Cool Tip I Learned in My Old Age

I can't imagine where the world would be without youtube videos to show us how to do anything and everything nowadays. It's especially useful during our current self isolation.

My daughter has become an expert at crochet. I have not as yet been quite as ambitious, although I have learned some new things. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

This morning, hubby opened the cereal cupboard and laughed when he saw this.

Why had nobody told me about this before? This is brilliant. I'm tired of ripped lids, and half open boxes, particularly cereal boxes.

I found a video on youtube that showed how to close a cereal box. Since I was tired of shredded, half open lids, I thought I'd try it.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhEHnIypRM0

The first box was rather large, and I was unsuccessful, although, I was able to get it sealed enough that all I needed to add was a clip and it still looked neat.

Next, I attempted a smaller box. Wow... it worked.

Before long, my cereal cupboard was organized. I had managed to seal all the rest of the boxes as in the video. Another unnecessary pandemic self isolation project completed. 

Here's a repeat of how for those who haven't seen the video.

Step 1 - Close inside waxed paper containing cereal. Then, at the top of the box, fold in one large lid and two small end ones.

Step 2 -  Bend small end portions of box to from a V shape which points to the inside of the box.

Step 3-   Tuck the other large lid in on the far side of the V's against the first large lid.

Fantastic!

Amazing isn't it how these small efforts and successes keep us amused during the current health crisis?

Someone told me there's a hack to seal potato chip bags as well, to which I asked, "Who actually has partial potato chip bags?" Anyhow, I shall leave that little trick for someone else to post.

Cobourg Street Pianos - Year 2

Last year, I wrote a blog and shared photos of our street pianos (May 20, 2013  Street Pianos - Cobourg). Well, they're here for another year. Downtown Cobourg has pianos available for the enjoyment of its citizens. This year, they returned, fewer in number but nonetheless imposing in their beauty. The artists have once again outdone themselves in the re-furbishing of these instruments

Not only that, one of our locals has made quite the youtube splash with close to 200,000 views. Last night, Michael Mcnamara was even featured on one of the news channels which hubby often watches.

I first saw this clip on Facebook. It was posted by the proprieter of a nearby restaurant  a week ago. I was so fascinated that I asked when the next performance was going to take place. I hope I'll be able to catch one in the upcoming days and that Mr. Mcnamara won't have already been snatched away by Ellen or booked by another of the many daytime talk shows.

In case the video doesn't work, here's the link.
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_cjSGt5j40&feature=share

Starry, Starry Night...

My friend recently showed me her new "Samsung" cell phone with all its features. Suddenly, a photo of Vincent Van Gogh's painting, "Starry Nights", popped up on her screen. I noticed it immediately as it brought back a few memories.

I remember viewing my first real Van Gogh work at an art gallery. It was one of his landscapes, a farm painting. I didn't always appreciate this particular artist, until I saw one of his pieces close up. The lines and strokes were fantastic and intricate. When viewed from a short distance away, the combined brush strokes created a masterpiece.

While teaching in later years, I had the idea that it wouldn't hurt to expose 4 and 5 year olds to more sophisticated levels of art, poetry and music. I thought, why not broaden their awareness during the "formative years" when the bulk of their learning as humans takes place? I was fortunate to be able to acquire a few childrens' art books, stories and calendar reproductions during one of my own gallery visits. These helped me with my presentations. It was great to have some resources to which these very young children could relate.

I taught them a little about a number of artists, but they seemed particularly interested in Vincent Van Gogh. Perhaps it was the flow of the name which they seemed to enjoy repeating over and over. "Van Gogh, Van Gogh, Van Gogh."  When we looked at a picture of his sunflowers they tried to reproduce it, as a group, in mural form. I had pre-sketched the blooms and it became a paint by numbers type exercise which gave them some idea as to the intricacies of his work. When they each wanted to create their own "Van Gogh", I gave them an simple outline of "Starry Nights" and some pastels.  Many did a wonderful job combining the blues and golds in their pictures.

Some time later, I remember reading the class a story. It was about a group of children going on a field trip to a farm. The illustrations were simple, appealing and cartoon like. When I turned a page, one of my students, Alex, piped up saying, "That picture's just like starry nights". This was one of my fondest teaching memories. Alex, had made a connection. After all, that's what learning is all about, making connections. He noted that one of the illustrations had the stars and swirls in the sky very similar in style to Van Gogh's "Starry Nights". Fantastic! I hadn't even realized it myself.

Since that time, I have become more observant. Thanks to Alex, I have been seeing "Starry Nights" everywhere...on dishes, on note cards, on jewellery, on a poster advertising the movie "Midnight in Paris", on my friend's new phone and on youtube.

Thanks to Don McLean, who wrote this haunting song, "Starry, Starry, Night" about a creative, sad, yet important life.






*** Added Comments  - I always print my blog and insert the pages into a three ring binder. As I did that this evening, I noticed that the cover of my 2011 blog binder has on it a rather lovely reproduction of "Starry Night." I had forgotten that.  Also, feel free to ignore or click off the ad for "Chinese lady for dating" that appears when viewing the youtube selection. That is of course, unless you are interested.