Holding on to my dear

 

I’ve been bullet journaling for three years. I didn’t do so well these last few months, but it still matters enough to get out the journal and think about decorating it. I like cutting up fancy papers and getting out my stamps maybe more than I like journaling. I left the cover bare my first year, but then found great joy in recycling my Mary Engelbreit desk calendars as cover art. The first year I decorated I was focused on writing. The next year was on reading. This year I will just hold on to my DEAR, and be thankful I have someone to love. 

Claire Saffitz: Expert.

 

When I was thinking about You Tube cooking channels I watch I realized I was fairly light on women. After thousands of years of oppression I feel women should be given every leg up they can get, so I started reviewing the channels with women. It turns out I watch a lot of women, but usually on the standard channels, Food Network and such. You Tube rewards the aggressive personality and that’s usually men.

Hunting through the You Tube channels I remembered Claire Saffitz. When I am working out a new bread or dessert recipe I gather expert advice, and Claire has always been on the list of experts I consult. She slipped my mind because she is so obviously adept. She had made it to the magic circle of Martha, Ina, and America’s Test Kitchen complete. 

Claire knows her stuff. She is also prone to small mistakes that make good television. I don’t worry when trying her recipes, and I enjoy watching her make things I’d never attempt. She is as sciency as ATK and real as Martha and Ina. She is particularly focused on breads and desserts. My family runs on these categories during the holidays and all new recipes are welcome. Claire is fun to watch and truly educational. What more could you ask for? Go and see for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ClaireSaffitzxDessertPerson

Planning for Christmas

I had a perfectly lovely family Christmas this year. My father has been working for more than a decade on collecting and repairing antique toy trains for his children and grandchildren along with all the buildings and accessories to make Christmas villages for them to run around in. This was the year he gifted all these things to us. We had such a lovely time setting them up and going through things. We will never forget this Christmas.

We ate our favorite Christmas foods and opened other presents. We read the Christmas story. We prayed Christmas prayers. But I missed Jesus. My kids surprised me this year by decorating the house while I was out shopping. It is beautiful, and sentimental. I love it, but not one of the three creches I own is on display.

I am the only Catholic who goes to mass in our family. I didn’t make it to either mass, and I regret it. I feel like I missed my opportunity to plug into the deeper issues and gifts of Christmas. I won’t let that happen next year. It might take every moment between now and then to get to a more spiritual Christmas, but it matters to me. I will get it done.

Sweet and Toothsome

 

A Jewish Christmas of movies and Chinese food has always seemed like a lovely way to spend the day. Movies have always been important to me even when Christian fundamentalism meant they had to be waited for, sometimes waited years for, on TV. I will be enjoying a very Christian Christmas, but if I was going Jewish I’d watch Wonka. 

It has been a while since I enjoyed a musical comedy movie the way I enjoyed Wonka. A prequel to the the beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movies it takes us through Willy Wonka’s backstory. The story is charming though not compelling. The characters are nicely drawn and beautifully acted. The sets are glorious, rich with color but not garish. The music is endearing and leaves you humming particularly Scrub Scrub and A Place of Our Own. 

Don’t miss it. Its quiet magic lingers on after you’ve seen it. 

Maybe it’s because I’m a woman

 When I think of the holy journey to Bethlehem, I think of Mary and the actual waiting for the “deliverance” every pregnant woman knows is coming. I ponder her being away from her family and friends and the village woman who had delivered her when she was born. It is a formidable experience that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

Today I kept singing part of a song to myself, one of those ear worm kind of things. Eventually I found it on Google, a song we sing on Maundy Thursday, and I think it is a good thing to think about about his birth and the labor of his mother.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCr2tn4yYKY

JoAnne Salmon: Swimming Along in Watercolors

 

As a preschooler I was quite delighted to find out that Mrs Wetzel would be coming over to babysit me one day after church. Mrs. Wetzel was a first grade teacher who always had interesting things to do. When she arrived she asked if I could keep a secret, and went back to her car to get a large canvas and other painting supplies. She didn’t expect to get very far with a preschooler on her hands, but I was mesmerized watching the barn and field coming to life. She had it nearly finished by the time my parents came back. She presented them with the painting as a present. I was proud of my contribution of sitting on the bench quietly.

