Kathy and John had said “you will know when you find it” and they were right.
So the metaphor that I have chosen to use in my portfolio is food. Seems pretty basic......we all need food, food is in every culture, food comes in many forms, etc. So why food? Food plays such a big part in our lives and many things happen around food. Food is present at our celebrations, our mournings, our meetings and our waitings. It can comfort and stress us. We go out for coffee, we meet for lunch, we have a bedtime snack. As Samuel Chamberlain says, "The gentle art of gastronomy is a friendly one. It hurdles the language barrier, makes friends among civilized people, and warms the heart." Food plays a fundamental role in relationships. We make birthday cakes, breakfast in bed and potluck dinners. Sharing food seems to forge and reinforce friendships. It is very hard to stay angry at someone when you are sharing a fondue. One of the most wonderful things about life is that we must regularly stop what we are doing and devote our attention to eating.
So for me, food can be art. I really enjoy making food special for whomever I’m feeding. My grandmother had a knack for that. She made liver and spinach into the most wonderful treat and eating her shortbread was like eating Christmas gold. Feeding people was one of the ways my grandmother showed her love. Relationships were very important to my grandma and they are important to me and like relationships, food is trans-generational and cross-cultural. Like relationships, food bridges differences in age, language, religion and nationality...Chinese food, Mexican food, Thai food, Indian food and of course Scottish shortbread made from grandma’s recipe.
My grandma instilled in me a sense of “making special” every time she used the serrated cookie cutter and the tines of a fork to make the pattern on each piece of shortbread. I watched her carefully roll balls of dough in icing sugar to make pecan snowballs. I remember her pouring tea from the gold teapot into the small hand-painted teacup that I now have sitting in my china cabinet. “Making special” was a way of life for my grandma and she has bequeathed this tradition to my mother and me. “Making special” is intergenerational and cross-cultural.
So how does this all connect to what I have learned about arts education in the last few years? Like food and relationships, the arts transcend status, ethnicity, wealth, geography, colour, race, age, religion...any of the states that we find ourselves to be in. Like food, art bridges all kind of differences. Like food, the arts give us a way of expressing, celebrating and appreciating. My grandmother synthesized all this in a simple piece of shortbread.
In working through the diverse arts experiences of the last four years, I have come to this simple conclusion - we “make special” because we love. That is what my grandma knew - that is what I want to give away. So come sit at the table, enjoy some shortbread and let’s be friends!
Today one of my favourite people in the world is crying. Her fuzzy best friend of thirteen years has left this world and gone to where good dogs go. There are a lot of Menagh dogs there but one in particular will be very happy to see his buddy, Jack.
Just before we moved to Hope, we had to let Steve go - he became ill very suddenly but nothing prepared us for how determined he was to stay with us. We were at the vet’s office, sitting on the floor with Steve Moose Menagh as end-of-life medication was administered. The vet was amazed at how long he stayed with us....and eventually, became too tired to resist and headed away.
I don't know what happens after life with dogs but I can’t believe they cease to exist. Of all the animals in creation, dogs are the ones that love you completely. They are always happy to see you and their joy is seen from the tip of the wagging tail to end of the wiggly wet nose.
Jack was part of the Roberts/Hootz family. He was a pretty senior dog by many standards. At thirteen, he had grown up with Trish and Derren. He had a double bark - as if one woof was not enough to say what he had to say, and we alway got a chuckle of saying, “Hi Jack” across the fence as if it the it was one word.
Jack had been known to eat underwear and socks. He didn't like to walk on the kitchen floor. One of his favourite toys was the large yellow Tonka truck he used to push around the back yard. His nose change from pink to black depending on the season.
Watching Jack’s friend, Trish, suffer now because he is no longer with her brings tears to my eyes. And yet what she is experiencing now, I am as well. When you love deeply, you hurt deeply. And so Trish, you are close to my heart this evening and you will be in the days and weeks to come. The pain is unbearable but the last thirteen years make it worth the struggle. Jack’s paw print will be on your heart for the rest of your life.
Brian and I love you very much, Trish Roberts.
“It’s just the most amazing thing to love a dog, isn’t it? It makes our relationships with people seem as boring as a bowl of oatmeal.” – John Grogan
The morning is early, and the sky is still dark
And my thoughts are with you...
Do you know that I already love you?
Do you know that I already have hopes and dreams for you?
Do you know that I can hardly wait to see you?
And as much as I feel all these things,
my precious son, your dad, and his extraordinary wife, your mom,
feel them even more!
They already love you...
They already have hopes and dreams for you...
And they can hardly wait to see you....
These waiting days -
the hours are longer than their given sixty minutes,
crawling by at a snails' pace
after nine months that seemingly passed much faster
But your arrival will put all this to rest
And as I look into your newborn eyes,
I know that something more will once again fall into place inside of me
One more piece of my life's infinite puzzle
will fit into the just-right place
Have a safe journey, little one
I hope you arrive soon
The Holiest Work The world tells our children to chase more... more success, more applause, more achievement. But God invites us to teach th...
