At Ease

My paid work right now is caring for preschoolers during rest time (after having socialized with them over lunch). It's a delightful job as well as a rich opportunity for meaningful practice in my life. I am struck by the revolutionary nature of rest.

An Anonymous Tip

 

Evan has a client whom I know nothing about and who, presumably, knows little about me. And yet.

And yet.

She recommended a book series to me, through Evan, that-- it me. She nailed it. Entirely. How? No idea.

Thus is the magic of the world.

Nothing Is Required

 

wash of breath

drenched in grace

i am

 

whole within the whole

my anger burns

a boundary

in whose lee

i straighten

nothing is required

accepting

to be

reclaimed

Rolling Deep

 

"I have no more dress rehearsals to attend. Look closer: I am licking my lips." - Major Jackson

Venuses Of Antiquity

Venus of Pazardzhik

6,500 years old

5" tall of clay

Venus of Lespugue

26,000 years old

6" tall of ivory tusk

Venus of Willendorf

30,000 years old

4.4" tall of limestone

Venus of Amiens

23,000 years old

1.57" tall of chalk

Venus of Hohle Fels

42,000 years old

2.36" tall of mammoth tusk

Abuses Of Power

Wild and consequential times.

How to reconcile my local life sailing on, insulated by caste system privileges, while politics on a state and national level are a dumpster fire of predatory exploitation, unabashed dehumanization, willful dismissals of inconvenient truths, and personal rather than public agendas?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." - Alexei Navalny (d. 2024 in a Russian prison)

And yet I am realizing for the first time that the Serenity Prayer is aspirational. With wisdom's clarity, I have deep capacity for courage and serenity. Without it? Where do I have agency? How do I protect myself? How do I protect others?

It is a miracle when we experience the rare grace of epiphany and an equal wonder when we navigate forward without it, bumbling our way through uncertainty the best we can. 

Mercury In Retrograde

 

A doozie indeed.

Aren't We All A Little Extra?

 

Vacation Club got me to finally sit down and watch this. I am late to the party, but what a lovely party it is. Everyone's invited.

All That's Holy

Two books:

a poetic memoir of living/dying

and

case studies in nueroplasticity

Seal Teeth

 

If you ever need to be reminded how astonishing the world is, Google "seal teeth".

Ben urged me to do just that yesterday and then stood by as my mind was blown. SO FANCY. At first, I couldn't believe they were real, but Ben assured me he had learned about them in first grade science.

They're a bona fide natural wonder.

Fuck Yeah

 

An excellent article about perennials.

Pinche Hand Cream

 

It was on my sister-in-law's holiday gift list. My moment to shine, for the quest is never ending.

1. Tulip (via Lizzy and Couls) 

2. Tatcha (via Meghan Markle and Oprah). 

Have there been others? For sure. But I can't remember, so happy am I with these current faves.

Caves In The Redwall

 

My friend, Nate, was invited as a cave specialist on a recent mapping and research expedition in the Grand Canyon exploring a cave system that few humans have ever been lucky enough to enter.

Among the wonders they encountered after free rappelling into (and jumaring out of) the entrance each day, were perfectly preserved bats in excess of 50,000 years old and fantasies of gypsum spun in the cool, still air of the cave. 

Mummified ancient foxes and other vertebrates attest to the unique role of caves as stable sanctuaries apart from, but connected to, the dynamic and often volatile exterior world. 

According To Spinoza

Conatus is the striving of each living thing to become itself. 

 

 

Emory Hall

 

i bloomed

out of the death

that found me.

can you still smell

the mud on me?

i reek

of resurrection.

Embroidery Journaling

 

 In January of 2020, Sophie O'Neill began embroidering a symbol to represent each day of her year. Cool to see a person's experience of time captured this way.