Arts, crafts, and Aiyara...

[fajrdrako]

I talk sometimes about Lisa, whom I've known since I was nine, or Harry, whom I met when were were both five. Tonight I had dinner with someone I've known far longer than either of them. I remember knowing Diane when we were three; I lived at the top of the hill on Hilson Ave., she lived five houses away at the bottom of the hill, and when you're three years old, that seems like quite a distance.

We always knew each other to say 'hello'. Three is just the earliest I remember her; she was a familiar face already. When we were nine, we got to talking one day. I don't think we stopped for ten years. We called each other "The Siamese Twins". Teachers and people who didn't know us took it for granted that we were sisters, though we certainly don't look in the least alike. For years - decades - we shared every holiday.

She got married, moved to the suburbs, had kids. My lifestyle has always been very different. And in the last few years we've just been too busy to get together; the regular seasonal visits had faded to birthdays, and then to nothing at all.

Tonight we got together and went to the Craft Sale at Lansdowne Park. When I think of 'craft sales' I tend to think of knit scarves and wooden toys. This was an amazingly upscale craft sale, with the sort of crafts to which I would aspire to buy if only I could afford them. My favourite items were a brocade jacket and a hand-painted silk tunic. There were also some amazing wooden jigsaw puzzles in the shapes of dragons and leaves - some of them interlocking three layers deep. I can't imagine doing such a puzzle. How many dimensions would you have to think in at once? I also loved the fretwork from Solar Woodcuts, especially an intricate Tree of Life.

Afterwards, we went to Aiyara Thai Cuisine on Walkley Road for supper. It's a lovely place - where - talk about decorative vegetables! - the meals are garnished with amazing works of art: carrots carved in the shapes of leaves and roses, coconut shaped like an elephant, and food of cuttings and shapes indescribable in their beauty. Even their washrooms are beautiful. "Aiyara" means "elephant" in Thai, the menu explained, and I couldn't help thinking of the similarly nice food and decor at The Elephant Walk in Cambridge, MA, where I ate with gem225.

Comments

[gem225.livejournal.com]

*happy sigh* That was such a great time, being at The Elephant Walk with you and Greg, laughing, talking, eating. Greg and I are both delighted that you remember it with as much joy as we do. :-) And wow, I'm so glad that you've found such a cool restaurant near you!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's different, but just enough the same to have the same ambiance, the same combination of good food and pleasant setting and elephant motif. I'm glad to have found something similar in Ottawa.

Love your icon - oops, have I said that before? (g)

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I always love hearing about your visits withl, and memories of, Diane. Even though I know you're a single child, I've always thought of her as your sister... and don't we all know that family is what you make of it?

I remember the time (we were standing at a bus stop on Albert street, and the sky was almost dark -- must have been either winter or spring) you mentioned Diane to me, because you had just heard from her that their family dog had died after a very, very long life, and you were thoughtful and sad but also wistfully happy to be talking about having heard from Diane. That was the time that somehow you then got on the subject that her brother drove bus for OCTranspo, and that he once had seen you on the sidewalk when he was driving by, and yelled out to you something like, "Hey, lady, watch out where you walk, I'm dangerous!!" Hee.

I loved the description of the crafts fair. Especially of the wooden jigsaw puzzles in many layers, and the follow-up in food form at the
Thai restaurant. I love it when life chimes in such harmonies.

As for how one could do such a puzzle... well, either you do think in multispatial visuals, or else -- like me -- you don't, you don't think it in any form at all, you just <> it. Seriously. Don't confine it to symbolic form at all, not even its own physical one... just let it exist in pure awareness, pure thought.

Now tat I've totally confused you...!

I always enjoy hearing you talk about Diane. It sounds like you had a lovely visit that day.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was lucky to have Diane in my life. Still am!

I don't remember that quote from Mike, but it sounds just like him.

No, you haven't confused me, but those puzzles didn't really have the puzzle-aspects I like. I love jigsaws, and I'm saving up to buy a spiffy one that shows the Doctor and Martha and a bunch of Daleks. But part of the fun is the visual picture.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

But part of the fun is the visual picture.

And visual is something that gives me trouble in most of its aspects. I have come to the metaphorical realization that too much visual input is the same as someone screaming in my ear -- I call it "loud" just as I'd call the noise "loud." How else can I communicate its effect on me, to people who don't have that same sort of sensory hypersensitivity?...no, I think "loud visual input" works, here. It makes a listener think, but not so much that it gets them upset with having to think [hee]....

I have also realized that I do best with visual input when I am not already in an overload state from sensory input of that and other sorts... for instance, when I am in traffic and people are going fast and the setting sun is in my eyes, I see the lovely cloud arrangements, with color and light and shape, but utterly cannot let myself notice them in order to appreciate their beauty... on the other hand, if I am in a line of traffic stopped dead because of construction (which happened three weeks ago), then I can gaze at the sky and enjoy the beauty in all its aspects. It all seems to depend on the level of sensory ... um ... huh, imagine that, there isn't a term for it!

It all seems to depend on whether my cup is already too full. If it is not, then several more drops are pleasant and refreshing; if it is, then even a few more drops are nothing but added "noise" and will give me the same pain as if someone were shouting in my ear.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

visual is something that gives me trouble in most of its aspects

And yet you like comic books. That's unusual.

I have come to the metaphorical realization that too much visual input is the same as someone screaming in my ear

Maybe it's that comics are a very contolled medium? To be read at your own pace?

It all seems to depend on the level of sensory ... um ... huh, imagine that, there isn't a term for it!

Perception? Input? Sensation? (Though I guess 'sensory sensatoin' is a bit of a redundancy...)

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

This was an amazingly upscale craft sale, with the sort of crafts to which I would aspire to buy if only I could afford them.

I went there yesterday. Yes, there certainly were some gorgeous things there, especially the embroidered or brocade silk jackets. Or the handwoven ones. I was protected from myself by the hats generally being too small for my skull and the jackets too large. And the plastic-ball magnetic card-holders/fridge magnets were tres cute, but, not, I thought, likely enough to be used (as opposed to getting lost in the junk drawer). I was also desperately tempted by a multi-strand coral&silver choker, but resisted.

I ended up buying some small inexpensive things for Christmas gifts, and four $5 jars of chutney, as planned. And one splurge on a hat (but it ACTUALLY FITTED and was warm enough).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I have a weakness for embroidered, hand-painted silk or brocade jackets. It's a safe weakness to have, because I can't afford them or even think of it, so I can admire with impunity!

Congratulations on finding the hat. Well done.