All Things Considered

There's Method in My Madness

When I asked my husband to pick up a book for me from the shelves in the living room, and he spent about fifteen minutes trying to find it despite being given a map, I thought it might be time to rethink the organisation of our bookshelves. Our books are not arranged by subject, letter of the alphabet, author, or even colour. They are arranged according to which ones I like most, have the nicest covers, are used most frequently, or are linked in some way in the chaotic cataloguing system I call a brain. This sometimes inspires the question 'Why is Peter Cushing sitting next to an Egyptian pharaoh?'... Well, to anyone who knows anything about Hammer Horror films the answer would be obvious... he starred in the film 'The Mummy'... where else should I put him?

Why is a book about Leamington Spa sandwiched between '1939: The Last Season' and 'Nanny Ogg's Cookbook'? Well, those two books are exactly the same height, and the thin green paperback between them breaks the monotony. Why is the 'ER' guide to the left of Nanny Ogg? Well, her cooking or her left hook could land you in hospital, so I consider that a fitting location. The Japanese dictionaries on the left are there because that's where they've always been, which is as good a reason as any.... not that it matters... which is the next book along, by A. A. Milne.

Generally speaking, there is a certain amount of method in my madness. I like spines to be varied along the shelf... not too much red in one place, or green, or blue. I don't like books to be all of the same height, as that brings with it the requirement to only add books that conform to the height requirement. I'd just have to put a tall one in amongst short ones, just for the hell of it. All this chaos requires careful planning. Okay, I fibbed, it requires none at all... which leaves me more time to actually read the books.

Birds, Bugs, and Butterflies

We went to the woods again today. We've had a fair bit of rain recently, but today the sun was shining and it was quite hot. The good news is that the great tits are all doing fine. They're difficult to make out in this photo, as they'd snuggled up right at the back of their tree house, but they've got their yellow breast feathers now. The first time we saw them they had little bald pink chests. There were two adult great tits flying around the nest today, so perhaps one was their daddy.

Today was a good day for seeing birds and animals scurrying about. Five squirrels came to say hello, one with a large bundle of leaves. This fellow was even good enough to pose for a photo... I hope I got his good side.

Even the bugs wanted to play. I've no idea what type of bug this fellow is, but he thought my hand was a jolly good place to have a long think.

I don't know what variety of animal this fellow is, but he followed me all over the place and then expected dinner and a cold beverage!

We explored a different section of the woods today and found these steps. I thought they might lead up to an ogre's castle or witch's cottage, but they took us to a clearing where butterflies were fluttering all over the place in pairs. I think we stumbled on a lovers' walk for flutterbies.

At the edge of the wood that's closest to the entrance by our home, you can see right across the rooftops to the sea front. The structure that juts out across the sand is what is left of the pier... it was destroyed by fire (boohoo) and we're going to get a new one (woohoo). The tide comes in and goes out here at great speed... faster than anywhere else in the world aside from a place I can't remember the name of in Canada.

The building in the foreground here, with all the chimney pots and the flat roof that will soon be undergoing extensive repairs, is our humble abode. We've lived in many places over the years, but this is home.

The Value of Knowledge - Part II

A while back I posted about the number of requests for help I get from people who have stumbled across my Japanese art blog whilst trying to identify and value their family heirlooms. And when I say 'request' I am being polite... I actually receive rather rude demands, and sometimes pretty offensive follow-up emails when I don't comply. At the time, I put their lack of understanding regarding the acquisition and value of knowledge down to the fact that they had never gone through the process of trying to acquire any... but I have been proven wrong. I began running the email addresses through Google, out of curiosity more than anything else, and discovered that the senders are often people working in professions that require a fair amount of training... doctors, lawyers, educators, and so on.

The chap who wrote to me today is a veterinarian. Ignoring the very clear notice on both my blog and web site that asks people not to send such emails, he began his message (proving his ability to read and write, and therefore understand that notice) by addressing me simply as 'Gina', without the 'Dear' that usually precedes a name when beginning a letter. He says he wants to send me two photos so I can identify his prints for him. Was there a 'please' in there, or the whiff of a 'thank you'. Nope. Just two short sentences followed by his name. I wonder how he would react if I wrote to him to say that I required him to pull my horse's teeth for free. If I had a horse, I would be tempted to try that.

I received an email a couple of weeks ago, from a woman who said she worked just five minutes from Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She was aware that Boston Museum has a large collection of Japanese prints and could probably assist her, but thought that if she could get me to do the work she would avoid the five minute walk there. It wasn't enough that she was telling (not asking) me to identify her prints, she decided to insult me left, right and centre in the process. I was so touched by her email that I hit the delete key a little too indiscriminately and took out five other emails.

It's not unusual for the writers of these emails to give me a deadline to work to. The Boston woman gave me twenty-four hours to do as she asked, assuring me that if I didn't meet her deadline she would take her 'business' elsewhere. One chap sent me sixteen huge images (causing my mail program some aggravation) and wanted his information by the end of the day. That was two months ago and he's still waiting.

I post information on my blog for those looking to learn about Japanese prints... with emphasis on the words 'learn about' as opposed to the words 'cash in on'. If someone writes to me asking for book or museum suggestions, I'm happy to help... I'm all for the pursuit of knowledge. If they want a dollar figure, well then... they can jolly well bog off.