Spirit Bears

White Kermode bears are not albinos as they still have pigmented skin and eyes. Rather, a single, non-synonymous nucleotide substitution in the MC1R gene causes melanin to not be produced. This mutant gene is recessive, so Kermode bears with two copies of this mutant, nonfunctional gene appear white, while bears with one copy or no copies appear black. It is possible for two black bears to mate and produce a white cub if both of these black bears are heterozygous, carrying one copy of the mutant MC1R gene, and both mutant genes are inherited by the cub. Additional genetic studies found that white Kermode bears breed more with white Kermode bears, and black Kermode bears breed more with black Kermode bears, in a phenomenon known as positive assortative mating. One hypothesis is that this happens because young bears imprint on their mother's fur colour.

Art

The list of artists that genuinely speak to me is pretty short, but also pretty diverse. I recently discovered Jude Hill and she's pretty much shot to the top of my list. Everything she makes is so beautiful, so organic. Her approach to her work too, philosophically, syncs up with a lot of my thoughts, like this whole blurb from her about page . . .

unplugged for convenience of portability and my dedication to energy conservation. i don't buy much of anything and i hate all the "gunk" that is applied to fabric art these days. it interferes with the nature of the fabric. i believe in recycling and re-purposing and my work is mostly given away but i have opened a shop for smaller pieces. hand sewing is meditative and beautiful. i do occasionally plug in but machine stitches are just not the same.

Just look at some of her pieces, like . . .

This house, or this woven piece, or this heart, and this cat. Because the other week goobster and I were talking about visible mending, I feel like I should give him a shout out so he can check out these jeans. Everything of hers I see, I love, love, love.

Shallow Deepness Ahead

I recently had a brief text exchange with a friend, about how I'm going through a pretty intense but also enjoyable period of self discovery and change and some of the challenges it brings, like for example I'm becoming a bit more reclusive exactly when a lot of people around me are becoming more outgoing and I feel like the timing is unfortunate. We talked about how these periods of change seems to come about every five years, which coincidentally, is about the same timeline the cells in the body are considered to be all new and different. Sometimes I wonder about the nature of our cells in the relation to ourselves and how they're a tangible expression of self, being a whole, single unit, compiled of countless minute units. Countless cells, countless moments of life lived and experienced, each can be broken down and quantified, appreciated on their own, but the collective whole is so much greater. For fear of getting too spiritual/philosophical on here, I've been thinking about just like our cells don't all renew at once, but gradually over time, we obviously change gradually over time as well, still ourselves, but also to the point where we often feel completely different than who we were in previous decades. I think it's important to keep this process in mind, to embrace change and growth, and most importantly, make the conscious decision to do what we can to direct those changes and growth in a positive direction. Dunno. It's been riding my mind ever since that text exchange.

Sorry for the ramble. It's been a rough week. I think after I'm done with laundry, I'm gonna head to the park, sit, and just watch the birds.

Here's hoping you're all doing wonderful, Hubski.