October 2014 – Better Living Through Literature

Happy Friday/Halloween

October 31, 2014 Karen

1. It’s Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, or Samhain, depending on your secular/Christian/pagan view. Calendar-wise, we’re halfway between the fall equinox and the winter solstice–six more weeks of growing dark. The Clif Notes version of the holiday is from today’s Writer’s Almanac:

…The modern holiday comes from an age-old tradition honoring the supernatural blending of the world of the living and the world of the dead. Halloween is based on a Celtic holiday called Samhain. The festival marked the start of winter and the last stage of the harvest, the slaughtering of animals. It was believed that the dark of winter allowed the spirits of the dead to transgress the borders of death and haunt the living.

Eventually, Christian holidays developed at around the same time. During the Middle Ages, November 1 became known as All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day. The holiday honored all of the Christian saints and martyrs. Medieval religion taught that dead saints regularly interceded in the affairs of the living. On All Saints’ Day, churches held masses for the dead and put bones of the saints on display. The night before this celebration of the holy dead became known as All Hallows’ Eve.

2. And it wouldn’t be Halloween for me without something related to David Bowie in Labyrinth:

Thursday Poem

October 30, 2014 Karen

Here’s a modern villanelle for your Thursday. Gotta love the last two lines.

Commuter Buddhist

by Jeffrey Harrison

I’m learning to be a Buddhist in my car,
listening to a book on tape. One problem
is that, before I’ve gotten very far,

my mind gradually becomes aware
that it has stopped listening, straying from
the task of becoming a Buddhist in my car.

I’m also worried that listening will impair
my driving, as the package label cautions,
but I haven’t noticed that, at least so far.

In fact, I may be driving with more care.
There’s a sensation of attentive calm
that’s part of becoming a Buddhist in your car.

A soothing voice drones on until the car
is transformed into a capsule of wisdom
traveling at high speed, and you feel far

from anywhere but where you really are …
which is nowhere, really. The biggest problem
is getting the Buddhism out of your car
and into your life. I’ve failed at that so far.

Life After 80

October 29, 2014 Karen

Did you see the “Old Masters” article in the NY Times, in which people over 80 “at the top of their game” are interviewed about their work, their age, and everything else? There’s some good stuff in there. I want to be able to deal out such pithy life advice when I get there:

Author and illustrator R. O. Blechman:
“It’s important to stay with a project and not give up because it doesn’t seem to be breaking for you. Whatever it is. I’m reminded of what a Russian scientist once said: ‘’Ice forms instantly, but the process of forming the ice is slow and invisible.’ ’’

Artist Ellsworth Kelly:
“Each year I’m very surprised by the color. . . . It’s one thing about getting older, you see more. . . . Everyday I’m continuing to see new things.”

Getting Inspired

October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 Karen3 Comments

This week’s first world problem: a creative block about clothes. I’m pretty sure I’m going through a style change because 90% of what’s in my closet doesn’t feel “right” anymore–but I don’t know what would feel right, so that’s making it hard to plan any knitting or sewing projects or even shop for something ready-made*. And when I say “hard to plan,” I mean I’m drawing a total blank, which I don’t remember ever happening before. Not even shopping for fabric is doing it.

In other creative news, I colored a mandala. It didn’t help me figure out what to wear, though. Maybe I should color some Fashion Plates instead.

*J. Crew, which is usually good for an outfit idea or two, is in the middle of its worst season in recent memory, too. I don’t want to wear boxy mauve things, J. Crew.

The Weekend

October 27, 2014 Karen

I made up for last weekend’s idleness by staining the deck, storing the patio furniture and hose, starting to get rid of some potted plants, cleaning the house, visiting friends, making a cake, heading up Millcreek for a short hike, and generally earning that Sunday night martini.

Friday Unrelated Information

October 24, 2014October 24, 2014 Karen

1. I joke that my fashion sense is getting more and more Stevie Nicks, but I’ve never really had anything more than a superficial knowledge of her work. She has a new album out (and I guess Fleetwood Mac is touring again) so there are lots of interviews that are teaching me more about her. This one from Rolling Stone and explains the scarves:

The reason I wear the ponchos and the big shawl-y chiffon things is because I realized from a very young age, if you were 5 foot 1, and you wanted to make big moves and be seen from a long way away, if you weren’t twirling a baton of fire, you needed something that was gonna make you show up.

2. And this is a good list of albums to work or study to. I didn’t know 50% of them but it reminded me of Kind of Blue and got me listening to Philip Glass again.

Let’s Color!

October 23, 2014 Karen

A blog I read posted an entry about how doodling is good for the brain and how mandalas–drawing them or coloring them–are used as a form of art therapy ( even by Carl Jung, no less).

Much like the author of the original post, I went down the internet rabbit hole and learned about the history of mandalas and benefits of drawing or coloring them. Plus, I learned that the internet has whole sites dedicated to coloring pages, and that there are lots of mandala drawings out there to download and color! I still don’t have a knitting project for the evenings; maybe I’ll print out some mandalas and get out my colored pencils instead.

Your Hippie Thought

October 22, 2014 Karen

This is the paragraph directly preceding the one I posted a couple Fridays ago in Rilke’s letter 8 to a young poet:

How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.

“Act with beauty and courage.” A good reminder.

Tuesday Project Progress: Time Out

October 21, 2014 Karen1 Comment

Saturday morning I slept late and decided not to do anything more productive than sewing. The sun was streaming in, I put a blanket down for Toby, and I started working on my ankara print maxi skirt. I was making the pattern up as I went but wanted to add pockets, so I had to figure out how to include both a zipper and a pocket in a seam. (This tutorial helped a lot.) I sewed the lining, I sewed the zipper/pocket side and felt really clever, I sewed up the other side–and then realized I’d made a rookie mistake:

You’re supposed to cut pockets out of the same fabric as your skirt, not out of lining fabric.That way you don’t get a big flash of contrasting material along the pocket openings.

I used every scrap of my two yards of ankara print to get the skirt pieces, so unpicking it and redoing it isn’t an option. Plus, the lining fabric I picked makes the whole thing too stiff and heavy. So this project went into time out for a little bit. Sometimes you just have to walk away…

Idle Weekend

October 20, 2014October 20, 2014 Karen

This weekend I sewed, babysat my nephew, did my creative writing class homework, and went up into the mountains with Doc for a short hike and the last hurrah of fall colors. I did not clean. I did not do any house projects. I didn’t do anything in the yard. And it was wonderful.