Painting still has the power to hold my attention, and lately it’s been JoAnne Salmon who’s been wielding the brush. Her scenes are charming, and I like the colors she uses. The little animations at the end make you smile. I believe she worked on a children’s show, and I want to find out more about it. 

JoAnne’s channel is young, so you can easily get in on the ground floor. Be careful though. I blew through most of the existing episodes in a few days. There is something restful to the mind about Jo’s work. I may go back and rewatch them all.

https://www.youtube.com/@joannesalmon

Little Things

 

As a child I was often admonished to be less sensitive, to know how to take a joke, but I was blond, Polish and raised in Appalachia. It felt like everyone had a joke in their pocket for me. Dad said I needed to toughen up most people were only trying to make conversation. I took the advice and began a collection of jokes for my pocket. You can imagine how well that went over from a seven year old. There was no winning with those old jokes that got their graft from the pretended impersonal.

I’m glad they’re mostly gone. I can think of so many better conversations to have.

I Owe It All To Martha

 Every year I choose something to bake for my neighbors. I’m a little reserved and this small gift is meant to testify that I’m not a complete hermit. I enjoy this sort of thing very much, and I try to imagine receiving something yummy. This led to a down-sizing of my gifts because most of my neighbors are empty-nesters and don’t have enough mouths to eat a dozen cookies or a pie. 

This year it’s biscotti. The choice was a bit risky, but a few crunchy cookies to dip in your morning coffee seemed like a good choice and a good size. I had never made biscotti, but I watch enough baking shows that it seemed very doable. Just to make sure I would be successful I hunted up three Martha Stewart recipes. Martha’s recipes strike a balance between simple and worth-doing. The three recipes all recommended different procedures, and I followed each one to the letter, learning a lot in the process. The biggest revelation I hadn’t seen in the baking shows was that biscotti dough is sticky. Getting it out onto the well-floured countertop required lots of implements and patience, but boy was it worth it.

Biscotti do this magic trick of turning from a break-your-teeth-brick into a delicious cookie with the briefest of dunks in your tea or coffee. Homemade are better than store-bought. This is a trick I will pull out of my sleeve often. Thank you, Martha, for this and all the other things.

Pecan Cranberry Biscotti

https://www.marthastewart.com/336133/pecan-cranberry-biscotti

Cherry Almond Biscotti

https://www.marthastewart.com/316102/cherry-almond-biscotti

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

https://www.marthastewart.com/1129608/chocolate-hazelnut-biscotti

Wouldn’t Eye.

 

Sea it.

The beauty of everyone.

Stop fearing the bus.

Stop feeding it victims.

Let people love you.

The strange you.

The broken you.

The ugly you.

Or burn in shame, 

taking others along for the ride.

Frieda Vizel: A Guiding Light

 I love meeting new people and exploring new cultures. I try to have something good to offer, and to appreciate whatever I’m given. Having a guide can be truly helpful, especially one that understands with love the culture they are presenting. 

Frieda Vizel is such a guide to Hasidic Judaism in New York. Born into the community she found herself on the outside due to some bad luck in marriage and a questing mind. She now leads tours in the area explaining Hasidic customs and life. For those of us unable to travel to New York she brings the community to us with insightful videos, interviews and, of course, tours. She is smart and thoughtful, while tender and kind. She speaks her truth with love.

https://www.youtube.com/@FriedaVizelBrooklyn

Polished

 

It is December 5th and I’ve finished my holiday box of chocolate covered Oreos. They are supposed to be a special treat that I sneak one-at-a-time as I do all the work that makes Christmas. I used to have enough discipline to share one or two without regret, but one child is in the hospital, others are struggling, and my oldest let us know that she can’t come for Christmas this year. 

