Curious Thoughts – Malvena Pearl's Emporium

Bagpuss, a children’s television show from the BBC in the 1970s

Bagpuss is a children’s TV show that our proprietor found out about on her 2008 trip to England with our dear pal Beth Woolbright. Wikipedia tells us, “UK children’s television series, made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate. The series of 13 episodes was first broadcast from 12 February 1974 to 7 May 1974 through their company Smallfilms. The title character was “an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams”. Although only 13 episodes were made, it remains fondly remembered, and was frequently repeated in the UK for 13 years. In 1999 Bagpuss topped a BBC poll for the UK’s favourite children’s TV programme.’

Beth and I had gone into Hamleys of London, an incredible toy shop that’s been open since 1981. We went in to look for Doctor Who toys but stopped first at the aisle of stuffed animals to find Paddington Bear. That’s where we first saw Bagpuss and several smaller dolls that were singing mice. This show is about a young girl named Emily, her stuffed cat named Bagpuss and their stuffed animal friends who help Emily repair old and broken items for her “shop” which doesn’t sell anything. In summary, it is a parallel life to that of the proprietor of Malvena Pearl’s Emporium. We haven’t sold much and we opened the place with a live Bagpuss-like cat named Roo.

We have recently heard of Another Shop That Doesn’t Sell Anything and is a kind of art experiment that is also located at 2809 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland, CA. Bagpuss would be proud. Carry on.

About the Chiffchaff, courtesy of Wikipedia

“The Chiffchaff is a common and widespread leaf warbler, named for its distinctive onomatopoeic song, which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia. It is a migratory passerine which winters in southern and western Europe, southern Asia and north Africa. Greenish-brown above and off-white below, it is named for its simple chiff-chaff song. It has a number of subspecies, some of which are now treated as full species. The female builds a domed nest on or near the ground, and assumes most of the responsibility for brooding and feeding the chicks, whilst the male has little involvement in nesting, but defends his territory against rivals, and attacks potential predators. A small insectivorous bird, it is subject to predation by mammals, such as cats and mustelids (weasel family), and birds, particularly hawks of the genus Accipiter. It may also acquire external or internal parasites. Its large range and population mean that its status is secure, although one subspecies is probably extinct. The British naturalist Gilbert White was one of the first people to separate the similar-looking Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Wood Warbler by their songs, as detailed in 1789 in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.”

Creative Output

I am happy to report that I cleaned my apartment this weekend and then made it to the thrift store with three bags of give-away t-shirts and other not-worn-in-a-long-time/not-able-to-make-it-into-a-costume clothing to donate.

I gave a Betsy Johnson dress back to a friend who wanted me to alter it for her — I’ve had this dress in the project pile for almost a year. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t re-make the thing or slice it up for her – she didn’t care if I sliced it! But I did. It was too pretty to slice. So, that’s one less project for me to be neurotic about. One window closes, another one opens? Perhaps. No worries. I still have stuff to bring to the swap with the other costumers later this month. See what happens when Beanie has a birthday and our birthday party hostess and host provide a chocolate-covered cheesecake — and we devour other chocolate snacks — and we watch science fiction while eating chocolate, late at night? I don’t sleep. I clean. So my place is cleaner.

I was also able to sing with two groups of friends last week. I did some jewelry repair this weekend for Beth. While Beth and yours truly were out finding hot chocolate and pizza, we met a fellow traveler who talked to us about France. She’d never been there before last summer and we had the same experience of Paris! We felt at home there. This woman was so taken with Paris that she made herself a stage name, Little Eyeful. She performs in a dance show on First Fridays in Oakland – the Art Murmur gallery tour. And she doesn’t sew. I do. I offered my sewing & design services.

That’s the extent of my creative output for now. Back to the regularly scheduled events. Like paying the rent and taking care of the cat.

Bike tire/wheel update

So my buddy E. who is an amateur bike fixer-upper said he might have some wheels and tires for me. I went over there with the city-car-share car and the bike skeleton and got some replacement tires. Thanks, E. Then I locked the bike up in my storage unit, located deep in the heart of the mountain that is my building. You’d need a map, a wizard, some dwarves and a hobbit to find the damn thing, now. Can you tell I’ve been watching “Lord of the Rings?” Happy Halloween – the Most Wonderful TIME of the Year.

Someone desperate stole my bike wheels and tires

I left for work this morning, holding the door open for my neighbor, who had her bike stolen a few weeks ago and was carrying her other bike to get to work. She got to the bottom of the stairs, looked at the bike rack (which had been built by our generous and crafty iron-worker landlord). Neighbor casually asks, “Oh, I see someone cannabalized your bike?”

