Go for Gold!

 Volleyball season is from Dec-May.  There are 3 "premiere tournaments" at which your results determine your standing.  At each Premiere you go up in standing or down.  So eventually you end up playing teams that are just perfectly as strong as you.  By the end of the year you are playing exceptional volleyball against the teams that are just barely better or worse.  Then the provincial tournament and the national tournament in Mid May.

I got Michael into a 'club' in 2022.  It's expensive but if you coach then the fees for your child are waived.  I've coached Michaels team for 3 years, but this year I was planning on dropping off of Michaels team and playing on Alices team.  Michael is on the competitive U15 Canucks, and Alice went right to the competitive 'feeder team' U13/U14.  There is no U13 Canucks, but they do a blended 13/14 with girls that didn't make the actual U14.  Instead they can teach younger girls, and the younger girls can get some excellent experience before their actual U14 year.

I tried to get onto Alices volleyball team but Diego and Tolu were the coaches and they wanted two other 'girls' as coaches.  So I am just the parent, and I coach on Michaels team again.

Premiere 2 was this weekend.  Feb 27/28.  Diego couldn't coach so he asked if I would coach Alices U13/U14 team for the weekend.  Of course I was so excited!

We played on Saturday at the seven chiefs gym on the tsutina reserve.  Three games, and they won them all.  In the second game, they won 25-22 and then 30-28!!!  They are playing in division 3, but they are also playing against girls a year older than them.

On Sunday, because of all the winning, they were in the Semi finals right away.  Coach Diego showed up right at the end of the semi final match and the girls won!  In the finals, they ended up against the team that they'd beaten 30-28 yesterday.  The 'Cranes' for gold or silver.  The Cranes are a new club that plays down by Mount Royal.  I ended up socializing with their coaches a few times.  They were just wonderful people.  We lost the first game, it seemed as if the Cranes had figured us out.  The second game, we had some excellent serving and won.  In the final game, scored to 15, we ended up serving the lights out and beat them 15-5 in the third set to win the gold.  

I claim all rights to the winning and the success.  Rachel is 18, and a good coach, but it seems like teams need a younger relatable person and an older person to organize the line up cards, interface and organize timing when the games are starting, reminding to do timeouts in strategic points to try and ice the other team.  I was also filling Rachel up with all of the motivational talk before team chats, and most importantly of all I was cheer leading like nobodies business.  

The things that I do, are very strategic.  I know what a bad serve looks like, what a bat hit looks like, and yet when I see five seconds before things go bad, and know what they should have done, at the moment when the gym quiets from the cheer I'm yelling to them that they did it exactly right, and to do it again, and that they were perfect.  wait, wait, wait, wait wait,   EMMA EMMA EMMA EMMA!!! THATS THE WAY!  PERFEECT!!!!  DO IT AGAIN!!!!!

I think that it's a mormon thing.  I don't remember a specific mother at the basketball games cheering for me as a child, but I felt it.  I know that people were yelling my name, I know that there was positive feedback ALL OF THE TIME!!!

The game ended and one of the kids said "Alice, are you coming to Boston Pizza?".  She looked to me, and I said 'of course we are'!  

I hate boston pizza.

We go to the team dinner afterwards so that 9 of the 12 kids that were available could chat and eat.  During the dinner Natashas mom was talking with me, and said that she heard a small group of our girls bad mouthing the other ones.  She asked if she should tell the coach.  

Now I had just gone through a moment with Michael where I was going to light the world on fire.  I had been supported by Rebecca on the path and tools.  I had gone half way towards writting a letter.  I'll say it again.... I was about to write a letter, with a CC line, and print it, and send it in the mail.  Thats bad.  Thats real bad.

After talking to the two parent groups about the two culprits in Michaels situation I noticed that the one whom is the real problem was still trouble, and their parents were not interested in contrition or accountability.  

I was talking to Mary about this and she said "you shall have no satisfaction".  That is what I shared with Natashas mom Miranda.  Miranda, register it in your mind, don't forget it, but just wait and see how much and if it's more often.  

I could have really gone crazy on that one family with that one little jerk, but I see that my mess would not have given me any satisfaction.  

