Apples Of The Earth – Part II

A little over a month ago, I shared the story about the planting of my potato garden - http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2009/06/apples-of-earth.html. I mentioned that I was going to try a new (or perhaps very old) way of growing them. I’m trying three different ways, this year, to see if one way will yield a greater crop.


The first way – I simply dug a hole on the leveled garden floor, planted the chunks of potato and then mounded the dirt in the shape of a small volcano – for watering purposes.


The second way – was the same as the first except that the chunks were planted in a raised bed.

The third way – begins the same as the second way. Then I have to wait until the plants have grown a bit before I can put into motion the new technique.


I was grateful to have Joanne help me with this. While she weeded the two patches of potatoes that I was about to experiment on…


…I got busy digging this old half a rain barrel out of the ground. I think that the previous gardener of this garden may have been using these barrels as a composter. I had other plans.


Using my skill saw, I cut the half-barrel in half again.


Then, with Jo’s help – again – the quartered barrels were placed around the potatoes. I filled these to the top with the surrounding garden soil.

Earlier this spring, my neighbour and I were chatting in our gardens and he told me about a way of growing potatoes that he saw on TV or maybe a friend told him. Anyway… there was a guy who had a barrel and he filled it with six inches of dirt and some potato chunks. When the plant had grown seven inches high he added six more inches of dirt. He repeated this process two more times and the barrel was full of dirt. At harvest he kicked the barrel over and it was filled with four layers of potatoes!!!

The problem that I had with this story was with regards to the amount of sun that the potatoes would receive while they were in the first stages of development. Being at the bottom of the barrel would seriously restrict the amount of sun that the plants received.

Because of this thought, I thought that I would first let the plants get as much sun as they could. Then, after they had started to grow, portions of barrel could be placed around the plant and then the extra soil. My mind was busy thinking of ways to create interlocking sections that could be added – one on the other – during the growing season.


This year, I decided to take this experiment to just the second stage – with only one layer of six inches of soil added around the plants – to see how this worked, before continuing. I was partially successful. While Jo’ and I were away for a week, the plants had grown a tremendous amount – over twelve inches (on top of the five inches they had grown before we left). The plant was supposed to be buried in another six inches of soil right after seven inches of growth had occurred. You can see that quite a bit more than one inch of plant towers above the top layer of soil that I’ve added.

This was done about three weeks ago, and so far the plants have not shown any negative responses. I won’t know if this will be a success until some time in September.

You know that I’ll keep you posted!


During all of these ideas and actions my mind instinctively reflexes to ponder – “If we have this kind of knowledge in existence (about how to triple and quadruple our crops in natural and healthy ways)… then – pardon me for asking – why is there world hunger?”

Jim

London Chalk Artists

London, Ontario is a very active place, especially in the summer. Last week, an entire downtown street was closed off so that a group of chalk artists could recreate Michelangelo’s brilliant Sistine Chapel.


I wasn’t surprised to find Axl doing her part for this project.


I think that there were about ten artists in total, working on the main body of the artwork. The outside border was drawn using the help of many London teenagers who had volunteered their time for this enriching experience. They did a great job!


Three of the artists were from California. This project had a number of sponsors to pay for the artist’s time, travel and accommodations – at one of London’s finer hotels. One artist told me that when this project is complete that she’ll be flying to Texas for another project and then on to Mexico for another week. She is a teacher and she spends part of her summers arting on city streets around the world!!!

Of course – LOL! – I took advantage of this situation to spread around some of my art. The next day I returned with a handful of my peace Stik-ers and I gave each of the three artists from California one of my art prints.


I shared with them the story about my global art attack – Peaceflowers From Around The World – and they agreed that it was indeed a fun and exciting project. One artist drew a peaceflower for my collection!!! Thanks!

They had four more days of drawing ahead of them. On Sunday, August 02 the final art was to be completed for the community unveiling. That Sunday would also see a one-day chalk art competition beginning. Anyone who had registered could draw whatever they wanted and then these artworks would be judged. I was excited to see all of this completed art, once Joanne and I had returned from our weekend trip to my visit my parents and sister.


While we were there my mom told me about an interesting place, not too far away. This whole region is very unique, having been formed by the glaciers 10 000 years ago. About three miles away from where I grew up, there is a hill that is high enough so that you can see both Toronto and Barrie’s lights on a clear night!

The place that my mom told us about is found along a small stretch of the Bruce Trail – famous around the world! The trail begins in Tobermory – the most northern part of Southern Ontario – and it winds its way for a several weeklong hike to Niagara Fall – the most southern part of Southern Ontario. Of course, the trail has many points where people can gain access if they just want to explore small areas.


