A Dying Art

While I haven't finished something handmade for some time now, this video, and the idea behind it encourages me to make the time.

Lacemaking in Lefkara, Cyprus from Etsy on Vimeo.

Cello

I love to hear the cello played and this video lets me see as well.

For my sewing fiends!

You know who you are.  For those of us who do any hand embroidery or other handwork trying to find a reliable marker that will always wash out has been a bit of a challenge.  I wanted to share something that might help... Pilot Color Eno blue lead. I ordered it after reading this article. It makes a nice fine line and washes out easily.  I know many of you have been happy with other products, but after a few major problems with some products not washing out or showing up years later, I swore off all but chalk markers. This has the added advantage of fading in the sunlight which might make it useful for those fabrics we choose not to laundry or laundry often. I've only tried the blue refill linked above and as always YMMV!

Embodiment of Beauty

"...What a traditional woman did that made her home warm and alive was not dusting and laundry...Her real secret was that she identified herself with her home...her affection was in the soft sofa cushions, clean linens, and good meals; her memory in well-stocked storeroom cabinets and the pantry; her intelligence in the order and healthfulness of her home; her good humor in its light and air. She lived her life not only through her own body but through the house as an extension of her body; part of her relation to those she loved was embodied in the physical medium of the home she made."


"Modern housekeeping, despite its bad press, is among the most thoroughly pleasant, significant, and least alienated forms of work that many of us will encounter even if we are blessed with work outside the home that we like...housekeeping actually offers more opportunities for savoring achievement than almost any other work I can think of. Each of its regular routines brings satisfaction when it is completed. These routines echo the rhythm of life, and the housekeeping rhythm is the rhythm of the body. You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness, freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy these benefits."

"Our homes are the center of our lives, and we should allow time and resources to mke the most of them that we can, and to care for them in a way that consolidates and elaborates their meaning for each of us. At a minimum, we should avoid thinking that time spent on our homes is wasted time, or that our goal should always be to reduce the time and effort we spend on them."
--Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts, Chapter One.

An article on writing-Highly Recommended

For authors of various stripes, writing should be hard work, but that doesn't mean that is should be impossible to read says Gail Hornstein in an article on the often obtuse nature of academic writing. Complex subject matter does not mean the material should be incomprehensible to "ordinary" folk, if it is then the fault lies with the writer not the reader and encourages isolation:

When I was in graduate school at Clark University, I learned a key lesson about teaching from my adviser, Seymour Wapner. He called it the "Beethoven assumption." Si said that if you want to teach someone music, you don't just play scales to them. You play Beethoven, so they can grasp the complex essence of music; then you teach them to understand what they've heard. That has been my guiding assumption throughout 30 years of teaching, and I can tell you, it works.
Just as there's no need to sacrifice complexity in teaching core material, there's no need to do so in one's writing. As Graff rightly cautions: "Blanket suspicion of anything that might be called reductive—which often translates into a fear of making an assertion lest one be criticized—is probably far more to blame than opaque jargon for obfuscatory academic writing and teaching." I'd put that more sharply: Academics write so densely because they are afraid of being held accountable for their work.

You can read the rest here.

HT:Mental Multivitamin

A Little Macro

End of the year recital

My fencer

Twilight Reverie

Here is Grace's piece from last night's recital. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Obedience to Faith

"Reading Oswald Chambers, yesterday, he writes, "Spiritual muddle is only made plain by obedience. Immediately we obey, we discern." Seems awfully close to Ransom's credo, "developing discernment, deepening discipleship." Sometimes I put it this way: moral commitment precedes epistemological insight. We always do live out of our hearts: we see and hear and feel out of our hearts." -Steven Garber

Hemingway on Action

"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway

Workin' hard for a livin'

Here's a link to a great article on working hard and saving.

Ashbrook Center

Simple beauty

A few new entries are in the works, but I wanted to share a wonderful site that I read about in this month's Victoria magazine. Sharyn Sowell's papercuttings are delicate vignettes of simple beauty that she obviously understands well and explains well:
"There are only two ways of looking at the world." said Thomas Edison. "One as though nothing is a miracle, the other as though everything is." And I choose the latter.
Every day I am surrounded by miracles that keep me in awe. My inspirations are the commonplace things we often walk by without even seeing....
Violets peeking out from a weedy patch in the neighbor's driveway; dandelions in my lawn. My husband dressed up as Santa for a group of children who gasp at the unexpected gifts. Warm mittens. Autumn leaves drifting like so much gold and red confetti. Wind in your hair. Kisses. The smell of chocolate cake or chicken noodle soup. Foxgloves, English daisies, sweet peas, or any other flower in my own little patch of earth.
My work is a celebration of those everyday miracles. I'll never reach the end of my ideas because my inspirations are the things that surround each and every one of us all our lives.
I need not travel to exotic lands for inspiration because I am tickled pink at the wonders right in my own backyard--and yours.
Whether your talent is making a mighty fine muffin or singing an aria, let me encourage you to use your gifts to the maximum, spread the joy, and open your eyes to the delights of your own little corner of the world. Even a common little weed can be inspiration for something wonderful. "

Also take a minute to read her blog; she shares with us the daily beauty she enjoys.