WHAT?

I went down the stairs and indeed, someone has stolen both of my bike tires.

Now, this bike rack is INSIDE a locked gate, outside the locked door to our apartment building. A courtyard sort of place near a dumpster that now has plants in it that I planted and have been watering and caring-for. No other bikes were locked to the bike rack and thus the thief took my (BLEEP)-ing tires.

I don’t mean to be bitter. BUT THIS IS THE ONLY BICYCLE I’VE EVER OWNED, PURCHASED IN AUGUSTA, MAINE IN 1979 — from Poulin’s Cyclery, no less, an institution that has since joined the choir invisibe — AND IT WAS PURCHASED WITH MY HARD-EARNED AFTER-SCHOOL JOB MONEY AND THEN SHIPPED TO ME IN CA BY MY COUSIN– FROM MAINE– IN 1987.

Bike tires. Stolen. In the immortal words of our younger internet users, WTF??!!!

So if you or anyone you know would like to contribute to either the Malvena Pearl/Roo Vet Bill and Insulin Fund OR the Malvena Pearl Bicycle Tire Replacement Fund, that’d be peachy. If you are reading this, you have my e-mail address.

AND GET OUT THERE AND VOTE, FOLKS.

The Uncomfortable (yet Stylish) Shoe Iceberg

I realized last month when I started my two new part-time, day jobs (one in retail and another in a new office) that I owned one pair of comfortable shoes. I needed more than one additional pair. Especially because the one pair I had was a pair of running shoes that are at least 5 years old and used to be white. They are now kind of dirt-colored. They don’t exactly appear to be so hip to wear with work clothes.

So I bought two pair of comfortable, well-made shoes this weekend. Perhaps this was too extravagant of me

I now face the Uncomfortable, yet Stylish Shoe Iceberg In My Life, which is the shoe collection in my closet.

I doubt that I am the only American woman facing this problem, so gee, that’d make a good blog, right? It’s fashion-related, but also related to my sense of recycling, conscious consumption of goods and my attempts avoid over-spending/over-use of resources. I am in no way “jumping on the band wagon” of what some folks feel is the ‘latest trend’ of recycling or going green. I’ve been wearing used clothing, shoes, thrift store stuff for as many decades as I have been a consumer. Most of my furniture is used, inherited from roommates and neighbors, found on the streets, or given to me by friends and family. This recycling thing is not a new “trend” to me.

If I can sell — or otherwise find new homes for — my 20+ pair of Uncomfortable Shoes, I’d feel better about this recent, necessary purchase of two new pair. So, what is it that makes this collection an “Iceberg?”

A couple of months ago, I made the decision to sell the very nicest, most expensive pair of Uncomfortable shoes I own on ebay. But, I got no takers. I suppose I could put them on my Etsy.com web site, but I am hesitant. These are very modern shoes and in my web site, I aim to please folks who appreciate the antique aesthetic. So, my next idea is to bring them to the local consignment shop. I hope that perhaps someone wants a gorgeous pair of size 9, tan leather made-in-Spain, Sacha of London pair of 4″ heels that I splurged on at least 5 years ago. I have worn them once to my friends’ wedding. Sheesh. This is just the tip of the Uncomfortable Shoe Iceberg. My back really doesn’t want me to wear these shoes to work, to a wedding — or even to dinner– ever again. And I have given away several pair of the other tall shoes in the collection to several friends and traded them for clothing I can wear.

Why this continues to feel like an “Iceberg” is that it’s the continuing “story of stuff” that keeps me distracted from making and researching my own creations. Buying stuff is distracting. Recycling stuff is time consuming. It keeps us humans grounded and yet can certainly take up a lot of time and thought. For those of us who are collectors, Releasing Stuff back Into the Stream or giving it to new owners who can Use this Stuff can be kind of, well, a bumpy ride. So many decisions!

I subscribe to conscious consumerism and I do want a better production model for selling goods, a more prudent model for using resources, so as to do better service to this planet. See this web site: www.storyofstuff.com

I make regular trips to my local thrift store to buy and give away stuff. I subscribe to www.freecycle.org which is really great. I try to keep things moving out of my life as fast as they comes in, which isn’t exactly easy. So, there’s the “Iceberg” model. Have you encountered this? What are some ways you cope with it?

Okay, here in the gallery is a photo of these shoes. Write to me if you are interested in them!