tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46810374266042113092012-02-01T22:08:09.808-08:00Moments of clarity, attempts to focus, and questions to ponder in an intentional lifeStephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.comBlogger10601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-36394519793908220602011-11-22T08:31:00.000-08:002011-11-22T08:53:22.178-08:00

A huge storm has pounded its way ashore here in the Pacific Northwest. Fortunately, it is not freezing out there. Driving will be hazardous, but not suicidal. I will be out in the elements, keeping my car on the road, avoiding the largest puddles and most splashing trucks, being distracted by the storm outside the car - distracted from the unsettled weather inside my chest.This morning we will

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-30842087894897247242011-11-03T10:23:00.000-07:002011-11-03T11:31:02.655-07:00

Photos like this have been circulating in cyberspace, mainly in response to the ongoing Occupy movement. It is a rebuke. It is meant to demean the protests and filthy protesters as hopelessly naive and unbelievably silly in the face of more "real" problems.As a rule, we Americans definitely need a little consciousness-raising about the state of the world beyond our own borders. No need to try to

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-48689946907429028572011-10-26T11:25:00.000-07:002011-10-26T13:37:34.570-07:00

My earlier post, "Because It's Right," brought some objections from one of our culture's Haves. That is how it goes. Whenever the Havenots object to the Haves, the Haves counter with "because it's mine, not yours - that's why." I've been thinking about this perspective lately. Is there, actually, something fundamentally unjust about the Haves relinquishing any of their goods or wealth for any

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-81788134030930720062011-10-25T11:49:00.000-07:002011-10-25T12:01:57.770-07:00

Mature as he was, she might yet be able to help himto the building of the rainbow bridgethat should connect the prose in uswith the passion.Without it we are meaningless fragments,half monks,half beasts,unconnected arches that have never joined into a man.With it love is born, and alights on the highest curve,glowing against the gray, sober against the fire.Only connect

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-67511466274219562742011-10-19T19:07:00.000-07:002011-10-19T19:19:21.024-07:00

This. Is. Bizarre.Disconcerting. Exciting. Boggling. Nervous and happy and ... odd. Just ... odd.It's not our first time (thank goodness!). I think we'll be okay. The addition of more people will probably grease the skids a bit, and having sleeping bodies encamped about the house feels ... um ... like a party, I guess. Older than a sleepover party. There will be wine. But still - a party. A

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-90390193050016120252011-10-08T11:12:00.000-07:002011-10-08T11:47:57.520-07:00

I was up in the Gifford Pinchot yesterday. I saw it. Every year it is different, and every year it is the same. Summer came, partied with wild abandon and fruited everywhere, and brought the animals and berries and trees and streams into a huge riot of color and noise and wildness. The Cascade Mountain Range in the Pacific Northwest is primal and huge and juicy and wet and scented with the

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-26891522354804546402011-09-22T04:49:00.000-07:002011-09-22T11:30:30.567-07:00

A couple of days ago, in conversation with my husband during the news, he said these words. "We are going to have to start doing some things in this country, not because we can 'afford' it, but because it's right." We were talking about the bogus fear mongering over social security, and how fouled up our healthcare delivery and payment systems are, and all the rest of it. (You know, cheerful,

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-41261379916296521202011-09-16T08:54:00.000-07:002011-09-16T09:43:58.244-07:00

And I turned and saw, and the whole of human history spread out on the vast plain. Behind me, in the darkening mists of time, all was frozen. Still. Set in place, and unalterable now because that is the past. If we will go and walk among the monumental statues, if we will explore the bends and twists and look behind the hidden corners, we may see the undiscovered, but we cannot change it.Ahead of

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-31712661488396545062011-09-02T19:17:00.000-07:002011-09-02T19:19:12.742-07:00

1981. The year of Crazy Faye, our new roommate. Eventually, they kicked her out, but only after she staged her own stalker episodes and blew off the "social" rules of the school in a few other ways. Since there were no locks on our room doors (only on the building's main doors, and only the floor leaders and dorm supervisors had keys), my roommate and I got a little nervous about

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-29827694739465878282011-08-11T19:09:00.000-07:002011-08-11T19:57:45.657-07:00

I suspect that my mother was happier in the summer than in the winter. I think that she worried about our being gone all day during the school year - that it made her feel anxious and maybe even lonely. Whatever it was, as I sit here at my open window on a summer evening, I feel the contentment of all the years of being one of her kids in the summer time. It was good. She loved her home and her

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-78681853051232989402011-08-05T10:04:00.000-07:002011-08-05T12:23:14.200-07:00

It's hopeless.There's no getting around it, no denying it, and no more pretense left. (Right? Never going to believe it again. Come on, self. You've learned it this time. Right? Right???)Like a midget who keeps trying out for the basketball team, the deaf mute who wants to be in the opera company, the fat girl who wants to be in the ballet or the anorexic who wants to be a Sumo wrestler, I just