This part of the trail has a lot of cracks and crevices that are really interesting to see. With all the open rock surfaces, the trees have to really work hard at securing their roots. I think it’s really cool to see all the roots winding this way and that, grabbing hold of the rock.


And here’s Koly enjoying himself! You can see a small vertical stripe of white paint on the tree, jut behind Koly. These markings are found every twenty feet or so, along the trail, so that people won’t get lost.


After a relaxing time with ‘the folks’, Jo’ and I headed for home. The first stop that I wanted to make was to see all the completed chalk art. Unfortunately the clean up process had already begun. If this artwork remained I’m sure that the next few days would have seen a few car accidents as people tried to drive and look at the art at the same time – or a tourist might jump in front of a car to get a photo of the art!!! I could have taken photos of the finished Sistine Chapel art – it was still visible – but it had lost its brilliance and I didn’t think it would be right.

Fortunately, the artwork created for the competition was still in good shape and I took a lot of photos!!! This is less than half of all the art that filled two city blocks - - -


All of these artworks were created by artists young and old and you can see that they were all created with magnificence!!!!


Even this silly one – LOL!!! I call him Bicky cuz he reminds me of a Bick’s Pickle!!!!

Thanks to Nature for being a constant inspiration to artists!

Thanks to artists for being a constant inspiration to us all!!!

Jim

Moondance

I was thinking that a change in pace would be nice so I’m digging into my art’s history for today’s blog.

It was April – or so – 2007 and I had just completed a successful art workshop with the grade three students of a London Independent School. This is the link to the story ‘And The Band Plays On’ - http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2008/07/and-band-plays-on-newsarticle.html. I was invited back to work with the second grade three class!

Both of these two classes were a super tonne of fun! I had put a lot of thought and preparation into these workshops but I was not prepared for how much energy the students would give back!!!


The topic that I was given was ‘Good Vibrations’ and so we discussed this topic and learned how the sun sends out good vibrations that are gobbled up by the plants. One of the students yells out, “Photosynthesis!” We talk about how vegetables and fruits are created by the good vibrations of the sun with a little dirt and clean water. I ask them to look at a blueberry, “really, really, really, closely and you might just be able to see all the vibrations wiggling about everywhere!” I asked them if they knew what happened to those vibrations of energy after they ate the blueberry. Then they told me all the sports that they like to play to release all the energy back into the world – cuz if you just sat around and did nothing but eat energy then you would become a humongous ball of pent up energy and you would explode into millions of bits! Then we talked about the good vibrations that we create while we are using some of the good vibrations that we ate – music…


I quickly divided the class into three sections – drums (pounding on their desks) – horns (making funny noises in the open fist of your hand) – and bells (loud deep ‘ding-dongs’ and high pitched ones) and they were off. I’d walk around the room and I’d tell the drummers that they weren’t pounding loud enough – then I’d bang their desks really loud and they’d laugh and do the same. I’d yell across the room to the bell section and tell them that I couldn’t hear them… Soon, the room was a torture chamber of this horrific orchestra that I had created and I kept making it louder and louder!!!! LOL!


Actually, as we were all screaming and laughing, I thought it was the most joyous sound that I had ever heard.

So, all of this eventually led to the creation of this second painting. Since the first one was an image of three musicians, playing music around the world, I thought that the second painting should have people dancing to that music. It was an easy connection for my mind to think of Van Morrison’s song entitled ‘Moondance’ and so the thoughts began to form to design this painting.


I taught the same simple techniques to this class, but I added a new element in this painting. It’s easy to see that this painting was created using long wavy and straight lines, with a larger sized brush. Because the Earth is in the distance it is fairly small in this image. If I had used the same technique in this area then it would take two minutes to paint it in, with just a few paint strokes. I got out my smaller brush and showed them how to do pointillism – using three different colours, no less!!!!

My mom says that the children enjoy me cuz I’ve never grown up. She’s right! All the children that I’ve worked with have continuously amazed me with their insights, imaginations and ability to express themselves. They are so open to new ideas and they’re always looking for new ways to explore this wonderful world of ours. Let’s show them how much joy we can create as we work together to build a better tomorrow!

Jim

My Grandpa

Jim Sidebotham was born in England in 1914. During his youth, my grandpa enjoyed boxing and swimming. He married Irene and soon my mom was born. When she was eleven, the three of them moved to Canada – living in Scarborough, just on the outskirts of Toronto. My mom grew up and met my dad and soon my grandparents moved to California – I think to get away from them – LOL!!!

My grandpa worked until his retirement with Mattel – a toy company. I can remember getting lots of interesting christmas presents – my sister and I tried many new toys that weren’t yet on the market.



In 1974, my parents moved to where they are still living today – in a small rural community surrounded by lots of farming and beautiful rolling hills. This picture was taken just after the move to the new home, in the backyard. It’s funny to see the cedar hedge after it had just been planted – all those small little furry sticks in the ground. Now that hedge is over twice my height!

