Sunday Quote

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...

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

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

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

"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?

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

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

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...

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

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!

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...

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

Poem by my youngest son, James.

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

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

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

Shifting of the seasons

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

something punny...

Sunday Quote

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

- Beverly Sills

Ebay, the romance is over.

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