Last night I awoke at midnight and spent the next three hours skimming along the edge of sleep. Instead of discoursing with the demons that like to alight in those hours, I drifted in love and beauty. From a cocoon of comfort, my minds eye watched colors and shapes. Golden columns rose and dissolved. Waves of aqua and emerald and pink flowed and ebbed. Figures twisted into view before fading into mist. I understood that I was experiencing a history of art. Not viewing art from afar. Not learning about it academically, but being in art as its been created…
56 CommentsCategory: Arts and Aesthetics
All things creative. All things beautiful, profound, and moving.
I’ve never been one for sentimentality or its fraternal twin, nostalgia. I’m a firm believer that the good old days were never all that good. Boomers tend to remember Davy Crockett hats, “Leave it to Beaver,” and how well-scrubbed and obedient children (allegedly) were in the 1950s while forgetting how their entire generation suffered through constant fear of being nuked to a crisp (“Duck and cover,” as if that would help anybody). Eighties kids no doubt miss big hair, big metal, and MTV “when it was the real thing” while glossing over the AIDS epidemic. Children of the seventies? Well,…
18 CommentsWhen I lived in civilization I used to like to go to plays and ballets and modern dance performances (Pilobolus! Alvin Ailey!) and even the occasional opera or symphony. Those days are long past. Remote living + elective poverty + a growing loathing of cities and crowds washed away my connections to “culture.” But now, although I’m no closer to or more fond of cities than ever, I have a new love (and old friend) in my life. I’ve been searching for a proper screen name for him and I think I’ll go for Rhett, after Rhett Butler. Rhett has…
27 CommentsBy Living Freedom Forums member BearMama, with apologies to Paul Simon. (The general rule is “what happens at the forums stays at the forums, but I know in this case she won’t mind.) —– “The problem is NOT inside your head,” she said to me “There really are so many things to make you dead I’d like to help you — take this red pill, follow me There must be fifty ways to be survivin’” She said, “I know that this is what they’ll call WrongThink Furthermore, I hope you don’t see my tinfoil and call a shrink But I’ll…
10 CommentsHappy post-Fourth of July. I hope you enjoyed what scraps of freedom you have left in these strange and parlous times. Although I left New England, I had further adventures and observations. —– In one day, my companion and I crossed five states. By road. Which sounds pretty impressive until you realize the states in that part of the world are scaled for Ken and Barbie. Did you know Delaware is 35 miles wide at its widest point (nine at its narrowest) and contains only three counties? I knew the states in the upper corner of the U.S. could be…
11 CommentsAKA “A Monday Ramble.” —– Things I wonder about 1. When will we stop saying “Google” when we mean “search online”? I don’t want to think that such an evil organization will be immortalized in the language. But saying, “I DuckDuckGoed it” or “I StartPaged it” doesn’t have that same ring. And you certainly can’t say, “I Ducked it.” “I Binged it” might do — if you want to immortalize another slightly less evil company and you don’t mind your online searches being confused with drinking until you pass out. Yes, I know we could just go back to saying…
15 CommentsThis afternoon I poured myself a glass of a lovely white wine. Then I just sat. First I sat in the newly finished screen porch contemplating the bank of ferns behind Mo Saoirse Hermitage. When it got too chilly I came inside and slipped into a big bentwood rocker that has a view out the south windows. A few stalks of Crocosmia Lucifer were beginning to open their exotic flame-red blooms. Beyond them lies my 1/4-acre park-to-be, which is about halfway done and is now pastoral and pleasant after seven years of fitful labors. I so seldom do this, just…
15 CommentsWith all the crazy in the world — you know, the destruction of Western Civilization and all that — I thought it was time for a brief blogging retreat to the former Ye Olde Wreck, now known as Mo Saoirce (My Freedom) Hermitage. So here are some moments of peace and beauty for you. The hermitage in morning light and shadow The light gray gravel heaped beside the driveway will soon go on the top of the slope in front of the house as part of my nefarious campaign to rid the world (at least my world) of lawns. It’s…
11 CommentsBeen a while since we had a simple links post … Tomorrow is “Take Yourself to Work Day” in Michigan. 🙂 Eric Peters says reopen and reject. The great Paul Rosenberg: Nothing changes as long as we obey. Still waiting for that $125 Equifax was going to send you for sloppily letting your personal information be grabbed by identity thieves? You aren’t getting it, but banks are getting their share. Wearing a mask, are you? Not to worry; this company thinks it can help Big (and Little) Brother recognize and track you via your eyes and eyebrows alone. And this…
9 CommentsI’ve been mulling a longer, seriouser blog post, but not (yet) writing it because I’ve been occupied with a happy little house project. Two of them, actually, and as it happens I finished both today. Only one is photo-worthy, but I admit I’m quite proud of that one. When I bought Ye Olde Wreck, two attractive but misshapen archways (clearly the work of Jim Beam and Jack Daniel) opened from the living room onto the long, crooked wreck of a former covered porch. I’ve been trying to make something of that porch ever since. One part of the “something” is…
10 Comments