Sun pours down like honey

Happy Birthday, miss you, Mom

2012-01-25T11:58:00.004-05:00

You trump Robbie Burns' birthday every year, Mom. Hope you and Dad and Mr. Burns are sharing some of Dad's fruitcake and a good strong mug of tea. Here's my cup of kindness in the form of a song. Love.

Photography and memories, questions...

2012-01-24T18:56:00.004-05:00

There are debates as to whether photography provides false memories. Some say that photographs diminish true memories, replacing organic, expansive memory with an image that might provide a different truth than reality. Others suggest that without photography we may not remember very much about the past, without a concrete image, things slip away. I tend towards the latter - I have a notoriously terrible memory especially with names and even with faces. I can remember being in a field at three, the spun flowers, the dancing insects in the shafts of sunlight. I cannot recall what I had for lunch yesterday. I can remember how I felt looking out my parents' screened porch windows at about eight, the full scan of the sky through the screen's mesh; I can recall vividly whom I loved and how much I loved them; as for my share or more of difficulty, fortunately the sharpness of sorrows and pain are recalled but in a rounded, softer-edged way. There is such grace in the passing of time. But I love photography because within every image of every photograph I have taken, I recall the entire moment, the sounds, smells, feeling, which I would have otherwise lost. I once didn't recognize a woman from a baby group I was in - she was in a dentist's parking lot and out of context I had no idea who she was and why she was talking to me. But show me a photograph and I can tell you every detail. My life savers, my heart's documents, my snapshots. A photo of my daughter's tiny pink and green sneakers on a bathmat in an old apartment - and I remember for that rounded moment of perfect grace, my daughter as a very young child and the sounds outside the window and how much fun the day had been. Such a gift. She, curiously, has the same rotten memory as me (and my older son and husband, we don't know yet about the youngest boy) and she too has the same gift of photography and time capturing. How about you? What do photographs bring to your table?

Sunday Quote

2012-01-22T14:03:00.003-05:00

These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air,
And, like the baseless fabric of vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with sleep.

- (Prospero), William Shakespeare, The Tempest, 4.1

Paula Deen etc.

2012-01-19T00:26:00.004-05:00

Amazing how some people just are gleeful that this woman has diabetes now. I have no really strong feelings about her cooking, her tv persona, her health revelations, her new gig touting diabetes drugs. At least the news shows are talking about something else than the Kardashians. It wasn't until I was in Scotland with my sister watching real news on the BBC, news about the entire world, and then returned home to see endless Lindsay Lohan segments leading the news on all the major channels and barely a mention of any world events, did I realize how entirely vacuous we are as a nation newswise. And worse than that - how terribly unkind. They just are sharpening the knives on this one. It smacks a bit of the Martha Stewart thing - where people could not wait to bring her down (including women who should have been up in arms as feminists that a powerful woman was being hung out to dry where a man would have gotten off with a slap). So what if one of them pushed home tips and one pushes biscuits and gravy. Lots of people like home tips. Lots of people lke gravy with their biscuits. There is no gun to your head forcing you to watch or listen to either of them.
The Paula Deen thing has the added bonus for the wagging tongues that she is from the South and the newsmakers in NY and CA all consider the South as something less than. At any rate, I would like to see something else villified - cruelty, slander, hurtfulness, unkind acts. Oh, that we could all work up a lather about someone being deliberately mean and hurtful. Or about the fact that we live in a vaccuum here and no one seems to care about the world beyond the Linday Lohans and the Paula Deens....color me cranky, we are all sick in this house and I am dismayed at what passes for television and news concerns during the daytime viewing hours. Oh, yes, and - be well, Ms. Dean.

Sunday Quote

2012-01-15T19:27:00.002-05:00

O God
help me
to believe
the truth about myself
no matter
how beautiful it is.

- Macrina Wiederkehr

Brrr....and a movie review

2012-01-13T19:54:00.003-05:00

These fisherman enjoying the last of the mild weather for January will probably not be on the pier this weekend...daughter and I just came back from errands - baby, it's cold out there. We just watched Water for Elephants - they did justice to the very good book by Sara Gruen (book was, of course, better) and the actor - the Twilight star guy - made you forget he was the Twilight star guy, said my daughter, and it was true - high praise indeed.

Sunday Quote

2012-01-08T14:32:00.002-05:00

"My way of thinking is completely different," he says. "I have no such mountains to scale; basically, I find that living itself is a struggle, and if I'm satisfied, if I have just done that, lived well, in the evening I sigh and say, 'It was okay.'"

"Do you have bad days?"

"Yes, but it's important to put them in the perspective of insignificance. Even if you have achieved great things, it is a sort of theatre playing in your mind. You think it is so important, but actually you have not made a difference to anyone's life."

"So you're saying, Karma, that both our greatest achievements and our greatest failures are equally insignificant?"

"Yes. We like to think we really made a difference. Okay, in the week's scale it may have been interesting. Take another forty years, I'm not so sure. Take three generations, and you will be forgotten without a trace."

"And you find this a source of comfort? I find it terribly depressing."

"No, as we say in Buddhism, there is nothing greater than compassion. If you have done something good, then in the moment you should feel satisfaction. I used to kill many flies and mosquitoes every day because they give me some fear of malaria, but sometimes I don't do that. I have a moment of pause and think, 'Well, he is not harming me, not directly threatening me. He is defenseless. Why am I crushing it? So then I release it, and there is a moment - it is an insignificant act, I know - but there is a moment of genuine peace. I just let it go."