The empty box is something to pay attention to, but I don’t regret it. Sometimes it is better to have an Oreo than nothing. Sometimes the empty box can comfort you by reminding you there are better ways of being, and that you miss them. Some day I’ll put both feet on the ground, and I won’t budge, not even for Christmas.

The Perils of Cross-Cultural Communication

 

I’ve been looking to find a good, medieval, Asian text for Crowhook since Orphan Zhao tanked. I found Li Po and Tu Fu listed in the back of one of my other books and decided to give it a go. There is a lengthy introduction (around 100 pages), but it is well-written and interesting. The actual poetry itself is short, but the translator has taken the time to unpack all the references and images for the non-Asian reader. The notes are long, up to six pages and sometimes have their own sub notes. 

At first all of this put me off. I felt that there was enough common human content that all the extras were bogging things down, but then all that extra content got sticky and I wanted to figure it out. I realized that here was a beautiful opportunity for my students to think about and work through through the difficulties of inter-cultural communication. All the texts I use in the medieval period are translations. These two poets are especially difficult because they are Chinese and the shapes of the words plays an important part in the beauty of the poetry. We as non-Chinese readers can’t see these important cues. We need six pages of notes in order to get a glimpse. Add to the fact that these poems were written in the late seven hundreds, and we are lucky to get it at all. 

These poems are profoundly human in a Chinese way that deserves attention even though it isn’t easy.

Driving for the Holidays

 I recently upgraded my phone to an Apple which came with a choice between using Google maps like on my old phone or returning to Apple Maps. I decided to give Apple Maps a try because I struggled with Google GPS. I truly prefer Apple Maps. The timing of delivering information is more in sync with my natural speed. They tell you if it’s a light or a stop sign. They present and repeat information in a way that increases my confidence. I’m feeling some of that old sangfroid from the introduction of GPS. It feels like a real step forward.

Psych To Go: Steps Gently

 

Psychological information can be very useful and hard to come by. The Psych To Go channel brings handy topics within easy reach. The videos are brief and focused. They are often ideas I haven’t found in any other source. The format is soothing. Triggers are avoided. The conclusion is generally positive. They offer a bibliography for their sources. Most of the time if there is a Psych To Go video in my feed I’ll watch it. You might enjoy them too.

Fight or Flight

 

Watching the original Hunger Games movie triggered a fight or flight. I could run and never look back, or I could watch/read/write about all things Hunger Games until it was just a piece of furniture in my mind. I chose the second approach. I don’t regret it. I have not yet read The Ballad Of Snakes and Songbirds. The price of the book still exceeds the budget for contemporary fiction and I don’t visit the library as often as I should. The movie ticket was right on point, and I needed some time out of my house, but relaxing. 

I enjoyed the show. The violence was more nuanced and I appreciated that. I loved the characters even the ambiguous Mr. Snow. The music was a nice touch drawing on the success of Hanging Tree and bringing more Appalachian music out into the world. It is not a compelling peace. Where Hunger Games made its point strongly Snakes and Songbirds is more about a return to a world we are fascinated by. I wish the themes had been clearer. Everything else was just right.

(M)iTunes

 I like collecting things. Before I recognized that impulse and started trying to limit and repurpose it, I often ended up with groups of things just because they belonged together and for no other purpose than it had been fun to find them all. You can waste a lot of time and money that way.

I do not want to know what I’ve spent on iTunes. I enjoy music like any good Appalachian, and iTunes is willing to meet a large swath of my musical curiosity and curatorial impulses. It started with a slightly naughty need to listen to all that music that was the devil’s tempting and thus not in my adolescent collection. I decided I do like Cher and The Beatles and Elton John and a lot of other music. My interest has now come full circle and I’m gathering up the hymns of my youth. It’s fun to choose amongst all the different artists and time periods for these classics. I wish we still sang them at church. 