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-31348724041743761472011-07-12T21:57:00.000-07:002011-07-12T21:58:44.565-07:00

This. Is. Fascinating.One of the Radiolab podcasts. Riveting.REBROADCAST: Detective Stories - Radiolab

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-69053915840032950082011-07-02T09:31:00.000-07:002011-07-02T11:10:47.165-07:00

Four years ago, someone talked me into starting a blog.Okay, I thought, this is a good chance to try out the idea that naming something has power. I do not believe that we bring reality into being by calling it forth. If that were true, there would be no atrocities in Darfour, no limbs hacked off by vicious machetes in Sierra Leone, no earthquake, fire, or flood. But I do believe what my

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-38416454663163518322011-07-01T16:21:00.000-07:002011-07-01T16:22:05.835-07:00

Have you heard this eleven-year-old sing? Probably, by now, you have. But just in case ...

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-65540882211528931992011-06-14T07:15:00.000-07:002011-06-14T08:14:29.494-07:00

Okay, so maybe the weather isn't quite up to speed this year. "Summer" looming on the calendar looks a lot more like spring just barely starting outdoors, but I'm okay with that. Summer is usually a little too long and a little too hot for me anyway, and if we sneak up on it with some of this foggy, chilly, beachy, dampness, maybe it won't seem like a torture at the end of August. Shoot - at this

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-13945172531530828662011-06-03T09:17:00.000-07:002011-06-03T10:00:14.611-07:00

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things:Like, for instance, the realization now firmly in hand, that neither of us - neither The Great Husband or his wife (that would be me, variously known as "missus," "young lady," and "mom") - has any time left in this life to wait for better health habits. Either we return to being skinnier now, or the whole idea slips further and

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-20810454828748085232011-05-21T10:00:00.000-07:002011-05-25T16:49:07.338-07:00

A quick glance through the images for re-potting, and I found a whole site calledRepotting house plants - Why?This cracks me up. It's such an unadorned invitation, catering to the whiners among us. I'd be one of those lately. Why? Why? My inner voice is about two and a half years old these days.I need re-potting. I can tell. I need it for so many reasons, and I feel exactly like this philodendron

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-52525804620533912702011-05-18T09:20:00.000-07:002011-05-18T09:24:11.318-07:00

This recorded conversation takes about half an hour ... and if you were ever fretful, concerned, curious, or amazed at the way electronic media is taking over the world of books, this is a conversation worth hearing. Watch the full episode. See more The Open Mind.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-11683102795217682202011-05-07T11:30:00.000-07:002011-05-07T12:04:08.411-07:00

And if today I staynot turn or shynot try to get away from itIf today I stayand lookIf today I wonder notwhy I should be afraidor sadWhy should this happen to me?God only wants me to be happybelieve the Secretchant the affirmationgather some good wayto crawl from thisescapeWhat if I observeinsteadand wonder whatnot whyWhat is your nameSadness?No, I mean your proper name.Are you called avoidor

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-6516135510318761102011-04-30T14:22:00.000-07:002011-04-30T14:24:28.456-07:00

...but do they bubble and froth and slobber and cream with JOY at language?"

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-11988024914989328742011-04-29T18:19:00.000-07:002011-04-29T18:20:07.190-07:00

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-47786240516274017282011-04-29T15:12:00.000-07:002011-04-29T15:14:16.302-07:00

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-19057996010852696552011-04-27T19:08:00.000-07:002011-04-27T22:46:14.920-07:00

We homeschooled our kids. Not for the whole time, and not from the beginning, but we homeschooled. Our daughter had a disastrous first grade year, and I couldn't handle dealing with the Seattle Public Schools anymore, and I couldn't afford private school, and so I brought her home the same year her brother would've been in Kindergarten.For months, she fought every plan I had, while her brother

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-57421240711753370662011-04-23T10:50:00.001-07:002011-04-23T11:02:56.225-07:00

Oh, my my my. Fan! Fan fannity fan fan fan!With Good Friday's griefs passed through once more, and Easter and spring (and actual sun!) streaming in, we watched episodes of French Food At Home, and I'm more hooked now than I've been on any cookery or housewif'ry show in ages. Laura Calder is wonderful!Her shows are currently broadcasting on the Cooking Channel, and her "Top Recipes" (all one

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-77634696975136443742011-04-19T08:42:00.000-07:002011-04-19T09:34:47.515-07:00

This is Holy Week. This is the music of the soul as she approaches."O My people, what have I done unto thee? Wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against Me.""Holy God. Holy Mighty. Holy Immortal. Have mercy upon us."It's odd to move through Holy Week in this culture. We have no daily parades through the streets, no Passion Plays, not even days off from the world of commerce as we sometimes have