Conversation between Karma Ura and (author) Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss

Zen - the Detective on PBS

2012-01-07T21:46:00.005-05:00

Watching the suave and debonair Zen on Masterpiece mystery PBS the other night and thinking how much is said through gesture, expression, the raised eyebrow, the curve of a mouth. So much is said without words and said so adroitly that it made me consider how I must dilute a lot of what I say with all my endless cha cha cha of words...how do gulls play into this thought? Well, they got very chatty later when an older woman threw bread from her car window in the parking lot by the water...and on such a pretty fake Spring day, I could not resist a swing by seaside after a slice of great Sicilian pizza at Pizza Centre (the best) with my man.

Why, Blogger, why

2012-01-05T00:04:00.001-05:00

Having a rough enough day, why do you have to screw with the template thing? Do you want us all to migrate elsewhere? Like Wordpress?

that sort of day

2012-01-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

Sunday Quote

2012-01-01T18:40:00.001-05:00

Happy First Day of 2012 - a wonderful year ahead full of promise and hope.

What Santa does post-Christmas

2011-12-28T18:47:00.001-05:00

The Bliss of Nothing

2011-12-27T14:36:00.003-05:00

The brilliance of three days off post-Christmas. Day two finds me reading, scribbling, playing with new Christmas toys, cozy in my ridiculously cozy slippers and yoga pants and flannel as it drizzles in the gray outdoors, drinking dark magic coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice cream instead of milk...if I could I would purr.

Not a creature was stirring...except...

2011-12-24T23:21:00.005-05:00

Tucker who was mighty sick of posing in his Santa costume. Merry Christmas to one and all!

The dog is afraid...

2011-12-20T22:16:00.001-05:00

walking at night, some of these festive decorations seem a tad sinister, hmmmm....

Don't want this light bill

2011-12-19T22:27:00.003-05:00

Every year we enjoy swinging by this house a half mile or so from ours and taking a gander at their ever-growing display (much more than I have portrayed here, half my photos came out blurry). The youngest, now 12, is so over the whole thing, so the 25 year old and I enjoyed it (she's getting old enough to get nostalgic!). Usually the joint is jumping but we went late on a Monday night and had it pretty much to ourselves.

Sunday Quote

2011-12-18T12:54:00.004-05:00

Breath of Heaven Lighten my darkness
Pour over me your holiness
For you are holy
Breath of Heaven.

-Chris Eaton

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-16T23:38:00.003-05:00

The more the years gather, the more bittersweet Christmas becomes...here's
a wee song that feels about right.

Lunch Story

2011-12-13T23:28:00.011-05:00

Could have had lunch at my desk

but decided to go to Starlite and grab a special - half a turkey on rye sandwich with a cup of soup, tea, and the good company of the Beatles.

Took a stroll afterwards - nothing much to see in a winter gray small city. Just an angel,

soem beautiful decorative ledges (had to look up, always a good thing to do),

amazing the little details of even the most pedestrian things...

A lonely mannequin would agree perhaps...especially if he knew that

a friendly Western family was just a block away in another store front.

maybe I just needed a sign

to tell me to look around for inspiration - like roses blooming in December.

Sunday Quote

2011-12-11T00:10:00.000-05:00

Some good reds in the city and bad blogger

2011-12-10T00:21:00.002-05:00

Some street shots from our small city, I like the pops of red - my favorite is the rusted red side of a large dumpster. Beauty everywhere.
And blogger is messing with the design sites so now the header photo will not adjust to the size of the header. All of this happened already when I tried to change up some stuff at my infrequently posted upon other blog, Library Mermaid, and really ruined the look of it. Growl. Blogger, why "fix" it if it ain't broke? Truly dislike their new template set-up. Anyone else using blogger having issues?
Well, I will grumble myself off to bed and try not to dream of technology run amok.

Back when - and blogger mystery

2011-12-09T09:23:00.004-05:00

I must be the last person in the USA to not know that Ceelo's song "Forget You" is not really that F word. So much for that music in my car this morning on route to work. I only knew the Glee version which is not what comes out from my interlibrary-loaned Ceelo Green, The Lady Killer, cd I played (briefly) this morning. I ended up singing along to this song to recover.

Then onto here where my header photo is not the photo I thought was up, a cropped version of a mug on a quilt photo - at home on my computer, it is a closeup of the mug and a bit of the quilt and I think it is quite appealing. At work where I nearly never do a thing to my blog - it is the whole quilted mat in the slightly grimy storefront window, a quick snapshot in Edinburgh last summer. So - any blogger friends reading this - which picture do y'all see - the close-up one or the whole storefront one? And what weirds me out is how did blogger get the whole storefront one when the one I uploaded to blogger was my cropped and saved version? Can blogger go into your Kodak account and pull out random photos? Weird.

Oh, nostalgia, when you just played your radio and it was whatever came up - the best when a favorite song came up, when it was so rare to hear anyone swear on the street everybody would turn and look if somebody did, when stuff on tv before ten pm didn't make you have to tell the kids to leave the room, oh, yes, nostalgia Friday, my Dad should have lived long enough to see his youngest daughter going on like this, how he'd be laughing.

