Inn of the Wandering Dragon

Apparantly my boyfriend has made a resolution (despite being fairly anti-reolution overall). His resolution seems to be to be in possesion of a suitable stereo system - one with which we can have a substantial stereo skirmish with the people upstairs. I will not say an all out stereo war because at this point he's not eager to find a new place to live.

So in the last couple days I find my tiny space getting inundated with electronics. First came a pair of large speakers from his place. Yesterday a new amplifier followed him home. On top of this the people upstairs have set up a new stereo yesterday and have kindly passed along the old one. The tuner works much better than mine but the CD player is in serious need of cleaning and is unusable at this time and so my little CD player is now living on top of the donated stereo. The pile is getting rather comical actually. The truth of the matter is that making all of this work is going to require some serious re-arrangement of space or at the very least a new TV stand that will accomodate the speakers. Ah the fun never ends!

As for myself, I do not have any firm resolutions. I find I get better results over time with little steps that I can build upon. But there are a few general categories that will be getting attention in the comming year.

Reduce clutter
fill sketchbooks
increase movement

That pretty much sums it up for now.

I have been hearing several questions as to the fate of Chalk and his present locked in the kennel. Fear not! For on Christmas morning I opened the kennel, set the gift bag in front of the cat and told him he could open his present now. Chalk wasted no time trying to squeeze his body into the bag in search of the delicious scents. The end result was a box of dried fish treats, a bag of 'super catnip' and a fuzzy toy on a string all wrapped in a neat red bow. All three have proven to be a big hit with the furball, although the Kowabunga chicken treats with real catnip inside took a bit of convincing. They will never replace his favorite pounce treats but he will not turn his nose up at them either.

All in all we had a lovely day yesterday. We spent the day at my parent's house where we all enjoyed good food and games. It is something of a family tradition to pull out one of the many boardgames to while away the hours. The game of choice this year was monopoly and after how ever many hours we simply totaled up the assets and called it quits. No one really wants to go to the wee hours of the morning on a belly full of turkey dinner. I'm trying not to give this cold a reason to stick around either.

I was able to bring home the carcass of the bird and today I finally got around to getting it in the oven to make a tasty soup. The aroma of slowly simmering soup is even starting to penetrate my clogged sinuses and is one of my favorite smells I associate with Christmas. Others include fresh cut evergreen boughs, baking gingerbread and homemade stuffing. Today has been quiet and lazy (how I love these low maintenance recipes for days like this). The snow is finally falling and I am almost tempted to step outside for a bit. If nothing else walking back in will bring a fresh perspective to the lovely aroma of homemade soup.

Another week passed already, and this week so far is moving just as quickly. The tree is up (in my bookshelf) and the cat is leaving it alone. Come to think of it, I haven't even noticed any inquisitive teeth marks in the presents laying on the floor. You know he's moving out of the kitten phase when... My Christmas shopping is almost finished now and I have a few more things to make. Plus we have a couple more dinners to attend at the end of the week and hopefully the other half will be up for them. We recently attended his company dinner and sad to say the food has not agreed with him. Add this to a pre-existing cold and I have a fairly unhappy individual on my hands.
This morning I am listening to the Trans Siberian Orchestra - The Lost Christmas Eve. A friend of mine indicated she likes this group so I thought I would check it out. I don't know if the other albums are structured around a story like this one but I am enjoying what I hear. I'll probably take it over to Mom and Dad's for Christmas Day.
Perhaps it's just me, then again perhaps not, but it seems to me like there are fewer decorations and cards this year. Not fewer items to purchase - there is still a flood of that stuff. But when I go out I see less places have decorations up. Where in previous years there was a small wall of cards received on display this year there are definitely only a few.
It makes me wonder if the frantic pace of the past years (red hot economy, labour shortages etc) has finally burned everybody out. And if that's the case, will anybody get a chance to rest this holiday season? What do you think?

Of course I could not possibly go to Paris without going to the Louvre and visiting the Mona Lisa. Jinx is somewhat astounded by the crowds here so we had to take a picture of the frenzy. But if you are patient and with some gentle elbow nudging you can get right up to the front for a good look.
In reality it is a very beautiful painting. I could spend a long time taking in the gentle gradations of the sfumato technique that Leonardo developed. There is a richness to the colours still that doesn't quite make it into most reproductions. Her gentle smile seems to take in the crowd with amusement. Add this to the fact that it is one of only a handful of paintings by Leonardo to have survived to this day and you can see why the art historians have made such a fuss over her. As to why everyone else is fussing over her though and the story changes a bit. I think my most memorable moment is when I saw over eager parents hand massive expensive cameras to their young children (who are having issues just holding the silly thing straight) and send them under the barricade. Take the picture - they urge on the youngsters. The kids themselves are looking a little bewildered. One little boy looks back to ask, why? The parents are now getting impatient, there are still more signature pieces to find and capture on film. "It is a very important painting now hurry up and take the picture!"
So my question is, do they actually look at the painting? Or are they just measuring the success of their trip by how many famous / iconic things they can stand beside?

I have to admit that after working a few years in a framing / poster shop I had become pretty tired of the usual stream of Monet prints that are the average shop's staple images. They are small, pretty and there are enough colours in them to work with just about any decor. I read about the Muse de L'Orangerie and decided it was a priority to visit. On the main floor there are two large oval rooms that were built according to instructions by Monet himself. Large paintings curve around the walls and the main light source is a large skylight in each with a light cloth stretched across to diffuse the light - so you are viewing the paintings in natural light just as he did. You could come back at different times of the day and see how the character of the paintings changes with the change in light. I could have stayed there for hours easily. No matter how good the replica, it will never do justice to the real thing.

The joys of attempting to take pictures through a steel fence (atop the arch) is the chance of your flash bouncing off the fence and messing up your shot. Luckily I happen to like this particular happy accident. Of course I was one day off for the Eiffel tower as the previous day there was a massive green inflatable rugby ball hanging inside the tower.

Paris is beautiful, both by night and by day. Granted we were only in the central portion of the city. But then Paris has had her royal architects and planners, whose job was to create a vision for the royal city - a vision of beauty and symmetry. Paris has lived through time periods where alliances were commemerated with great works of art and architecture, and where the face of nature was to be shaped by mans design. The vision of Paris was very much shaped by the elite and powerful of the day.

The sun was setting and the whole city was looking hazy. The ferris wheel was set up for the World Rugby Cup that ended just as we arrived. Beyond that lies the Louvre in all it's glory.

Okay, I'm opting for the less typical shot this time (at least to my mind). This is looking up at the arch and the elaborate carvings from underneath.

Another beautiful building - this one was built for one of the world expos. It is still used for various art shows and expositions.

I love the old buildings and the ornamentation that went into them.

This is actually a facade we found as we walked along the Champs Elysees in Paris. Behind this there were crews either building or renovating a building. In Calgary we just get plywood or steel fencing to cordon off the jobsite - nothing this cool! Of course, the big question would be "what is going to be revealed when all is said and done?"