Sunday, February 27, 2011

Circles

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Sunday afternoon, reading to my new Pablo Casals book and listening him playing on several CDs, I started noticing the circles around me:































Spiders & Webs

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Friday, February 25, 2011

My Favourite Indian Spice Shop in Sydney

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I drove to Dee Why today to top up my Indian spices (and my Atta Flour, which, 
believe or not, I use to make my pizza bases - I really like the way the 
stoneground wheat flour responds to kneading, and the pizzas do come good). 
The store is called 'Saini Emporium', and besides flour, basmati rice and spices 
they also sell many other non-food origin Indian items (thus the Emporium in 
their name). I failed to ask the proprietor, if his name was Sohan or Pawan Saini 
(both listed on the business card), but a picture of him is at the bottom of this 
post.

The background for the shop items is our Rajasthan bed spread, also purchased 
locally...


































Thursday, February 24, 2011

Tizio Lamp

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I was listening to a lecture on Ligeti Violin Concerto on my Mac, when I 'noticed' 
our Tizio lamp (the Terra version, with the 70 cm pedestial:






From Wikipedia:

Tizio

is a desk lamp that was created by Richard Sapper for Artemide in 1972. It 
was selected for the Compasso d'Oro industrial design award in 1979. Both 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art have it in 
their permanent collections.

The position and the direction of the bulb can be adjusted; thanks to two 
counterweights, moving it requires little effort. Two other features of this 
lamp are the lack of wires (the two parallel arms are used to conduct 
electricity to the bulb), and the halogen bulb, which was previously mainly 
used in the automotive industry.

The Tizio is available in a variety of sizes and colours; the original, and 
most widely known, is the 50 (referring to the wattage of the bulb) in black. 
The mid-sized model is the 35, and there's the bedside-sized Micro (20 
Watts). Other colours are white, and grey metallic; and, the occasional 
limited edition in polished aluminium, or titanium-colour. There also is a 
floor standing version, the Terra, which consist of a 70 cm high pedestal 
with the same 11 cm. diameter as the lamp's base, with the 50 added on 
top. The Terra-stand is also available in a 10 cm. diameter, matching the 
35 model. Recently, an energy-saving LED-powered version of the full-sized 
model has been added; as has a version of the regular 50 with a 
horizontally rotatable head, the Plus. The LED-version is equipped with a 
dimmer; all other versions have a three-position switch; allowing for off, 
full, and - approximately - half power.




















Tizio lamp, Richard Sapper, image from WikiCommons
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mystery Beauty

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I just received in the mail a book I recently ordered from the States. It is called 
Joys and Sorrows by Pablo Casals - His own story as told to Albert E. Kahn. The 
seller, Green Earth Books, is a 'green' company, who seem to aim at doing the 
right things:


From Green Earth Books website:





Based in Portland, Oregon, Green Earth Books was established in 
April, 2007 with the goal of keeping books out of landfills and 
extending their usable life. Since then we have saved 38 million 
books and counting. Green Earth Books is a subsidiary of Thrift 
Books, the largest online used book seller in the United States.





The mystery beauty in the post title refers to the woman in two photographs that 
I found inside the book - maybe they've been used as bookmarks. These are the 
clues I now have about her:

This paperback version of the book was published in 1974. The photo seems to 
be from the 40's or 50's, so it could be her daughter of son in their twenties who 
are the owners of the photos, or herself, when she's in her fifties. This would 
make her octogenarian now, should she be alive.

I don't know if Green Earth Books get their stock from their area around 
Portland, Oregon, but if they do, it's likely she lived there, or her children did.

















As they say: Read. Recycle and Reuse:


=== from the book order confirmation ===



Price: $0.72  Shipping: $12.49  Total: $13.21
Title: Joys and Sorrows: Reflections by Pablo Casals
Quality: Used - Acceptable
Description: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse!














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