The day after the tournament, the head coach Diego texted the whole team and said that the Crames coach had reached out because one of our Canucks had written a mean post on Instagram about the Crames.  He posted in the chat a copy of what all kids had signed.  The code of conduct for in person and for in social media.  He pointed out that it is a dismissible offense and that the posted should be taken down and that the child should come talk to Diego.  DRAMA!!!

Later on in the day, another post popped up on the team chat saying THOSE ARE EMMAS!!!!

J'acuse!!!!!

OMG, someone has just straight up pointed to Emma as the rude social medial poster.  I'm going to pop some popcorn.  Lets go!  This is going to be good......

I texted Miranda Johnson... Did you see!  OMG,  did you see the post, who is it!  Whats going on!!!

Miranda said look at the post.  That was about someone leaving shoes at the gym the day before.  Aw..... nuts.... I was so excited for all the drama.

I am really enjoying being a grade 7 girl again.  So much fun.

On monday, after the tournament and the gold medals, this is what I came into.  The life thinks I can handle way more than I think I can handle.  

4 inches of water covering the whole buildings ground floor.  Where did we keep that insurance policy....

Have a little heart! (Catherine storytells Arta's 2017 heart attack)

 

Last summer, when a group of us were going through the last of Arta's papers and files, we were thinking about how to share and archive family stories/histories.  

At one point, we had come across a picture of Arta's heart, back in 2017 when she had a stent put in during a heart attack. 

The photo was quite a thing, and we wrote up a post about rivers and veins.  Here is a link to that post:   https://larchhaven.blogspot.com/2025/08/rivers-and-streams-or-artas-coronaries.html

Back then, we had promised to tell the stories around the image of Arta's heart attack.  We recorded Catherine's story (on August 4, 2025), but I only just got the video uploaded.   If you want 11 minutes of fun and mayhem (everything ended well, and we got an additional 4 years with our mom), then follow the link below.

https://youtu.be/dqcqLtW9J0U

Baking as Connecting? reflections on Mints, Banana Chip Cookies and Cinnamon Buns

Today Bonnie called and asked me about the recipe for Mints.   I was reflecting on just how many thousands of pans of mints I have made over the years, and in every place I have lived. (ie. Here is a post on mints from the London years)

Given the intolerance both my kids had to dairy, it was a blessing to have a recipe that was allergy free.  I made it so many times that the recipe remains permanently etched on the inside of my eyeballs.  But for those looking for the recipe, here is a version from the 1989 Bow Valley Ward  "I Love Homemaking" cookbook!

Once that cookbook was in front of me, I noticed the 3 very brown bananas sitting on the counter.   And that led me to flip through the cookbook til I found my own personal favourite, "Banana Chip Cookies" (credited to the younger "Becky Johnson" version of myself!)   

For once, all the ingredients were present and accounted for, and so, Duncan and I engaged in a baking exercise.  We managed 4 trays of cookies: 2 with smaller cookies, 2 with larger.  Our only 'modification' was to use mint flavoured chips (vs. regular semi-sweet).  Great success.

Before...

....After!

After cleaning up the dishes, I found myself flipping through the cookbook, thinking about the different kinds of 'desserts' or 'maincourses' that people loved to make back in 1989.  For example, more 'popcorn balls', and jello-based deserts.  One of the recipes was for "Jello Salad" (p.31), and it included a notation saying "A simple recipe for husbands to make!"  LOL. 

And then I came across mom's cinnamon bun recipe! In some weird way, reading it was like having a visit with Arta.  I could totally hear her voice, her style of explaining things, and her humour (ie imagining the delights of death by cholesterol; or the very idea that I would be making regular batches of bread so big that I could also toss in a pan of cinnamon buns at the same time)!  

I ended up highlighting the parts that made me smile, so I can go back and re-read the recipe when I feel like I want a good visit.   

I also ended up wandering out to the family blog to see what I could find about cinnamon buns there.  More than a fair few posts out there, giving me even more great visits with Arta!   