It is a collection that doesn’t clutter, is large enough to reward organizing efforts, and soothes the savage beast as someone was always saying when I was young. I get my money’s worth out of every $1.29.

Faux Pho

 In the evening I often find myself short on calories. I need something with dinner’s gravitas and a snack’s calorie count. Costco has an answer. I was walking through the aisles minding my own business when a sample station with little cups full of noodles caught my eye. The noodles tasted as good as they looked, so I bought a box. I’m really enjoying it. It’s like Ramen only less work to prepare. It’s also a chance to practice slurping noodles like the actors on Asian TV shows do. If you like noodles this is a great, quick snack.

Holly is Back: MO River Soap Co.

 

I love watching soap making. This is no news flash, but one of my favorites has been on the sidelines. Holly is so calm and confident with everything she does, and it is incredibly relaxing to watch. Her soaps are fun but in a measured way that sets them apart. Her designs are classy without being stuffy. I buy them for the people I love. One day I’ll get my own box from MO River Soap. 

This is the other miracle of Holly, her box packing videos. After a big release she pulls up the camera and chats away while putting together beautiful box after beautiful box. I find them truly addictive and watch them with tea or hot chocolate nearby.

Holly had been missing for a while because she was following her dream to live in Montana. Roughing it in her lovely fifth-wheel, she just finished building her soap studio, and is now ready to tackle their log cabin. I wish her all the best.

https://www.youtube.com/@moriversoap/videos

American Girl Dreams

 With six children traditions go a long way in keeping things fair. For birthdays we started at Build-A-Bear when they were three returning each year after to buy new clothes for the bear’s birthday. By the time we got to Jimmy the whole family had bets on what kind of animal he was going to pick. 

At my oldest’s ninth birthday it was obviously time to switch gears. I was looking for a new tradition that would carry more weight and responsibility, but would have the same pleasure of growing a collection a little every year. We began with Josefina, and had such an excellent experience. American Girl even replaced the doll’s head when the hair proved defective. We bought an outfit and small accessory every year and everything was heirloom quality. I did hope that the doll would be loved and passed down.

The problem started when Rosie chose Samantha. There were rumors about changes, but they had recently made Samantha’s movie. It seemed silly for them to make a movie to sell a doll and then stop selling the doll. Surprisingly that’s what they did. All the nice things we did for Mea could not be matched for the others as historical doll after historical doll was “retired.” It was truly sad and the end of so many plans I had for my American Girls and their daughters. 

The new dolls are nice, but they can’t touch the nostalgia, collectibility, or simply the weight of honoring American Girlhood as it has evolved. This was supposed to be a very special tradition in our family. Instead it’s a broken dream.

Carries Me

 I went to church lonely and hungry today, so I was looking for what would sustain me alongside the ever present Jesus. It was the Nicene Creed that had me tearing up. My spiritual life has been a journey full of changes, but to this statement of faith I have always been true, and I always will be true to it. It’s the short form for explaining my beliefs.

Extraordinary Opportunity Afoot

 It’s one of those things that now that I've thought about it I can’t stop thinking about it, and that is this—Lupin vs Sherlock. Great detective vs criminal mastermind. Frenchie versus an Englishman. Two amazing actors and supporting casts. It must be done! O to be a writer in that room.

 

Simone Giertz: Creator of Useless Things

 

Watching Simone Giertz is a quick cure for humorous hubris. She walks a narrow line between surprisingly useful and the characteristically crazy. She has no problem falling off the line in either direction. I have no problem watching, placing internal bets on what it will be this time.

If you have ever had a problem that required a very specific solution, one that is not presented to the masses, watch Simone. If you like to make things that are very personal or experimental, watch Simone. If you love Rube Goldberg, watch Simone. If you just need a reminder that your time is your own to waste as you please, watch Simone.

There is something very healing about this channel. You really won’t be wasting your time.

https://www.youtube.com/@simonegiertz/featured

4 Eyes

 Every so often I fall into a nice cycle of Netflix shows. Recently I’ve been happy with four that always have the right thing to offer.