Paper Scotland

2011-12-07T23:04:00.002-05:00

Here is the completed and wonderful story of intrigue and whimsy in Edinburgh, Scotland - was glad to see it updated by a FB friend. It's a rainy, wind-whipped night here (would be so much more romantic if same weather found me in Edinburgh but oh well, we bloom where we are planted).

the fog crept in ...

2011-12-05T22:52:00.002-05:00

Sunday Quote

2011-12-04T13:25:00.001-05:00

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

- Jeremiah 29:13

T is for Terror or...

2011-11-30T23:43:00.004-05:00

T is for Tucker who looks fierce during one of his nightly wild runs before he settles down and gets sleepy and his mood turns sweet as pie. (Don't be afraid of those teeth, he is all poser trying to get us to chase him down the hall when we are all boring and checking email or sipping tea instead of understanding that tug of war or chase the sock is so much more fun!).

Sunday Quote

2011-11-27T18:26:00.001-05:00

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

― Maya Angelou

Poets, Poetry Review, and then some

2011-11-26T21:06:00.004-05:00

This strange November for Northeasterners - this is one of my favorite months when the sky is this strange intense blue and the leaves are all off the trees so they are stark black outlines against that blue; the wind whips your scarf around and you pull your coat closer and your animals senses tell you to hibernate while your modern day sensibilities tell you to put the tea kettle on.
Except it is sweater weather and some leaves still cling and people are out shopping for Christmas gifts when it feels like late summer. Hmmm. I don't know if I would fare well in Florida or some other warm climate year round.
Have to share this link where a younger Anthony Hopkins reads Dylan Thomas' poem
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. I like the comment directly below that she would listen to him read a cereal box...yup. And the links beside it - Christopher Walken reading Poe's The Raven? I'm there.
Another poet I encourage you to discover, Heather Hartley, was nice enough to let me know the review I wrote for The Chattahoochee Review of her wonderful book, Knock Knock, is now up on her website. You can access it here.
I recently discovered the work of this poet, Linda Pastan, at the library and just a few poems in to one of her collections, ordered several of her books. Not thrifty I am sure, but my poetry bookshelves are happy as am I.
A sadder way to discover a poet unknown to me is to hear of her death and then - searching for her work - find it is also kindred and moving and wonderful, and now edged with something like tarnished silver knowing she just left the room of the earth. An NPR spotlight on Ruth Stone. There are so many poets to get to know (and don't you hate it when people say (with a gasp) "you mean you don't know his/her work?" as if there was even enough brain cells working here to know a third of anything much less a world and lifetimes of poets. But I wish I could.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T15:41:00.003-05:00

Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

- Gerard Manley Hopkins, Pied Beauty

A favorite poem and even so, I find myself yearning to make pie puns - bad enough I have searched my photo files for dappled deer. I will blame the hunger (now I sound like something out of Twilight) as dinner is not until five-ish and the smell of turkey and my husband's to-swoon-for-stuffing is making me a little woozy with want. Yes, I contribute - my mother's amazing cranberry relish recipe and my lumberjack appetite that thrills all cooks who like to watch people tuck in. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all - and hopes for peace and warmth and joy for the start of my favorite holiday season.

Interview with my lovely daughter

2011-11-24T01:01:00.002-05:00

An interview with my daughter who is a natural with animals, they really love her. She is also a dog groomer and had some interesting stuff to say with Pet Edge. You can read her interview, part one and two, and see a photo of our funny little dog, Tucker, right here.

Image mystery

2011-11-22T23:43:00.002-05:00

not this - these are swans a number of years ago by red bridge, a local spot. Mystery is why blogger won't allow me to load the previous umpteen photos I attempted to load. Anyone else having trouble with blogger?

Sunday Quote

2011-11-20T16:09:00.002-05:00

When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same.

- Toni Morrison

Autumn colors

2011-11-15T19:34:00.002-05:00

We kept asking where autumn was - the trees were holding onto leaves that were still mostly green, a few plants bloomed in their confusion over the warm weather, then a smack of heavy wet snow breaking branches and downing wires, and still no fall feeling - and suddenly - BOOM - autumn. The trees have been magnificently vivid as I drive to work, from the first tell tale change of one tree out my window to a splendid red gold blaze of trees I pass each morning en route to my job. Welcome autumn at last - even though you are still too warm for November and all these weathery shenanigans have left me with a whompingly awful cold.

Sunday Quote

2011-11-13T18:45:00.001-05:00

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein

We're Ready for our Close-up

2011-11-11T23:29:00.003-05:00

11/11/11. At 11:30 (would have posted at 11:11 to be really clever but we were watching a taped Castle. Priorities).

Autumn Farm trek

2011-11-10T20:32:00.003-05:00

We love our traditions - one of them is to trek up to Easton to Silverman's Farm and get really good apples and wander around their animal farm area and so on...brought the oldest who first went there 20 years ago, it has changed a bit (and so have we).
Still great apples, pie, cider, and who can resist sweet sheep faces? My oldest and I took many photos (she loved the emus) and I was charmed to note she still remembers the secret words of the sheep. Can't tell you or the sheep will get mad.

Holiday Gift Cornucopia of Ideas!

