All the Frills: Home Cathedral

For this edition of All the Frills Fridays, I’d like to feature a few of my favourite pieces of art that adorn the walls of my home. In particular, these five gorgeous pieces by my Calgary-based uncle, Kenneth Thomas.

Growing up, Uncle Ken was a hero of mine, and he still is. Ken is a polymath and world traveler in the truest sense of those terms. He’s read almost every academic thing I’ve ever written and loves to talk about them analytically. He spends a large measure of his visits to Edmonton scouring used book shops for treasures (which has become a favourite pastime of mine as well) and has gifted me some of my most treasured editions of volumes. Also, the man lives for travel. Having lived abroad in Europe for many years (mainly in Vienna) and making extensive trips back there over the past few decades, his work life now is pretty much entirely geared to simply setting aside enough extra cash in a given year to jet off somewhere he’s never been before (most recently it was a few months in Mongolia and surrounding areas of the globe).

He’s also a gifted artist who has done a breathtaking series of sketches (some simply in pencil and others in coloured pencil) of churches and cathedrals across Europe. I have a large number of his pencil sketches of churches packed away carefully in storage (his various depictions of Durham Cathedral are a personal favourite), waiting until I have enough walls in my home to frame and display them all but I also have these two lovely series that he’s done of various architectural details of cathedrals. Every time I walk by the walls on which these hang, I get a smile on my face and want desperately to plan a jaunt to Cambridge or Edinburgh.

And, now, onto some links!

• I heart you Kevin Spacey, I really do (also, female actors get asked some pretty inane questions on the red carpet. I blame E!).
• It is weirdly fascinating to see the Crimea back in the news. Anyone else want to talk about the Crimean War with me?
• I also heart you Cate Blanchett for relentlessly reminding people that female-led movies make money and can carry themselves.
• A little Breaking Bad remix.
• This girl was suing her payments for college tuition. She seems like a delightful person. And I am thrilled her suit was ruled against.
• This one may creep a few people out. Remember my still-to-be-written screenplay, Croc Forest: Trees of Doom? Well, I'm adding a sassy snake character to the mix! Seriously though, nature is messed up you guys.