A year ago I blogged about finding this future project at a garage sale. I had to pay a whole $10 for it which in garage sale terms lies somewhere between scandalous extravagance and the threat of being kicked out of the Garage Sale Bargain Hunter’s League, but it looked to be 50s vintage (if not older) and its graceful shape gave me ideas. Last year I decorated an end table I found in the woods with materials found around the house. It came out so pretty that Commentariat member Pat dubbed it “Doorway to the Sun.” And it won…
Category: Arts and Aesthetics
All things creative. All things beautiful, profound, and moving.
Hastert may be a criminal. But other feds are worse. (Never mind that Hastert and his ilk made them worse.) I admit it. Maeve Binchy, the mega-selling Irish author of simple domestic tales, is one of my guilty girly pleasures. Binchy died in 2012 of heart problems. While looking for something completely unrelated to her health, I stumbled upon this nice article about how she made the best of her initial diagnosis. Inspiring. The fedgov has recently made it 5x more expensive to do. But Americans are again surrendering their citizenship in small but record-setting numbers. (Tip o’ hat to…
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? (And not a bad thing, IMHO, though why the government should have anything to do with it, I don’t know.) Same-sex marriage and plural marriage. “A Modest Proposal.” If withdrawing just under $10,000 from your bank account should be a crime, then how about … oh, driving just under the speed limit? Carol Browne didn’t have to die. Creative people. Yes. It’s true. They tend to be crazy. “[A]nd writers, specifically, are likelier to possess some sort of mental illness.” (Thanks a bunch, guys.) True, he’s just a Republican politician and it’s nerve-grating…
If somebody in private enterprise did this — let alone did it again and again — heads would roll, congressthings would hotly hold hearings, new regulations would strangle business, and the fedgov would mutter about the need to take over entire fields. But … oopsie! (H/T MJR) Here’s one more for the “one term in office and one in jail” concept of term limits. Better yet, former Honorable Speaker Hastert is going down not for some real crime, but for one of those faux crimes that Congress itself invented. “In praise of uncertainty.” The art of running from the police.…
“The Haunted Beach.” (pdf, about 4,600 words) I submitted this to a short-story contest/anthology a few months ago. It was rejected. Maybe because it was no good. Or maybe because the theme of the anthology was “optimism.” The rules said submissions could have dark elements but needed to be optimistic overall. I thought this story just bubbled with optimism (after said “dark elements”). But you can probably see why contest judges might disagree.
Just had a unique experience: watching Buster Keaton’s great silent film The General on a big screen, accompanied by live music from a “Mighty Wurlitzer” theater organ. Never before and probably never again. Not in a little berg like this one, anyhow. I love The General. And Buster Keaton was a gorgeous man with a magnetic screen presence, amazing directing and acting talent, and colossal daring (those stunts! he really does them). But I’ve never seen The General on anything larger than a mid-sized TV. Took a while to get things started. First they had a presentation by a “real…
The case against modern science. Fom the editor of one of the world’s most eminent medical journals. (H/T SC) It’s the time of year for dragging up old commencement speeches. The best ever, of course, was from J.K. Rowling at Harvard in 2008. But two years ago, Joss Whedon gave one as only he could give it. Senate panel gives the okay for medical marijuana for veterans. It’s a step. And at the fed level where steps are badly needed. But oh! The horror! We’ll soon all be home-brewing heroin. The government! Must! DO SOMETHING! About this! (Tip o’ hat…
Six days and 6-1/2 hours since breaking my &^%$#@! hecky-darned ankle, I’m going stir crazy.
I’m trying to be such a good girl. Aside from an itty-bitty pretty much token walk each morning and afternoon for Robbie (three or four doors down and back, wearing the fracture boot, of course), I’ve been sitting around with my foot elevated, applying heat, gentle massage, and just today a lovely cayenne-pepper cream MamaLiberty told me how to whip up.
Every book I have around the house is a deadly bore. I’ve developed computer vision syndrome (better known in the real world as eye strain). And I’m now on my second-in-a-row viewing of the entire Harry Potter movie series, which is the only thing keeping me from going bonkers.
Yesterday morning I woke up feeling half-human for the first time. I ventured a slightly longer walk in the afternoon — and paid for it today. (That pepper cream really helped, though!)
Tomorrow I need to fetch Ava from Furrydoc’s boarding kennel and that’s going to be interesting. She’s an energy hound who expects to walk/run at least two miles a day in addition to sessions of tennis-ball fetching and tug-o-war. Haven’t found anybody else to do that for her. Sorry, Ava.
But I’m not complaining. Really I’m not. And not feeling sorry for myself (though I’m unaccustomed to fussing over my health and dislike being babied, even if I’m the one doing the babying).
I’m feeling lucky it wasn’t worse. And lucky I have a job I can do while sitting around with my feet up. And lucky to have a little (or a lot) of help from my friends.
Besides, as a person who appreciates aesthetics, I find the colorfulness of this experience quite entrancing.
Don’t click on the “more” link unless you appreciate rich colors where bland color ususally prevails. This is what things look like six days (and 6-1/2 hours) after the event. The swelling’s gone down considerably but the colors keep “improving” all the time.
John Silveira’s famous Backwoods Home classified ad continues to live on 18 years later. It’s already become an indie movie and helped launch a director’s burgeoning career. (H/T DD) Kentucky Authoritahs grab 10 kids, apparently just because they’re unschooled and live off grid. Hearing today. Wish this family good fortune. So lessee. Reading to your kids is about the best way in the world to give them a head start. Better than fancy private schools. Which means that the proper response is … quit doing it and maybe even eliminate families. Huh? “Harrison Bergeron” indeed. I’ve just added a new…
Henceforth, I am going to charge $500,000 per blog post and I urge all of you to inform your employers or clients that that is also now your standard fee for doing any work or even making an appearance. If you’re an employer, tough luck to you. ‘Cause after all, we’ve “gotta pay our bills” don’t we? Perhaps Bill and Hill both need a dose of this. OMG, FEMA is holding a national Preparathon and I forgot to sign up with the government! I’ll bet you did, too. Oh no! This must mean we’re all dooooooomed!!! Yeah, that’s what you…