Because my father worked for an airline company, we got to travel at discounted rates – which was great cuz we got to fly to California to visit our grandparents at least once a year.


One story, that gets retold – time and again, is when I was left in the care of my grandpa for the afternoon, while everyone else went out shopping. I must have worn him out, cuz my grandpa had to have a nap that afternoon. When everyone came home, they found my grandpa napping and I was no where to be found. I had escaped – being tall enough to open the front door – and was taking myself for a walk to the neighbourhood ice cream stand. That’s where they found me. I’ve always been a bit of an adventurer!!!


Ha! Ha! I couldn’t stop laughing when I found this old photo. It has nothing to do with this story – I just thought it would be funny to show. I guess that my mom’s cabbage rolls weren’t very exciting – they put my right to sleep!

To continue…


Since my grandparents lived in California, they grew two lemon trees and an orange tree in their back garden. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this lemon tree and I would be spending a lot of time together, as the years rolled past.


This photo was taken about ten years later, and you can see that the lemon and orange trees have grown quite a bit. My grandpa had put me in charge of collecting all the ripe lemons, every morning, and raking the fallen leaves.


I think that these ‘chores’ were a way to keep me busy and out of mischief – if only for a few moments. You can see that I’ve really worn out my grandma. She’s even too tired to decide if she wants to strangle me or hug me – LOL!!!!

We always had fun on our vacations with my grandparents – visiting Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm and the La Brea Tar Pits. Once we even traveled to the Grand Canyon. But the place that we liked to go to the most…


… was the beach, of course! This if Rhadondo Beach, about one hour south of Los Angeles. The beach went on forever.


There was a really cool pier there, with lots of shops, restaurants and boats. When I saw this photo I was thinking that if my sister still had the Michael Jackson shirt that she bought there, that it might be worth a dollar or two now.

After I had completed high school I was no longer able to get discounts on air travel so I didn’t see my grandparents that often anymore. I would look forward to our phone calls on special holidays and birthdays. Years later, my grandma passed away and then I started to think about how lonely my grandpa must be. Of course, he had many friends that he continued to socialize with, but there was no one to come home to. Because of this I started to make it a habit to phone my grandpa about once a month.


The last time I saw my grandpa was in the spring of 2002. Joanne and I were living in Nelson, British Columbia and we decided to drive to California for Jim’s 88th birthday party. My parents and sister were there, as well, so it was a nice family reunion.


After dinner, a few funny speeches and the cutting of the birthday cake it was time for karaoke. All the ladies sang silly songs about ‘boys and girls’ and would hug my grandpa and give him birthday kisses on his cheek.


My grandpa always loved to sing and so he belted out a couple of tunes for us, as well.


I, on the other hand, had never sang in public – wishes of my wife – LOL – so this was my first ever karaoke experience. I wanted to sing a song that would mean a lot to both my grandpa and myself. I sang ‘In My Life’ by the Beatles… I even hit the high notes at the end of the song.

In My Life

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Lennon/McCartney

A few years ago, my grandpa decided to sell his house and move into a retirement centre where he wouldn’t have to worry about all the many daily chores. He was having difficulties with his knees and arthritic fingers, so you can imagine that it would be crazy to think of him scrubbing floors and doing laundry. It was a cozy little place and he was enjoying himself. He joined to singing group and this made him feel like a rock star – cuz all the women there thought he was great!!!

This new change prompted me to realize that one day my grandpa would not be with us, so I started to call him about every two weeks, now. We always shared a few laughs during these times.

This spring, my grandpa had a fall. It was pretty serious. He had broken his wrist and hip. During his healing it became apparent that he would need a little more help taking care of himself, so my parents went down to move him to a different retirement centre that was more equipped for this kind of thing.

Over these last few years, I have always been optimistic about my grandpa’s ability to recover from all his health issues. This time, everyone knew that things would be very different. He was having difficulty speaking on the phone so believe it or not I stopped calling him. My parents continued to, but I had a better idea.

I started writing my grandpa letters. I would use a really large font, so that he could read it and I always inserted lots of pictures for him to see. This way, he could read the letters over and over and see photos of things that were happening in our lives. Instead of a two minute conversation – that he could forget had happened – he could read my letter anytime he wanted to hear from me. My mom told me that he really enjoyed this!

Last Monday, my mom called me and told me to call him – even if he couldn’t respond. I had to ask a nurse to hold the phone to his ear because he had become so weak. I had never had a conversation like that before. I was a little nervous. I knew that he was listening, but couldn’t respond. I pictured him beside me, looking at me with his big eyes, as I spoke. I would tell him a funny story about one of our memories and I laughed a lot. Then I would tell him how much he was loved and how everyone wanted him to be happy and not in any more pain.

