In My Own Backyard

 I really can’t say how many times  I have put The Tale of Genji in my basket on Amazon. It’s an important Japanese text I am scouting for Crowhook. I found one at a local used book yard sale that is held every summer. It is a well used copy, but still in very usable condition with an exceptionally good binding. It just lays flat. I could not afford that level of excellence on my book budget. Here I paid two bucks. I also found lots of kid books that were popular when I was a kid, but have begun to slide off the radar, one dollar each. Flannery O’Connor’s short stories were leant out eight or nine years ago. They haven’t returned. I found a collected works and a biography. I found a Cezanne retrospective replete with color plates, two bucks. It has been the same every year I’ve gone. Lots of good books for work and a little fun on the side.

It’s nice to have a hobby that can be so spectacularly cheap.

Calorie Receipt

 

Wouldn’t it be great if your receipt for purchase at a restaurant had a total for the calories you purchased on the same ticket? It would be so much more convenient than looking up the nutrition information. I love the way that so many fast food restaurants have begun to publish each item’s calorie count on line and on signage. This would take it one step further and make it personal. Budgeting money is a skill that begs wider application. Treating calories like cash could make a difference.

The Inner Work of Age

I like to be the first person to arrive at class. I like to find my front row seat and lay out my pencils, notebooks and tea. I like to watch my fellow students arrive, and I like it when the teacher is late.

Death and old age are coming. I want to be ready, so I can get the most out of the experience. I am gathering books and materials. Like everything, I am studying my way through it.

I bought The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul because I thought it would be straightforward dealing with difficult issues directly. It was also from a more Eastern/Jungian perspective and I haven’t read much modern work from that perspective. She does deal more directly with the emotional realities of aging in this modern day than anything else I’ve read. The message is somewhat muddled as she encourages us to overcome ageism and to do what we can do, while in other chapters she tells us to accept new limitations. She quietly, but decidedly rejects Christianity, which made trouble for me as a Christian. She does share inspiring information and exercises from well-known Christians, but it feels not quite fair. 

I will keep the book and perhaps reread it. There were a lot of good ideas for staying focused on what really matters and good help for letting go when our time is done. I’ll also keep looking for more books like this one.
 

Ariel Bissett: Book Reading Renovator

 I discovered Ariel when I was exploring BookTube. She had rainbow hued bookshelves that normally turn me off, but they weren’t just by color they were also organized by genre, which saved the idea for me. I enjoyed her pleasantly lively discussion of several book related topics, but what really captured my imagination was her renovation of her house. She had moved to Nova Scotia like the English family and she is busily at work improving it and making it her own. Her choices are bold and fun and easily changed when she changes her mind. I am down for all things Ariel Bissett, including her podcast and special series for Wayfair. You should pay her a call.

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

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiJhYeqtfX9AhV9j4kEHV6cCBMQFnoECBEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fbooks-unbound%2Fid1484378635&usg=AOvVaw3-BZ7FzPU74hWnzvj-A6kC

Ramadan Mubarak

 I like diversity. It is one of my goto strategies for how we’ll defeat the aliens in the sci-fi movies I love so much. Somewhere somebody's fifth grandmother taught him how to propitiate some minor god that lived in the well, and that’s how we show the aliens we are civilized. I know that there is supposed to be one right answer. I’ll even go so far as to say I found it, but I always think it wise to listen to other people’s answers with respect. After all they are basing their lives and hopes on their answer. In most cases their answer has nurtured them from birth until death.

So if my Muslim friends want to chase God down with some epic fasting, I say, “Go get Him!”

Movie Passport

 Last night I watched The Fablemans. It was a lovely film that truly transported me to another place and time, so much so that I want to find a way to memorialize the experience, when I saw it, where I saw it, what were my first thoughts about it. I have a dual system of a paper journal and Goodreads for my reading, but for some reason I’d never thought of something like that for movies. 

There are posters for “The One Hundred Movies You Must See Before You Die” with scratch off gold foil. I want to do that, but this project is something different. For this project I want stickers for my physical book and basically a revised version of Goodreads for my internet app. A good movie stays with you long after the credits have rolled. I want a place to remember the rapture or the grief.

https://www.amazon.com/Movie-Critic-Notebook-Journal-Logbook/dp/B09HG6H6FT/ref=asc_df_B09HG6H6FT/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=564690296844&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16934505212838191375&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016901&hvtargid=pla-1491567110345&psc=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwq-WgBhBMEiwAzKSH6GemivdDzE66u30wm1bg7CgMFWpm6sgSATYkTqs7oThx6tLlf3g10RoC83AQAvD_BwE

Working Out or Watching HGTV?

 

I am still enjoying my workout at Planet Fitness. It got even better when I found an old pair of earphones and connected to the sound on the bank of TVs. My speed slowed, I found, and the party pooper in me was persnickety and wanted to know—“Are you here go workout or to watch HGTV?” Luckily I was feeling sassy and refused to choose. It is nice to have access to my favorite kind of TV. I love watching a place go from ascetically challenged to beautiful and functional. If there is a heart-warming story, bonus points. Also, I tend to push myself too much too fast, so I’m not hating an excuse to go at my actual pace instead of my overachieving pace. I will get there. At this stage I’m going much faster than I was going a few weeks ago. 

Kudos to Planet Fitness all around.

