I Heard It Through the Grapevine

I heard it through the grapevine that 5.13 Billion people have mobile devices.  That's more than 66% of the world's population!  The numbers come from the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA), and they should know, because they represent mobile network operators around the world.  

Most of us can't part with our mobile phones.  We grip them tightly, like we're carrying our brains in our hands.  Then, we stumble, and the phone does Cirque du Soleil style somersaults through the air, before crashing to the ground.  Dropping a phone could result in anything from loss of the mute button, to poor quality reception for the rest of the phone's life.  I've been having fun this week, designing mobile phone "crash helmets" to protect the brains of your constant companion.  

 I Heard it Through the Grapevine, is the perfect name for the phone cover above.  The grape leaves, and tiny blue Champagne grapes were growing along a rain-dampened fence, not far from my Toronto home.  Every colourful, and beautifully patterned grape leaf is unique!  

Hope the phone cover helps your phone last even a tenth as long as Marvin Gaye's Motown classic.  It was recorded in the Winter of '67, and released in '68 - which is over half a century ago.  Never get tired of it!  

I love the image of the metal ivy vines intertwined with the sturdy living wisteria vines, their weathered branches becoming one with the manmade structure.  As a phone cover, Interwoven speaks to our interwoven relationships, whether in our contact lists, or on Facebook - where many of us discover how many of our friends already know one another. 

The image also reminds me of family trees, and the bringing together of two very different families, to form one.  The most tight knit families I know of, call one another every day.  Every.  Single.  Day.  When was the last time you called your Mum, or Mother-in-Law, to in the words of Stevie Wonder, say, I Just Called to Say I Love You? 

Don't forget that other leaf...cannabis leaves are often overlooked in the world of fashion.  I love their graphic, elongated lines.  I've had fun altering their colours on the computer, such as this in image, Tropi-Canna Mint and Plum...

Maybe it's the British Columbian in me - I just love totem poles and telephone poles!  They are as much a part of the BC landscape as the mountains and sea.  When I returned to the Westcoast last July, after nearly three decades in Eastern Canada, the iconic telephone poles were still standing along older neighbourhood streets, and back alleys, and hugging the blackberry brambles of country roads and ditches.  ELO's Telephone Line, gets me every time, and I'm listening to it, as I type.  

Totem poles are found in public gathering places throughout BC.  Waiting for an early morning sailing to Nanaimo's Departure Bay, on Vancouver Island, I photographed a small portion of the late Tony Hunt's Kwakiutl Bear Pole, guarding the BC Ferry Terminal, at Horseshoe Bay, in West Vancouver.  The tall, weather-worn totem was carved from Western Red Cedar, and was one of 19 totems commissioned for the BC Centennial in 1966.  Not having had my first cup of coffee, it was as if I was looking in the mirror.     

Nothing takes the industrial edge off tech devices, like cover images of pink ruffled cherry blossoms and peonies.  There's something eternally sunny about these flowers, which brighten up rainy, or snow drift days.  In order of appearance:  Japanese Cherry Blossoms Blue Sky,  Cherry Blossom Branches, Wedding White Cherry Blossoms, and Cherry Blossom Impressions. 

Peonies are one of my favourite flowers to photograph.  They're fullsome blossoms with layers of ruffled petals, casting shadows throughout.  There's so much movement in the light and shadow!  These peony phone covers speak softly of everlasting beauty, romance and drama...maybe they scream just a little...Blondie's Call Me, meets the Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace!  In order of appearance:  Honey Peonies, Peony Drama, and Peonies and Ice Cream.

Being a floral photographer in Toronto has its disadvantages...nothing grows during the months of snow and ice.  It's never stopped me from taking pictures of flowers!  Supermarket flowers have been a source of beauty and inspiration during the dark days of October, November, December, January, February, March, April...and let's face it, even May.  These double carnations were in a plastic bucket at the grocery store, just begging to be "discovered" like a Hollywood starlet.  This phone cover is called, wait for it...Pale Pink Carnations! I tell it like it is.  No excuse not to remember that name.

Jeans and a t-shirt today?  Slip Jeans over your phone for a matching look!  I've always loved the look of faded blue jeans.  They're timeless.  These were photographed in a rural flea market, here in Ontario, and could travel around the world.  Jeans are universal.  The phone covers are slim fit too!

The phone covers are available in more than a dozen styles which cover the shape and layout of iphones and Samsung phones.  They're made of durable Lexan plastic, with embedded print, UV and scratch resistant finish.

To paraphrase Operator, the 1975 hit by the Manhattan Transfer:  Operator...information...how do you order these phone covers?   Just one ringy dingy...  http://bit.do/phonecovers

In My Hand I Hold

In my hand I hold the Universe: all the suns, moons, planets, and stars beyond the Milky Way.  In my hand I hold Earth's snow capped mountains, glowing pink in the morning sun; lush evergreen forests, dotted with orange and red maples; wind swept swirls of desert sands, beneath cloudless blue skies.  In my hand I hold blue green seas, dolphins, whales and starfish; sailboats, gliding across sun sparkled ripples of water, and gulls circling fishermen hauling in bountiful catches in their nets.  In my hand I hold the excited giggles of babies taking their first steps;  the tears of friends who've lost a loved one;  stories of daring, courage, compassion, and enduring love.  In my hand I hold the art, music and dance of the ages.  In my hand I hold knowledge, truth, and lies; the best punchlines and one-liners ever spoken.  In my hand I hold all that came before me, and dreams of what may come.  In my hand I hold my phone.  It's not just a smartphone...it's bloody brilliant!

