2007-11-11 - 8:43 a.m.

....sunday mornings / framing memories / more nesting....

I am waking up every morning these days with two cats cuddled somewhere around me on the bed. And when I begin to stir, little Lyra "MEP"s at me and comes up to cuddle and purr right next to me for a few minutes before I climb out and go downstairs for coffee and radio.

Sundays are great for listening to NPR. I enjoyed a very interesting piece that compared high school history text books in Korea, Japan, China, and the United States, and how they covered (or did not cover) such topics as Pearl Harbor, Nagasaki, and the Rape of Nanjing. The goal of the project is to raise awareness that a large part of our history is cultural. I'm a huge fan of James Loewen, who provides a damning critique of American textbooks and treatment of history. This project sounded equally interesting in that it covered the same topics but in multiple Asian/Pacific countries. If I remember correctly, the researcher was working out of Stanford. Particularly poignant to me to learn about a project that seeks to promote understanding - and through that peaceful relations - on a day when we honor those who have fought in wars.

**

Yesterday K and I finally started with framing some of the new artwork that we bought during the East Side Culture Crawl last year. We bought three prints from a wonderful artist who used to live in Vancouver. It took us quite some time to agree on how to do it - K and I have very different ideas about how to present art, it seems.

We also framed our first picture for baby - a classic Janosch print of a huge grinning frog saying "lach doch mal" Janosch is my favorite German children's cartoonist who has invented, among other things, the famous "tigerduck" - pictures posted as soon as I have one (they are not very easy to get in North America).

K was reticent to spend so much money to have a lowly POSTER framed. I have a different perspective on this issue - if it's a poster you buy just to put up to have color in your dorm room, then perhaps an expensive frame is a wee bit over the top. But in special instances even posters and prints are unique and worthy of an expensive frame. All of the posters that I have framed have very special meaning to me - I can recall where and why I acquired them, and I have a very special image of the events surrounding them. I could probably bore guests for hours with these stories.

In this case, we decided on a bright, red-orange frame for the frog. And in this case I have a mental image of the artwork that *I* grew up with. How I used to lie in bed and stare at these images of little happy 'when it rains it pours' children under umbrellas, and analyze them with my little kinderbrain. I have a mental image of Baby staring at this frog, and internalizing the idea of a huge grinning frog telling her to "lach doch mal." Laughter. It's an image I want her to be able to remember and reproduce in her mind when she is 40. It's worth a bright red-orange frame.

Anyway, after our battles at the framers, we went on a nice long walk to the Croatian Cultural Center for a computer fair. (I was just going along for the exercise because yoga was canceled). The computer fair was canceled, but it was definitely a worthwhile stroll in the sun (especially since today is grey and rainy). We did some grocery shopping along the way so that I could make an onion-cheese quiche as a special treat for K. It's so easy to make him happy..

Today we will probably drive out in the rain to collect a few more thingies for Baby. K's latest morning habit is to come and find me somewhere in the house, give me a big hug and kiss, and say, "Honey! You look and smell wonderful! Let's have FUN today!" You just can't argue with THAT, now can you? :-).