The English Family: Merry Homesteading

 

Another YouTuber from Nova Scotia, the English family bought property sight unseen, and have been merrily fixing it up ever since. When I say merrily, I mean it’s a rare take when someone isn’t cracking up. Watching people who truly enjoy being together is such a blessing. I don’t think I’ll ever be a homesteader. I like to work with my brain more than my muscles, but there is such a romance about buying a sizable plot of land and reclaiming it, making it useful again—not to mention the eggs are a beautiful rainbow of pastels. This channel has remodeling, building, craft projects, animals and the right attitude.

Be prepared to learn useful stuff. Be prepared to daydream. Be prepared to laugh.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3LeCH57d1JisK6furtBCNw

Know Thy Translator

It’s a problem I’ve met before. When dealing with ancient and medieval literature you are largely dealing with translations. A good translation can take a text and make it great. A bad translation can make you hate Homer forever. Usually the problem is financial. I can’t afford to buy all the translations of a text to find the best one. I do have access to academic libraries, but it involves driving and parking downtown. Over time I’ve developed a system of internet and bookstore research. A lot of times it’s common sense, except when it isn’t.

I love Barnes and Nobles Hardcover books. They are beautiful, well-bound and a pleasure to read from. I saw their edition of Arabian Nights and it is stunning! I did what I seldom do and bought it for me. Thank you to whoever gave me the gift card! When I came to reading The Arabian Nights for Crowhook I was quite eager to pull it out and get reading. Until I wasn’t. Crowhook is for middle school to high school kids. The graphic depictions of an orgy is front and center. While my kid in that age bracket reminded me that people do have sex. I still feel, perhaps an old-fashioned need for decorum when working with young people. I hit the internet looking for options. I came to the conclusion that Musawi’s translation was more appropriate for my purposes. As a grownup I can appreciate the more accurate translation, but I like to allow kids to bloom at their own pace.

Musawi is working out quite well so far. Arabian Nights is a treasure of stories. Kids certainly ought to be reading it.
 

The Ent Wives

 I may need to create a label for beautifully ugly women’s movies. Women Talking fits right in with the other three.

It is a challenging thing to be a religious woman sometimes. Men usurp God’s role and power and you must decide how you will rectify all of that. This movie tackles that head on, no holds barred. The women never even consider leaving God, but they have to decide what to do about the men who have been drugging and raping women and the men who are supporting rapists. 

I won’t speak it for you. You will have to listen to it for yourself, but I will endorse it heartily and say that you should not speak about women of faith unless you do. There is a lot to be heard.

It is probably ironic that as much as I loved all of these strong female characters my favorite is August who takes the minutes because the women cannot read or write. His compassion, decency, restraint, and honesty keep the film from becoming a rant on all men. To know an August is something special.

A Right not a Perk

 I joined Planet Fitness, and I am rapidly rediscovering the joys of working out. A lack of time and or money has always made my connection with organized exercise tenuous at best. At ten dollars a month and with all but one of my kids in adulthood I can foresee a long and sweaty relationship with the gym. 

Everyone should be able to go to the gym or whatever floats their boat. Health insurance should list gym membership as the first benefit to policy holders. Husbands should insure that wives can get out of the house long enough to work out. It shouldn’t be as hard as it is to get something so beneficial. 

Angie, Re-homer of Furniture and Bunnies

 One of my three favorites from Nova Scotia, Angie does beautiful things with junk furniture. She creatively repairs and refinishes each piece until they shine. Her modus operandi is to keep old furniture out of the dump. I don’t generally like painting furniture, though I know it can be really stunning. Angie uses her tattoo skills to make some very artistic and unique pieces. Add in the rescued bunnies and Nacho footage, and this is a very soft, watchable channel. She hasn’t made something I don’t like yet.

Cuddly Jesus!

 Why didn’t they have these when I was little? They probably thought I’d commit idolatry or something. My Jimmy had a baby Jesus he was fond of snuggling as a small person, but this grown up version takes it one step further.

“Let the little children come unto me.” When I think of all my little whispered prayers, how sweet it would have been to have Jesus right there in the crook of my arm. Of course he was always there, but I’m one to embrace the aids to faith. 

Power

Rape was something we weren’t to talk about or to know. Sex in general was treated in a surface manner. Basically be a virgin on your wedding night and you will live happily ever after. The nitty gritty of all of this we weren’t supposed to know. We were taught that men were superior to us and long as we dressed modestly and kept a reasonable distance then all would be well. And it wasn’t. I never found the happy balance that led to the magical world of righteous matrimony. I lurched from one end of the spectrum to the other all the while expecting “good” men to be something men aren’t.

The aftermath of rape as a plot has seldom crossed my reading desk. I spend too much time on “men’s books” trying to understand the mystery of male selfishness without facing the whole rape thing head on. I’m sure it is a great body of literature, but I have had other priorities. I know a little about the African Queen who gave the Portuguese hell, so I was excited to see the rebellion of slaves, and the power of a woman. What I was not expecting was the frank, emotional, freeing story of Nanisca and her struggles after being raped. The most powerful person in the room was the one who had been most fucked. The courage of Viola Davis in her portrayal of Nanisca allows us to see both the broken woman and the amazing life she made out of the brokenness. It is the great kindness of the writer to restore her daughter to her, when she was ready. It is another beautifully ugly woman movie. I dearly loved it.