I am very late to the party on this one, but it’s nice to have such a backlog of shows to work through. This show is charming and deserves its popularity.

SWAT has a 70’s vibe that is classy and comforting at the same time. The mixture of evolving stories punctuated by police crises is just right.

If you could hug a tv show you would hug this one. Heart-warming you will find yourself tearing up over the question, “How can I help?” Strong performances bring the whole hospital to life.

A good detective story is usually a thrill. Lupin is a great criminal story and a definite thrill. I love the mixture of old school sleight of hand and high tech gadgets that keep this story rocketing forward even as it shifts through different time periods. 

Decor No More

Twenty years ago I fell in love with a Ralph Lauren comforter in the fancy store in the mall. It was never going to be mine, but I wished it well as I resumed my shopping. Some time later I found it at Burlington Coat Factory and I was overjoyed to take it home where it proved as toasty warm as it was beautiful. A lot happens in twenty years and the comforter no longer serves as decor, but it’s still so toasty warm I can’t imagine winter without it. When the thermostat kicks over to heat, out comes my Rebecca comforter. 

I like things that last. 

 

Bury Me in Maryland

                                                             

I have my morbid moments. Recently the song, Bury Me In Georgia has me thinking about how I’d like to be buried again. My original thought was to be cremated and have my ashes sprinkled on Warrior Run Creek by Calvary Baptist Church where I used to play. I can’t think of a more tranquil spot, or any place else I’ve been happier, the simple kind of happy a child with wet feet feels.

I’m Catholic now, so that’s out. I haven’t come up with anything that meets regulations and still feels meaningful to me. Besides Cumberland I never lived somewhere long enough to put down eternal resting place roots. I suppose they could haul my body back to Cumberland and bury me in the graveyard where my grandparents are buried and Susan and I used to play, but that’s a lot of fuss with a dead body. My kids will probably be in charge by then. Maybe I should let them make choices that are meaningful to them.

In any case, I love the way Bury Me In Georgia stirred up my love for my roots. It’s a beautiful song.

Sharmon from SWF Beach Life

 Shelling is my favorite thing to do at the beach. Everything is fun at the beach, but shelling feels productive. It scratches my need to collect. I live in Michigan, so going shelling is an infrequent pleasure, but there is a quick fix, SWF Beach Life. 

This one woman show takes you to the best beaches for shelling in South Florida and then proceeds to dazzle the viewer with treasure after treasure plucked from the sand. She both narrates parts of the video and lets you have “beach time” just recording the ambient sounds. 

If the beach is your happy place, then this channel is a must. You might want to rub on a little sunscreen, and then you’re there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsoaASPXRtE

Bong

 Material things can be useful. I’ve taken to my water bottle, and am doing much better at hydration. It’s metal so the metallic taste of our well water makes sense, and I don’t mind it as much. It’s pretty, so I like having it around. It’s easy to clean, so my water tastes pristine. The handle is just the right size and shape for carrying around. It fits in my cupholder in my car. The surprising thing I really enjoy is the noise it makes when it bumps into something. It’s like a bell in a buddhist temple. It promotes peace and tranquility. If you struggle with hydration a good water bottle can make a difference.

For Your Consideration

 My freshman year of college was the worst year of my life. Part of me is still stuck reliving it on a merry-go-round that is anything but merry. I hit campus having turned seventeen in June. My parents worked in Christian schools, so we were together 24/7 except for a week of summer camp each year. I had always lived in the shadow of their protection. College on my own felt like fire on an exposed nerve. I was looking for anything to ease the pain. I couldn’t go home. I would lose my scholarship. I found the only help was questionable, and it ruined my life. The moment my parents had held up as the pinnacle of my life was destroyed beyond mending. It didn’t matter that what happened wasn’t what I wanted and was facilitated by the innocence my community had so carefully cultivated. It had happened, and that was all there was. No comforting Augustine for a Baptist girl.