• 2018 - "Cinnamon buns for D&D
• 2019 - "Pizza and Cinnamon buns [for D&D]
• 2016 - Whose Cinnamon buns are the best
• 2018 - "Smellerama" [Cinnamon buns for Indigenous Law Class] 
• 2018 - "Proofing Bread"
• 2018 - "Cinnamon Buns with Maraschino Cherries
• 2016 - "Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Party"

(also got to remember a great 2022 post by Mary with a photo essay of the process from start to finish of making cinnamon buns for her birthday!) 

London 2025

----------

Dec 9 Tues

----------

Dec 8

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Dec 7 Sun

Up at noon, out to Tusauds, over to Camden Market.  Home.  Was going to go to British Museum for the rosetta stone, skipped it for time.

alice: liked buying cardigan.  buying shirts.  Ed Sheeran was funny.  

Betty: loved buying fluffy scarf looks like fox.  

Michael: michael star was wax museum, not my droids joke.  

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Dec 6 Sat

With Jamie and Abby.  Went to the Science Museum.  Did all but 1st floor.  Showed up and 100 horses in derby carts went down the street in front of us.  Went to "honest burger" delicious.  Went to Harods, so expensive.  The toy section was crap.  Went to a book store later for the book with no pictures for Andrew Gipps "Halle" to read.

michael: harrods challenge.  cramped, over heated, hard to navigate. hanging out with Jamie/abby funy.

alice:the wind up mechanical things.  liked time with jamie abby.  Liked a book store with 6 levels.

betty:at honest burgers, the kids meal, the burger was delicious.  the oj glass was small, travel mug, paper straw.  crappy straw.

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Dec 5 Fri

 In Dublin, flew Dublin-London at 9pm.  Plane was 1hr late, arrived at airbnb at 11pm.  great Airbnb.  Weird girl sitting by Miranda on the flight.  

Went to the gardens in Dublin as something to do, nice to walk around.  Drove for the last time in Dublin.  Went to 'tesco superstore' and filled with diesel.   

went to the goose on the loose for breakfast.  good restaurant.  Richard ate blood pudding sausage.  Delicious.  

Tatoos, and vikings.

betty: at goose, betty got an american style pancake and ice crema and nutella, best papncake ever, oj glass was tall.  

alice: beating dad in chess, eating at goose, liked the rain after tesco, driving in circles around the airport.

michael: taking goose photos at the restaurant, vikings screamiung at us.

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Dec 4 Thurs

Ate at Quays a second time, they sat us at the same table and we sat in the same seats.  The waiter picked up a knife that Michael dropped.  

Wetn to an outdoor carnival, alice and betty went on the big swing that spins.

Went to the Dublin Musseum in Collins Barracks.

Left our Dublin Airbnb for the last time.  

michael: second time at quays, same seats.

alice: being on carnival ride, eating quays, the museum.

betty: quays burger was really delicious. when dad asked for oj, but they got her apple juice.

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Dec 3 Wed

Miranda graduated.  Got lucky and sent links for people to watch from london and canada.

late into the night graduation.  snacks afterwards and photos.

picked up graduation gown.  took photos.

up in the morning.  into downtown to go to the leprechaun museum, coffee at place with barista in pink hair.  Got there late.   They let us in anyways.  

An exciting time to be excited.

alice: seeing mom graduating was fun, story about selkies, the leprochaum story was amazing, hot chocolate was good.

betty: leprochaun museum, funnest ever went to, instructor was a girl named mauve with red hair.  good story teller.  climbed on a giant chair.  normal chair for a leprochaum. liked giant chess peices on the campus of the university.

michael: oral story telling thing, stories how rebecca tells stories.  liked that mauve, the guide, michael asked "could i climb on the chair" and she said, "wait", and after the idea, michael was the first one up. pastries that we got after mom graduated, those were good.

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Dec 2 Tues

Girls got ears peirced.  

fish and chips

ate at Quays for the first time, walked aorund the peirs, rainbow bridge.  

Dublin castle, walk shopping.  

betty: getting ears peicrced for the first time was hard.  it was weird.  looked like belletrix lestrange of harry potter.

michael: getting the newsies hat.  Using in and loving it all the time now.

alice: liked judging bridges.  liked tasting real fish and chips.  Liked getting second ears pierced. 