I was staring at it - my great oracle - in the palm of my hand.  With a gentle sweep of my finger, and a soft tap, the world - the Universe - is revealed.  I'm no wizard, but that's pretty magical!

The latest discoveries in astrophysics, and cancer treatment - from the vastness of the great beyond, to nano particles - are all held in the palm of my hand.  I just read, that analysis of fossils found in Nanjing, China show that flowering plants existed in the Early Jurassic period, 174 million years ago.  That's 50 million years earlier than thought.  Scrolling further, I discover that this New Year's Eve, Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft is going to reach Ultima Thule, also known as, 2014 MU69, a part of the Kuiper Belt, some 6.5 Billion (with a B) kilometres away.  Remote communications takes 6 hours each way, so sometime on New Year's Day, we may get the first pictures...on our phones, in the palm of our hand.

Truthfully, as amazing as these events are, they appear on our phones alongside friends' photos of what everyone brought to last night's potluck dinner, hilarious memes, and cat videos.  I can't help but think that back in Columbus' day, news of his arrival in the New World, eventually made it to Spain, where it was greeted with marvel, which gave way to the mundane.  "Did you hear about the voyage?"  "Yes, quite something, and isn't that a rainstorm gathering on the horizon?  Better bring the laundry in."

  

From my smartphone, time and space are fluid.  It seems as if it is always "tomorrow" in Australia.  Vancouver is three hours behind Toronto.  So, I can have a simultaneous conversation on Facebook with my sister in Melbourne, and friends on Canada's Westcoast, and other friends in the UK, and Europe, and "be" in five time zones, and two different days at once.  Add in, a live feed from a Nasa Mars landing, and the emotional timewarp of listening to Black Magic Woman, Brown Eyed Girl, or Malo Suavecito playing in the background, and you'll get what I mean about the fluidity of time and space!  It's nothing new (except for the Mars landing).  Quite ordinary, really.  I just have an almost childlike fascination with it.

Just this morning, while sipping my coffee and streaming through my Facebook feed on my phone, I read a story about the SS Warrimoo's history-making voyage from Vancouver to Australia.  On New Year's Eve, 1899 Captain John DS Phillips learned that the ship was within a few miles of the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line.  He changed course, and the engine speed, so that by Midnight, the Warrimoo hovered over the two geographic lines.  The bow of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere, where it was Summer.  The stern was in the Northern Hemisphere, and Winter.  You could stand in the bow, where it was January 1st, 1900, then, walk to the aft, where it was still December 31st, 1899.  The ship made history for being in two different days, two different months, two different seasons, two different years...and two different centuries, all at once!

My phone is more than a piece of technology.  It's the conduit of a soul connection between me and the world, the world and me.  My on-line friendships are very real.  I help administer an on-line widows' group of more than 8-thousand widows.  The pain, anguish and anxiety are real.  The bonds of sisterhood are real, and each one of us is grateful to be able to connect anytime of the day or night, with other women who, "just know".  When I am comforting someone, I imagine her sitting in my kitchen, a friend just needing someone to talk to, someone to listen with an open heart.  Sending good energy out, and getting good energy back, is healing.  It's good for the soul.

Each day, my friends on the Westcoast of Canada, and in Michigan, share the most glorious sunrises, spectacular sunsets, breathtaking seascapes, flowers, deer, eagles, hummingbirds and lunar images.  They lift my spirits, and start my day on a positive note.  My heart sings...and sometimes aches for home.

My phone is held with a firm gentleness, like a hug.  The people I love and care for are there, on Facebook, Messenger, in e-mails, texts, Instagram, even on the actual phone!  Almost every day, I laugh so hard, I can hardly type. the phone just jiggles in my hand.  When something touches my heart, I've noticed myself bring the phone close to my heart.  This is weird...when I blush, I actually turn the phone over, face down.  Please tell me, I'm not alone!

Far from distancing us from one another, technology brings us closer.  I have reconnected with old friends, and made new friends all through the on-line world.  We share selfies, and family photos of how we spent our weekend, or our vacation.  I've watched children and grandchildren evolving.  I've shared in weddings, birthdays and celebrations of life.  I've watched gardens being planted, nurtured, harvested, then, enjoyed photographs of jams and preserves proudly displayed in glass jars along kitchen counters.

Since so many of my friends are creatives, everything from photography, to graphic novel illustrations, to paintings, to jewelry design, textile designs, music, song and dance, is shared all day, every day.  Even my own clothing designs are modelled.  Many of us are writers, some with published books in real bookstores.  We talk politics, religion, health and mental health, exchange vegetarian recipes, and information about the best places in Toronto for BBQ ribs.  And we laugh a lot!  Lives are lived. All, in the palm of my hand. It's great to be alive!

What would William Blake have thought of it all?

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour. 
             -William Blake (1757 - 1827)

Wow, man!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.