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-50131694237516182592011-04-16T05:42:00.001-07:002011-04-16T06:37:13.843-07:00

Last month, Virginia died. She was 98 years old.It's hard to believe that she was that old. I saw her most Sundays, after she'd attended the early Mass, and I was coming in for the later one. She would be waiting for a kind parishioner to take her home, or she would be calling a taxi. "Hello, this is Mrs. Chester Ott. I would like a taxi at the Parish of Saint Mark, please. Ten twenty-five

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-6040810112000962882011-04-15T08:08:00.000-07:002011-04-15T08:11:27.864-07:00

It's not just the raw beauty of it ... it's not just that Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns would love it ... it's not just that Lil Buck can do a vibrato with his body while Yo-Yo Ma does it on a cello ... it's that Ma is watching the dancer and not his cello at all! This is breathtaking!

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-73773826306751117812011-04-14T18:55:00.001-07:002011-04-14T19:34:01.298-07:00

Too excited and jumpy to sit still ... too tired to think or plan for it.Tomorrow morning, I have an interview with the local paper! The Skamania County Pioneer is going to interview me about the classes I'm trying to get started down at the community center, and I very much need to think about what I'm going to say. But, of course, this is the week everything sort of imploded at the library (so

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-13598148643194308712011-04-14T11:26:00.001-07:002011-04-14T11:28:59.755-07:00

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-90113131758483587662011-04-13T14:29:00.000-07:002011-04-13T14:31:22.559-07:00

"Socialism" is NOT a synonym for civilized cooperation. (I really like Deval Patrick!)The Daily Show - Deval PatrickTags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-39401646490011029102011-04-12T18:44:00.000-07:002011-04-12T18:45:29.175-07:00

(Hat tip, Kara)This is so cool! (in a wow, you've got a lot of time on your hands, relaxing, intricate kind of way)

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-51108281358587218662011-04-11T16:31:00.001-07:002011-04-11T16:42:04.346-07:00

Today's task: write a PLA essay for the course, Interpersonal Communication. Today's challenge: write, dammit! Write! It's all uphill today. I can feel it beginning to gather momentum, though. I remember how to do this. It's taken me all day to get to this remembering. Ugh.And I want the library to send me a copy of the book, Improv Wisdom : don't prepare, just show up, by Patricia Ryan Madson.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-36055135582794351852011-04-11T09:52:00.000-07:002011-04-11T10:04:39.810-07:00

I TOLD you happy was better than snarky! I knew it! I just knew it! Happy is not stupid! Happy is smart, and healthy, and a genuine fountain of youth.Don't worry! Be happy!Cultivate adaptive competence instead of whining!See this woman? She's one hundred and NINE years old! She still lives in her own home. She's sharp as a tack, and she knows what she wants and why she wants it.You don't get to

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-47125028714007934732011-04-11T08:41:00.000-07:002011-04-11T08:52:22.370-07:00

Sew Liberated has a blog! I didn't realize!And her patterns are on sale right now, and she's all that's cool and inventive and modern and competent and stylish about our culture at the moment.Her philosophy: Sew Liberated is a way of looking at craft that is, at once, traditional and completely modern. Depending on who you are and your own preferences, you can find solace in the "traditional

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-78831351877506045962011-04-08T08:08:00.000-07:002011-04-08T08:15:32.846-07:00

Here it is. In less than nineteen minutes, a clear and concise presentation delineating many of the reasons I've got a Health Hunter category in my writing on this blog. Go, Robyn O'Brien!

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-71227974224315379502011-04-07T15:57:00.001-07:002011-04-07T16:21:21.108-07:00

These are a few of my favorite things. When my back hurts, when the teens preen, if the patron's crazed, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so dazed.The gentle disabled man whose sister brings him to the library so he can borrow another book of house plans. He knows exactly where to look for them. Today, as they left, he stopped in the doorway, clutching his book, and

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-83218711878693894572011-04-07T14:26:00.000-07:002011-04-07T14:34:22.246-07:00

Cynthia Voigt - know her? I do. I mean to say, I know her books. She writes. She wrote the Tillerman series, beloved in our house, and a lot of other things too ... but this is an adult novel, and I love it. I found it in the sale rack at a tiny little bookstore in Seattle a long long time ago, and I bought it and I've read it several times.And I want MORE of this. Another one. I want another one

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-82930800728499881822011-04-06T21:09:00.001-07:002011-04-06T21:09:57.066-07:00

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-5008321344843550282011-04-05T19:15:00.000-07:002011-04-05T19:15:56.634-07:00

Get ready to grin ...!

