I recently dove into thoughts on Rest on Instagram - check out the Nap Ministry.
I have a feeling my pace of work next year may be somewhat adjusted. An image from the Nap Ministry's page, taken by Charlie Watts. Sooooo relaxing.
I recently dove into thoughts on Rest on Instagram - check out the Nap Ministry.
I have a feeling my pace of work next year may be somewhat adjusted. An image from the Nap Ministry's page, taken by Charlie Watts. Sooooo relaxing.
I hope I bounce back to my former resilience, but this Spring Forward time change isn't helping. It's been so hard to get to my new 8:30. I remember with the last change, it was similar.
At the end of last year I took a membership with a practice that helps you unblock limiting beliefs and I've delved into some roadblocks. I've looked at my inner child, and seen and held her using a hypnotic DI, or deep imagining. It's so wild the thoughts that emerge when you take yourself back to the little child you once were. Things you forgot pop up. There I was in outfits I once wore, summoned forth to the present day, giving my adult self a chance to converse, see, and cherish my younger self. Memories long forgotten show you things that add missing pieces and correct fragments that don't quite fit today. In one of these DIs, I simply hugged this younger me the entire time and didn't let her go. It was healing.
Cooking and tending plants are my happiest moments. James got me an InstantPot for Xmas and yes that thing cooks dry beans in like 7 minutes. It's cool. You do end up with beans so at the ready that you kinda don't want them. So here we are, the 50s housewife's pressure cooker is now the InstantPot!
We watched Parasite recently and loved it. Not what we were expecting, but so good.
I watched Nomadland with all its uncomfortable dark and cold scenes, in snow and in the old van and with Frances McDermott's ability to 110% embody her character. I looked it up and that story is true; the gypsum factory in Empire, NV closed and left 95 families to move from the company provided houses. Some were allowed to stay 6 more months so their kids could finish school. They even discontinued the zip code. I did hear, interestingly, that a new factory is slated to open there. People, please start an "oh shit" savings account if you take the job.
I watched the Handmaid's Tale and it took weeks to recover. The feelings that came up were a sort of horror mixed with relief that we dodged the Whitehouse bullet of potentially having more time for Commanders to make more changes. Top that off with Mrs. America, about Phyllis Schlafly. I haven't finished it, and she's just starting to get a bit uppity with her husband. Hard to believe a woman was so set against women having any power. The Gloria Steinem character is great. I hope this ends well.
Best vegan cooking channel: Yeung Man Cooking. I made the vegan mushroom soup and you would never know I didn't use a gallon of half and half. Just cashews!
That's all for now. Hope everyone is doing well.
Photo by Matt Hardy on Unsplash
Photo by Matthew LeJune on Unsplash
My friend and colleague, Matt Jones (not pictured above), shared some of his word portraits. I don't know about you, but I'm getting a Charles Bukowski vibe.Here's what Matt says about his paintings:
I have always been intrigued and somewhat envious of people who sit in public places sketching passersby. It’s a talent I could never develop. I’m a writer and I am more than okay with that.
Then one day I was watching over the shoulder of a young man flawlessly sketching a fellow commuter and it hit me—I can do this. Only not with graphite or pastels.
I can do it with words.
What fascinates me about this idea is when we view a portrait, we all pretty much walk away with a similar representation in our heads (all things being equal). If I say “Mona Lisa” for example, we create very similar images in our mind’s eye.
With a word portrait, image creation is left to the imagination, generated solely and wholly within the mind of the reader. And every image created will be as unique and nuanced as the person themselves.
Here are a few examples, named Orion, Joy, and Patch. I hope you
enjoy meeting them. Someday, I’d like to collect enough to do an actual gallery
showing where the art on display is nothing but text on a page. A place where
you can let your mind be the artist. If I do it, I hope to see you there.
ORION
His ill-fitting suit
hung awkwardly
from his oddly shaped frame,
all over-hangs and strange angles.
His hair swept back in
thin,
predictable,
oily lanes.
A smug grin dissecting the Orion’s Belt of moles
strewn across his cheek.
Another, single mole
perched
at the edge of his profile.
Like a comma at the end of an unturned page.
JOY
She smelled of cheap
Hobby Lobby candle.
Her clothing all black.
Festooned.
With sequins,
crosses,
and strategically placed
factory crafted rips.
Her hair was thin.
Her skin, thick.
A tragedy in tanned hide.
The party had ended long ago.
But she’d be damned
if she’d admit it.
So she orders another drink on the plane
with an all-too-husky laugh that probably drew desirous gazes, once.
More smoke and roughness
now
than sex.
PATCH
The
broad swatch of dark facial hair
that rested
Just beneath his lower lip
Looked like a misplaced mustache
that had been violently sneezed south.
(c) Heidi Swanson |
Helen and Scott Nearing |