-------

Dec 1 Mon

flight to dublin.  Leave calgary 5pm, arrive in dublin 9pm.

almost didn't make it to flight, buses were late, got to airport 55 min before flight, long security, at the gate on on the plane 5 min after getting to gate.

lamborghini, 

V&A again today, another whole date at the V&A.

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Nov 30 Sun

V&A vor the first day.  

Halle, visit at Andrews, Windsor Castle, 

sideways house.  slanted house, guaards looking in manholes.

long walk, 

old trains at windsotr.

picked up by jamie, he liked me seeing him.

first time that we "drove" in london.  Before this was tubes and busses.

ate at polos chicken.

Michael: every time michael tried to engage with halle, girls followed suit.  

alice: halle, hopping around ring around the rossie. seeing the castle, learning about the castle.  Seeing how happy I was with Archie, holding the baby.

betty: liked the crooked house, at windsor castle.  Richard says "those stairs are great for burping", and michael saying "glad you got your burps out".

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Nov 29 Sat

breakfast at local go local, 

V&A for the second time.

betty: at go local, had pancakes that were spoungy.  Not enough syrope. 

alice: second v&a was better.  less churcy.

michael: started coding when we got back to the house.

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Nov 28 Fri

Arrive Friday 10am.  Stay up.  Go to Shrek maybe, and something else.

went to shreks, bad.

saw big ben for the first time.

went on the london eye.

had terrible fish and chips outside the london eye.

michael: shrek was terrible.  beyond terrible.  the london eye was cool.  i liked the london eye for that day.

alice: so tired after the eye that she was in a state of dream.  mad that we did all the tourist attractions the first day.  shreks for too much for kids.  london eye was too slow.  food place food was so fucking crappy.  

Betty: got chicken nuggets and chips.  two big chicken nugets.  didn't taste the best.  a bit sweet.  outside watery.  Used ketchup packets to make the chjps edibble.  At shreks adventure, super liked, in the flying red taxi bus thing.  and when sleeping beauty introduced herself, drury lane, and then went to sleep, and then started her speach over, and over, 3,4,5.

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Nov 27 Thurs

flight details:

michael putting blanket on face during sleep. 

alice: fun playing games, fun watching the tv.  exausting that couldn't get any sleep.  all tiring and boring.  really silly that betty forgot something.  really silly that michael forgot something..

betty: flight was exausting.  super tired, maybe got an hour of sleep.  the tv screen was nice, you could change brightness.  turn volume down.  games were a bit boring.  

michael:  me and mom doing pokemon go raid  in the airport.  

Fly, into the night, arrive tomrorow mornng at 10am.

 --------------------

Alice

We are currently in London, which seemed like a dream to my no-hours-of-sleep brain the day when we first arrived. I learned that I can't function properly without at least 2-3 hours of sleep the hard way. We then saw the London Eye; the first 10-20 minutes were great, then it slowly downgraded for the rest of the trip. But the view was amazing, at the top it was a panoramic view. I would highly recommend to go on it once, but not too many times. We went to Shrek's Adventure. I didn't enjoy it that much, the whole thing is not recommended. It was fun, yes, but also really boring, and for 2-5 year olds.

Today we went to the V&A, which was absolutely amazing, I loved seeing how many spoons there was in that place. We then went to the London Dungeon at 4; major jump scares, but it was still one of the most fun things yet. I have had such a fun time so far, and am slowly working my way up to a British accent, I hope I can get a full one on our journey back. Then, in Dublin, I'll work for a Irish accent. My friend does a great one, I love it. He goes like, "That there's my son! The leprechaun on the pot of gold there, riding the rainbow!" And, "Your a lepreCHAUN(lep-re-chon)!"

 --------------------

Michael

 --------------------

Betty

Yesterday we went to a Shrek tour. Today we went to the London dungeon. 1 person from each talked to me about my hair. The Shrek: a witch lady "Look at your magical hair that changes color!" London dungeon: Sweeney Tod "Look at that hair. It would make a nice wig! I'll pray for you." That was fun!!!

