On this November 1, I made a little art. It so happens that Art Every Day Month is this month. I participated for five years (five!), but I skipped 2010 and 2011. And I’m not sure I’m really committed in 2012. So I didn’t sign up for it officially. But just in case, I made something “quick and dirty” today, grabbing what was at hand:
The only noise now was the rain, pattering softly with the magnificent indifference of nature for the tangled passions of humans.
-Sherwood Smith
At least ten years ago my mother gave me a magnetic notepaper holder to hang on my refrigerator. It had a delicate angel and rainbow picture, with a saying about love on it. For a long time I’ve realized it doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Lately my hands have been feeling restless and unsettled. Tonight I put on Tracy Chapman and pulled out scissors, paper, and glue and gave it a new cover.
I’ve been thinking about God lately, in the context of Being, Consciousness, Love, and Mystery. Back in the 1990s, I slogged through times of aching isolation and loneliness. Friends came and went. I felt so alone and small. I struggled to make ends meet. At one point, I meditated on love as an ocean. The tides of love may be high or low in a given day, but the ocean is always there. It was a reassuring concept.
As I created tonight, the Breton Fisherman’s Prayer floated into my awareness: “Oh God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” It is, of course, a prayer for protection. But perhaps, at least in the case of Love and Awakening, the boat is our Ego. Maybe I’m not ready to give up the boat entirely, but I could go swimming more often.
Simon Beck, Snow artist. Worth a look!
Lately I’ve been going dancing every Wednesday night — one of my best decisions of late. Called ecstatic dance, it also involves something called contact improv dance. Here’s a sample of how beautiful it is. The man in the video, Brandon, is visiting various cities in a search to relocate, and has come to Silicon Valley. He taught a class on Wednesday; I participated, despite my reservations, and it was — well, healing.
Recently Bean has shown a greater interest in coloring and using writing tools. She’s increasingly at ease holding the pen(cil). It seems her favorite is colored markers, probably because they slide easily over the paper. She prefers to color pictures I draw for her (rather than choosing from the library of coloring books she has accrued). She also recently made some representational paintings that were pretty impressive. Take a look at her recent work:
If you like music, and if you enjoy commercial-free listening, then I urge you to visit the following website. Radio Paradise is FREE to listen to (they run entirely on listener support, which we gratefully supply). The owners curate the song mixes beautifully; I’ve been introduced to a bunch of new artists and styles since listening. From their website:
RP is a blend of many styles and genres of music, carefully selected and mixed by two real human beings. You’ll hear modern and classic rock, world music, electronica, even a bit of classical and jazz. What you won’t hear are random computer-generated playlists or mind-numbing commercials.
Our specialty is taking a diverse assortment of songs and making them flow together in a way that makes sense harmonically, rhythmically, and lyrically — an art that, to us, is the very essence of radio. We hope that you’ll enjoy RP so much that you’ll want to share it with your friends, your family, your co-workers, your neighbors … well you get the idea.
Your grateful hosts, Bill & Rebecca Goldsmith
We shall not cease from our exploration
And at the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
–T.S. Eliot
You grace us briefly,
a delicate, velvet life–
fleeting renewal.
–Kathryn Harper
One scarlet pearl forms
like a secret emerging
from a holy place.
–Kathryn Harper
On Saturday, Bean and I went to Lakeshore Learning to do a free craft. I’d forgotten they offer these every Saturday, which is okay, because every time I visit I am lured by all the tempting teacher goodies, craft supplies, and games. But we went, and Bean made herself a T. Rex, and after that she asked permission to make one for me. She chose a green one because it’s my favorite color.
Then on Sunday, some new friends came over to visit and help Bean make a fairy house! We met at a special event they had on their block a month ago, and a friendship sprouted. Emily and Maddie and their mom came over with lots of supplies, which they combined with ours, to construct a special home.
Here Emily and Bean discuss what color glitter glue to use on the little chairs, while Maddie enjoys the hammock.
Then of course Bean had to take a break after all the decision-making and join Maddie.
Now Maddie is digging a hole for the pool…
Here’s the home (the shoebox) along with a sidewalk leading to a pool, fire pit, and fairy tent.