Over ten minutes had passed by when the nurse took the phone away to tell me that my grandpa would soon be sleeping. She then told me that my grandpa wanted to say goodbye and she put the phone back to his ear. “I love you”, was what my grandpa said to me, the last words I would ever hear from him.

That evening I called my mom and we chatted for a while. I told her that I was always confident that grandpa would recover from anything. I told her that I now realized that I was wrong. I had become fully aware of the painful situation Jim was in and I told my mom that I would pray for him to leave our world in peace. I couldn’t stand the thoughts of him living in pain - that hurt more than the thought of him not being there anymore. That night, while sleeping and dreaming my grandpa passed away.

The next day I changed my profile picture on Facebook and I wrote, “I looked up into the morning sky and with a tear in my eye I whispered ‘Goodbye’.” I received many condolences from high school friends and other friends who I’ve never met before. One FB friend wrote me a long letter to share her story of losing a loved one. I told her about my last phone conversation with my grandpa and when she replied she ended her letter with, “Yes, Jim, your grandfather was waiting for your call.”


Another FB friend, who had recently sent me her ‘peaceflower’ chalk art on the side of her barn had told me that her previous peaceflowers had washed away during the rains, but this peaceflower artwork had stayed and survived through the rains. “I believe a higher power was involved in making our project for a greater reason...to honor your Grandpa Jim!”

I responded to this with a poem…

That is something special, indeed!

My grandpa's love for my art and me

Shines on your barnwall for the world to see

Strong enough to challenge the rain

To make his message last

If only for one more day....

It’s wonderful that we live in an age where stories can be shared and sorrows can be healed by both friends and strangers.

Grandpa Jim Sidebotham – you are loved by many and will truly be missed. I will continue to think of you, everyday, as I always have and always will. I love you.

Jim

More and More Peaceflowers!!!

A little over a month ago, I came up with a fun idea to inspire people from around the world to create peaceful art using chalk. The idea is very simple – those who want to use chalk to draw a peaceflower on a sidewalk where they live. Then I ask for a photograph to be emailed to me – peacefulwarrior333@hotmail.com – and finally I add the photo to my Facebook photoalbum.

This has turned out to be a very fun and totally interactive ‘World Art Attack’ – LOL – with art being created in many places. Here are the latest additions to my collection…


Janet has submitted a peaceflower before… and she enjoyed this challenge so much that she decided to draw another one, even more detailed and colourful than her first.


Last time Janet was drawing a peaceflower, her neighbours young daughter came over and asked if she could draw one, too. This time Janet had another artful companion – it wasn’t her neighbour’s daughter, it was her sister. Both of these were drawn in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. THANKS!!!


Since I’ve joined Facebook, I have connected with a lot of friends from elementary and high school. It’s been really fun for me when I see a peaceflower sent to me from one of these friends. This peaceflower was created by a high school friend’s daughter and her best friend. I like how they drew peace symbols in the flower petals, as well.


When I first started this little project, a FB friend from Pennsylvania told me that she lives in the country and has no sidewalks to draw on. I suggested that if there is a nearby barn that that would make a nice canvas. She used my suggestion. Kat drew the middle flower and her daughter and friend drew the other two. This is a small barn where they keep their horse.

A few of my friends have had difficulty figuring out how to email the photos to me, so they have created their own FB photoalbums on their profile page. I then, visit these pages and cut’n’paste their photos into a file for my own album. I would guess that there are about eight photoalbums entitled “Peaceflowers For Jim”. I think that this is great. Not only do I have my own photoalbum to share with others, but with all of these other photoalbums being created this art is being shared with even more people. I didn’t expect this… and it makes me happy!



This extreme artwork came to me from Canada’s east coast – from the capital of Nova Scotia. Lisa lives in Halifax and I can tell that she and her daughter had a blast creating all this art for me – LOL!!!! It looks like an art shop exploded onto the sidewalk – ha ha. I can count eleven peace symbols and the word ‘peace’ is written at least eight times. I wonder what their neighbours had to say about that!!! Thanks Alorna – your artwork is an inspiration to all!


This totally amazing peaceflower was in my email inbox, just a few days ago and WOW! This art put a huge smile on my face. Becca and I connected thro’ Facebook about a year ago and since then I’ve learned that she is involved with working with youths in a group called ‘Skills In Da Hood’. I think it’s a community drop in centre for children and teens and they are involved in many activities. Becca thought that my peaceflower idea would be something that her students would enjoy… and she was right. Just look at all the details and colours that were used in this group effort. This is my first peaceflower from Australia!

If any of you – my blog readers – would like to help me to continue to fill my photoalbum with ‘Peaceflowers From Around The World’ – then please do. I’ll be waiting….

Jim