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-21530933613944322442011-04-04T10:04:00.000-07:002011-04-04T10:08:02.289-07:00

Love After Loveby Derek WalcottThe time will comewhen, with elationyou will greet yourself arrivingat your own door, in your own mirrorand each will smile at the other's welcome,and say, sit here. Eat.You will love again the stranger who was your self.Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heartto itself, to the stranger who has loved you

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-36830928442768732432011-04-02T09:05:00.000-07:002011-04-02T09:14:45.606-07:00

Happy Birthday to The Great Husband. Today, because it is his day, we shall eat carrot cake (after I make it in our new stove). Today, because it is his day, he shall watch his new, enormous, you gotta be freakin kiddin me that thing's huge, television, and I shall make sure all the laundry and ironing and such is all done so that tonight we can both sit on the couch to say repeatedly to each

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-37260736389704451922011-04-02T07:22:00.000-07:002011-04-02T07:40:10.426-07:00

At the top of the stairs I reachout.My hand, flat on the painted wall.He is not there, I say to myselfabout the boy who used to live on the other side.He is grown now. Moved.Out.I feel the years under my palm,sliding along the wall as I startdown.And she is not there, glancing across the hall.And now he is not.The door at the other end is shutbecause he is not in.He has goneout.Here is the

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-71728595713498234222011-04-01T12:35:00.000-07:002011-04-01T12:44:10.584-07:00

How are you? We are fine.The weather is starting to get a little brighter, and we expect spring to arrive any day now. We can tell that it will be soon because the buds in the lilac hedge are starting to open.Our new kitchen stove and new television will be arriving this afternoon. We are sorry that you are not here to enjoy them with us, but you are welcome to visit at any time. Bring a sleeping

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-27205919513650299882011-04-01T07:09:00.000-07:002011-04-01T07:13:18.832-07:00

What do you do when your own worst enemy is...you? This hour, Radiolab looks for ways to gain the upper hand over those forces inside us--from unhealthy urges, to creative insights--that seem to have a mind of their own.For anyone who's ever tried to break a habit or addiction - and for all who've never heard of radiolab ... You just have to give this a listen!(function(){var s=function(){__

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-51740133436684462602011-03-31T10:54:00.000-07:002011-03-31T18:58:29.574-07:00

I had a border collie.I named her Libby.My first dog since I was a kid. And she loved me.Whenever I would go out to the car, to leave the house on days when I felt ill or wrong-footed somehow ... she would limp.Libby started limping after she suffered a broken leg, the result of trying to herd a moving car out on the road. She was tossed to the side of the road, and the people from the car came

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-18962233856118915602011-03-31T08:24:00.000-07:002011-03-31T08:29:10.391-07:00

"Your body will forgive you for eating almost anything if you move enough."In an essay published last November in Canada's Maisonneuve journal, physician Kevin Patterson described his experiences working as an internist-intensivist at the Canadian Combat Surgical Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-22437737467600674412011-03-30T10:10:00.000-07:002011-03-30T10:14:01.274-07:00

Op-Ed ColumnistLooking for Luck in LibyaBy THOMAS L. FRIEDMANPublished: March 29, 2011 Welcome to the Middle East of 2011! You want the truth about it? You can’t handle the truth. The truth is that it’s a dangerous, violent, hope-filled and potentially hugely positive or explosive mess — fraught with moral and political ambiguities. We have to build democracy in the Middle East we’ve got, not

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-61046682393570705332011-03-30T09:09:00.000-07:002011-03-30T09:46:15.843-07:00

The weather forecasters are saying that tomorrow and the next day will bring us bluer skies and dryer weather. For the sake of moving on with this thought, we'll just take that as stipulated by the witnesses, shall we? Evidential proof is utterly impossible in this absurdity of a storm. (And I like rain! But this year, even I am ready to remember what color the sky is above the clouds.)I'm ready

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-17419097600111380572011-03-29T11:05:00.000-07:002011-03-29T11:10:03.144-07:00

Okay.I know, I know. In the face of such horrible human disaster and anguish, it's a very small matter. You get a free pass if you're actually in danger. But for the rest of you?It's pronounced like this:NOO~CLEE~ERRIt is NOT pronounced "noo" "cue" "lur"Are we all clear now? Practice if you have to. Just stop saying nuculer. Seriously.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-20807423800387359622011-03-27T19:21:00.000-07:002011-03-27T19:40:01.838-07:00

Well, it's happening. This week, it's happening. Young giant packing up his car to drive away and start a life that isn't here, isn't with us, isn't in my ears or eyes, isn't where I sense his presence as a kind of constant.No one to whittle sticks on the front steps, or leave seriously muddied logger style boots in the way after a tramp in the woods. No one going up and down the stairs at very

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-22207917126930262122011-03-26T09:56:00.000-07:002011-03-26T09:57:23.084-07:00

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-49736197633115698272011-03-25T20:43:00.000-07:002011-03-26T00:28:32.103-07:00

