Reducere

How do you get reacquainted after a long time apart?

Do you make small talk?

Say “I missed you”?

Jump right in and pick up like you’d never left off?

Usually I just jump right in and aim to get caught up…

‘Simple, floating textures work best, with no tempo or groove. Leave lots of silence between phrases.”

There are times when people’s creativity astounds me…

As for the title of this post? It’s part of the instructions for this project, and struck me as a wonderful way to describe the way I view the world these days…

It’s April, and I’m Loving…

1. The challenge of planning out a wee balcony garden that meets very specific criteria:

• A few pots of herbs for both cooking and medicinal purposes.
• A few pots of flowers that aren’t heavily scented because I love flowers but Ironhead is sensitive to heavy scents.
• A flat container that’s low enough for her Highness to enjoy cat grass whenever she wants.
• Finding some sort of container on legs so I can place pots in them, thus a/ obscuring the view of the empy lot across from us and b/ keeping the view of False Creek.
• Thrifting for appropriate containers, rather than buying new.

2. Spending a blissful hour or two each day catching up on my reading. It’s been a while since I could indulge myself in that way, and I’ve missed it!

I’ve got two books on the go right now: Jennifer Heath’s The Echoing Green, and Phil Cousineau’s Once and Future Myths. The first is lovely, wonderfully descriptive and balm for anyone who yearns to add more nature into their lives, and the second is both fascinating and extremely satisfying. I’ve expressed my love for Phil’s work before and only recently discovered his website, so I’m sure that’ll keep me busy for a while…

3. Rediscovering my yoga practice. I took what I call an ‘extended leave of absence’ from taking care of myself, and am now dealing with the consequences of spending most of my day in front of a computer with coffee in hand. To help kick start the habit, I’ve gone back to the dvd collection and pulled out  Eoin Finn’s Power Yoga for Happiness. Possibly one of the most valuable purchases we ever made, I feel amazing every time I do any of the routines on the disk.

Now if only I could coerce the Yowler into being more cheerleader and less critic…

Happy Dancing Fool Am I

In lieu of actual writing, I give you a song. Not mine of course, but it pretty well exemplifies the rose-coloured glasses mood I’m in.

It’s been on constant replay at chez Nota Bene for at least a month. Turns out it makes awesome music to cook/design/read/do homework/play with cats/photograph/tidy/dance like an idiot to.

Moving Pictures Move You Sometimes…

I have a short list of actors and actresses whose performances never fail to affect me, regardless of how minute their role might be. I may know nothing about a film, but if they’re on the cast list I’m willing to chance it. Emma Thompson is such a one. I’ve watched her in so many different things — from costume dramas (Sense and Sensibility), romances (Love Actually, Peter’s Friends) to existential ruminations (Stranger Than Fiction). She never fails to have an effect – there’s just something about the wry tone that comes through when she’s part of the writing, and when she plays a part, she doesn’t just play it, she commits to it the way few people are willing to commit.

So you can imagine how pleased I was a few weeks ago to come across a movie of hers I’d never seen before. In hindsight it probably wasn’t the best choice to make while home alone, sick and miserable on the couch with only cats for company, my partner hundres of miles away, but… well.

Wit is the story of Vivian Bearing, a decidely hard-edged English professor who’s life is overtaken and stripped down by cancer. Told from her hospital bed in flashbacks,  Vivian treats us to her reflections about life as she goes through treatment and the disease gets progressively worse. Her world shrinks to a handful of people, among them her doctor, her primary nurse, and the doctor overseeing the experimental treatment she’s undertaking.

I don’t actually want to ruin the plot line, but it’s fairly obvious what will happen to Vivian. While that’s important, I don’t think the end result (the same one we all face) is the most important part of the play, nor the movie. Rather, it’s the way Vivan changes, how the things she used to make her world behave are no longer of use to her in this new environment. Logic and reasoning take a back seat to things more visceral, and in a perverse way she finds herself living more fully in her body than she ever has.