Homeschooling parents, give your kids a measured independence out of your reach. Allow them enough love to make mistakes. Teach them how to protect themselves, not squat under your protection, and just because someone is really smart doesn’t mean they are ready to be on their own.

Priming the Pump

 Sometimes my mental processes get jammed and shut down. There really isn’t much to be done, other than sit tight and watch way too much everything. Slowly though the logs disentangle and a trickle comes through. I’ve found it smart to grab a short easy book and glide through it before asking anything more difficult of myself. This latest occurrence I turned to A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. It is fine little book, handling very difficult subjects with optimism and gentleness. I do recommend it. It is also going on my list of books to read when your faith in humanity hangs by a thread.

Off and on I like to imagine how we might do better with refugees. I’ve never done the serious reading I ought to do, but this book opened up the subject without shutting down the trickle. The problem is bigger than I was thinking. Good thing fixing it isn’t my day job, probably it’s just my prayer job.

All around a very good, useful book in a short and simple package. I will be recommending this one often.

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

RUOK

MT

Martina and Hansi: Nerdforge

 If you like fantasy, art and crafting, you will love Nerdforge. Martina and Hansi work together to produce stunning works of art in many different mediums. There was the full set of armor—for a woman and her dog. I get most excited about the leather-bound books. Martina rebound her Harry Potter books and the result was magnificent. Martina does most of the presenting, but Hansi is always around providing a steady hand and skillful help.

You must go see them for yourself. The handmade houses, the murals, the self-challenges, they deserve to be seen, especially if you enjoy fantasy.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Nerdforge

120,000 Memories

 

We bought our Honda Odyssey when we couldn’t fit our family in our Chevy Venture anymore. That was 15 years ago when Jimmy was born. I get attached to cars, so I was sad to see “Madame Blueberry” go. The Honda is painted Disney Princess blue, so I called her Cinderella. I took Cindy in for serious maintenance recently and was surprised by the fact that we’ve put 120,000 miles on her. She’s never given me any trouble other than needing a battery replaced and leaky tires. I have so many wonderful memories of our family in that car. We are a long drive kind of family. My kids settle in and enjoy each other as the miles go by. I’m really proud of that. 

Forgive Us Gay Wedding Cake

 

don’t hold yourself aloof

we all die

unclutch the rules

it’s importtaint

your heart will have to break

the mask you hide behind

it’s containshun

it is killing us

As We Forgive

Sunday Pleasures

 

Good habits are seldom as easy and pleasurable as taking my gummy multivitamin. Vitafusion is wonderful and I prefer the general vitamins over the women specific due to flavor and texture.

A treat reserved to Sunday or a sore throat day is my can of anchovies. I discovered how much I liked them when a recipe called for 3 filets and the rest would have been thrown out. I tried them and fell in love. If you are prone to sore throat they are also good at coating your throat with salt which brings some relief.

Mt. Dew has been escaping its boundaries a little too often lately, but these little bottles are just enough on my better days.

Brian Lagerstrom: Let’s Eat This Thing!

 Pizza was my entry point to Brian Lagerstrom’s You Tube channel. My pleasure in pizza is difficult to overstate. Brian makes something like six kinds of pizza, and I bet he’d make more if you dared him. He makes lots of other things too, making home cook food that tastes professional, because he is a professional.

His beloved side-kick is his wife Loren who is always up for whatever, which is good because Brian gets up to a lot of whatever. Together they make the kind of couple everyone wants to be friends with.

This is an easily watchable channel, good for chilling out after a challenging day. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn5fhcGRrCvrmFibPbT6q1A

Typing: Accomplished

 

My latest manuscript finally has a digital form. I’m terrible at typing, as you have probably noticed. However I’ve finished that dread task, and I’m ready to start querying. There are things I’m still fixing, but that will take comparatively little energy held against selling someone on my work. I tend to do things just left of ordinary so they are hard to explain, and even I am uncertain about how to value them. I think this will change the world, but how and to what degree I cannot say. I imagine literary agents want you to say.

