Nneka Feat Nas - Heart Beat

Beaty? Part 1.25

"Whenever it erupts, this funk, they wipe it away; where it crusts they dissolve it; wherever it drips, flowers,or clings, they fight it until it dies. They fight this battle all the way to the grave. The laugh that is a little too loud; the enunciation a little too round; the gesture a little too generous. They hold their behind in for fear of a sway too free; when they wear their lipstick, they never cover their entire mouth for fear of lips too thick, and they worry, worry, worry about the edges of their hair."
~ Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

This quote stood out to me from one of my reading on Gender and the Law in the Commonwealth Caribbean and reminded me of an earlier post I did on Beauty ...I just had to share. I definitely have to put that book on my reading list.

Again I ask...What are we so afraid of?

xoxoSheba

Irie Pencils

Project 365

I have been taking photographs for quite some time with my point and shoot. For some reason I am totally captivated by capturing moments and expressing myself creatively through photographs. I used to paint and draw and sometimes I think photography has been my lazy way of continuing my creative streak.

Anyhow...
This weekend a former classmate of mine came across my flickr page and checked out some of my work. He favourited a couple of my captures and tweeted me about how much he appreciated discovering my shots.

Unexpectedly he wrote a blog post on them and direct messaged me the link. I was so flattered and I thought I should share on my blog. I never considered my work to be spectacular or extra ordinary in any sense (I still don't)... I just loved having a creative outlet and quite honestly my flickr contacts kept me inspired.

Here is Bart's or B.art's piece :

Inspiration

I feel moved to record my absolute awe for the creativity of a young friend of mine. Earlier I came across the photography of Sheba (well “♥*★ShebZ*★• (rediculously busy)“ to be accurate) and I was doused with inspiration like I haven’t felt in a long time. My initial reaction was to run the 5 miles to my sisters house where I left my point-and-shoot and atrophy the empty space on the memory card in celebration. I was that inspired.

Her photos (like this and this) are somewhat muted but not in a way that makes them dull. Rather, they have the stop-and-stare effect. The effect is not wrought of the shock and awe, attention-whore approach that is typical of her generation. It strikes me more as photos with that irresistable lure of untainted honesty.

This unblemishedness, perhaps unwittingly, strikes a contrast with her technique. Much of her photos have a treatment that strikes me as stills taken from old, dust-speckled footage. Purity expressed in grunge and dirt. Beautiful.

These shots, when taken together with the text descriptions beneath and sometimes in the pictures themselves, serve as a poignant and personal diary of an obviously well read, sensitive woman. Maybe the footage I imagined the photos to be taken from was a love story?

So right now I guess i should say thank you to my Grenadian friend for through her own photographic explorations, she has left me completely re-energised and inspired.

On a deeper level my discovery of these photos highlight the value of those rare moments when the element of surprise (aka the unknown) and human creativity collide. Balled up in the moments when people like me see pictures like Shebz’s for the first time in a long while is the sum total of her diligently (somehow I’m sure she’d disagree with me using that word to describe her photography) developed craft. Put another way, if we have a talent and we keep working on it, unaware to others us around us, whenever they are exposed to that particular talent of ours a second time, they are bound to meet upon something more splendid and inspiring than the first time.

My intuition tells me the odd sense of joy I felt at seeing the amazing photos she’s been taking all this time had little to do with the beauty of the photos themselves. It was more of a confirmation of an awakening I’ve been feeling - a calling of sorts - about engaging with the notions of diligence and discipline in my own life. Working at taking my own beautiful photographs (both symbolically and literally) until I’ve done enough to inspire others with my own work.

I’m going to take charge!

Here is a link to his tumbler blog: Bartandlife thanx again Bart...Like we say at home "Ah feel nice"

Damain Marley - The Mission

I almost forgot how much I loved his music...Ain't he sexy!

Maxwell - This Woman's Work

I loved this song from Love and Basketball

Vegetatian Creations

I thought to add some diversity to my blog I would start a little recipe corner. I absolutely love food and being creative and playing around with ideas. I don't ever cook by measurements. I suppose I learned that from my mom. You cook with feeling and everything should work out fine. I have no clue whether this little vegetarian creation that I thought of is original. As a matter of fact this creation is a pretty obvious yummy combination for those of you that love Italian food.

For now let's call it "Grilled Cheese Italia"

Ingredients

Modified Broschetta

Fresh Tomato
Oregano instead of Basil
Garlic
Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cut up as many Tomatoes as you like depending on how many sandwiches you plan on making. For my one sandwich I used half a tomato. Cut out the moist part with the seeds. I find that when you leave in the seeds the mixture becomes too watery. Add all the seasonings and let it sit for a while to soak up all the flavours.

Meanwhile put a non stick skillet on the stove at medium heat.

For the rest of the sandwich :

Three Slices of Bread ( Bran or Whole wheat or white)
Cheese

Assemble the Sandwich:

Bread: Cheese: Bruschetta: Bread: Cheese : Bruschetta: Bread

Place in the skillet and grill from both sides

* At one point I turned the fire very low and I placed a pot cover over the skillet to circulate the hot air to ensure that the cheese had melted.

My sandwich came out slightly burnt but I still tasted great.

Song of the Day - Ayo - Life is real

In loving Memory of Gina

This summer a lot has happened but I would like to take some time out to pay tribute to my dog Gina who died very recently.
Now Gina is not your average dog. In fact 75% of the time she was a pain in the butt. She always chewed up my shoes and pulled things from the line. Once she even ate my bikini and christmas lights. She even chewed our sofa covers zipper which is now beyond repair and no garbage bag was left in one piece. She stole the neighbour's stuff and worst of all dragged our neighbour's son's dirty diapers into the yard. The funny thing is you would never catch her in the act. You would only see the evidence.For those of you who have seen Marley and me...she is like a smaller female version of him (personality not breed)

However...I loved that dog so much. She had the sweetest personality and the biggest most understanding eyes. She loved to cuddle and if you were not careful she would end up on your lap and licking your face in a matter of seconds. As soon as you would reach to touch her she would throw herself onto the ground and open her legs so that you could rub her belly. And once she got excited the only thing that could calm her down is to play with here ears.


We have these doors that can be halfway opend at the top so that you could chat with people outside without having to open your entire door. It did not take her too long to figure out how to jump over them and soon it was almost impossible to keep her out of the house and off the sofa.

She recently had pups and the only how we knew she was pregnant at first was because she could not quite get over the door because she got stuck by her belly. We were so concerned for her pups becaus of her hyperactive personality. Once she had the pups she was a great mother. For the first couple of days I would always check in on them and tell her what a great job she did at being a mom and somehow she had such an understanding look in her eyes I could swear she understood every word I was saying.


We had recently fenced in a part of our yard so that the dogs had an area for themselves and we would not have to tie them because of paranoid neighbours and the horrible people who threw poison into the road. That fence and gate did not stop gina and soon she was jumping over that too.

Gina was truely a special dog and my family and her pups will miss her, of that I am sure. There was never a dull moment with her and she was a blessing to be around. I have grown up with dogs and they have acted on my behalf a number of times and have always been around to protect me and keep me safe . They never refused a hug and have always been there to listen to me. I know to some it may seem strange to have such a deep love for an animal. For us our animals are more than just pets...they are a part of our family.

Gina as a puppy

R.I.P Gina