Category Archives: Collections of Artifacts

essays and collections of photos with a theme or intent behind the assortment –more a dossier or exhibit – not to be confused with snaps and notes

Collections of Artifacts

Items: neon paintings of places remembered

November 28, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

This is indeed a landmark in downtown Eastside area Vancouver, one a few of these classic diners left as everything becomes condos & chains

I’m so in love with living where I am in the life I have reinvented that I don’t “miss” Vancouver or Victoria but sometimes, it’s nice to have a little peek at parts which I recall fondly.

In this case to freshly delivered paintings by Timothy Wilson-Hoey of the Ovaltine café neon sign in downtown eastside Vancouverwhich now hangs by my inside desk (you’ll no doubt not be surprised that i have several desks) and Don Mee dim sum restaurant sign in Victoria which will go to the barn studio.

I recall stuffing myself with dim sum with my buddy Neal here in Vancouver

Both acrylic on wood panel and quite wonderful. (There’s one more and three more on the way… We’re getting quite a gallery of originals go in here at Tsuchida Cottage).

Exit by the gift / coffee shop :) ¥500 per ticket.

One more note: my family here doesn’t *really* know much about where I come from – and we talk about taking a trip one of these years – but in the meantime, these are a couple hints and we will close the loop whenever (if ever) we cross the Pacific.

PS Now there’s a painting of a bonfire next to the woodstove so it feels like a fire even when there’s not / Timothy Wilson Hoey is the painter.

Important: Painter Timothy Wilson-Hoey has a great Instagram going with “paintings of the day“ & shop at https://instagram.com/ocanadaartstudio

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Collections of Artifacts

Item: Canadian mail-in election ballot #voting

August 25, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

Pick a winner &/or a whiner. Whatever, I’m not telling you what to do (in this case anyway).

For me it starts with true sincere reconciliation with First Nations, meaningful immediate climate action including halt on old-growth logging & tar, and appropriate support for disabled / chronically ill plus other folks who have “slipped between the cracks”. #Elxn44

Memo: Mine showed up in Japan by DHL 2 days after election was called. Wrote in my choice (look up candidates in riding online) put envelope inside envelope inside envelope & zoom’d it back to Ottawa by standard airmail. *Probably* didnt pick a winner but hey i participated so not a whiner

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Collections of Artifacts

Noticed: Kei-trucks and loads at Tsuchida Station

Gallery June 22, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

The arborist returns home from work with a fully laden Kei-truck / Try to fit allll that in your Ford/Chevy/Dodge *monster* truck >> 650cc on the dime, 5 speed, 4WD!

PS firewood for nighhhhhts / Will need a bucking and splitting weekend in the fall though

Kei-Trucks & Loads at the Tsuchida Station construction site

As it goes, yesterday were 9 different trucks and vans coming and going from the house – electricians, gas fitters, carpenters, painters, oversee’rs, architect, etc etc.

Noticed some of the fellas had custom-made organizers in back of the van – i complimented of course and they guffawed saying how lousy it all is (very Japanese :)).

Also noted the guys with huge jumbled messes in their trucks, also worthy of documentation.

May look chaotic but these guys know their gear

Carrying on from Noticed: Kei-trucks at the cottage (+ couple more)

[Update]

Few more well-organized and otherwise interesting vans documented from the construction project. These fellows were here to install the heat pump/air conditioners on June 30.

Note: The white van in the picture is a Toyota HiAce roughly +10% size/footprint as a Volkswagen Vanagon >> great size to convert into a camping van.

The blue car/cube/van is a Honda Kei (& such cute!)

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Collections of Artifacts

Backdrops: Trains and Capsules (for fun times), vol. 1

Gallery June 22, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

Train which looks like a Wes Anderson movie but was really in Izumo, Shimane, Japan (no longer in service)

While working in the “postcard as a service” and modified foreign passport industry, i don’t do many Zoom(tm)/etc calls but if i did, i’d use these photos from trains and capsules as backgrounds. And, yes feel very amused.

a repurposed/refurbished train moved from service around Chicago to the Utah “front runner” line – pleasing 1960s greyhound/diner vibes

Sharing these in the event you find them amusing and want to use as a backdrop for your next video service conversation. As long as you are amused.

somewhere in California or Oregon on Amtrak Coastal Starlight dining car

First Cabin “deluxe” capsules within Kansai KIX airport (near Osaka) – lived here just so i cold tell folks “yes i did stay in a capsule hotel”

bonus: from the last time i was in Vancouver, an intersection which was once a gravitational centre for me (especially suite 420 of the 1 Alexander bldg dead ahead), now ambivalence

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Collections of Artifacts

Been meaning to call you… (phone poem)

June 8, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

I’ve been meaning to call you
but I don’t know the number
and still can’t figure out time zones

But still,
I’ve been meaning to call you…
just to say hi
and that I’m thinking about
you.