Shitter

 

I could meet their highest expectations. 

if I would just clean the toilet. 

No need to write another poem, read another book, write another curriculum or invent another community project. 

If I would just settle down and clean the toilet, humanity would have everything it ever wanted.

From Me.

Lessofs!

I Know Better

 The call of nature is one ring I’d like to leave unanswered. The intrusion of bodily necessity on my day is mostly resented. When I am working I like to keep working before inspiration or concentration slips away.   I don’t like excreting things. They all smell bad. I don’t like having to ask people to excuse me so I can go do this disgusting thing. I do like the profound relief of having pushed it too long and finally finding the right circumstances to let it go, but this is not sufficient pleasure to make the day to day less onerous. 

Why are we discussing the unpleasant? I was told a person my age has to pay better attention to hydration. I’ve been told the same thing for most of my life. I’ve had nightmares about being unable to find proper facilities since I was nine. The two things clash. Fortunately, I make plans for these kinds of contingencies, and I’d been eyeing water bottles forever. The good ones are so expensive, and finding the right features for you can be frustrating. I’ve tried enough ones to know that a Tervis brand water bottle with wide mouth opening in a playful Disney character print would suit my need. The price however was still enough to make me put the bottle back on the shelf.

When my doctor said “Drink more water.” I was ready to pick it up. Unfortunately the Disney print had already been adopted, but the same water bottle was available in a butterfly print that speaks of transformation. I don’t know if it can really do the trick, but it can try.

Lisa: A Dreamy Soapmaker

 

Soap videos are so addicting. The rich colors flowing together to make something beautiful and useful capture my full attention. I watch a lot of soapy content, and I watch a lot of Lisa, who makes the soap of dreams. She is always trying something new and pushing soap just a little further out there. I don’t ask a lot of soap videos, so her determination to try everything has me playing her videos as soon as they come out.

A sampling of the kinds of soaps she makes: swirls, who knew that there were so many ways to pour and stir soap; scrapers, she uses plastic scrapers in just the right shapes to manipulate the soap batter into amazing landscapes and other scenes; embeds, small pieces of soap that are tucked into or onto the soap batter to be revealed as the soap is used. Beyond these techniques is what she does by combining techniques (check out “Starry Night.”). 

She truly is obsessed in the best way. If you like color and art and practical ingenuity that makes something beautiful then this is the YouTuber for you.

https://www.youtube.com/@IDreamInSoap/featured

Titanic Therapist

 

Let me in.

Let me love you.

Let me arrange the furniture on your deck.

It won’t be like last time.

I promise.

Seek and Ye Shall Find

 My sister and I are five and a half years apart in age. It meant finding activities to do together was always a challenge. At the last moment before I hit puberty leaving childhood behind forever, we discovered Strawberry Shortcake. The dolls appealed to both of us, were not overly expensive, and we could play for a long time without either of us getting grumpy.

I still have mine and the little fold-up kitchen I got for Christmas. I miss the experience of collecting Strawberry Shortcake items. They always smelled so good, and they could be posed in fun and interesting ways. Strawberry Shortcake was creative and spunky. Her legacy hasn’t persisted as I hoped. I did google Strawberry Shortcake and found these Funko figures. Unfortunately they are really expensive. I will keep looking.

More, Please

Why is it so hard to get ahold of African literature? I just finished two more versions of Sunjata and and I could happily do with two more. The comparison of what is important to each storyteller gives this epic a translucent life. With the setting aside of historicity in favor of meaning the purpose of art becomes as clear as a bald man’s character to a phrenologist. It is shakshuka compared to oatmeal. I love it.

Sana and Will Saleh: Happy Muslims

 The more I step away from the details of fundamentalism, the more fundamentalist groups seem the same, particularly when it comes to the life of women. For me, if a religious community cannot accept a woman in a loose-fitting t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans then the men in that community need to take responsibility for themselves and stop burdening women with men’s problem.