2011-11-09T18:59:00.007-05:00

Where I unselfishly share great links for gift ideas (and because I have filled up my favorites section which is making saving research for my second mystery a wee bit difficult so I need to clear out some of these great links). Start with a unique idea - at Spoonflower you can print out your own fabric - how about making a child a pillow or a naptime quilt featuring their own artwork? Mermaid on your list? She'll appreciate a print from Kolene Spicher (I own two of her prints, love them). Anything from Garnet Hill. Anything. I first encountered their products in an airport - from amazing notespads to clothes and everything inbetween. I am crazy about their office stuff.
So far no mail order that I know of so - please, please, Cush's Homegrown - I need you to ship your amazing salsa around! And if anyone is up Noank way, get some for me at the general store. Lunar Phase calendars? Meshuga mints? Book plates?
Love the hot and cold donkey to comfort the little ones at Jake & Ella (I want the triangle crayons), gorgeous fabrics for the quilter at Anna Maria. You need deep pockets for some of these tiles but wouldn't it be worth it?
Tea lovers? Get them a tea strainer from here and add to a package of cupcakes from Smith Island Bakery. No need to hunt for those reading glasses if they're around your neck. The datebook I got the most compliments on ever was one from Susan Wallace Barnes (love the stickers that come with the datebook and calendars, too). I really love the idea of a life sized cut-out - what a hoot to give someone for the holidays!
Might be old news but the power of affirming things surely puts a positive spin in your mind - and these little cards from Hay House that I first saw at the BEA convention in NYC are really fun. I already suggested the wild blueberry jam from here to a coworker and she loved it! We picked up a jar in North Carolina in the spring and were so happy we could order more from Blue Ridge jams once we were up north and realized how delish they are. I'll end with round one of gift suggestions as the youngest needs homework help...and last one - these amazing toys from Natural Kids - who would not love these felt dolls? Good shopping...

Sunday Quote

2011-11-06T12:17:00.002-05:00

Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.

- Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking.

Dia de los Muertos

2011-11-02T18:56:00.002-04:00

Para el habitante de Nueva York, Paris o Londres, la muerte es la palabra
que jamás se pronuncia porque quema los labios. El mexicano, en cambio,
la frecuenta, la burla, la acaricia, duerme con ella, la festeja; es uno de
sus juguetes favoritos y su amor más permanente.

To the resident of New York, Paris or London, the word Death is never
pronounced because it burns the lips. Mexicans on the other hand,
frequent it, caress it, they sleep with it, they celebrate it; it is one of their
favorite games and their most permanent love.

- Octavio Paz

Once again neighbors and patrons of our library have put on a most amazing Dia de los Muertos display. I look forward to seeing their creations each year and they never fail to come up with magic. I especially like the skeleton dog looking at the photo of his former self and, of course, the skeleton butterfly.

Cuiridh mi clach air do chàrn.

2011-11-01T00:01:00.004-04:00

For you, Anne and Grace, as ever.

Sunday Quote

2011-10-30T17:45:00.002-04:00

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

- C.S. Lewis

Snow in October

2011-10-30T00:08:00.002-04:00

Snow kaboshed a party we were having tonight, lines down, tree branches down, branches hitting the roof and skidding off all day and evening. I am amazed we did not lose power but we were ready. Neighbors came over and we ended up with a little party, warm and cozy, on a wintry night.

Autumn, sea side.

2011-10-28T23:24:00.001-04:00

just a little green...

2011-10-25T22:47:00.001-04:00

Sunday Quote

2011-10-23T13:21:00.005-04:00

Each friend represents a new world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

- Anais Nin

I heart serendipitous finds

2011-10-21T00:11:00.002-04:00

sometimes you just have to

2011-10-20T10:08:00.001-04:00

More Comic Con

2011-10-18T21:43:00.002-04:00

One of the misperceptions of Comic Con to the outside world is that it is comic books. Only. What is it actually? Art. Imagination. Theatre. People walking around dressed in Superhero costumes, Cosplay outfits (love the fox ears and tails with kilts)and Loli dresses, steampunkers and sci-fi fans and freaks, all sorts of fans...as someone who loved Bladerunner, the X-files, twin peaks, Sleeper, now HAVEN (watch! on the SYFY channel, it's great!), Star Trek, Close Encounters, yetis and krakens and all sorts of nonsense, and yes there truly is a sea monster in Loch Ness as well as in Lake Champlain (I have stood on the decks of boats on both lakes and called to them :) It's a Scottish thing. So why not believe or at least play that you do? It's fun.

Comic Con!

2011-10-18T18:08:00.004-04:00

My first time at the Comic Con convention, such fun. Missed all the main events and skipped the panels, apparently missed the indies at the Pavilion (yes, Ken, next time I will use my convention online planner) but we had great fun. I normally don't like a crowd but when every third person is Batman or a Cosplay girl or an anime character or a sci fi creature, that definitely ups the fun factor.

Sunday Quote

2011-10-16T17:53:00.003-04:00

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

- Jimi Hendrix

Shadow plays of the week

2011-10-14T21:10:00.000-04:00

Waitin' on a train...