 --------------------

Richard

Flew out at 5pm Calgary time.  Landed 10am London time.  Most didn't sleep, but we stayed up all day to fight jet lag.  We went right to Shreks Adventure and london eye.  Fish and chips at the london eye, i complained and got a second patty.  Videos and photos at Big Ben.  H98 to Hounslow West, on the Picadilly Line to South Kensington, transfer to the Circle Line, down to Westminster, and walked across the river to and from the fun.

Second day we woke up really late, everyone was messed up.  We found a breakfast place further out of London.  Go Local Cafe.  "traditional breakfast".  Nobody but Richard and Miranda ate the "beans" which really is white beans in tomato soup...  The sausages were big , but not flavorful.  The "fried break" to me just seems like extra buttery bread.  Delicious.  Skipped "Natural museum" because it was alrealdy 1pm, we went down to the V&A and Michael lost his mind loving it.  Went to the "london dungeon" at 445, and then bought food along the road out at Hounseth wich was amazing food, ate in the hotel, and to sleep.  Michael tried to apply 

At the VA, there is a 1780s exhibit about balloons and the first travel by hot air baloon.  The brothers that took the first air balloon trips had the last name.... gonfler, or something like that.  "blow up" in french.  That made me laugh.  Montgolfier brothers.  But I prefer to remember them as the gonfler brothers.

Links to the photos so far.....

2025, London England

https://photos.app.goo.gl/okqCDYStoKMCwrDy9

\

Doral Pilling's Autobiography - a copy of a copy of a copy?

 

Growing up, a copy of our grandfather Doral Pilling's life story sat on the shelf. The distinctive blue cover with its gold lettering made it an easy find.  I knew how to find the pages with the stories I wanted to hear again and again,  mostly the stories about childhood pranks, or his time at the olympics.  

All these years later, and a copy of that same book is also within easy reach in my own home, along with pieces of paper tucked in between various pages to mark out the stories I too would return to for sharing with my own kids.  

Doral's life history is a goldmine.   There is so much stuff in there that is wonderful. This year, Duncan was taking a course on autobiography, and I suggested that it might be fun to actually use Doral's life history to work with.  He took it to his teacher to pre-vet it.  The teacher agreed that it was an amazing document, but also said that in order for Duncan to really engage with it, the teacher would need to have access to the text itself.  It is not that it needed to be 'published', but that it needed to be 'publically accessible.'  

And it wasn't til that moment that I realized that it was not.  And now it is! [click on this link to access it over at the LaRue Investments site: https://larue1964.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/doral-pillings-life-history-1975/].  Here is the backstory.

Somehow, because so many of us in the family had a copy of this book on the shelf, I often forget that it was not 'published' in the conventional sense, and it thus not easily accessible.  Afterall, it is a 'book', right?!  :-).  And that makes it look kind of 'official'. 

There are some small portions of it that are quickly accessible.   For example, way back in 2012, when someone was writing up a little history of the LDS church in Calgary, Arta shared with them some pages from Doral's life history (and posted them to the family blog):  http://larchhaven.blogspot.com/2012/09/doral-pilling-p-89-to-94.html.  But that is only a few pages of the text.

Certainly, the content is publically accessible, since it in the result of a series of interviews done in 1975:  Doral Pilling was interviewed by Charles Ursenbach as part of the Western Oral History Program, and the audiotapes (9 hours and 40 minutes) were deposited with the Alberta Provincial Archives.  I realized I didn't really know much about this Oral History Program.   A quick websearch took me to a page at BYU, which suggested maybe a context for this interview:  https://reddcenter.byu.edu/pages/oral. Other might have a richer account of the backstory.

In any event, the preface to the book does say that the written history is based on that oral history, and that the transcript was "edited and revised by members of Doral Pilling's family under his direction."

I was curious about who those 'members' were.  They are not named.  My suspicion (and bias) is that it was Arta, and that she has simply stayed in the background, minimizing the work she had done.  For sure, I have memories of seeing Arta (and Kelvin) set up one of those old tape to tape machines at the table, and of her turning the switch to stop and start again while she was typing things up at the same time on the old Underwood manual typewriter.  Now I am curious if others of the aunts or uncles helped with transcription?  Maybe.  But it does make me smile a bit to see her/them documented for the purposes of history as "members of Doral's family" rather than having their actual names appear. 