That said, the Saleh family is adorable in their veiled positivity. They enthusiastically embrace Islam, and bravely share it, just as they are. Like so many other fundamentalists they homeschool their little girls in a special space made and decorated for that purpose. Making and selling hijab is the family business, and they are beautifully modeled by Sana. They work together in the basement dyeing and packaging in what looks like a graceful cycle.

After all the reading about medieval Muslims it is fascinating and at points refreshing to meet modern Muslims. I would never choose Islam because of the restricted life it offers women and the unacceptable practice preached by Mohammed concerning slave women, but I believe people can live an honorable life in Islam. Thanks to the Saleh family I believe it can be done cheerfully.

Go and watch them. They will be unexpected and charming.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa53GFyem6cgf6etoIpoIdQ

Be Happy!

 I am naught.

Emagine That

 Sometimes you just need someone to take care of you for a change. Women especially are expected to give and give and survive off the fumes of Mother’s Day and her birthday. I have a place that loves to take care of me, my local theater—Emagine. First off I buy the seat I want. I don’t have to worry about hurrying in and saving my place with a coat. I pick my seat when I buy my ticket, and it’s mine until the show is over. Next, they will feed me, pizza, nachos, funnel fries, pretzel bites etc. I order what I want, purchase a drink or candy and head to my auditorium. The seats recline like at home. I settle in enjoying the pre-show programming, and a sweet person arrives with my food. For the next two hours I can just relax. The whole experience is a low maintenance pick me up. Thank you, Emagine Saline.

U Turn

 

U ruined my life before I was born.

It was either God or U.

Did he forget he was making a girl?

U never forgot I am a woman.

U never let me forget it either.

Morgan Donner, Free-style Seamstress

 

She is dazzlingly free of instructions for her projects. Where others carefully draft patterns she wings it with a tape measure and chalk. Watching her sew garments is never to have the same adventure twice. No silhouette wears out its welcome. Her efforts are not limited to garments either. She creates new spaces for her work, and even made a manikin that is an exact duplicate of her body. 

Such courage is inspiring, especially when someone is filming it all. We see it all, and it’s great. 

Thank you Morgan for sharing yourself with us. You make a difference.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Morgandonner

Homekeeper, Workkeeper, Literary Agent

 

The change of seasons has been a real grind in the past. Every new moment means rebalancing all my projects and plans. School is coming up, and I’m working at adapting to the struggles that come with it. When I was younger I spurned the idea of having help, but as I’ve grown older there are three kinds of helpers I daydream about.

Homekeeper—I am not now, nor will I ever be a cleaning aficionado. I get along, but problems like rust deposits in the shower mystify me. My vacuuming schedule goes as follows. Burn out old vacuum trying to catch up. Enjoy new vacuum forgetting that vacuuming is supposed to happen before the carpet is gray. Notice gray carpet. Burn out new vacuum. For the sake of the environment someone else should help me with these things.

Workkeeper—I am a person with a million ideas. With so much going on in my brain it feels like great things are falling off and becoming lost every day. I want someone who takes down my ideas, records them, organizes them and periodically prods me to update them and make good plans for pushing each initiative out toward public usefulness.  Is there an app for that?

Literary Agent—I like to go forward, on to the now thing, Edna Mode style. To entrust my writing to a champion who will fight for my babies as if they were her own, I love that idea. I can research and all of that, but I’d rather release a project into someone’s care.

Addiction

 Pizza has been one of my goto comforts. Bad pizza is better than a lot of other things at their best. I prefer lasagna, but it’s not as fast and easy. Recently I’ve been questioning my allegiance to pizza and so I am on the hunt for other possibilities. I fell in love with KFC’s Ultimate BBQ Fried Chicken Sandwich. All the ingredients plays so well together and it is satisfying as a meal in itself. On a brioche bun the crispy chicken breast nestles down with KFC’s honey BBQ sauce, bacon, pickles and pepper jack cheese. Whenever I’m at a loss for dinner I pick up one of these. You should give it a try.