2011-10-14T20:56:00.000-04:00

Occupy NYC this past Sunday

2011-10-12T23:14:00.005-04:00

Some of the most interesting things to me about the Occupy New York protests is what they are not. They are not violent and destructive like the recent protests in France and in England. No one is setting fires to cars, attacking people, creating true mayhem (I do not call overstepping sidewalks on the Brooklyn Bridge unbridled mayhem, thank you). No one is mugging people, falling down drunk, terrifying the neighborhoods. For the most part it has been restrained, respectful of the environment, and growing in organization - when my daughter and I went down to Zuccotti Park this past Sunday, we were impressed by the tone and the attitude of most of the people - a lot of old hippies and activists mixed in with the young people, a lot of passion and perseverance. I was offered free hugs, free food, and the day I was there the united clergy of NYC - rabbis, priests, etc. were there in sympathy and support. I have not sang "This little light of mine" for quite some time, it was a pleasure to raise my voice with others.
To be sure, a handful of squatters and stoners that seemed to be taking advantage of the situation - what village does not have its idiots? I was there in support - half of what is termed their vague causes - anger at the bail-outs, anger at the economy, unemployment, our money funneled into wars we don't want to be in, feeling unheeded by government no matter whose face is on the campaign buttons, losing jobs, housing, kids graduating from college with no jobs on the horizon, yup, feeling that. Glad people seem to be shaking off the apathy. Glad to see a mix of faces, ages, groups. Some of the chants/gripes/stands I didn't agree with - but because it is such a big amoebic hundred armed creature there is a lot to choose what to be upset about in our country.
I love my country and I consider myself law-abiding -but I am glad to see movement and thought and visions and that this protest and the ones it has inspired nationwide will definitely affect future politics and get the powers that be to understand that the same old same old isn't going to cut it anymore. I hope the protests become stronger, more defined, but remain peaceful and thoughtful. I hope the press stops focusing on the small shocky bits and tries to aim for the overall theme. I hope we all keep an open mind, listen to the voices calling out, and instead of choosing sides, choose to listen.

More Occupy NY photos

2011-10-12T23:11:00.000-04:00

Occupy New York photos

2011-10-12T23:08:00.000-04:00

Manhattan moments

2011-10-11T21:20:00.003-04:00

We took the subway up from the Brooklyn Bridge stop to Times Square and didn't want to stay underground any longer so we walked the brief blocks over to Grand Central. I love how Times Square at night still looks like something out of Blade Runner - although a cleaner version nowadays (and click on the movie link - can you believe how young Harrison Ford was? A lovely man). This couple with the bird plumage hair were on the bottom of the subway steps teetering on impossibly high heels (both of them) and I thought they needed assistance to take the steps until I realized they were models dramatically walking up the stairs emerging onto the street amid flashbulb fanfare (all by the photogs as the real new yorkers were, of course, not interested).

Sunday Quote

2011-10-09T22:11:00.003-04:00

Dear God...I do not know why you created light and darkness, happiness and despair, good and evil, love and hatred, creation and destruction, matter and void, and allowed us to choose constantly between the two, but I know that it is my duty and joy to throw down my gauntlet for light, brightness, compassion, goodness, happiness, truthfulness, life, beauty and love...

-Robert Muller

It's good to share...

2011-10-07T13:41:00.003-04:00

Some great things stumbled upon (click on the links to access) - an essay: In All Things, Absent by Ru Freeman found in the r.kv.r.y. lit journal - I especially liked what Jamaica Kinkaid said to her towards the end of the essay about mothers.
Like mysteries as much as I do? Here's a blog you might find interesting called Mystery Lovers' Kitchen (one wonders - dead bodies in the pantry or just cooking up some clues?).
One of my favorite lines of all time - God is alive and magic is afoot - is by the great Leonard Cohen. Scroll down a bit on this site to read the entire poem.
Another fine essay, this one by Shann Ray in the story prize's blog called The Story is the Antidote to Despair, contains a story I had not heard about Viktor Frankl whose work and philosophy I deeply admire. His book, Man's Search for Meaning, is a must read for everyone on the planet.
Good writing advice from the gifted and prolific Jane Yolen - those seeking publication should have seven things out at all times. I am clearly not up to par here only having two items out.
One more share - an interview with the writer, Andrea Barrett, in the Paris Review. I loved these words: "I’ve never known a writer who didn’t feel ill at ease in the world. Have you? We all feel unhoused in some sense. That’s part of why we write. We feel we don’t fit in, that this world is not our world, that though we may move in it, we’re not of it. Different experiences in our lives may enforce or ameliorate that, but I think if they ameliorate it totally, we stop writing. You don’t need to write a novel if you feel at home in the world. We write about the world because it doesn’t make sense to us. Through writing, maybe we can penetrate it, elucidate it, somehow make it comprehensible."

Paper cutting

2011-10-03T00:20:00.001-04:00

Paper Cutting by Laura Heyenga

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the more amazing books I have seen in awhile...everyone I showed it to just gasped as well. The artistry is breathtaking; the intricacy of the work is astounding.

View all my reviews

Sunday Quote

2011-10-02T00:07:00.003-04:00

We have our own spirits, our own cultural belief. It's a good way to make an art to express your own creating to others of your artwork of where you're from, what tribe you are from, where's your father from? Where's your mother from? And do you have your own spirit? Is it secret?

- conversation of a Tiwi man with a visitor.

Peter Pan because I am TGIF

2011-09-30T19:05:00.003-04:00

"My child, my very own, don't be afraid, you're not alone..."Awfully glad it is the weekend and a real one where I have two days in a row off: bliss. Watched Mary Martin as Peter Pan like a religion when younger - everytime it came on our big old in a huge block of wood type black and white T.V., even had the record (know the words to every song still). Here's a favorite to ease into the weekend with...welcome October, cider and colored leaves and cool lovely nights.