A close-up of the tent:
And Bean, deciding where to put a hibiscus bloom. The fairy garden/home is a work in progress. More will be added later, I’m sure!
Bean spent the entire day outside, in the wading pool, the sandbox, the fairy garden! We spent this morning making Christmas gifts for family — Bean has lots of aunts, uncles, and of course her grandparents. We typically get an early start so they are done when the crazy season begins. I’ve got a photo but will not reveal what they are until after the holiday. But to satisfy curiosity, below are the gifts she made for family when she was two (ornaments) and three (bookmarks):
Last year we made streamers for our tree, and then got the idea to make another batch as bookmarks with pretty tassles. I forgot to take a photo of them!
What is so neat is watching how she works. This year she carefully chose the pieces to use and went with a theme and a pattern. And her attention span lasted long enough to do all 11 gifts!
I overheard Bean singing a made-up tune while she was looking at the Olivia book while on the potty. I took notes. Sometimes it even rhymes! The stanza breaks are mine based on when I heard her pause. My Sunshine Girl is not only a scientist, but also a lyricist and composer! I can hardly believe she will turn four in less than a month.
You make me sneeze
because I’m allergic to you
the library’s a mess
I’m the best of the restOh me-oh my-oh
You get the funnest job to do
Abe Lincoln brushed his teeth
But now he’s got ahold of youYou need a lot of things to do
You can do all the best things
But now you know what
Edwin knows the caden(?)Now a ball a bust
Now it’s time to go read
Now you know what
I am not so sleepy
But now you gotta butNow listen to me
Now the world be gone
Run run run run
Not so tired at allWe all ate the pizza
we wish we are ballerina
And now you got to be quiet
Because of the oldest dayYou kept a lot of things
I wish I could do that
Now I really moan
Now I can’t really do thatI painted on the wall
Wubba wubba wub-ba
Now it’s time to take your bath
Now a time out floor
I was thinking of my dinner
Now it’s time for moreNow there’s only a few things
Just until your more
These are my books
These are my books
“When you practice every day, you come into resonance with cosmic cycles. After many days you can feel the diurnal cycle inside your work; after many moons, the lunar; after years and years the constellations come in. The whole spectrum of vibration, from the slow, lowest tones of turning galaxies to the highest speeds of inner light, becomes your musical realm.”
W. A. Mathieu, The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music
Music or meditation? Music as meditation? Meditation as cosmic music?
There’s an ice cream truck that rolls through our neighborhood at a speed that makes it impossible to catch if we’re inside or the back yard. We’ve pretty much given up on it. There’s a man who walks through our neighborhood with a cart and a bell, whom we usually can reach in time. But yesterday we didn’t dash out at the first sound of his bell; by the time we did, he was well down the street — beyond shouting distance. Bean was sad. We drove around a few minutes to see if we could find him (my suggestion, I thought we’d succeed). When we couldn’t find him, Bean dealt with her sadness by suggesting we make a stop sign for the ice cream guys. She painted the sign (including the edge) and I painted the words:
Now we’d best be ready to follow through!
‘Tis the season for daisies… At the park yesterday, Bean ran up to me with both hands overflowing. I love being a mother!
I have posted this quote before, but it’s useful to have a reminder:
On Writing Poetry
Considering the ways in which so many of us waste our time, what would be wrong with a world in which everybody were writing poems? After all, there’s a significant service to humanity in spending time doing no harm. While you’re writing your poem, there’s one less scoundrel in the world. And I’d like a world, wouldn’t you, in which people actually took time to think about what they were saying? It would be, I’m certain, a more peaceful, more reasonable place. I don’t think there could ever be too many poets. By writing poetry, even those poems that fail and fail miserably, we honor and affirm life. We say “We loved the earth but could not stay.”
–Ted Kooser
I’m sharing this after reading Maezen’s post of today.
The end!
We love yarn around here, and yellow is Bean’s favorite color.
Also, more egg:
So much planting, painting, fixing, creating.
It doesn’t mark the spot, but we do have xylophone and x-ray!
At W!