I am in my office, which is above the living room in my little house. The NewsHour is playing, and the menfolk are listening to a report about software designed to safely store data about torture, murder, killings and other human rights abuses in countries around the world. It's meant to help human rights workers who are collecting that information and use it to document what went on -- or is

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-1749955621636370192011-03-25T08:20:00.001-07:002011-03-25T08:36:58.430-07:00

Yesterday I met a woman. I'll call her M. She was in the library, looking stunned, looking lost, looking brave anyway. There was no one else in the library at the time but the two kids she'd brought in with her, and she and I got to talking. She'd had a terrible health scare and been in the hospital for a few days. They told her she has diabetes and if she'll lose fifty pounds, it will go away.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-68886432286743772612011-03-24T10:57:00.001-07:002011-03-24T11:25:57.406-07:00

No, really. Look away. Do not look directly at this activity, or I might freak out or go all goofy and wobbly, and then quit. Again.Don't tell anyone ... but I've been walking! Shhhhh!Most days, and on a longish path, and most of it uphill.Those stories grandfathers tell? About its being uphill both ways in the dead of winter and winter lasted all year long and the school was ten miles away? Okay

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-80637930641251075372011-03-23T09:02:00.000-07:002011-03-23T09:21:05.764-07:00

After a miserably long time of inactivity, THIS is going to be the quarter. This one. Spring. 2011. Before this year's summer, I will have turned in a Prior Learning Assessment portfolio with forty-five college credits in it. 45!! Maximum allowable amount, changed my mind over and over on whether or not to do the maximum amount, and now I'm all set up to sprint to the finish. A whole academic

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-75720180940461032612011-03-15T15:07:00.000-07:002011-03-15T15:27:17.237-07:00

Ever heard of Marla Olmstead? The 2007 movie, My Kid Could Paint That, is a documentary about this child prodigy and the adults who go a bit nuts around her and in the art world.I discovered it just a few minutes ago - when I was looking for images of "playing with paint." I wanted images of playing with paint because I have been thinking about Anon.'s comment about my absurdly difficult time

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-72084776839417752132011-03-15T09:07:00.000-07:002011-03-15T09:15:32.789-07:00

Is there anything more beautiful in all the world than the nobility of the human spirit in the face of impossible oppression? Here's a new story to inspire the world. The life Kamila Sidiqi had known changed overnight when the Taliban seized control of the city of Kabul. After receiving a teaching degree during the civil war—a rare achievement for any Afghan woman—Kamila was subsequently

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-34463525763012463852011-03-14T18:26:00.001-07:002011-03-14T18:29:52.699-07:00

This is so stupid.Inexplicable.Idiotically frustrating.I love school.I love poetry.I love writing.And yet grinding out this final paper for my Poetry class.One scratchy, sticky, reluctant wordatatime.Is.Agony.WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO DO???

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-34076668610407525962011-03-14T08:56:00.000-07:002011-03-14T10:45:37.032-07:00

Yes, Mommy spilled. Again.When our oldest child was still an only child (a condition of her life she has since suspected was an 18-month stay in her own personal Nirvana), she didn't miss much. Ever. She was born paying attention. She was the child who would stop breastfeeding if her mother so much as looked at an open magazine lying beside us on the couch cushions. She could sense my wandering

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-34191030187233554052011-03-11T09:53:00.001-08:002011-03-11T09:56:04.297-08:00

And NPR's interview with the director, along with more clips, here

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-80977818822556929862011-03-11T08:32:00.000-08:002011-03-11T08:54:28.640-08:00

"Forced perspective" is what painters and filmmakers and photographers use to make things look larger or smaller to the viewer.Funny, right? (you can click on the pic for a good explanation of forced perspective)Less funny when your brain is doing forced perspective acrobatics on its own.It's the end of the quarter, and I know perfectly well that I'm avoiding writing my final papers. I have not

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-68801720925444803872011-03-10T09:40:00.000-08:002011-03-10T09:47:57.670-08:00

Sign up!!Karla McLaren's newsletter just came into my inbox. It's my first one, and I've just perused it with the jaded eye of an inveterate and compulsive newsletter subscriber. Email newsletters are almost universally boring and/or minimally useful. But this one? Wow! Here's an excerpt."Befriending Anxiety in 2011"... Dr. Lamia contrasts procrastinators, who put things off until their anxiety

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-4309018092857387432011-03-09T08:20:00.000-08:002011-03-09T08:36:01.112-08:00

Click here for a YouTube recording of Karla McLaren, talking about the difference between being empathetic and empathic, the problem we have due to our "professionalizing" of emotional difficulties, boundaries (the difference between you and me), and her new book. (What a shiny woman!)The video is clearer than the book, in a lot of ways. Highly recommended, perhaps as an introduction to what

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-63393774261721525732011-03-09T07:28:00.000-08:002011-03-09T07:39:19.365-08:00