Why won't the circus come to town?

2011-09-28T23:42:00.003-04:00

or better yet this Insect Circus Museum - a traveling show I would like to stumble upon (wouldn't that be great to turn a corner and see their show all set up?) Alas, it's an English event, wouldn't you know it? (I sense some Edinburgh Fringeness to all of this, however).

Instant Happiness

2011-09-27T22:47:00.002-04:00

Add hot water and stir? Not quite. But just go to this site and push the button...weirdly enough you will feel a little bit better :)

Sunday Quote

2011-09-25T18:33:00.004-04:00

Blessed is he who is satisfied with his portion.

- the Rabbi at a friend's husband's funeral (commenting on the deceased's rich life because he was deeply happy with his family and life). May we all be so blessed.

mysterious paper sculptures in Scotland, Electric Edens, and more...

2011-09-24T22:32:00.006-04:00

Someone has been leaving paper sculptures in the library and such in Edinburgh. I love the mystery as much as I love the art. Read the book, like the blog. A great fan of Sandy Denny (her song here always heals my heart), Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, Pentangle, all and more, Electric Eden documents this amazing time in the UK folk scene. Love this clip art site. And I love this site with its literary notecards (Alice in Wonderland lovers, look here). And back to Scotland - I so love this poem, Old Tongue, by Jackie Kay. I especially love that you can hear her read her poem.

Sunday Quote

2011-09-18T13:35:00.001-04:00

You can't learn from remembering. You can't learn from guessing. You can learn only from moving forward at the rate you are moved, as brightness, into brightness.

- Sarah Manguso

Happy Birthday, Mary Stewart!

2011-09-17T21:41:00.004-04:00

A favorite memory from my teen years is her books being passed around the house from mother to daughter to sister...she really is such a good writer and her own life reads like an interesting novel.

What I wouldn't give...

2011-09-17T00:49:00.006-04:00

One of those songs that knocks you off your feet without any warning. By Sweet Talk Radio.

Poem by my youngest son, James.

2011-09-12T22:00:00.003-04:00

James had an assignment to write a poem for class about the ten year anniversary of 9/11. We were watching the reading of the names on television Sunday morning, talking about who was where, how frightening a time it was (my husband one of those running in the street covered in ash, glass in his hair, out of contact with us for ten hours), and James came up with this poem which I think is quite good.

Watching 9/11/11

As people stand hearing names
of people lost and gone, friends
and family never coming home, I
watch their faces.

Standing there, hearing the names
ten years later, wondering why.
Rubbing the names with pencils
and crayons onto paper at the fountain
of tears, endlessly pouring.

Sunday Quote

2011-09-11T14:02:00.002-04:00

Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

- Billy Collins, The Names

Happy Anniversary to my guy and me

2011-09-08T20:21:00.002-04:00

This pretty much looks like some version of our relationship! 27 years today! Love you, Bill.

Shifting of the seasons

2011-09-07T17:39:00.001-04:00

A hour at school, no electricity except in the cafeteria, tons of middle schoolers lined up being helped by very hot and very patient and gracious teachers and staff. Agenda books, class schedules, all getting ready for tomorrow's big first day of school (and hoping that the Con Ed trucks working furiously outside will have the power back on by then). School, an October rainy feel mixed with August humidity, from sailboats to cider, the shifting images. The summer did not live up to the Henry James' beloved (and once true in my life) phrase; maybe it's an aging thing but I have come lately to prefer the many gifts of autumn.

I spy with my little eye

2011-09-05T21:37:00.002-04:00

something punny...

Sunday Quote

2011-09-04T00:14:00.002-04:00

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

- Beverly Sills

Ebay, the romance is over.

2011-09-03T16:28:00.006-04:00

I remember when people were buying stuff off this brand new place online called Ebay. The idea of this crazy wild west kind of yard sale in the cyber sky was daunting to me when I was not particularly proficient at the computer back when.
When curiosity got the best of me and I meandered over, it seemed like a lot of fuss over overhyped chatchkas. Until I stumbled across Betsy McCall paper dolls. Whole sheets from old McCall's magazines that instantly brought back hours of my childhood. My Mom's subscription to McCall's - how I would wait for her to let me have the paper doll sheet - they came with a story and a paper doll of Betsy and two outfits - the story was just as important as the dolls (which I collected in an old Christmas tie box for years).
Besides my Betsys, I purchased old books, vintage jewelery, crazy birthday gifts for the kids, some unique fun stuff like old metal robot toys, and a kick I was on for awhile - cast iron dogs. I was nothing compared to heavy hitters I knew who bought wardrobes of clothes, gifts galore, - even two women I knew who outfitted an entire store with antique furniture found there.
But now, it's no fun. Invaded by commercial stores, you have to sift through miles of unappealing, you can find it anywhere including the dollar stores kind of junk, then it's Palpay or nothing half the time, and I have my issues with Palpay. Take my credit card or say goodbye sellers. If you do make a purchase? Then they bombard you with review things - not the old reviews of yore where you just flung a compliment about fast shipping at your seller. Now they highlight in red how you didn't say enough, that you need to mention this and that - if I had that much to say about a three dollar cd from a ten year old movie, Ebay, I would be in sorry shape.
Now buying online is more the norm for me than buying from a store, especially the holidays. Everyone has an online site. If I want a tag sale thrill, I can go to Craigslist. If I want to find something unique and special, I go to Etsy. I cannot see any reason to go to Ebay anymore except when Half.com boots me over there for a second hand cd or book. They took the funky and wild out of it and left it boring and commercial. Sorry, Ebay. I no longer love you. I don't even think we are in like anymore.