The process of photocopying also provides space for reflection. I remembered Arta pointing out in various documents that she could tell when they had been typed on Doral's typewriter because of the ways that specific keys were showing traces of wear and tear (or were a bit uneven in how they struck the paper).  Looking at the book, I felt like I could indeed see the traces of keystrikes on the text from that old beast of a machine.  It is that same heavy Underwood machine that Doral typed all his letters on, and that eventually made its way to our house on 26th ave. It is the same beast of a machine that I learned to type on, and the one on which i typed out so many of my university assignments.  Is that a real memory? 

Richard's copy also missing pages

Small side note, in making the copy, I realized that pages 26, 27 and 28 seem to be missing from my copy. I sent out a note to the other siblings to see if their copies of the book were different.  Doral provided photographic confirmation that his copy was also missing those pages.   And so, now there is a mystery!   

Is this just an error made by Arta in page numbers?  Or is there something particularly juicy in there?  Something salacious?  A map to hidden treasure?   Does one of us need to head to the audiotapes to see if they are also missing something?  If anyone has clues to the mystery, let us know!

ADDENDUM: November 25, 2025

Mystery solved!..... There IS no mystery!  I went back to listen to the original tapes of Doral telling his story.  It moves seamlessly from the bottom of p.25, to the top of p.29 (nothing salacious hidden in the gap)

Indigenous Intellectual Property: or Stick(er)ing to the Question

November 5th, I got to spend a couple of hours with the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), who held a "Book Club" event, using our book "Indigenous Intellectual Property" as the point of conversation. They had a great set up. The four of us co-authors (Val, me, Deb, and Richard) were allowed 2 minutes each (what?! two minutes only?!) to give a brief summary of what we were hoping to do in each chapter. After that, they split us up into 4 breakout rooms (16 minutes each time), so we could circulate through the smaller groups in a more intimate way, chatting about the kinds of questions and thoughts folks had. I certainly came away from it with another whole host of questions. Amongst them, I started thinking about the need we have in this particular time to avoid providing "ANSWERS", and instead create space and time for more extended conversations with eachother about the "QUESTIONS" that come up, and the ordinary/mundane spaces in our life that might help us see how many "PATHWAYS FOR THINKING" are around us.

After the event was over, I found myself looking at the piles of stickers and sticker books that I have on the desk around me: decorative, functional, tracking, art.... I like stickers, and like attaching them to things.

[here is the point that, in person, I would start singing Lionel Ritchie's song "Stuck on You" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqR2PwX428. Or maybe the earlier Elvis Presley hit? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NIc3b_jcIo.]

Could I use the stickers to think about some of the Intellectual Property questions that had come up in the day's conversation?  Why not?  I wondered about a focus just on the stickers with images on them ... the ART stickers. One might start with the cluster of 'named' stickers: little gatherings of stickers by Picasso, da Vinci, Monet and Kahlo.

One might then start with the Frida Kahlo stickers. In the world of art stickerbooks, it is more difficult to find women artists, for all the reasons one might imagine. So, lets just celebrate that someone printed these (thanks Dover Publications). Inside cover tells us a bit more about Freida as an artist (ie tortured, married, communist, jewish mexican indian). There are any number of questions one might ask here about biography, identity, relationality, etc.

There are others, related to copyright or IP. The interior cover gives us some info. This is a "New work" (take a look at the bibliographical note).  The copyright is held by Dover over this little book of stickers, NOT over the content of the book. And thus, the ISBN points us to 'the work' (the sticker book). And then what do we have as far as content? 16 stickers. Each one repeats Kahlo's last name, and gives us the title of the work. I don't get a date for the work, nor a more extended conversation, but name and title are clearly reproduced with each, so i do not have to remember a title after I peel the sticker off.