Letters of Note is "an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos." This one is a letter from astronomer Carl Sagan, regarding the admission of women into The Explorers Club. It was written after "IBM's withdrawal of support due to the organisation's continued exclusion of women within its ranks," in ... (get this!) 1981. Eighty-one. Not fifty-one, 1981

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-78827850433701688652011-02-23T19:26:00.000-08:002011-02-23T19:30:30.689-08:00

A repost from my first week of blogging. I'm peeling off these old posts, one post at a time, and sorting them into Delete, Keep for Editing, and Keep on Blog. This, I got on a greeting card - and promptly turned it into a bit of a personal mission statement.she danced. she sang. she took. she gave. she served. she loved. she created.she dissented. she enlivened. she saw. she grew.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-28339714652464434312011-02-22T11:39:00.000-08:002011-02-22T11:57:12.437-08:00

I am a Christian.I believe the ancient Christian creed, partake in ancient Christian sacrament, read the sacred text, and follow the year's liturgical pattern. I feast on feast days, fast on fast days, and thank God for the example and prayers of the Saints.I am an intellectual.I study the minds of the ages in the written work they left us. I grapple with both logic and ethics, I admire both art

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-52785372185423938112011-02-21T10:36:00.000-08:002011-02-21T10:37:45.644-08:00

Short little video snapshots my lovely artsy cousin shot of The Beach

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-20822562832979430612011-02-21T09:06:00.000-08:002011-02-21T10:19:30.251-08:00

Yesterday was Septuagesima. Next Sunday will be Sexagesima and the Sunday after that is called Quinquagesima, which is the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent, which is the forty days (not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter.I came into this antique vocabulary as an adult, and I still delight in it like a little kid. The words sound to me like ballet terms (

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-46731596381365174692011-02-19T09:50:00.000-08:002011-02-19T19:26:57.253-08:00

(Hello, Recollected Life blog ... it's me. Remember me?)After a sort of foraging expedition of the past few months, I now have more to say on the subject that keeps calling me. Being recollected, about life. What is a person? How do people work? When it goes wrong, what has happened? And why do people unfailingly believe there's such a thing as life going "wrong" or "right" in the first place?

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-90799575158998313312011-01-30T19:11:00.000-08:002011-01-30T19:12:55.338-08:00

This is what I'm up to these days.More news coming soon.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-43504252380914107012011-01-18T09:08:00.001-08:002011-01-18T09:40:07.364-08:00

Oh, $%^*&#!!! Today is Tuesday, and at about 9:00 in the morning, I've just realized that yesterday was Monday, the day of the delayed beginning for the course in Personal Writing I was scheduled to teach. I've realized this fact in the same moment as realizing that I never went anywhere yesterday. If students had shown up (they didn't) they would have had no teacher. I didn't go to my own

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-28787450033005750352011-01-07T10:52:00.000-08:002011-01-07T11:14:05.405-08:00

Somewhere between the nearly flowering bulbs on my kitchen windowsill and the dead and soggy "garden" outside ...Somewhere between ducks in a row, and ducks with their butts in the air ...Somewhere between flourishing and fallow times ...That's where I am.Again.ugh.At least I know that this is part of how it goes. Life is like this. It goes along for awhile, and then we start to chafe at the

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-64256648948431306442010-12-31T08:44:00.000-08:002010-12-31T09:39:21.255-08:00

One of the blogs I keep in my reader had this poem posted today, and honestly, I do not know a better one for the beginning of a new calendar year.The Wild Roseby Wendell Berry Sometimes hidden from mein daily custom and in trust,so that I live by you unawareas by the beating of my heart. Suddenly you flare in my sight,a wild rose blooming at the edgeof thicket, grace and lightwhere yesterday was

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-19854883304031633912010-12-23T09:14:00.000-08:002010-12-23T09:41:38.214-08:00

It's the twenty-third of December. It's my grandpa's birthday. Last year, I found a YouTube recording of I Jesu Navn, and the year before that I had just discovered the fire and ice of the Trio Mediaeval. This year, a friend asked me about Grandpa Les, and I told her that he was the grandfather who cried (for happiness) at my wedding, and who told me when I was a girl that I had beautiful

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-63976301903938571392010-12-21T10:53:00.000-08:002010-12-21T11:19:57.357-08:00

In the midst of the last week before Christmas, a list of new things I can welcome with joy:Continued production of candelabra candles from IKEA, candles I use in this flat black metal candelabra from Michaelmas until EasterAdult children who bring presents and food and things like that to the party, making it possible to spread out the responsibilities of party-making -- and many hands make

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-90306427056584713352010-12-14T09:03:00.000-08:002010-12-14T21:44:17.632-08:00