Photo Friday

2011-09-03T00:22:00.001-04:00

green glass and light

2011-08-31T11:42:00.000-04:00

Vermont town before and after Irene

2011-08-30T17:33:00.002-04:00

We have great love for a beautiful small town in Vermont called Waitsfield. Above are some pictures from our summer visit - I loved the small white building in particular by the bridge, beneath the deck a canoe was stashed, charming to picture evening cocktails with a setting sun. We have visited here for twenty years in the summer and are so sad to see the damage the flooding from Irene has caused as seen in their newspaper, The Valley Reporter, here.

After Irene

2011-08-28T20:23:00.002-04:00

We fared pretty well - we usually ALWAYS flood a bit and get blackouts but this time only some mini blackouts and no flooding. Amazing. The wind was impressive and up until about a half hour ago, the gusts of wind were still bringing down small branches and giving cause for worry. Other areas didn't fare so well, driving around earlier with my daughter - downed trees, a live wire and broken electrical pole, flooded streets, a lot of caution tape closing off streets, lots of folks without power. Came home feeling pretty lucky. Some people are saying it was overly hyped but I think we might have seen a great many more injuries and deaths and sad stories if everyone hadn't acted on the side of caution. Hope everyone else came through okay.

Sunday Quote

2011-08-27T12:04:00.001-04:00

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Be safe, everyone

2011-08-27T12:00:00.003-04:00

Just cleaned up the yard, now heading down to lift stuff off the floor in our basement that is sure to flood. Everyone take care and be well, and check in on your elderly neighbors, please, BEFORE the storm hits - make sure they have prepared and know they have a place to turn if they need it. I will be posting my Sunday Quote early in the depressing thought that we will probably lose power. God Bless.

Mystic Poetry box

2011-08-24T20:50:00.002-04:00

Poetry box installation up in Mystic, Ct outside a seaside gallery. Not sure if it is part of the gallery or part of the pebbled path with a gray water and boats view especially as a second poetry box was rather battered with its Pablo Neruda poem missing (and doors and sides). I think I might have picked a more sea-inclined poem but poetry speaks to all of us differently, so I bow to the artist's choice. Especially since I love her poetry box creation. Inside the box, besides the poem, is a notebook and pencil where I scribbled a sea haiku of sorts, just love the whole idea - would love to see it everywhere - Can you imagine being in the middle of the woods and there is a poem box? Inside, what would you find? Poems written by bears and bees and owls and the tiniest of mice leaving poems in the tracks of their delicate feet.

Earthquake

2011-08-23T16:47:00.002-04:00

The desk, the floor, the chair shaking. Could not figure out what it was for the life of me. Amazing we felt the tremors in NY, so far from the source.

Sunday Quote

2011-08-21T12:35:00.002-04:00

I live my life day by day with a lot of prayer and not necessarily immediate revelations, because I always think God takes his good time in lettin' you know what's doin'.

- Judith Jamison

Baby Squirrels and a squirrel history

2011-08-20T21:09:00.004-04:00

I remember squirrel being a word I found incredibly difficult to learn to spell when I was in grade school. I am married to someone with such antipathy for the creatures that he threatens to run them over when they dash in front of the car (Reader, he is all talk). My mother had a moth-eaten squirrel coat in an attic that I loved playing dress-up with when little. I have even been in a car under attack by a squirrel gone wiggy from being sprayed when the county thought that was a clever way to fight bird disease. But with all this squirrely history, nothing tops the velvety sweetness of a baby squirrel. Here are two, brought to where my daughter works, she is the animal whisperer, by someone who saw them fall from a tree...no other details known, the person was not clear. She gave them some kitten formula (how I remember this well when I was chief wetnurse to five baby rats being raised on kitten formula - and yes, I am afraid of rats, oh, the irony). She drove them after work to a squirrel rehabber (go figure, a number of them in our vicinity) with her brother acting as wingman (I volunteered and was sweetly informed that she needed someone who could see in the dark and follow driving directions, that would not be me on either count). They are like velvet, those little gray coats. Their trusting baby legs cling to your fingers as they sleep dreaming their little squirrel dreams.

IKEA

2011-08-20T16:24:00.003-04:00

Checking out the different kitchens for renovation possibilities - we like the light feel of the beech one since our kitchen is miniscule at best and would need something light. Loved the Godzilla curtain although not feeling it for the kitchen :) and of course, this cool fold-up cloth farmhouses was pretty cute, too.

One hot dog

2011-08-19T16:04:00.000-04:00

On the Jersey side

2011-08-17T22:00:00.005-04:00

Great family visit on the other side of the Hudson. Glass bottles at a jumping lunch spot called Raymond's, noisy but good vibes and fish and chips (which more than made up for the awful fish and chips I had at a sea food joint in Ct a few weeks ago). A return visit to the store where I purchased a great Jonah in the whale print last year - this year, a mermaid to inspire me. Whole foods veggie wall Inspired by WF treat - the
Australian cheddar from WF on Scottish oatcakes as a prior munch, great combo. Dropped in at the Anthro while strolling about - is it wrong to love their store set-up and design more than their actual products half the time? My favorite remains the one in Westport, Ct. but this one in Montclair made me remember how much I like lofts - love the brick and raw and open space, light and ceiling height.
Best of all, of course, hanging with the sister, bro-in-law, and visit from the nices (which was a mistake but really, the niece and the great-niece really need to be called the nices).