The back cover of "the work" gives us a bit more storytelling to contextualize the paintings. In addition to a bit about HER (on the inside cover), that back cover tells us a bit more about the art she produced, and how to experience it! This is work, we are told, is full of "anguish and passion"; it "smoulders!" We are also told (in case we didn't know) that she was once eclipsed by her more famous partner (is this part of what helps us engage with her work?). Or we can see that in purchasing the sticker book we are helping her achieve more widespread recognition? This then might be one of the purposes of the book itself (as a work of stickers): to engage with art, and see something of the works of Frida Kahlo. Her paintings, we are told, might add to a personal collection, or 'add instant interest' to letters or other flat surfaces. I do love that (thinking about ways to add interest to flat surfaces!)

The sticker book also contains some warnings: "not intended for children under 4." It is not clear to me if the warning (which is about INTENTION) is made to protect children (who might chew on or choke on the stickers?). Given that that book tells us that the paper and ink are acid free, I presume that a consumer of fine books such as these could probably eat the pages (literally) without digestive damage. And it seems to me that if it is about a choking hazard, people over 4 may be equally susceptible to getting a snack stuck in their windpipe on the way down. Or maybe the concern is with the content of the reproductions? Maybe there is just too much anquish and passion (and painterly nudity) in these reproductions, and children under 4 should be looking at different images? Hard to say. But certainly, as readers, we are told about the publisher's intentions regarding the use of these stickers.

I turned next to a different sticker book, one that did not foreground any specific artist, but instead turned to a collection of artists, or a style of art?   This was "Inuit Art from Cape Dorset".

Some other more slippery questions occured to me here.  First thing to note is that we have moved away from a single artist (Freida, Picasso, Monet, etc), to a style identified by a People: Inuit from Cape Dorset. It is also known as Kingait (or 'High Mountains').

The backcover again tells us a bit about the purpose of the book. This time it appears to target kids (a publication series explicitly named 'pomegranate kids'. 

We have three main take aways (in tems of purpose): 1. learn and craft, 2. self expression (personalize your crafts or journals), and 3. enjoyment.

What, then, is there to learn? The inside cover starts the learning process, delivering a paragraph sized bite of info. We do get a map of north america with a dot to geolocate us. Note, there are no 'political borders' here, either to separate US/Canada, nor to indicate the relative size of Nunavut. I did wonder about the work done by phrases like "way up in Northern Canada", "little hamlet", "tradition", "harsh environment", "dependent on animals" (which tend to lean not precisely to terra nullius, but do paint a certain kind of picture). 

 Also, I found myself wondering why there was a decision to use the phrase "people known as Inuit" that than just saying "home to Inuit."  Is that just a function of targetting young people?  There is also not much history here.  The paragraph suggests that in the 1960s the Inuit simply starting making art to share? [there is a larger story about dispossession that explains how and why people turned to art as a way to survive the damage produced to their economy, but that story is not part of this sticker book for kids].  And maybe that is not the best story to share in this context in any event (one might ask whether a celebration of the art and images is best situated alongside some of the damaging forces of colonial pressure, or rather along the vector of strengths, which have always been around adaptability, innovation and resilience?

But.... this is, afterall, just a brief moment of education in a book of stickers, so one might cut a bit of slack (while still generating some interesting questions). The intro does point us towards the beautiful prints that have been prized around the world!

One can then flip through the book to look at the images/stickers that are offered.

When I start thinking more about this book, it was clear that there were some distinct differences from, for example, the Freida Kahlo book.  Primarily, there are no descriptive 'labels'. What we have a these interesting images of animals, but none have names, and none are attributed to any particular artists. So, are these just images produced by 'people known as Inuit', or are there actually specific artists involved? And in any case, how is a sticker lover to know what artists in particular interest them?

Were specific artists being invisibilized in this process?  I flipped to the last page, thinking about this problem.   The book DOES give some attribution. Here we have a list of 17 artists (both dead and alive). Better.  But as readers, we have no mechanism (unless we are already 'in the know') to express an opinion about specific prints or specific artists. 

And there is a further qualifier, which left me with another question. The text tells us that the stickers are derived from prints by a specifically listed number of Inuit artists. As a reader (sticker user?), it is not it clear what it is meant by "derived from". Does that mean just clipping an image out of the context of a larger print? Or taking inspiration from? Or altering? Or working in the style of?  