This isn't a picture of the linen closet in the house where I grew up, but the closet in the picture is definitely of the era. It's the same idea.Have you ever lived in a house with cupboards in the walls? We had one upstairs that had the sheets and blankets and towels and things in it. Our linen closet was on one side of the center square of space on the second floor of the square house. The

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-69793416037125105342010-12-08T09:24:00.000-08:002010-12-08T09:58:37.006-08:00

In Thermodynamics, a closed system can exchange heat and work (for example, energy), but not matter, with its surroundings. In contrast, an isolated system cannot exchange any of heat, work, or matter with the surroundings, while an open system can exchange all of heat, work and matter. For a simple system, with only one type of particle (atom or molecule), a closed system amounts to a

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-81297253396140064042010-11-30T12:00:00.000-08:002010-11-30T12:50:55.382-08:00

Registration for winter term is finally here! Three courses at Marylhurst this winter - one online (Poetry), one that takes three Friday/Saturday sessions and online work (History of Film), and one that takes a Friday evening and a Saturday (a workshop introduction to Art Therapy).And here's the advert for the course I'm teaching. See it? Click on it to make it bigger. See? There I am! Second one

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-791070340454008632010-11-23T07:34:00.000-08:002010-11-23T07:35:55.074-08:00

Go, Border Collies! Go!

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-66605452889396034202010-11-13T09:14:00.000-08:002010-11-13T09:46:11.306-08:00

I've just spent a few minutes looking around at images, trying to find a pile of rubble with a surprised yet gratified person standing in the midst. There are no images like that. Rubble is depressing or terrifying or wearying. Rubble follows in the wakes of disasters and wars and attacks.But I have happy rubble! There aren't any pictures of happy rubble. My rubble is what happens after a

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-80511049145288363292010-11-10T11:49:00.000-08:002010-11-10T11:57:30.054-08:00

Transformative Language Arts Concentration The low residency MA in Individualized Studies Program offers a 48 credit concentration in Transformative Language Arts with masters degree. The Transformative Language Arts concentration is for students interested in the intentional use of the written, spoken, and sung word for individual and community growth, development, celebration, and

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-13181210285399609142010-11-10T08:09:00.000-08:002011-05-26T17:05:59.445-07:00

I need to get this stuff written down.Yarn fibers and hanks of thread.Twisting maybe strands of belts or straps andI cannot figure out what it is andI know it is importantbecause it was givento methis past weekend.I keep teasing the strands apartrunning my fingers through itlike hair I'm trying to braidbehind my head.Embroidery thread. First,pull apart the strands.Lay the threads against each

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-89938796495602117592010-11-09T07:47:00.000-08:002010-11-09T08:57:13.007-08:00

On Thursday I went into town in time for the midday Mass, and afterward I met a friend for lunch. He went back to work. I tried to study - tried to get ready - to focus my attention at least. But I couldn't do it. The course to start on Friday morning was The Literature of Resistance, and my theory book was fascinating and my poetry book entrancing, and the lyric mourning of Elie Wiesel's Night

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-35191744627315663252010-11-07T21:59:00.000-08:002010-11-07T22:00:16.829-08:00

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-52189070139136159032010-11-04T07:43:00.000-07:002010-11-04T08:19:11.538-07:00

Nervous.Jittery. Jumpy. Twitchy and unable to settle.There are moments in a life lived consciously, when awareness seeps in under the door and through the cracks around the window frame, and just before losing consciousness you know. Now. It's now. From here on out, all of my reference points and indicators and familiar protections will be altered or gone.I am choosing - and I know it. I am

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-86167443664651338512010-11-03T08:38:00.000-07:002010-11-03T09:12:45.397-07:00

Wow.Every instrument in the symphony of my life is playing on key, in tune, and in concert right now. The course in self-assessment is ratifying my inner foundations, while the course in literary theory is teaching me to assess the literature, using Conrad's Heart of Darkness as a model, and the course in the literature of resistance and pain and injustice and atrocities is giving me the

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-27535415213563750432010-11-01T22:05:00.000-07:002010-11-01T22:27:54.099-07:00

I sent off that course proposal to the local Parks & Recreation people last week, and they said they'd make their decision this week, and I feel like I'm waiting for my plastic Junior Birdman wings to arrive after saving up 250 boxtops. I designed a front "cover" sheet for course handouts. I've been coming up with random ways to explain things like perspective and point of view when we write

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-38452478887829577902010-10-29T07:54:00.000-07:002010-10-29T08:38:36.199-07:00

I can't help it. Eraser and True Lies (and all of the Die Hard movies - yes, all of them) - I love them. I get in a mood to bash up some bad guys, and I put the disk in (and I set up the ironing board and get out the shirts or the altar linens), and Arnold or Bruce or someone like that just clears 'em all outa there. And no mess for me to clean up afterwards! It's a pretty good deal, I