Happy Birthday, Julia Child!

2011-08-15T21:35:00.002-04:00

For inspiring thousands and thousands of cooks, for being an interesting, fun person, for doing it your own way.

Sunday Quote

2011-08-14T15:40:00.001-04:00

Was not writing poetry a secret transaction, a voice answering a voice?

— Virginia Woolf

Summer rolling on

2011-08-12T21:16:00.004-04:00

Start of staycation and the shoulder blows out, never good when the start of your leisure time counts down with an x-ray and a doctor saying "what did you do to your shoulder?". I think that's not so uncommon though, lots of empathetic stories of getting deathly ill as soon the weekend rolls around, the vacay starts etc. Our stoic natures must let down anticipating relaxation and wham...bye bye immune system. However, the question still begs - What did I do to my shoulder? No clue.
A few summer images, for some reason it still doesn't feel like summer even with the trips to beach, swim in a Vermont lake, various New England and NY explores and jaunts, open screens, beach reads, long walks, iced tea - all sounds like summer to me but still...must be something not translated yet, some step down into green I am not yet in step with...working on it, however, got a few more weeks to get my summer on.

Not quite moonlight in Vermont

2011-08-10T23:03:00.002-04:00

but I think the sunset in Vermont deserves a song written about it, too.

Sunday Quote

2011-08-07T14:29:00.003-04:00

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

- Marcel Proust

Don't let them blow out the candle

2011-08-05T19:28:00.004-04:00

In her moving tribute to her dear friend, the late Eva Ibbotson, in The Horn Book magazine (May/June 2011), Laura Amy Schlitz quotes from an encouraging letter Eva sent to her:

" You have to...most truly you have to grow a protective skin round yourself and what you write. Writing is a love affair between you and the book - it isn't necessarily a happy one, or even one with a successful conclusion; you can write a book, be absorbed in it, and fail. But oh God...don't let them blow out the candle."

Poem chosen

2011-08-01T21:40:00.005-04:00

Very pleased to discover that my poem, Safe Keeping, was chosen by Danse Macabre as a poem of the day today. You can access it here. Sent everyone happy emails - I am the entirely unsubtle "woot, woot!" type when it comes to receiving good news.

Sunday Quote

2011-07-31T15:41:00.004-04:00

I am alive and I do not conclude. Life does not conclude. And life knows nothing of names. This tree, tremulous pulse of new leaves. I am this tree. Tree, cloud; tomorrow book or wind: the book I read, the wind I drink. All outside, wandering.

— Luigi Pirandello, One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand

On this our father's birthday

2011-07-30T21:18:00.005-04:00

I'll meet you in the streets of Edin, beneath the castle on the hill.
Join me for cakes and coffee at Jenners and then
we'll stroll through the park to catch the exhibit at the museum.
Such a fine day in this perfect city, how strange to discover
your heart beating in a country
so far across the sea. Walk with me, we'll be home by dusk,
time to rest, to settle in the chairs and look
out the tall windows to the most perfect view. Let's order in -
I hear the fish and chips are wonderful.
Thank you again for the trip of a lifetime.
"This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas.
A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again."
-Alexander McCall Smith

Off Kilter Friday Vaguely Literary Round-up

2011-07-29T17:02:00.006-04:00

Off-kilter, can't be helped. Just family/life events, sad, funerals and family and one ends up in that pensive out of sorts, off-kilter mood. So here is an assortment of things bookmarked of possible interest to share: On keeping a logbook in addition to or instead of a diary, thoughts on..., like series? This is most popular at the library, a way to track series reading called Fictfact. A link to Maria Shriver interviewing the s'wonderful poet, Mary Oliver. Link heaven - the burryman writer's center. The ever fabulous Rumpus suggests a poet's new book that I cannot wait to order. Interview with author Elin Hilderbrand - I just read her book,
Silver Girl, as everone at the library has been reading it and recommending..., and here is a link to a literary site that has republished a short story, Rose, from Dylan Landis' great short story collection, wonderful bit from Scotland - poem found left by an older woman, lovely sentiment and food for thought..., old news about the horror of Twain rewrites, and because I feel sad today, reposting a song I love.

Pinched quote and flowers

2011-07-28T22:34:00.003-04:00

Pinched this quote from the word-a-day in a mailbox (the word being the most delightful "anserine", an adjective meaning relating to a goose; stupid, silly). Beneath it was their quote for the day:
Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. -William Butler Yeats. Lovely, yes?
I love the word a day emails but the words remove themselves out of my head the moment the email is closed. My memory has become just terrible in terms of retention. I can still remember looking out our giant screen window on the porch when I was ten, watching a languid summer wind set the leaves in the trees in a slow motion like petticoats under a wide skirt, but I cannot remember anyone's name, new words, old words, how to operate anything technical requiring more than three steps, sigh. As Paul McCartney's album/song says - memory almost full.

Vermont wildlife

2011-07-27T23:37:00.000-04:00