Fondly, daveo

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Collections of Artifacts

Evidence: More records in the Kura (Gord Downie, Big Thief, Bob Dylan &…)

Image May 30, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

adding magic to the stacks with Big Thief’s Masterpiece, a masterpiece double vinyl from Gord Downie, and a piece from a master, Bob Dylan’s Planet Waves

Ummmm accidentally on purpose ordered some more records. Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, Suzanne Vega, Big Thief, The Waterboys, Courtney Barnett, … more Tanya Donelly, more Weakerthans, more Hey Rosetta, Bob Dylan, and The Linda Lindas (via band camp).

I *should show you* one of these days (problem is, when I play the records in video, creates intellectual property conundrums – and music must always be played in the kura barn where internet does not exist for streaming) #rules

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Collections of Artifacts

Abode: Tsuchida Cottage (old street view)

Image May 29, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

Regarding Tsuchida cottage / house: as mentioned in previous “Japan cottage musings” videos (Tsuchida Yard & Garden & Generational Home), from the 1990s up until a few years ago, the “big house” was vacant and had fallen into disrepair as evidenced by this screenshot from Google Street view.

You can notice Ryoko’s tool shed with its charcoaled yakisugi walls in the foreground, as well as directional traffic mirrors and way-finding/ distance signs to no place in particular.

The Garden too looks rather forlorn.

Ryoko and Father with Shinto priest performing ceremony on the land before house renovation

The house was completely renovated keeping original character, “bones” and many details but upgrading well… everything else / work by our family friend Morioka-san and his company AC studios (more about this in the “kura introduction” dossier).

So much has changed, so much more will evolve.

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Collections of Artifacts

Artifacts: Commemorative item-making devices at Korakuen

May 25, 2021 daveo 1 Comment

Stamping documentation at Korakuen Garden here in Goldilocks Okayama Japan. Tip: Always have a notebook with you (and/or buy postcards) and stamp to remember your times.

Sure there’s lots of nature and plants and trees and bridges and gardens and tea houses and turtles and cranes and flowers going back to the Edo period here at Korakuen Gardens… but also machines of various mechanical, electronic and analog persuasion to commemorate your visit to Korakuen (1 of 3 “top official super official great special” gardens in Japan) in pleasant Okayama, the “Goldilocks“ of Japan. Also postcards and tea (naturally).

Examples, lightly annotated below:

* Stamp your notebook with a commemorative stamp and an extra stamp with today’s date (checkmarko)

* Buy a Okayama Momotaro pin (check mark)

* Buy a coin to commemorate your visit (checkmark)

* Engrave the coin you just bought with a special message (checkmark) {note: this machine was so interesting with mix of digital and mechanical-ness, and clackety-clackety sounds]

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Collections of Artifacts

3 Phones for teleporting and transmission (+ haiku for Mom)

May 10, 2021 daveo 1 Comment

a black phone in Noto, Japan reminds me of my childhood 604-584-7930 and my Mom, hence haiku

+ Mother’s Day haiku +

Our home phone number
Felted inside rubber boots
So I was never lost

{note re haiku form}

2 devices for time travel: as seen at a cafe in Okayama

Where have you teleported recently?

this pink pay phone 10¥ will be added to a box atop this stump and used to call anyone, anywhere, anytime

Phone to the Wind: give a call, no matter where in the universe. ¥10 optional.

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Collections of Artifacts, Kinfolk + Pals

Memento: Dad’s #Expo86 passport

Gallery May 3, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

After my dad Lorne H Olson passed and we sorted through his papers, I took custody of a few various pieces of paper ephemera to document and curate as is my custom.

I’ve share a few bits and pieces from his life and next up (since today in anniversary of opening) is his passport for Expo 86, the worlds fair that was a *big deal* in Vancouver.

As it goes, I have kind of mixed feelings and memories about this as my parents had recently separated, I ended up in Utah with Mom but got a Volkswagen bus and returned for a summer of hijinks with my pals.

I recall two of my younger brothers had season passes and more visits for sure (perhaps they’ll chime in), and also recall that with my older brother, we had been at inaugural concerts the fancy new domed BC Place (Bowie, Gabriel, Tubes + Guess Who at a BC Lions game) – I had adventures skateboarding around the new stadium, rode the Skytrain (ALRT) from New West (before Surrey extension, rambled around geodesic dome Science world… {From when I was about 12-3 in Whalley, I started skipping school and heading downtown to spend my paper route money on records at Odyssey Imports, Collector’s RPM and other record shops on Seymour and Granvilles St. what not… But I digress…}

Continue reading Memento: Dad’s #Expo86 passport →

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Collections of Artifacts

Stationery in Cinema, vol. 3 (2 ID cards, a painting, a telegram & a letter)

Gallery March 15, 2021 daveo Leave a comment

From Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel (i have my own version of this item now)

Due to an affection for stationery, letters, scrapbooks and whatnot, i notice such items when viewing moving pictures. As such, i am often inclined to capture screenshots for my memory.

Sometimes, oddly enough, these are printed and put into scrapbooks in a sorta meta-remix. Either way, to keep these tidbits close at hand, assorted specimen are collected within.