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-71143717187434170272010-10-28T11:17:00.001-07:002010-10-28T11:19:09.627-07:00

Wrong in a thousand ways, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, and it has to stop. Creating horrors to fix problems isn't okay.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-29058679180455902732010-10-28T08:24:00.000-07:002010-10-28T08:26:29.414-07:00

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.E. Y. HarburgEven if music's not really your thing, this little tiny lesson sort of interview about a song you've heard a thousand times will be fascinating. And if you're a song writer, you should memorize it.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-56963564995834368792010-10-23T11:46:00.001-07:002010-10-23T12:12:00.825-07:00

All out of proportion to the number of years and the distance in the past, today, with the rain and receding colors of fall, come all the feelings of being separated from the man I wanted to marry -- a long time ago -- a lifetime of raising a family together has come and gone since then, and yet here they are.All of these feelings, just as if I'd never left them. Just as if we'd never married, or

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-30021182333490609282010-10-18T18:59:00.000-07:002010-10-19T09:11:12.801-07:00

Whaddaya think? Once a teacher always a teacher? Once an eight-year-old always an eight-year-old? Whatever it is, I have wanted and wanted and wanted a way to keep track of my always too-flexible tasks and obligations and goals.You know the recommendation, right? Everyone says it. Keep a record. Keep a food diary. Keep an exercise log. Keep a calendar. Keep a schedule.(groan ...)It's not just

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-25941157751531829122010-10-18T15:43:00.000-07:002010-10-18T16:06:06.033-07:00

Dear David Shields (1) has done the darn'dest thingand made me look at words and how they arearrangedat random but we know nothingis randomAbout a word search.And I never search a word.I search words.I search sentences.I search phrases and authors and names andideas searchfor meaning and a context.Try "feeling" "feeling return" try"waiting for the feeling to return."I leaned into the

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-11101846884703860682010-10-09T11:56:00.000-07:002010-10-09T12:12:55.417-07:00

I didn't think she meant it. I didn't think my mom was really irritated at my desire to be left alone with a book. She was, though. She thought this was the height of hostile, rejecting, anti-social behavior. She did not like it one bit.But who would be irritated with a reader? There are a lot of things a person could interrupt in this house, and the interrupted person would simply have to put up

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-72834794611142242302010-10-06T09:34:00.000-07:002010-10-06T09:44:16.257-07:00

I have started to gather up composition notebooks of all different kinds. (I have one from Powell's that's called a "Decomposition Book" because it's from recycled materials. hahaha!) One notebook is for ideas. One is for notes from all day, all the time, different places, heaps of writing fodder. One is for keeping random ideas written down for later. One is for the ongoing religious education

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-19837795385272143192010-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:002010-10-06T09:39:53.356-07:00

(warning: totally internal dialog ahead)The tune and the song keep looping in my brain.This is the way we wash our clotheswash our clotheswash our clothesThis is the way we wash our clothesearly in the morning!This is the way we plan our lifeplan our lifeplan our lifeThis is the way we plan our lifeearly in the morning!Yesterday, a friend who's studying permaculture came here to our place to walk

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-44243723783394279052010-10-04T08:38:00.000-07:002010-10-04T10:17:04.219-07:00

Remember this scene from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? The Sirens? So pretty. So ready to "love 'em up" - so ready to delay and stop and drink and slow and distract ... their calls are oh, so attractive - so hard to resist.The guys were trying to get somewhere. They had stuff to do. They had a treasure to get to before the flood came and swept it away forever. And along the way, they heard the

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-46300248174359235832010-10-02T10:14:00.000-07:002010-10-02T10:47:00.496-07:00

Last winter, during our annual trip out of town for walks and movies and relaxation at the coast, we watched the entire disc set of The Prisoner, and I figured out (again) that other people think I'm unmutual. I was bemused (again) at this notion, considering the strain of mental and emotional effort I have always, always expended trying as hard as I can to understand and be understood. It's hard

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-74667763674364900222010-09-29T08:31:00.000-07:002010-09-29T08:56:11.154-07:00

(although, it's not an illustration, so ... is it a frontispiece?)Yesterday afternoon, between my appointment for setting up the end of my PLA adventure and the coming Mary Catherine Bateson lecture, I found the library's book sale. I found a pristine copy of The World's Great Letters (1940), and I bought it. Best dollar I ever spent. From the frontispiece,The post is the consolation of life.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681037426604211309.post-73850399567132915992010-09-28T07:53:00.000-07:002010-09-28T08:15:34.234-07:00

Re-reading In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden. (The Loyola Classics edition that was at the library is a very nice edition. I may look for one of these to buy.) As I started to say something about it to my husband this morning, it suddenly clanged into my head ... hey! I have several favorite books that have as a central theme a woman ready to reinvent herself. I've never noticed the thread

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163649031423865626noreply@blogger.com3