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Tuesday Almost-Done
Spring Snow
We got, as my friend calls it, the Annual Tulip Breaker Storm here over the weekend, which meant some good sewing time in the “studio” Sunday morning instead of a hike. I also made this for my mom’s birthday, which we celebrated a week early because she doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with Jesus. (Kidding, Mom! Happy early birthday.)
Friday Links
1. This site has the best name: Two InchBrush.com, an unofficial database of all of the paintings created by Bob Ross in The Joy of Painting series. It also includes the episode each painting was created in!
2. This interview with ultra designer Michael Bierut about designing Hillary Clinton’s campaign identity is full of quotable quotes (my favorite: “They combined the design sensibility of the Home Shopping Network with the tone of a Nigerian scam email.”)
3. And finally, may we all be as astonished at something as this baby is at this toy chicken:
Spring Poem
I was thinking about a more exuberant one last week but between gas attacks and missile tests, this WWI-era poem seems more appropriate.
There Will Come Soft Rains
Sarah Teasdale
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools, singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Political Wednesday
Yep, these are back. I tried just enjoying spring and thinking about my own little life and what to sew or buy next, but…then you get trailers for The Handmaid’s Tale that make you worry you’re looking at the not-too-distant future, and then the Senate changes the rules to get their way, and then the L.A. Times publishes a six-part editorial on “Our Dishonest President” and you realize: you gotta stay aware. If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.
From the L.A. Times editorial, part 1:
…nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck. Like millions of other Americans, we clung to a slim hope that the new president would turn out to be all noise and bluster, or that the people around him in the White House would act as a check on his worst instincts, or that he would be sobered and transformed by the awesome responsibilities of office.
Instead, seventy-some days in — and with about 1,400 to go before his term is completed — it is increasingly clear that those hopes were misplaced.
The Third Anniversary Is Sprinkles
Three years ago today I went on a date with a man who was clever and warm and quick and kind and I thought to myself, “Karen, don’t mess this up.”
Well, he didn’t let me mess it up and I can say without hyperbole that these have been the best three years of my life, so thank you, sweetie. Happy anniversary.
Rainy Sunday
We could have geared up and gone out hiking yesterday, but sometimes being forced to take it easy is really nice. It means you can catch up on laundry and eat cereal and not get dressed until 2:00 and maybe even listen to this.
Friday Links
1. Speaking of Bob Dylan, do we all know and love Nina Simone’s covers of some of his songs? It’s been rainy here and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” has been on my playlist this week.
2. I just learned about sekkis, or twenty-four “small seasons” in Japan.
3. Related, here’s an Instagram from yesterday. Petals in the rain = haiku.
Thursday Long Read
Here’s a recent long interview with Bob Dylan to pass the time today. He’s just completed his third album of standards and he still has a way with words, even just speaking:
About rock and roll:
“It was skeleton music, came out of the darkness and rode in on the atom bomb and the artists were star headed like mystical Gods. Rhythm and blues, country and western, bluegrass and gospel were always there – but it was compartmentalized – it was great but it wasn’t dangerous. Rock and roll was a dangerous weapon, chrome plated, it exploded like the speed of light, it reflected the times, especially the presence of the atomic bomb which had preceded it by several years. Back then people feared the end of time. The big showdown between capitalism and communism was on the horizon. Rock and roll made you oblivious to the fear, busted down the barriers that race and religion, ideologies put up.”