A hunger for beauty

Posted on October 7, 2010 by doradueck

Manitoba autumn

Manitoba is not the Autumn Glory centre of the world, I’ll grant you that. It has to do with our particular climate, the kinds of trees that grow here, and so on. The “East” is definitely the place to be for spectacular oranges and reds in fall.

Still… we do have autumn and we do have much to enjoy and celebrate, and this year the season has been especially warm and lovely. Last Tuesday, since he had a day free between projects, and since I wanted to do some research/observation for the writing I’m working on, H. and I set off for a drive into the country, down to the Pembina Hills area, as far south and west as Manitou. The colours in the trees and also ditches were a treat for our eyes and spirits.

Even the ditches put on a show!

After lunch at the Kopper Kettle in Morden, a favourite local eatery it seems, we continued to Neubergthal, a village that is also a Canada heritage site because of the number of Mennonite house-barn structures it still contains. Here we viewed Himmelbleiw, an exhibition of Manitoba Mennonite heritage furniture and floor patterns. (Himmelbleiw is Low German for “heavenly blue, a colour used to paint walls and decorate furniture that expresses joy and hope.” – Catalogue)

We enjoyed seeing the cupboards, tables, cradles, clocks, toys, and floor patterns on display in the Friesen Housebarn Interpretative Centre. Nearly every item would have been useful in some way, but aesthetic appeal and satisfaction — through skill of construction, decorative detail, or colour — was added to functionality as well. I was especially taken by the floor patterns. From the late 1800s to the mid 1900s many Mennonite women painted the floors of their homes. (Note the samples in the catalogue page below.)

The Mennonites lived simply. Ostentation was not a community value. Nevertheless, they took opportunities to express artistry within the parameters of their lives.

It all made me think of Steve Bell’s yearning rendition of the Jim Croegaert song, “Why do we hunger for beauty?” It’s a rhetorical question. We love to look at “the leaves,” here today and gone tomorrow, and we paint chairs and floors, which will be worn by sitting and walking. We do hunger for beauty, so we seek it and create it.

Thin Air

Posted on September 29, 2010 by doradueck

Last week, which seems a long while ago already, was Thin Air week in Winnipeg. Thin Air is the city’s annual writers festival. I was honored to have a small part in the event, with a campus reading of This Hidden Thing, but mostly the week was about listening to and engaging with a great variety of other writers from across the country. As the event’s subtitle says, “it’s for readers.”

I took in four of the evening events, and two of the afternoon book chats. Here’s a few highlights.

From the festival opener, a line by Ismaila Alfa, traffic reporter for CBC Radio and poet/musician:

Long live the figures of speech before and after me.

Long live indeed, figures of speech!

Since I'm not much of a coffee drinker, my sleek Thin Air mug has top spot as pens and pencils holder.

The festival featured many wonderful writers and their books, and I hate to single some out, but… I enjoyed hearing Richard B. Wright (perhaps best known for his Clara Callan), whose new book is Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard. Wright had some interesting things to say about how he works, including the comment that reading poetry unblocks him when he’s stuck, reinvigorates him. And, finding myself once again involved in the terror and joy of a new novel project, I certainly resonated with what Wright said about that:

You’re sitting in a room talking to yourself — it’s almost a form of madness… You hope what you’re indulging in will be liked and indulged by others… [But] I seem to need another life. A writer needs this other imaginary world.

And the books I’d like to read because of the festival? Wright’s, yes, and also David Bergen’s latest, The Matter with Morris, which landed on the Giller prize long list as the week opened. Opening reviews have praised it and the passage Bergen read from it intrigued me. (Another festival author and Winnipegger who made the long list is Joan Thomas, but I’ve already read her Curiosity, so I’m up at least one!) I’m also looking forward to Sandra Birdsell’s new book, Waiting for Joe.

Every time I attend readings I realize again what a pleasure it is to listen to ideas and words crafted with care. Poetry, especially, shines when read aloud; the genre almost requires an oral presentation. Novels are trickier to judge from their performance, I think, because they turn and deepen on extended development. But the fragments we hear are an invitation, and we honor authors when we take them up on it.

Home again, with 20 points and some photos

Posted on September 15, 2010 by doradueck

Our big box journey of 17 days — west to B.C., south to California, east to Nebraska, north to Manitoba — is finished. We’re very grateful for safe travel, and good experiences. The family visits with siblings and children, in B.C. and in Colorado, at the two poles of the trip, were definitely the highlights. Other notables, for our own recollection and for those interested, include the following.

1. Total distance travelled: 8,070 kilometers.

View from our window: the Astoria-Megler Bridge

2. Best hotel: This is nearly a draw, between the Hampton Inn in Norfolk, Nebraska, corn country, and the Holiday Inn in Astoria, Oregon. Both had great beds and “extras,” in terms of amenities. But the latter wins, for the view — of the Columbia River and the green girders of the long Astoria-Megler Bridge — just outside our window.

3. Most expensive hotel: Our winner above, which just goes to show that sometimes you pay for what you get.

4. Most “basic” hotel: We were tired that night, and Basic was plenty good enough at an old motel, which shall remain nameless here, found along the # 3 in the B.C. Rockies. But we did have to chuckle when we were shown the “executive” room first, which was, as far as we could tell, exactly the Same Basic as a standard room, except that the room itself was somewhat larger. We decided to forego the privilege of additional worn carpet and linoleum and save ourselves, as well, the executive $10 extra! Continue reading →