Something else that drew me in was the fact that Vivian’s academic focus is John Donne, a metaphysical poet who’s words are well-known, even if his name isn’t. Quote ‘no man is an island’ or ‘for whom the bell tolls’ and people will recognize it. Say Donne’s name, and they’re far less likely to recognize it.

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

I would even say that the poetry is another character and plays a pivotal role.

In an interview done at the time the movie came out, Emma said of her character “She’s learned a lot about compassion, and a lot about herself, and a lot about her ability to deal with people who aren’t as clever as she is… She’s learned, as she says, that just being clever isn’t enough. That remorse is clearly felt, but she can’t find a word for it. It is regret.” 

For full article by Sarah Lyall, click here.

ETA: For those interested, you can read Donne here.

Looking Forward

Early in January I decided to have a themed 2009: Childish Glee. And resolutions – I would actually make some. [Yes, I know this goes against everything I've ever believed in, but in my defense I did actually test the waters with 2007's "Make more stew" resolution, and  not only did I keep that one it worked out quite well].

And then school happened, and I lost sight of anything that didn’t have to do with publication design and sourcing material and nattering under my breath about kerning and leading and other things that made the cats cross-eyed with boredom.

Still, I DID make a point of doing little things, like going to the dollar store on my way home one day and buying enough hearts and ribbons and sundries to make it look like Valentines Day had decided to take up permanent residence in our apartment. This actually inspired a whole Valentines theme to a birthday/games night at our place, but that’s another story.

And, since I was doing so much writing, I opted for colourful inks for my pens. Into the pen box went the boring black and blue, and out came the  fountain pen inks and the sun-star gel pens. The amount of joy I got out of something so small makes me feel almost defiantly silly.

Now the last class is behind me, and once I’m full-up on sleep and rest I’m going to take up my theme again in earnest. It’s nice to have something to look forward to!

Casting Off

I failed hopelessly at the Holidailies challenge this year.  Partway through I took stock, realized I simply wasn’t into sharing on a daily basis, acknowledged that I seemed to have gone into a more publicly silent phase, and metaphorically put the pen down and wandered off.

Talk about liberating.

I’ve spent the last year disentangling expectations, learning and relearning that all I assume is not what necessarily is. It’s often been a humbling experience; I’ve been wrong more often than not when it comes to what people expect versus what I think they expect.

It’s also been a positive experience.

Turns out that barring a couple of surprising exceptions (surprising because they aren’t close friends, or as influential as they seem to believe they are) I have a lot of folks in my life who are happy for me so long as I’m happy. Period. That’s it.

It’s a lesson I’m determined to carry close in 2009 – nine days in and I’m already seeing the results of some of the things I put into play late last year, and I suspect that this’ll be a turbulent year, full of changes for both Ironhead and myself.

The cats say hello, and wish you a pleasant, catnip-worthy day.

Shu Darlin’ Give This Post A Miss

I’m just a little bit in love with this yarn. Knit up in a basic rib stitch, it feels sooooo good. I’m going to  have a difficult time giving it up to my darlin’ little sis Shu*.

No link today. I know, I’m really bad at this.

* Not her real name, who’d name their kid Shu?

Valet Service Not Included

Have spent the evening at Stanley Park, taking in the Bright Nights sights. Report tomorrow, along with photos.

No linky today. Need to defrost.

Twas The Weekend Before Christmas

Today, we let Mitzi have a break and stay home while Ironhead and I braved the snowfall.

Mitzi in Costume

See, I had learned something important: even in Vancouver, you need to own a decent pair of boots. Which I didn’t. Our walk to the downtown core happened in my beloved purple cons, shoes most definitely NOT designed for snow.

Thankfully the snow was light and fluffy enough that my toes were NOT froze, and I lucked out and found a great pair of boots to get me through the season.

We spent way more time at the mall than either of us had expected, and our walk home in the dark included ninja snowballs, Ironhead singing Christmas carols, and a visit with every single puppy we met (along with their owners – we’re polite, after all).

Happy Solstice folks.