Tuesday, November 14, 2023

India at the gallery, food and drawings

 Today the house cleaners are scheduled, so I'm out and about, first to the UPS store to return an item which just arrived. 

Nothing like the description, also comically wrong size, but black, I'll grant them that. The label was correct, but the contents were random. QR code set up, back to UPS, nice lady scans, takes package, issues a receipt. 

This makes three out of three recent  fails in online shopping for clothes. Usually the labels are as ordered and the item bears no resemblance. I wonder if they count on people not returning them.

Then the day improved with a wonderful photography show at the library gallery. I'm not usually much interested in photography; few people really make art  with a  camera.

But this man does.
















He has an eye for daily life, the tea wallah tending his shop, the goat at the door of the bead shop, the tiny shoes being made for little refugees, the man carrying an enormous vessel on his head, echoing the dome in the background, Diwali lights, nature encroaching on buildings.

The three headed figure is in the context of the two headed memes we talked about recently, and in Europe the three headed glass vase used to be a popular motif.

Lovely show, and I've only shown you my favorites. Outside the gallery, I put in a few puzzle pieces

Yesterday Gary brought me in to help him with Indian sweets he'd been given for Diwali. The Indian neighbors have showered western friends, and now we're redistributing. 

I'm one of the few Westerners around here who love Indian foods, most Americans finding them a bit spicy.  And I'm so grateful for a digestive system which seems to be castiron, despite my great age and decrepitude. I can eat and enjoy practically anything, and I never forget how lucky I am.

While I listened to the Martin Walker Bruno mystery, I knitted a bit, and suddenly felt like a couple of minutes'  drawing. 


Just pilot pen in a little all-purpose notebook. These shapes might show up in some future work, we'll see. Meanwhile it was a nice couple of minutes.

Happy day everyone, seize the nice couple of minutes where you find them!




25 comments:

  1. You had a busy morning. I like and can eat spicy food. I do like these photographs.

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  2. Love the shapes you made with the pilot pen. Very nice.
    And very impressive photos, too. Enjoy your clean house! I got a text early this morning that my cleaner's child was puking so she has to put me off for a few days. Which is fine, of course.

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    1. I love to come home to good smelling house. Not that it's repulsive usually, just that there are cooking smells. The little drawing was just letting the pen wander about, great moment.

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  3. wonderful photos from India! I've been using a few clothing sites, so far no problems. But only about 3-4 things ordered.

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    1. I hope your clothing luck holds up. It's such a gamble.

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  4. I like the pigeon on the door and the man in his tea shop.

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    1. I loved the pigeon, too. And the genre pieces, the man making a living from a tiny shop.

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  5. Some people are so very clever with taking photos.
    And they have so much patience waiting for that perfect shot.
    I love spicy food. But unfortunately I just can’t have it anymore.
    You’ll have to enjoy some extra for me

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    1. He was a commercial photographer for thirty years before venturing into art photography, and you can tell the depth of his experience.

      I'll have to serve myself all the extra spicy food for you! Sorry you can't handle it.

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  6. Those photographs are art indeed. Beautiful!

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  7. I believe online stores do count on people not returning items for exchange, but giving them to Goodwill, or a thrift shop, or worse, just throwing them away.

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    1. Sad, that. I've seen items on free cycle that are still in the original packaging, described as online purchase, wrong item or size, but at least they find a home.

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  8. I have had mostly good luck with on line clothes shopping.
    Pictures can be worth a thousand words especially when created by a talented photographer.
    I will look for my two minutes. Thank you for such a simple suggestion.

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  9. That line drawing flows so nicely. It's good to follow a whim and have a nice meditative moment with your pilot pen.

    The photos were taken by an artist's eye. Some, like the shoemaker and the tea wallah, hold stories.

    We love Indian food but have a hard time duplicating the intricate flavors. Making a good curry seems beyond us, though Mike is a wizard with spices.

    Chris from Boise

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    1. The nice thing about Indian food is that you can keep trying!

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  10. I love a good photo exhibit! I especially like his views of street life, like the man carrying the copper kettles, the shapes of which echo the dome in the background.

    I rarely buy clothes online for just that reason. Dave has bought some but they often turn out disappointing. I buy my pants online but from the same retailer, and always the same style, so I more or less know what I'm getting!

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  11. I used to do well with online shopping, even shoes. Then the companies I liked were bought out or changed suppliers and now it's not working so well for me.
    I think you'd like the whole exhibit. There are scenes of nature, sunsets I think you'd appreciate. I only picked the very Indian scenes to show here

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  12. I for sure like the last three photos in that series. It would be nice to see them all in person.

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    1. Yes, there's nothing like seeing the actual exhibit and being surrounded by his work. I think you'd love it.

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  13. I've heard of a lot of people being unhappy with clothing purchases from online, particularly from Amazon. I have ordered a few things but always from companies I'm familiar with.

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    1. These are companies I've dealt with fine in the past. But they've been bought out, changed manufacturers, etc, to where they still have the name, but not the merch.

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