Here, I found myself thinking of artist Michael Snow suing the Eaton's Centre when they tied christmas ribbons around the necks of the geese in his sculptural installation there. https://www.cipil.law.cam.ac.uk/virtual-museum/snow-v-eaton-centre-ltd-1982-70-cpr-2d-105. So I just don't really know what the story is in this case.  But I remained curious about the ways that these stickers aren't identified in any ways that would help me know as a reader 1. which images were produced by which artists, or 2. the conditions under which those artists are or are not compensated for the 'reproduction' (derivation).  

We are also told that the book is designed by Carey Hall. My assumption is that this is a way of acknowledging the work of the graphic designer, who would have done the design structure.   But they will not have been the person who decided what went into the book itself, or they would hold the copyright.    

The 'publication' info at the bottom of the page gives us a bit more info. There is a copyright notation to "Dorset Fine Arts." So in both the case of the Frieda Kahlo book, and this one, the copyright is held by a corporate person.   I do find it interesting to think about copyright as held by a corporate entity, rather than by an individual. I wondered more about this company (presuming that they had taken care of those questions in the production of the book).  

With this in mind, I went to look up Dorset Fine Arts, to get addtional context.  Their webpage tell us that they were set up in Toronto in 1978, and are "the wholesale marketing division of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative." Fabulous!   I love the history of the co-op form and its power in the North.  And immediately, I found myself feeling just a bit less worried about the decisions made in the design of the book.  So, here is a bit more of the story told by Dorset Fine Arts about themselves:

The Co-operative is in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut and is unique among the Arctic Co-operatives for its focus on the arts and artists of the community. Dorset Fine Arts was established to develop and serve the market for Inuit fine art produced by the artist members of the Co-operative. 

OK.  Interesting!  With this in mind, I returned to my questions about the title (which points to an area, rather than focusing on the work of a particular artist), as well as the decision to cluster a group of images without attributing to a specific artist.   Rather than seeing this as a way of erasing artists, I could see how this book might do the work of curating an appetite for Inuit fine art from the co-op, without leaning into  a culture of "auteurs" or a "star" focus.   In this context, it seems a bit more like the artists are both sharing their names, but celebrating their work in a way that holds up the whole community.  In this context, I feel less worried that the book undermines principles of 'authorship', and can see this decision as one that is supporting the idea of a collective of images and ways of seeing.  

So once again, it seems that the decision to derive stickers from prints in this way enables Dorset Fine Arts to create the sticker book as "a work" with a different focus and goal, which is not simply to introduce someone to a particular artist, but rather to a community of artists, which then might lead to the decision to support the community by coming to appreciate the style in this broader way, which might lead to more economic support the the community of artists, or to valueing Inuit art more generally.  While I initially wondered about/worried about this sticker book (that is, had the artists been consulted? was their work recognized? were they compensated in the reproduction of these images), my worries were allayed in thinking more about the artists as involved in those questions through their participation as members of the cooperative (which is was not visible to me until i looked behind the corporate form of the copyright holder).  Again, those are presumptions.   But I like being able to at least look at those sticker books to start asking questions about the images, their reproduction and transformation into different forms. 

So, at the end of the day, what to say?   I love stickers.  I love being reminded that there are any number of questions that ordinary life opens up for thinking about the production and reproduction of images.  

Quick afters school treat?

Mary and I have been talking about apple recipes.

Doral and Anita shared their harvest with our home last week, and I have been busy baking with apples ever since. 

Does it look like I have put a dent in our stock?

Today's recipe turned into more of a science experiment. Mary used to make a microwaved baked apple for herself after school.

David and I gave it a go. Core an apple leaving the bottom on. Ours looked like a tiny red pumpkin by the time the stem and seeds were out.

Mix together 5 mL margarine, 15 mL brown sugar, and 2.5 mL cinnamon. Put in microwave for 5 minutes. I hope, dear reader, you are not taking notes.

We ended up with cinnamon toffee that hardened on the bottom of the bowl, a teeny tiny bit of applesauce, and some crispy edible apple skin.

Time to soak the dish, and try again, I think. Our home smells great but our bellies are not full.

We had better luck with our Apple Fritters. Although we have added some notes in our recipe book for modifying the recipe, we devored the whole batch on one sitting.